38.
“This really isn’t something I should be doing… Please, keep this a secret from His Majesty.”
Count Polan urged her repeatedly.
“Of course.”
Philomel nodded as she followed him toward the Imperial Palace Prison. Still, he didn’t seem reassured, letting out a heavy, fretful sigh.
It had taken a great deal of coaxing to get the Count—who had adamantly refused to allow a meeting with Katherine, a high-treason criminal, without the Emperor’s explicit permission—to lead the way.
In the process, she had told a white lie, promising that she would positively consider entering the family register after meeting her birth mother and clearing her mind. But…
“It’s fine. As long as you make sure to silence everyone else, Count.”
Philomel replied somewhat indifferently, her mind occupied by only one question.
‘How is Katherine still alive?’
Her prediction that Katherine would eventually be caught had proven correct. Even Philomel, who possessed the Solar Flare Ring and had prepared for her escape well in advance, had been captured. That was how impossible it was to evade the Empire’s pursuit. Telling her to run had been a final gesture of consideration for the woman who had brought her into the world.
While she had held a faint hope that Katherine might be lucky enough to escape, she had never expected this outcome.
‘To be alive even after being caught.’
In the book, Katherine is caught, but she never avoids execution.
‘Did some variable emerge that caused Ellensia’s entreaties to move the Emperor’s heart?’
Perhaps Philomel’s own actions had accelerated everything by a year, triggering some unforeseen consequence.
Just then, Count Polan pointed ahead.
“The Imperial Palace Prison is in sight.”
A rugged, windowless stone building revealed itself. Even the bright, sunny spring weather was insufficient to erase the gloomy, suffocating aura emanating from its walls.
The guard standing watch recognized them and offered a stiff salute.
“Count Polan… and the Princess, is it?”
Philomel was no longer a princess, but the staff here still treated her with the old, ingrained deference, albeit now tempered with uncomfortable hesitation.
‘Why so awkward?’
Philomel stood behind the Count with a troubled expression.
“I’m here to see ‘that woman.’”
Count Polan spoke in a low, authoritative voice. “You may enter. The jailer will guide you.”
The guard opened the door without suspicion. Being with the Emperor’s secretary meant passing through the tightest security without a challenge.
Count Polan would only accompany her to the entrance, leaving Philomel to face Katherine alone. She couldn’t keep him tied up when he was so busy, and besides, that was what she had requested.
Before he left, Philomel expressed her gratitude.
“Thank you for granting my request, even though it must have been difficult.”
“……Princess.”
Count Polan gazed at her with solemn, heavy eyes.
“No matter what anyone says, you are the Emperor’s child, and you are the one I serve. Regardless of His Majesty’s wishes, I truly wish to continue serving you.”
“…….”
Philomel stood still, unable to find the words. Count Polan was a man who had looked after his master’s daughter even before Eustis had taken any interest in her. Perhaps he was the adult who had watched over her growth for the longest time.
“I just wanted to convey that.”
With a sheepish, sad smile, the Count turned and left.
“……No, Count. I am not that man’s daughter.”
Philomel uttered a belated, quiet response to his retreating back.
* * *
“This is the place, Princess.”
The jailer guided her to the cell. When Philomel signaled, he retreated, leaving her to speak with Katherine in private.
“Elen? Is that you, Elen?”
At the sound of footsteps, the woman inside the cell pressed her face to the iron bars. A sharp clatter echoed through the cold corridor.
“I’m sorry. I am not the Ellensia you were hoping for.”
Philomel stepped closer and answered quietly.
“Phi, Philomel……!”
Upon recognizing her, the woman’s expression filled with the same shock as the first time they had met.
Philomel gave a cold, mocking laugh.
‘To the very end, you don’t see me as your daughter.’
Katherine hesitated, then reached a trembling hand through the iron bars.
“Were you caught too? But you’re safe, aren’t you? Thank goodness. Thank goodness. Come here and let me see your face…….”
