TLDWAE 61

Chapter 61

Karia tapped Vix’s shoulder with an elegant gesture and smiled. But her eyes were not smiling at all. Standing close enough to feel her breath, Vix could sense her anger all too clearly.

“What are you waiting for? Run.”

When Karia lightly pushed his back, Vix bolted out of the room at full speed. Only after the heavy-footed knight’s pounding steps faded to the far end of the corridor did Karia finally begin to move.

Whether Vix would find comfort in it or not, this outing was not particularly pleasing to Karia either.

* * *

“You’re late!”

Serivis stood at the townhouse entrance, tapping the floor with the heel of her shoe—tak, tak, tak, tak. Her obvious display of annoyance made the servants uneasy.

Karia clicked her tongue when she saw Serivis, dressed in a roomy, comfortable gown, with Higon behind her in imperial knight uniform, wearing the same dark expression as always.

“I’m not late. You just arrived too early. If you came so soon, you could’ve waited in the drawing room. Why stand there nagging me?”

“I need to get there before the play starts, greet my friends, and check which actors are performing!”

Serivis’s selfish behavior made Karia let out a heavy sigh and shake her head. Recently, the princess had often asked Karia to accompany her on outings. Ever since Karia had discovered her secret, Serivis seemed able to relax only in her presence.

Of course, appearing in public alongside the princess had its advantages for Karia as well. For one, the emperor—who doted on his daughter—treated Karia with more restraint. It also allowed her to easily form connections with prominent figures of society.

And pretending to be helped by Serivis would, in time, add dramatic effect to Karia’s planned exposé. Serivis’s careless defenselessness was, in its own way, utterly endearing.

“Come to think of it, how are things with His Highness the Crown Prince these days?”

“How do you think? Just like you said—I’ve been keeping my distance.”

After Higon had come to her for a kind of confession, Karia had advised Serivis to put distance between herself and the Crown Prince. The emperor was far too busy, but Crown Prince Robert had many opportunities to meet the princess. They often dined together, had tea, or went on outings. In fact, today’s opera had originally been planned with him.

And according to Higon’s report, some of the palace servants even gave Robert regular updates on Serivis’s daily routine. To others, it might have looked like political surveillance to secure his succession, but Karia knew it for what it was—an excessive, grotesque obsession with his sister.

“He’s sharper than most. Even a small slip could reveal your condition to him. Be cautious—always cautious.”

“I get it! Stop nagging!”

Serivis covered her ears and spun around dramatically, saying she’d already heard that same line a dozen times. Karia raised her brows as if to ask Higon silently whether that was true. He nodded without a word, and only then did her lips curve softly.

Of course, keeping Serivis’s pregnancy a secret was important. But it was also, in part, a small act of revenge. Robert, who hadn’t even been able to hold a proper conversation with Serivis lately, seemed frantic. He had even gone so far as to send letters to Karia, asking for them to spend time together.

Honestly, how had he failed to notice something so obvious until now?

“My lady.”

As Karia lifted her skirts slightly to step into the carriage, Aquil extended a hand with his usual stern face. Behind him, Higon, who had just helped the princess into the carriage, frowned slightly.

Pretending not to notice, Karia accepted Aquil’s hand and climbed in. Soon, the coachman steered her resplendent carriage toward the townhouse gates.

“—What’s going on?”

But for some reason, there was commotion at the front gates. Just when it seemed the nuisance of unwanted visitors had lessened, Karia saw knights in familiar uniforms clashing with her household guards. The blue uniforms marked them as part of Pandeon’s knightly order, the Blue Wolves.

And in the middle of that chaos stood children—not adults, but children no one dared touch. A blue-haired girl and a blond boy. One was Lady Lamia of House Pandeon, the other standing opposite her was Andeon.

Just as the servants spotted Karia’s carriage and rushed over to ask for help, Lamia raised her hand and slapped Andeon across the face.

For a moment, Karia’s vision went red with fury, and her voice boomed like thunder.

