The Gift of an Island
“That’s not the one.”
Claude said quietly.
“The child you should be taking is not that one. It’s the other child,” he said.
Since those words had been spoken right beside her, there was no chance she could forget them.
“It seems the maid was telling the truth, Your Grace. It appears the Duchess orchestrated this.”
Alexandro did not bother answering.
He had already seen and heard everything himself.
“How could Mother do something like this?”
Kallen made no effort to hide his disgust.
Orsini remained silent, but he stared at Chloe as though she were something utterly vile.
Chloe had lost all ability to speak.
She had no idea what to say. It felt as if her mouth had been completely shattered; she could not even produce a groan.
“Answer me, Mother. If not Isabel, who did you hope would be kidnapped instead?”
“……”
“I asked which one was supposed to be taken!”
“I…”
After a tremendous effort, Chloe forced out a trembling voice.
“I couldn’t simply stand by and watch Isabel be kidnapped. So I told them to take Canna instead. Or me, if not her.”
“That is incorrect.”
At that, Claude’s expression hardened.
“You clearly said, ‘Take Isabel, not Canna.’”
“……”
Had she really said that?
Chloe’s mind twisted into chaos.
The mere thought of her daughter Isabel being kidnapped had driven her beyond reason. She had completely severed the tether of sanity.
Alexandro glared at her.
Kallen, Orsini, and the family knights all fixed her with the same look one might give a monstrous criminal.
No.
Chloe shook her head.
No. It’s not like that.
A criminal? No. Not her.
I only did what I was told!
Cornered, a single lifeline flashed through Chloe’s mind.
Yes—the one who had started all of this was the Empress!
Chloe turned bloodshot eyes toward the Empress and cried out in desperation.
“This was all ordered by Her Majesty the Empress!”
Yes, it had all been the Empress’s scheme. She herself was guilty of nothing more than stepping onto the board the other woman had laid out!
I-I never wanted to go along with it!
Come to think of it, she really hadn’t felt right about it. Wasn’t that why she had regretted it over and over when the bandits actually stormed in?
She had regretted it because she had forced herself to do something she hadn’t wanted to do!
“I had no choice! She threatened that if I didn’t obey, she would destroy Isabel’s future!”
The Empress’s eyes sharpened like blades.
“Silence! How dare you spew such drivel!”
Unlike Chloe, who had utterly lost her mind, the Empress’s face remained completely composed.
“Even if the name of Addis can make birds fall from the sky, to dare pin guilt upon the Empress of the Empire! Is this not treason itself!”
Treason!
At that word, Chloe’s mind went pure white. Was the woman truly trying to frame this as treason?
No—I have proof!
She possessed documents they had exchanged, each bearing the other’s seal.
Yet Chloe’s lips had frozen solid. They refused to move.
Perhaps it was the chilling weight of the word “treason,” but a fragment of reason had returned from the wreckage of her melted mind.
Chloe swallowed hard and glanced around.
“……”
There were far too many eyes watching.
The imperial knights and the Addis knights alike.
Unless she could fully stand behind her words, she had to hold her tongue now. She could not speak carelessly.
Y-yes. First, calm down. Return to the mansion and think this through carefully.
The Empress hurried back to the palace.
“First, I must destroy my seal. I will claim it was stolen long ago. As for the documents with Chloe, I can simply deny ever writing them.”
After pacing furiously for some time, the Empress could no longer contain her rage and hurled a vase across the room.
Crash!
“Why did everything become so twisted! Why was it Lady Isabel who was kidnapped! And how in the world did the Duke of Addis arrive there!”
“That is… rather strange.”
Her younger brother, Marquis Mercy, spoke with a grim expression.
“I contacted the mercenary guild the moment I received the news.”
“Exactly! I clearly ordered them to kidnap a young woman with black hair!”
“That is precisely what is odd. Several days ago, a letter arrived instructing them to kidnap a red-haired woman instead.”
“So those utter imbeciles followed the order without even verifying it properly?”
The Empress muttered in a hollow, stunned voice. Marquis Mercy lowered his head deeply.
“My apologies. I had given strict orders that they were not to attempt contact without separate instructions…”
In truth, that had been the sensible precaution. It was basic procedure to cover their tracks.
“Furthermore, since only we knew of this plan, they naturally assumed the letter came from our side.”
“Damn it all!”
The Empress ground her teeth.
Her head felt ready to burst with fury, yet her reason spun at frightening speed.
“It seems someone learned of this plan beforehand and sabotaged it.”
“Yes, that appears to be the case.”
The Empress drew a harsh breath. Then she thought in silence.
“I heard the person who lifted Isabel’s confinement was Canna.”
“So it seems.”
“The letter ordering the mercenaries to kidnap the red-haired woman arrived a week ago, correct?”
“Yes.”
“And Isabel Addis’s confinement was only lifted today.”
Bang! The Empress slammed her fist on the desk.
“Unless one is a god, there is no way to know in advance that Isabel’s confinement would be lifted and she would attend the party!”
That was not all.
“And the Addis family appeared at the most devastatingly perfect moment! Almost as if they wanted us to witness this exact scene!”
The Empress suddenly burst into shrill laughter.
Then her face went cold in an instant.
“It was that bitch!”
Canna. It could only be Canna.
“That bitch has been playing me like a fool!”
The Empress’s shoulders shook with fine tremors. Never in her life had she been so thoroughly toyed with by another person.
Canna. She wanted to kill that girl immediately! But…
She could not.
