HPBUY Chapter 125

When the eyelids swollen from crying all night touched the dawn air, they stung quite sharply. Sienna carefully fastened her coat before taking the reins.

She could feel that her physical condition wasn’t good. Perhaps from directly facing the cold air, her body was shivering and she kept feeling short of breath. But she couldn’t stop here. Taking a deep breath, she began another long day.

By now, her movement was almost automatic.

The horse, like her, hadn’t eaten proper food for days, so at some point it couldn’t maintain a proper pace. Sienna held the reins and walked, leading the horse forward.

It was natural that her speed slowed. After heading east while watching her own shadow for days, she could barely form coherent thoughts anymore.

Borders must exist somewhere, she supposed. Only such insignificant questions dimly occurred to her.

It was late afternoon when she heard the sound of people’s voices.

“Sir Lionel. Isn’t it a bit too much to search this vast land with only this many people?”

“Can’t you stop complaining? Just roaming around Ricata is enough to make my liver shrink, really. It’s so tiresome.”

“I thought soldiers regularly patrol this area anyway. Aren’t you worried that the princess might be wandering alone in such a rough place? You truly have no blood or tears.”

To Theo’s sharp words, Sir Lionel scratched his ear with an obviously annoyed expression.

Sienna stared at the two people before her with a dazed mind.

While she was trying to determine whether what she was seeing was the real Theo or an illusion, a hoof stepped on fallen leaves with a timely rustle. At this, the two men’s conversation abruptly stopped.

The faces of Theo and Sir Lionel turned simultaneously.

The three people standing at a distance stared at each other with blank expressions. After blinking for a while to distinguish between illusion and reality, Sienna moved her lips.

When she tried to use her vocal cords that hadn’t been used for days, it felt like the wind was scratching her throat. Nevertheless, her faint voice came through clearly.

“…Did you come looking for me?”

****

“…What did you say?”

The Empress asked again with a pale face to confirm what she had just heard. She was just returning from checking the Emperor’s condition after he had returned from Sendelk. Or rather than returned, “transported” might be a more accurate description.

Fortunately, the Emperor had survived. Most of his face had melted down to the point where his original appearance was unrecognizable, and he couldn’t even stand properly due to a gunshot wound, but at least he wasn’t dead. Even that alone had been an unbearable time for the Empress recently.

But that wasn’t all.

“This doesn’t look like something the Grand Duke of Monferrato did alone, Your Majesty.”

“….”

“He insists that he planned and committed everything by himself, but in my opinion… judging by the circumstances, I think the real culprit is that princess.”

The identity of the perpetrator that flowed from the Knight Commander’s mouth was someone completely unexpected. The Empress’s eyelashes trembled as soon as the princess was mentioned.

Not only had the Emperor suffered such a fate in the middle of the forest, but the highest-ranking nobleman in the country had been arrested at the scene. Meanwhile, the missing princess was still nowhere to be found.

As she organized the situation in her head once more, the Empress felt dizzy, as if her vision was spinning.

“The Grand Duke must have known the inside story and conspired, so it wouldn’t be strange to sentence him to death right now.”

“…No, that can’t be. It should be done after a fair trial.”

“However, Your Majesty. The Grand Duke has already turned himself in, and Duke Lowell has also sent a letter strongly claiming that the Grand Duke and this princess are the culprits.”

Sir Stefan expressed his disagreement again, but the Empress did not yield. Even amid the shock that had frozen her mind, she tried to view the situation coolly.

Judging from what she’d heard, Duke Lowell must be on bad terms with the Grand Duke now. No matter how renowned the Duke was as a minister, it seemed somewhat hasty to send the Grand Duke straight to prison based on his testimony alone.

“For now, let’s keep the Grand Duke imprisoned. We’ll conduct an investigation after the situation is somewhat organized.”

“As you command, Your Majesty.”

“Are we still looking for the princess?”

Almost simultaneously with her tired voice, the door was roughly flung open with a loud crash.

There were limited people who could enter the Emperor’s bedroom in such a manner.

Before the Empress could point out the inappropriate behavior, a piercing scream was heard. Even Sir Stefan standing nearby frowned. The bedroom became chaotic in an instant.

“Brother, this can’t be happening. How could this…!”

Marianne began to wail frantically by Joseph’s side. Contempt gradually froze the Empress’s face, which had been tinged with fatigue.

