ADLQ 02

Chapter 02

“Rudy, Rudy… Ludiana!”

“Gasp—!”

“Oh my, are you alright?”

Through the curtains, afternoon sunlight streamed in. Ludiana opened her eyes to the voice she had longed to hear.

“M… mom?”

Eyes that resembled her own softened into a gentle smile. The sight made tears stream down Ludiana’s cheeks.

“Rudy, it’s alright. It was all just a dream. Mama’s here.”

“Hic, hhhk…”

‘I must be in heaven. That’s why I get to see Mother again.’

If that was the case, then dying was worth it. So Ludiana buried herself in her mother’s embrace.

“Kyaa—!”

“My lord! Are you alright?!”

Just then, sounds too vivid and distinct for heaven came from beyond the door. The clamor and a creeping sense of déjà vu made Ludiana stop crying and rush outside.

“You…! You dare!!”

There, young Nartas and Irene had fallen to the ground.

As people gathered, Nartas’s face flushed red and blue. He raised his hand and slapped Irene’s left cheek, though she was a head shorter than him.

Smack.

The sound was too loud, too violent for a mere child’s hand.

“Irene!”

Following Ludiana, her mother Rozelyn hurriedly rushed out. Wrapping her arms around trembling Irene, Rozelyn’s voice rose in distress.

“Nartas, Irene is your sister.”

Rozelyn’s voice strained, forced down by her anger.

“Hah, sister? I have no sister, Lady Rozelyn.”

Emphasizing the last words, Nartas folded his arms with a smug expression.

The familiarity struck her. This was a scene from her past she could never forget. Unlike the three women banished to the annex, Nartas, heir of the Nyurnbern family, lived in the main residence. Normally they wouldn’t meet, but this was the day Nartas’s curiosity had led him there.

“Nartas.”

Helping Irene up, Rozelyn lowered her voice.

‘If I remember, this is when I lost my temper and lunged at him.’

Because of the scratches she left on him, Ludiana was dragged to the main house and punished severely.

“How dare you, a girl, scar the body of the heir of Nyurnbern.”

At the time, Nartas’s birth mother—Ludiana’s stepmother, Lea—had beaten Ludiana’s calves until they swelled and bruised.

Her father, Jonas, didn’t stop it either. From that day on, Ludiana never fought back against Nartas again.

“But why?”

Back then, it was because Ludiana couldn’t bear Nartas hitting Irene and speaking down to her mother.

“Mom, I-it’s alright…”

Irene’s trembling hand clutched the hem of Rozelyn’s skirt.

Rozelyn’s dress was worn thin and frayed. Irene’s clothes, too small for her growing body, had sleeves that rode up her arms. In contrast, Nartas’s outfit gleamed with pristine fabrics and glittering ornaments.

“Irene…”

Rozelyn’s heart ached at the sight of her daughter’s shaking little hand.

Nartas, knowing even the lawful wife Rozelyn could do nothing about him, held his head even higher.

“Ha, how pathetic this annex is. Let’s go!”

“Yes, our Irene was rude. We apologize, Lord Nartas Berter.”

At that moment, Ludiana stepped forward. She placed emphasis on the final word as she bowed her head.

“What?”

Turning back with his servants in tow, Nartas’s face flushed crimson at her words. As though she had struck a forbidden nerve, a vein bulged visibly across his young forehead.

“I’ve apologized, Lord Nartas.”

Ludiana bowed again, as though it were a mistake, as though she had only meant to show courtesy. But she had carefully avoided mentioning Nyurnbern.

“You—you wretch!!”

Berter was the surname of Nartas’s mother, Lea. After giving birth to him, she sought to become Jonas’s legal wife. But Jonas had not yet allowed it, so she remained “Lea Berter.”

Though Nartas bore the Nyurnbern name, he always resented that his mother did not.

‘Eventually, Lea will become Nyurnbern.’

But for now, she was still Berter.

“Why so upset, Lord Nartas?”

Ludiana smiled brightly at him.

Breathing heavily, Nartas glared at her. But in the end, he spun around and stalked down the corridor.

The instant he turned his back, Ludiana’s smile hardened into a cold glare.

‘That worthless bastard.’

And this was only the beginning. Months later, her mother would begin to weaken from an unknown cause and die before year’s end. Though there were many suspicious circumstances, Jonas never investigated.

‘It must have been Lea—or Jonas.’

Her mother’s funeral was brief. Soon after, Lea became the legal wife of Nyurnbern. Even so, she always carried the label of “second wife,” and Nartas’s inferiority complex only deepened with time.

“Rudy.”

From behind, Rozelyn called her in a trembling voice.

Ludiana quickly rearranged her expression into innocence before turning back.

“Yes, Mother.”

Her poor mother, driven to the annex by a concubine.

“Why did you…”

Rozelyn trailed off, realizing Ludiana had humiliated Nartas deliberately.

“Hmm? Why what?”

But Ludiana feigned ignorance. She puffed out her cheeks—still full with baby fat—and smiled. No one seeing her smile would believe she had provoked Nartas on purpose.

“…Never mind.”

Rozelyn, too, convinced herself her child was incapable of such calculation, said no more.

“Anyway, Mother. I think Irene’s cheek must hurt. I’ll bring something to soothe it.”

“Alright, thank you.”

“Thanks, sis.”

Smiling at her still-sniffling sister, Ludiana headed to the kitchen.

Unlike the bustling main residence with many servants, the annex was practically abandoned. Neglected and crumbling, it had no attendants. Ludiana, her mother, and her sister had to care for themselves.

In the kitchen, she quickly filled a bucket with water.

“I really came back?”

Looking into the water’s reflection, disbelief shook her amethyst eyes.

Her long black hair was dull from hunger, her thin cheeks still round with youth yet hollow, her lips tinged blue from the cold of the annex despite it being spring.

It was the very image she remembered of herself at thirteen.

“Ha!”

After a moment’s daze, Ludiana turned her head with a laugh. It was a laugh filled with emptiness, relief, and countless other emotions.

But above all, she felt joy.

‘I can save Mother, I can save Irene!’

In her past life, both were lost. Rozelyn’s body broke down from repeated childbirths and lack of care, and Irene, married off like property, despaired and ended her own life.

Both had met some of the worst fates a woman in the empire could.

‘If I’ve truly returned…’

This time, she would save them. Determination flared in her violet eyes.

But soon after, Ludiana sighed at the reflection staring back.

‘First, I need to get out of here.’

But how?

Even if she escaped the estate, she would die on the streets. She needed someone’s help…

‘Ah.’

A face came to mind: the man who had defended her with genuine fury at her execution. The man who had wept sincerely at her mother’s funeral.

Allen Pianus. She had to find him.

After bringing the bucket and a clean cloth to Irene’s room, Ludiana returned to her own.

‘There’s no time.’

Allen Pianus would one day become the center of the East, the only man capable of checking Nyurnbern’s power. But at this moment, he would only come west once.

“For the Emperor’s coronation!”

The coronation of Casimir de Kalathos, crown prince and son of Leopold de Kalathos, the hero who turned the western kingdom of Kalathos into an empire.

At the Emperor’s coronation, every noble of the empire would gather. Eastern nobles especially would attend to swear their loyalty.

The coronation would take place in just three days. On that day, she had to find Duke Pianus.

Though the air was still cold, her nose red and her breath misting, Ludiana looked out the window with a face flushed in anticipation.