Chapter 71
“Billie.”
Seeing the confident expression of the Empress, Cassis narrowed his brows and called to me.
“…”
But I kept my mouth shut.
‘Honestly, didn’t she deserve it?’
Actually, I still haven’t let go of my anger because of what she said about Mom.
I puffed out my cheeks in rejection and the Empress’s eyebrows rose slightly as I remained silent.
“She seem scared to answer. Alright, I’ll tell you directly.”
The Empress sighed as if she knew that would happen.
“Princess Billishia slapped me in the face.”
“…!”
It was at this time that Cassis, who was gritting his teeth, was surprised.
Sian, too, seemed surprised and his eyes turned into rabbit eyes.
“Billie.”
Cassis, who was asking, lowered his gaze as if asking if it was true.
His expression was one of disbelief, but he seemed to think that the Empress wasn’t the kind of person to talk nonsense.
The Empress was silent for a moment.
Then she glanced at Cassis and raised the corners of her lips.
“Right after the building collapsed, I brought the Princess who had fallen down. Yet she got up and slapped me in the face, probably because she was angry regarding her family.”
Isilis, who left out all words related to regressors, became confident.
Come to think of it, that’s right.
Aside from the fact that I was a regressor, in this world I was a princess and Isilis was an empress.
If the law of this world called me slapping her face, it would be considered assault and insulting the Empress.
‘But swearing at Mom crossed the line. And the Empress tried to kill my family.’
I had no regrets.
But since I had no words to make an excuse, I lowered my head to avoid Dad’s gaze.
The clenched fists on my knees were shaking.
I closed my eyes tightly and prepared to be scolded.
“I don’t believe it.”
“…?”
Opening my shaking eyes slightly, the Empress’s mouth opened slightly in surprise into my view.
“…What?”
“I haven’t even seen it myself. I don’t believe it.”
“I said the Princess slapped me in the face and you don’t believe me?”
“Yes, Your Imperial Majesty.”
Cassis answered lazily, leaning back in the chair.
“My child isn’t like that.”
“?”
“My child is nice.”
“…?”
Dad had one leg crossed and caressed my cheek, and his expression didn’t show the slightest shyness.
“You didn’t, right, Billie?”
He leaned his upper body slightly to whisper to me and smiled.
It was a reassuring smile telling me not to worry even if I did.
As expected of our dad.
Family is the best.
My eyes became watery as I was moved by his shameless words and actions.
“Ha!”
She stared at us father and daughter as if it was more than she could imagine, and then burst into laughter.
“…Sir Vallois. Even if you belong to the fourth generation duke family, daring to slap the Empress is a serious crime.”
“Then bring me the evidence.”
“My cheek is the proof.”
“Red cheeks may be a psychological phenomenon, so it’s considered a mental illness.”
“Duke. Right now, you…”
“There are similar examples.”
It was then.
The man who was cutting the Empress’s words slowly lowered his upper body.
“Before the court collapsed. The suspicious-looking movements of Your Imperial Majesty, who hurriedly sent away the royal family and close associates…”
“!”
“Isn’t this just my opinion?”
His purple eyes caught her as she panicked.
“Isn’t that so?”
Dad asked again.
Isilis’s hand, which was dropping by the hem of her dress, was shaking to the point of turning blue.
“…Yes.”
“In addition, Your Imperial Majesty’s hostage prince.”
When the topic came to him, Sian flinched.
His gaze, which had been staring at me from earlier, slightly lifted.
“It would only be foolish to doubt the absurd action of saving the blood of a criminal just because he’s innocent.”
“Duke!”
The surprised Empress stood up.
Sian and I, who were sitting there, also froze like ice cubes.
That was a very scary statement just now.
Dad’s current statement was like declaring that the Vallois family was officially suspicious of the Imperial Family.
“He’s hostage. It’s my responsibility… Enough. It doesn’t seem to make any sense anyway.”
Maybe she doesn’t even want to deal with it?
She was trembling so hard that blood appeared on her neck, and she stood up, holding Sian’s hand as if she didn’t want to deal with him.
“Let’s go, Peter.”
Slamㅡ!
Without any greetings.
‘…What will happen to Sian?’
I tried to take a quick look before the door closed, but surprisingly, Sian didn’t look at me.
The black eyes were glaring at the Empress.
It was a frighteningly dark gaze.
***
As soon as I went out of the Empress Palace with Dad, my brothers rushed at me and hugged me.
“Billie. I thought you disappeared and would die.”
Kai’s breathing felt unsteady on the back of my neck.
I was hugged so hard that my throat was almost clogged.
‘They must be very surprised.’
I was about to push him away, but I stopped and patted my brother on the back.
“…Where did you go? Are you okay?”
His tearful voice cracked.
After hugging me for a while, Kai held my shoulder as if it would break me and looked at me.
Did he even cry?
The area around his blue eyes was red and bloodshot.
“I’m fine…”
“Billie.”
As I was trying to explain the situation, a low voice came from somewhere.
It was Bian.