Marianne clutched Joseph and wept as if she were about to pass out.

Even the soldiers guarding the bedroom seemed unable to figure out what to do in this situation. The Empress, looking at Marianne with a face full of disgust, called the Knight Commander.

“Sir Stefan.”

“Yes, Your Majesty.”

“Didn’t I say the Emperor needs absolute rest?”

Understanding the Empress’s intention, Sir Stefan nodded to the soldiers. Only then did the soldiers grab Marianne’s arms and pull her away from Joseph.

Screams echoed through the bedroom, demanding how these lowly beings dared to grab her. But she had no way to overcome two strong men. Marianne continued to throw a fit but was dragged out of the bedroom in the soldiers’ grip.

The Empress stood in the middle of the bedroom, not missing a glimpse of the scene.

The Empress’s gaze, which had been directed at Marianne, turned to a woman standing at the doorway with a helpless expression. Surprised by this unexpected figure, the Empress’s eyes widened slightly.

“Dahlia?”

She called her in her usual voice, but when she met the tense eyes, the Empress’s face grew cold again.

Come to think of it, would that child also be included in the category of accomplices?

She had used her to obtain an invitation to the hunting festival and had quite a significant influence on how the situation unfolded, but somehow, the Empress didn’t feel the same level of anger toward her as she did toward the Grand Duke and Sienna.

“Let’s go to the inner chamber.”

Even so, she didn’t want to cause any more commotion beside the Emperor. Moreover, since Dahlia had contributed to some extent to his current state, she felt uncomfortable keeping them in the same space.

The Empress personally brought Dahlia to the inner chamber and ordered her favorite mint tea to be brought.

As the teacup was placed before her, Dahlia apologized with tears welling in her eyes.

“…I apologize, Your Majesty.”

“Don’t be like that.”

When she first learned of Dahlia’s involvement, she felt betrayed, but once she faced her, the Empress’s heart softened.

Unlike Sienna or Marianne, with whom her relationship could hardly be described as harmonious, Dahlia was quite close to the Empress. They were around the same age, and since Dahlia was the first person she had bonded with after coming alone to a foreign land for marriage, she had a certain attachment to her.

Moreover, during the process of hearing all the circumstances, the Empress had naturally learned about the Duke’s tyranny toward Dahlia. Unlike the princess, Dahlia hadn’t directly harmed the Emperor, so the Empress even felt sympathy for her.

“I heard the Grand Duke confessed everything.”

Even as she spoke, it was such an absurd claim that the Empress’s words were tinged with a hollow laugh.

“Even so, the princess who entered the forbidden area will likely not escape punishment.”

“But… Your Majesty. If we’re talking like that, then I’m an accomplice too.”

“Lady.”

The Empress called her with a sigh. Dahlia smiled awkwardly in response.

“You shouldn’t call me that anymore. As you’ve probably heard….I’m no longer a member of the Lowell family…”

“Why did you do such a thing?”

The Empress reproached her in a dejected voice.

After the incident, the Duke had taken the opportunity to brand the Grand Duke, the princess, and even Dahlia as the main culprits of the treason.

From what she’d heard, it was Dahlia who had stolen the will and the former Empress’s possessions from the Duke and fled. It made sense why Duke Lowell was so furious.

To make matters worse, Dahlia had been dismissed from the Lowell family and could no longer use the family name. What greater humiliation could there be in aristocratic society than losing one’s surname? Losing one’s surname was essentially no different from losing one’s status as a noble.

After a heavy silence, Dahlia spoke.

“Will you punish His Grace the Grand Duke?”

The Empress didn’t answer immediately. Dahlia’s face darkened further.

“Have you heard about the contents of the will?”

“There was supposedly a separate original. The one the Duke had is gone, taken by the princess, so there’s no way to find it.”

“The Emperor probably has a copy.”

“…Well…”

The Empress murmured uncertainly. It wasn’t that she hadn’t considered it, but given the Emperor’s personality, he would have already burned it without a trace.

“Whatever the case, Dahlia, don’t think about getting involved any further. The inheritance procedures for Chesperl Castle will be properly handled once things are settled, so don’t worry too much.”

The Empress intended to protect Dahlia from being further entangled in this affair. In her judgment, Dahlia was still young and had been inadvertently involved without knowing the details.