Chapter 43

At the news of Theodore’s sudden visit, I had to stay in the room as quiet as a mouse.

Shortly thereafter, Benjamin returned with a rather tired face.

“What about His Majesty?”

“He went back.”

“What did he come here for?”

Breathing through my nose, I asked, and Benjamin stared at me.

“Katarina was sick and he came to visit her. He must have been worried so he came without prior notice.”

“Is Katarina okay? Wasn’t my scarecrow killed instead of her?”

“Yeah. But he can’t help but worry. The woman he loves is sick after all.”

I had a rough idea of the reason for Theodore’s visit, but I felt bitter for no reason. I remembered Theodore, who answered yes without hesitation to my question if he loved Katarina.

Anyway… I’m dead…But I immediately shook my head.

Well, I shouldn’t care.

It was a luxury to even mourn for my death. I was nothing to him.

Perhaps their engagement ceremony will resume soon.

“Yves, the story we talked about earlier.”

Benjamin tapped the back of my hand.

“I will move the mansion. So please allow me to help you and your baby.”

He brought up the subject we talked about until just before Theodore’s visit.

“But Benjamin, all the foundations you have built so far are here, so if you’re going to throw them away and move the mansion, it’s ridiculous.”

Ferdinand was the main family that supported Albrecht from generation to generation, and their foundations were all here in the capital of Albrecht.

But to throw it all away and move the mansion. Just because of the small reason to help me.

No matter how much Benjamin was obsessed with friendship games like a teenage boy, this was not it.

“If it’s for you, I don’t care.”

“But I don’t think this is. To be honest, it’s a burden for me as well.”

“…”

Benjamin paused for a moment and thought about my words, then spoke again.

“Then… I will change the mansion to your liking.”

“Even if you change it…”

“Go and enjoy your break, Yves.”

He smiled and cut off my words.

“When you come back, it will be a completely different space.”

***

Meanwhile, Katarina, who was imprisoned in an old room, seemed to be losing her mind day by day because of Theodore, who did not come over time.

‘Why don’t you come? Why? Isn’t the time when you should have come earlier?’

She bit her nails, which had become tattered, in the anxiety that had grown in the meantime, and rolled her eyes nonstop.

There was no way that Emperor Theodore would have given up on her now. Even if that were the case, there was nothing to say about the ruined engagement ceremony…… ?

Then, all of a sudden, Katarina had a lightning bolt of realization.

‘Benjamin!’

Yes, he was the only man. Behind this unexpected variable was…

‘He’s blocking it! He doesn’t let Emperor Theodore come to me!’

In the first place, he pushed Katarina to the Emperor’s side in order to bring Yves Llewellyn back to Ferdinand.

However, contrary to his plan, Yves Llewellyn died in an unexpected accident…(*Kataria doesn’t know Yves’s death was faked)

‘I wonder if he thinks I’m the cause of her death, and he wants revenge?’

If that was the case, that would be very unfortunate.

Because the woman’s death was truly an accident that Katarina herself did not expect.

‘Wait, no… if Benjamin Ferdinand really wants revenge…..’

Katarina was well acquainted with Benjamin’s cruelty.

But if he really wanted to get revenge on her, he wouldn’t be quietly imprisoning her like this.

Suddenly, a terrifying thought occurred to Katarina.

“Maybe he’s going to kill me some other way!”

When she thought of that, she was filled with indescribable fear.

Katarina tried to escape by mobilizing her magical power that she possessed. However, her magical power collided with the barrier set by Benjamin and bounced back.

“No! I can’t die like this!”

“Damn! Sh*t!”

Katarina cursed harshly, wiping the blood from between her lips.

She could not break Benjamin’s barrier by her own strength.

“By the way, the woman who was next to the headmaster……”

At this time, she heard the muffled voices of the servants cleaning outside, and Katarina leaned close to the door and listened.

“Right? It’s definitely Yves Llewellyn, right?”

“Yeah, it was definitely Yves Llewellyn. But why did we never know that Yves Llewellyn was a woman? She’s a woman by any means…As if she was possessed by magic…”

Katarina’s eyes widened as she heard the familiar name.

‘What? Yves Llewellyn is back? Wasn’t she dead?’

It’s ridiculous.

Yves Llewellyn bled and died in front of her eyes.

‘Then what I saw was……!’

Didn’t Emperor Theodore take the dead woman’s body as well? But how did she come back here?

‘You used black magic!’

