{Note this is the scene after the prologue}

Serena was lying on a bed. She slowly opened her deep blue eyes. They had a hint of nostalgia in them.

She gazed at Illya, who had tears in her eyes and was squeezing her hand at the edge of the bed.

"Mom, were you thinking about Godmother?"

“Yes, those were some happy memories. Illya, Do you know the one thing I regret the most?” asked Serena.

“Mom tell me any regret you have, I will fulfil them to the best of my abilities.” Illya sniffled and spoke with the most energetic voice she could summon.

“My regret was not choosing to stay. You know Illya I always thought about it, about what White used to do when we were not around and that's when I understood she was always lonely, she always appeared happy around us as that was the only time she was not alone, she treated me like a friend even before you were born, the evening before returning to the mansion your godmother gave me a choice, she knew there were assassins and people out there who wanted to ruin us so she wanted us to stay with her but I picked the other option. I  wound up thinking we would be a burden and failed to see her isolation, she would have given us a genuine family, if I chose differently that day we would not be in such a state today.” Serena was lamenting.

“Mom, we can't change the decisions of past but we can choose what to do now,  She promised me she would return tomorrow so please hold on till then. Please!” she was sniffling her tears.

“Your Godmother can rescue me but some people will not tolerate that, they don't want me to meet your Godmother.” Serena.

“What are you speaking, mom? Who wants to hinder you from meeting Godmother?” Illya.

“Illya do you remember what I told you the day I found out you were being sabotaged for not being able to get a spirit’s blessing?” Serena.

“Yes, I should trust no one other than you and Godmother, not even the royal family,” Illya replied.

“There you have your answer,” Serena

“Mom, the royal family is my blood-related family. Why would they do anything to you?” it confused Illya.

“Don’t call them family Illya those bastards are like… no, they are worse than serpents, Illya what I am about to speak is a mature topic sure you can handle this?” Serena

“Speak to me mom I want to know.” Illya

“Illya I never aspired to be a member of the royal family, that man was a prince and forced himself on me in my sleep, and as to not disgrace my honour your grandpa the Marquis of Yacuruna consented to the marriage reluctantly, that man did all that so he can have a powerful supporter in his faction,” Serena

“So the reason you avoid him is not that he has many women around him but….” Serena interrupted Illya.

“Yes, I despise that knave, and his father the King is no better either; he also lusts for power. Illya don’t you find it skeptical that only the King supports you and is polite to you when every other is sabotaging you?” Serena.

“Yes, now tat you say it it is suspicious.” Illya thinks and discerns his motive “Godmother, he wants to curry favour with Godmother, he perceives her power as she lives in the depths of the forbidden forest alone.”

“Right, he knows that White is fond of you, because of that he supported us meeting White in the first place and knowing that what do you think will occur if White were to discover all the shenanigans the royal family did including the fact that the royal family sabotaged you?” Serena.

“Godmother will not tolerate the royal family and in the worst-case scenario she will slaughter them.” Illya.

“If White meets me, I can spill to her everything about the royal family.” Serena spoke.

“So the King wants to silence you! And required me as a bargaining chip by being always being considerate of me. But he could solve this peacefully. Why kill you?” Illya.

“He knows that we can go to White’s mansion, I used that information as a bargaining chip to forbid him from trying to mediate between that man and me. He can't let us escape as that will not benefit him and might bring him misfortune. In the beginning, there wasn’t a predicament but you know the royal family, even though the King did not aggravate us the others always did, he always tried to fix things, however you being sabotaged was something he couldn’t oversee, he sought to keep it under wraps but there are always variables.” Serena lectured.

“a sound judgment, if Godmother discovered it she will incinerate them.” Illya understood, but “wait Mom if you know all this, then why did we not escape?” she asked.

“Illya listen quietly,” Serena spoke in a solemn tone “my state right now is because of a peculiar poison the King used, this poison when used with a particular herb, will act as a slow poison and after the poison takes root one only needs to use the herb periodically to delay the victim’s death for a maximum of 3 years.”

