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Chapter 31




In the midst of cherry blossoms dancing in the wind, Misaki opened the old diary and read the words of promise written there.
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In the end, I didn’t do much. I’m not the one who should be thanked.
“I didn’t do much.”
At my small murmur, Gloria subtly drew a smile at the corner of her mouth. Then, she turned her body and gently picked up Aillette.
“Aillette.”
Aillette lifted her head at the voice that carried the weight of time.
“I won’t blame you for not telling me earlier.”
Gloria’s wrinkled hand patted Aillette’s back tenderly.
“I made the biggest mistake by not noticing it earlier. I saw my husband, my children, and my grandchildren suffer from the curse with my own eyes, yet I repeated the same mistake.”
Gloria wore a bitter smile.
“If you ever thought we abandoned you, know that we never did. It was a delusion that you would be happier with your mother, Melin, than living with us, who were cursed.”
“G...loria-sama.”
“Yes, my child.”
Gloria carefully changed the position of her hand, which had been patting Aillette’s back, and gently stroked the child’s cheek. Then, with her wrinkled index finger, she wiped away Aillette’s tears.
“I will hold the person who dared to touch the precious child of the Laphireon family accountable.”
Aillette, who had been sobbing as if swallowing the resentment of the past, reached out and tightly embraced Gloria’s neck. Sunlight poured over the two of them.
“Aillette.”
Aillette nodded.
“I want to adopt you under Fin’s care. Would it be alright if we live together?”
Aillette slowly lifted her head, which had been hanging down. Although I wanted to take her with me and see her improve, I was a person who would disappear in a year. It would be better for the child to go with someone from the Laphireon family. Aillette looked at Finneas. With the innocent gaze of a child, Finneas smiled softly.
“You must have felt lonely, living alone for so long.”
“...”
“If you become my daughter, there will be no greater happiness for me.”
At Finneas’s gentle voice, Aillette’s lips trembled. Sniffing, Aillette gently held Finneas’s hand as a sign of consent. Finneas, holding Aillette’s small hand, murmured with a choked expression.
“Aillette, I will use all my medical knowledge to ensure that no scars remain on your body.”
Meanwhile, the knights summoned by Terdeo arrived at the reception room. Terdeo ordered the knights to secretly imprison the man and Melin in the basement of the annex without the other servants knowing. The two were dragged away in a disheveled state, unlike when they entered the reception room. Gloria walked close to the window, holding Aillette to prevent her from seeing her parents’ last moments.
“The weather outside is nice.”
“It’s a sunny day, Gloria-sama.”
“Yes, Fin. ...Since we rarely gather like this, let’s go to the garden and have some tea. How about it? Aillette, would you like to come too?”
“...Yes!”
Aillette, with her red-rimmed eyes, smiled brightly for the first time.
The sunlight was so warm, and the flowers so fragrant, that the events of a moment ago seemed insignificant. The tea was delicious, and the desserts laid out were incredibly sweet.
“Aillette, shall we go see that pretty butterfly? Let’s take some sandwiches like we’re on a picnic.”
“S...Sure!”
“Celsius, come with us.”
“It’s a picnic in the garden? Do you think I’m a child? ...But since the sandwiches are heavy, I’ll carry them.”
Finneas went to a distant part of the garden to ensure that the young Aillette and Celsius wouldn’t hear our conversation. Aillette, who had an injured leg and couldn’t walk, was carried in Finneas’s arms. Aillette kept laughing, perhaps feeling awkward about the warmth of his embrace.
‘Will she be okay?’
I couldn’t take my eyes off the three figures moving away and stretched my neck. Then, Cersia, who was serving me a walnut tart, said calmly,
“She’ll be fine. Uncle has extensive experience treating children who have gone through tough times. We’ve received a lot of help from him.”
Children who have gone through tough times. In other words, what Aillette experienced was something that repeatedly happened within the Laphireon family.
‘Right, now that I think about it, Cersia and Terdeo also went through similar things when they were young...’
Perhaps this was also a curse that the Laphireon family was under. I looked at my reflection in the tea, my expression complicated.
“By the way, we shouldn’t kill them easily.”
Startled by the voice filled with murderous intent, I snapped my head up. Cersia, who met my gaze, smiled softly as if nothing had happened. But it was only for a moment. She quickly wiped the smile off her face and clenched her teeth.
“Lock them in the prison for a week, whip them, and then banish them to the Beast Forest. Let them feel the pain of their flesh being torn and the fear of being chased by beasts.”
“Aillette has endured years of suffering; a week won’t be enough. After whipping them, it would be better to cut their flesh and then send them to the Beast Forest. The hungry beasts will attack them when they smell the blood.”
“Good idea, Theo. Then, we can leave the cleanup to the two of you, right?”
“Do we really need two people for pest control? I’ll do it.”
“Alright, Cersia. Then, I’ll leave it to you. I’m getting old, and I can’t do what I used to. If I were younger, I would have cut their throats right there.”
I finally understood why Finneas had taken the young Aillette and Celsius to a distant part of the garden.
