Latil’s lips were trembling. The shock was so intense that the back of her head felt numb. She wouldn’t have been this surprised even if her deceased father had appeared.

‘No, that’s not correct. That would be a horror layered on top of surprise. That would have been even more shocking.’

However, this was also difficult to bear, and Latil took a hesitant step back.

“Daughter, I feel like I’m going to collapse. May I sit?”

Her mother asked worriedly. As always, a gentle voice. Even that voice wasn’t pleasant to Latil at the moment.

It sounded hypocritical. Or it sounded like poison hidden within a sweet fruit, under the guise of kindness.

“There are two necklaces, right?”

If she took off one more necklace, another face would appear… Though that would be better, it wouldn’t be likely.

“It’s just one.”

Her mother was smiling. Even at this moment.

Latil lowered her eyebrows. After her brother, her mother betrayed her as well. Even if she was slapped on both cheeks and hit on the back of her head, she wouldn’t be this numb.

“How could this happen?”

“Your legs are shaking. Shouldn’t you sit down first?”

“Why is it like this?”

“Aren’t you going to sit?”

“If I sit, it feels like the ground will flip and a trap will open. That’s how I feel right now. How can I sit comfortably here, trusting what you say?”

“….”

Her mother had a troubled expression. When they lived together, Latil would always be flustered when her mother made that expression. She would babble nonsense to lift her mother’s spirits.

Then her mother would hold Latil tightly and kiss her forehead. My beautiful daughter, my beautiful daughter, she would say while singing. Remembering that, Latil felt like she was about to cry.

“Mother, you are my heaven and earth. If you do this, what should I do? My world is collapsing and flipping over.”

“In your world, you are the sky and you are the earth. Don’t be swayed just because someone else hurts you.”

“Do you think that’s easy? Especially when that ‘someone else’ is my mother?”

“Even if it’s not easy, you have to. If you’re so easily swayed, what would the people who rely and trust in you do?”

“Those people, you’ve taken them all away!”

“I borrowed them, Latil. I didn’t steal them.”

Latil clenched her fist and glared at her mother.

“What are you talking about?”

Carlein alternated between looking at Latil and the former empress. His eyes were troubled, though he did not show his emotions explicitly.

It would have been awkward for him to intervene if his wife and motherinlaw were arguing over a trivial matter, let alone something of this magnitude.

Her mother sighed.

“Both you and your brother are my children. I had no choice but to save both of you, Latil.”

“Why is my brother brought up here? He was living well following the Crown Prince.”

Of course, he had briefly been asked to take care of state affairs. But that was only for a few days, and it wasn’t a dangerous task.

“You can’t seriously think that he would die of overwork just by looking at the state affairs for a few days?”

“Breathe deeply, Latil.”

“What?”

“You might be the reincarnation of the Vampire Lord.”

While they were having a sadly realistic argument about why her beloved mother and brother betrayed her, and why her mother did this cruel act to her, the sudden, unrealistic revelation stunned Latil.

“What?”

Latil repeated the same question.

“What?”

“Lord.”

Her mother reiterated firmly. Latil widened her eyes and lifted her lips. She shouldn’t be laughing in this situation. But the absurdity made her laugh. It seemed that when people were dumbfounded, they laughed even in situations like these.

“What are you talking about?”

Her mother pointed at the shoe that Carlein had taken off earlier. When Carlein handed her the shoe, her mother put it on while speaking to Latil.

“You said you were investigating as well. Black magician, vampire, zombie, the Lord that resurrects every 500 years.”

Latil made a face.

“Are you talking about that Lord right now?”

“It’s not confirmed. It’s a possibility. To be precise, you’re one of the candidates for the Lord.”

Latil scoffed in disbelief.

“What are you talking about? I was born from you. Could my father be a descendant of the Lord?”

“It’s not passed down through blood. It’s about reincarnation.”

“No way!”

Latil burst into a roar. It felt as if everything about her was suddenly denied. She was so angry that her breath quickened.

Only after raising her voice did she realize that it wasn’t the right time to do so. Her mother’s personal knights, brought to her room, would be outside the door. She had to be careful.

“I am your daughter!”

However, she couldn’t just stay silent in the middle of all this. Latil cried out softly in a low, whimpering voice.

“I know, Latil. Regardless of whose reincarnation you are, you are my daughter, the one I gave birth to with great pain. I don’t care about that part either.”

“But why then!”

“The mere existence of a Vampire Lord can awaken all the evils in the world. You’ve investigated it too, haven’t you?”