SILFCN 23

Chapter 23

“No, don’t do that, big sister, however much you might hemostasis… Me, give me up. I’m not…”

Instead of answering, I pulled Vivi into a tighter hug.

“What’s your name?”

“Vivi, Vivi L… Vivi Lucienne El Castraine…”

This child had seen some very ugly things in her past life. She’d been through a lot. She was tortured. But this, this was different.

Despite being covered in blood and sweat, Vivi’s clothes were bright, comfortable, and pretty. Her hair, now a mess, still wore a cute little cat pin that she’d painstakingly arranged to make it easy to work with and pretty. Her shoes were blue leather, shaped to fit her feet and adjusted for comfort.

I knew it.

May she be happy from now on. May she walk easy paths, eat delicious food, and see only wonderful things.

There are people who care for Vivi with those wishes in mind.

Unlike me.

“You should go back to the people who love you, Vivi.”

“…What?”

Vivi opened her eyes wide.

* * *

It didn’t take long for Vivi’s disappearance to be noticed.

As soon as the subordinate who had been entrusted with Vivi’s escort came running up with a reddened face, saying that Vivi’s whereabouts were unknown, Raymon didn’t even look back. He went straight to the Emperor.

“You can’t do this, you can’t do this, even if you’re young Lord Castraine, you can’t…”

“Step aside.”

“I can’t, this is the sacred Imperial Palace!”

The chamberlain spat.

“How dare you try to defy the Emperor, with such impoliteness! Isn’t it enough that Lord Lysianthus didn’t get punished for his indiscretion in the Rose Palace the other day…!”

“It is the chamberlain who is rude.”

Raymon’s golden eyes flashed with an emotionless vivacity.

“How dare you, the petty lord of House Castraine, have any say in what the Emperor wishes to discuss with you?”

The chamberlain recoiled in horror as Raymon flung open the door with a wave of his hand. Across the room, the Emperor sat in his chair, his face a mask of annoyance. Without waiting for permission to enter or another word, Raymon strode in and stopped two steps from the emperor.

“Your Majesty.”

“…What in the world is going on here, Lord Raymon!”

“A precious Castraine family member is lost in the Imperial Palace.”

“No matter how freely you may enter and leave the Imperial Palace, do you know it as your own backyard? Are you truly as unscrupulous as your father…”

“If I were my unscrupulous father.” Raymon laughed. A ghastly grin lit up his otherwise expressionless face like a knife-edged flower.

“Without an audience with the Emperor, I would have torn down this palace to find my own way.”

“…”

“Truly unfortunate, my abilities are not up to par, and I have offended His Majesty the Emperor.”

As soon as he heard that the person who was lost in the Imperial Palace in the first place must be someone of considerable importance to the Duke of Castraine… the Emperor had tried to delay Raymon’s arrival for as long as he could.

He wanted to humiliate the young Lord, who seemed to be more humble than his father. He believed that since someone dear to him was lost somewhere in the palace he wouldn’t dare to show his claws. He was reluctant to order a search, and if he did, he hoped to secure them first and keep them in the palace for the time being.

But Raymon snubbed that ploy.

“There would be nothing good to come of it,” he said, “if it were said that His Majesty’s virtue did not extend to this vast palace and that even a single lost guest could not be found.”

“Now, how dare you, a young thing still wet behind the ears, call me–!”

“We are Castraine, no matter how much your Majesty may deny it.”

Raymon laughed, with what seemed, at first glance, to be a very polite smile.

“Castraine will never, ever be taken away from what is Castraine’s.”

“…Chamberlain, Chamberlain, now…!”

Leaving behind the Emperor, who was wiping his chamberlain in anger, Raymon walked out with a cold face. Just as he was about to order the knights to search the imperial palace, Raymon’s eyes narrowed at the sight of an unexpected opponent.

“…Your Highness, Prince Adrian?”

It was a strangely nervous-looking Adrian.