‘The children shouldn’t hear such a conversation.’
A chill ran down my spine. I thought that no matter what, I shouldn’t make the Laphireon family my enemy.
“We also need to confirm how much our family’s curse has been revealed. According to that woman, she only lied about the blood being poison and didn’t reveal the family’s secrets. But it’s better to be sure.”
Terdeo’s red eyes glinted with murderous intent.
“Good idea, Theo. She probably didn’t reveal the curse out of fear of repercussions. If she had, I would have heard about it. ...But as you said, it’s better to be sure, so let’s investigate.”
“Then, after whipping them to get the truth, cut out their tongues before banishing them to the Beast Forest. Once they’ve been toyed with, they won’t speak again.”
“There’s no method more effective than the classic one.”
The three of them were discussing how to kill and torture someone so elegantly, calmly, and beautifully. Watching them, a cold sweat trickled down my spine.
‘No matter what, I shouldn’t make the Laphireon family my enemy.’
I glanced at the goosebumps on my neck and arms and swallowed hard.
“By the way, thinking of the confession, I remember. What happened to the criminal we caught during the procession? Theo, Miss Ferretti?”
“...Did you see it?”
“Of course. I could see both the procession of my grandchild and the Grand Duchess, and Miss Ferretti’s face. I was watching from a distance.”
Huh, so you were watching that procession. As I turned my gaze, I met Gloria’s eyes head-on.
“You waved your hand so well back then.”
Crazy! She really saw it! I wanted to hide in a mouse hole. I lowered my blushing cheeks and muttered softly.
“...Why didn’t you come to the mansion?”
“Even an old woman has her wits. What was I supposed to do between newlyweds? I have no intention of interfering with their honeymoon.”
“Yes, yes?”
Honeymoon? No, we’re not on a honeymoon! But seeing my flustered expression, Gloria smiled reassuringly.
“It’s fine. Newlyweds are supposed to burn with passion regardless of time and place.”
No, it’s not! While I was blushing and trying to calm down, Terdeo spoke softly.
“He’s dead.”
“Huh?”
Dead? What’s dead? Why is he dead? No, why did he die? This isn’t right. We all looked at Terdeo with puzzled expressions. Then, he opened his mouth.
“He was the one who attempted to poison the Grand Duchess...”
Bang!
“Where is he, that bastard?”
Cersia slammed her palm on the table and stood up. Terdeo’s teacup tipped over. Terdeo, who watched the tea soak the tablecloth and drip onto the grass, said calmly,
“He was a member of the rebel group who attempted to poison the Grand Duchess and disrupt the procession.”
Terdeo’s red eyes flashed with madness.
“He’s dead.”
“...!”
What? Dead? I was shocked and opened my mouth wide. Could it be...
“Terdeo, you didn’t kill him, did you?”
Terdeo shook his head at my question.
“He committed suicide.”
Then, Terdeo took out a small pill from his pocket, about the size of a knuckle. It was wrapped in a thin, transparent membrane, and inside was a swirling red liquid.
“He had three of these pills on him. They were too small to be caught during the search. The liquid inside was a poison that caused immediate death upon ingestion.”
“...”
“Perhaps the poison you ingested back then was this. Having these pills means he intended to die if he was caught.”
I furrowed my brow and looked at the small pill on the table.
“The fact that he could escape without leaving a trace despite the long pursuit suggests that the rebel group is more organized than we thought.”
Terdeo, who was nervously unbuttoning his choking cravat, clicked his tongue.
“I had a lot of questions to ask him before he died. Tsk. Losing this lead will complicate things.”
‘The rebel group was trying to kill Terdeo.’
During the procession, that man clearly tried to kill the Grand Duke of Laphireon. If so, he must have also tried to poison Terdeo.
“Be careful.”
Hearing my worried words, Terdeo shrugged confidently.
“No matter how strong the poison, it can’t kill me. And no one can defeat me with swordsmanship.”
Right, no matter how much poison is used, it won’t work. In a way, it’s fortunate that he’s cursed.
“You’re right, Shasha. Theo knows what he’s doing, so worry about yourself instead. Someone might try to poison Theo again to kill him.”
Cersia looked at me with a worried expression, seemingly more concerned about me than her own brother. I smiled subtly and nodded. I saw Finneas walking towards the table from a distance, carrying Aillette, and Celsius holding a basket.
“Is the conversation over? Aillette seems to be getting sleepy now. If it’s alright, can we go to the bedroom and put Aillette to sleep?”
Aillette, nestled in Finneas’s arms, was dozing off with her eyes half-closed. Her appearance was so endearing that my heart felt like it was about to drop.
“Yes. Children should eat well and sleep well.”
Gloria nodded, and Aillette yawned widely, rubbing her eyes. Then, she looked at the table and exclaimed softly,
“What’s that doing here?”
Aillette stretched out her finger. She was pointing to the small pill Terdeo had placed on the table. Terdeo tilted his head.
“Do you know what this is?”
At Terdeo’s question, Aillette nodded without hesitation. Then, she giggled and said,
“It’s the blood that Papa sold.”