In the dream, Lilia was lying next to a flower bed, with a girl in a pink princess dress lying on top of her.

"Your Majesty!" The girl's voice was tender and sweet. She lifted her head and glanced at her mother lying on the ground.

"Iri..." Lilia reached out her hand, trying to touch the girl's head.

The girl understood and pressed her cheek against Lilia's palm, affectionately rubbing it and calling out, "Your Majesty!"

Upon hearing this, Lilia's face lit up with a loving smile. She gently stroked the girl's head and said, "Is it you? Iri..."

The girl didn't answer, she just called out again, "Your Majesty!"

But Lilia already had the answer in her heart. She was Iri. Although she couldn't see her face clearly, Lilia could feel it. This was her child.

Her hand slowly caressed the girl's soft hair as she softly said, "Iri... my Iri..."

Suddenly, the girl turned into smoke and disappeared before Lilia's eyes.

The scene changed, and Lilia was sitting in a chair with a table beside her, on which there were tea and fruits.

A girl dressed in a white lace princess outfit knelt in front of Lilia, her legs tightly closed and her head lowered, like a guilty child.

Lilia got up from the chair, wanting to help the girl, but no matter how hard she tried, she couldn't lift her.

"Your Majesty, I'm sorry, please forgive me. Please, you must forgive me! I didn't mean to be lazy." The girl knelt in front of the chair, pleading softly.

Lilia was confused. There was clearly no one on the chair, so why was the girl kneeling there and saying such things?

When she turned her head to look at the chair, she found someone sitting on it, and that person was herself.

Dream Lilia stared sternly at the girl in front of her and scolded, "Excuses!" (Dream Lilia refers to the self in the dream or the past self)

With that, she picked up a whip and mercilessly lashed it on the girl's body.

The girl trembled violently, but she gritted her teeth and endured, without any resistance.

Dream Lilia kept hitting, and the girl kept enduring.

Lilia immediately stepped forward to protect the girl with her body, but the whip passed through Lilia's body and hit the girl.

The scene kept changing. Whenever Lilia moved away, Dream Lilia would appear and complete the actions from the past.

The girl's face gradually became clear with the changing scenes, and Lilia finally saw her daughter Iris clearly.

The scene shifted again.

On a stage play, as the final scene ended, the actors gathered on stage and bowed deeply to the audience, while Iris said through the microphone, "Happy birthday, Auntie."

Eight big characters appeared on the stage, "Happy birthday, Lanzu."

At that moment, Lilia understood that she had another sister, but this sister was nothing like her.

Iris pushed a cake cart slowly towards Lanzu and stopped in front of her, smiling and saying, "Auntie, happy birthday."

"Shouldn't we smile on our birthday? This sister is so strange." Lilia murmured, but she was still happy, taking in every detail of Iris's performance.

Iris put a birthday crown on Lanzu's head and quickly grabbed a handful of cake, intending to smear it on Lanzu's face, but she was counterattacked.

"Iri, you're so clumsy! Let me help you." Just as Lilia reached out to grab the cake, this scene also turned into nothingness.

Lilia felt a bit disappointed. She really wanted to play with Iris.

Then, the surroundings turned into a castle, and someone who looked very much like Lilia was lying in the kitchen.

Soon, a butler in a suit with glasses and several shadow guards brought Iris to Lilia.

"Your Majesty, the princess is in the room." The butler in the suit respectfully bowed to Lilia.

Lilia was at a loss. She didn't have this memory and had no idea what to do. She silently stepped aside.

Then Dream Lilia appeared and slapped Iris, causing her to fall to the ground. Blood flowed from Iris's mouth, but she still looked stubbornly at Lilia.

"You dare to kill the Empress Dowager, your crime is unforgivable!" Dream Lilia grabbed Iris by the collar and interrogated her, then crushed Iris's sternum.

Immediately after, Dream Lilia took out a silver needle and pierced it into Iris's neck, injecting magic and drawing blood.

Iris screamed in pain, her eyes wide open as if trying to escape from her pupils.

