Chapter: 13
The inside of the fairly large old mansion was well maintained, yet not a single servant was in sight.
A vague sense of unease crept over Seria as she glanced around, carefully surveying her surroundings.
Even considering it was winter, the chill she felt now was different from ordinary cold.
“This is a villa I use privately, so it should be fine. But when we actually arrive at the Belvart estate, you can’t be wearing an expression like that.”
Theodore said as he looked back at her.
Whether he said it or not, Seria silently followed behind him.
That was when a small side door next to the staircase caught her eye. It was nothing special, yet for some reason it bothered her.
“What are you doing? Hurry up.”
When Seria stopped, Theodore, already stepping onto the stairs leading to the second floor, urged her on.
No matter how suspicious it looked, it was probably better to let it go.
Seria cast one last glance at the side door and headed upstairs.
On the second floor, an elderly woman with completely white hair was waiting for Theodore and Seria.
A name tag reading “Noma” was pinned to her chest.
I will help you with your bath.
Noma moved her lips silently. Inside her mouth, visible at times, there was no tongue.
Seria’s eyes wavered as she looked at her.
“N-Noma…”
She called the woman’s name in a trembling voice.
As if she were someone she had already known.
I will help you with your bath.
Once again, Noma moved her lips. As though she knew that unless she moved slowly, the other person wouldn’t understand, she carefully shaped each word with practiced familiarity.
And yet, she seemed unable to recognize the person standing before her.
“Noma, it’s me. Seria. Don’t you recognize me…?”
Seria grasped Noma’s hand and pleaded.
But the nanny she had parted from six years ago repeated the same motions, as though she remembered nothing at all.
“Princess! Please come this way!”
Noma’s desperate cry still rang vividly in Seria’s ears.
Six years ago, when Seria had shoved her aside and run away.
If only she had looked back even once.
If only she had taken Noma’s hand and gone with her.
Would they have avoided meeting like this?
Regret surged like a tidal wave at Noma’s completely changed appearance.
Desperately hoping to be recognized, Seria tightly held the woman’s wrinkled hand—but nothing changed.
I will escort you this way.
With unfocused eyes, Noma moved her lips again.
The sight of her severed tongue burned itself into Seria’s vision.
“Noma…”
“Looks like you know her.”
Theodore, standing beside them with his arms crossed, finally spoke.
At his words, Seria turned sharply and glared at him.
How dare he pretend not to know?
Theodore must have already known who Noma was.
He had destroyed the Argenta royal palace with only a small number of elite soldiers—something impossible without meticulous intelligence gathering.
And yet he dared to feign ignorance about Noma, who had been the princess’s nanny.
“You… what is this supposed to be?”
“What do you mean?”
“You’re telling me you didn’t know Noma was my nanny?”
“Oh? I didn’t know.”
Theodore still wore a genuinely surprised expression.
Rage boiled up inside her. Her head felt dizzy, as though it were burning hot.
When Seria staggered and pressed a hand to her forehead, Noma hurriedly supported her.
As Seria drew closer, the faint scent of Argenthura flowers—always clinging gently to Noma—reached her nose.
Breathing it in made her feel as though she’d been pulled back into the past.
What had happened to Noma all this time?
And was Theodore the one who had done this to her?
Strength gathered in Seria’s gaze as she looked at him.
“It’s not like I know everything. I merely took in Argentans who had nowhere else to go and put them to work managing this place.”
“You took in Argentans with nowhere to go…? That’s not something the person who made them homeless should be saying, is it?”
Seria strode right up to him.
Theodore didn’t even blink. His shamelessness was almost infuriating.
“There’s something else that should be more important to you.”
Theodore’s expression hardened coldly.
There wasn’t the slightest opening in his firm tone.
“There’s only one thing that should be in your head right now. Don’t forget that.”
“H-haha…”
Noma was a hostage.
A hostage meant to bind Seria to this deal, no matter what.
You really are meticulously cruel.
No matter how she struggled, there was no escaping Theodore’s grasp in this situation.
