“The man you wanted so badly will belong to another woman in only a few months. Do you truly intend to stand there and watch it happen?”
Talia’s shoulders trembled violently.
The realization that Senevier had seen straight through her all this time filled her with horror.
After silently studying her daughter’s pale face, Senevier once more donned the mask of a loving mother.
Then she continued in a gentle, coaxing voice,
“Talia, everything I have arranged this time was solely for your sake. I wished to show my precious daughter a path out of the miserable situation she currently suffers in.”
Long white fingers softly brushed along her cheek.
It felt like a pale serpent slithering across her skin.
Talia’s body stiffened as though paralyzed.
Senevier gazed directly into her frightened daughter’s face and whispered softly as feathers drifting through the air.
“There are two paths open to you. One is to obtain the man you desire by any means necessary. The other is to become a loser who is at least somewhat less miserable.”
Her smooth voice clung to Talia’s ears like thick sap.
“I chose the former path and obtained everything I desired. But if you lack the ability to do the same, then selecting another man who is merely satisfactory and pretending to be just as happy as the victor is also an option. It is somewhat pathetic, certainly, but if you are destined to lose anyway, would it not be better to preserve at least your pride?”
Talia tore herself away from her mother like a trapped beast escaping a snare.
Senevier offered her daughter a warm smile.
“This journey is the final opportunity I am giving you. Think carefully about which path you intend to choose.”
After glaring rebelliously at her mother, Talia fled the laboratory almost as though escaping.
Behind her followed Senevier’s bright laughter, light as birdsong and clinging like a shadow.
The sound remained stuck in her mind for a very long time afterward.
* * *
In the end, Talia departed on the journey alongside the half-siblings who despised her.
Thanks to the Empress’s palace supplying all the necessary personnel and equipment, there was virtually nothing she herself needed to prepare. Senevier had even attempted to assign her personal soldiers and high-ranking mages as escorts.
But Gareth fiercely opposed the idea, and the arrangement collapsed.
The Crown Prince was already furious enough at the mere fact that he had to travel alongside the illegitimate half-sister he considered an eyesore. There was no chance he would obediently accept an order to bring the Empress’s followers as well.
According to rumor, Gareth had personally gone to the Emperor and argued heatedly until Senevier’s command was revoked.
For Talia, it was welcome news.
She herself had no desire whatsoever to spend the journey surrounded by her mother’s zealots.
‘For my sake? Don’t make me laugh...’
Talia glared at the servants loading luggage onto the carriage while tearing at a hangnail beside her fingernail.
There was no way Senevier would orchestrate something this troublesome for her benefit alone.
She was undoubtedly plotting something else.
With suspicious eyes, Talia carefully observed the servants sent from the Empress’s palace.