Lilia, who witnessed this scene, felt heartbroken. She wanted to stop Dream Lilia, but she couldn't even touch her.

Lilia watched with tears streaming down her face, but she couldn't do anything except watch Dream Lilia draw blood.

She looked down at her own hands and asked herself, "Is this who I used to be? I was so cruel to Iris, how ruthless I was."

She felt a wave of discomfort in her heart, and tears couldn't help but fall.

Then, the scene changed once again.

This time, the surroundings were a water dungeon. Two shadow guards laid Iris flat on the ground and took out silver daggers from their waists, severing Iris's limbs.

After completing this, they used a forbidden magic lock to hang Iris in the cell. Then they opened the floodgate and let the water rise until it reached her neck.

Then, they poured bucket after bucket of salt into the water.

This time, Lilia didn't step forward to help Iris. Because she knew this was a dream, a memory from her past that she couldn't change. Even if she could change it, it would only be for her own psychological comfort, nothing more.

She didn't know how long it had been when Iris finally woke up.

The sting of the saltwater made Iris writhe in pain, her throat emitting hoarse screams.

At this moment, Dream Lilia walked over and ordered the guards to drain the water.

As the water level dropped, Iris looked disheveled and weak, casting a weak glance at Dream Lilia.

After some interrogation, Dream Lilia didn't get the answers she wanted. She drew her blade and cut off Iris's right arm.

As the right arm fell to the ground, it was immediately engulfed in flames and turned to ashes, not even leaving a piece of flesh behind.

"Today, I cut off your right arm. If you don't confess clearly, tomorrow I will cut off your left arm, then your legs, eyes, ears. I won't let you die easily," Dream Lilia said before turning and leaving the dungeon.

Lilia covered her mouth, her eyes wide open, filled with horror.

She never expected that her past self could say such things, cutting off Iris's organs. It turned out she was the one who hurt Iris the most.

At this moment, Lilia finally understood why Iris hated her. It was all her own doing.

...

She woke up from the dream, sitting up and wiping away the tears from the corners of her eyes. She felt a deep sense of self-blame and guilt.

"I'm sorry, Iris," Lilia whispered to herself.

She recalled everything from the dream, seemingly memories related to Iris. As for the other people, she had no idea who they were.

In the memories related to Iris, she could count on one hand the number of times she made Iris happy. Either she was tricking her or setting her up for failure.

She tortured Iris in various ways, always assigning tasks that were impossible to complete and using them as an excuse to punish her.

Because she was afraid of pain, she didn't want Iris to drink blood and develop wings. Her excuse was that Iris didn't listen to her, and she gave Iris permanent punishment.

Iri would tremble in fear and avoid her like she had seen a ghost, not daring to come near her.

On Lanzu's birthday, she deliberately said that Lanzu liked watching stage plays, even though Lanzu didn't actually enjoy them. It was Lilia herself who liked watching stage plays.

"Lilia, you are truly wicked. How could there be such a bad mother in the world? You can't even take care of your child, but you excel at tormenting them," Lilia cursed herself, then slapped herself a few times, swelling her cheeks as a form of punishment.

But due to her bloodline as a vampire royal, the swelling on her face disappeared quickly.

Lilia contemplated whether or not to tell Alya about restoring some of her memories. Perhaps it could make up for some of her mistakes.

After a moment, Lilia shook her head, rejecting the idea. The deed had been done, and Iris would still hate her. The intellectually impaired Lilia might be able to alleviate some of Iris's disgust.

In the end, Lilia decided to continue being intellectually disabled. Perhaps this way, she would still have a chance to be by Iri's side. Even if she couldn't be with him, even if she could only catch a glimpse of him every day, she would be content.

As for whether her other memories would be restored, it no longer mattered to Lilia. She felt that things were fine the way they were. Although Iri didn't like her very much, it didn't stop Lilia from loving him.

This time, Lilia fell into a deep sleep again. But this time, she slept soundly, dreaming of intimate moments with Iri. A faint smile appeared on her lips.

...