Chapter 170………………………………………………..
Tears fell in droplets down Liena’s cheeks.
“Liena, let’s go play on the hill behind our home!”
She remembered Idel’s smile, the way he used to take her hand and lead her along.
Back then, Idel had always been especially fond of Liena among the children at the orphanage, and Liena, in turn, had cherished her only friend deeply.
How had their relationship ended up like this? The reason was clear.
Inferiority. Liena had felt inferior to her friend, who seemed superior in every way.
She wanted to be above Idel. She didn’t want to be the weak friend who always had to receive Idel’s care and pity.
The only person she could call truly precious was Idel—but the thought that Idel had many others besides herself was unbearable.
So after her return, Liena struggled to become a person superior to Idel.
She acquired high status, earned the love of many, and amassed immense wealth.
Yet no matter how tall a tower she built, her heart remained unfulfilled.
“When we meet for the first time, Princess of Cassius, as I heard from the young duke, you are truly adorable.”
When the Idel she had tried so hard to forget appeared alongside Liandro, Liena finally understood why.
It wasn’t enough to simply be superior to Idel.
Just as Idel had cared for her in the past, this time she had to be the one in a superior position, looking after Idel.
That way, she would also gain Idel’s love.
Only now did Liena admit the truth.
The main reason she had pressured Liandro to marry her was for her own petty selfishness.
All the justifications about compensating for past wrongs or ensuring Idel’s true happiness had been nothing but excuses.
Liena muttered bitterly to herself:
“If you made someone family out of selfishness, at least treat them well…”
Fearing the loss of the false happiness she had built with blessings, she isolated Idel from the household.
That was why Liena still could not let go of her inferiority toward Idel.
Upon reuniting, she realized instinctively.
Even though she had been denied the chance to support Liena, even though she had been adopted into a crumbling house, Idel was still a radiant, charming person.
Beneath Liena’s heart, fear had always lingered.
She feared that those who had come to love her through the power of blessings might one day see the truly lovable Idel and awaken to the truth.
At the same time, stubborn pride denied that fear.
No way. What I’ve achieved won’t crumble just because Idel appeared, she thought.
These conflicting emotions caused Liena to behave ambiguously toward Idel.
She neither fully excluded Idel from the family nor sincerely accepted her as family.
“It’s all nothing, just an illusion…”
Driven by nothing more than inferiority, she had hoarded everything and made her only friend unhappy.
When that friend came to dislike her, she couldn’t bear it and convinced herself it wasn’t real.
She forgot her own faults and believed that the friend who had loved her in her most pitiful state would naturally love the glamorous Duchess-in-waiting that she had become.
Liena picked a raspberry from the basket and placed it in her mouth.
“…It’s delicious.”
It was sweet and tasty, like the raspberries of her childhood—but those childhood days would never return.
She was filled with regret. Why had she, blinded by futile inferiority and greed, abandoned something truly precious?
Even though she had been granted the luck of a second life unlike anyone else, all she had done until now was foolishness.
“I want to apologize.”
Liena spoke with a simple, sincere toss.
“I know I cannot be forgiven, but I want to say I was wrong.”
Tears poured down like rain, wetting the raspberries in the basket.
“I want to see you just once more.”
But that was impossible…
Idel, who had sent the raspberries through Arcia, would not come all the way here, and Liena was scheduled to be executed in five days.
Then…
“Shall I give you a chance?”
Someone whispered into Liena’s ear, in the room where surely no one else was present.
I realized an important fact too late.
“I’m sorry. I kept forgetting to return it immediately.”
“It’s fine. It’s not like it wears out.”
Terence smiled as he took the pocket watch I handed him.
Not long ago, before the saint verification, he had lent me his pocket watch, which he always carried.
When I had mentioned in passing that I needed something to measure the duration of my belt artifact, he had quickly handed it over.
Indeed, his watch was a high-quality item, and it kept time precisely.
“It seems like a very expensive watch.”
“Well, I don’t know the exact price, but my father gave it to my mother when they were courting, so it couldn’t have been cheap.”
“Th-then… that watch belonged to your mother?”
“Yes, it’s a keepsake from my mother.”
“No, how could you just lend me something like that without telling me!”
