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Chapter 39
I went to the prison where Madam Neuban was confined.
The moment she saw me, Madam Neuban flinched in shock and began trembling uncontrollably. Then, all of a sudden, she dropped to her knees, pressing her forehead to the ground.
“Y-Your Highness the Princess. I can explain everything. It’s all a misunderstanding. I only…!”
“Come closer.”
I gestured to her calmly.
Madam Neuban hesitated with a blank look, then hurriedly crawled toward me on her knees. I kept motioning.
“Closer.”
Now she was near enough that I could reach her just by extending my hand.
I stared at her hopeful eyes in silence—then slapped her across the face with all my strength.
“Aaagh!”
She toppled sideways with a cry.
Clutching her cheek in terror, she stared up at me. I quietly looked back at her and repeated,
“Come closer.”
“Y-Your Highness…”
“Are you trying to disobey my order?”
When I asked calmly, Madam Neuban shook with fear and crawled toward me again.
As soon as she got close, I struck her face once more.
“A-ahhk, Your Highness…”
A sharp sound rang out, followed by a scream-like groan. She brought her hands together and begged desperately.
“I-I was wrong. It’s all… all my fault… h-hic…”
“Mm. Now you’re starting to talk properly.”
I stared at her expressionlessly.
“You will answer truthfully. Every time you lie, you’ll get another strike. Understand?”
Madam Neuban nodded while sobbing. After a short silence, I spoke again.
“Confess everything you did to Princess Marie. Not a single thing left out. All of it.”
“T-that…”
A flicker of hesitation crossed her face.
So she still had the luxury of thinking. I raised my hand again.
“Aaaaah!”
Blood smeared my hand. I flicked it off carelessly and asked,
“Didn’t you say you understood?”
“I’ll speak. I-I’ll say everything…”
In a quivering voice, Madam Neuban began.
“By the o-order of His Majesty, I was put in charge of Princess Marie when she was seven years old, but His Majesty would only give me the princess’s allotment of the privy purse and never paid any attention to her… At some point, without realizing, I…”
“You embezzled the money. And?”
“I didn’t give Her Highness proper meals. To buy food cheaply in bulk, I eventually fed her spoiled ingredients…”
“Yes. And?”
“Sometimes… when I was in a bad mood… I struck her…”
That much, I had somewhat prepared myself for. My anger flared, but remained within control.
My nails dug sharply into my palms. Pain shot through them just as she continued:
“A-and because it was troublesome to care for her, I also… gave her medicine.”
A completely unexpected statement.
I narrowed my eyes, and Madam Neuban, thinking I might raise my hand again, panicked and blurted out,
“S-sleeping medicine. I mixed it into every meal so that she would spend most of the day asleep…”
“…What?”
At that moment, it felt as though something inside me snapped completely.
“G-ghhk…!”
Madam Neuban clutched her throat and groaned in agony. I watched her blankly and asked,
“Since when?”
“Y-Your High… hi-… p-please… s-save… me…”
“Answer. Since when?”
“Wh… whe… when sh-she was… t-ten… years… old…”
“Your Highness.”
As her eyes rolled back and the whites showed, the anxious guard rushed toward me.
“P-please, you cannot kill her. There are still procedures that must— ugh!”
“I’m not doing anything right now. Can’t you see that?”
“Your Highness. Please… restrain your anger just for a moment… I-I can’t… breathe…”
I frowned and slowly took a deep breath.
All at once, both of them gasped harshly, as though they had truly been unable to breathe.
“Haah… haah! Y-Your Highness, th-thank you…”
“…You couldn’t breathe?”
I glared at the guard.
“I didn’t do anything.”
“Well, yes, but…”
Still panting, he continued,
“Your Highness’s magical power—when you are enraged, to people like us, it becomes dangerous enough to feel suffocating.”
“…So you’re telling me my magic…”
I felt as if someone had struck the back of my head.
“…was the thing choking you?”
“Y-yes, Your Highness.”
…But I don’t have magic right now.
Shock and anger collided. My heart pounded painfully against my ribs. Soon the guard once again clutched his neck, gasping.
“Y-Your Highness… j-just… don’t… kill me… I’ll s-stay quiet… so p-please… just let me—”
Thud.
Madam Neuban collapsed onto her side. At the same time, the guard’s breathing grew frantic again.
He hurried to check on her and exhaled in relief.
“She’s alive. We should call the royal physician—”
“….”
“But of course, we shouldn’t. Ahaha… D-Don’t worry.”
I left the prison without looking back.
There didn’t seem to be anything missing or false in Madam Neuban’s confession.
‘So that’s why she was always asleep whenever I visited.’
How could she dare continue feeding Marie sleeping drugs when she knew I’d taken interest?
I clenched my teeth. I knew the answer.
She must have believed the fickle attention of the Princess of René would soon turn elsewhere.
‘I should’ve found her sooner.’
Even the original novel never mentioned anything like this.
The heroine had always been quiet, but there was no reason to hide something this important from the male lead.
‘How could she do that to a child?’
To give a ten-year-old sleeping drugs with every meal, planning to keep her asleep continuously… The fact she was still alive was a miracle.
Tears kept falling off my chin. I wiped them away irritably. The fury boiling inside me hammered against my entire body.
“Your Highness.”
When I returned to René Palace, Elza approached me quickly and bowed.
“We placed Princess Marie in a guest room and called the royal physician to examine her. Severe malnutrition, and internal organ damage. They say it seems caused by long-term use of a specific drug, but they don’t know what yet…”
“It was sleeping pills.”
“…Pardon?”
“Madam Neuban fed the princess sleeping pills with every meal since she was ten.”
No matter how many times I said it, it still felt surreal. I swallowed hard and continued,
“Tell the physician immediately and have them prepare medicine and tonics for the princess at once. Everything necessary for her recovery.”
“Yes, Your Highness.”
Elza answered briefly, then after a moment asked cautiously,
“Did you kill her?”
I looked at her and shook my head. She let out a small breath of relief.
“I know. Even I can’t just kill a noble as I wish.”
“…I was worried. Knowing something and acting on it are not always the same with you.”
“I won’t kill her. I believe in karma.”
I would return everything she’d done—exactly as it was.
Muttering softly, I headed to the room where Marie was resting.
For the first time inside René Palace, I knocked before entering.
Princess Marie lay asleep on the bed.
Seeing her lying there like the dead made my heart pound painfully fast. Then, slowly, she opened her eyes.
“…You’re awake?”
I smiled awkwardly.
Marie blinked blankly, then tried to sit up.
“No, lie down. You’re a patient.”
I quickly held her shoulders and eased her back onto the bed.
She looked restless, glancing anxiously at me, but I shook my head firmly.
“Lie down.”
“…”
With no choice, Marie lay back down and avoided my eyes.
Was she still afraid of me? I wondered—when suddenly her lips opened.
And a completely unexpected sentence came out.
