NOVEL NEXT Chapter 183
My mother died. The moment I heard the news, my world fell apart.
‘Ugh…’I stared at the empty grave in disbelief.
My mother’s body wasn’t even found.
She ran from one place to another to protect the family name.
Finding and persuading vassals to help us, she traveled from one business to another in my father’s place, trying to keep the family’s affairs afloat.
On this particular day, my mother was still traveling from meeting to meeting.
When the weather turned nasty, and she was urged to stay the night, she insisted,
“My daughter is alone,”and continued.
As a result, my mother died. The carriage was swept away by a sudden landslide and overturned.
‘…’In the end, the funeral was held without the body. People looked at it and gossiped behind the scenes.
[I knew the widow from her unruly behavior…] [Even if she was a Duchess, the idea of keeping the family name intact was… frankly, a bit of a stretch.] [Tsk, to be fair… If she had just handed over the family name to just anyone, she would have been spared…]Was it really… like that?
Was my mother’s effort in vain? Did my mother insist on protecting the family name for nothing?
Should she have handed it over to someone else after all? Or maybe she didn’t…
What if someone intentionally did it…
I felt dizzy, and unable to breathe. My vision was distorted and the sounds of people’s voices grew distant.
Yeah, it didn’t matter what the truth was.
Because this was just a dream, I’m just dreaming, and if I wake up, everything that happened here doesn’t exist.
[Someone wake me up, please…]The next few scenes passed quickly.
Strangers came and went from the empty mansion every day, familiar faces, relatives, vassals, and strangers.
They all comforted me.
They told me how long it had been since I had lost my father, that I must be heartbroken to have lost my mother, that they were good people. I must have closed my eyes in peace, and that I must cheer up despite the difficulties.
At the end, they asked.
[If you’re exhausted, why don’t you leave it to us?]The words I wanted to say were at the end of my throat.
Why should I entrust this to all of you? I don’t know what the hell you’re up to. I know that while you pretend to care about me, you’re really after my inheritance.
But at the same time, I hesitated.
I wasn’t strong like my mother. I wasn’t decisive like my father. Instead, I was as indecisive as my own heart.
Undecided about anything, I was afraid to make a decision, and I was scared to speak in front of people. I wondered if I could carry on the family name like my parents, if I should leave it to someone more capable than me.
But I didn’t want to let go of the family name that my mother wanted to protect to the end… I didn’t know what to do, so I just bided my time. I ended up doing nothing.
And it was my worst choice.
[A report of Averine’s plotting treason has been received.]
When I woke up, I found myself before the Emperor.
And I couldn’t believe it. I was just sitting there entertaining guests at the mansion as usual, when suddenly imperial knights swooped in and dragged me away.
Kneeling in front of them, I gaped in disbelief as I heard the word
‘treason’spoken to me. Then I gasped out.
[This is… impossible. Treason. Your Majesty, it can’t be; you know it; my father died defending the country; this is a false accusation!] [I thought so, too, but…]The Emperor’s cold gaze fell on me.
[Witnesses have come forward.] [Witnesses…?]But I was speechless. At the emperor’s gesture, a figure walked out from behind me. I turned my head of my own accord and my eyes widened.
‘Marquis Myers.’
There was my aunt’s husband, the man who had always been so kind to me.
He rambled on in front of the Emperor without even looking at me. He told me that my father had long been dissatisfied with the imperial family and was preparing to start a rebellion.
Not only that, but he had even asked me for help.
I stared at him in bewilderment as he spoke so fluently. This was a story I had never heard or seen before.
‘Your father was preparing to start a rebellion, and he asked the Marquis for help.’ ‘When did my father ever go to him…!’I shouted at the top of my lungs.
It couldn’t be true. This must be a frame-up. But the emperor would not hear me, and he announced,
‘Evidence has been found in the mansion.’ [The mastermind of the treason is dead, but the family will not escape blame.] [Your Majesty, this is nonsense, Your Majesty!] [Confiscate Averine’s entire estate and strip her of the Dukedom.]The Emperor smiles down at me.
[Drag her out!]Only then did I realize that something had gone horribly wrong, but there was nothing I could do.
I was too late, and I could feel it clearly when I returned to the mansion.
The mansion had been turned upside down by the Emperor’s orders, and there was nothing left but desolation.
I thought,
‘No. I didn’t ask for this. I can’t do this. How did my father lead the family, how did my mother try to protect the family? I can’t remain a traitor with this stigma…’
But what else could I do?
