The time had truly come to return.
Yet nothing had been resolved—neither Sylvia, Yurian, nor Cedric.
‘Your Grace, how is Yurian?’
‘…I do not know. I’m sorry.’
After a conversation Iris was not privy to, Cedric’s expression grew noticeably darker.
He was clearly avoiding both Sylvia and Yurian.
“I will briefly visit Polis.”
“Oh? Do you need anything?”
“Yes, I want to buy more pigments before we leave.”
Once again, Cedric avoided being near Sylvia.
‘He’s fine, yet…’
Earlier, Cedric had said he bought enough art supplies. That was just an excuse.
Iris glanced toward Sylvia, who was quietly enjoying her tea across the room.
“You’re leaving soon, then.”
“Ah, yes. Thank you for everything.”
Sylvia, perceptive as always, spoke first to ease Iris.
After a long silence, she spoke carefully.
“Do not carry too much guilt.”
“Huh?”
“It is my karmic burden to endure that child’s discomfort with me.”
Subtly referencing her connection to Cedric, Sylvia fell silent again.
Iris hesitated to speak.
At this moment, Sylvia’s face seemed like someone crushed by endless solitude.
With a faint smile, Sylvia asked,
“Do you have any regrets?”
The word regret always brought a vivid memory of the past life to Iris.
She could still see the image of her beloved lying bleeding.
“Yes, I do.”
No matter how hard she lived this new life, that moment would forever remain a regret.
As Iris spoke, Sylvia paused mid-motion, her hand trembling as she raised her teacup.
In the end, she could not bring the cup to her lips.
“My sister was truly a beloved soul.”
Sylvia, having lost her parents early, was left with only Violet.
Violet was her entire world.
More precious and important than anything else.
“I couldn’t let her go from my arms because she was more beautiful than any jewel or flower, and I feared she’d get hurt.”
The hardest part was that Sylvia wanted Violet to walk a future paved with soft silk, seeing only beauty and goodness—she even thought it was okay if it was by her own doing.
But was that wrong?
“What kind of nonsense is that?”
“Hmm… You really hate Castro that much?”
“He is the Crown Prince. This isn’t about liking or disliking. You shouldn’t meet him so recklessly!”
So when Violet started meeting the Crown Prince, and later became his fiancée, finally marrying him,
Sylvia was filled with rage.
Castro declared he had no ambition for the throne, but that was only his own thinking.
“If not Crown Prince Castro, then who else is fit to be Emperor?”
Every noble agreed that no one else could lead the empire.
Therefore, to Ludwig, who coveted the throne more than anyone, Castro was the first prey to be dealt with.
Sylvia could not bear to watch her younger sister step into such a perilous life.
“That’s why I said things I now regret.”
If she married that man, she would never see her again. She was no longer family.
“Yes, leave. From this moment, you are no longer Tran’s daughter! Remember that well.”
She snapped mercilessly.
“Sis, do you really have to be like that?”
At that moment, Violet shed tears that Sylvia hadn’t even seen before.
“Yes. I don’t need a sister who would bring harm to Tran.”
“Sylvia, no matter what I do or what happens, I love you. Don’t forget that.”
“I shouldn’t have said that in the first place.”
It was nothing but a threat disguised as love.
In the end, Violet left.
But she always sent letters.
Letters filled with apologies for hurting Sylvia, each with a small holographic stone enclosed.
“…I don’t want to see it.”
Though she said that, Sylvia kept watching those holograms over and over.
A lovely younger sister, and the great Crown Prince.
Her sister’s belly growing with child, and finally the little one who looked just like them both.
[This child’s name is Cedric.]
Even without replying, Violet told her the child’s name.
“…I really don’t care,” she said, but she was curious to see how much the child would resemble Violet.
Because the smile in the hologram was just like her sister’s.
“But I was stubborn and blind.”
Hoping one day she might really come back.
That was nothing but arrogance.
Then one day, the letters from Violet stopped.
Sylvia thought she must have grown tired.
She even felt a small regret for having been too harsh.
Then one letter arrived.
[The spider is so scary. Sis, could you come get me this time?]
The yellowed envelope looked old, and the childish tone of the letter stiffened Sylvia’s expression.
Violet, who had always been afraid of spiders, would hide in a secret space under her bed whenever she saw one.
So they had made a secret code—when Violet needed help badly, she would say that, and Sylvia would come running.
The letter was a timed message, set to send immediately if anything happened.
Sylvia rushed to the Lilac Manor.
The manor looked abandoned, the entrance piled high with letters.
“Violet!”
A pungent, thick stench filled the air.
The manor was soaked in blood.
Everyone was dead—knights, servants, all of them.
