~Chapter 97~
Eleanore had lost her daughter, son, and even her daughter-in-law.
The pain was unbearable.
Food tasted like sand in her mouth, and in her dreams, her children kept appearing, making her restless at night.
She couldn’t help but wonder if it was even right for a parent to outlive their kids.
But when she looked at Alicia, she forced herself to keep going.
She had to stay strong—to raise her granddaughter, who had lost her parents at such a young age and was drowning in grief.
Now wasn’t the time to be consumed by sorrow.
“…Alicia.”
“…”
Alicia glanced at her briefly but then turned away again.
“My poor baby…”
Eleanore’s face twisted in pain.
Alicia had lost both parents in an instant and was now here at Mount Lorem in the north.
It had already been two weeks since she arrived, and she still hadn’t said a word.
All day, the girl just sat silently.
“Leah, should we go out and get some fresh air?”
“…Uhhh.”
Alicia let out a soft moan and shook her head.
The cheerful, lively girl who used to bring life to the Goldscheider family was gone.
From the day she arrived, she had stared blankly into space, clutching the jewelry box her mom had packed for her.
Eleanore feared even this surviving granddaughter might break down too.
I can’t let this go on. Alicia’s parents wouldn’t want to see her like this.
With a determined heart, Eleanore stood up.
She left Alicia in the care of Alma’s mother, Tessa, and spent four days making a special magical potion.
“…Alicia, Alicia.”
She shook the girl’s shoulders gently.
Alicia’s dull emerald eyes wandered for a moment, then finally met her grandmother’s.
“Leah, drink this glass of milk, okay?”
She placed the milk cup into Alicia’s hands.
She had mixed the potion into it.
“Come on, you barely ate any bread today. You have to eat if you want to see your mom again, right?”
As she spoke gently, almost pleadingly, Alicia reluctantly started drinking the milk.
Gulp, gulp.
Her throat moved slowly as she swallowed.
“Good girl. That’s it.”
Eleanore smiled slightly and stroked her granddaughter’s hair.
The potion she gave Alicia was a memory-erasing potion.
It was hard to make—only someone with real skill could brew it.
But Eleanore, once a top professor of magic potions, had worked all night to finish it.
“Alicia, listen to Grandma. From now on, your name is just ‘Leah,’ okay? Leah.”
She looked into Alicia’s dark emerald eyes.
“…”
Once she woke up after this nap, she would forget everything that had happened.
“You were born in Mount Lorem. Your parents died when you were very young, so you don’t remember them.”
It broke her heart to steal those memories from her granddaughter, but she had no choice.
The living must go on.
That’s just how life works.
“I’m the only family you have now.”
Alicia slowly nodded.
“Grandma’s name is Ellen, remember? Ellen.”
“…El… len.”
Alicia—no, Leah—murmured her grandmother’s name for the first time.
“That’s right. Ellen.”
Eleanore hugged her granddaughter tightly, tears welling up.
“Leah, one day those painful memories will come back. This potion doesn’t erase memories forever.”
“…”
“If you see something that reminds you of the past, all your memories will start flooding back.”
Alicia was getting sleepy and began to nod off.
“By then, you’ll be all grown up. And I believe you’ll be strong enough to handle it.”
Eleanore gently patted Leah’s back.
“You’re going to grow up to be a strong, strong woman.”
As her grandma’s teary voice echoed in her ears, Alicia slowly drifted into sleep.
—
Huff… huff…
Leah woke up gasping for air.
As soon as she woke from her dream, her lost childhood memories all came rushing back.
She had thought she simply forgot her parents because she was too young… but that wasn’t true.
Grandma gave me a memory-erasing potion to protect me…
The Goldscheider family—one of the empire’s five great noble houses—was her mother’s family.
They were famous for their skill in potion-making.
And Alicia von Goldscheider had just remembered, after 20 years, what it was like to lose her parents.
She lay on the bed, sobbing.
“Mom… Dad…”
She cried like a child.
“I’m so sorry I forgot about you.”
Thankfully, her bedroom was deep inside the mansion, so no one could hear her crying.
“Eleanore, Andreas, Frida…”
She whispered the names of her long-lost grandma and parents.
The grief overwhelmed her.
Tears streamed endlessly down her cheeks.
After crying for a while, Leah sat up and pulled out the jewelry box she kept in her bedside drawer.
“Hhngh… Mom…”
Her mother had told her to look at the jewelry box whenever she missed them.
This box alone can’t ease the pain, but I’m glad I still have it.
She kissed the box.
When she was 9, her dad wanted to gift something special to his sister—the Empress—so she and her mom made a custom perfume for her.
But later, the Empress died from a severe allergic reaction to a daisy scent in that perfume.
But we never added daisy to it.
And the Empress didn’t even have a life-threatening allergy—at most, she’d just sneeze a bit.
Even though it made no sense, both her parents were falsely accused and executed.
All because of the Empress Consort’s scheme… and the Emperor just stood by.
“…”
Leah bit the inside of her lip until it bled.
Someone must’ve switched the perfume.
Maybe it was made with the same dark magic as the one used to kill her.
“…Dark magic.”
That meant the Empress Consort used the same method to kill both the Empress and Leah.
Who else could know about this?
The Imperial Magic Tower must have analyzed the perfume during the trial…
Since her father’s trial was rushed, the Tower must’ve been in on the cover-up.
Could any of that hidden evidence still exist?
“…Oh right, didn’t Dorothea say she used to work at the Imperial Magic Tower? Maybe she was there at the time?”
Leah wiped her eyes with a handkerchief from the nightstand and stood up.
Now that she knew her family’s killer was the Empress Consort, she had to dig into dark magic and perfume-making.
Only then could she take the Consort down.
First, she needed to find Dorothea.
“Ugh, my head…”
She took a few steps and suddenly clutched her head and collapsed.
Her hangover had hit her hard after the emotional shock of regaining her childhood memories.
“…Ugh, I feel sick…”
She rang the bell by her bed.
Paula came and brought her a glass of honey water.
“Thank you, Paula.”
Leah drank it all and set the cup on the tray.
“Hey, Paula… Do you know how I got back here last night?”
She could remember going out to the terrace to wait for Johann… but the rest was a blur.
I kind of remember being out there…
She furrowed her brows, trying to recall.
“You fell asleep, so the Duke carried you in himself,” Paula said, blushing a little.
“What?”
Leah blinked in surprise.
“You don’t remember anything?”
Embarrassed, she touched her nose.
Did I do anything weird?
Her spine tingled.
She seriously couldn’t remember a thing.
Guess I should go thank him at least.
“Is the Duke home right now?”
“Yes, he’s working in the study today.”
She was hungry—first she’d eat, then go thank him.
While she changed into a casual indoor dress, Paula brought her a late breakfast.
Leah also wrote a letter for Dorothea.
“Paula, can you send this to Dorothea for me?”
“Yes, of course.”
Once Paula left, Leah started with the warm tomato soup.
The meal was perfect for a hangover, and it went down easily.
After eating, she felt much better.
But then she suddenly stopped.
Wait… even if I’m innocent, I’m still the daughter of a noble house that was wiped out for treason.
If the Empress Consort found out her real identity, not only Leah—
but the Blumhardt family, even Raphaella…
maybe even the Crown Prince himself could be in danger.
“…No.”
A chill swept down her body.
unlock schedule?