Chapter 178
A faint sense of unease lingered, but Magnus bowed again with proper courtesy.
“Yes. I apologize for coming so suddenly, Mrs. Norton. I had something urgent to say to Norton.”
“Oh? What might that be…? Still, it’s nice to see you. Eugenie doesn’t get many visitors these days.”
“….”
Of course she doesn’t. Magnus felt his mouth turn bitter.
Eugenie Norton was estranged from Carter Livingston, and May Chester—the female classmate she’d been close to—had lost her sanity. On top of that, Apollin had been stirring up rumors nonstop. Given all that, Eugenie’s social situation was…
As Magnus’s expression darkened, Theodora smiled faintly.
“Then why don’t you come inside?”
“Ah… would that be all right?”
“Of course. Eugenie will be back shortly.”
“Thank you, Mrs. Norton.”
He stepped into the estate with a quiet sigh of relief.
But that day, he never did confess to the person he’d come to see.
And from that day on, for nearly six long years, he never did.
* * *
When Eugenie opened her eyes, she didn’t see the familiar ceiling of the Norton estate—but an unfamiliar one.
She took several shaky breaths. Then, as her lungs filled with the unmistakable air of the present, she suddenly choked.
“…Cough! Hack!”
“Oh dear. Would you like some water?”
“Cough—no, no—I’m fine!”
She didn’t need the tree pervert’s concern, nor the vine peeking anxiously beside her bed.
‘At least this makes it painfully clear I’m back in reality…!’
While she’d been submerged in other people’s memories and emotions, every new revelation had slipped in almost naturally. But now that she was truly back, the weight of everything she’d seen crashed down all at once.
“So Carter is… what, exactly?”
“A prince. The Emperor’s illegitimate son, hidden and raised by the temple.”
“What…? Ha!”
Who on earth could imagine their childhood friend was a prince?
“Wait—if Tristan stays like that, then what happens…?”
“Your husband becomes Emperor. Assuming the current Emperor resolves the bloodline issue.”
“…What?”
“And a divine-powered Emperor, at that. The first in the history of the Hermeland Empire.”
“Ah… haah.”
So many things that should have vanished into history seemed to be surfacing all at once after this marriage. And yet, the more she thought about it, the more it all strangely made sense.
‘I always felt Carter wasn’t really Livingston’s son.’
No matter how much resemblance he supposedly took from his mother, the atmosphere between the two had never felt like father and son.
So honestly, Carter’s background wasn’t that shocking.
“Carter knew about Mom’s contract magic.”
“Yes.”
“But not because she told him. Livingston—no, the temple—knew.”
For a very long time.
Long enough to deliberately keep Carter close to her.
Just before they parted, Carter had torn into her heart—forcing her down, drowning her in pleasure, clinging to her.
But what hurt the most was the temple’s hidden agenda behind it all.
‘Was that why you got close to me, Carter?’
Just to use her strange constitution for their purposes? And yet, Carter had genuinely fallen for her along the way.
“You were awful, Livingston. I can’t even stand to look at you.”
If he hadn’t been sincere, he wouldn’t have felt his heart shatter when seventeen-year-old Eugenie said those words.
And then—
“Napier… he really did make a ‘deal’ with Mom, didn’t he…”
Because of the petrification creeping into his body with age. Theodora Norton must have offered a cure in exchange for a marriage contract with her daughter.
‘But is that really the same as lying to me, the way this tree bastard claimed?’
Just before showing her those memories, the tree pervert had said it outright:
“I’ll show you the secrets of the men who lied to you.”
Carter, maybe—but Magnus Napier, too?
“Wait.”
Eugenie’s eyes widened as a sudden thought struck her.
“There’s more I haven’t seen yet, isn’t there?”
“Oh? You noticed?”
“You damn tree—! Show me the rest, now!”
“Unfortunately, that will have to wait until we change locations.”
“Why?!”
Eugenie nearly lunged for his hair. There were things you simply didn’t do to people—one of them was stopping in the middle of an explanation, and another was cutting off a vision halfway through.
But Alokes only pointed outside and replied calmly,
“A warrant has just been issued for you, Eugenie Norton.”
“…What?”
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