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Chapter 21
“It is an honor to meet you like this, Princess Belisa. My name is Briana. Please feel free to call me Briana.”
“…Nice to meet you, Briana.”
After that, the greetings from the ladies-in-waiting continued. Except for Briana, the others would leave after my marriage. They had served me for only a year or two. Were they also part of Frederick’s schemes?
“I want to rest. Everyone, leave.”
“Yes, Your Highness. However, His Majesty the Emperor has ordered that you undergo the customary examination.”
I had done this before. A simple physical check and an assessment of fertility. The intent was obvious—confirming whether I was capable of producing an heir for Boswell.
Previously, I recall they at least gave me a day to settle in.
Back then, I was so humiliated I cried. Now, perhaps my emotions have withered—there was nothing. I let out a faint sigh.
“…I want to bathe first.”
“Yes, we will prepare.”
I was so tense that even smiling felt difficult. Jane and Dixie quickly dropped the luggage and followed behind me. Several other maids came as well. Dixie quietly whispered in my ear.
“Are you all right?”
“…Bring me some headache medicine.”
“Yes, Your Highness.”
Having strangers fussing over me was exhausting. When I came out from the bath, the royal physician was already waiting. Briana Countess looked kind, but she was nothing more than Frederick’s and the Imperial Family’s obedient dog.
My discomfort meant nothing to them.
Countess Briana was pushing forward with no regard for my consent.
“Let us begin the examination, Your Highness.”
Better to finish quickly.
I nodded.
The physician questioned my ladies-in-waiting first, then asked me a few things. After checking my pulse several times, he tilted his head, hesitant.
He whispered something to Countess Briana. Was there a problem? Previously, there had been none—at that moment, my gaze met Eleanor’s. She blinked slowly, her smiling expression strangely discordant.
“…It appears your womb is weak. It is not a body well-suited for bearing children.”
“But this marriage…”
I overheard the hushed conversation between the physician and the Countess. I turned toward the physician. He shook his head, troubled. Jane and Dixie stared at me, pale as ghosts, almost frightened.
Ah.
I didn’t want to know, but I understood everything in that instant. My fist clenched.
This is no coincidence.
A perfectly healthy womb suddenly declared defective?
Eleanor, that damned woman.
With a sweet smile, she had pushed me toward the cliff once again. Countess Briana spoke more arrogantly than the day we first met.
“Regardless of the result, Your Highness is still to become the Crown Princess. However, you must take great care of your body and obey my instructions at all times.”
She looked down on me, haughty.
In a family where heirs matter above all, a bride with weakened fertility is of lesser value. Her attitude made perfect sense.
Eleanor’s mysterious necklace.
The crown prince’s strangely distant behavior toward me.
Countess Briana pushing for this examination.
Everyone except Jane and Dixie showing no surprise at the diagnosis.
And finally, Eleanor’s gaze as she left me earlier.
This was a well-crafted play.
Just as I once gave Eleanor medicine, she had given me something in return—likely at Frederick’s orders. That rotten Frederick.
“Rest now. I will soon send a tonic to strengthen your body.”
Without asking, Countess Briana swept everyone out. Only Eleanor, Jane, Dixie, and I remained. Eleanor sat before me, face trembling as if she were about to cry.
She took my hand gently, yet her touch was cold—like holding a snake. No warmth at all.
“Sister… everything will be fine. I’ll protect you.”
I could not speak. Who was this monster? Eleanor carefully hugged me and patted my back.
“You don’t have to worry.”
Her words held that same obsessive devotion as ever. She rubbed her head against my shoulder.
“…I’m fine.”
I pushed her away. Eleanor sighed softly and stepped back.
“You are strong, Sister.”
I gave her a cold smile. In truth, the ability to bear children meant nothing to me now. I had not chosen Lucian the Grand Duke to give birth to an heir—he already had one.
My purpose was revenge.
Whether I could bear children was irrelevant.
“Well then. Eleanor, thank you for today. Go rest.”
“Yes, Sister.”
She glanced back at me several times before leaving the room.
Eleanor returned to her assigned chamber. Her expression chilled the moment the door closed. She touched her necklace.
A necklace prepared solely for her.
If Eleanor obeyed, Crown Prince Frederick would give her far more.
But Belisa’s reaction was strange.
Today, Belisa heard she could not bear children, was insulted by the Countess—yet she barely reacted. She seemed deep in thought, but certainly not despairing.
The results had not shaken her.
Eleanor licked her lips.
“This is interesting.”
She smiled. Still, something pleased her. In the past few days, she had watched Belisa closely—Belisa did not love Frederick. She seemed indifferent to becoming Crown Princess.
Eleanor nodded slightly.
“Good.”
Belisa only needed Eleanor. Belisa was not allowed to have anyone more precious than Eleanor.
In that sense, Belisa having a child, or living happily with Frederick, was unforgivable.
“You said it, Sister. You only need me.”
She whispered. Her sweet-looking face twisted with greed.
This was not love.
It was the desperation of a worthless worm refusing to lose its first glimpse of sunlight. Eleanor, born a king’s illegitimate child, had lived on the streets—begging, beaten daily by men twice her size.
Only when her bloodline was revealed did she enter the royal palace. But no one treated her like royalty.
No one except Belisa.
Belisa smiled at her, reached out to her. Belisa was all Eleanor had—so Belisa must have only Eleanor.
If Belisa would not die, Eleanor would destroy her. To possess her, Eleanor was willing to do far worse. She chuckled quietly.
“That ugly man thinks he can have Belisa? Ridiculous.”
No outsider would steal what she had claimed. Eleanor clenched the necklace with force.
It would give her the power to keep Belisa for herself. She was prepared to sacrifice anything for that day.
She rummaged through her bag and found the poison.
‘I want the princess weakened. Give her the drug, Eleanor. Make her unable to bear children. If she gives birth, that insolent Medici will run wild—and I won’t have that.’
Frederick truly was a bastard.
