Despite my rather tepid reaction, Lady Arkman continued with her prepared speech passionately.
"Her Highness the Grand Duchess has also seen and heard, so she knows. That family is plagued with misfortune on a grand scale. They drag everyone involved into hell. I can say this with certainty, as I have experienced it firsthand."
"Lady Arkman."
"You need to run away now. If you get more deeply involved, even Her Highness the Grand Duchess will become unhappy."
Listening to her absurd rationalization, I couldn't even sigh.
"Aren't you afraid they might harm you? I understand that feeling. I felt the same way. But don't worry. I'll help you make sure nothing happens."
"Excuse me."
"You can escape to another country and buy a different noble identity. It's quite common to buy the identity of a noble who is in debt."
It seemed she had already looked into various aspects, as Lady Arkman confidently patted her chest.
"You can pretend to be a bastard or impersonate someone who has gone missing or died around the same age."
I pressed my fingers against my furrowed brow to smooth it out.
"It might be disgusting, but you can't live next to those murderers, can you? It would be unpleasant. If you live with them and then, well... hmm. Anyway, if 'that' spreads, what will you do?"
Here, 'that' must refer to the curse. Although we were in a VIP room and no one was around, she seemed to be careful not to mention that word.
"And in my opinion, they seem to enjoy killing people with that."
I tried to listen to her up to a certain point, but she crossed the line.
"Going to war generation after generation is also because they enjoy killing, right? Those rumors didn't just spread for no reason, you know?"
Despite everything, I tried to maintain a minimum of courtesy because she was the birth mother of Selphius and the ex-wife of my brother Terdeo.
'You're throwing away your chance.'
I shook my head and gripped the table with both hands.
"Her Highness the Grand Duchess doesn't need to feel guilty. That family is trash that deserves to die. They are the scourge of society."
It's not worth listening to anymore.
"If they're going to die, I wish they would all die quickly."
My rationality snapped at her low murmur, and I abruptly stood up. Using the momentum, I overturned the table towards Lady Arkman.
"Kyaa!"
Lady Arkman was thrown to the floor as she tried to avoid the suddenly overturned table. Tea and cake spilled beautifully over her head.
"Her Highness the Grand Duchess!"
She shouted in a flustered manner. I stepped on the hem of her disheveled dress.
"Lady Arkman, you're overstepping your bounds."
"What... what... Even after hearing my story, you still call them your husband and son?"
"I'll decide whether to stay or run away. If you're going to tell me such useless stories, it's better not to come here again."
"Are you going to stay in such a despicable place?"
It wasn't even worth responding.
"Lady Arkman."
"They are demons! Not human! They live in a different world from us. You need to escape from that hell, that den of demons."
"I'm not you. Don't try to fulfill your selfish desires by pretending to save me. Even if you help me, nothing will change in your reality."
"Don't try to achieve vicarious satisfaction through me."
I leaned down and forcibly pried Lady Arkman's hand off my ankle.
"I won't abandon my child and run away like you."
"......!"
Lady Arkman's face turned bright red. She clenched her fists and trembled, then shouted.
"Then what do you want me to do! Should I have died there? I want to live! Isn't it natural to want to live?"
"Yes, I respect Lady Arkman's choice. I've never criticized your choice. I think it's natural."
"Then...!"
I grabbed the handle of the VIP room door. Before leaving, I turned to look at Lady Arkman one last time.
"But that's your choice, not mine. Don't force it on me. I have no intention of doing so."
Lady Arkman's face, which had briefly brightened, crumpled again.
"And the guilt from that choice is yours to bear. For the rest of your life. If you're trying to reduce your guilt by pretending to save me, wake up."
"......"
"Take responsibility for the consequences of your own choices. Don't come here again. Not to me, my husband, or the child you abandoned."
After leaving the last words, I stepped out of the VIP room. I told the manager that I would cover the compensation for the damage to the VIP room, as well as the table, carpet, teacup, and chair I had broken. I instructed that all costs be charged directly to Perechati Laphireon personally, not the Laphireon family. Then I left the cafe.
'Now, I won't see her face again.'
After threatening her with Cersia and Gloria, she won't dare show her face again if she wants to live.
'I'm exhausted from the morning. I should go back to the mansion and rest.'
When I return to the mansion, I'll take a warm bath and sleep. I didn't sleep well last night because of that incident.
'That incident.'
Thinking about it again made my face heat up. I fanned my face with my hand...
