Chapter 2
At Lena’s confession, the surroundings fell quiet. But that was only for a moment; the onlookers were busy whispering among themselves and making wild guesses.
Like hyenas that had found something to bite, tear, and savor.
Without a single change in her expression, Anelia brought the teacup closer to Lena’s mouth.
The sloshing red liquid came precariously close to Lena’s lips.
“Princess, please.”
Anelia asked low to the trembling, sobbing Lena.
“Who ordered you?”
“Please save me. Please save me……!”
“Tell me who ordered you. Then I will save you.”
Lena’s tear-filled eyes swayed frantically back and forth.
In truth, a few people came to Anelia’s mind.
And even if the real culprit was among them, they could not be punished based on the mere testimony of a single maid.
Nevertheless, the reason she was asking was because of the people gathered here.
‘I need a safety net. Until I leave.’
The culprit pointed out by Lena might be able to escape the situation, but they would have to exercise restraint for the time being.
Since being on people’s lips would be unavoidable.
Should Anelia happen to die in the near future, the person mentioned by Lena right here and now would be the very first to end up on the list of suspects.
So if she planted the seed of suspicion in front of so many people, they would be forced to keep quiet for a while.
Anelia began to tilt the teacup with a dry, emotionless expression.
Terrified, Lena shook her head, and finally opened her mouth.
“I’ll talk!”
Just as Lena’s words were about to follow while everyone watching held their breath—
“Anel!”
A pure white figure dashed out from the crowd and threw itself snugly into Anelia’s arms.
At the familiar scent and familiar touch, Anelia suppressed a sigh behind her breath and spoke low.
“Belita.”
Raising her head at Anelia’s murmur, Belita sobbed with a tearful expression and said:
“What on earth is all this? Thinking something happened to you, I was really…… so worried.”
Belita hugged Anelia tightly, then softly wiped her tears as she slowly stood up straight.
Was it because her face looked identical to Anelia’s, yet her hair was pure white?
Belita, looking incomparably pitiful and woeful to the world, tightly bit her lip and turned to look at Lena.
“How could you do such a cruel thing……! Do you not know that attempting to kill royalty cannot even be atoned for by beheading?”
Shouting with reddened eyes and trembling shoulders, Belita was the very picture of a fragile, delicate elder sister who had rushed over out of concern for Anelia to anyone watching.
Lena gaped like a dazed fool before repeatedly slamming her head to the ground and begging fervently.
“P-Please save me! Please, just my life, spare my life, Lady Belita!”
Not to Anelia, but to Belita.
Yet no one present found it odd.
Everyone knew that Lena’s life and death depended on Belita, not Anelia.
“Anelia treated you so well. Yet how could you repay kindness with hostility?”
Belita shed tears continuously, clutching her skirt hem tightly as she shouted.
Her flushed eyes and delicately trembling long white eyelashes stimulated a protective instinct at a glance, evoking a desire in anyone to simply hold and comfort her.
The maids and servants gathered around were all captivated by Belita and began murmuring one after another.
“Lady Belita must be an angel. Taking action so proactively when it isn’t even her own business.”
“Honestly, if Lady Belita hadn’t come, Lady Anelia wouldn’t have even been able to punish her properly.”
Hearing the servants’ whispers, Belita turned back to Anelia, held her hands tightly, and said:
“My poor younger sister, your sister will definitely make that ungrateful child pay for her crimes.”
To anyone, it was the image of an elder sister stepping forward whole-heartedly for her despised younger sister.
People showered Belita with praise, and Belita too displayed firm determination beneath her heartbroken expression.
But deep within that lay a faint emotion.
‘She’s relieved, isn’t she?’
It was a tiny sliver of emotion that no one would ever have noticed had it not been for Anelia, who knew Belita all too well.
Suddenly, the day of her debutante flashed through her mind.
[Oh my goodness, Anel! Your dress, who on earth made it for it to end up like this?]
Anelia hadn’t even realized that her dress had unravelled at the seams, leaving her back entirely exposed.