“Is that the reason you look as if you have a life-threatening disease?” Illya asked.

“Yes, and as he did not want to arouse any suspicion in you, he planned so I would die in your presence during your vacations as only at the end of the 3 years will the poison start resembling a disease I.e., my present state. I noticed about is as I studied them in secret because of a certain someone’s warning and as I am a master in medicine which no on knows, about studying about poison was not that difficult, but even if I found out I was too late as a year had already passed, the poison already took root in me.” Serena spoke in a grave tone.

“That means you noticed it around the time you discovered I was being sabotaged?” Illya.

“It was because of the poison I got suspicious ant that led me to notice that you were being sabotaged.” Serena replied, “Then all the pieces fell into their places and I surmised the king’s motive.” Serena.

“....” Illya could not speak… So much happened while they separated me from mother with the excuse ‘You need to attend the academy’.

“He adjusted the last dose of the herb, so I should have died ten days ago, but I enchanted my last dose lightly and contained the poison in my body with magic.” Serena continued.

“That means mom, with your expertise you could have at least eased yourself, but why did you suffer like this?” Illya asked.

“I could but the King is a magus and can sense all mana encompassing him, so if I enchanted the medicine and eased myself he will get suspicious, he was already desperate enough to kill me and if I struggled he might kill me before I can even speak to you.” Serena replied.

Illya was silent, trying to comprehend the situation.

“Now about the escaping part,” Serena spoke calmly “let me ask a question, king’s spies are present throughout the mansion, and there is a possibility that even if we tried to escape, they may hold me hostage. Will you still escape knowing they took me hostage ?”

“Never!” Illya in a solemn tone.

“I don’t want to restrain you here and in the case you escaped, even if I was dead or alive you might reappear for rescue or vendetta, even though the probability is small it still exists. I can not tolerate that and to evade that scenario you must meet White, so to give you have the highest probability of meeting her when you escape I had to delay my death till today and others will not even notice if you left today as they are busy preparing to invite White tomorrow,” spoke Serena.

“But mom, in all these scenarios why did you not find a way for you to stay alive? Why do you have to die? Why did you not tell me all this before? And you left out one possibility, what if I can’t find her?” Illya crying heavily.

“Illya look into the mirror, observe your eyes,” Serena calmly replied

“my eyes they are glowing amber? Is this the magic Godmother spoke about? The blessing?”

“This is the reason your godmother forbade you from speaking about your blessing, you have a unique blessing how you got it don’t ask me, you will find the answers eventually and as for why I did not tell you about the poison before, it is because if you knew all this the blessing would have activated and I can’t let that happen at the wrong time. I am sorry to put you on the spot like this but for now, just close your eyes, don't let anyone notice your eyes and just run out of this place the blessing will guide you to White,” Serena spoke.

“But mom you will..” Illya sniffling.

“Illya I am sorry but try to read the plight we are in, I don’t know whether I will live or go into a coma, so trust me and just run once you do no one can hinder you. Please give me relief by staying safe with White.” Serena.

Illya didn’t miss a single word and when she heard that her mother might just go into a coma “I must find God-ma, I will go, I will bet on that possibility.” She started running towards the door, only one sentence repeating in her mind.. must find God-ma.

“Good, Illya, go find your Godmother and proceed as she tells you to. Sorry, I am leaving you like this.” delivered Serena quietly closing her eyes.

Illya smashed the doors open and ran out of the chamber.

____________________________________________________________________

“So all this transpired in my absence?” lamented White frowning. Lifting her finger from Illya’s forehead, her finger was glowing.

[Lady, is it really fine to use Memory Read like that?] Machina asked.

“It's OK, there won’t be any harm to Illya, Now I need to go visit someone, take care of Illya Machina…” White declaimed seriously and vanished. 

[Her hair, it just flashed black a moment there or was there a glitch in the camera? Well, she seems pissed off. ]