How could I do nothing when my mother died? How could I not even recognize it until they framed me?
If only there were someone to help us, but we’d already been labeled traitors, and no one would reach out to us easily.
Even if they were close to us…
‘Bouser.’Why did the face of Rudrick Bouser, Duke of Bouser, immediately come to mind?
He and I had met briefly when we were kids through our mothers. But even then, we weren’t very close, and we were soon separated when Duchess Bouser returned to the north.
Father told me that he had met him on the battlefield, but that was it. I don’t even remember much of his face.
Once I saw him at a ball at the palace, and I thought he was with some silver-haired woman.
‘If I ask for help, help…’
In the end, I went to the Bouser residence, grasping at straws, hoping that if I could somehow make myself understood if I could get a little help, I would do anything…
[His Excellency is not there.] [I hear he is still in the capital, and I wonder if I may know when he will return, or if he wishes me to come and see him…] [We don’t know when he’ll be back either, and I don’t think we can give you a definite answer, so please leave.] [Ha, but…!]But the Butler only pushed her away and said firmly.
[I’m sorry, please.] Bang—!Just like that, the door slammed shut.
For a moment, I stared at the closed door in disbelief, but then I had to turn and walk away.
The rest of the day was more of the same.
People point fingers at me, I beg for help from anyone I could think of, and I plead my case at the top of my lungs in front of the palace. I go to the Marquis and beg him to please do something, anything.
[I’m sorry, Princess… no, Miss Dahlia, but we can’t…] [What kind of thing is that, to help a traitorous family? Get out of here!] [If you’re so sincere, I’m willing to think about it, if you’ll stay tonight and—]But no one reached out to me. As time went on, I grew more desolate and exhausted.
All that was left in me was regret and self-pity.
‘It’s my fault.’For my father’s death, for sending my mother away.
‘It’s all my fault.’For not protecting the family name, for being labeled a traitor, for taking away everything my parents had worked so hard for.
‘I blame myself for everything…’I trudged into the mansion helplessly. All the servants had already left, and all the valuable items in the mansion had been sold, leaving the interior empty.
The cold mansion had no memories of the past.
There was no sunlit view, no warm greeting from the servants, and no joyful laughter. Most of all, my parents, who greeted me warmly when I walked through the door.
Nothing was left.
There was only me, and me alone.
‘Me… Alone.’
Out of the corner of my eye, something caught my attention.
A sword hanging on the wall.
‘I’m all alone.’
Mesmerized, I walked over to where it hung, stared at it for a moment, then reached out and picked it up.
The sword was quite heavy. Supporting the sword with both hands, I slowly removed the scabbard.
Soon, the sharp blade was revealed. A sharpened blade that looked like it could slice through anything.
Perhaps even a man’s throat.
‘Should I… stay… alone?’
With that last question, I raised the blade.
With the handle in the opposite direction, the gleaming blade facing me…
Then I awakened.
“Hmph!”I yelped, opening my eyes.
My whole body was covered in a cold sweat.
The back of my head was throbbing like crazy, and my hands were tingling with stiffness from being tied behind my back.
This was not a normal situation by any stretch of the imagination, but that didn’t matter right now.
Like a madman, I looked around frantically. This was not the mansion of my dreams, not with the cramped space crammed with boxes of luggage, the moldy walls, and the musty, rotting smell.
My hands were tied, preventing me from pinching my cheeks, so instead I bit my tongue a little.
It hurts. This was the reality.
‘A dream. What a dream.’
She remembered her mother’s death, her family being accused of treason, herself begging for help here and there, and finally taking up the sword.
‘It’s all a dream.’
Yes, a dream. I’ve simply had a nightmare.
It made sense. Something bad had just happened. The carriage crashed, just like in the dream, and the impact of hitting my head caused me to have a bad dream.
I chuckled awkwardly, repeating myself a few times. But soon enough, I remembered.
What happened with O’Neill before? The day I left Rudrick’s room, to be precise, and fell asleep while trying to ask him the truth.
‘No, I wasn’t asleep.’
Okay, more like passed out than asleep.
The more I talked to O’Neill, the more my head hurt like it was going to crack, and I think I broke down and fell into her arms…
And in the middle of it, I remember O’Neill saying.
‘I get it, it was such a painful memory that you brainwashed yourself to forget it.’
And in the middle of it, she said,
‘I get it.’
For a moment, I stood there with my mouth open, dumbfounded, and then I let out a shuddering laugh.
“Haha… that couldn’t be real, could it?”