A look of utter emptiness crossed the Empress’s face. She truly could not. No, rather than killing Canna—
What if she refuses to give me the medicine?
Sudden terror crashed over her.
Canna knew everything. Only now did the Empress realize how dire her position had become.
She did not know how, but Canna had seen through the plot between the Empress and Chloe from the very beginning.
In other words, Canna knew the Empress had tried to harm her.
Would a woman like that still provide the medicine?
No!
For a moment, the old horror flashed through her mind.
The burning itch that felt as though she were being consumed by fire. The agony that had made her pray for death!
Anything but that!
When the Empress’s face turned a sickly blue, Marquis Mercy tilted his head.
“Your Majesty, what is the matter?”
“Ah, no. It is nothing.”
The Empress shook her head hastily.
Marquis Mercy did not know she depended on Canna’s medicine.
The Empress who could not survive without it—this was a fatal weakness she had hidden even from her own brother.
The only one who knew was her son, Crescent.
What if Canna withholds the medicine?
Growing frantic, the Empress bit down hard on her lip.
“Haaam.”
Canna let out a huge yawn.
“Aah, I’m so sleepy I could die.”
Perhaps it was the hot bath, but every muscle in her body felt limp and loose.
Canna leaned back against the tub and tilted her head upward.
Finally, I’ve finished everything I needed to do.
It was all over.
She had obtained the Ancient Alchemy tome and planted devastating bombs for both the Empress and Chloe.
Canna knew exactly what Chloe treasured most.
The three men of Addis.
But from today onward, she would lose them forever.
What the Empress feared most was also Addis.
She had turned that very house into her enemy. And now the Empress would never receive medicine from her again; she would spend the rest of her life writhing in endless agony.
So it was done. Her revenge was complete.
There was nothing left for her to do here, not a single shred of lingering attachment.
Now all that remains is to leave.
To the Yalden Kingdom.
Anywhere would do, as long as it was not this hell filled with people she despised.
She could never find happiness in this horrific Addis family.
Lately Canna had come to understand with painful clarity that nothing mattered more than one’s relationships with others.
Without people she liked, without anyone whose heart she could open to, she could never be truly happy.
As long as she remained trapped in this horrible Addis and failed to sever every tie, she would stay miserable forever.
Canna gazed at the ceiling and dreamed vaguely of the future. Of living a new life under a new identity in Yalden.
Once I’m there, I’ll work as a physician. I’ll find new hobbies. Eventually I’ll meet good people. I might even fall sincerely in love with someone.
Harboring that hope, Canna rose from the bathtub. She intended to head straight to the bedroom, fall asleep, and bring this long day to an end.
However.
“Sister, are you all right?”
“……”
That tiresome bastard.
She had somehow known he would appear.
“Shouldn’t you be worrying about Isabel more than me? She was kidnapped, even if only briefly.”
“Isabel will be fine.”
Kallen sighed as he drew closer.
“I’m relieved you’re safe. If not for that maid… I don’t even want to imagine it.”
“The maid? Ah, you mean your mother’s maid?”
“Do not call her my mother!”
Kallen shouted, visibly shuddering.
“That woman is not my mother. I do not know such a person.”
Canna shrugged. Then she probed gently.
“Still, what did Mother—no, Chloe—say? Did she admit everything obediently?”
“No. She admitted to ordering the maid to obtain poisonous herbs, but she denied until the end ever exchanging secret letters with Her Majesty the Empress. She claims the maid is lying.”
Kallen sneered with an icy expression.
“She truly has no conscience.”
“……”
That part must feel unfair. After all, Chloe really had never exchanged letters with the Empress.
That had been Canna’s own fabrication, carried out through the maid Eriel.
But in the current situation, no one would believe a word Chloe said.
“I was worried you might have been badly shaken, Sister. Which is why I wanted to suggest something.”
Kallen smiled softly.
“How would you feel about taking a short leave for recuperation?”
“What?”
“It will be noisy here for a while. Father seems intent on divorce, and since this incident also involves the Empress…”
“……”
“So withdrawing for a time would be a wise choice.”
“Withdrawing?”
“Yes. In fact, I have a gift for you, Sister.”
Gift. The word summoned a recent memory. Surely he hadn’t brought another whip!
“I have no interest in that sort of hobby, Kallen.”
“Pardon?”
“You didn’t prepare something like a whip again, did you?”
At that, Kallen’s smile deepened.
“If Sister desires it, I can produce one immediately.”
Fortunately, it did not seem to be a whip.
“Here, look at these.”
What he offered were two sheets of paper. One was a map, the other a deed.
“In truth, I recently purchased an island in your name.”
“……”
“That island belongs to you, Sister.”
Canna stared at the documents.
The island was named Riven. The owner was listed as Canna Addis.
She gazed fixedly at the letters, then slowly lifted her head.
“You’re giving this island to me?”
“Yes.”
“Why are you doing this?”
“Pardon?”
“Why go to such lengths for me?”
“I told you. I love you, Sister.”
“I already said that disgusts me, so stop saying it.”
“Regardless, rest on the island for the time being.”
Under normal circumstances she would have thrown the papers aside, declaring she had no need for them, and shouted at him to get out. But—
Not bad.
It was actually a rather tempting offer.
Compared to the Addis mansion crawling with Alexandro, Orsini, and the elite knights, an island would be far easier to escape from.
Canna shrugged as though she could not be bothered to refuse.
“Mm. I’ll consider it.”