~Chapter 108~
“That memory remains vividly within Aisel.”
Diana’s sunken eyes held the same pain and resentment from that day.
She cried out with desperate anguish.
“The memory of being killed by her own father… That wound!”
“T-That’s impossible…!”
Calypso’s hands trembled. The memory Eclipse’s curse had shown him was so vivid it felt like it had happened only yesterday.
In that memory, he had ordered arrows loosed at Aisel, who had looked so frail and shabby.
Soon after, countless arrows had pierced the child’s small body.
Aisel, struggling to take one step after another, had looked at him as if she wanted to say something. Tears streamed from her eyes, and red blood poured from her lips. Finally, she collapsed lifelessly, her dry lips unable to move any longer.
The moment that memory flooded him, the pain of realizing he had killed his cherished child with his own hands was enough to shatter his heart. He despised himself for ever making such a choice.
And now… that child was my real daughter? Mine and Diana’s…?
It was unbearable. Calypso panted, shaking his head as if suffocating.
Then someone walked into the cabin.
The dim lighting inside gradually brightened. The one who entered was—
“Aisel…!”
Aisel had returned after finishing her debutante ball.
Calypso, overwhelmed by the sight of his beautiful daughter, hurriedly grabbed her hands.
“To think you were truly my daughter… I really thought you were dead…”
His eyes swirled with a mixture of emotions—joy at seeing his daughter so beautifully grown, guilt, remorse. He could barely identify what he was feeling.
But Aisel coldly shook off his hands. She looked straight into Calypso’s eyes and spoke.
“If you thought I was dead, you should have treated my mother better, Father.”
Calypso’s gaze faltered. Aisel wore an expression he had never seen before. She had always smiled at him with a gentleness purer than a lake.
But now, she was colder than a northern winter. It made his entire body break out in chills.
“Aisel, no. That wasn’t me. I was completely deceived by Alicia—!”
“Don’t touch me. You’re filthy.”
Complete shock. Calypso opened and closed his mouth like a fish, unable to respond.
“Ugh…”
Just then, Alicia, who had been unconscious, let out a groan. She blinked her blind eyes a few times and cautiously sat up when she heard Calypso’s voice.
“Calypso…?”
Calypso lunged at Alicia, seizing her collar and shaking her violently.
“This is all your fault! You seduced me first!”
“What’s wrong with you! I’m carrying your child—”
“Your child is already dead.”
Diana’s cold voice cut through. Alicia shook her head in disbelief.
“No, that’s not true! My baby can’t be dead!”
“The doctor already confirmed it, Alicia.”
Alicia’s unfocused eyes sank even deeper into darkness.
“This is all your fault, Diana! It’s all because of you!”
She wept as she hurled herself toward Diana’s voice.
But Diana was not someone she could touch.
“Don’t even try.”
With a flick of her wrist, Diana froze Alicia’s feet solid.
“You’re both so good at blaming others.”
Her eyes swept slowly over the two people sprawled on the floor.
“You were the ones who betrayed my sincerity from the start. There’s no reason to treat things like you as if you were human.”
“My lady!”
Calypso crawled on his knees toward Diana and clutched the hem of her dress, pleading miserably.
“We were happy! Didn’t you love me…?!”
“Who are you calling ‘my lady’? We’re divorced, remember?”
Diana smiled radiantly, a smile that didn’t match the grim scene. Then she coldly brushed off Calypso’s hand from her dress hem.
Instead, she clasped Ruery’s hand tightly.
Ruery slid his fingers naturally between hers.
“She’s my woman.”
Then he snapped his fingers at Calypso, who was trying to lunge forward.
Ruery’s magic sent Calypso flying across the cabin.
“Ugh…!”
Ruery stalked toward him like a predator cornering prey. But Diana gripped his arm firmly.
“Don’t kill them.”
“Why?”
“Death would be nothing but peace for them.”
Ruery whistled sharply. The ropes lying around the cabin slithered like snakes, binding Calypso and Alicia’s bodies tightly.
“For those who committed such beastly sins driven by desire, there’s a place perfectly suited for them.”
Diana’s eyes glinted sharply.
“A very comfortable place… where they’ll suffer for life, tormented by memories worse than death.”
Ruery tilted his head curiously as he gazed at Diana’s smiling face.
* * *
At dawn, Aisel visited Catherine in the underground prison, accompanied by knights. Catherine, too, would be going to the same place as Calypso and Alicia.
“How hideous.”
Aisel addressed Catherine, who was crouched in the corner of the cell.
“Don’t look at me! Don’t look!”
Catherine screamed, trying to hide her face. But she couldn’t conceal her grotesquely aged appearance. It was as if the ugliness of her greedy desires had surfaced on her face.
“It’s fine, Catherine. That face is still better than your filthy greed.”
“You…!”
