Chapter 11
Mariyu quickly added, realizing her slip.
“Th-that was only then. The Head Maid was afraid of retaliation, so the princess deliberately kept me at a distance. I’ve returned now.”
“Is that so?”
Samon narrowed his eyes.
“Of course. You know how much the princess trusts and relies on me.”
The saliva at the corners of her mouth had already dried.
Only then did Samon relax his shoulders and smile.
“With all the chaos inside and outside the palace because of the Head Maid, it’s been such a headache. Show me your leg. Is it here?”
Samon casually reached toward Mariyu. Though she shot him a sidelong glance, she pretended to resist and leaned into his embrace.
“That old fox dares hurt my love. Don’t worry. That woman will be replaced anyway. My father has already found a successor.”
She could feel his warm breath.
“Darling… you love me, right?”
“Hah, Mariyu. I want to marry you right away.”
Samon whispered sweetly into her ear.
“So do I.”
He kissed her with his thin lips and whispered again.
“But my love, you need to do your part. Only then can I bring you before my parents. As a viscount’s heir, I need a proper justification to take a commoner as my wife.”
Samon looked down at Mariyu.
He twirled a strand of her red hair around his finger, spread across the white sheets.
As Mariyu grew dizzy and closed her eyes, he pulled her hair, forcing her eyes open.
“My dear cousin’s most treasured maid must be you, Mariyu. You must know everything about what Medeia is doing and thinking.”
Samon frowned his handsome features. Between his narrow, rat-like eyes, his black pupils gleamed strangely.
“Mary… do you understand what I’m saying? Do you really understand?”
Mariyu grew anxious.
The title of “Duchess of Claudio” that had flickered before her eyes now felt like it was slipping further and further away.
“…Of course. Don’t worry, darling. I’ll do anything for you.”
So Mariyu embraced him tightly, believing the fleeting emptiness she felt was just a passing illusion.
Even without Samon’s reminder, Mariyu did everything she could to gain the princess’s favor.
But no matter what she did, it seemed impossible for warmth to ever enter those green eyes.
The princess did not expel Mariyu outright—but she also did not allow her to linger nearby.
The kind princess who once explained everything to her in detail, who guided her step by step, was gone.
“I need to return things to how they were before Samon finds out…”
Her nerves grew sharper.
Between impatience and anger, Mariyu paced restlessly.
“…That bracelet—it’s quite beautiful.”
The princess glanced at Mariyu absentmindedly and suddenly spoke.
Mariyu’s pupils trembled.
“I’ve never seen it before. Who gave it to you?”
The golden bracelet, shaped like a rose vine, was studded with small rubies at each bud.
Each delicately carved flower bud swayed with her movements. The vividly colored rubies shimmered brilliantly.
At a glance, it was an expensive bracelet.
Far too luxurious for a mere maid.
“W-what do you mean given? T-this was left to me by my mother!”
Startled, Mariyu instinctively pulled down her sleeve to cover the bracelet.
“After my mother passed away, it was kept in a keepsake box, so Your Highness wouldn’t have seen it.”
Even then, she tried to evoke the princess’s sympathy by invoking her deceased mother.
But in truth, the bracelet had been a gift from Samon the night before.
“Take it, Mariyu. You asked if I love you, didn’t you? I hope this serves as proof.”
She had worn it out slightly to show off to the maids, never expecting the princess to notice it so soon.
“Is that so?”
“Y-yes, of course. If not from my mother, where else would I have gotten something like this?”
“I see.”
At the princess’s casual acknowledgment, paradoxically, anger flared within Mariyu.
‘I see? Is she looking down on me as some lowly commoner serving her?’
Someone incomplete like her… someone who had neither a refined, wealthy, handsome lover nor such extravagant gifts…
‘How dare she… how dare she!’
As dark thoughts spiraled endlessly within her mind—
A faint chuckle seemed to escape.
Mariyu lifted her head.
Medeia was looking at her, the corners of her lips slightly raised.
“Y-Your Highness?”
Seeing the princess smile sent a chill down Mariyu’s spine.
At times she seemed calm, yet in an instant she would become cold and unreadable.
“Y-Your Highness, then I’ll be on my way… Please call for me whenever you need me.”
