Queen Pyramia of Peronica sat on the balcony, her mind sadly drifting back to the day’s ceremonies.

The princess’s room, with its grand old dress on a large mannequin, and the king’s throne, haunted her memories.

Though her bones ached, she stood and walked. Her reflection in the crystal walls mirrored her loneliness as she passed them.

The cremation ceremony for her husband, the King of Peronica, had just ended. Her black gown, weary from soaking her tears, felt heavy, and her sandals seemed stuck, like a broken-down carriage.

It was late afternoon, the sunlight dim and melancholic. The whisper of the rooms was quiet, only the mournful music from across the town pierced Queen Pyramia’s grieving heart. She walked barefoot, her shoulders slumped, holding the king’s crown as she moved through the chambers.

As she passed the princess’s room, she suddenly heard a noise—a rattling sound, like someone forcefully trying to open a cabinet, like a thief.

Pyramia’s response: She grabbed a heavy sword from a statue, slowly entered the room, and investigated the sound. Her fingers still smelled of candles as she wiped away the tears on her cheeks.

Her hair looked like an abandoned bird’s nest, but in the queen’s mind, she was ready to fight, even with a heavy heart.

The queen saw the cabinet moving, like a wild beast in her daughter’s room.

Queen Pyramia slowly reached for the doorknob, hesitant like a porcupine.

The queen’s sword pointed forward like a scorpion’s tail. When she opened it, the pale face of a woman appeared, her lips white as if covered in ice, and her breath whispering as if from a deep well.

“Perlend?” The queen’s eyes widened, the sword clanged to the floor like a broken branch, and time seemed to stop for a moment. “Is that really you???” She stepped back, filled with doubt, wondering if she was hallucinating.

“Mama!!!” Perlend called out, her voice slow, as if carrying the weight of the world.

*SLAP!!!

Instead of a hug, Queen Pyramia delivered a slap, leaving a bruise on Perlend’s cheek. Anger and shock drove her to slap Perlend, something she would never have done before, not even allowing a fly to land on her. But now, Queen Pyramia couldn’t stop herself because of Perlend’s past disappearance.

However, upon seeing her daughter, she remembered the curse and felt pity and guilt for hurting her. She then walked away from Perlend.

Pyramia couldn’t yet make out if what was strapped to Perlend’s back was a baby. Pyramia avoided getting close, as if she had seen a leper, but Perlend persistently approached, crying and trying desperately to get her mother’s attention.

Despite her struggle, Perlend chased her mother until she reached the doorway. Perlend felt her mother’s anger, especially since she was only showing herself now after a year, when everyone had presumed the princess was dead.

“You had a secret passage??” Perlend merely nodded to Queen Pyramia’s question, as if she had no tongue to explain the revelation of the secret.

Perlend’s vision swayed like an earthquake, and her head ached as if splitting. She wanted to explain but was ashamed of the truth that she had defied her parents.

Perlend’s mother rolled her eyes, unwilling to look at her. Pyramia’s eyes fixed again on the cabinet, the reason Perlend had been able to leave unnoticed back then. Even Perlend’s father had been unaware of this, all because of the maiden’s mischievousness, ready to do anything to follow her heart’s call.

Before, Queen Pyramia had always been strict about her daughter venturing outside the palace. The queen had a strong suspicion back then that no man would dislike her princess daughter.

Fearing the phoenix’s curse, she chose to be a strict mother. However, the princess felt suffocated by the queen’s excessive worry about the curse.

At this moment, Pyramia slowly accepted her own mistake, which led Perlend to marry and elope with another man. But she couldn’t fully understand why their kind and quiet daughter would elope and hurt their feelings when their only desire was Perlend’s well-being.

“Mama, I heard about Papa… and,” Perlend said when she saw her father’s crown in Queen Pyramia’s hand.

Perlend’s fingers trembled, and her breathing became labored. The curse’s grip on her tightened due to the sorrow she now felt, and red rashes appeared on her pale skin.

Perlend heard about the death of the King of Peronica a week ago, which coincided with the birth of Pyramus. This was another reason for Perlend’s rush to return to Peronica, even though her health was deteriorating.

Before she even reached Peronica, she struggled to walk; thankfully, her personal attendant ceaselessly assisted her, and now she had left him outside the secret passage to wait for her.

“He grieved for so long when you disappeared from Peronica, he couldn’t accept your absence. Everyone thought you were dead or eaten by a wild beast near the stream, a secret spot where maidens go, and all because of that cursed passage!” Queen Pyramia’s tears flowed again as she recalled her husband’s intense longing for their lost daughter. “If only you knew, your father didn’t stop searching for a single day and didn’t sleep a single night thinking about you.”

Pyramia hugged the crown, knowing she would never be with the king again. “And now you only show up when your father is dead?” The question hung in the air, a huge blow to Perlend’s being.

