You are at the End of the Downfall

By this point, the marriage between the Grand Duke of Lusenford and the Princess of Ostein had become a topic of utmost interest.

First of all, the groom was handsome, and the bride was beautiful. The groom had many tragic stories, while the bride was a well-raised only daughter and wealthy heiress.

But on top of that, the groom’s close friend was the queen of social circles, and she had fought with the bride?

And the social queen went to see the Grand Duke but was kicked out in a fit of anger, is that right?

This was nothing short of the most entertaining show in the world, where one would be a fool to miss even a single detail.

The Duchess of Monde alone was interesting enough, but when Beatrice Ravalley herself stepped in, Crania went into an uproar. Everyone was dying to know what would happen next.

Did the Duchess of Monde apologize to the Princess? What conversation did Lady Ravalley and the Grand Duke have that made Lady Ravalley storm out in just two minutes? What dialogue followed between the Princess and the Grand Duke afterwards? They were all so curious!

As everyone has a bit of voyeurism in them, even the Emperor, whose face was half-paralyzed because of the Empress, was tempted to ask. Too dignified to ask his nephew who had nearly fainted at the marriage command, he turned to the more approachable Peon.

The fact that he was asking Peon about something that happened in the royal palace suggested that the Emperor’s “ears” hadn’t functioned properly this time. Peon had faithfully remembered every detail.

“We should be faithful to the marriage Your Majesty has arranged,” Peon said calmly, looking at the Emperor with eyes that seemed to ask, ‘Isn’t that right?’

The Emperor, who had previously spoken about not betraying one’s faith and not coveting others’ possessions while bringing up the Empress and mentioning impure blood, had nothing to say to this.

He only thought that Beatrice Ravalley was no longer a useful hostage to Peon. Well, the Emperor didn’t care since the hostage would now change to the Ostein family.

“Yes, you should have a different mindset as you’re getting married too.”

The Emperor simply nodded, thinking that this guy was changing again now that he was getting married. He was somewhat satisfied.

There wasn’t much Peon could say in front of the Emperor. He couldn’t even ask about what he was most curious about – his mother’s condition. That would only irritate the Emperor.

But if he didn’t ask at all, the Emperor would call him an unfilial son. It was exhausting to cater to the whims of this ever-capricious absolute ruler.

“This marriage should go well. Kaela must be upset. You should console her.”

Ah. It wasn’t time to ask about his mother’s condition yet. The fact that the conversation kept revolving around Kaela and his marriage indicated that there was no change in the Empress’s condition.

As this was expected, Peon withdrew without asking further. His mother’s condition probably wouldn’t improve much in the future. That aside, as Peon left Soleil Palace, he quietly sighed.

‘Console her, he says.’

If he went to Kaela now and apologized again, all he could say was, ‘I’m sorry my mistress made you uncomfortable.’ He had lived a trashy life true to its nature. He left the suffocating Soleil Palace and began walking aimlessly.

He was extremely tired too. Since returning after his regression, the only time he had properly rested was when he was with Kaela, who had hidden in the conference room while preparing to welcome the Keruzhan envoy.

Kaela, who blushed when she playfully threw her shoes and hit him, was incredibly lovable. Was she too dear to him to notice then? Come to think of it, even then, Kaela was already not the same as before.

Feeling choked up and breathless, Peon kept walking aimlessly.

‘Is she crying again?’

If so, what should he do? Someone needed to console her, but he was certainly disqualified for that role.

When Kaela was young, she would grab onto his clothes, plop down, and cry loudly.

He had to wipe her tears, hug her tightly, and even dust off her clothes before she would finally take his hand and stand up. But since coming to Lusenford, she hadn’t shed a single tear in front of him. That crybaby lady must have cried somewhere. She must have hidden somewhere to cry.

“How vulgar… what is this…”

Yes, just like this.

Peon immediately concealed his presence. The area behind the Empress’s palace, once filled with the sounds of playing children, was now guarded only by overgrown trees. From this place, where no one had passed for nearly 20 years, came the sound of irritated crying.

Leaning against a massive oak tree, Kaela had taken off her shoes and was hugging a bowl full of strawberries and blueberries.

Extremely annoyed, she sniffled and looked to the side, then grabbed the cream container meant for dipping and poured the entire thing into the bowl.

The sound of her smacking the bottom of the cream container with her palm was irritable. It might be a bit undignified, but since she had brought the entire cream container instead of just scooping some into the bowl, it didn’t matter.

“…Looks delicious.”

Kaela wiped her tears while sniffling. She knew it wasn’t worth crying over. After all, she had won this time.

It was irritating that she had to fight by breaking all the beliefs she had held until now, calling Beatrice ‘sister’ and Peon ‘oppa’ without hesitation, treating him like a lover. And the fact that she was going to marry Peon again was just an inevitable situation.

But even though she understood this logically, her eyes seemed to be malfunctioning as tears kept falling. Kaela took a big spoonful of berries mixed with cream and focused on chewing and swallowing thoroughly.

The spring strawberries and blueberry preserves only available in Crania, along with the soft and rich cream, were the best comfort.

Especially for someone who had starved to death longing for foods that could never be eaten in cold places, there was no greater comfort than this.

“Delicious.”

It’s really delicious. The fragrant strawberry aroma, the sweet and tangy blueberries, with an entire container of creamy cream poured over – nothing could be more delicious.

For a bride-to-be to hug such fattening food and eat a whole bowl would be unthinkable in Crania’s social circles, but Kaela didn’t care. She had to do everything she wanted before dying.

For example, not losing to Beatrice and retaliating equally, not holding back and getting angry at Peon, or eating everything she wanted before starving to death.

After scraping the cream container clean with a wooden spoon, Kaela looked down at the dented fruit bowl and mumbled.

“No peaches?”

If she added sliced peaches, it would be incredibly delicious.

She thought of peaches, fragrant and dripping with juice, and plums, so ripe their sourness had almost disappeared, from that cold northern tower in Lusenford. She had to eat everything before being dragged to Lusenford.

At that thought, Kaela put down her spoon with a clatter. Having starved so severely that her life was in danger before drinking poison and dying, she was obsessed with food.

But just thinking about going to Lusenford made even her insane appetite disappear.

Her heart soared to the high heavens and plummeted to the depths several times a day. Exhausted from trying to collect herself, Kaela leaned against the tree and closed her eyes.

In the end, it all seemed to be her fault. Because she wasn’t Beatrice, because she wasn’t as bright and pretty as Beatrice, because she wasn’t from Lusenford, just because Kaela was Kaela…

But what could she do about being born this way? If she was born like this, was she not allowed to like someone or do her best to fulfill her duties?

Kaela frowned deeply and opened her eyes to look ahead.

“What?”

She unknowingly asked in a sharp voice to the person who had suddenly appeared between the dense trees.

Normally, Kaela would never do this, but her face was swollen from crying, her shoes were thrown about haphazardly, and she was sitting there hugging a bowl of fruit and cream in a mess. In this situation, encountering her unwanted fiancé, there was no way her words could come out nicely.

“Did you come to confront me? What did ‘sister’ say when she went to see ‘oppa’? So you came to get angry?”

Having used it once with Beatrice, the terms came easily this time. Her form of address was inconsistent, and she cut off the polite endings she had been careful to use before, but what did it matter? Kaela was being willful.

“…Want to eat some peaches?”

Peon looked at the red-eyed, panting Kaela with an unreadable expression, then unexpectedly held up what was in his hand.

In his bare hand, beaded with moisture, was a bunch of clean, well-washed peaches. They were so large and ripe that their fragrance wafted over to Kaela several steps away.