MVS 23

Chapter: 23

Sieta tapped her feet absentmindedly, continuing in a slightly sullen tone.

“Isn’t it too perfect a coincidence for it to just be my imagination?”

It hadn’t even been a week since Rosiatte had fainted and fallen into a coma.

Yet Sieta had already thought through everything and come to a conclusion so quickly.

Rashita had known she was quick-witted, but she hadn’t expected this level of insight. She opened her mouth carefully.

“It sounds like you’re saying the relatively weak princess had to be attacked, but that’s not true. Her Highness isn’t weak.”

Rashita appreciated Sieta’s concern, but the meaning behind her words wasn’t really self-deprecation.

“No, that’s not it. If it were me, I wouldn’t even know if an external attack would land or not.”

Sieta sighed deeply and continued.

“Who would target a frail princess with a history of collapsing from poison, instead of going after Mom, the empire’s most renowned magician? Normally?”

At that, Rashita finally noticed something strange.

“…Huh?”

She looked at Sieta with a face full of bewilderment.

Sieta added, in a confident tone:

“And Dad, as soon as he arrived, poured holy energy onto Mom and said this.”

She exhaled deeply and continued.

“‘Someone attacked His Majesty the Emperor from outside!’ He jumped to that conclusion and turned the investigation’s attention outward.”

Several days had passed, yet Sieta remembered his words word-for-word. Rashita felt a sense of awe at Sieta’s mind, though she didn’t show it and responded calmly.

“Well… maybe while urgently treating His Majesty the Emperor… his judgment could have been clouded?”

It ended up that Rashita was defending Vicente, but Sieta found her attempt admirable.

‘She must have been scolded a lot because of her status difference.’

Still, admirable as it was, Sieta’s conclusion didn’t change.

“Besides, Mom’s holy energy could be poisonous.”

The terrifying words from Sieta made Rashita’s pupils tremble.

“…No way?”

Sieta answered her cautiously.

“Yes, that ‘no way.’”

She said “no way,” but in reality, she was almost certain.

However, a person couldn’t be judged on mere suspicion, and even if evidence were gathered, Rosiatte’s dark magic could easily be exposed.

There was nothing Sieta could do.

Still, she continued explaining so Rashita could understand.

“Also, no magical energy was detected in Mom. So the only answer left is one thing. There’s only magic and holy energy in the world, right?”

“…You deliberately poured harmful holy energy on the Emperor?”

By the time the conversation reached this point, the development had moved fast.

“Yes. And then, pretending to heal her, secretly poured more holy energy into Mom, eliminating any trace that she had injected it. A perfect scenario, right?”

Rashita still seemed confused, perhaps because she hadn’t expected six-year-old Sieta to reach such a well-supported conclusion.

“Why? Surprised I’m so logical?”

It was meant as a joke to lighten the mood, but Rashita answered seriously.

“Well, even with evidence… I thought it would be something simple, like the Pope acting suspiciously.”

Sieta shrugged at that.

“You can’t base your judgment on emotions~ That might not be the answer. First of all, it’s Dad, right? Even if you haven’t seen him much.”

Above all, if she sat on the throne of the royal successor with such naive emotional thinking, Rosiatte would kill her. Truly.

‘Now’s not the time. I need to think.’

Though it was to make Sieta a pawn, thanks to Vicente the lessons were canceled, giving her time to think.

Think, Sieta.

In the original story, Sieta had been killed along with her father. That means…

‘Most likely… it’s happening now.’

Sieta had been executed under the pretext of rebellion with Vicente.

And there weren’t many opportunities to frame the sole heir of the Shikan Empire as a rebel.

If they got it wrong, it could incite opposition from the nobles… Sieta’s lineage was objectively impressive.

Not just impressive — unlike in the original story, Sieta also had the symbolic achievement of capturing the Blue Tiger.

‘So this could be Rosiatte’s scheme… No, no.’

Even the Blue Tiger remained until the male protagonist arrived to capture it.

What if Sieta’s choices, different from the original story, caused other butterfly effects?

What if one of her choices already allowed her to slip out of Rosiatte’s grasp?

At that crossroads, Sieta alone was floundering.

Conflicting thoughts collided, disappeared, and resurfaced repeatedly.

‘I’m only six years old!’

At an age when she should have been showered in love, this much trouble in succession… how is that even possible?

Before finishing her thoughts, Sieta parted ways with Rashita and returned to her palace.

“Her Highness the Princess will be relocated to another palace starting today.”

She received such a notification.

“…Huh?”

She had never seen a palace’s owner move someone without even notifying them.

Gritting her teeth, Sieta braced herself, but before the cowering maid could add anything,

“Our daughter will be able to stay closer to this father from now on.”

Vicente, appearing behind Sieta as usual, embraced her warmly.

“You’ll be staying with this father. Doesn’t that please you? Though it’ll be a bit smaller than this palace.”

He pointed to the location with his fingertip.

“…Isn’t that the far edge of the royal palace?”

“But it’s closer to where this father resides.”

It wasn’t much closer.

Instead, it was a much smaller palace, located on the outskirts.

‘And you’re just telling me this like a notification?’

Sieta had no chance to resist — it was basically saying she would be expelled.

Rosiatte had been unconscious for only a few days, yet she was already being treated like a pawn. Sieta was furious.

“Yes… but I’ll go to the new palace alone!”

This was the extent of her rebellion.

Vicente stared at her with distant eyes, as if looking past her, then spoke.

“Our daughter certainly inherited the Emperor’s pride. Very well, I’ll visit later.”

It was as if the Pope was indulging her cute defiance.

As soon as the day dawned, Sieta entered the room where Rashita lived, nervously biting her nails.

‘There aren’t any lessons anyway… and recently, if I don’t go look for her, it’s strangely difficult to meet Rashita.’

Rashita silently listened to even Sieta’s rambling heartfelt thoughts.

Not only did she listen, but she also corrected her whenever Sieta had a wrong idea… so it made sense to bring her concerns to Rashita.

“Your Highness, biting your nails like that will hurt them.”

…See? As soon as Sieta entered the room and began silently worrying, Rashita immediately cared for her hands.

Sieta’s fingertips, already wounded, were barely healed by Rashita’s holy energy, yet Sieta still couldn’t calm down.

“What should I do…”

Even the Pope should have been perceptive to some degree, but Vicente had no reservations.

Sieta had no card to oppose him.

Literally, she could only survive.

She didn’t trust Vicente.

Whatever the reason, he had casually put Rosiatte, someone Sieta cared about so deeply, into a coma.

Would a man like that bother keeping Sieta alive after she had served her purpose?

As Sieta’s mind matured, her rebellion against Vicente was inevitable… He wouldn’t simply hand over the power he had wrested from Rosiatte to her.

“There really is no answer…”

Sieta muttered, slumping helplessly.

Rashita called out to her.

“Your Highness.”

Her voice slightly trembling.

Sieta paused her thoughts and looked at Rashita properly.

Rashita’s face, calling to Sieta, was pale as death.

Only then did Sieta realize that the current situation, though dangerous for her, was an even greater threat for Rashita, who had fled the temple.

“Don’t worry… it will be fine. Everything will be fine.”

‘…Ah.’

For Rashita, this was a life-threatening crisis.