"Are you Her Highness Perechati Laphireon, the Grand Duchess?"
Someone approached me. Turning my head at the polite greeting, I saw a well-mannered man. The guard who had been sitting on the driver's seat in place of Rebecca hurried over. The polite man revealed his identity without blinking.
"I am a servant of Lady Berdicht, the Countess. Please forgive me if I have been rude."
'Lady Berdicht... She is someone like my stepmother, who is deeply involved in paganism. Gloria introduced her to me. I postponed our meeting yesterday because of the hallucinations, but I didn't expect her to come here first.'
"Why are you looking for me? How did you know I was here?"
"We were on our way to the Laphireon mansion, but we saw your carriage, so I waited despite the rudeness. ...Lady Berdicht asked me to deliver this letter to you."
The letter the servant handed me bore the Countess's seal.
"Directly to me?"
"Yes."
I took the letter with a dubious expression, but the servant remained standing.
"Are you telling me to read it right here?"
"The Countess instructed me to hear your response after you read it."
She must be quite an impatient person.
'Well, I was planning to visit her anyway.'
Opening the letter, I saw the Countess's handwriting. It was scribbled like a rabbit being chased by a hunter. [Please come and see me quickly. Please.]
It was short and to the point.
'Is that all?'
No matter how many times I read it, it was just one sentence. Did she send this letter because she was upset that I postponed our meeting and wanted me to come see her quickly?
"Should I give a response to this letter?"
"Yes."
In that case, fine.
"Tell her I'll set a time and try to meet her as soon as possible."
"If Her Highness the Grand Duchess says she will meet her soon, I am to convey this message."
The servant stepped aside and pointed to a carriage parked across the street.
"Lady Berdicht is waiting there."
The carriage bore the same family seal as the one in the letter. She wanted me to come quickly, so she came to see me herself? Her decisiveness is impressive.
"Can I talk to Lady Berdicht in that carriage?"
"Yes."
It's good that I don't have to travel far. She is a noble lady who fervently believes in paganism. Gloria wouldn't introduce me to a dangerous person, but she is still a ticking time bomb. I turned to the knight who was still on high alert, his hand on his sword.
"If anything happens, I only have one guard. On their side...?"
"There are no guards. Lady Berdicht came to the capital alone, without any guards or maids, saying she wanted to talk to you."
Alone? I had questions because of my stepmother, but why did the Countess want to talk to me? I narrowed my eyes, scanned the area around the carriage, and nodded.
"Alright."
As I gave my positive answer, the servant smiled and turned to guide me.
"But."
He stopped again at my words.
"Tell Lady Berdicht to come to my carriage. I'll have the conversation in my carriage."
I didn't know if there were any devices in her carriage, and it would be troublesome if I got in and the carriage started moving. The servant nodded and walked to Lady Berdicht's carriage to relay my message. I took the opportunity to remind my guard to always be vigilant and to tell the driver to start the carriage if someone was lying in wait, but not to leave the busy streets. I also instructed him to stop the carriage immediately if anything suspicious happened. After making all the necessary arrangements, I re-entered the cafe to find the manager and asked him to immediately inform the Laphireon family that I had met Lady Berdicht. Showing him a lot of gold coins, he immediately called a staff member who could ride a horse and sent him to the Laphireon family. If anything happened to me, Terdeo would know I was with Lady Berdicht. After finishing all the preparations, I left the cafe again, and the servant was walking towards our carriage. And behind him...
"I greet Her Highness the Grand Duchess of Laphireon."
Lady Berdicht, the Countess, was there, exuding elegance. We exchanged brief greetings and immediately boarded the carriage. As soon as we got in, the driver, following my orders, moved the carriage. Lady Berdicht didn't seem flustered at all by the sudden movement, or rather, she didn't seem to care at all.
"Lady Berdicht, I didn't expect you to come first. I think we can have a deep conversation..."
"Her Highness the Grand Duchess."
Lady Berdicht cut me off. She grabbed my hand tightly and, with a pleading tone, tears streaming down her face, said,
"Please save me."
"......Lady Berdicht?"
"If things continue like this, I will become a sacrifice."
A sacrifice? She started talking before I could even ask a single question. Her hand, which was clasped in mine, trembled with an unknown fear. Looking closely, I saw she was also sweating cold sweat. Lady Berdicht, tears streaming down her face, whispered in a frightened voice,
"Her Royal Highness Princess Dodolea will kill me."