Perlend burst into tears upon hearing what happened to her father, it felt like a knife twisting in her heart, especially hearing her mother’s story. She collapsed at her mother’s feet, begging for forgiveness.

“Forgive me… forgive me…” she repeated, bitter tears falling onto her mother’s feet. But those tears freshly kissed the queen’s feet, and Perlend’s earnest plea was felt.

Yet, her mother’s cold and sad face only asked why she had done it. Her parents had not been lacking, but what Perlend did was worse than pushing and pulling someone into a ravine.

“Why??” A question that even historians would ponder deeply—they know what happened in history but would still ask why it happened.

But for Perlend, only tears and regret were her answer. Her lips emitted no sound, only a hum that couldn’t be heard even with her mouth open.

“Why did you do this to us, Perlend?”

Silence reigned for a few seconds, both consumed by their own regrets. However, the baby’s cry shattered their quiet.

Queen Pyramia’s heart clenched upon hearing the innocent baby, a consequence of Perlend’s stubbornness. But when she saw Perlend’s face, her feelings hardened again, and she asked Perlend: “Who is the father of that child?”

The queen’s eyebrows rose again, scrutinizing every tear flowing down Perlend’s face.

Perlend gasped and wiped the tears from her cheeks, battling her sadness. Her eyes were brave as she looked at her mother, like a daring woman.

“I loved Xerxez.” The queen’s eyebrows clashed like swords when she heard the familiar name. “The father of my child is a king of Thallerion.”

“Xerxez?” Queen Pyramia’s lips trembled as she uttered Xerxez’s name, and she nearly fainted, as if struck by a heavy hammer, because Perlend bravely revealed the baby’s true father.

“The wedding in Thallerion—was that your wedding?” She sat on the bed, collapsing like a sandcastle washed away by waves.

“How did that happen?” Queen Pyramia couldn’t fully grasp the truth that Xerxez was the sole reason for their princess’s disappearance back then. The queen’s eyes were like a charging army—questioning why the king had done this to them.

In Queen Pyramia’s eyes, Xerxez seemed like an enemy holding a hostage. However, Xerxez was unaware of Perlend’s deception, and now the queen believed Xerxez was the cause of everything. “I will make the King of Thallerion pay!!!” The queen’s fingers bled as she clutched her husband’s crown, her eyes wide and fiery. Perlend saw how disappointed her mother was, so she decided to make it clear to the queen that Xerxez was not the cause of everything—she herself was!

“Mama, Xerxez is innocent!!” Perlend cried. She sat next to the queen and slowly held her hands to prevent her from hurting herself with the crown. “Me. I’m the one who lied!” The queen looked at her, as if rejecting Perlend.

“Enough, Perlend!!!” Queen Pyramia exclaimed, almost covering her ears from the bitter revelations Perlend shared. “You’ve hurt me repeatedly!” Tears had already washed away the queen’s makeup, and fresh tears continued to stream down her cheeks.

“Mama, I was afraid that—” Perlend stammered, breathless and hoarse. “That you would hinder my dreams in life—I love Xerxez!”

“Are you insane???” Pyramia shrieked, like a sword violently plunged. “Don’t you hear yourself?” She pulled her arm away from Perlend’s grip and then snorted sharply.

*POKE!

“I taught you since childhood not to be like a normal girl. But you’re so stubborn!” She lightly poked Perlend’s forehead with hesitation, but Perlend only closed her eyes, expecting to be slapped.

However, Queen Pyramia was a loving mother and couldn’t repeatedly slap her. Her first slap was merely a result of her shock and grief.

“You should have just told us you were getting married; our situation wouldn’t be this dire now, and your father wouldn’t have taken your disappearance so hard,” Pyramia insisted.

“I love Xerxez… And I knew you would separate us if I told you about this back then. The truth is, I also waited for an opportunity to tell you that I left to be with Xerxez, but my worries held me back, and even in my condition, I couldn’t admit the truth to him either.”

“What did that man feed you that you were blinded by love?” Queen Pyramia’s question echoed in the princess’s sad room. “I can’t believe I had a child who thinks like you!” Queen Pyramia glanced at Perlend’s skin, which was covered in boils, like ripe grapes.

“I don’t think I’ll last long in this world, please forgive me, Mama.” Perlend forced herself to remain calm as she endured the throbbing pain in her muscles and bones, as if gnawed by termites.

“The Phoenix’s curse is now before me. Perlend, don’t leave me.” The queen pleaded, but she knew no one could escape the curse.

Queen Pyramia paused, seeing her daughter’s condition worsen. Perlend’s breaths were shallow, and she seemed devoid of strong emotion. Pyramia’s heart was no longer filled with anger, but with pity, as the truth struck her: death seemed to be at the door, ready to take Perlend due to the Phoenix’s curse.

