Chapter 06
I received my terminal diagnosis around the time Maxel and Lilia had grown quite close.
It must have been a welcome relief for Maxel, who loved Lilia but couldn’t bring himself to break off the engagement with Roam.
My medical records, which should have been top secret, were quickly leaked and became gossip among the people.
At the same time, I grew increasingly ill. As if to prove the rumors true, my body lost its vitality. My skin became dry and dull, and my stamina severely declined.
I truly believed I was terminally ill. I never imagined that everything was Lilia’s manipulation.
Because everything around me changed simply because my health had worsened, I was frantic just trying to keep up with those changes.
Even then, Maxel seemed to at least pity me. Not just Maxel—most people did.
They whispered that Roam’s second daughter, raised her whole life to become Empress, had finally failed to shed her venomous nature and received a terminal diagnosis—what a pitiful woman.
As I withdrew from many social engagements, Lilia filled my place.
Frizian, my sister, who was always anxious that my engagement to Maxel might be broken, grew close to Lilia.
As Lilia began to frequent the Roam household in earnest, even my parents started to take notice of her.
Because no one in Roam wanted the engagement with the Imperial Family to be broken. Outside, there were scavengers lying in wait, eager to become the Crown Prince’s betrothed in my place.
In their eyes, Lilia was a new means to an end. It didn’t take long for Lilia to become my younger sister.
Lilia captured everyone’s hearts with a warmth and kindness that was never found in Roam.
I recalled my father’s voice in my memory, saying that although she was somewhat lacking in education, with such gentle embrace, she wouldn’t be a bad candidate for Empress.
And so, what I had enjoyed gradually returned to Lilia. The friends who used to associate with me were captivated by Lilia’s kindness. The more that happened, the more my malice intensified.
I tried to act as I had been taught. To use any means necessary, to keep Roam’s things in Roam.
I only acted as I had been taught.
But what came back to me were looks of disgust and contempt.
My parents, who had given me such teachings, now preached about humanity and morality, reproaching my cold pragmatism. Maxel despised me, and my friends were disappointed in me.
Left alone, not understanding why, Lilia came to me.
“I wanted to help you.”
Lilia.
“I did it to help you.”
Ah, Lilia. You bribed a doctor to give me a terminal diagnosis to help me.
“I have the ability to foresee things, Aneli.”
How pitiful her tearful confession sounded.
“You will die young. All alone.”
Looking back now, her foresight was real. In the end, I was executed by beheading, all alone.
Perhaps the ‘coincidental fortunes’ that peppered her life were all ‘inevitable fortunes’ based on her foresight.
“Rather than that, it’s better for you to prepare for your end while receiving care from many people. I thought that if you became ill, you would give up your bad deeds.”
What a selfish and self-centered judgment this was. When I realized that all these absurd situations were brought about by Lilia’s preposterous reasoning, I could only feel hollow.
In the end, even Lilia’s judgment helped fulfill my ‘fate of dying young, all alone.’
“If my fate is to die young and alone, then I will accept it.”
“But if you leave like that, His Highness Maxel will…!”
“By the way, you have a rather impertinent way of speaking.”
She was Lilia Roam then. Roam’s adopted daughter, who would become the new Crown Princess in place of the soon-to-die Aneli Roam.
The one loved by all of high society, who monopolized Roam’s affection, and received the Crown Prince’s devoted love.
But so what?
“Bring me a whip.”
She smiled gently, saying it was fine if it would quell my anger, and I sneered at her.
“Oh dear, you and I are of different birth.”
Even taking your life wouldn’t quell my anger.
“One cannot judge a person’s worth by their birth.”
“What a pity. In this world, birth determines everything in life.”
So you, a fallen noble, are skilled in such menial tasks, while I, raised in nobility, am not. I believe I added such a taunt as well.
It was around that time that Lilia, who had been gently shrinking her shoulders, showed a fierce glint in her eyes for a moment.
Lilia always looked at me with pity. From the very first time we met, she acted as if she stood above me.
I think that was probably the first time she revealed such malice toward me.
“Life is precious. Even after receiving a terminal diagnosis, why can’t you realize that?”
“You, who toyed with my life, dare say that?”
When I asked back flatly, Lilia trembled. Burying the malice she’d revealed for a moment back deep inside, she wore a sorrowful expression.
“You, who bribed a doctor to ruin my body?”
“Ruin? Because you didn’t change, I couldn’t stop either.”
