Though none of those who tried would admit it, it was their last struggle.
It was their own desperate resistance.
Those who fall from high places couldn’t accept their fall itself.
That’s how Beatrice was, and so was the Crown Prince.
They used their soon-to-expire power to find where the Grand Duchess of Lusenford was, and to remove the ladies-in-waiting and knights surrounding her.
“Your Highness, His Highness the Crown Prince has arrived.”
Kaela, who hadn’t entered the palace at all since her tea gathering with the Marchioness of Schroz, was about to attend to her duties as the only female member of the Regency Council.
Compared to politics, economy, military, and diplomatic matters, all the work that needed attention in the Ministry of Internal Affairs was waiting for Kaela.
The chubby Minister of Internal Affairs brought urgent matters directly to Kaela, knowing they would be pushed aside if presented to the Regency Council due to overwhelming workload. The situation had reversed.
Now the Regency Council took priority in all matters, and the Minister of Internal Affairs discussed these ‘urgent and important but unappreciated by ignorant people’ agenda items with the twenty-one-year-old Grand Duchess.
“The Crown Prince, you say?”
The Minister of Internal Affairs, who had been passionately discussing various art events and knight appointment ceremonies, adjusted his monocle and looked up.
Just then, the Crown Prince was striding in. Even in this late heat, he looked pale as if he were ill.
“The little sun has arrived.”
The Minister of Internal Affairs greeted the Crown Prince with a boisterous laugh and exaggerated theatrical gestures. Kaela stood up quietly and gave a proper curtsy.
“I know you’re busy, but I’d like you to clear the room.”
The Crown Prince’s nervously trembling voice barely registered with Kaela. Instead of looking at the Crown Prince, she was watching the hooded woman quietly entering behind him.
Though her hair was completely hidden, Kaela immediately recognized who the woman was.
The wanted criminal that Sir Isidore Dakiten was searching for, Beatrice Ravalley.
Kaela reflexively recalled the rose tea she had been served by the Marchioness of Schroz. It had contained Beatrice’s poison.
“I have matters to discuss regarding my mother.”
As a member of the Regency Council, Kaela was responsible for overseeing both private affairs and official schedules of royal family members. The Minister of Internal Affairs, who would have had to take the matters they discussed to his ministry for implementation anyway, gathered up his stack of papers.
“Yes, Your Highness. Then Your Highness the Grand Duchess, I will go to the Ministry of Internal Affairs to handle these matters. I shall see you later.”
“Yes. Take care, Minister.”
Kaela calmly bowed her head as she saw the Minister off. The Minister glanced curiously at the woman the Crown Prince had brought but didn’t ask questions as he waddled out. That was the Cranian way of etiquette.
“Clear the surroundings. It’s about my mother.”
The Crown Prince demanded once more, and Kaela calmly nodded.
“As you wish.”
At a single gesture from Kaela, even Sir Renard, who had always faithfully guarded her, withdrew.
Kaela stood quietly, watching Sir Renard’s retreating back until he completely disappeared. As soon as Sir Renard vanished, Beatrice spoke sharply.
“Subdue her.”
But the Crown Prince didn’t move immediately, instead looking at Beatrice with confusion. A moment of silence fell.
Beatrice interpreted the Crown Prince’s blank stare. It meant ‘Why should I do that when you should?’
A snicker broke out. It wasn’t Beatrice who laughed, nor was it the Crown Prince.
Kaela, who had been quietly watching their behavior, turned her head and laughed. Much smaller and younger than Beatrice, she laughed openly, either out of naivety or fearlessness.
“This little b*tch, really…!”
Beatrice immediately drew her dagger and rushed at Kaela without hesitation.
Though the crude language was unfitting for the royal palace, the Crown Prince merely frowned without intervening. It couldn’t be helped.
The Crown Prince turned his head away, preferring not to watch the scene of a sorcerer’s blue-tinted blade threatening a delicate lady. His anxiously beating heart finally calmed a little.
‘Well, we’ve secured the Grand Duchess, so that’s done. What should we do next?’
Whatever it was, he could ask Beatrice about it. The Crown Prince turned his head back.
Then he flinched at the sight of Beatrice with her raised dagger. She was about to leave a knife mark on Kaela’s face. The Crown Prince immediately stopped Beatrice.
“Stop…!”
This wasn’t just a threat, and if the hostage was harmed, there was no telling how the Grand Duke of Lusenford would react.
But even after hearing those words, Beatrice precisely aimed her dagger at Kaela’s face and slashed down. She had to at least mark this face to prevent her from ever climbing up again!
