Chapter 114
Noel was not alone. Two men who looked as though they had been hired to protect her stood at her side.
Vanerinne hurriedly opened the door. To be honest, she was almost always alone, so she longed for human company. And she also thought this might be a perfect chance to escape this manor.
“No—Noel. Noel, is that really you?”
Vanerinne’s thin voice called out to Noel with aching desperation. Had it not been for the ill-fated bond between them, it was a voice that might have swayed her once again.
Tears welled in Vanerinne’s eyes as she reached out toward Noel.
“It feels like a dream to see you like this. I’ve missed you so much. I was thinking about you even just now.”
Noel’s glassy gaze rested quietly on Vanerinne. She asked, genuinely unable to understand,
“Me? Why?”
“Why? To apologize to you, of course.”
Seeing that Noel was unmoved by her words, Vanerinne began to grow anxious. She couldn’t help it—this was the first person from the ‘outside world’ she had seen since coming here.
Watching Noel’s expression, Vanerinne put on a servile smile. Though she shivered in the cold, her beauty had not faded; she still possessed a pitiful, fragile grace.
“I went too far back then, didn’t I? I’m sorry. I never truly meant to harm you. Father was furious and threatened to throw me out of the palace immediately, and I was under such immense mental pressure…”
The apology concerned events from the distant past. Without realizing it, Noel let out a scoff. A single apology was far from enough to erase the long years that had passed. Frowning, Noel replied,
“But even after that, you kept trying to find me and have me killed.”
Vanerinne gasped and shook her head vigorously.
“What nonsense! I never did such a thing!”
“Someone came to the place I was staying. They pretended to be a knight.”
“I was trying to find you to compensate you. What would I gain from killing you?”
To continue lying so smoothly was a talent in itself. When Noel didn’t respond, dumbfounded, Vanerinne apologized again.
“I’m truly sorry. Please accept my apology. And please forgive me.”
“Why should I?”
“…What?”
At the blunt refusal, Vanerinne’s eyes widened. She was still not accustomed to being rejected by those beneath her.
Noel said coldly,
“I don’t want to. There’s no rule that says I have to forgive you.”
“I know you must have been deeply hurt by me. But surely, if we think of old times—”
“Old times? That’s a ridiculous thing to say.”
Had her crimes not been exposed, she would never have apologized in her lifetime. And now she dared to speak of old affection. Noel smiled faintly.
“I came here today to mock you. Don’t you understand that yet?”
“What?”
Vanerinne couldn’t easily grasp Noel’s words. Even after falling this far, she still hadn’t realized that someone she considered beneath her could ridicule her.
Noel mocked her mercilessly.
“You really are pathetic. You know it now too, don’t you? That you were called the ‘Angel of Newcastle’ only because the people who treated you as precious existed. And how did you treat those people?”
She used them, discarded them at her whim, and made them disappear without a trace when they were no longer useful. Thinking of how many others she must have buried that way besides herself sent a chill down Noel’s spine.
But to Vanerinne, who felt no remorse, Noel’s resentment was nothing more than incomprehensible scolding. She wept bitterly and blamed Noel instead.
“The heavens are so cruel to me. Truly cruel…”
“Crying won’t help. Do you really think I’d be swayed by your tears when I already know your true nature?”
Of course, Noel was not fooled by those tears. She lifted her chin proudly and looked down at Vanerinne.
“I’m running an orphanage in the capital now. After what you did to me came to light, generous donations started coming in. For that much, I suppose I should thank you.”
At Noel’s final words, Vanerinne’s empty-headed face brightened. She grabbed the hem of Noel’s clothes impatiently.
“S-see? It’s thanks to me, isn’t it? Then help me, Noel. I want to leave this place. What’s the atmosphere like in the capital? Does my brother still hate me?”
Noel looked down at her silently, then let out a sigh before answering calmly.
“His Majesty thinks of you every day and weeps.”
Vanerinne’s lips twitched upward at Noel’s words. Noel continued,
“Her Majesty the Empress begs every single day for you to be brought back to the capital. And when Duke Luke heard of your place of exile, he, too, came to feel sympathy. Oh—and the Duke Luke I’m referring to now is Lady Edel. She inherited the title.”
