In the midst of the audience, a booming voice suddenly resounded.

Félio, with his silver eyes sharpened, glared at Ermedeline.

“Right. Viruses… diseases can spread through saliva or blood.”

Ermedeline almost blurted out the words “virus and bacteria” unconsciously, but she quickly changed her mind.

However, with the sudden tension in the air, she began to wonder if she had said something wrong, and Ermedeline started to gauge the reactions of those around her.

But Félio, without a word, abruptly left the hall.

‘What… What’s going on?’

For a brief moment of confusion, when Ermedeline turned her gaze away, she saw Valliere’s serious expression.

No, rather than being serious, it was a look that seemed to be sinking endlessly into somewhere.

Her two hazel eyes, resting on her emotionless face, were gradually deepening into a dark abyss.

‘What’s, what’s going on? Why is he like that? Did I say something really strange?’

Unlike the murmuring crowd, Valliere continued to stare at Ermedeline persistently with an emotionless face.

After the ceremonies of the provincial nobles had finally concluded, the common people began to enter the audience chamber.

Fortunately, there were no hate-filled eyes or words of curses that she expected.

No one dared to look at the Empress, and no one wanted to mingle with her.

They just treated her as if she didn’t exist.

However, Ermedeline could feel it precisely.

The swirling maelstrom of fear and hatred envelops this vast audience chamber.

‘I don’t like this at all.’

She thought it might be better to curse and spread profanities instead.

Being completely isolated amidst the crowd felt just as unpleasant as being despised.

‘It’s the same old story anyway.’

As she listened, it started to get tedious.

She was familiar with the plagues mentioned and the turmoil at the borders, which was not elaborated upon in the novel, intertwined with tragic stories of drought.

Pleasure never gets old easily, but tragedy does.

Unfortunately, the threshold for emotions is crossed much quicker when encountering tragedy.

Just as her meager interest was about to wane into boredom, Félio appeared as if he had just returned from somewhere.

‘Why did you rush out earlier?’ She wondered if she should ask him. ‘We’ll have to meet again anyway because of the trial.’

However, contrary to her thoughts, Ermedeline couldn’t shake off the unsettling feeling whenever she saw Félio. In truth, she didn’t really want to run into him often.

His icy appearance matched his cold demeanor perfectly.

Moreover, according to the original story, wasn’t he a supporting character who eventually succeeded in burning her to death, consumed by his hatred for her?

It was not unreasonable for her spine to chill every time she saw him.

“Ah!!”

Lost in various thoughts, Ermedeline suddenly turned her head at the loud scream that erupted.

In the arms of its parents, a young baby was seen vomiting bright red blood.

“It’s, it’s an epidemic!! Ahhh!!”

The parents, holding the child, were too panicked to know what to do, and the rest of the people, fearing the contagion, hastily fled the audience chamber, turning it into chaos.

“Summon the priest, summon the priest!!”

The soldiers who were guarding Henry shouted for the priests to be called as they blocked the way forward.

The guards surrounded only Henry and Valliere, excluding Ermedeline, as if it were the most natural thing to do.

‘Even if she’s a villainess, this is going too far!”’

Ermedeline, despite being the current empress, couldn’t believe the discrimination she was facing. She was utterly flabbergasted.

As she was about to voice her protest, she noticed the baby’s complexion turning progressively bluish as she was vomiting.

‘If they leave the baby like that, it might suffocate!’

The thought that the baby might die prompted Ermedeline to move almost reflexively.

The baby’s parents were startled when Ermedeline approached, taking a step back, but Ermedeline was quicker in picking up the baby.

The baby in her arms was incredibly small and fragile.

Ermedeline gently laid the baby on the floor and used her hand to scrape the vomit from the baby’s mouth, which was filled with bright red fluid.

‘Baby! Hang in there! You can’t die! You mustn’t!!’

She reached deep into the baby’s throat to clear the vomit, and gradually, she felt the baby’s breathing stabilize.

‘Breathe, little one! Please breathe!!’

As soon as she was confident that the airway was clear, Ermedeline didn’t hesitate to cover the baby’s mouth, which was still smeared with vomit, and began artificial respiration.

She wanted to perform CPR as she had learned at some point, but she was afraid that the baby’s fragile body might break in the process. In the midst of her hesitation, Priest Louise arrived.

Louise looked more surprised to see Ermedeline sitting tearfully in front of her than she did to see the baby on the floor.

“It was almost too late. Thankfully, it seems that Her Majesty the Empress acted swiftly.”

“The baby… Is the baby alright?”

Trembling, Ermedeline asked, and Louise nodded silently.

“These seem to be initial symptoms of the epidemic, but it’s at a treatable stage.”

“Oh, I see.”

As a sense of relief washed over her, all the tension in Ermedeline’s body dissipated. She sat down on the floor with a bewildered expression and watched the baby regain a steady breath with a complicated smile.

‘I’m lucky to have saved them this time.’

The people who remained in the audience chamber, especially those who personally knew Ermedeline, were astonished by the unfolding situation, displaying various expressions.

Henry concealed the pounding of his heart with a calm facade, while Valliere clenched her fists so tightly that blood began to seep from her nails, and she trembled all over.

Félio managed to maintain a relatively calm demeanor, but even his eye corners seemed to tremble slightly as if he couldn’t completely control his emotions.

As Priest Louise examined the baby with a compassionate expression, her eyes sent an inscrutable look to Ermedeline, who was sitting on the floor.

