A Final Farewell
The voice carried a faint tremor so subtle it was almost imperceptible.
“What do you mean, ‘let’s leave together’?”
“I know how difficult it has been for you here.”
His excited breath brushed against the nape of her neck. He spoke faster than was usual for him.
“I have always hoped that one day you would trust me. If that day comes, I wanted to take you somewhere you could live in peace.”
Canna turned his words over in her mind. The day she would come to trust Raphael.
‘He was hoping for a day like that?’
All this time, Juhwa had been inside this body.
Juhwa had despised and loathed him so intensely, yet he had still harbored such a wish.
She felt a pang of pity for Raphael, who must have lingered by her side carrying that fragile hope.
Yet she kept her expression neutral and asked quietly in return.
“Somewhere I can live in peace? Have you even found a suitable place?”
“Yes.”
“But I am the eldest daughter of a ducal house. I have never lived without that level of wealth and splendor.”
“Do not worry. I have prepared everything so you may live without any inconvenience.”
“Prepared everything? Don’t tell me you’ve even earned money for my sake?”
“Yes.”
How could a defrocked priest have earned money?
No matter how hard he tried, it could never compare to the fortune of a ducal house.
He probably had no idea just how vast a noble’s wealth truly was. Once again, Canna nearly laughed at his naïveté.
Still, his sincerity was touching, so she did not mock him openly.
Instead, she spoke to him sweetly, as if rewarding him for all the effort he had poured in.
“Thank you. I’m moved.”
“……Does that mean you permit it?”
“Of course.”
No.
“I’ll go with you.”
That will never happen.
You are Sylvien’s friend, and you are being hunted by the Great Temple.
If I stay with you, my location will eventually be exposed. I refuse to put myself in danger again out of misplaced kindness.
So no.
I will never see you again either.
‘And sacrificing your life to save me is something I can handle on my own.’
Raphael burning in the flames.
She never wanted to see that sight again.
But this man was far too innocent; he seemed incapable of forgetting the kindness shown to him in childhood. He would probably risk his life for her at any moment.
Canna hated that.
“Thank you for making such an offer.”
Yet because Raphael was the kind of person who could find her like a ghost, Canna had no choice but to deceive him.
So she continued feeding him pleasant words.
“Let’s leave once my leg has fully healed. Until then, I think I’ll go somewhere to recuperate for a while.”
“Yes.”
“I’ll be back soon. Take care of yourself.”
“I will wait.”
Please don’t wait too long. Canna prayed silently in her heart.
This was the end.
This was her final moment with Raphael.
Perhaps because of the weight the word “final” carried, Canna felt his presence strike her as faintly sorrowful.
But that was all.
‘I’m sorry.’
Canna closed her eyes. In her heart, she offered a farewell.
‘Goodbye, Raphael.’
Crescent Isaberg’s prophecy had come true.
The incident was recorded in imperial history as the worst palace fire of all time.
The second prince, Crescent, a leading candidate for the throne, had perished in the blaze.
That was not all.
The Addis knights who had been visiting the palace had also died. Canna Addis had survived, but she suffered a leg injury after being crushed beneath the collapsing building’s debris.
The sole silver lining was that only the palace’s owner, Amelia, had escaped unharmed. The only injury she sustained was a few light bruises from leaping out the window.
A few days after the incident, Crescent Isaberg’s state funeral was held.
The Empress did not attend.
She could not possibly attend.
“Aaaaagh!”
At last, her medicine had run out completely.
The agony she had forgotten came rushing back. The pain gnawed at her from the crown of her head to the tips of her toes, consuming her entirely.
“Aagh, aaagh!”
The Empress screamed inside her chambers. Tears streamed down her face.
Her skin, scratched raw in a frenzy, had peeled away and was oozing blood. Her nails had broken long ago.
Yet she felt no pain from those wounds.
Compared to the burning itch that consumed her whole body, such trivial suffering was nothing!
Driven mad by the torture-like itching, the Empress could not even attend her son’s funeral.
The grief of losing her child, combined with the physical torment, completely shattered her sanity.
In the end, the Empress went to find Canna.
Whether she knelt before her or grabbed her by the hair, she would do anything to obtain the medicine!
However.
“Forgive me. His Grace the Duke of Addis has personally ordered that Her Majesty the Empress not be allowed inside.”
What she received was a firm refusal at the door.
“What did you say!”
The Empress shrieked, her eyes bloodshot and blazing red. Any trace of her usual dignity had vanished long ago.