“Should I have mentioned it?”
“I ran around with it all over the place. What if I dropped it and broke it?”
“Then we’ll just fix it.”
Terence’s calm demeanor made me feel foolish for overreacting.
I couldn’t just handle someone else’s precious keepsake carelessly.
But Terence’s surprising statement didn’t end there.
“This watch.”
He handed the pocket watch back to me and said plainly:
“I want you to give it to Idel.”
“…Excuse me?”
“Please, let Idel use it well.”
“No! I can’t take a keepsake from your mother!”
“You borrowed it because your old watch broke, didn’t you? I’d like you to use this one instead of buying a new one.”
His tone was gentle, yet firm.
“Just as my father gave it to the woman he loved, I want to give it to you.”
“Terence…”
“This is my heart. Please, accept it.”
With eyes so wistful, how could I possibly refuse?
I carefully held the vintage pocket watch as if it were a treasure.
Honestly, the joy of being entrusted with something so precious outweighed the burden.
It meant he loved me so much that he would even give me a keepsake of his mother.
‘And yet, I…’
A twinge of guilt arose in my chest.
I still hadn’t told Terence that in the past life, he and the real Idel had been lovers.
I had resolved to confess once Liena’s matter was resolved, but every time I saw Terence, my resolve weakened.
I didn’t think he would leave me, but I couldn’t be sure that nothing between us would change.
Still, I needed courage—for Terence, who trusted me.
“Terence… I have something urgent to say.”
Just as I was about to speak, there came a sharp knock on the star palace door.
“Your Highness! I have news!”
It was Jack, Terence’s aide.
Terence looked at me, and I nodded slightly, signaling him to attend to it first.
“Come in.”
Jack entered and whispered into Terence’s ear.
“I just received urgent news…”
At that moment, Terence’s expression changed.
“Is that true?”
“I can hardly believe it, but a young page ran here on the orders of the head steward.”
The head steward? Since he served the Emperor, it seemed this was related to the Emperor.
“May I ask what happened?”
As someone not part of the royal family, it wasn’t really my place, but Terence looked serious, so I cautiously spoke.
“Oh, it’s probably nothing.”
Seeing me, Terence relaxed slightly.
“It sounds ridiculous, so it’s likely some misunderstanding. Perhaps the young page misinterpreted something.”
His voice clearly intended to reassure me.
“Anyway, I should go and see for myself.”
“Yes, please do.”
“What you were about to say earlier…”
“It’s fine. It’s not urgent. We’ll talk when you return, Terence.”
“Then I’ll see you this evening.”
Terence left the room, his steps brisk.
“What could it be?”
Hadn’t the Emperor gone to the Grand Temple with the Empress to meet Arcia today?
Perhaps something had happened there.
“If it’s important, we’ll know soon enough.”
Lucy, lying by the sunlit window, answered my musing.
“Though… I have a bad feeling about it.”
I turned to Lucy to respond but stopped mid-sentence.
“You… have a worry?”
“Why?”
“Your expression is as serious as Terence’s.”
“…I do have one.”
“Tell me. I can listen. After all, I’m your master.”
“What is the purpose of my existence?”
“….”
That was a more philosophical question than I expected.
“You told me before. The goddess spoke about me in your dream.”
“Yes, in the dream.”
“The goddess judged that I would lead you appropriately, so she guided you to me.”
“And?”
“That means there is a proper direction I must take—but I don’t know what it is.”
Apparently, Lucy had always harbored this philosophical doubt.
Unfortunately, I had no advice to give on such a matter.
Instead, I said:
“I don’t know what it is either, but we can figure it out together. Isn’t two better than one?”
At my words, the divine beast, who had given a faint smile, suddenly stiffened.
“Stay close to me!”
“What?”
“Something’s coming…!”
Knock knock knock—someone suddenly knocked at the door.
I swallowed hard.
Strange. The star palace was heavily guarded by the royal knights, and Vineta stayed in the next room.
No suspicious person should have reached my door, yet Lucy was on high alert.
“Wh-who’s there?”
I asked in a trembling voice.
“It’s me… Idel.”
Then came a voice that, by all logic, shouldn’t have been here.
“Forgive me for my audacity, but I came to apologize.”