“I remembered… I remembered it…”

“Your Majesty, the Empress?”

“Yes… That’s how it happened…”

“Your Majesty, the Empress!!”

With Louise’s prodding, Ermedeline barely regained her composure, and determination returned to her eyes.

“While it’s mild, you’ve had contact with a patient with the prognosis of the epidemic, so you must undergo purification.”

“Purification?”

“Yes.”

‘Is it like disinfection? If so, I should do it. Why is everyone making such serious faces?’

“If it’s necessary, then I must.”

“Are you serious?”

“Huh?”

“If you purify with sacred power, you won’t be able to use the power of blood for about two days.”

“Ah…”

‘Curse and blessing are polar opposites. Nevertheless, I didn’t come all the way to this world just to die of illness…’

“It doesn’t matter. In the midst of such turmoil in the kingdom, the Empress can’t afford to fall ill, can she?”

“Understood. I will perform the purification right away.”

A dazzling, yet somehow gentle light briefly enveloped Ermedeline’s body before fading away.

“Is it done?”

“Yes. You should be safe from the epidemic for the time being.”

“Thank you.”

A quick glance revealed that Louise still found it awkward to hear the word “thank you” coming from the Empress’s lips.

*Sigh*

‘There’s still a long way to go. Why does life have to keep going like this?’

The almost shocked eyes of the people and Henry’s praise didn’t elicit much enthusiasm from Ermedeline.

The memories of the time when she had just transmigrated, hazy like a mist, resurfaced. Her lover of seven years had said this before leaving her:

“I’m really grateful for everything we’ve had. But now, I want to stop living like this. I want to enjoy the benefits of family and live a more stable life.”

Her lover, who had grown up in an orphanage together with her and became an adult, handed her an envelope.

“I put some thought into it. It’s not meant to belittle your feelings or anything like that. It’s just… I’m thankful, so…”

Although she wanted to toss the envelope back, feeling like how could she accept this money from him, Hyeyoung simply accepted it.

How much money had she poured into her lover’s education, from college to passing exams? Faced with reality, her pride was powerless.

Hyeyoung casually opened the envelope and glanced inside. It was clear at first glance that the amount was much larger than the money she had squeezed out of her non-existent salary to support him all this time.

“It’s quite a lot?”

“It’s not about paying off debts. It’s from the heart. Just accept it.”

“Yeah. Thank you.”

Although their seven-year relationship was ending like this, Hyeyoung calmly put the money envelope into her pocket.

“I’m sorry.”

“Yeah.”

He said her father was a judge, her mother was a prosecutor, and her older brother was a lawyer.

With a family background like that, it would surely provide a good support system for someone like him who didn’t have any connections. Hyeyoung didn’t really feel any resentment towards him.

She knew better than anyone else how lonely and desperate it could be to stand alone in a world with no one to rely on.

Hyeyoung had also poured her savings into helping her boyfriend, but he had worked as a tutor while pulling four part-time jobs simultaneously, sleeping only two hours a day for several years.

His always tired-looking eyes and pale, thin wrists with no color came to her mind.

Even when he came to see Hyeyoung, looking like he was about to drop from exhaustion, he would always greet her with a bright smile.

He had even managed to arrange for her surgery fees when she had to undergo emergency surgery due to appendicitis.

In a hospital room filled with women, he couldn’t bring himself to enter. Instead, he spent nights studying for his exams under the dim light of the lounge.

At times, it made her feel like she could overcome anything as if she wasn’t alone. There were moments when she felt fortunate.

But now, all those memories were fading away, becoming meaningless relics of the past.

“Yeah. You worked hard to seize opportunities. Go as far as you can.”

Hyeyoung wanted to support him rather than hold grudges.

However, separate from him, she no longer wanted to continue living. In an instant, her reason for living had disappeared.

So she went to the Han River.

The Han River at night felt more like a black, viscous creature than a river. As she stood at the edge, the discomfort and injustice flooded her.

‘Yeah. Is that insignificant breakup worth it? Have I suffered and lived all this time because of that jerk? No!’

She patted her chest, and the thick envelope of money she had just received was tangible.

‘With this money, I can pay for college tuition and still have some leftover! If I combine it with the savings I’ve accumulated, I can even graduate from university! Why die now? Who cares? I’ll study too! I’ll succeed completely, and I’ll show up in front of him from a higher place!’

With a newfound goal, her enthusiasm for life suddenly surged.

‘What major should I choose? I’ve never really thought about it.’

‘Should I go to Noryangjin? Is my mind spinning now?’

‘I can sleep two hours too! If that jerk could do it, what’s stopping me?’

With various thoughts running through her mind and a heightened sense of determination, Hyeyoung was heading back to her rented room. But then, she saw something she shouldn’t have.

A small child in dirty and ragged clothes wandering on the street, and a speeding car didn’t seem to notice the child.

“No!”

The orphanage was a sensible place, but it wasn’t affluent. Sick children could receive medical support, but it wasn’t the same as having a mother by their side all day for treatment.

As she grew older, Hyeyoung often volunteered to take care of her younger siblings whenever they cried in pain.

She imagined that if she had a mother, she would have done the same. She consoled her siblings with the power of imagination.

Most of her siblings would get up and play unless they had a serious illness, but while she was in the facility, Hyeyoung lost three siblings to diseases and accidents.

She hated seeing children die.

She didn’t want to witness that small body, which had been full of vitality just a short while ago, go limp and lifeless.

‘No! I don’t want this! I hate it!’