Gone was her morning resolve to cling to the princess’s side no matter what.
Overcome with urgency, Mariyu began to step backward.
If she stayed any longer, everything might be exposed—
Her lover, her inferiority toward the princess, and even the inexplicable fear she felt toward her.
“An heirloom… what an interesting lie.”
Watching Mariyu’s retreating figure, Medeia murmured.
“Lie?”
“The floral ornament on that bracelet—it isn’t a rose. It’s a trumpet. It’s the emblem of the tribe that once assassinated the Emperor of the Kazen Empire, and its use has been completely banned across the continent.”
Because of its tragic and shameful history, Kazen strictly prohibited the use of the trumpet emblem in other nations as well.
The emblem, banned for decades, was only permitted again after the First Prince of Kazen achieved victory in a conquest war.
Among the kingdoms he annihilated was the trumpet tribe.
“So, time-wise, it cannot be an heirloom. The First Prince’s victory came long after her nanny passed away.”
However, the bracelet revealed more clues beyond their secret relationship.
Medeia’s eyes sharpened.
“Your uncle’s house has already been in contact with the Empire.”
After the First Prince’s victory, the Imperial family of Kazen monopolized the trumpet emblem and selectively distributed it to a few.
“Samon is always overly ambitious. He must be eager to boast about his father’s ties with the powerful Kazen Empire. For now, it’s just empty bravado directed at a maid under his father’s influence.”
He likely didn’t even realize what he had given Mariyu.
She recalled how he had once led the push for Peleus’s deposition.
“Their lack of intelligence is proving quite useful. Perhaps I should thank them.”
Or… is my cousin simply very sincere in love?
At that moment, Neril asked:
“Your Highness, are you saying the House of Claudio is colluding with the Empire? Even if the duke covets the throne, what could the Empire gain?”
Why would the superpower Kazen ally itself with the nobles of a small northern kingdom?
“The Emperor of Kazen doesn’t want our Valdina to grow stronger. So we must stop my brother by any means.”
Peleus was a man who would break before he would bend.
Even when surrounded by magical beasts, he had never bowed to Kazen’s demands.
“Then the aid promised by the Kazen delegation coming this time as well…”
“It’s a ruse. The Emperor doesn’t want us to win, so he’ll find any excuse to deny aid.”
Medeia’s expression hardened.
“And in the end, it will lead to rebellion.”
In her previous life, that was exactly how things unfolded.
Aid was urgently needed to prepare for the harsh winter ahead.
Kazen suddenly refused assistance.
Valdina, already strained, had to deplete its treasury to procure food.
Even then, it wasn’t enough, and a severe famine followed.
Public outrage against the incompetent royal family grew, and all blame fell upon King Peleus.
Taking advantage of the people’s peak anger, rebels incited a revolt.
Fake rebels, funded and hired by the Regent Prince.
The leaders of the rebellion were not driven by patriotism, but by gold coins from the Regent Prince. They incited war-weary citizens and retired soldiers.
And they strengthened their cause by abducting Medeia, branding her as a princess who abandoned her people and fled.
Their goal was to seize the throne while both the king and princess were absent, after stabilizing the chaos caused by the rebellion.
“…Rebellion?”
Neril’s expression grew grave.
If the Kazen aid disappears as well, with tensions already high from the war…
The starving populace would no longer endure. If riots erupted like wildfire, could Valdina withstand it?
The kingdom itself could collapse. And the Empire is behind it?
Neril clenched her teeth in anger.
“No matter how powerful Kazen is, how can it dare to undermine a foreign king? Aren’t they afraid of backlash?”
Medeia smirked faintly.
“Oh, no one knows that the Regent Prince and the Empire are already in cahoots.”
Anyone who had suspected or discovered it had already been eliminated.
The rebels crossed the walls far too easily. Claudio must have acted in advance.
If Peleus had not returned swiftly after winning the war, everything would have gone exactly according to the Regent Prince’s plan.
Soon, the rebels will breach the royal castle.
Therefore, they must be stopped from entering the castle in the first place.
Medeia rose from her seat and walked toward the window.
In the distance, the castle walls came into view.
“Neril, where is your master now?”
If the former captain of the royal guard, Giliophos, could be rallied, he could serve as a strong barrier against them.
