Episode 25
Phoebe stared at me, her eyes brimming with tears.
“But it is Lord Ren, isn’t it? If it weren’t him, why would he go so far as to help you avoid the physician? He’s not even on good terms with His Grace the Grand Duke!”
My lady-in-waiting was far too sharp.
So, I had no choice but to utter a line straight out of a melodramatic soap opera.
“That’s because… even Ren….”
I was so embarrassed my eyes squeezed shut on their own.
“…doesn’t know the full truth either!”
“What?”
Phoebe’s green eyes shook with astonishment.
“No, then why would Lord Ren… if it’s not his child… Don’t tell me he’s not even sure if he’s the father or not? How could that be…?”
She whispered in a hushed, horrified voice.
“Your Highness! Are you saying… someone else might think that? Who? His Grace, Duke Callisteon?!”
Better to get all the scolding over at once.
Not wanting to make Phoebe cry twice, I gritted my teeth and answered.
“……Erni too.”
“Your Highness!”
But it seemed I was mistaken.
Phoebe let out a cry like a scream, slumped to the floor, and began weeping again.
“Have I… have I been serving Your Highness so… so inadequately…?”
It seemed to be a variation of ‘Did I raise you so poorly?’.
I apologized timidly.
“It’s not your fault, Phoebe…”
It wasn’t really my fault either, but Phoebe shrieked.
“I should have realized when you gave me that sudden vacation!”
Aha.
So that’s how I managed to ditch the leech-like Phoebe and spend the night with the others.
“Huuuuhhhh….”
Phoebe sat crying on the floor for a while before suddenly springing to her feet.
“Then, when you collapsed earlier, could it be…?”
I stroked my still-flat stomach and said.
“The baby seems fine. I was just dizzy for a moment earlier, and Len has already gotten all the necessary medicine…”
Phoebe’s tear-filled eyes widened sharply.
“Then… when you were feeling unwell in Heim, was that also…?”
“Ah, no, that time I really was just avoiding the Lord of Heim.”
Then she resolutely wiped her tears.
“L-Look at me losing my composure. This is no time for this.”
Phoebe took my hand with her tear-dampened one and led me to the bed.
“Come here, Your Highness. You need to lie down and rest immediately.”
In this absurd situation, I gave a wistful smile to the lady-in-waiting who was still trying to take care of me.
“Hurry!” Phoebe urged.
Of course, even after lying me down, the barrage of questions continued for some time, but it was clear I had gained a valuable ally.
‘Because Phoebe was crying and carrying on from the first day, I couldn’t tell her…’
Perhaps I should have told her sooner.
The next morning, Helena came to apologize.
“It seems I failed to assist you properly, Your Highness. I am truly sorry.”
Her pretty, protagonist-like face was quite swollen.
‘Did she get slapped by Phoebe?’
Or perhaps she had cried alone, heartbroken.
Phoebe shot me a glance that seemed to say I’m the more frustrating one, then briefly stepped away.
‘Since this happened because of me, I can’t blame Phoebe…’
Feeling sorry, I took Helena’s hand.
“Helena, your only fault was faithfully following my orders.”
But Helena, who had been quietly bowing her head, tilted it and looked up at me.
“……Your Highness?”
“Hm?”
Then she awkwardly pulled her hand free from my grasp.
‘Is she afraid of getting splashed by more fallout for being close to me?’
Saddened by her changed reaction, I withdrew my hand.
Helena, as if trying to break the uncomfortable atmosphere, made an effort to continue the conversation.
“I heard… His Highness the Crown Prince has shortened our stay at the monastery to one week. So you’ll be leaving in four days… and I heard Your Highness the Princess is forbidden from even taking walks outside.”
I smiled awkwardly.
“Right. I came on this trip with good intentions, and look at the trouble I’ve caused.”
Then I cautiously asked.
“So, about yesterday…. Did you get unfairly scolded by my brother because of me? He’s not a bad person, but he can be a bit extreme at times…”
I did my best to gloss over any rudeness Rurik might have committed.
“He spent a lot of time apart from me since childhood… He just acts that way because he worries. If my brother was too harsh with you, I’ll…”
…apologize.
Just as I mustered the courage to take Helena’s hand again and say that, Helena stared at me blankly, her hand in mine.
The gaze that met mine instantly flooded with shock, forcing me to stop speaking.
“Helena?”
This time, Helena didn’t shake off my hand either.
Instead, she gripped it tighter, as if confirming something, and looked straight at me.
“Your Highness, if I may ask something presumptuous.”
“Yes?”
“That is to say, perhaps……”
She hesitated for a long time, her eyes rims reddening, before speaking.
“I truly don’t know the reason. But… I can feel another life within you. That’s not it, is it? I’ve… I’ve lost my mind, haven’t I?”
If she has holy power, could she have discerned the pregnancy?
The novel didn’t include pregnant characters, so I hadn’t considered that possibility.
‘I shouldn’t have held her hand.’
I had no intention of burdening Helena with my secret.
If she’s beginning to awaken, even slightly, after meeting Rurik, who knows how she would react to my pregnancy?
‘Even if Helena has already had a precognitive dream, that dream and the current situation would be quite different.’
The current Rurik has neither lost control nor been imprisoned.
The sister who was the trigger for his rampage not only survived intact but is now carrying a new life.
“…Helena.”
When I called her name carefully, Helena suddenly flinched and let go of my hand.
“I’ve been impudent, Your Highness. I spoke out of turn. Please forget what I said.”
“Helena, I…”
But before I could say it was okay, she dropped to both knees with a thud.
Then, clasping her hands together as if in prayer, she began to cry.
“Please forgive me, Your Highness. I have dared to commit a mortal sin against your unwed self. Please forgive me…”
Her face was excessively distraught, making me ponder.
‘Would it be okay to tell her the truth?’
After all, Helena hasn’t formed a good relationship with Rurik yet.
‘So, if I tell her the truth and pull her to my side first, it might work…’
So, I whispered softly and asked.
“If what you say is true… could you keep it a secret?”
Helena gasped, swallowing her breath, and looked up at me, her face pale and shocked.
“It’s… true?”
“I also asked if you could keep the secret.”
She surely couldn’t refuse an Imperial Princess.
Perhaps it was the weight of the secret.
Helena staggered to her feet and nodded.
“I can keep it. The secret.”
But her face looked utterly shocked.
I couldn’t bring myself to continue talking about Rurik, so instead, I smiled gently and asked.
“But you said you felt another life inside me… How is that possible?”
I wanted to give her a hint about the holy power she possessed, but Helena just shook her head with a dazed expression.
“I… I don’t know well, Your Highness. It’s just… I felt it so strongly… that thought came to me. I couldn’t help but ask impulsively. I’m sorry if I startled you.”
Then she hastily added.
“My head hurt so much yesterday I slept fitfully. Perhaps because I didn’t sleep well and feel unwell, I had strange thoughts, and they just happened to coincide with Your Highness’s situation.”
To think she ‘coincidentally’ guessed the situation of an unwed princess being pregnant.
It seemed like a far-fetched excuse with abysmal odds, but it appeared Helena found it hard to accept what was happening to her.
“Yes, perhaps that’s it.”
I answered her that way for now and gave Helena loads of chocolates, cookies, and the like.
“Take these, eat them, and get some rest. Since I’ve shared my secret with you, if you have any worries, come to me anytime. I’ll keep your secrets too.”
If I do this, won’t she come to me if her past life memories resurface?
Holding onto that hopeful future, I sent Helena on her way.
I ended up regretting it immensely, of course.
