“Talia, all of this began because of me. Yet do you know why nobody dares place rats in my soup?”
Frozen like a mouse before a serpent, Talia could not answer.
Senevier continued gently.
“Why my bathwater is always warm and fragrant, why my table is always overflowing with food...... Why they would never even dream of doing to me the things they do to you...... Shall I tell you the secret?”
Her blood-red lips brushed lightly against Talia’s ear.
“It is because they fear me so deeply that they cannot even imagine attempting such things. Some among them even feel reverence toward me. Of course, there are countless others who loathe and despise me as well. But even they view me as someone to fear, not someone to torment. Because I am a very dangerous existence.”
She stared directly into her daughter’s eyes.
And Talia glimpsed something dark and coiled deep inside Senevier’s gaze.
Straightening her body, Senevier offered her final piece of advice.
“Remember this. The strong and beautiful become objects of fear and envy. But the beautiful and weak are easily reduced to prey. Especially in this imperial palace. If you do not wish to be mercilessly trampled beneath the feet of the countless beasts that will come for you, then at the very least, do not let them discover that you are weak.”
With those final words, she departed.
Leaving behind the daughter who had already become unbearably fragile.......
That night, Talia turned those words over and over again in her mind.
The weak are trampled.
And Senevier seemed to have not the slightest intention of protecting her young daughter from being crushed beneath that brutality.
Was this how a defeated soldier felt after losing their final fortress?
Her entire body trembled with terror at the thought that even more horrifying things might await her.
Even if she were treated more cruelly than before, nobody would protect her.
If even her mother had turned away from her, would His Majesty the Emperor spare so much as a glance toward the illegitimate child who embodied his own disgrace?
Curled tightly beneath her blankets, she anxiously bit at her fingernails.
The servants’ feet she had seen while vomiting across the dining hall floor kept flashing through her mind.
Those indifferent feet busily moving around her broken form......
It was not difficult to imagine them crushing her beneath their heels like a worthless insect.
Her eyes burned hot as though on fire.
Mother is right. Soon, I’ll be crushed until nothing remains.
And the reason I ended up in this situation was because I had branded myself a sinner.
Guilt had made her weak.
The moment she began accepting everything with helpless resignation, as though she deserved whatever was done to her, they instinctively realized she would never resist.
From her shrinking posture.
From her intimidated eyes.
From her hesitant voice......
They discovered the shape of weakness within her and began indulging their cruelty without restraint.
By the time dawn finally arrived, Talia understood exactly what she needed to do.