Chapter 3

The moment the queen saw the dress, tears streamed down her face.

"Alexander, do you remember this dress?" she sobbed, dropping to her knees before him. "When you were poisoned all those years ago, I knelt beside this lake for three days and three nights.

"I sank this dress to the bottom of the lake and prayed to the spirit of the royal waters, begging it to keep you safe. I was willing to trade ten years of my own life for yours."

Alexander went rigid. The suspicion in his eyes faded, replaced by overwhelming guilt.

He bent down and helped the queen back to her feet.

"Eleanor, you've suffered enough."

Agatha immediately seized the opportunity.

"Rosamund, do you have anything left to say?" she demanded. "You abused Alexander's trust and turned the entire palace upside down. You deserve to die for this!"

Although the eight princes still stood protectively around me, confusion had begun to creep into their eyes.

The dress really did belong to Eleanor. There was even a faint trace of her presence lingering on it.

It seemed that this impostor had someone powerful helping her after all—someone capable of masking her presence even from my divination.

I tightened my grip around the three coins, my eyes narrowing.

"One old dress proves nothing."

That was enough to make Agatha fly into a rage.

"Guards! Seize this madwoman who's been spreading these outrageous lies!"

The attendants and guards behind her had barely taken a step when Alexander once again shielded me behind him.

"Mother, I told you. Without Rosamund, I would've been nothing but a dead man by now.

"If she wants to search, then let her search. She can turn the whole capital upside down if she has to!"

The eight princes quickly closed ranks around me, and Agatha's people immediately backed off.

I looked at the queen through the crowd. She was still wearing that same expression of concern, as though she genuinely cared about me.

"Rosa, I know you're skilled at divination, but you're only human. Even the wisest person can make a mistake.

"If you're determined to keep searching, then I'll search with you. I only ask that you don't let this destroy the peace between everyone."

I ignored her.

I bit down on my tongue until I tasted blood, then spat it over the three coins. This time, I called upon the full power of the ancient relic embedded within my bones.

A searing pain spread from deep within my bones. My throat tightened with the taste of blood, and I suddenly doubled over, coughing up a mouthful of it.

Charles cried out and reached for me, but I waved him away.

"Heaven above, earth below. Light and darkness, reverse and reveal the truth. Find her!"

The bloodstained coins shot into the air and transformed into a streak of crimson light, flying straight toward the most remote corner of Westbury Palace.

I wiped the blood from the corner of my mouth, my voice hoarse.

"The dry well at the Grey Wing."

Everyone's expression changed the moment they heard those words.

The Grey Wing was the most sinister and haunted part of the entire palace. Its dry well had long been used as a mass burial pit for disgraced attendants and women cast aside by the royal family.

My heart twisted with agony.

How could Eleanor be lying in a filthy, forgotten place like that?

The color drained from Alexander's face. He shoved the queen away and sprinted toward the Grey Wing as though possessed.

The princes followed close behind.

The queen remained where she was for a moment, her eyes reddening, before allowing one of her attendants to help her after them.

The Grey Wing was desolate and crumbling, its dry well covered by a massive stone slab.

The commander of the royal guard personally led a team to move the slab aside. They secured ropes around themselves before descending into the well and beginning to dig.

Alexander gripped the edge of the well so tightly that his fingernails split and blood ran down his fingers, yet he seemed completely unaware of it.

One second passed, then another.

At last, movement came from below.

"Your Majesty, we've found something!"

A mud-covered skeleton was slowly hauled out of the well. Several tattered scraps of cloth still clung to the bones.

Alexander's knees gave way, and he collapsed into the mud. His trembling hand reached toward the remains, only to stop just short of touching them.

"Eleanor… My Eleanor…"

Charles and the other seven princes broke down completely, dropping to their knees as tears streamed down their faces.

My gaze remained fixed on the skeleton.

The connection I had sensed through the ancient power within my bones was growing weaker, and I knew something was wrong. The presence clinging to these remains wasn't right.

"Bring the royal examiner here now," I said, turning toward the commander of the royal guard. "I want these bones examined."

A flicker of hope sparked in Alexander's eyes, which had been filled with despair moments ago.

"Bring the examiner here!" he ordered.

The most experienced royal examiner from the palace medical corps hurried over with his case. He knelt beside the remains and carefully examined every bone.

About 15 minutes later, the examiner rose, his head lowered.

"Your Majesty, these remains…" he began, his voice trembling. "The pelvis is unusually narrow, and there are no signs of separation at the pubic joint.

"This woman never gave birth."

Silence fell over the entire area.

The examiner's words rang in everyone's ears, but Eleanor had given birth to eight princes.

These could not possibly be her remains.