[Author’s Note: You might want to take a quick look at Chapter 631 before starting this one.]
Marisandra Naiadia’s POV
“M-Mom?” I called out, my voice trembling as it broke mid-sentence, my breaths coming in uneven gasps…. Just moments ago, m-my own mother had tried to k-kill me?
Why?
But only the silence around me was suffocating now.
The only sound was the soft swish of the curtains swaying with the wind, echoing eerily in the room. I had never seen the outside world, but this silence… this crushing stillness… it was unbearable.
Something wrong?
“Mom?” I shouted again, louder this time, my voice cracking with desperation. My mind swirled with confusion. Why would my mother do this? I had known her for years. She was kind, gentle… she wasn’t capable of something so cruel.
‘No,’ I thought, my heart racing. ‘That wasn’t my mother! Someone else tried to kill me!’ My mind reeled with the realization, and I screamed her name once more.
There was no answer…. The silence clawed at me as dread wrapped itself tightly around my chest.
I tried to move away from the bed, my limbs trembling, but just as I placed a foot on the cold floor—
“Empress Aqualina killed herself!!! Call the Healers!!”
A voice rang out, loud and frantic, reverberating through the palace halls.
Thud!
My legs gave out beneath me, and I collapsed onto the floor.
“W-What?” I stammered, my lips quivering as tears welled up, spilling down my cheeks. I lay there, curled in the suffocating darkness.
I was used to darkness—I had lived in it my whole life. But this… this was different.
This darkness felt alive, as if it were swallowing me whole, pulling me into an abyss I couldn’t escape.
That’s all I remember from that night…. The next thing I knew, my mother’s body was encased in ice and set adrift in the ocean with no respect that was supposed to happen for the Empress!
There was no mourning….. Not a single tear was shed—not from the palace servants, not from the nobles, not even from my so-called father.
I… I.. don’t understand.
Why didn’t anyone cry?
Why didn’t he cry?
My mother had always told me her family was strong, and unshakable. But those words shattered into lies the moment I overheard the servants whispering, careless and indifferent, as though I didn’t exist.
“That poor girl… Her mother took her own life. How pitiful.”
“Tsk, tsk… Can you blame her, though? After such humiliation? Especially with the new Empress around. She’s as cunning as a viper.”
“I wouldn’t be surprised if the daughter meets the same end as her mother. It’s only a matter of time.”
Their words stabbed at my heart, each one sharper than the last. Slowly, piece by piece, I started to understand the truth….
“M-My mother was humiliated and hurt?” I whispered to myself, my voice trembling with shock and disbelief.
The realization hit me like a wave after wave… and I sought out my father, demanding answers…. But when I confronted him, he said, his voice cold and disdain,
“What else should I do? She killed herself… Like a coward,” he spat, his eyes narrowing with contempt.
“If she wanted, I would have killed her myself… How pitiful~” another voice chimed in, this one laced with cruelty and mockery. It was her—my father’s second wife. Now crowned as Empress, she laughed, her tone dripping with malice withouth hiding it!
“What a pitiful little child… Do you feel lonely, hmm? All alone in this big, dark world?” she sneered, her words cutting into me like shards of glass.
My fists clenched tightly at my sides, nails digging into my palms as I tried to suppress the storm of emotions rising within me.
“Oh? Look at her! Clenching her fists like she’s going to do something,” she taunted, her laughter echoing cruelly. “Well, I don’t mind giving you the same treatment as your pathetic mother.” Her tone turned dangerously low, her words laced with venom.
My body flinched instinctively, and my fists unclenched as fear took hold of me.
“Good girl,” she cooed mockingly, her voice dripping with false sweetness. “Anyway, since your cowardly mother decided to end her miserable life, my husband—the great Emperor—has decided to be merciful and let you live here for the rest of your days.”
Her words were like poison, each one more nauseating than the last. She continued with a smirk, “Of course, you’d better behave yourself and stay out of sight. Who knows? You might accidentally fall… just like your dear mother. Ahahahaha!”
I couldn’t see her face, but I didn’t need to…. I could hear the amusement in her voice, feel the scorn in her laughter.
They were laughing at me!
Mocking me!!
My mother didn’t kill herself… I knew it in my heart!!
They were the ones who drove her to her death. They pushed my kind, gentle mother to the edge and threw her into the abyss.
I gritted my teeth, my hands trembling with helpless rage.
I was powerless.
I had no talent, no strength.
I couldn’t stand against them.
Tears pricked at the corners of my eyes, threatening to spill, but I-I clenched my jaw and forced them back.
I-I won’t cry.
I refuse to c-cry!!
I won’t give them the satisfaction of seeing me break.
They humiliated me!
They mocked me for being blind, for being motherless. And now… I understood…. I understood why my mother had tried to end my life.
I was defective… Broken…. Worthless!
These rulers… these people… these nobles… I… I… I…
“You cannot do anything.”
The words startled me, piercing through the silence. A man’s voice, deep and calm yet laced with an unsettling authority, echoed in my room.