“…So it’s my fault that I became terminally ill?”
She folded her hands neatly as if in pain, and gently averted her gaze.
Her trembling eyelashes and frail, curled figure were pitiful.
“Are you joking?”
Just then, the whip arrived. The servants handed me the whip, but they didn’t seem to think I would actually use it.
But I was serious. How could I not be?
With Lilia standing before me, shamelessly saying everything was my fault.
“Ah, my Lady…”
Alarmed by my serious demeanor, the servants grew restless. Belatedly informed of the situation, Lilia’s maid rushed in, throwing herself forward, saying to strike her instead.
“Drag her out. Close the door and let no one in.”
“My Lady!”
“It’s alright. I’ll have a good conversation with my little sister. Don’t worry, just wait outside.”
At Lilia’s kind words, the maid was dragged out in tears. And I was furious.
“…Little sister?”
The reason my whipping didn’t take Lilia’s life was solely because my sick body couldn’t hold out.
The maid, who had been dragged out in tears, returned with the entire family and Maxel, who had happened to visit the Roam household to see Lilia. As soon as Lilia heard the commotion outside the door, she fainted.
It was obvious that the sight of the fallen Lilia and the bloodstained whip in my hand enraged those who burst in.
I was ultimately imprisoned for the crime of injuring one who was soon to become a member of the Imperial Family, and Roam, after weighing me against Lilia, chose one side.
Maxel’s choice was obvious without even asking. I had lost.
It was right to call it a defeat.
I had acknowledged my defeat before the beheading block, and I had no intention of stepping onto that stage again.
“Resurrected One.”
A low call came from behind me as I walked, cutting through the crowd without hesitation. I glanced back at Samuel, then turned my head forward nonchalantly.
“Why, afraid I’ll run? With Sir Knight’s abilities, you could easily catch me even in this crowd.”
The central plaza was the city’s widest space and a place where various small events were held daily.
From plays praising God to priests’ modest sermons. It was also a place teeming with people like me, wearing pilgrim cloaks.
Even though dozens wore the same clothes, Samuel managed not to stray from me. It was useless to deliberately change my appearance with the temple’s treasure. I was now certain that his method of identifying me was this temple treasure.
That meant that if I passed the treasure to someone else, I could divert his attention, even if only briefly. Samuel had never met the ‘real Aneli Roam’ in person.
I had already removed the necklace and held it in my hand. Once this necklace completely left my body, the magic would dispel, and I would return to my original form. All that remained was the timing.
I decided not to hide and scurry away like a rat. Since a secret escape was impossible anyway, the only option left was an open flight.
Everyone would know I’d vanished, but whatever chaos ensued was none of my concern. How they handled it was the temple’s problem.
The reason I specifically chose today was because today’s event was particularly popular and drew a huge crowd.
Today was the day of a sermon where a high priest would bless the pilgrims. Though the sermon time was still far off, the central plaza was already packed with people.
More believers meant I could briefly hide among the crowd, meant the Holy Knights couldn’t recklessly use force due to the citizens’ safety, and meant everyone would restrain their hasty words and actions mindful of the public eye. It was an ideal environment for me.
“You could have come at sermon time.”
“Then I wouldn’t get a good spot.”
As I replied indifferently, a black dot appeared in the sky. The eagle had said the large bird coming to pick me up would be red and easily recognizable.
Was that high-flying speck, indistinguishable in color, the bird the eagle spoke of?
I rolled only my eyes to check the sky, then tightened my grip on the necklace. When the large bird suddenly appeared, everyone would panic and scramble, and in that confusion, I would drop this necklace. The squirrel would snatch it and stuff it into a nearby person’s pocket or bag.
I made sure to blend in among those wearing cloaks like mine.
All the while, I scanned the sky. Because I wasn’t sure if that bird was the right one.
The eagle had boasted that it was just a red bird, a good older brother it had sworn brotherhood with, and that it would help well—but it hadn’t told me anything more than that.
As far as I knew, there was no bird with a body large enough to carry a person and red feathers…
At that moment, the black dot that had looked like a speck drew closer. Several people, having spotted the flying creature hurtling down toward the plaza, pointed at the sky.
At first, it was just a black silhouette, but gradually, a red hue began to come into view.
But…
“Wh-what is that!”
I was speechless, staring blankly at the sky. Eagle, you said it was a good older brother you swore brotherhood with.
…You didn’t mention that older brother was a wyvern.
