The emperor was elated and assured her he would hold the most splendid debutante ball for her.

On the other hand, Hannah’s face turned so dark, the granite floor looked livelier than her.

As soon as the emperor returned, Hannah scolded Kathia while grabbing her shoulder.

“Kathia, my child. What in the world…”

“Wouldn’t you want to see it?”

Kathia’s expression and voice were placid. While thinking that her daughter had suddenly matured a lot overnight, Hannah asked.

“What?”

“Wouldn’t you want to see me wear pretty dresses, dancing in a fancy hall, or receive many congratulations on my birthday, Mom?”

“…Obviously, but—”

Hannah’s face scrunched up at the obvious question. Kathia chuckled at the sight.

Because of happiness.

Because of sadness.

Because she couldn’t contain how lovely her mother’s face looked when thinking about providing the most precious gift of all to her daughter, which still wasn’t enough.

“I want to see it too. Looking at you when you look at me, Mom.”

That’s why, let’s leave this place.

No matter how much we think about it, the answer was already decided. There was only one answer anyway.

We must leave this place now. Whether we like it or not, either way, we’ll die, so we might as well make the best of it.

To step proudly into the brilliant light of the chandelier, no more standing around the dark pond.

“It’s ok. I’m an adult now too.”

“Kathia.”

“We’ll be alright, mom. There’s nothing to worry about. We’ll definitely be ok.”

As if to assure Hannah by whispering repeatedly ‘it’ll be alright,’ Kathia embraced her tightly and hid her trembling hands.

It wasn’t as if Kathia wasn’t scared. She was just afraid of what kinds of tricks god would play on her this time around.

But then again, she didn’t want to sit idly in someone’s palm. She was sick of it. She was getting sick and tired of it.

It was also dreadful. Trapped in our current lifestyle, we lost our sense of direction.

Perhaps she was the same as her, not being able to resist someone with power, so she ended up hurting Hannah.

So, we must leave this place. Planning the inevitable struggle. Squeezing out the last bits of strength. No, undoubtedly, I can’t quite call this courage. Courage without power is merely false courage.

Thus, what Kathia was acting on was bravado. In the name of bravado, she is going to steal back the life they lost for her and her mother.

If Kathia were a normal kid and this was her first life, or if she had received ample affection from her parents in her previous life, she wouldn’t have acted like this.

At most, what they would’ve done was cling onto the emperor and plead him to spare their lives. They would’ve crawled deeper into a hole and hid, ignoring the tsunami soon to crash.

But Kathia didn’t do that. She couldn’t possibly do that.

She needed to protect Hannah by whatever means possible. She had to protect this love and affection she barely encountered after a lifetime.

* * *

It was the peak of an autumn day.

The official imperial message arrived.

The date of Kathia’s debutante ball has been set.

The banquet will be held in two weeks, on the night before Kathia’s birthday. Kathia heard the news while she was picking up pebbles in the garden.

“It’s finally time to stop playing in the dirt.”

Hannah spoke with a strange expression on her face. Although she decided to respect her daughter’s wishes, even then, she still couldn’t help but worry.

It was nerve-racking for Kathia as well. At the end of this bravado, she didn’t expect that there would be unconditional hope.

“I can’t wait. I’m sure it’ll be an amazing party!”

But since she shouldn’t worry her mom anymore, she decided to just smile brightly.

Two weeks before the banquet, Kathia was made to suffer luxury at its finest.

Although it did happen quite often, this was her first time having baths perfumed with expensive fragrant oils and a whole-body massage twice a day, even while having face masks made of ground-up pearls and gold.

The climax was for sure the dress.