“Your return is enough for me to forgive you. If your father were still alive, he would forgive you too. Whatever you’ve done, we would forgive and love you.” Perlend embraced Queen Pyramia, and her face, which had seemed untouched by sunlight, brightened.

“Thank you, Mama,” Perlend replied. “Here is the baby, who will continue the Phoenix’s bloodline, a moment I know you also yearned for.” A trace of joy appeared on Perlend’s face, infecting the queen as well. “If my life is the path for the Phoenix lineage to continue, then I am ready to give birth to the baby, the fruit of my true love for Xerxez.”

“My child, I would rather the Phoenix bloodline end than see you suffer.” Pyramia’s chin sagged when she heard Perlend’s answer, even though the queen genuinely envied those who had grandchildren. But every time the queen thought of the curse on her ancestral lineage, it felt like a needle piercing her heart.

“However, there’s nothing we can do now, since the baby is already here.” She gently took the baby from Perlend’s arms, like a cat. The baby’s angelic face wiped away her grieving heart.

“Pyramus,” Perlend said, making sure her voice wasn’t hoarse as she spoke the baby’s name. “We named him Pyramus.” Perlend lay on the bed, exhausted. She again felt the soft touch of the fabric, the flower-soft bed, and its lasting Sakura scent.

Queen Pyramia knew that if Phoenix blood married non-Phoenix blood, their child would inherit the curse.

According to the elders of Peronica, the curse was a disease that spread throughout the body; however, it had no cure. And the condition would worsen when the cursed person gave birth, completely weakening their body like a flower that would eventually wilt.

“Pyramus is so handsome! The child inherited Peronica’s complexion.” Queen Pyramia looked at Perlend’s pale, closed eyes, her hair falling onto the bed like dry flower petals, yet her beauty remained.

“Pyramus has your face, Perlend.” Queen Pyramia also shed tears of joy, but then realized Perlend was already asleep from exhaustion.

Suddenly, Queen Pyramia heard knocking on the doors of the other chambers. She heard her name being called, so she answered,

“Come in!” Three soldiers of Peronica, clad in rose-colored armor, rushed to the princess’s room, entered the doorway, and stopped upon seeing the queen holding a baby.

“Your Majesty, we have something to report to you—whose baby is that?” said Terron, a soldier whose hair stood up because he loved to get attention from women.

“Tell me quickly, because I have something more important for you to do right now.” The baby was awake, and Queen Pyramia was delighted to see the baby’s lively movements.

“Hoosh…hosss…oy! Our Pyramus is awake.” The queen simply gestured for them to report immediately when she saw the three of them speechless.

“We caught a woman behind the palace, but she said she’s from Thallerion and is Princess Perlend’s maid.” The soldier, Qun Lun, deepened his voice slightly when he mentioned the princess’s name, as he knew the queen was still grieving, especially after the recent funeral ceremony.

“We were surprised by her answer, because it’s long been believed that the Princess of Peronica is dead,” Qun Lun added, holding a scroll. His beard was well-groomed, and his voice was deep. “She insisted she was Princess Perlend’s maid in Thallerion. Doubtful, we temporarily imprisoned her until you decide to release her.” They decided to imprison the woman because who would believe she was the princess’s maid when everyone believed Perlend was dead, making her story suspicious.

“She also carried ashes; we think they might be the ashes of her loved one, brought here to Peronica,” replied the third soldier. He was not tall but stout; he was Delvin. Queen Pyramia saw Delvin’s swollen eyes.

“Release the maid from Thallerion… And announce to all of Peronica—my daughter is alive, and she has a son!” the queen commanded. “Tell those arrogant ministers, those families planning to replace my rule, tell them: ‘Perlend’s son is the next heir of my lineage.'”

“The Princess of Peronica is alive?!!!” Delvin exclaimed, his eyes lighting up with excitement and joy upon hearing the truth that the princess was alive.

But the other two soldiers’ eyes widened upon hearing the queen’s words. “Is that the princess sleeping on the bed?” Terron asked, looking for Perlend.

They couldn’t make out Perlend’s face because it was covered by her hair. The queen simply nodded, looking seriously at the soldiers who swallowed hard in shock.

“The Phoenix’s curse is truly sad,” said the stout soldier, Delvin, almost in tears at the tragic fate that befell the princess due to the curse.

Delvin used to escort Perlend to city events, so Perlend’s suffering pained him. “Does this mean that child is Perlend’s?” Delvin asked, realizing the reason for the curse.

“Also, inform them: Perlend’s husband is the King of Thallerion, Xerxez—an ally of Peronica.”

“Immediately, Your Majesty, we will obey your command,” said Qun Lun, the most reliable of Pyramia’s soldiers in gathering news within the country of Peronica.

“Wait a moment, I want to see the ashes the maid carried with Perlend,” Pyramia told her soldiers. “If possible, take them to Grandma Sentheria for examination.”

Source: Webnovel.com, updated by NovelKeep