Katarina realized that it was all a collaboration between Benjamin and that woman. Benjamin wanted the woman to leave Theodore, and they came up with this plan.

‘What do I do? Now that Benjamin has everything he wants, he won’t keep me alive.’

Benjamin has wanted to kill her for a long time, so she may die without anyone knowing.

But that would be too unfair. As she risked her life, she even touched black magic, so she could not die so miserably.

Yves Llewellyn, that woman was the problem.

She always got in her way.

Had it not been for her (Yves) alone, she (Katarina) would have grown up to be Ferdinand’s nobility, and she (Katarina) would have gone down in history as she sat next to the most handsome man on the continent.

Yves Llewellyn… Yvonne Chernicia..… Because of that woman…

Katarina gritted her teeth. At the same time, the maids spoke again.

“By the way, Yves Llewellyn…… . A doctor came and went, and he said she was pregnant ……”

Katarina’s body stiffened at the sound of a strange rumor.

***

Returning to the Imperial Palace, Theodore continued to keep an eye on Ferdinand.

But a day passed, two days passed…… A week passed and there was no contact from Ferdinand.

“Is there still no news from Ferdinand?”

“That…Lady Katarina must have been very shocked, so please wait a little longer….”

Armin responded with a sweat to the annoying question of Theodore.

“Maybe, they’re hiding her from me on purpose.”

Theodore thought deeply about Benjamin, who was provoking him that day. All those sent to inquire about Katarina’s condition returned without being able to cross Ferdinand’s main gate by Benjamin.

Benjamin Ferdinand has always been a person with unknown intention. Even if he had something to hide, it wasn’t strange.

“Send a doctor. If it’s for my sick fiancée, they won’t send it back.”

“Yes, Your Majesty.”

Not long after, there was a buzzing rumor in the Imperial Palace. The Emperor was heartbroken by his fiancée’s illness, so he sent a doctor from the imperial palace to his fiancée’s residence.

It was a rumor that Theodore had deliberately put forward, thinking that Benjamin would not be able to stop him (Theo) from visiting Katarina.

However, it was not in his plan for Ernst to come and argue after hearing the rumors.

“Hey, you left Yves alone when she was sick, but you sent a doctor to your fiancée. I guess for you and she (Katarina) must be the love of the century.”

Ernst said, looking at Theodore with resentful eyes.

“Ernst.”

Theodore raised one eyebrow as he looked at his half-brother who dared not know the subject and came to make a fuss.

“Where did you learn sarcastic speech?”

But Ernst said in a very excited voice.

“The most important thing to you is that woman (Katarina). So now give Yves back to me.”

Ernst asked again to return Yves’s body. He wanted to bury the body. So he asked Theodore to let her rest.

Theodore just clicked his tongue towards Ernst, who still couldn’t tell the difference between Yves and Yvonne.

“More than that, I heard that people died in your palace.” (Theo)

As Theodore spoke in an indifferent voice, Ernst stopped and his expression hardened.

Yes, that’s right. It did happen.

It happened while he was losing his temper.

When he woke up, there was a pool of blood all around him.

What’s even more terrifying was that… he couldn’t even remember what happened.

There was a hint of fear from the servants of the Imperial Palace, who lowered their eyes and avoided their gaze.

So no one told him, but Ernst could guess. Maybe he really did terrible things…l

As he recalled that day, a cold sweat was forming on his pale face.

Theodore spat out at Ernst.

“Be careful, Ernst. I’m the villain here, but you’re not, are you? When Yves comes back, she’ll be disappointed to see you.”

Ernst found Theodore’s words very strange.

“…Yves is dead, how does she come back?”

At his question, Theodore let out a slow burst of exclamation.

“Right. Yves won’t come back.”

Theodore murmured as if he had realized something he had forgotten for a moment.

“Yeah, Yves isn’t coming back. So I’m going to Yves.”

Ernst’s eyebrows narrowed at Theodore’s strange murmur.

“And whether I send a doctor to Miss Katarina or not, it’s none of your business.”

However, without even having time to dig into Theodore’s thoughts, his continued words made Ernst’s face wrinkled.

“She has my child, so of course I care.”

Ernst suddenly became angry.

He had been angry with Theodore ever since Yves died, but he couldn’t contain his anger at this moment.

He was so angry that he forgot that Theodore was the half-brother he had always feared.

So he said stingingly.

“Did you know Yves had a child before she died?”

This time Theodore paused.