“How dare you ignore an Empress’s command! Open the door at once! Bring the Duke of Addis’s daughter before me immediately!”
Yet the mansion’s gates did not budge. When her orders were repeatedly ignored, the Empress changed her approach.
“Please! Please let me meet the Duke of Addis’s daughter!”
“Your Majesty.”
The Empress whipped her head around. After all the commotion, the head of the house had finally stepped forward.
“I cannot open the gates. Please return to the palace.”
“Duke of Addis! I beg you, let me meet your daughter. I am pleading with you like this!”
“Canna’s condition is critical and she requires rest. Please go back.”
The news soon reached the Emperor’s ears.
“What did you just say? The Empress is begging the Duke of Addis?”
She had skipped her own son’s funeral, and this was what she was doing? Pleading in front of the Addis mansion?
The Emperor, seething with rage, issued a command.
“What are the knights doing! Go at once and bring the Empress back!”
In the end, the Empress was dragged away by the knights the Emperor had sent.
“Have you lost your mind? Do you even realize what time it is? What on earth are you doing?!”
But the Empress was not in her right mind.
It was not merely an expression of insult; she truly looked insane.
“Empress, just what is the reason for all this?”
At this point, even the Empress could no longer endure it.
She had kept it hidden because she knew it was her fatal weakness. Only Crescent had known.
But Crescent was dead, and no one else could help her now.
“Your Majesty, I beg you to issue an imperial decree! Without that medicine, I cannot truly say I am alive!”
The Empress dropped to her knees flat before the Emperor. For the first time, she begged.
“……You need the medicine of the Duke of Addis’s daughter?”
After hearing the full story, the Emperor muttered with a sour expression.
He had known Canna possessed talent in medicine, but he had never imagined the Empress would depend on her to this extent. However.
‘What benefit do I gain by helping this woman?’
The Emperor coldly weighed the profit. His mind turned quickly.
What could he extract from the Empress?
He soon found the answer.
“Do you truly believe that arrogant Duke of Addis will obey an imperial decree issued through an edict? Unless I go in person to persuade him, he will not move an inch.”
This damned bastard!
The Empress’s tear-filled eyes burned with fury. She knew her husband all too well.
The man who called himself Emperor of the Empire, the man who called himself her husband, would never move for free. He was acting like the world’s most despicable thug, demanding something in return!
Unable to bear the pain any longer, the Empress shrieked hysterically.
“Then what exactly do you want? Speak plainly!”
The Emperor smiled, the corners of his mouth lifting.
Perhaps because they were so alike, they understood each other perfectly.
He intended to use this opportunity to thoroughly bind the Empress’s maternal family, the Mercy house, so they could never escape his grasp again.
‘There is a way to ensure they have no choice but to stand on my side in the long term.’
The easiest way to board the same ship.
That was investment.
“I am about to undertake a national project. A massive endeavor to reorganize the empire’s rivers and utilize the resources of the waterways. However, the national budget alone is woefully insufficient.”
The Emperor spread both hands and smiled benevolently.
“Persuade Marquis Mercy to make the nobles invest in this project. Of course, I expect the Marquis himself to be the most enthusiastic participant.”
“If I do that, will you issue an imperial decree to the Duke of Addis and secure the medicine for me?”
“I will.”
“You promised! No matter what it takes, you must obtain the medicine, Your Majesty!”
“I will show the same sincerity that Marquis Mercy displays.”
He truly was a man who thought only of his own gain until the very end. The Empress wanted to rip the skin from his face. That was how much she loathed him.
Yet at this moment, the Emperor was her only path to survival.
And later, the Emperor would come to regret this moment deeply.
He should never have done it.
Canna used her injury as an excuse to skip Crescent’s funeral.
However, she did attend the funeral for the Addis knights who had died in the line of duty.
After Crescent’s state funeral ended, Amelia came to visit her. But just as she had refused the Empress, Canna refused her as well.
‘I don’t want to make any more mistakes.’
The decisive moment was right before her. Canna was afraid that if she let her emotions sway her, she might ruin everything.
Finally, it was tomorrow.
Tomorrow morning, she would depart for Riben Island. Tonight was her last night in the Addis mansion.
That night, after finishing organizing her laboratory and heading back to her bedroom.
Canna encountered Alexandro in the dark corridor.
‘Why isn’t he asleep at this hour?’
Just as she tried to walk past him.
“You’re leaving?”
Canna stopped in her tracks.