*Slap!*
Philomel struck her hand away.
“Don’t act like you care now.”
Perhaps driven by the anxiety of her situation, Katherine shouted in a frantic, desperate voice.
“No, you misunderstand! I didn’t know you were here. I thought there would be no one else to visit me but Elen……”
“Oh, really? Then I’ll just leave it at that.”
Philomel let out a dry, cynical laugh and steadied her breathing. She was reacting too emotionally, which was unlike her. She knew perfectly well what kind of person Katherine was.
The woman, gaunt and hollow-eyed, could not meet her gaze and kept her head bowed.
“I only feel sorry toward you. I know it’s a sin that can’t be washed away even if I spend a lifetime begging for it……”
Katherine muttered in a voice so low it was barely audible. Philomel watched her in silence. The disheveled hair, the hands wrapped in stained bandages, the heavy shackles on her ankles—she felt no sympathy.
Kidnapping a princess was a crime punishable by death. She might have saved her life for now thanks to Ellensia’s pleas, but Katherine would soon be executed as the book dictated. There was no need to waste her emotions.
“It’s fortunate that you’ve gained a little extra time in this life. Since it was time given to you by your daughter, do your best to spend it meaningfully.”
“Philomel…….”
“I am leaving this place. I plan to go somewhere where no one knows me and live quietly.”
Though she wasn’t sure such a place existed, given that her face was known across the continent.
“So, goodbye. I truly hope you find peace until your final moment.”
No matter what she felt, she hoped the woman would find rest before meeting a cruel end. Truly.
‘The person who gave birth to me, yet could never be my mother.’
Goodbye. Goodbye forever.
The corners of Katherine’s eyes grew wet.
“Wait! Can’t you stay here a little longer? Please? I beg you. I’m begging you……”
Philomel found Katherine’s sudden display of tenderness to be disgustingly hypocritical.
“Why? Oh, would you like me to tell you about the Ellensia you’re so curious about?”
A dark, smoldering fire surged within Philomel’s chest.
“Ellensia is doing well. She plays dice with her biological father, and her biological mother’s nanny takes great care of her. She lives in a room so large and ornate it puts that shabby house to shame, enjoying everything she was meant to have. And she will continue to do so.”
As she spilled the words, a sudden question crossed her mind. Why hadn’t Ellensia visited this place yet? Wasn’t she worried about her mother?
‘Simply because Eustis wouldn’t allow it?’
Katherine answered weakly.
“That’s not what I meant when I was curious about Elen.”
“Then what is it?”
“……Is Elen acting like herself?”
Acting like herself, my foot. It was about Ellensia after all. Philomel snorted.
“How would I know how she usually acts?”
“Then, is Elen… normal?”
“……Excuse me?”
It was a strange question. ‘Normal’?
At that moment, an alien glint flickered in Katherine’s eyes. A look of dark, panicked distrust.
“……Elen has changed.”
She gnashed her lips, sighing like a scream.
“She’s been strange for a few months now. She isn’t the Elen I knew.”
“……Strange? In what way?”
It didn’t sound like a lie to escape the situation. Philomel asked, knitting her brows.
“Everything.”
“Specifically, how?”
Katherine fell into a shuddering, deep thought.
“Well… her way of speaking has changed, her gait is different, and her appetite… it’s as if she’s a completely different person……”
Then, appearing startled by her own words, she suddenly waved her hand.
“No! I misspoke. That Elen has become a different person… I must have lost my mind from being in a place like this.”
Katherine pulled the corners of her mouth up in a forced smile, but to Philomel, she looked like someone terrified of something she couldn’t name.
“…….”
“…….”
For a long while, neither of them spoke. The woman, rubbing her own raw hands together, left one final remark.
“Go now. If you’re seen here for no reason, people might misunderstand that you’re conspiring with me. And… thank you for coming to see me one last time.”