Because she had been so nervous that her entire body froze stiff, making it hard to even register sensation properly.
Belita, who discovered it first, made a huge fuss and spread the news of Anelia’s torn dress throughout the entire banquet hall.
[I brought this shawl because I get cold easily. You’d better wear this.]
[No, I’ll just go inside. I can just change into another dress and come back out.]
[What are you talking about, Anel? Everyone knows you only have this dress! You said you barely managed to prepare even this one for today.]
[Th-That’s……. Anyway, I’m fine.]
[Don’t be like that, okay? It’s because I want to be with you. Are you going to leave me behind and go?]
In the end, Anelia simply pinned the torn area with safety pins and wore Belita’s shawl, and Belita caught a severe cold the very next day.
In the end, rumors only spread wildly about the pure white princess who caught an illness while saving the ‘child of calamity’ once again.
‘The dress back then was your handiwork too.’
Belita had always used Anelia like that to elevate her own reputation.
Right, so it was you this time too.
Since she had used her in all sorts of ways up until now but had never threatened her life, Anelia had let her guard down for a moment.
As Anelia stayed silent and still, Belita asked worriedly.
“Anel, you don’t look good at all. Oh dear, my sister.”
She must have intended to make a grand appearance right when Anelia was on the verge of dying from the poison.
And then pretend to save her with an antidote as though she had sacrificed something grand to get it.
Now playing games with her life of all things. Anelia felt her blood turn ice-cold.
“……I’m fine. It’s reassuring that you’re helping.”
“Of course it’s what I ought to do. After all, we’re indispensable to each other.”
Belita stroked Anelia’s cheek and smiled beamishly.
It was an utterly innocent smile that had fooled countless people.
Looking into Belita’s golden eyes, Anelia smiled back at her.
“Then will you help me interrogate that maid?”
“What do you mean, Anel? You’re far too shaken right now. You need to rest.”
“Listen, Bel. That maid was just about to tell me who instigated it. There’s definitely someone behind this. So let’s interrogate her again.”
Anelia gently coaxed Belita, intending to question Lena once more.
If only Belita hadn’t suddenly clutched Anelia’s hem, hugging her while tears poured down.
“I don’t want you going through anything terrible anymore! Sister is just so worried about you, Anel……!”
She knew she would act like this.
Anelia had no intention of letting this opportunity slip away.
Just as Anelia was about to say something again, a sharp, cold voice cut between the two of them.
“What are you doing not locking the culprit in the dungeon immediately?”
Following that, a domineering gaze pinned Anelia down as if pressing down upon the entire crowd.
“Anelia. Bringing calamity wherever you go yet again.”
The man with golden eyes resembling Anelia’s raised one corner of his lips into a lopsided sneer.
Naturally, people’s eyes gathered upon him, and gasps escaped their lips.
“His Highness the Crown Prince.”
“For His Highness to come here.”
“Greetings to His Highness the Crown Prince!”
The maids, servants, and even the guards all offered their respects.
Approaching in front of Anelia before anyone realized, the Crown Prince’s gaze remained fixed solely on Belita.
“Brother Kaily!”
“Lita.”
It was a gentle look, a world apart from how he looked at Anelia.
Affectionately calling Belita, Kaily spoke with a worried expression.
“How long has it been since your body recovered that you’ve come here again?”
“Don’t say that. I told you that chatting with Anel is my joy and happiness. But to think such a thing would happen……”
Belita touched her forehead as if shocked and heartbroken, her body faltering.
Kaily naturally caught her collapsing body in his arms and patted Belita’s shoulders.
“You blocked that black thing’s calamity once again.”
“No, Brother. I didn’t do anything.”
“As expected of the Light of Rodeium, how can your heart be so kind?”
“That’s not true. I simply cannot forgive the person who tried to kill Anel. For someone like me to be called the light…… I am only ashamed.”
What a pathetic farce.
At the cheap farce between the man and woman unfolding right before her eyes, it became increasingly difficult for Anelia to maintain her expression.