“Aagh!”
The dagger bounced off with a clang, and it was Beatrice who got cut instead. Despite the dangerous dagger dancing before her eyes, Kaela maintained her expression and continued to stare steadily at her.
She didn’t even blink at the dagger flying toward her face.
The Crown Prince got goosebumps, and Beatrice felt chilled. The wanted criminal and sorcerer, clutching her dripping bloody hand, glared back at Kaela.
“You…”
“We shouldn’t see blood this early!”
Before she could finish speaking, the Crown Prince snapped in irritation.
“Who knows how the Grand Duke will react if he sees? If there’s going to be blood, it should be in front of the Grand Duke!”
No, no. Even if there was blood, they needed to capture this woman first. Beatrice stretched out her claw-like hand. While she was covered in a pitch-black hood, Kaela’s bright summer dress was too dazzling.
The diamond fringe earrings she wore were too extravagant for an ordinary day. All of this should have been Beatrice’s!
Beatrice wanted to stain that lovely dress with lots of blood. She wanted to tear off those diamonds and scatter them.
But her hand reaching for Kaela’s hair was deflected again. Not only could she not properly grab anything she hit, she couldn’t even touch her.
The petite lady stood wrapped in an extremely strict protective barrier, watching Beatrice’s actions with blue eyes.
“You, you, what is this…!”
Something was different. Something was suspicious. Beatrice recalled memories she had pushed aside to think about later due to the flood of events.
When she had gone to Kaela asking to borrow ten million liquettes, the teacup she threw had shattered against something before it could reach Kaela.
“What are you…?”
As someone who knew sorcery, Beatrice felt a chill and stepped back from Kaela. Something about her had a power that could never be defeated.
‘Why is this woman so irritating…?’
As she tried to use dark magic in her burst of anger, the Crown Prince, unable to contain his frustration, was faster.
“Why can’t you do even that?”
He scolded Beatrice and tried to grab Kaela’s arm. But his hand hit something as well.
“Ah!”
The Crown Prince frowned, holding his hand that had hit hard against something.
Kaela, who had been quietly watching the two’s behavior, shook her head, sat back down, and picked up some documents. The Grand Duchess enjoyed her calm routine, detached from the flustered Crown Prince and Beatrice.
“If you have something to say, say it.”
Strange. The Crown Prince tried reaching for Kaela again, but his hand was blocked somewhere and couldn’t go further. Kaela swatted away the hand that was hovering nearby.
“If not, please leave. What kind of unseemly behavior is this?”
The Crown Prince flinched at the cold rebuke.
“While the officials are trying their best to run the state affairs, Your Highness, instead of bringing knights, you bring this criminal to attempt fraud?”
It would be better if he threw things and cursed outright like the Emperor. The Crown Prince had never experienced such a methodical scolding that stripped him bare, especially from a woman of the same age.
“You and your husband stole everything from me!”
The Crown Prince shouted as if having a fit.
“And what do you intend to do about it?”
That wasn’t a question asked out of curiosity. It was merely a statement made with a sigh to a child throwing a tantrum.
“What do you intend to achieve by conspiring with that wanted criminal to harm me?”
“We’ll be able to expose whatever evil magic you’re using right now!”
Beatrice shouted while breathing heavily. The Grand Duchess’s suspicious power was definitely magic or sorcery, no matter how you looked at it. When this gets out, the entire social circle will be in an uproar. Perfect. Her pink eyes sparkled with victory.
“The evil magic is what you’re using.”
Kaela responded to Beatrice, dumbfounded. The more they talked, the more incomprehensible their thinking became. No, she didn’t even want to understand it.
“Then what are you!”
“Don’t you know?”
Kaela looked at Beatrice as if she were pathetic.
“This woman, really…!”
“Really what?”
A cold, mocking expression appeared on Kaela’s clear face, causing Beatrice to unconsciously flinch and roll her eyes.
“What are you going to do? What can you possibly do right now? With your limited abilities, not even knowing what this power protecting me is, what can you do?”
The Grand Duchess spoke slowly and calmly with impeccable posture.
“All you can do is curse, shout, and glare. What can you possibly do to me?”
There was nothing they could do. This wasn’t just a fact that Beatrice realized first – it was an absolute proposition that Kaela had declared and nailed down before Beatrice.
The noble Grand Duchess, possessing an unknown power, great wealth, and above all, the finest bloodline in the Crania Empire, was incredibly dignified.
