CHAPTER 32……………………………………………………..
“Ha ha.”
Today, she hadn’t smiled even once, but now she finally let out a light laugh.
The meaning behind that laugh was positive. Even she must have thought that Count Betriche was the kind of person who would make one laugh like that. The smile on Sir Adonis, who had laughed as if hearing something amusing, gradually faded.
Soon, with a face that looked uncomfortable as if she had swallowed gritty sand, she brought the cup of milk tea to her lips.
If she wasn’t going to tell him about Persephone, he wanted to know about Adonis.
She was quite a decent person, someone with a position and status that wouldn’t hurt to maintain a friendly relationship with.
“Why did you stay silent?”
“Huh?”
“There are even rumors that your swordsmanship has surpassed your father’s.”
The Empire’s first female knight and, at the same time, the youngest royal guard member.
That a first female knight had joined the royal guard meant she had far superior skills compared to ordinary knights.
If Count Betriche and Sir Adonis were to clash in swordsmanship, there was no doubt that Sir Adonis would win.
“Because he’s my father.”
And a surprisingly clichéd and emotional answer slipped out.
Could it be because she had once been abandoned by the ducal family she considered family? What exactly was this “family” that made Sir Adonis endure it?
Her father didn’t consider the feelings of his own daughter, so why was it that only his daughter, Adonis, had to endure it because of family? She couldn’t understand that either.
“I believe that fathers or families who only demand one-sided sacrifices are unnecessary.”
“……”
“What father in the world would tell another child to stop doing what they want, for the sake of yet another child?”
“Princess, this concerns our family.”
“I know. I’m just sharing my thoughts.”
“……”
“Sir Adonis, you care so much for your family, but who among your family cares for you?”
It was as if she were seeing herself from three years ago.
No matter how cruelly they treated her, she had still tried to accept the ducal family as family because they had found their own daughter.
Eight years in the ducal family made it reasonable to call them family.
The duke and duchess had told her to address them as “Father, Mother.”
“What exactly are you trying to say, Princess?”
“I’m not trying to say anything in particular. Just…”
“……”
“I was merely wondering if there really is a reason only you should endure it.”
There must have been many things holding Adonis Betriche back.
The contempt and mocking glances she had received when first holding a sword would have held her back, and before joining the royal guard, many must have tried to obstruct her.
Simply because she was the first female knight.
“If someone tries to hold you back, wouldn’t it be fine to cut off the hand that holds you back?”
“……”
“In the end, the one who values me the most must be myself, not my family.”
Even if Sir Adonis abandoned the Betriche name and her family, it wouldn’t change her bloodline.
“Abandon it?”
For someone who had always endured, the word “abandon” hit Adonis like a sudden blow.
“Don’t you want to keep holding your sword? If that is more important than family, then yes.”
“……”
“Isn’t there a Founding Festival in autumn?”
When the cosmos blooms and dragonflies fly across the fields, the Founding Festival of the Daus Empire draws near.
The Founding Festival was the Empire’s biggest celebration, including the New Year, filled with both entertainment and spectacle. The most exciting event among them was the swordsmanship tournament.
“The winner gets a wish granted in the name of the royal family. You can take that as an opportunity.”
“For example?”
“Hmm…”
Tapping the table lightly with her index finger, she pursed her lips in thought.
“Perhaps receiving a new title or estate.”
Adonis tensed at the suggestion of abandoning her title.
“The decision would be yours, of course.”
“I never thought I’d hear something like this from a princess called the treasure of the ducal family.”
She might think this was just a careless remark from an immature noble lady. To give up her title was equivalent to giving up her identity.
But this was not an ordinary noble, and Sir Adonis was not ordinary. Her identity was not the Betriche family, and many of her achievements were not because she was a Betriche.
“The reason you have the titles of youngest and first isn’t because of the Betriche name, but purely because of your own efforts.”
She met Adonis’ gaze directly. If she had never been expelled from the ducal family, she could not have said such words.
If she had still been called April, like before, she would have likely said, “Still, they are your parents,” like other nobles.
“You may think I say this easily because I’m an outsider….”
She stood up from her seat. Adonis raised her head slightly and looked at her.
She didn’t seem displeased by the idea of abandoning her family, but her expression was strange—simultaneously shocked, intrigued, and seeing the idea as refreshingly practical.
“There’s time until the Founding Festival, so think about it once.”
Thinking it was not a bad solution, she turned and walked toward the garden.
“It’s purely because of your own efforts that you achieved this.”
Even moments ago, Adonis kept staring at the seat where April had sat.
Since she first took up the sword, April Hill Rise was the first to say such things to her.
Most people assumed that she could join the royal guard because of Count Betriche.
Unlike comforting herself that it was enough for her to know her own efforts, April’s words felt like a reward for everything she had worked for.
Still, she had never expected April Hill Rise to say such things.
“Was it you who His Majesty was speaking to?”
In the past, the princess had asked her something… but bringing up the engagement now suggested she had no memory of her past question.
It had only been a few months, so she couldn’t have forgotten. Or maybe the accident had affected her memory? But April seemed her usual self.
On the surface, nothing had changed except that she seemed a little thinner, but today, April Hill Rise didn’t feel like the same princess she knew.
At first, she thought telling someone to abandon their family and title was just a careless remark from a princess who had grown up loved by her family, but her expression when she said it was troubling.
“The one who values me the most must be myself, not my family.”
Had everything she assumed on the surface been incomplete…?
Slowly, she began to wonder if it was connected to Rian and Barak’s bad expressions when the princess returned home.
“Something’s off.”
This April didn’t seem like the April she had known. She had felt a similar sense of déjà vu once before.
It was when April, who always sought Barak’s attention, graduated from the academy.
That was also when Barak’s attitude toward April began to change.
Was April Hill Rise such a constantly changing person?
She had been someone who saw herself as a noble lady rather than a knight.
“Before being a knight, you are a woman. There’s no law that His Majesty couldn’t have feelings for you.”
“What exactly have you thought of His Majesty?”
Even though she had been by Persephone’s side longer, she seemed to have no faith in His Majesty.
It wasn’t something the royal guard needed to worry about. What was clear was that April had changed somehow after the carriage accident.
Carrying the ointment she had given as a gift, she headed into the house.
As she left the garden and headed toward the mansion, the Countess, who had just returned from her outing, asked Adonis,
“The princess came, didn’t she?”
“You’ve already heard?”
“Yes. She just arrived but already left… Why did she visit?”
“His Majesty requested that I be broken off from the engagement.”
Her calm voice, devoid of emotional fluctuation, rang once again.