It was only after he checked on me from a distance that he managed to catch his breath.
In contrast to Kai, who was crying, his face turned pale as if blood wasn’t flowing.
“…I’m sorry.”
“Brother didn’t do anything wrong.”
“…I definitely, definitely thought I teleported you as well…”
Pain seeped from his face, which was distorted as if he was about to collapse.
Bian buried his face in his hands, then stumbled over to me and placed his forehead on my shoulder.
Although he didn’t wail as loudly as Kai, I could feel Brother’s back shaking slightly.
I felt like he started crying only after he was sure I was safe.
“Have you found the Princess?”
Agasa and the knights appeared behind the twins who ran out.
Everyone was breathing heavily, as if they had been searching for me for a long time.
“You’re finally here.”
Even during this time, Dad was uncomfortably bending his upper body and holding my hand.
Looking at their expression, it seemed like they wanted to hug me and pick me up, but they seemed unable to do so because of the twins hugging me.
“At that time, the doll I saw at the mansion came to me. I felt Magi, so I followed it and found it. I think it’s probably Billie’s ability.”
“You can feel Magi in the doll?”
When Agasa stopped, the doll following me also flinched.
“Beepㅡ?”
“…Turning inanimate objects into living things, ah! That’s not what’s important.”
Agasa’s expression crumpled in disbelief, but he quickly changed the topic.
“Anyway, where was the Princess?”
“The Empress.”
“Pardon? However, Her Imperial Majesty the Empress is currently treating the injured.”
The Empress was quick in her actions.
When I turned my gaze toward Agasa’s gesture, I saw Isilis treating the injured at the site of the collapse.
Her benevolent smile was like that of an angel without wings.
“…She acts like a saintess.”
Cassis, who was watching this, muttered something to himself as if he was swearing.
“What about the situation.”
“First, there was an order for those who were okay to return home to receive treatment for the injured. Also, fortunately or unfortunately, the condition of the building is such that only two pillars on the podium side of the trial-style building have collapsed.”
“Of all, only two pillars in one row?”
“Yes. So it seems that there were no deaths. Only Vallois and the Imperial Family were sitting in the first row.”
Cassis’ face became strange.
“Just that part by chance.”
His voice sank harshly as he asked again.
“…Yes.”
Agasa also gave the same answer.
A court-style building that had been sturdy for 1,000 years collapsed in an instant?
It wasn’t an impossible situation, but the collapse of the Imperial building was similar to the collapse of the strong image of the Imperial Family.
It was even a trial day related to the fourth generation families.
The condition of the building is inspected periodically, but it would have been inspected again in time for this trial date.
It made no sense for the building to collapse under these circumstances.
Unless someone planned it on purpose.
Agasa and Cassis clearly also guessed what would happen in the future.
“…Let’s go back to the mansion and investigate. The kids come first.”
But Dad chose us first instead of the Empress.
“Agasa. Just in case, check the carriage. We’re going back to the mansion right away.”
“Yes.”
I was drooling at the serious conversation, yet suddenly my feet were in the air.
As usual, Cassis seemed to lift me up.
But.
“No! You can’t!”
“I’m going to hold Billie’s hand too. I missed her.”
The twins were so startled that they ran towards me.
They were desperately holding on to my ankles, as if they were afraid of me disappearing from their sight.
“Beep!”
The same was true for the doll hanging around my ankle.
“…Haa.”
He sighed in frustration and eventually changed his mind.
“?”
“!”
Dad suddenly folded his knees and hugged Bian and me with his strong arms.
“Kai, put yourself on my back. The stuffed doll follows on its own.”
“…What?”
Kai flinched in embarrassment.
The dad, looking at his sons’ awkward expressions, averted his gaze and muttered.
“If I blink my eyes, it will separate into three parts, but it would be better to just carry all three in peace.”
“…”
“I’m anxious too.”
He seemed to have decided that there was no other way after seeing the children rushing towards him.
There was silence for a moment.
“Geez.”
Kai, who was muttering to herself like a curse, ended up riding on Dad’s back without a word.
I guess he thought it was more important than Cassis being awkward.
“…Is that person Sir Vallois?”
“Are they going away because the children are scared? There’s a lot of family love.”
“I heard he hasn’t shown his face at the mansion for five years, but I guess that was just speculation.”
“Anyway, isn’t he coddling the kids too much?”
“It looks nice, what’s wrong with you?”
While we were leaving the scene of the collapse, gazes were focused on us.
As the head of the Vallois family, Dad was already a person who attracted attention with his very existence.
Of course, they couldn’t help but be surprised because there were three children there, clinging to each other like cicadas.
Cassis silently walked among the people without any signs of distress.
However, he must have realized that they were paying too much attention, so he glanced around, and the people who were looking at us quickly turned away from us.
I guess everyone was curious yet scared.
“There’s no problem with the carriage. “You can get on now.”
Agasa was waiting with the door open.
There were four of us in one carriage, hunched over.
Dad, Kai, Bian, and me.
The carriage departed with my entire family on board.
