Gidi didn't know whether her choice was right or wrong.

She was simply very envious.

From the moment she saw Celitia burst into the side hall, Gidi had been extraordinarily envious.

Olar was indeed favored in the household. All the servants had to revolve around him, carefully conforming to his wishes.

But no matter how well everyone treated him, Olar had never taken anyone seriously, let alone held anyone in his heart.

Yet Celitia, in order to save Luna, could actually go to such lengths.

How enviable.

If one day she too were captured and facing life and death, would someone come to save her regardless of everything?

If only Miss Celitia could treat her the same way...

With such indescribable feelings, Gidi had begun secretly helping Rebecca.

Originally, she hadn't wanted to be discovered by the master and madam, but now that she'd been caught red-handed by the madam, even if she acted submissive, she would probably earn the madam's resentment anyway.

In that case, she might as well tell some truth.

If Princess Sophia was Miss Celitia's friend, then there should be no problem with her telling the truth, right?

Having figured out the cause and effect, Gidi's back, which had unconsciously hunched and cowered, suddenly straightened.

She fearlessly glared at Lady Herbert:

"If Miss Celitia hadn't resisted, what would be lying in the courtyard now would probably be the young miss's coffin!"

Lady Herbert had never cared about the cause of the incident. Hearing Gidi's words, she couldn't help but be stunned.

But before long, Lady Herbert began shrieking irritably:

"So what? It's a fact that Olar was injured. I don't care about all that! I just want that little bitch to be punished!!"

"Aloque."

A gentle voice rang out. Marianne, who had been listening silently for a long time, finally spoke.

"You don't care, but we do. The matter between Olar and Celitia should be settled, but that's not a reason for you to arbitrarily confine someone in a dungeon."

Marianne's tone sounded very gentle, yet it was filled with the majesty belonging to a queen, every word carrying unquestionable authority.

She had no intention of entangling with Lady Herbert here—she only wanted to hurry and check on Celitia's condition.

Glancing at Lady Herbert, the warning intent in Marianne's eyes grew stronger before she turned to Gidi and softened her voice slightly: "Lead the way."

Gidi's heart was beating extremely fast. Only when Marianne softened her tone did she relax slightly.

Truly worthy of Her Majesty the Queen!

Taking the key back from Sophia's hands, Gidi respectfully led the way in front.

"Wait! Listen, wait for me!!"

Seeing that the group of four was no longer paying attention to her, Lady Herbert became frantic and had no choice but to follow them herself.

Walking on the stairs and smelling the damp, musty odor in the dungeon, Sophia couldn't help but wrinkle her brow in disgust.

"Twenty years ago, the kingdom revised its laws. Why does the Herbert family's dungeon still remain to this day?"

Rebecca carefully explained: "The family's dungeon has always been sealed. It hasn't been used for many years. Only this time..."

Sophia didn't respond, her frown deepening.

Thinking of Celitia being confined alone in such a place, Sophia couldn't stop feeling extremely anxious.

Please, goddess protect us, don't let anything irreversible happen...

The dungeon was pitch black. Gidi, walking at the front, carefully lit a candle in the corner.

Holding the candlelight, she used the key to open the locked door.

"Lily?!"

The moment her vision returned, Sophia gasped, hardly daring to believe what she saw before her eyes.

Four chains extended down from the wall, cold shackles binding the girl's slender limbs, reflecting cold light in the firelight.

Her long curls spread out like seaweed, stained with the black grime from the floor, disheveled and broken.

The girl lay on her side with her back to them, limbs curled up, body huddled into a ball, eyes tightly closed, with barely visible breathing movements, as if she had already lost her breath.

Blood had become dark red traces scattered across the girl's cheeks, hair, and clothes—a truly shocking sight.

In this instant, Sophia's heart almost stopped beating, and she could only hear sharp ringing in her mind.

How could this be?

They had only been separated for one day—how had it become like this?

Her mind almost completely blank, Sophia stood dazedly at the cell door until Marianne pushed her from behind, suddenly bringing her back to her senses.

"Lily!"

Rushing into the cell, Sophia knelt beside Celitia, her hands trembling as she tried to help the girl up.

The moment her hand touched the girl's body, Sophia shivered from the cold.

So cold.

Even colder than the last time Celitia had collapsed and Sophia had taken her to the hospital.

"Lily, wake up quickly, don't scare me..."

Taking Celitia into her arms, Sophia tried shaking her but couldn't wake her up.

The girl's head fell helplessly against Sophia's chest, her pale, slender neck visible through her hair, looking so fragile it seemed it might break at any moment.

"Mom, Mom," Sophia's voice took on a crying tone, "please come look, what's wrong with Lily?"

Marianne walked over and knelt down as well, carefully touching the girl's forehead.

A grave expression appeared in her eyes. Marianne's palm glowed with faint white light as magical power flowed, carefully examining within Celitia's body.

After a moment, Marianne spoke softly: "She's injured."

Marianne used "injured" rather than "sick."

In her panic, Sophia didn't consider the difference between the terms, only asking: "Then what should we do? Can Lily be healed?"

"Yes, I'll give her emergency treatment first." Marianne nodded calmly. "We can't stay here long. We'll take her back to the palace in a moment."

"To the palace?"

This cry of surprise came from Lady Herbert, who had persistently followed behind. Hearing that the two wanted to take Celitia, she couldn't help but protest.

"Celitia is our Herbert family's daughter, and the matter between her and Olar hasn't been settled yet. How can you take her away?!"

"So you still plan to continue arbitrarily confining Celitia?"

Marianne's voice sounded gentle but actually carried an extremely cold chill.

"I don't have much time to educate you about the kingdom's laws, Aloque. Putting it lightly, this is private abuse of others, punishable by at least seven days of detention. Putting it seriously... this is deliberate harm to another's life, and the victim is even your family member. I don't need to elaborate on what punishment that deserves, do I?"

"This—"

Lady Herbert didn't dare make a sound for a moment.

Even for nobles, murder was an extremely serious charge.

Lady Herbert, whose mind had become muddled from anger over Olar's injury, finally remembered that standing before her was Her Majesty Queen Marianne.

No longer paying attention to Lady Herbert who had suddenly gone quiet, Marianne directed Sophia:

"Sophia, lay Celitia flat on the ground. I'll treat her first to stabilize her condition."

Sophia did as instructed, laying Celitia on the ground. It took some effort to separate the girl's limbs that had been hugged together.

When she was alone in this dark and cold place, how afraid she must have been, and how desperate...

Thinking of this, Sophia felt a pain in her heart and nearly shed tears.