Chapter 100 ….
“Giving up and courage are words that simply don’t go together,” I said nothing, just blinking in response.
Uld, smiling kindly at me, neatly packed the bag he had brought and slung it over his shoulder.
“I’ll be going now. You must not get out of bed until the sun rises tomorrow morning. Understood?”
It was his way of telling me to stay put and rest.
I knew his prescription came from concern for me, but there were still many things I had to check.
“Um… what about those maids and the head cook earlier? And Chichi…”
“That’s a matter for the Astrafe Knights. If they’re guilty, they’ll be punished; if wrongly accused, their names will be cleared. Unlike the Captain of the Royal Guard, the head of the Royal Guard is a proper knight. His abilities just haven’t had a chance to shine because Your Majesty has been so invincible until now.”
“But…”
“You did your best, Princess. Everything will be fine, so rest well.”
It was a firm response that left no room for me to even think about sneaking off to Megaira Castle to check on Chichi.
As I expected, nothing seemed to sway Uld.
‘Verdandi did as I asked, though.’
The name came to mind, and I called Uld back just as he was about to leave.
“Wait a moment, sir! You said Verdandi is outside, right? Could you… call him over for me?”
At the very least, I wanted to see Verdandi’s face and tell him I was okay. He must have been worried about me too.
But Uld gave a troubled expression at what seemed like a simple request.
“That might be difficult. The ‘outside’ I mentioned earlier isn’t actually outside the door. Verdandi is much farther away.”
“Ah? Then where…”
“Not extremely far. If you ride a horse for about thirty minutes, you’ll reach a forest near the outskirts of the capital. When it’s hard for him to maintain his form, he goes there to calm himself down.”
“Form?”
“His human form. Unlike other dragons, Verdandi loses it easily when his emotions are stirred or he gets excited.”
“So… if he loses it, he becomes a dragon?”
“Yes. I sent him there first to avoid startling Your Majesty. Verdandi agreed.”
“Ah…”
Reading my downcast expression, Uld even waved his hands defensively and began to defend Verdandi.
“But don’t be too scared. He hasn’t fully changed—just partially—and he’ll return to his usual form soon…”
He seemed worried I would be frightened by the fact that Verdandi is really a dragon.
But it was a meaningless worry.
“Too bad!”
I like dragons!
I liked the fresh-faced, charming Verdandi, but honestly, I was curious to see him in dragon form.
Uld raised his eyebrows at me, looking surprised as I flailed my fists in mock frustration.
“…Excuse me? What did you just say?”
“Too bad! I’m curious to see Verdandi as a dragon too. You’ve seen him, doctor, right? When he turns, does he get teeth and horns? Does his body grow? Big enough for Lyra to ride?”
“….”
When I even bounced up in bed, pleading, Uld’s eyes went wide and his lips parted.
“Humans are naturally wary of dragons, yet Your Majesty… you’re not scared of Verdandi at all.”
“Yep! Lyra loves dragons!”
Uld blinked slowly as if processing this unusual answer, then laughed out loud.
“I understand why Verdandi cares so much for Your Majesty.”
“Really?”
“Perhaps, Princess, you may even teach Verdandi, not just His Majesty, the meaning of treasuring someone.”
Leaving me with this cryptic comment, Uld instead gave me a smile—a smile that commanded me to lie back in bed, which I realized for the first time he could do—and I obediently turned to the ceiling.
‘I wonder if Verdandi also made a wish to causality…’
Thinking of the mark on his hand, I swallowed nervously.
It would be best not to get involved with causality, but if he already made a wish, I had to make sure it didn’t harm him.
No one should suffer a sad ending like in the original story.
‘I hope Verdandi stays by my side for a long, long time.’
Even though I had slept a lot earlier, thinking of Verdandi’s soft green eyes made my eyelids strangely heavy.
Once Uld confirmed I was breathing steadily in sleep, he left the room.
“Have a good dream, Princess.”
Perhaps because he realized there was no need to cry tonight over failing to save me, Uld’s footsteps sounded unusually light.
Listening to him gradually fade away, I felt as if I had dreamed of Calliope consecutively.
It must have been because he wished me to have a good dream.
This time, Zeusia was there too.
I don’t remember what we talked about or the expressions we exchanged, but just the fact that the three of us were in the same space was enough.
This was a real dream.
A truly, truly good dream.
“Ts, tsu…”
“Cold, what do you mean cold! Doria, you’re the only one wrapped in a blanket!”
“Evelyn, what about you! Don’t think we didn’t notice all the things you secretly spread out to sit on!”
“Oh, when did that even get here? Anyway, Abel, even ignoring the blankets, your spot is the warmest. Are you just going to keep sitting there?”
Even inside the prison, they were bickering and finally seemed to realize the situation. Their dark expressions were heavy with sighs.
“What are we going to do? Even if we only meant to silence her briefly, we still harmed a royal…”
“The same goes for the dress room. Tampering with royal property is a serious crime.”
“What if… what if we end up executed?”
“Evelyn! Don’t say such unlucky things!”
But even after Doria’s scolding, Evelyn wasn’t cowed like before.
“What about me! If you hadn’t incited us to put Achillea in the carriage…!”
“Huh?”
“Evelyn’s right. This is all your fault, Doria!”
It was the first time Doria, who had long reigned as the queen of the group, was being scolded by the other two.
“You… when I ended up like this, you didn’t even care and only thought about yourselves…!”
“What are you even saying? I don’t understand a word!”
“You come here!”
Their argument escalated, and after exchanging concerns about their parents, it nearly turned into a physical fight.
At that moment, someone shook the bars of their cell.
Even though she wore a pitch-black cloak, they could easily recognize who it was.
“…Mrs. Purkin?”
Only when she pressed a finger to her lips did the three of them stop themselves from shouting her name.
“Mrs., how did you get here…”
“Explaining would be complicated, but the important thing is that I came to get you out, isn’t it?”
Hearing this, the three sisters’ faces crumpled with gratitude.
“Thank you, ma’am…!”
“Shh, I’ll open it now, so quietly get up to the surface. A carriage will be waiting; just take it.”
“Are you saying we should escape?”
“What if you get punished even more severely?”
“The crime of putting Achillea in the Princess’s carriage, and releasing rats in the dress room. Come daylight, you’d pay with your lives. What worse punishment could there be?”
“But what about Chichi? I heard she was taken to the interrogation room. Maybe we can pin it on her as planned.”
“Exactly, plus she stammers, so defending her would be hard…”
“You’re still saying such foolish, naive things!”
Unable to contain herself, Mrs. Purkin shouted, then lowered her voice as she looked around.
“Chichi will be released soon. The Duke of Lipchick personally intervened to find evidence proving her innocence.”
“The Duke of Lipchick?”
“Why would the Duke bother with a lowly maid like Chichi…?”
“He promised to do his utmost to prove the innocence of the maid who treated his son before.”
With the Duke involved, Chichi would undoubtedly prove her innocence without difficulty.
Which meant there was no one left to blame…
“Do you understand the situation now? This is the only way you survive.”
At Mrs. Purkin’s words, the three sisters simultaneously remembered the same line:
“If you feel even a little guilty toward me, then you must keep that promise.”
The line Princess had said about confessing the truth if one felt guilt.
But the feeling that could be called conscience disappeared the moment Mrs. Purkin opened the bars.
It was only natural.
They had never felt any guilt toward the young Princess.
