Chapter 101 …
“If you quietly slip out of here as you are, there’ll be a small escort carriage waiting. The head cook has already departed.”
“Where is the carriage headed?”
“To the Lipchik estate. You’ll never be able to return to the capital again, but Her Grace said she would see to it that you live comfortably at the Lipchik estate for the rest of your lives. She even said she would personally look for suitable husbands for you.”
If they recalled the duchess’s expression as she looked down on them earlier, or the way Madam Perkin had outright denied their very existence, there was no way they could believe those words were true.
But excessive greed has a way of paralyzing reason.
“A-and the evidence?”
“I knew it…! So that was all just an act earlier!”
“To think we misunderstood the deep intentions of Her Grace and Madam Perkin…!”
The three maids offered half-hearted thanks and then hurried off in the direction Madam Perkin had pointed.
With a faint, fishy smile, Madam Perkin watched as they walked straight into the trap of their own accord.
‘Fools. No—perhaps it’s fortunate they’re fools. At least the urgent fire has been put out.’
Their very existence would surely come back to bite her sooner or later. It was best to remove them from the stage now.
The carriage carrying the head cook and the one carrying the three maids would not be heading to the Lipchik estate at all, but toward the desolate North.
Before reaching the Grand Duchy of Cyan, the coachman would return alone to the capital, leaving only the carriage—with them inside—abandoned in the middle of a dense coniferous forest.
Once that happened, the princess would never hear their testimony.
The testimony that Madam Perkin herself had ordered this incident.
‘Next is…’
“Come to think of it, I heard the illegitimate princess is afraid of dogs.”
“That’s right. I heard from Chichi’s roommate that she even asked the knights who keep hunting hounds in advance to make sure she wouldn’t run into any.”
“Who does she think she is? Doesn’t she have any sense of her place?”
The maids had naturally drifted into gossiping about Chichi, but they had clearly said the princess was afraid of dogs.
‘Perfect for staging a small incident to entangle Ivy Lipchik.’
To carry out that small incident, she would need someone else’s help. For a more dramatic effect, Madam Perkin decided to enlist the assistance of the charity members led by the duchess.
Recalling the letters she had just written to them, Madam Perkin left quietly with a sly smile.
To be precise, letters written under the duchess’s name.
On a snowy morning, the world outside the window glows brighter than in midsummer.
As I woke, idly recalling that fact, my body felt strangely heavy.
As if I were covered in a very thick blanket.
When I slowly blinked my waterlogged-cotton-heavy eyelids, my blurred vision gradually cleared.
The first thing that came into view was the color of ripened rice—completely out of season.
It didn’t take long to realize that familiar shade looked exactly like Verdandi’s hair.
“Ver—”
I stopped myself mid-call and covered my mouth with both hands.
Verdandi was fast asleep.
I was sure I’d heard that dragons didn’t need to sleep like humans… Yet with his eyes closed and his breathing steady and even, he looked undeniably asleep.
After quietly observing his eyelashes—also the color of wheat—I belatedly noticed that his appearance was in no condition to ignore.
His jacket was nowhere to be seen. He wore only a black top, and the back of it was ripped in two long slashes.
Fortunately, there were no wounds beneath the shirt, but he looked utterly exhausted—ragged in more ways than one.
‘What on earth did he do in the forest…?’
I desperately wanted to hear what had happened, but I decided to hold back for now.
Since he was asleep, I wanted to let him rest properly.
‘When he wakes up, I’ll tell him everything’s okay now. I’ll ask what happened in the forest… Ah! And I should check what wish he made to Causality.’
Honestly, it was a bit uncomfortable with him sleeping while holding me tightly around the waist. But somehow, seeing how faintly flushed his eyes were, I couldn’t even think of prying him off.
‘I don’t know much about dragons… but our Verdandi is kind. He listens to me, worries about me, and yesterday, when I cried, he even tried to cry with me.’
“Please… don’t cry. If Lady Lira cries, then I…”
I remembered his small, awkward hand patting my back with all sincerity.
‘I’m the same, Verdandi. When precious people cry, it makes me sad.’
So I hope you won’t cry.
With that wish in my heart, I reached out to stroke his back the way he had done for me yesterday.
The problem was—
‘I can’t reach!’
I put all my strength into all five fingers, stretching as desperately as I could, but my arms were far too short.
No—my arms aren’t short. It’s because Verdandi is holding my waist.
Right. That must be it. It has to be!
Suppressing the faint urge to cry, I gently patted his head instead of his back.
His wheat-colored hair wrapped around my fingers—fine and incredibly soft.
Thinking how different it felt from my own fluffy, downy hair, I let the strands slip through my hand.
“Ah.”
I felt a familiar green gaze from just below.
Beaming, I waved at him.
“Good morning, Verdandi.”
“…Lady Lira?”
“Did you sleep well? I guess even dragons fall asleep if they’re really tired, huh?”
Staring up at me with wide eyes, Verdandi soon realized his arms were wrapped tightly around me.
“Uh…?”
He froze for a moment, unable to finish his sentence, and then his face flushed bright red.
‘Wow, what a rare expression!’
I tried to get a better look to store it in my memory, but when I blinked again, he was no longer beneath me.
‘Oops. I must’ve startled him.’
He hadn’t merely moved away—he was practically pressed against the far wall.
I gave him a small smile, as if to signal that it was okay.
He tried, out of habit, to lift the corners of his lips in return, but failed.
“I’m… I’m sorry.”
Instead of smiling, Verdandi’s eyes darted around in circles, and he even stammered—so unlike him.
“Sorry for what! I’m just happy you came back, Verdandi.”
I was about to approach him, looking his age for once, when someone knocked on the bedroom door.
‘Chichi?’
Before I could even ask who it was, the door burst open.
It wasn’t Chichi—but the royal guard captain uncle I’d seen yesterday.
Before I could ask what was wrong, he spoke with flushed cheeks and urgent eyes.
“Your Highness, His Majesty…!”
His Majesty?
Why that wicked old hag?
“His Majesty is currently…! Ahem!”
As if proving he had run all the way here, the captain paused to catch his breath.
‘Ah, this is suffocating!’
That brief pause felt like eternity.
In that fleeting moment, every worst-case scenario I could imagine flashed through my mind.
Did something happen to Zeusia? Did the peace treaty fail, and war break out? Or was there an accident on the way back—
Thankfully, before my imagination could fully run wild, the captain, having caught his breath, continued in a loud voice.
“His Majesty departed from the border three days ago, Your Highness!”
Wow—if he left from the border, that means…!
Eyes sparkling with anticipation, I asked,
“Then our mo— I mean, is His Majesty coming back?”
“Yes. He should arrive in the capital by the afternoon the day after tomorrow.”
Zeusia is coming back.
Just two more nights of sleep.
The moment I repeated that simple fact to myself, my body sprang upward on its own.
“Yay!”
My body reacted before my thoughts did.
Feeling happier than ever, I couldn’t deny it anymore.
I had been waiting eagerly for Zeusia to return.
I had missed her terribly.
After bouncing on the bed for a moment, I hopped down and ran over to the captain who had brought the good news.
“Thank you for telling me, Captain! You came to let me know as soon as you heard, didn’t you?”
Wearing an expression as stiff as Monarda’s had once been, the captain slowly nodded.
“Yes, that’s correct. After what you experienced in the imperial palace yesterday, I thought you must have been terribly frightened. I hoped that hearing of His Majesty’s imminent return might ease your mind, even if only a little…”
