Hyeyoung instinctively threw herself towards the child.
But the car coming towards Hyeyoung was a step faster.
Without slowing down, the car hit both Hyeyoung and the child, and then disappeared into the darkness.
A common possession story, a tragedy that was nothing special.
'I saved it this time!! I saved it, I did!'
Ermedillin recalled the moment of death, but the joy of having saved the baby in front of her eyes felt much greater.
Even after returning to her bedroom, she sat in a corner with a bright smile, shedding tears of joy.
But to the maids who did not know the situation, her appearance seemed quite strange, as all three of them stood in a corner, just watching.
Finally, the eldest maid, Loony, approached Ermedillin and knelt beside her.
"Your Majesty, the Empress. Is anything uncomfortable? Perhaps the purification is not completely…."
"No, that's not it."
Though she was shedding tears, she was not particularly sobbing, so the answer came right away.
"Pardon?"
"I'm not in pain. I'm just relieved that the baby is alive... that's why I'm relieved."
"Oh, I heard about that too. You breathed into the baby's mouth, even though you might have caught the contagious disease. The whole palace is noisy about that story."
"Really? Rumors spread fast."
"Of course! It's not an ordinary thing! You, Her Majesty, the Empress, risked your life to save a commoner's baby!!"
"Babies are all the same, so what...."
Thinking that she needed to regain her composure, she brushed her hands and tried to stand up, but her legs were numb from sitting crouched for so long.
"Ouch!"
Loony and Helen, who had run over immediately, caught her swaying body.
The youngest and thinnest, with little presence, the child.
But strangely enough, while supporting Ermedillin, Helen was restlessly rolling her eyes.
"It's okay. I'm fine. I'm really okay, so everyone go do what you have to do. I want to be alone for a while."
Ermedillin sent everyone away and sat down by the bed again.
As the whirlpool of emotions subsided and her mind cleared, memories of the time of death surfaced again.
In fact, dying in vain was not so regrettable or disappointing.
After all, she had been living only because she did not have the courage to die every day.
Therefore, when she realized that she had possessed the novel, she did not feel much longing for her previous life.
But that child.
The child she wanted to save but couldn't.
She saw the body of the child, which her hand could not reach, flying far away from the impact as she faced the dazzling headlights.
Hyeyoung had to stare at the child's lifeless body, stretched out without a twitch, bleeding from the head, for a few seconds before life left her body.
"Haah...."
It was tormenting that the image of the child facing death in front of her eyes kept coming back, more than the fact that she had died from a hitandrun.
'Did someone recover the body? It wouldn't have been lying on the cold road for too long, would it?'
'Did that child get a second chance like me?'
'If it had possessed, it would be nice if it was in a happy novel, not in such a messedup one.'
In the continuous thoughts, the lawsuit and everything became secondary.
Ermedillin, wrapped in sorrowful thoughts and suffering, was informed by Loony of someone's visit.
"Who?"
"Countess Ellyon urgently requests to see you."
"The Countess? Me?"
"Yes. What shall we do?"
The visit of a noble at this timing was a bit strange, but she decided to meet her anyway.
"Tell her to come in."
The Countess of Elion, a plump woman with chestnutcolored hair and dark brown eyes, was the woman.
But despite her slightly warm appearance, her expression was so vividly fierce that Ermedillin was momentarily at a loss on how to respond to her.
Therefore, Ermedillin deliberately made no expression and merely stared at the Countess.
The Countess of Elion spoke of her purpose without changing her face, as if accustomed to such a reaction.
"It's a big deal."
'A big deal?'
"She's a local Baron's daughter, and she's soon to give birth."
"Give birth?"
"Yes. But it seems she doesn't want to give birth anymore. Her engagement with the Viscount has gone awry."
"The engagement has gone awry?"
"Well, it's nothing special. A rotten, wicked Viscount got bored after meeting the young Baron's daughter under the pretext of marriage and dumped her. Well, it seems there's also some complicated issue of succession."
"What?"
"Isn't it common? If they can't marry, the child in the womb will become a bastard, so it's better to grab a share and erase the child. The Viscount will pay all the costs."
'Ah… this can't be.'
A memory came from a ragged magic book that she had read and thrown away.
The curse of death to the child in the womb.
Under the curse, there were many names of noblewomen and young ladies listed.
'This woman really did all the disgusting things.'
The Countess of Elion, misinterpreting Ermedillin's uncomfortable expression, sneered.
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