Catherine pounded the iron bars with bloodshot eyes, glaring as if she could kill Aisel.
“Don’t even think about touching me.”
Aisel brushed at her dress as if something dirty had touched it and whispered coldly.
“Bastard-born.”
“You lowborn thing.”
Aisel’s words overlapped with Catherine’s voice from the past, when she used to insult her relentlessly while she lived hidden behind the bookshelf.
Catherine froze, her mouth opening and closing wordlessly.
“How does it feel now that the roles are reversed?”
Aisel smiled, her gentle eyes narrowing.
“You really are pathetic, Catherine.”
She looked pitifully at Catherine’s snow-white hair and continued.
“If you had sided with Mother…”
Catherine’s throat bobbed as she swallowed hard. Her mouth was dry. And when Aisel spoke her next words, Catherine’s hands dropped helplessly from the bars.
“Mother would never have abandoned you.”
Catherine’s violet eyes trembled like leaves in the wind. A deep, suffocating despair swallowed her.
She had been terrified Diana would discard her the moment the truth was known. That fear had driven her to ever greater cruelty—toward Aisel, her half-sibling in all but name.
She had felt she couldn’t survive otherwise. She thought the life she had as a glamorous noble lady would vanish like a mirage.
And now, at this moment, she had lost everything—her title, her family, her youth.
It had all been her own doing.
“Take her away.”
“Yes, Lady Aisel.”
The knights bowed their heads to Aisel, opened the cell, and seized Catherine’s frail arms. Catherine was dragged away with no resistance, as though she had given up.
Soon, the three of them were gathered together at the mansion’s entrance. Alicia burst into tears the moment she saw Catherine. Perhaps it was a blessing she was blind—she didn’t have to see her daughter’s aged and ruined face.
“Let’s go.”
Diana and Aisel climbed into the carriage together. Ruery joined them as well.
Their destination was none other than the Imperial Palace’s courtroom.
“Such vile creatures!”
“Look at how hideous they are!”
“That fake tried to pass as the real one!”
“But wasn’t she the Grand Duchess’s cherished friend?!”
The courtroom was already packed with people who had heard about the chaos at the debutante ball.
They hurled insults at the three bowed figures, pelting them with stones, eggs, and tomatoes.
Soon, the three were drenched in filth, looking like beggars. They sat silently at the defendants’ bench, unable to defend themselves against the crowd’s fury.
Then the Emperor entered the courtroom. Everyone instantly rose to greet him.
“Infinite glory to the Sun of the Edith Empire!”
“Be seated.”
The Emperor’s commanding voice filled the room, and everyone quietly sat down.
It was rare for the Emperor himself to preside over trials. But Calypso de Ernest was of Imperial blood. Though now stripped of rank, he had once been a Grand Duke. It wasn’t appropriate for just anyone to serve as judge.
And he had his own reason to pass judgment personally.
The Emperor looked down at the three with eyes full of disdain. Calypso, once a royal Grand Duke, had committed adultery—it was truly disgraceful.
Clicking his tongue, he began the trial.
“Calypso de Ernest.”
The Emperor’s sharp gaze fixed on him, making Calypso’s shoulders shake.
“Did you commit adultery with Alicia le Blair and father Catherine de Ernest?”
Calypso hesitated for a long time before finally whispering in a small, trembling voice.
“…Yes.”
The courtroom, already aware of the facts, erupted with louder whispers and curses.
The Emperor looked incredulous.
“There’s no room for excuses. The evidence is clear as day.”
His disgusted gaze shifted to Catherine. Her face, partially hidden under a heavy robe, was grotesque, like it had been covered in burns.
“Then I will pass sentence.”
“Calypso de Ernest cultivated poisonous plants, committed adultery with Alicia le Blair, and coveted his father-in-law’s fortune to the point of trying to murder his wife—actions unbecoming of a noble.”
Calypso hung his head. Shame burned through him. But he was at least relieved that adultery didn’t carry the harshest punishment in the Empire.
Since he hadn’t actually killed anyone, he believed he would be spared execution. He quietly sighed in relief.
The Emperor turned to Alicia, who stared blankly into the void.
“Alicia le Blair not only switched the Grand Duchess’s daughter with her illegitimate child but even attempted to murder that child and the Grand Duchess.”
He continued.
“Catherine de Ernest, along with her mother Alicia le Blair, abused and tried to kill the Grand Duchess’s biological child, and even went so far as to poison the young heir of the Iverc Duke’s household.”
The Emperor knew everything. Alicia trembled violently. Unlike Calypso, she and Catherine would almost certainly face execution.
But the Emperor’s sentence shocked everyone.
“Therefore, all three will be sentenced to the Water Prison.”
The courtroom erupted in murmurs. Only Diana, who had expected the verdict, smiled faintly.
