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Chapter 25
“…Your Majesty.”
I couldn’t affirm it, but neither could I deny it.
Because it was true.
“The young lady’s role in the middle will be crucial, then.”
I dipped my head slightly in response and stole a glance at Vincent.
Fortunately, he said nothing.
If the Empress had known who killed Vincent before my regression, she would have tried to kill me first long before any scapegoat could be offered.
“Still, I see now how foolish rumours can be.
Meeting you, I understand it better.
You must have suffered greatly from them.
Vincent, what do you think?”
The Empress, too, had ears and eyes, so she must have heard the rumours about Amelia.
At her question, Vincent looked at me and answered smoothly.
“Indeed… one cannot truly know a person from rumors alone.
Nor is what appears on the surface always the whole truth.”
I alone, in this room, understood the double edge of his words.
But the Empress, unaware of our past lives, simply took them as agreement and nodded.
Feigning innocence, I spoke the model answer.
“I’m only ashamed of the foolish things I did when I was young.”
What Amelia had done couldn’t simply vanish.
No matter her reasons, her selfishness, the trouble she caused, even her cruelty it was only right that she be condemned.
“Everyone has such a time in their youth.
You’ve not been in the palace long, but my son is rather stiff, isn’t he?”
The Empress gave a subtle glance at Vincent sitting beside me.
I kept a polite smile on my lips and replied demurely.
“His Highness the Crown Prince has been considerate, making sure I live in comfort.”
“That sounds as if you’ve been bored.”
“N-no, never.”
I feigned fluster, though inside I rejoiced.
This is the chance.
The conversation that would follow was the very reason I had come to the Empress’s palace today.
Vincent looked at me kindly.
“Were you bored?”
“No, lately I’ve been immersed in reading. The Crown Prince’s library has so many interesting books.”
“Reading—an excellent pastime.
What kind of books have you been reading?”
At the Empress’s question, I lowered my voice, pretending to be embarrassed.
“Well… not educational texts, just books for pleasure.”
“What does it matter?
I like entertaining books as well.
Come to think of it, I can’t recall the last time I read properly.
State affairs keep me far too busy.
Perhaps I should use my illness as an excuse to read again.”
The conversation was flowing just as I had hoped.
Carefully, I lifted my final weapon from the rattan basket.
The book’s title was The Silent Maids.
Placing it upon the table, I deliberately addressed Rizel.
“Madam Verelly, are you familiar with this book?”
She glanced at the title, then at me, and firmly shook her head.
“No, I don’t know it.”
“I see.”
“The Silent Maids?
What is it about?”
The Empress asked.
I answered with practised sweetness.
“It’s nothing serious.
The maids, one after another, poison their mistresses, and the investigator tries to uncover the culprit and the mastermind behind them.”
“Hmm.”
The Empress reached out, lifting the book, flipping through its pages lightly.
I spoke as she did.
“I’ve finished it, so I’ll leave it here for Your Majesty.
Please return it whenever you like.”
“Very well.
When I’m done, I’ll summon you again.”
“Yes, Your Majesty.”
Whether she caught my meaning or was merely intrigued by the story, I couldn’t know.
But the Empress from I Shall Forsake Revenge had always struck me as wise.
Wiser even than the Emperor.
Her health, frail at first, improved later when the root of her illness was removed.
Though the heroine lent some aid, ultimately it was the Empress’s sharp judgment that proved decisive.
If she was as astute as I believed, this hint would be more than enough.
The Empress closed the book, placing it back upon the table as though saving it for later.
I noticed Rizel’s gaze waver far more than before.
“Books?”
The question came out of nowhere.
What book?
“Yes, in a book.
I read about someone who returned to the past after death, living again.”
The words struck me oddly.
Returned after death he must mean a regressor.
Was he confessing that he was one?
Could he do that?
“What do you think of such things?”
I understood then.
Vincent couldn’t openly declare himself a regressor.
As I had earlier mentioned, he was cloaking the truth beneath the guise of fiction.
“If one died and returned to life, it would be another chance at living.
I think that would be a blessing.”
I gave the lightest, most ordinary answer.
Surely not the one he had been hoping for.
“When I look at you, sometimes I’m reminded of the protagonist in that story.
Could it be—”
“Mm, surely you don’t mean to say I’ve died and come back to life, do you, Your Highness?”
At my question, Vincent fell silent.
Was he truly asking?
I smiled brightly.
“Surely not, my lord.
That would be impossible.”
I brushed aside his earnest words as if they were a jest.
Vincent, too, smiled and let it go.
“Yes, such things hardly ever happen. It’s just that you’ve changed so much of late, I wondered.
But of course, I was joking.”
“If I’ve changed, it’s only as I told Her Majesty the Empress… I’ve finally grown up.”
I spoke softly, and Vincent watched me in silence.
Yet he didn’t look entirely convinced.
So I steered the conversation on.
“Still, it sounds like an intriguing tale.
Will you recommend it to me someday?”
“…Yes.
If the chance comes.”
It seemed his doubts were not so easily dispelled.
And I couldn’t blame him.
What kind of growing up could so completely transform a person?
Especially since I didn’t bother to imitate Amelia’s old self.
That must have made it all the more striking, enough to let him imagine I might even be
, like him, a regressor.
Even if that were true, do you think I’d admit it so easily?
Though, of course, I’m no regressor at all.
I was merely someone who had possessed another.
So I hadn’t lied to him at least not entirely.
