| Chapter 6: Shadow in the Darkness

“Is my teacher… safe?”
Returning from dinner, Natasha immediately inquired about Boris’s well-being from her bodyguard.
“Sir Boris has… passed away due to a sudden turn of events.

“…Uh.”

Natasha, who had been nervously anticipating the worst, covered her mouth in anguish.

“To have the honor of teaching such an extraordinary young lady is my greatest privilege!”

The gleam in her teacher’s eyes, eager to pass on even one more piece of knowledge.

“Don’t you think it’s time for you to study kingship?”

“Me… study kingship?”

“Of course. Someone as exceptional and intelligent as you is the perfect candidate to be the next ruler.”

The confident voice that had dared to suggest what Natasha herself hadn’t even dreamed of requesting.

“Ah…”

Natasha clutched her head in torment.

This is my fault. All my fault. I shouldn’t have harbored such an impossible ambition…

From then on, Natasha was placed under indefinite house arrest. No new teacher was assigned, and she was left alone in an empty, desolate room. For three days and nights, she alternated between feverish unconsciousness and fleeting moments of clarity.

“My dear…”

A cool hand rested on Natasha’s fevered forehead.

“…Mother?”

Was this a dream? Her mother, who had always secluded herself in the detached palace and refused all visitors, sat at her bedside.

“I’m sorry.”

Before Natasha could even reach out to hold that hand, her mother rose and vanished. From that day forward, Natasha never saw her again.

* * *

Natasha’s father, Ivan Ivanov, was the absolute ruler of the Duchy of Ivanov. However, he had not originally been the rightful heir. His ascension to the throne was made possible only through his marriage to Maria Ivanov, the noblewoman of the Ivanov family.

The Duchy of Ivanov adhered to an unspoken rule that only sons could inherit the throne. As such, Maria, the sole child of the former ruler, could not succeed directly. Instead, her chosen husband inherited the position.

“If only Lady Maria hadn’t been a woman!”

“Honestly, Lady Maria is better suited to be ruler than Lord Ivan.”

From the moment he ascended the throne, Ivan was constantly compared to his wife.

Maria Ivanov, possibly the most capable queen in the history of the Duchy of Ivanov. Her exceptional talents only fueled Ivan’s feelings of inadequacy.

He loathed his brilliant and beautiful wife with a chilling intensity. Ivan sought any opportunity to criticize her actions, desperate to diminish her.

Eventually, he found her only flaw: she could not bear him a son.

For a queen, failing to produce a male heir was the gravest of shortcomings. The one thing he could claim superiority in was his gender. Though it was a shallow victory, Ivan relished it.

“A girl as my successor? Ridiculous!”

Natasha, who bore none of his traits and had inherited her mother’s sharp intellect, only incited his disdain further. How dare a girl even dream? Outrageous.

Without hesitation, Ivan eliminated Boris, Natasha’s bold teacher, and ordered a servant to clean up the mess.

“This has ruined my mood. I should visit my sweet Olga. No, better yet, I’ll command her to move into the palace. It’s about time I brought in a mistress to bear me a son.”

For that reason, not even the logical and brilliant Maria could oppose it.

And Maria could never speak of it again.

Yearning for the love of a husband who had never once looked back at her, she watched in despair as her husband’s mistress confidently entered the palace in his arms. In the depths of her hopelessness, Maria took her own life.

—

‘Mother…’

Shocked by the death of her teacher Boris, Natasha, bedridden, realized belatedly that it wasn’t just her teacher who had left her. Had she known that her mother’s brief visit that day was a final farewell, she would have mustered all her strength to hold her mother back.

‘Would Mother have been happy if I didn’t exist? No, if I had been born a son instead of a daughter…’

Natasha believed that her inability to bring happiness to her mother, her failure to earn her father’s love, was all because she was a daughter, not a son.

I should never have been born.

Blaming herself endlessly, Natasha clawed at her chest in agony.

* * *

As memories of the painful past surfaced, Natasha’s gaze dimmed. Yet, she steeled herself and adjusted her hood firmly.

Because Maria Ivanov had taken her own life, violating the dignity expected of royalty, Ivan Ivanov refused to have her body buried in the Ivanov family’s cemetery. Instead, Maria’s grave was placed far from the palace, on a remote outskirts, almost as if discarded.

Natasha, wary of her father and Sergey, hadn’t dared to visit her mother’s grave since the funeral. If her secret outing tonight was discovered, Sergey might lock her in the tower for days.

But for that poor child, Sophia—who had never received her mother’s love—Natasha was determined to succeed in this covert mission.

‘It should be around here somewhere…’

Even Natasha’s bodyguards were loyal to Sergey, so she slipped out of the palace alone. Unlike the funeral, where she traveled by carriage, navigating unfamiliar paths on foot proved challenging.

Awoo―.

The distant howl of a wolf sent chills down her spine.

Flap.

She flinched as a shadowy bird with large wings soared into the sky.

“This necklace belonged to the most intelligent and beloved daughter in the world, passed down by her father. Someday, I’ll pass it on to you and Sophia as well.”

Maria Ivanov, the most promising heir of the duchy, known for her intelligence and grace. Yet the necklace she inherited from her father became her last treasure.

Even when abandoned by her husband, Ivan Ivanov—who had taken her love and the crown she handed over with trust—and when she lost her vitality and the will to live, Maria always wore the necklace around her neck.

In her final moments, after Maria closed her eyes forever, the necklace found its way into Natasha’s hands. But on the day of the funeral, Natasha secretly buried the necklace beside her mother’s gravestone. She thought it fitting that the necklace, her mother’s last pride and comfort, should remain by her side.

However, if the necklace could bring new hope to Sophia, perhaps her mother would willingly give it up for the poor child who had never felt their parents’ warmth since birth.

‘It’s buried a handspan below the right side of the gravestone. I just need to retrieve the necklace and leave.’

Natasha strengthened her resolve.

There’s nothing to fear. This darkness is nothing. Just think about Sophia. Once I bring her the necklace, she’ll recover.

As Natasha approached her mother’s grave, nestled amidst a crumbling, abandoned temple, she found something alarming.

“Heh heh… so this really was the grave of someone important.”

A large man was already there, digging up the necklace beside the gravestone.

“Stop! Do you have any idea whose grave that is?”

Though her voice was delicate, it carried an undeniable authority that made the man flinch.

“S-sorry! I’ve committed a grave sin…”

The man instinctively bowed his head and muttered apologies while sneaking glances upward. Then, he slowly raised his head.

“…But miss, you came here alone, didn’t you?”

The man’s partially severed left ear twitched with his crooked grin. His murky red eyes marked him as a member of the Knulu tribe.

“What brings someone of such high standing… all alone to a place like this? Strange, isn’t it? Perhaps I should confirm you’re not just some courtesan wandering late at night. Not that it matters if you are.”

The man sprang to his feet and strode toward Natasha with a lascivious smirk.

“…Hah.”

The dignity Natasha had maintained dissolved into fear. She glanced around, but the oppressive darkness offered no help.

‘What should I do?’

As she stepped back, trembling, her back touched something large and solid.

‘Who is it? Is this person with him?’

Despair sent shivers down her spine.

“Hey there, Igor. Planning to have fun all by yourself?”

A low whistle came from directly behind Natasha. The voice was deep, resonant, and cavernous.

As Natasha turned her head slowly, her trembling eyes caught a shadow emerging from the darkness, revealing itself bit by bit.