Sylvia screamed in despair.
“Violet! Where are you? I’m here!”
As she searched the manor, she found two bodies embraced on the bed.
The Crown Prince and… her sister.
“No. This can’t be.”
Before her sister’s corpse, long dead, Sylvia could only weep.
“When I realized, it was already too late.”
After crying uncontrollably, Sylvia looked around.
One was missing. The child was gone.
“No way.”
She pushed aside the bed where her sister and the Crown Prince lay.
Only those loyal to the Tran family knew the secret space.
She barely opened the wooden board and looked inside—an unconscious boy.
A boy who looked just like her sister.
“I only managed to save one.”
Afraid the greedy murderer might harm the child too, she hadn’t gone near him.
“But still, it’s a relief. He’s grown well.”
Sylvia stopped speaking and took a trembling sip of tea.
Iris barely managed to ask in a trembling voice.
“Why, why to me…?”
Cedric had surely hidden it all his life to keep it from him.
Sylvia chuckled softly in a voice that seemed indifferent.
“Just think of it as the ramblings of an old man on the brink of death. Don’t take it too deeply to heart.”
Iris could never accept it that way.
She herself, right beside Sylvia, was shedding tears without looking back.
Fearing the sound of sobbing might break out, Iris held her breath and slowly raised her hand.
‘Please.’
Oh Divine, please do not punish this poor soul so.
With that thought alone, she gently waved her hand before Sylvia’s eyes.
But Sylvia did not waver at all. She continued staring into the void, sipping her tea, as if seeing nothing.
Sylvia’s condition worsened.
She could no longer see ahead.
She could no longer read the letter her younger sibling left behind, nor witness Cedric growing up, who resembled her.
Iris bit her lip tightly and simply grasped the hand Sylvia had long been unable to hold.
Startled for a moment, Sylvia finally placed her hand atop Iris’s.
“It’s alright to cry out loud. Swallowing tears isn’t good for the heart.”
At those words, tears fell drop by drop onto the back of Iris’s hand.
‘Why? Why now?’
Cedric said he did not blame Sylvia.
Iris did not understand why he was pushing her away now.
All she could see was the shadow of Cedric’s unknown darkness and loneliness.
‘Cedric, what should I do?’
Just as you have painted my life with colors, I want to fill you with people who love you like that.
Is it too late again?
At that moment, Iris recalled one thing.
There was still one thing she could do.
“Count, will you grant me one favor?”
With tears streaming down her pale cheeks, Iris spoke with effort.
Sylvia turned her head — exactly toward where Iris stood.
“Cedric and—”
But she couldn’t finish her words.
Sylvia collapsed into Iris’s arms.
Iris, startled, caught her and sank to the ground.
No, it can’t be.
But faint as it was, Sylvia was still breathing.
‘Thank the heavens.’
She had only fainted.
“Master!”
Tania and Jana, who had been watching everything, rushed in and supported Sylvia.
But Sylvia did not regain consciousness.
“Take her to the room quickly, quickly.”
“Yes! Jana.”
“Right.”
Jana immediately lifted the pale Sylvia and ran off.
“Duchess, I’ll fetch the medicine.”
“Good, I’m counting on you.”
Though it was a crisis loud enough to stir the entire manor, Iris, shedding tears, quietly urged the servants to keep this matter secret.
Sylvia hadn’t said so explicitly, but…
‘Those branch nobles are probably scheming to seize the direct Tran lineage.’
There could be spies lurking.
Iris entered Sylvia’s chamber as discreetly as possible to avoid prying eyes.
Jana tightly held Sylvia’s hand. She lay quietly as if drifting into the embrace of the gods.
Tania hurried in and administered medicine, but there was no sign of improvement.
The three could do nothing but wait.
“…Has she been like this often?”
Iris asked softly.
Tania dropped the usual mask of smiles and showed a choked expression.
Her eyes were reddened, as if she had already shed tears on the way here.
“No. She has never collapsed like this before.”
It was true the master’s health had been declining.
But even at the last visit with the doctor, no one predicted such sudden deterioration.
Tania rubbed her head.
Moreover, there was another major issue today.
After glancing at Iris, Tania decided to just confess.
She was one of the few who had managed to open the master’s heart.
“There is a scheduled Tran gathering today. They should be arriving soon.”
Iris’s expression hardened.
“Why today of all days?”
“I don’t know. They pressured him for weeks to hold it today, and the master finally agreed.”
Changing the regular meeting day…
The sinister, gleaming eyes she had seen at the gallery came to mind.
Whatever their intent was…
“…We’ll do whatever it takes to stop it.”
“Yes?”
Chapter 89