You are at the End of the Downfall

Kaela looked at him, nodded slightly after a delay, softly said “Yes,” and then just closed her mouth.

“It should never have happened. I’m truly sorry, Kaela.”

“It’s alright.”

There was no emotion in her tiny voice. It might have been better if she had gotten angry or cried.

Kaela, who shook her head and then lowered it again, didn’t seem to resent him. No, she seemed to have no expectations at all.

Was this the reaction of a newly married princess, a delicately raised princess who was, after all, a member of the royal family with great pride?

As Peon looked at her with a complicated expression, she added one more thing.

“It’s fine.”

Hearing “It’s fine” again, Peon felt his blood run cold. He had an ominous certainty that she would never use her old, familiar way of speaking with him again.

“…I see.”

He managed to squeeze out a forced voice.

“That’s good.”

He nodded, unable to meet her eyes.

“Then rest. Don’t worry about anything else, just focus on recovering. If you need or want anything, call for me anytime.”

Kaela, who had never had such an offer, looked curiously at Peon as he stood up. “Call for me anytime”? That man had never said such a thing. Why was he acting like this?

“You don’t know how worried His Highness was. For three days straight, no matter how much we told him to sleep, he didn’t sleep a wink and personally nursed you by your side.”

Marie chattered as soon as the Grand Duke left.

“It’s not ‘Princess’ anymore, it’s ‘Your Highness the Grand Duchess’ now, Marie.”

“Ah, right. Oh dear. I’m still not used to it, ‘princess’ is still on the tip of my tongue. I’m sorry. I’ll fix it quickly.”

Marie slapped her own mouth. Watching this, Kaela smiled weakly. Cecil, who lightly scolded Marie before approaching, spoke softly as she tidied the table beside the bed.

“But Marie’s words are true, Your Highness. The Grand Duke was always here. Except for occasional departures for the investigation, he was always sitting in that spot. He even personally wiped Your Highness’s face.”

Cecil, who had served the young princess between Ostein and Crania, thought the princess had found a caring husband.

“He ordered that tour berries should never be brought into the castle. He even ordered all the tour berry trees growing nearby to be uprooted.”

Oh my. Kaela reflexively thought about how much criticism she would receive for that order. How much disapproval? How much blame? How much would they hate her?

It was an extremely harmful habit she had acquired in Lusenford. Kaela had become smaller and smaller here, eventually becoming less than the air or wind. Even a still vase received better treatment than her.

The methods became increasingly subtle, so that sometimes it was only after much later reflection that she realized, “Ah, that was a mocking remark,” and had to nurse her aching heart. There were also types that rushed at her, like at this recent banquet.

She would have to hear those malicious sneers again. Well, it wasn’t anything new.

“That disrespectful head maid has been imprisoned. Don’t worry about it at all, Your Highness.”

Kaela’s eyes widened at those words.

“Is that really true?”

“Yes. Of course it is. It’s only right. The chef was arrested too. I’m telling you, everyone who behaved disrespectfully towards Your Highness at the banquet has been arrested.”

That can’t be right? Kaela recalled the incredible head maid who ran Lusenford Castle and refused to hand over all the storehouse keys to the young Grand Duchess until the very end.

She was someone who prided herself on personally raising Peon, who was thrown here at just twelve years old. She was practically Peon’s nanny. And they’ve arrested her?

“Why?”

“My goodness, why, you ask, Princess— I mean, Your Highness…! How dare they commit such disrespectful acts and forcefully make the sole heir of Duke Ostein and the Emperor’s only niece eat! They should be beheaded immediately.”

“But I was the one who ate it.”

Cecil looked at Kaela with an expression that seemed to ask what on earth had happened to her.

“What do you mean? You didn’t eat it because you wanted to.”

Kaela avoided eye contact with a bewildered expression. That’s right. She didn’t eat it because she wanted to, but why was she defending that nasty head maid and those disrespectful northern nobles?

Ah. There are so many harmful habits.

****

Lusenford is poison to Kaela. The Grand Duke responsible for Lusenford knew this very well.

He had finally bathed properly and shaved. Now that Kaela was awake, he didn’t want to show her an unkempt appearance. Wherever he went, he felt like those clear eyes containing the sky were following him. He probably felt guilty and was jumping to conclusions.

“Regen.”

“Yes, Your Highness. Today, all the imprisoned criminals are saying the same thing. So I was wondering if it might be better for you to rest? You haven’t slept properly for days, and you’ve barely eaten anything.”

“I’m moving within reasonable limits, so it’s fine. They keep saying the same thing?”

The secretary was full of concern, but Peon cut him off and got to the point.

“Yes, well… They’re saying things like ‘We didn’t know it would be that serious’ or ‘If it was that bad, shouldn’t Her Highness have not eaten it?’ in roundabout ways. They end with ‘We won’t do it again,’ but still.”

The closed-off Lusenford had a strong perception that weakness was bad and strength was good. Moreover, the knowledge that common food could be poison to some people was not well known.

That would be the same in Crania, but Crania and Ostein were open to new things because foreigners often came in, but Lusenford was never like that.

Peon understood why people who had to constantly fight evil dragons and struggle against harsh nature would be closed off. But some things shouldn’t be overlooked despite that.

It’s fine.

He had heard those words, muttered while staring blankly into space, so many times. Before the regression and after, that woman always said the same thing. That it’s fine, so let’s forget about it, let’s treat it as if it’s nothing.

Is it really fine?

“…I’ve let them live for too long.”

Peon stopped walking. He thought about listening to their final testimony, to hear what nonsense they were spouting. No, that would be pointless.

“Execute the head maid first, as soon as the sun rises tomorrow.”