In the novel, Vivi was a regressor. Physically, she was a child, but not mentally, so of course, she knew what I was talking about. For that matter, in the original story, even though Titania was the one who tried to kill her, she was still the one who suggested that she should be allowed to live since the real villain was someone else.
Hmm… While the original novel didn’t mention Princess Titania after she had been locked in the North Tower, it was unlikely that the people around her, who loved Vivi dearly, would have spared the woman whom the Imperial Court had essentially abandoned.
She’d be dead as a doornail, I suppose. I spoke up with a conflicted heart.
“Thank you.”
“…”
“But it’s okay.”
I understood the despair that Titania in the original must have felt in the presence of Vivi.
A girl loved by everyone.
A girl who could have anything.
A girl who could have everything she ever wanted, without lifting a finger.
A girl cherished and treasured by everyone in the famously terrifying and cold-blooded House Castraine.
Just looking at her must have made her feel inferior. Even more so when Lord Raymon, who looked at Titania like she was an annoying bug, cherished Vivi like she was some candy that would melt in the rain.
However.
“You should be more concerned about Lord Raymon’s future than mine, Vivi.”
“…Big brother?”
Vivi, who had been meekly accepting me stroking her hair, changed subtly.
“Yes, Vivi. Though I suppose I shouldn’t be so worried about Lord Castraine… But still, I should divorce him now, so he’ll find someone better before it’s too late. I’ve already delayed it too much.”
Lord Raymon and I were already nearing our twenties. The original story had already been changed somewhat. I didn’t try to kill Vivi but rather saved her life once, so I wouldn’t be destroyed in the same way as in the original story. However, it wasn’t like I should try to stop someone else from getting married.
“…”
I puffed out my cheeks and glanced at Vivi, who was staring at me with disgruntled eyes.
“I really don’t mind, Vivi. I’m still the Empire’s only princess.”
If the Emperor was indeed going to try to sell me off to some pot-bellied royalty abroad, I’d already planned a suitable escape plan…
Rather, it was essential to break the engagement for exactly that purpose.
I didn’t want to entangle myself any further with House Castraine and cause Vivi any more trouble. So even though I felt sorry to Vivi for worrying her, Operation Night Escape was a secret.
Actually, it was more of a ‘play dead’ operation than a ‘night escape’ one…
Well. It would be cleaner if I just pretended to be dead, wouldn’t it? Though Vivi would be a little sad.
-…Please don’t apologize to me.
I suddenly remembered the man who looked at me with eyes like molten stars. He looked hurt, or maybe he was afraid. Perhaps both.
Either way, I was probably more a symbol of bad luck than good fortune for him.
-Why are you apologizing for this? I’m the one who put you in danger! Why are you laughing it off like it’s okay because you saved someone else?
Gritting my teeth, I remembered the voice that had pleaded with me, and my heart sank slightly. But so what? He’s a great man, and he only felt responsible towards his fiancée.
But now the engagement was as good as over, and I didn’t need Raymon’s protection anymore. We’ll just have to move on with our lives. You can’t bring the dead back to life anyway. There’s no way the cold-hearted Lord Raymon would cling to a relationship with his dead ex-fiancée.
He’ll find someone new.
“So, don’t you think we should eat some desserts? I had everything prepared because Vivi was coming.”
“…Okay.”
I just smiled in response to Vivi, who rolled her eyes in dissatisfaction but didn’t hesitate to take the fork I held out to her.
* * *
“You liar.”
In the carriage ride back to the ducal residence, Vivi muttered with a cracking voice. She clutched the box of tarts the princess had wrapped as a gift.
“She says it’s okay because she’s the only princess in the empire, but she doesn’t even think so herself!”
Vivi’s faithful maid, Lucy, said as she smoothed Vivi’s disheveled hair.
“It’s because she’s worried about Miss Vivi, too.”
“…If they break up now, there’s really no way to protect her, and she could be sold off to a foreign country. Of course, I wouldn’t let that happen, but…”
The girl, who was speaking with a hint of worry in her voice, paused. Maybe she really did think it wouldn’t matter. If this is the Titania she’d known all this time.
Vivi, who had died a miserable death, only to return and be adopted by a duke as his daughter, had vowed to change everything.
But Titania was not an imperial princess known for her forgiving behavior. Or so she had thought until five years ago, when they stumbled upon each other in the Imperial Palace’s labyrinth.
Originally, she was trying to find a hidden imperial relic near the maze. A relic that no one, not even the Imperial Family, remembered anymore.