It was no secret to House Castraine that the Second Prince Adrian was living in seclusion in the Imperial Palace with the Empress. Adrian knew better than anyone that it would do no good to be seen to be in contact with a member of House Castraine visiting the Imperial Palace.

But the prince spoke in a strangely apprehensive tone.

“Uhm… I don’t know, something doesn’t feel right… I couldn’t find my sister, Princess Titania, either. Even the servants at the Rose Palace don’t know where she’s gone, and I was wondering if you could look for her as well when you search the palace, Lord Raymon?”

Raymon’s face stiffened terrifyingly.

Thump, thump, thump. His heart beat ominously.

* * *

This girl was clever. Enough to know about my current condition and the way I should be treated.

My head felt foggy. My whole body felt weak and my limbs were shaking. Is this the blood loss I’ve heard so much about? I pulled Vivi’s reluctant body to me once more and intertwined our fingers.

The beast had stopped attacking when I refused to let go of Vivi’s body, but it was watching me and Vivi from a distance.

Oh, yeah. I have to persuade her, convince her because I don’t want this good girl to end up feeling guilty and slipping out of my arms. I’m really okay with this.

Because…

Even if I die…

There won’t be a single person in the world who will be sad.

However, Vivi had a lot of them.

“…If you don’t mind, I want you to tell my mom that she can rest easy now.”

Because that’s what my mom said to me in my previous life, when I reported a boss who was stealing money from his part-timers, and he said he wouldn’t pay them back even if he died, so he filed for bankruptcy and ran away. I lost my job because I reported him, they said that it was a common occurrence and that I should’ve kept my mouth shut.

When I was cursed out in front of everyone. When I was frustrated and angry and wondering if I really did something wrong. My mom told me.

「That’s my □□. I’m proud of you, my daughter. No matter what you do in this world, Mommy and Daddy are on your side.」

She hugged me tightly. She had told me she loved me the most in the world.

「Don’t regret anything, follow the path you think is right. No matter how many people try to convince you otherwise, no matter how hopeless life is. And you know it, □□ sweetie…」

So I’m fine, even if Elaine and the Emperor don’t have to love me. There were people who loved me unconditionally, if not in this world, and I was proud to be their daughter.

I was taught to walk the path I thought was right.

I still had a happy life, but Vivi had such a hard life, and she was only just beginning to blossom. Besides, House Castraine were all idiots who wouldn’t know happiness without Vivi.

This story would have a happy ending.

「Still, people need to interact with other people.」

Yeah, I would die, save Vivi, save the future of this world, and I would get my money’s worth.

Titania was supposed to die a miserable death anyway. If I thought about it, maybe the sudden realization of my past life was God’s way of telling me to save Vivi here.

“My mother was… She doesn’t really have any illnesses. She’s been secretly taking poison. You’d think I wouldn’t know, but because of me, she’s still… She’s survived this long in the Imperial family, but I think she’s trying to keep an eye on me until I’m of age, because it’s her responsibility…”

So I couldn’t blame Queen Elaine. Her life in the Imperial Palace must have been nothing but pain. She married the Emperor for the man she loved, but her family killed him. And the Emperor condoned it. She gave birth to the Emperor’s child, whom she hated, and was forced to live in the palace for the rest of her life…

The only reason she stayed alive was so I wouldn’t fall into the hands of the Empress or Second Queen until I came of age. At least until then, she would watch over me.

It was her last effort. It was all she could do. To provide me with a life better than one that would end in pain.

It was just that Titania was unlucky.

Not every parent and child in the world could love each other. Not every child was born blessed. Elaine’s failure to love Titania was not a sin. I may not have known that as the Titania who grew up in the palace, but I did now, as the one who realized her past life.

“…And I just wanted to tell my mother that she can be at peace now, and I would only ask this of you.”

Vivi’s face froze.

“So it’ll be okay.”

Vivi’s eyes reflected my forced smile. She looked pale, as if she could collapse at any moment.