HDBMTD 30

Chapter 30

There was a memory Aria had seen in Nocturne’s inner world,
but at the time, she hadn’t understood it—so she let it slip past her.

It was during that harrowing moment,
when she finally managed to reach Nocturne through a storm of corpses and the blackened version of Ariadna,
just in time to break the brainwashing spell.

As she reached him, barely clinging to her consciousness,
he looked straight at her and mouthed words—silently, bitterly:

“My Ariadna, the reason for my existence, is dead.”
“You, pretending to be the dead and mocking my love… What are you?”

Imperial Year 158.

The war with Cambiata had ended. For the first time since the Great Upheaval, peace was beginning to settle across the land.

On a dawn where the first frost touched trembling leaves,
moonlight streamed through the crack of a window, casting a cold glow over a sitting room—
where a contract, a medicine packet, and a necklace lay on the desk.

The air smelled faintly metallic, like blood.
Only the ticking of the wall clock broke the heavy silence.

Current time: 2:58 AM.

Knock knock.

Suddenly, a knock pierced the silence, disrupting the rule of the clock’s second hand.
At the same moment, something that had been perfectly still in the shadows—motionless like a still life—slowly lifted its head.

“Tita must be back.”

Something thought.

“I have to open the door. I need to leave at 3 o’clock… Lucien is waiting for me.”

As it tried to rise, dizziness overcame it, and its vision went black.
It leaned on the mirror wall for support. Crimson eyes slowly rolled upward toward the wall—
at the spot where a portrait once hung.

The woman in that portrait came to mind.

“He’s waiting for ‘me’…?”

No, that wasn’t right. It shook its head.

“Lucien isn’t waiting for me. He’s waiting for the woman in that portrait—Ariadna.”

Even Nocturne’s passionate emotions when gazing at the portrait in the Bendrix estate had not been meant for “it.” They had been for the real Ariadna.

“Never appear before me again.”

Nocturne’s sharp voice, the first thing she heard when she awoke, rang in her ears.
Now she finally understood the contempt in his cold gaze.

The man who had once loved so deeply—how horrified he must’ve been
to see something that wore the face of his dead beloved.

“A cheap woman throwing herself at me dares to bear the name of the Princess? The glory of Diala Rose has surely come to an end.”

The next morning, after they’d spent a night together,
he had thrown those icy words at her and immediately requested their engagement be annulled.

“Because you don’t trust the Princess. You treat her like a criminal and plan to interrogate her.”

It all made sense now.
He had believed she and the prince were colluding—because…

“I’m the prince’s creation.”

It was only natural that a creation obey its creator.
Just as all the clones they had encountered had been discarded according to Cambiata’s design.

This cruel truth explained everything.
Even her confusing conversation with Minette was now clear.

“Why did you give me that gift?”

“Because… there was nowhere else to put it.”

At the time, that reply had seemed so absurd.

But now she understood:
Minette had no tomb, no gravestone to leave the gift at. So she gave it to the clone instead.

“Your Highness, is something wrong?”

The knock had been followed by Tita’s anxious voice.

“Just a moment,”
the clone replied.

She couldn’t let Tita see her like this.

She wiped her face, threw off the bloodstained nightgown, and put on the maid’s uniform Tita had prepared.
When she opened the door, Tita gasped.

“You’re still not ready? We need to hurry…”

“Tita.”

“Y-Your Highness?”

“I’m sorry…”

Tita immediately pulled her into an embrace.
She clumsily pulled out a handkerchief and wiped her face.

“I wasn’t scolding you, really! I just thought we should hurry so we wouldn’t miss the carriage. But it’s fine—we asked them to wait. Please don’t cry, Your Highness. I’m sorry, okay?”

Tita’s gentle touch was like a butterfly landing on her skin.
It made her cry even harder.

“You came to the wrong person, Tita. The one who saved you and your brother four years ago in the Duchy of Swatan… is no longer in this world.”

She couldn’t bring herself to say those words.
Tears were the only thing that could be released in their place.

Sometimes, it felt like my mind had been patched together like a shattered vase. Important memories wouldn’t come to me, or felt ill-fitting—like gears forced to align.
My first meeting with Tita, Minette’s promise before the war, my last conversation with Nocturne… Why were these things so blurry at first?
Even as unease crept in, I kept suppressing my questions—like someone refusing to face the truth…

I barely managed to steady myself and lift my head.
Tita, flustered, rushed over with water and medicine, placing them firmly in my hands.

“Your Highness, in this condition, traveling far could be too much for your body.”

All the effort I had made to hide the bloodstained nightgown had been for nothing—
Tita had spotted the traces on the carpet.
She seemed to assume my strange behavior was a side effect of overusing my abilities.

“No. I have to leave now.”

I took the medicine and stood again. My physical condition didn’t matter.

Ariadna had wished for the happiness of those she loved.
But as long as I remained here, no one could truly be happy.

The obsessive thought that I had to leave—now—pressed harder and harder.

“All right. I’ll pack your things. Please sit and rest.”

Tita straightened my disheveled clothes and began packing swiftly.
Then she paused to ask:

“Should I bring this too?”

In her hands was the ruby necklace Nocturne had given me.
Willow’s warning came to mind immediately:

“There’s a tracking device attached. If you’re planning to escape, don’t wear it.”

I looked at the necklace… and then spoke.

“Give it to me. I’ll wear it.”

I placed the necklace from Nocturne around my neck,
and tucked the earrings from Minette, still in their box, into a bundle of jewelry.

Once all preparations were done, I hid myself in the laundry cart Tita had arranged.
She wheeled the cart naturally out of the West Palace and toward the laundry room.

There, she left the cart and led me through a side door toward the ingredient delivery gate.
Early morning deliveries were in full swing, but the carriage Lucien had sent was nowhere to be seen.

I paused, breathing heavily. The dizziness—was it anemia, dehydration, or a defect born from being a clone? I couldn’t know.

“I’ll go find it. Just rest here for a moment.”

Tita left me hidden under the shade of a tree and ran toward the road.

As dizziness returned, I reached for the tree for balance—
and then a voice called out.

“Your Highness?”

It was a guard. He had been eyeing me from afar and, once certain, rushed over.

“What are you doing out here, Your Highness?”

“The weather was nice, so I decided to take a walk.”

“At this hour?”

By the Prince’s orders, I was not permitted to leave the palace grounds.
The guard approached like he was about to escort me away—
but then, seeing my pale face, his demeanor softened.