It was humiliating, but it was reality.
“…I never expected you to remind me of it like this.”
In the end, Seria let out a sigh. She didn’t want to be dragged along by him, yet she couldn’t think of any way to defeat him.
Seeing her standing there drained of strength, Theodore subtly jerked his chin toward Noma. Noma caught the signal and gave a small nod.
“Then go on. I’ll be waiting.”
He smiled neatly, as if he had never frowned at all.
That way of changing faces so freely—like swapping masks—was it really human?
It was chilling.
As Seria stared blankly at Theodore, Noma, who had been carefully watching the mood between the two, quickly guided her to the bathroom.
Noma attended to Seria’s bath with practiced skill.
Watching her movements—so ingrained they seemed instinctive—made Seria’s eyes sting.
Whether it was the passage of time or the loss of her tongue, Noma’s once-lustrous golden hair had turned completely white.
Noma, who had loved and raised Seria and Serion in place of the Argenta queen, was like another mother to them.
“Princess! Your knee is bleeding… it must have hurt so much…”
She had always been the first to run over and worry when Seria fell while playing.
“This is the prettiest clover I’ve ever seen in my life. Thank you so much for giving it to me as a gift.”
She had delighted in even the smallest presents.
“I’ll stay by your side until you grow into a wonderful lady and meet a good partner—if you wish, even after that.”
She had always been there, a steady presence.
The fact that she hadn’t been able to protect someone so precious filled Seria with regret.
“Noma… I’m sorry.”
Even at Seria’s apology, Noma only smiled warmly. She still didn’t seem to remember her.
After the bath, Noma carefully arranged Seria’s hair.
I wonder if you’ll like it.
Pinned into Seria’s half-up hair was a butterfly-shaped hairpin.
Butterflies had been Seria’s favorite when she was little.
Her actions were the same, but her memories were gone. Was it really true that she didn’t recognize her at all?
Seria wanted to ask her right away, but the words wouldn’t come out.
After all, did she even have the right, having abandoned Noma in the first place?
More than anything, she just wanted to get Noma out of Theodore’s clutches as soon as possible.
“I like it. Very much…”
Seria looked at her reflection in the mirror.
A face that was neither smiling nor crying—such a pitiful face—had never seemed so hateful.
When she finished getting ready and came down to the first floor, Seria looked charming at a glance.
Like a noble young lady who had grown up innocent and carefree.
Meanwhile, Theodore also seemed to have changed clothes. His already neat features somehow looked even more irritatingly flawless.
“I almost didn’t recognize you.”
“Right. At this level, I could fool anyone. Perfectly.”
Throughout her time with Noma, Seria had steeled her resolve.
She would kill the crown prince.
She would find Serion.
And then she would escape Theodore’s grasp.
With a determined expression, Seria lifted her head. Seeing that look, Theodore approached her with a satisfied smile.
“That’s a good mindset.”
He carried the unmistakable air of a noble scion.
If that appearance truly belonged to the Belvart family, it was seductive and oppressive enough that one wouldn’t even want to learn it.
“From now on, as my younger sibling, you must act like a member of the Belvart family. In return, you’ll be able to use the Belvart name.”
“What are you trying to say?”
“I’m saying that just as I use you, you should use me—and the Belvart family—as much as you need for your own purposes.”
As he spoke, Theodore extended his hand toward Seria.
She stared at it, thinking:
Right. This was our deal. You use me for your freedom. I use you to kill the crown prince and find Serion.
Honestly, a relationship where both sides treated each other as mere tools to achieve their goals could hardly be called normal.
But seen another way, once the goals were achieved, they could turn away without the slightest hesitation—nothing to hold them back.
Seria placed her hand atop Theodore’s.
“Just as you see me as a means, I won’t see you as anything more—or less—than a tool to get Serion back.”
“Suit yourself.”
Grinning broadly as he looked at her hand resting on his, Theodore didn’t seem bothered in the least.
As expected, he was the type of person who existed far beyond the realm of normal understanding.
Seria shook her head slightly.
