Chapter 43
It felt a little frustrating, but I thought it was lucky that nothing life-threatening would happen while I was out.
I might not have been fully in my right mind, having been rushed out so suddenly. But I couldn’t completely relax either, because it was obvious my mother could return to the Empire at any time.
If she were planning to leave entirely, all of this would have been meaningless.
But that would never happen.
“…I still can’t go out?”
After being stuck here for weeks, irritation naturally made my words sharp.
“You were allowed to walk up to the front,” Ian said.
“…What exactly did Mother do? Fine. I’ll go out,” I said.
“Yes.”
As soon as Ian left, I collapsed onto the bed.
I reached up to my neck and rubbed where the necklace had been.
“Why did it have to break?”
It had happened on the very first day. I was sure he had waited without any contact, so maybe he was angry this time.
Valeri being angry felt strange, but it would have been even stranger if he hadn’t been upset after making someone wait for hours.
I couldn’t send anyone to retrieve the necklace either.
I felt suffocated again.
The next evening, my mother and Mr. Shuwalt finally appeared.
I had been living in a mix of frustration, anxiety, and exhaustion, but they seemed completely calm.
“Bella, have you been well?”
“So-so. Did you manage to finish your work?”
“We’ll see,” Mr. Shuwalt said with a smile as he handed his coat to a maid.
I couldn’t hold back and asked.
“What happened that day? I heard Lady Perza postponed her recovery. So there wasn’t anything dangerous…?”
“Don’t panic. Sit down first. You must be tired. Go get some water,” my mother said casually as she sat on the sofa.
“Yes, Mistress,” I replied.
I sat across from her, staring at Mr. Shuwalt the entire time.
“There was a spy inside,” he said.
“…A spy?”
He wasn’t talking about me, right?
When I asked calmly, Mr. Shuwalt clicked his tongue.
He explained that on the day Lady Perza had her accident, he and my mother had been handling two tasks at once. It was the same day Mont, the Emperor’s close aide and remaining brother, had attempted an attack.
I hadn’t known about this.
“You… didn’t tell me,” I said.
“I didn’t want you to worry,” he replied.
Someone had almost discovered my mother while messing up a plan she had been carefully preparing for much longer than Lady Perza’s incident.
“But I didn’t expect both things to fail. Maybe I was too careless. That guy is pretty clever,” he said.
“…That was me,” I thought. Whoever it was, they were probably gone from this world now. I closed and opened my eyes.
“So that’s why you came out that day?” I asked.
“I was fine, but Ruu could have been in danger. Stay here while we regroup. Tell me if you need anything. I’ll keep coming and going. Can’t trust anyone these days,” he said.
“…Okay. Then Mother is safe now?”
“Exactly why I’m here,” she said.
She drank water and placed it down without any change in expression. Even after almost dying, how could she remain so calm?
“We’ll have to start from the beginning again, but it will be faster than before,” he said.
“Start from the beginning… again?”
I felt something inside me crumble. Mr. Shuwalt said it was for our freedom, but I didn’t understand. Whose freedom?
“Miss, it’s me, Nina!”
“…Come in.”
I had been getting weaker over the past month. I could only walk in the front yard, and I couldn’t stay outside long because of the language barrier.
I stared at Nina as she came in. She adapted easily anywhere. If words didn’t work, she gestured with hands and feet to communicate.
Thanks to her, we had managed to bribe the bakery owner in town to use as a channel to communicate with Sheil. Today, she seemed happy as she prepared to visit the bakery again.
“Miss, it’s connected,” she said.
“Connected?”
“Yes. It won’t take as long as before, but it will still take more than a week.”
“That’s fine. I just need confirmation.”
“Oh, and this came too. It’s a small package. They could send it here.”
It was Sheil Iscar. Though messages had to go through the postal office like sending to a distant country, it felt more reliable than hearing news only through Mr. Shuwalt or Mother.
“There shouldn’t be anything to send,” I said.
The package was surprisingly heavy. When I opened it, dozens of small jewels spilled out.
“Why…?”
I opened the letter. It said nothing urgent had happened yet and advised that if life was hard, I could convert the jewels into money. It mentioned the jewels were easy to trade even in this country.
“What… do they think I’m a beggar?” I muttered. Even tiny gold pieces were included as if I had no possessions. Ridiculous.
“Your master said so,” Nina explained.
“Your master… is sane, right?”
Nina tilted her head.
“Yes… sometimes odd, but not so bad,” she said awkwardly with a laugh.
I gathered the jewels and put them in my jewelry box.
That evening, Mr. Shuwalt visited to check on me and have dinner.
“Is anything uncomfortable?”
“No. Sometimes I think about the North, but it’s not too bad,” I said.
“Good. Tell me immediately if you need anything.”
“And Mother?”
“She’s fine. From next week, Ruu will also be here,” he said.
“That’s a relief,” I said.
Mr. Shuwalt handed me a small pouch.
“What’s this?”
I opened it and five tiny magic stones fell out. Two were opaque white, and three were dark blue.
I paused. He probably didn’t know I had received magic stones from the First Prince before. What if he found out?
“Sent by the First Prince, huh?”
“Some staff were left behind at the house. Luckily, they didn’t notice you. Lucky, right?”
“Ah… I played a game at the last banquet,” I said.
“Yeah, I know,” he said.
“Oh, I told you before. I won a bet, and they promised to send something interesting. I guess this is it. I don’t even know what to do with it,” I said.
I put the stones back in the pouch without much interest.
“They are magic stones. Interesting, right?” he said.
“What are they for? Can they be used like jewelry?”
“The dark blue ones are movement stones, and the white opaque ones are probably invisibility or glowing stones. Each color is different.”
I listened silently and smiled.
“Oh… really? Then they’re better than jewels. If I give them to Mother, she’ll like them. She’s been in a bad mood lately.”
I tied the pouch and handed it back to Mr. Shuwalt. I had to let him know I didn’t have these items myself, even if it felt a waste.
“Anything you give, she’ll like,” he said.
“Please give it to Mother. Tell her I want to see her. She’ll probably say it’s unnecessary,” I said.
“She’ll feel the same inside,” he said with a smile.
About a week later, as he said, Mother returned.
Just like in the North, we were finally living together.
I occasionally kept in touch with Sheil Iscar. I wanted to see if the real Blake Ariandel would appear and hear about the Empire from someone else.
It was a relief and a mystery. News of Blake Ariandel, who should have appeared by now, still hadn’t come.
If my memory was correct, it should have been within a year.
As time passed, I gradually got used to life here.
Still, there was no news about Valeri.