She didn’t want anyone to question the source of her knowledge, so she tried to sneak it away when no one was looking, even though she wasn’t of Imperial blood. But something went wrong and the trap was triggered, dropping her into the underground labyrinth of the Imperial Palace. If it weren’t for Titania, who came running out of nowhere and wrapped her arms around Vivi, she would have died.
Titania laughed through her pallor as she had her limbs bitten by the maze’s guardian beast.
The beast typically wouldn’t attack someone of Imperial blood unless there was extenuating circumstances. If she had pretended not to notice Vivi, Titania would have been safe. But Titania had protected Vivi.
She held the child tightly, refusing to let go as the beast was snarling and sinking its teeth into her flesh, demanding that she release the intruder in her arms, but she didn’t until it finally backed down.
Don’t cry, she’d told her, people will be here soon. Titania spoke with a smile on her pale lips.
-You should go back to the people who love you, Vivi.
What about you, then?
A child frozen in instinctive terror, soothed by hands frozen from blood loss. Titania left a will.
That’s what it was, a will.
Princess Titania was…
She sounded like she didn’t think she’d survive. Vivi wouldn’t have realized it if she’d been a child, but she’d already lived a life, died, and been brought back.
She’d seen people die. She knew when people spoke with this tone.
When they’d given up on everything.
That’s when they spoke like that. With a voice so quiet, so calm.
Why are you doing this? Why are you saying these things? To me?
-I’m fine… And now, Lord Raymon’ll be fine, too.
Realizing the truth, Vivi was a little stunned.
This woman really believed that it would be acceptable for her to die. That even if she died… it wouldn’t matter. After his troublesome fiancée died, Lord Raymon would be at ease.
Something in her chest seemed to throb, ready to burst out.
-…It’s not.
So Vivi grabbed that pale hand and cried out.
-It’s not okay, I’m not okay! I haven’t even repaid my savior, and you’re already trying to make me leave!
Titania’s hands were small. So small compared to her brother’s, so small compared to her father’s, so small compared to the hands of anyone Vivi had ever held. She could barely wrap her hand around Vivi’s, still so young.
Ah, yes, Vivi realized, this girl was only fifteen years old.
And no one in this vast palace loved her or even cared about her.
-I, I am Duke Castraine’s daughter, and I must repay this debt, I must repay it with all my might.
Feeling like she was about to burst into tears, Vivi swallowed hard.
Princess Titania, the one Vivi had known before her regression, was arrogant. She was a conceited woman with an inferiority complex and an obsession with Raymon. Everyone laughed at her, saying that she was only worth as much as her beautiful face.
And now, back in the past, she was her brother’s fiancée. Frankly, she hadn’t liked her. Her brother didn’t like her either, so she’d tried to break off their engagement somehow.
But…
-Is there such a thing as a person who doesn’t mind dying?
She had been sure she was in good hands with Raymon. And although she loved him dearly, for a moment, she resented him.
Titania was still his fiancée.
No matter how forcibly engaged they were. Couldn’t he have been a little nicer to her? If that were the case… After saving her beloved fiancé’s sister at the risk of her life, would she so casually mention that her fiancé would be at ease after her death?
At Vivi’s words, Titania, who had stopped speaking for a moment, laughed softly. It was a smile as wan as a wilted spring flower.
-…Yes, thank you.
Her face looked as if it would disappear at any moment.
Thinking back to that time, Vivi still felt uneasy. Just now, at tea time, she had also been trying to convince her to accept the break up with a smile just like that!
“…Big brother, you idiot!”
Vivi’s words, which sounded like she had a terrible temper, prompted Killian, her escort knight sitting next to her, to speak up.
“I’m afraid that’s just how Lord Raymon is.”
“Big brother definitely likes big sister Tia!”
“He certainly seems to like her.”
“If you like her, show it! Don’t let the risk of cavities limit your snacks to three chocolates a day!”
“That’s why you’ve been shamelessly hanging out at Princess Titania’s palace for dessert. Everyone knows she went to the trouble of hunting down a talented pastry chef and putting him to work in the Rose Palace.”
“Aaaaah.”
Vivi rubbed her cheek fondly against the box of tarts she was cradling in her arms. Lucy deftly rescued the box from Vivi’s arms before it could crumble. As Vivi looked at the stolen box with a sullen face, a strange thought suddenly struck her.
Come to think of it, when did the original ‘arrogant’ Princess Titania change so much? Vivi slowly searched her memory. Well, surely…
Was it around five years ago?
It was after the troubling ‘accident’ that had nearly killed Princess Titania.
