Chapter 62
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That evening, Lea was suddenly dragged to the dungeon. She was surprised, since she hadn’t been locked in the dungeon for a while, having behaved like Bianca’s tongue in her mouth. But she soon regained her composure.
Upon arrival in the dungeon, she first ran through her mind to check if she’d properly hidden her most important belongings.
“How dare you, you wench!”
Bianca had never imagined that foolish Lea would pull any strings behind her back. Much less that she herself would be the target of such schemes.
Smack—!
Having learned that Derek had entered the palace that day, Bianca had the head maid find out where he went. Bianca had, in fact, never realized Derek was entering the palace at all, so she was quite surprised.
When she heard that Derek had slipped into Lea’s palace in secret, all the pieces started to fall into place.
No wonder everything had been so cleverly covered up—Lea was behind it all. In truth, Bianca had been running her merchant guild in secret, but found managing it tedious.
She’d only started it to get her hands on trending goods before anyone else, but as the business grew, the work became increasingly bothersome.
Yet it was awkward to entrust it to someone she didn’t know, since most of the profits from the guild were actually being funneled to a certain place in the Leonis Empire.
The Emperor of Cantabria allowed her to live in luxury, but it was difficult to amass great wealth while evading his gaze.
He would give her jewels and dresses, but rarely gold coins—only enough to maintain her dignity.
Of course, the jewels could be sold for money, but everything given to the Empress was marked with serial numbers. Since they could be traced, she couldn’t sell them recklessly.
So, when she first set up the merchant guild, the start-up money had come through a contact in the Leonis Empire.
Because of this secret, Bianca could never trust a Cantabrian with the guild’s affairs, so she had forced the accounting onto Lea. The foolish girl was strangely talented at accounting, so Bianca had entrusted it to her.
Yet now…
“How dare you deceive me?”
Bianca felt an unbearable, deep sense of betrayal. For the past five years, nothing had gone as she wished. Now that suspicion had been raised, she couldn’t shake the idea that her daughter was involved in everything behind the scenes.
“Bring the whip!”
At Bianca’s sharp cry, a knight who had been waiting in the back brought the whip hanging on the dungeon wall.
“Hold her arms up!”
Her golden eyes shone with cruelty. Lea, who was dragged and made to stand in place, calmly closed her eyes.
She’d been through things like this countless times in the past anyway.
Zion, standing behind the Empress, broke out in a cold sweat as he tried desperately to pretend not to care. If he intervened here, things would only become even more complicated.
Whip— Smack—!
But the moment he saw the long whip arc and strike Lea’s small back, Zion unconsciously took a step forward.
Whip, crack, whip— Smack!
Bianca, pouring all her rage into the whip, lashed without hesitation. Lea gritted her teeth at the burning pain in her back.
What terrified her even more was the feeling of helplessness and despair.
“You— You wretched thing!”
Bianca was so consumed by betrayal she couldn’t come to her senses.
‘When did she change like this? Why was I the only one who didn’t notice? Is she really the daughter I once knew?’
Lost in a white haze, Bianca was whipping blindly when a hand caught her wrist, snapping her out of it.
With a grim face, Zion grabbed Bianca’s wrist and said,
“Your Majesty the Empress, Lady Haisley… has already lost consciousness.”
At his words, Bianca turned her gaze forward. Lea’s body, held upright by two knights at her sides, was limp. Blood was running down her thin back like a small waterfall.
Bianca was seized by a strange feeling. She had always judged her daughter by her usefulness, and thought it didn’t matter if she died the moment she was no longer useful.
But seeing Lea’s fox ears and tail, soaked in blood after she lost consciousness and shifted back, Bianca felt sick to her stomach as the scene overlapped with some memory from the past.
There were six people in the dungeon. Except for the youngest knight who had brought the whip, all the others’ faces were pale as if bloodless.
Zion’s face was the most ashen of all. Consumed by guilt for failing to protect his Guide, his stomach lurched. His clenched palm was already bloodied from holding back his anger.
Noticing the dark mood among the knights, Zion let Bianca hurry out of the dungeon and instead gave orders to the others.
“Escort Her Majesty out. I’ll handle things here.”
But the only one who moved at his command was the youngest knight. The two knights holding Lea’s arms didn’t budge.
Seeing this, Zion realized.
They, too, had felt Lea’s guiding.
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