Chapter 02
Even after losing her sight, nothing had changed. In fact, since she could no longer attend social events, Alicia often came to visit Diana in her room to ease the loneliness.
Alicia had been her best friend—the very person who had once saved her during childbirth.
And once again, it was thanks to Alicia’s shared knowledge that she was able to save Catherine.
Diana was deeply grateful to Alicia, her angelic childhood friend who had been with her since they were young.
Alicia asked Diana, who now had her eyes covered with a thin cloth, with worry in her voice.
“Are your eyes… okay?”
“Yes. Other than not being able to see, there’s no problem.”
Diana smiled in the direction of Alicia’s voice. Though she couldn’t see her expression, she could hear the concern and care clearly. Alicia truly was a kind woman.
“Really, thank you… Ali.”
Or so she thought.
That is, until she overheard a conversation while passing by the study to help with Catherine’s debutante preparations.
“I love you, I love you, Calypso!”
“I love you too…”
It was the moment Diana’s entire world collapsed. Her trembling hands reached for the doorknob, and in the darkness only she could feel, she flailed her arms in desperation.
“No… This can’t be true! Tell me I heard wrong! My love! Ali!”
Her cries burst out in anguish. And then—she heard Alicia’s laughter near her ears. It was not the calm voice she knew, but high-pitched and mocking.
“Pfft, isn’t she just pathetic?”
“Ali…?”
“Even with all the clues. What a fool.”
“My love…!”
Calypso simply laughed at his ignorant, stupid wife. Without a word of excuse, he wrapped his arm around Alicia’s waist and left the study with her.
It was unbelievable—like a nightmare she desperately wanted to wake up from. Her head spun, her legs could barely hold her.
Diana staggered down the hallway with unsteady steps.
“Someone help me! Is no one there?!”
She cried out, hoping someone might be nearby. But no maid came.
Instead, what approached were Calypso’s personal guards.
They roughly seized her arms.
“What are you doing?!”
In the darkness, all Diana could do was scream. The knights dragged her away.
They took her to a cabin deep within the duchy estate, once inhabited by the caretaker of the old mansion’s woods.
“Farewell, Former Grand Duchess.”
With mocking words and a loud slam, the door was shut, and she was left alone.
From that day forward, Diana was imprisoned in the cabin. Days passed without even a drop of water or a crumb of bread.
She missed Catherine terribly. Did her daughter know? That her mother was dying here like this?
Diana, helpless and blind, slowly withered. She couldn’t even make her way from the cabin to the mansion.
One day, while lying limp like a dried twig, she sensed a presence.
“…Who?”
Her cracked lips barely moved.
Footsteps approached, and something dropped in front of her. Diana felt around the floor—dried bread.
So someone in the mansion still cared about her? Tears fell from her blind eyes.
It was stale and hard, but her starving stomach didn’t care. Diana sobbed as she chewed the bread.
It was miserable. So miserably unfair. What had she done wrong?
Whoever it was, they would drop off food every time she was starving again. Diana began to wonder—who was it?
Could it be Catherine? Coming in secret, unable to defy her father?
That day, she heard the sound of bread being dropped again. Desperately, she called out:
“Catherine, is it you…?”
But no answer came.
One meaningless day, Diana heard heavy footsteps approach the cabin.
Someone was definitely coming. Was it the one who brought her food?
Diana raised her frail body. Today, she wanted to hold on to them. To ask—
Who are you? Why are you being so kind?
The door creaked open.
“…You’re still not dead?”
It was a voice she had longed to hear—Catherine’s.
“Ca…therine…?”
No. I must be mistaken. My beautiful, flower-like daughter would never say such venomous words.
“You’re still alive, Mother.”
Who was she talking to? Diana listened closely. The sound of heels echoed—someone else had entered the cabin.
“By now, I thought you’d be dead from starvation.”
“Alicia…!”
Diana lunged toward her voice. But Alicia effortlessly dodged and laughed, as if it were amusing.
“Stupid Diana.”
“What…?”
“You still think Catherine is your daughter? Even after Calypso locked you up, and she never came to visit you?”
It made no sense. What was Alicia saying?
“Catherine isn’t your daughter.”
Alicia spoke with a chilling laugh.
“What… are you saying?!”
Diana screamed, overwhelmed with rage. The kind and graceful woman she once was—now reduced to nothing but fury.
“I swapped your daughter with mine, you fool.”
“Mother, stop. She’s too dumb to understand anyway.”
Catherine, arms crossed beside Alicia, laughed openly at Diana. Then she added:
“She gave me her eyes thinking I was her daughter.”
Diana’s body froze. If Catherine wasn’t her daughter… then where was her real child?
“Catherine… isn’t my daughter?”
“That’s right.”
“Then where is my real daughter…?”
“Oh, her?”
Alicia signaled a knight. Some muttered words were exchanged.
A thud followed. Diana reached out and touched something—like a sack. Inside, she felt something cold and stiff—like a corpse.
“She’s dead. Her crime? Bringing you food against the orders of the new mistress of the estate.”
So the one who had been bringing her bread… was her real daughter?
“How could I have known? I guess blood really doesn’t lie, even after a life of servitude.”
Diana clutched the dead child’s hand. Rough, calloused—like the life she had lived. Her heart ached.
From Diana’s blind eyes fell tears—of grief for her daughter, and hatred for her betrayers.
“Oh, want to know one more thing?”
Catherine smiled, eyes gleaming like Calypso’s.
“My eyes were fine the whole time.”
“…What?”
“Pfft! Look at her dumb face, Mother!”
Catherine pointed and laughed mockingly at Diana, whose mouth hung open in disbelief.
“She’s right,” Alicia said with a satisfied smile.
“She was never injured. You were fooled and gave up your vision.”
Diana said nothing. Her body trembled. Everything… everything had been a lie.
Only one truth remained: the nameless daughter who had died bringing her bread.
“We’ll show you mercy.”
“Mercy…?”
“Die with your daughter. Oh, your real one.”
Diana gave a hollow laugh. If only she could rip Alicia’s mouth apart.
She bit her lip in fury—until it bled.
Alicia grinned.
“Poison gas will fill the cabin soon. So die quietly, okay?”
“Goodbye, Mother.”
Alicia and Catherine laughed as they slammed the door. In the cabin, only Diana and her dead daughter remained.
Why had she not noticed? There must have been signs—Alicia’s affair, Catherine’s coldness.
But who to blame? It was her own blind faith in others.
Diana pounded her chest in sorrow, barely able to breathe.
A foul stench filled her nose—no doubt the poison Alicia had mentioned.
She clung to her daughter’s corpse, crying.
What’s your name? What do you look like? How did you live?
So many questions—but the poison gave no time for answers.
Struggling to breathe, Diana collapsed atop her daughter’s body. Her shoulders shook with sobs.
If only—just once—she had a second chance. She would never let it happen again.
She would avenge her daughter.
Her nails scraped the floor.
“If… there’s a next life… Please, come back to me…”
Her breath grew faint. With her last strength, she found her daughter’s hand and gripped it tight.
And even in death, she whispered:
“I’ll never fail to recognize you again. So please…”
Her voice faded into the air.
A quiet death came to her. A tear slid from her closed eyes.
And just like that, Diana took her final breath.
