[CHAPTER 63]
“Lira, what is wrong?”
Dianu Ortensa saw Rision in such a flustered state for the first time.
His hands hovered awkwardly in the air as if he did not know what to do, and panic was written all over his face.
Circling around his younger sister who only shed silent tears, he sent Dianu a desperate look.
Before Dianu could say anything to help, Elpenlira pushed Rision aside and ran out of the drawing room.
Sir Edric Loisen, unable to bring himself to stop her, merely twitched his hand in confusion.
In the end, Dianu stepped forward.
“I will follow her.”
“No, no. I will go.”
“I think I understand why she is reacting like this……”
Letting out a silent sigh, Rision turned to Ravelan Arasas, who had been watching the entire commotion in silence, and made a request.
“Please stay with Miss Ortensa.”
“Very well.”
“…And do not say anything unnecessary.”
Ravelan raised an eyebrow.
“While you worry about what might come out of my mouth, Her Highness is getting farther away by the second.”
After briefly meeting Dianu’s eyes, Rision soon ran out of the drawing room.
“It seems this will take some time, so please sit.”
Ravelan guided the fidgeting Dianu to a long chair and seated himself across from her.
Though his posture was relaxed, with one leg crossed and an arm draped over the backrest, it was strange that he did not feel condescending at all.
Dianu, who had been staring anxiously at the door through which Rision and Elpenlira had run, snapped back to her senses at his voice.
“I believe I finally understand why our princess so vehemently refused marriage with me.”
Dianu carefully controlled her expression.
No matter how much of the truth Ravelan might have gleaned from Elpenlira’s behavior, Dianu could neither confirm nor deny it outright.
Rision had said that Ravelan Arasas did not know about Elpenlira and Edric’s relationship.
He had also said that if Elpenlira did not wish it, he had no intention of revealing it.
However, Ravelan Arasas had already witnessed a bride-to-be who burst into tears and fled after singing a song about tragically separated lovers.
He was far too perceptive not to sense the story behind such behavior.
Whether fortunately or unfortunately, Ravelan did not seem particularly moved by the realization.
Tilting his head slightly, he spoke.
“And the man who made the princess cry would no longer belong to this world.”
“Rision is not cold enough to tear a sister away from her beloved and seat her beside me if that man were still alive.”
Dianu closed her mouth and lowered her gaze.
Yet Ravelan seemed to have reached his conclusion without her help.
His eyes briefly swept past Sir Edric Loisen, who stood at a distance staring blankly into space.
“So that is how it was.”
“I understand.”
Even after realizing that the woman who was to become his fiancée had loved another man, and that man had died after being caught in a conflict between two nations, Ravelan showed no sign of shock or disappointment.
Dianu knew that letting this moment pass without interference was the right thing to do.
Yet she ultimately could not bring herself to remain silent.
“…Your Highness, are you truly all right with this?”
“With what, exactly?”
“Even if Her Highness… loved another man.”
Had it merely been love?
Elpenlira and Edric Loisen had even exchanged rings.
For a princess who had to enter a political marriage with a foreign crown prince, such a past was an enormous weakness and a disgrace.
Was not purity of both body and heart considered the greatest dowry of a noble lady?
From Ravelan’s perspective, it would have been entirely natural to feel offended, or rather, strange not to be offended at all.
Dianu asked the question while so tense that the hands folded on her lap turned white.
Had she not been worried that Ravelan might harbor resentment toward Elpenlira and treat her poorly, she would never have dared raise this topic.
Yet Ravelan merely smiled lightly.
“And why would I not be all right?”
“Love is inherently irrational.”
His amber eyes looked straight at Dianu.
“Surely you, of all people, understand that best, my lady.”
After briefly watching Dianu, who could only move her lips without sound, Ravelan stood up from his seat.
It was a clear sign that he had no intention of continuing this discussion.
“It seems the siblings’ conversation may grow rather deep.”
“Shall we pass the time with a game of cards while we wait?”
He gestured toward Sir Edric Loisen, who had been staring straight ahead as if he could not hear a word of their conversation.
Then something surprising happened.
Sir Edric Loisen openly recoiled in disgust.
He spoke in a hurried voice, as if someone were chasing him.
I should not have made her sing that song.
Even if Elpenlira had agreed to marry Ravelan, it did not mean the wounds left by her separation from Edric had healed.
And she was far more emotional than Rision.
He had suggested it hoping that discovering a shared interest with Ravelan might make her feel some affection toward him.
Instead, it had only reminded her of her lover’s tragic death.
Rision gently brushed Elpenlira’s eye with his thumb.
“I am sorry.”
“I did not mean to make you think of Edric.”
At the sound of that name, Elpenlira flinched as if pricked by a needle.
Her confused gaze turned toward Rision.
Moisture welled back into eyes that looked like his own reflected in a mirror.
Elpenlira spoke in a choked voice.
“Brother.”
“Yes.”
“Ravelan Arasas was not involved in Edric’s death.”
Elpenlira seemed to have forgotten Rision’s presence altogether.
With her head drooping halfway, she muttered softly.
“Now that I have met him, I can tell.”
“Unless he were a demon, no one could commit such a deed and remain so calm before you… before Sir Edric Loisen.”
Rision silently wiped away her tears.
Ravelan Arasas, and the Arasas Imperial Family, bore no responsibility for Edric Loisen’s death.
It was a truth Elpenlira had long wished to acknowledge.
Yet when the moment finally arrived, it brought her no joy at all.
Perhaps somewhere deep in her heart, she had hoped that this conversation would never come to pass in her lifetime.
Elpenlira brushed away the thumb gently wiping her eyes, as if shooing away a fly.
“…The ones who killed Edric were not the Arasas Imperial Family.”
Rision quietly lowered his hand.
He knew that Elpenlira’s realization would not end there.
“Brother……”
Her low, sunken voice trembled faintly.
“…You knew who the real culprit was.”
Finally meeting Rision’s eyes, Elpenlira let out a heated breath.
It was as if she could no longer keep the betrayal and anger boiling inside her chest contained.
“You knew all along, and yet you never told me.”
It was the moment of judgment.