“What do you think you’re doing?!”

* * *

“Grandmother…”

Grandmother had been sent away. Lamia had begged her father not to send her, but he had turned away coldly, saying it was the rightful punishment for her wrongdoings.

After that came a governess. She told Lamia that all the stories Grandmother had told her about Karia were lies.

Karia, she explained, was a legitimate grand duchess of the royal bloodline. Entering House Pandeon had not been abandonment but the natural result of marriage. There had been no irregularities in her becoming the duchess.

“In fact, if you judge by rank alone, Her Grace—being a direct royal—outranks even the duke.”

“Don’t lie! Then why did she always bow her head and never talk back to Grandmother? Even to me, Stepmother couldn’t say a word!”

“That’s because… because she was showing respect. She cared for everyone as family, so she endured it with love and consideration.”

The duchess had respected her mother-in-law as the elder of the household. But the dowager duchess had not done the same. Years of such imbalance had led to what happened. The governess explained it all in a calm voice.

Of course, there were other complicated reasons as well. But how could anyone explain things like illegitimacy or embezzlement to a seven-year-old and expect her to understand?

“So she endured it because she loved me?”

Lamia didn’t believe the governess right away. How could a stranger’s words overturn prejudices she had always accepted as truth?

But then Grandmother left for the provinces and never returned. Her nanny was replaced. The servants who had bullied Karia were dismissed. And slowly, Lamia began to think differently.

Love and respect? It sounded absurd—but when she recalled her memories, Karia had never once shouted at her. She had always looked troubled, yes, but whenever she saw Lamia, she smiled.

Even Grandmother had often looked annoyed at Lamia, yet Karia never avoided her.

“Yes… Stepmother loved me.”

Lamia thought of the gentle touch of Karia’s hand patting her head. Even though she had called her a bad child or said hurtful things, that hand had always been warm.

And she herself had never once said a kind word back.

“When is Stepmother coming home?”

From then on, Lamia longed for Karia’s return. She thought that once Karia came back, she would treat her well this time. But one day passed, then two, and still Karia did not return to the duke’s mansion.

“Um… Lady Lamia, Her Grace won’t be returning home anymore.”

“What? Why not?”

Ansen Miller, unlucky enough to be caught by Lamia while walking through the mansion, broke into a sweat at her difficult question.

He wasn’t skilled in the art of wrapping truths in noble phrasing. And what the young lady was asking about was one of the hottest controversies in all of noble society.

“Well, you see… the adults decided it was best. His Grace and Her Grace will be living separately from now on.”

“Why do the adults get to decide everything? Why don’t they ask me?”

“Why are you even asking this? Didn’t you hate the duchess?”

“No! I don’t hate her!”

Lamia shook her head violently, but Ansen didn’t believe her. Until recently, hadn’t she raised a fuss in front of the duke himself, insisting she hated Karia?

Hadn’t she screamed insults at the top of her lungs, words so disrespectful he dared not repeat them even in thought? And now she said this—?

As he stood there, doubtful, Lamia’s face flushed red and she shouted:

“I’ll apologize! Stepmother loves me, so if I apologize sincerely, she’ll come back!”

Her wild claim made Ansen fall into thought. Indeed, if nothing else, Karia had always been soft when it came to children. She even doted on orphans at the charity home she sometimes visited—how much more for the little girl she had raised as her own?

“The people sent by the duke are all being turned away… but perhaps she’d accept the young lady’s visit.”

The Duke of Pandeon still hadn’t given up on the marriage. Perhaps he still hoped the duchess would return. But Karia had refused even to meet with him, rejecting every attempt at contact.

Maybe—just maybe—the young lady could change her heart.

And even if things didn’t go perfectly, there was nothing to lose. Surely, no matter what, they wouldn’t slam the door in the face of a seven-year-old.

With that easy thought, Ansen set out with a few knights of Pandeon’s order, escorting Lady Lamia to Karia’s townhouse.