I froze…. How had he entered the palace? More importantly, how had he managed to enter my room unnoticed?
My hands instinctively reached under the desk, gripping the knife I had hidden there. With trembling hands, I pointed it toward him…. well tried to pointed at the voice.
“Oh? How sweet…” he murmured, his tone amused yet patronizing, as though he was speaking to a child throwing a tantrum, “Anyway… little girl, I understand your pain, your hatred. That’s precisely why I’ve come here—to help you.”
“Help me?!” I snapped, tightening my grip on the knife. “Who are you?” My voice quivered, though I tried to sound firm. Read new chapters at My Virtual Library Empire
“Everyone calls me… Master. So, you may call me that too,” he said with a faint chuckle. “And yes, I’ve come to help you, little girl.”
I frowned deeply, Of course I didn’t trust much less Accepting help from a stranger…
And yet…
“There is a way to bring your mother back,” he said softly, his voice almost a whisper.
Those words… They shattered my defenses. I, who had been drowning in despair, who had abandoned all hope, felt something stir within me—an ember of possibility, of longing.
However,
“W-What do you want in return?” I asked cautiously, my voice trembling. I had learned the hard way that nothing came without a price…. the people here taught me very well!
The man chuckled, a low, sinister sound, “Haha… Even at such a young age, you’re already so vigilant. Hm… not bad. Not many adults possess that level of awareness…” He paused, his tone turning almost playful. “But fear not, little one. All I ask for is a single wish…”
…
….
Present Day…
“What do you want from the disciple who betrayed you?” I asked, my voice sharp with barely concealed surprise. Of all the possibilities, I had never imagined facing him again—the man I had betrayed to get everything I wanted.
He sat before me, cloaked in a tattered black mantle. His face was barely visible, hidden beneath the shadows of his hood…. Even after all these years, I had never seen his face.
“Hah… Can’t I simply visit my disciple after such a long time?” he asked, his tone casual.
But I knew better… He wasn’t the type to waste time on pleasantries or nostalgia.
“Visit me? Really?” I scoffed. “We both know you’re not someone who makes casual visits, especially not to someone who betrayed you.”
Yes, I had betrayed him. Back then, I was desperate—a child blinded by rage and vengeance and… really blinded But as I grew older, I realized that some things were impossible, no matter how tempting the promises. When the time came, after I had gotten my revenge, I turned on him and his organization.
I cut everything off and never thought of them again! Even when they recently targeted my daughter, I didn’t involve them because I know how to take care of my daughter!
“Seems like you don’t trust me anymore,” he said softly, his voice laced with a hint of sadness. “No matter. I’m happy to see that you’re happy.”
“Hmm,” I murmured, keeping my tone nonchalant.
There was a brief silence before he spoke again, his voice quieter but heavier with emotion. “If I’m being honest… I am still angry. Angry that you betrayed our organization. When others demanded your execution, I defended you. They said I was a fool for sparing you, but…” He paused, his tone faltering slightly. “You were like a daughter to me. I personally groomed you, and raised you to be strong. That’s not something I could easily throw away.”
His words, tinged with sorrow, might have moved someone else… But I only stared at him blankly, my face devoid of emotion. I knew there was more to this visit, and I wasn’t interested in his attempts at sentimentality.
He finally straightened his posture, as he realised I was not buy him, his tone shifting back to its usual authority, “Your job is not finished yet.”
“Huh?” I frowned, the words catching me off guard. “What job are you talking about?”
He stared at me, his voice turning sharp. “The mission you abandoned. It’s time for you to finish what you started….”
I shook my head, frustration bubbling to the surface. “I already left all of that behind. I have no intention of going back. I won’t do it for y—”
My words froze in my throat as he slid something across the table… A palm-sized white cube.
My eyes widened in shock as I saw what it contained. Inside the cube, shimmering like a haunting vision, were my daughter and Celestia trying to escape from inside…. My breath hitched, my body trembling with rage.
Before I could stop myself, my fist slammed onto the table, shattering it into splinters. But the man had already moved, hovering in the air just out of reach, the cube twirling mockingly in his hand.
“Give back my daughter!” I screamed, my voice raw and fury, “She has nothing to do with this!” I lunged forward, but he disappeared, reappearing further away.
“Calm yourself, my dear disciple,” he said, his tone as condescending as ever. He spun the cube effortlessly on his finger, a smirk playing on his lips. “Who would have thought that your heartless sister is still alive?” His gaze shifted to another figure inside the cube—a woman standing beside Aqualina.
“You’ve hidden so much… until now,” he said, his voice laced with amusement.
“Grgh!” I gritted my teeth, my rage boiling over.
“You know as well as I do that you cannot kill me,” he said, his tone darkening. “So, why don’t we have a civil conversation? And if you try anything uncivilized again…” He tightened his grip on the cube and,
Crack!
My heart stopped. “O-Okay… Okay! What do you want?” I asked, barely managing to suppress the rage threatening to consume me.
“Nothing much… Just a single wish.”