Sweet, tempting words.
They were exactly the news Vanerinne had longed for. Facing the brightened Vanerinne, Noel smiled faintly.
“Hold on to hope, Princess. I think it will be an even greater punishment for you.”
Were those words truth or lies?
“Noel! Tell me the truth! What are you saying? Is it true or not?!”
Noel turned sharply away and did not look back again. As Vanerinne tried to cling to her, she faltered at the sight of the man guarding Noel and staggered backward.
Noel walked steadily out of the manor where Vanerinne was confined. A man leaning against the wall with his arms crossed spoke up.
“I thought you might at least hit her once. Why did you come out so quietly?”
That cynical tone—Father Leofried.
Since there was no proper road leading to the manor, they had all climbed up from the foot of the mountain. Seeing Father Leofried looking unusually irritable, Noel chuckled.
“Is it really acceptable for a messenger of God to encourage violence?”
“If someone deserves to be hit, they should be hit. It’s written in the holy scriptures. Stories of God striking His disobedient servants.”
“That was because they sold holy relics for illicit profit.”
As she talked with Father Leofried, Noel rubbed the stiff corner of her mouth. She’d thought she spoke smoothly in front of Vanerinne, but she must have been far more tense than she realized.
After massaging her jaw for a moment, Noel slowly spoke.
“There was no need to hit her.”
Father Leofried lifted his head, his gaze asking her to continue, but that was all Noel said. He shrugged.
“Well, if that was enough to put your heart at ease.”
Noel ultimately chose the path of becoming a nun, dedicating her life as a servant of God. Though Theodore had allowed her to return to work at the imperial palace, she chose instead to spend her life caring for orphaned children.
Today was her final visit to cast off her lingering regrets before entering the convent. As Father Leofried began walking up the mountain slope again, he said,
“Let’s go show the majesty of God.”
“When you say it like that, you sound like a delinquent.”
Noel laughed softly.
I am currently in a very awkward situation.
Two men with nearly expressionless faces were each gripping one of my arms and shouting completely different things.
“She’s absolutely a daughter.”
“He’s absolutely a son.”
The one insisting it’s a daughter is Cerulian. The one insisting it’s a son is my father.
Unable to take either side, I let out a deep sigh.
“Ah… how did it come to this?”
The incident began about an hour ago.
I was working diligently as usual when I noticed one unusual thing—my father.
Normally, he would appear out of nowhere, drop off a gift, and leave. But today, he kept hovering around me.
After letting it go for an hour, assuming he’d eventually stop, I finally couldn’t stand it anymore. I put down my pen and asked,
“Why are you hovering around like that, Father?”
At my question, he frowned slightly and looked at me with his characteristically dry gaze.
“Hovering?”
“You know how snipes walk, rocking their bodies back and forth like this? That’s called hovering.”
When he still didn’t seem to get it, I stood up and mimicked him.
You’re doing exactly this right now!
That’s what I wanted to say. But my father replied calmly,
“Are you dancing? Moderate exercise is good for prenatal care, so keep it up.”
“Oh, honestly.”
That’s not it! My blood pressure suddenly spiked, and I pressed my palm to my forehead. Even after becoming a father, he still only said whatever he pleased.
“I forgot for a moment. When dealing with Father, I have to be blunt and direct.”
I sat back down and reopened the documents I had briefly closed.
“If you have nothing to say, please leave. I have a mountain of work to do.”
Normally, he would step aside after that—but today, he was strangely persistent. He paced around me and asked,
“You’ve been working nonstop.”
“Yes, yes. I’m busy.”
“Then you should reduce your workload.”
“I would if I could. Once the baby is born, I won’t be able to work for a while, so I need to get more done now.”
“But you don’t have time.”
“That’s why I’m telling you to leave me alone!”
I have too much work and too little time to deal with you!
After I said that, he simply repeated himself like a parrot.
“Reduce your workload.”
“…You’re doing this on purpose to raise my blood pressure, aren’t you?!”