‘This woman shouldn’t be like this. She should be crawling miserably on the ground. Only then can I, I survive, and the prophecy…’
But why did she come to think this way? Beatrice habitually pushed this important question far into her consciousness. That wasn’t important right now. Meanwhile, Kaela’s gaze shifted to the Crown Prince.
“Was the Marchioness of Schroz not lesson enough?”
It was a bold statement that Kaela shouldn’t have been able to make. But she dared to say it out loud. It wasn’t something she could say after suffering horribly for four years until death.
It was something she could say because she was confident they could never harm her. Or perhaps it was something she had really wanted to say.
“What did you do to my mother!”
The Crown Prince’s face turned blue as he trembled violently. He couldn’t even charge at Kaela. If it had been Beatrice, she would have charged even knowing it wouldn’t work.
“She must have suffered something. But shouldn’t you know why she suffered in the first place?”
“Wh-what did my mother do wrong!”
Even as he said this, the Crown Prince reflexively looked at Beatrice. See? He’s denying it while knowing everything.
“Then what did I do wrong?”
Kaela asked in return.
“What did my husband do wrong?”
The blue eyes that turned to Beatrice asked.
“What did we do wrong that we had to be trapped by someone as incompetent as you for life?”
“You crazy b*tch…!”
Beatrice, insulted without a single curse word, twisted her face and swore viciously.
“You only know how to curse.”
“What do you mean I only know curses! You ask what you did wrong? Being born was your wrong! That filthy blood is what’s wrong!”
The Crown Prince looked at the shouting Beatrice in shock. Somehow, the words she was spewing were similar to what the Emperor used to pour out.
“Yes. That’s the wrong.”
Beatrice twisted her lips and bulged her eyes as she laughed maliciously.
“You shouldn’t have been born that way. Why were you born like that and made me get entangled with that kind of man? Do you know how much trouble I went through to keep him bound? It’s only this much because I’m capable and smart. If I wasn’t, this country would have fallen long ago. So you should be grateful to me, you stupid girl.”
Killing intent poured from her pink eyes.
“You being called Grand Duchess, living well and eating well, that’s all thanks to my sacrifice and effort!”
Kaela tilted her head. Although this was a genuine gesture of curiosity rather than mockery of Beatrice, it was enough to provoke Beatrice, who was already losing her rationality from anger.
“If you’re really capable and smart, shouldn’t my husband and I not know that you cast dark magic on my husband? For someone who claims to be capable, you can’t do anything to me right now. You’re just shouting and stomping your feet like a child.”
At this point, Kaela, who had been sitting leisurely, stood up. Both Beatrice and the Crown Prince flinched. This tiny Grand Duchess seemed to pose a serious threat to them.
Kaela possessed an enormous presence on top of her extremely elegant and unwavering demeanor. It was as if even death couldn’t touch her.
“That goes for Your Highness as well. I’m truly sorry that it has come to this. Now, there’s nothing I can do to stop it.”
“You…, what did you do?”
Beatrice, feeling an unsettling chill, asked while her face turned pale. Kaela gave a slight smile.
“What did I do? I haven’t done anything until now. You’re the one who did something.”
As the blue eyes looked down at the floor, the pink eyes unconsciously followed that gaze. At the end of their gaze lay the fallen dagger. Beatrice took a sharp breath.
“Everything was done by you, Beatrice Ravalley.”
The blue eyes that were always irritatingly straight and upright looked directly at Beatrice. Unable to endure any longer, Beatrice raised her hand high to strike Kaela out of habit, even knowing it would be useless.
“Aagh!”
Kaela flinched at the piercing scream. Large hands with visible veins grabbed her shrinking shoulders. Not just grabbed, but pulled her into an embrace.
“I think I’ve shown more than enough patience, Kaela.”
The Crown Prince collapsed at the sight of the Grand Duke of Lusenford who suddenly appeared behind the Grand Duchess.
“Ah…, aah…”
Beatrice, clutching her grotesquely twisted hand, was sweating profusely from the tremendous pain and shock.
“Will you now permit me to step in?”
The purple eyes that had already lost their reason asked his wife for permission until the very end.
Peon had ‘because Kaela hadn’t permitted it’ refrained from interfering and endured as long as he could. With veins showing on his forehead, he was already feeling his limit. But if his wife shook her head, he would endure this time too.
His lovely wife showed no sign of fear. She smiled brightly, then kissed the cheek of her husband who had lowered himself for her. Kaela permitted the dragon to descend upon Craine.
🥺 they’re so sweet