Please Leave The Sickly Villainess Alone

After providing a brief introduction before the food could get cold, Head Chef Gaori excused himself.

From his general explanation, I could tell the cuisine would be extraordinary.

I took a bite of the meat stew.

‘Wow, it’s amazing.’

“The woman who marries Head Chef Gaori will be blessed. To enjoy such delectable dishes every day.”

“Instead of the Head Chef, you could marry me and savor these flavors daily.”

“Don’t tempt me with food, Your Highness.”

We engaged in such playful banter over our meal.

“Your Highness, a word.”

An attendant whispered to Luka. His expression stiffened slightly before he nodded in acknowledgment.

“Why, has something happened?”

“Ah… No, it’s not about you, Ria. It’s my birth sister who has arrived at the palace.”

If it was Luka’s sister, he was referring to Princess Rachel. She had ventured abroad in search of Luka before returning upon receiving news of his homecoming.

“But why this somber look? Aren’t you glad to see her after so long?”

“With Rachel… No, never mind.”

Luka trailed off and continued eating.

It was then that a voice boomed out.

“Ar-zen-lu-ka!!”

“Your Highness, to enter in such a manner!”

“Your Highness the Princess!”

A thunderous noise came rushing over, like a stampeding elephant.

The girl who had charged towards Luka swung the folded fan in her hand, aiming to strike his head with full force.

Or so she had intended. Luka merely used a single fork to deflect the blow targeting the back of his head I couldn’t even see.

The entire sequence unfolded so swiftly that I had frozen mid-motion, a spoon still raised towards my open mouth.

“Arzenluka!! You, you-!”

With the fan and fork still crossed in a standoff, Luka spoke up.

“Still as intense as ever, I see, Sister Rachel.”

“Is that any way to greet your sister after I went all the way to the Carven Kingdom searching for you?!”

She had even traveled as far as the Carven Kingdom? Quite the lengthy journey. Meanwhile, Luka had been at an orphanage not too far from the capital this whole time.

I set down the spoon hovering before my mouth to enjoy the sibling squabble as a spectator.

“First, could you please lower that fan?”

“No! Not until I strike that thick skull of yours!”

“Are you not glad that your brother has returned alive?”

“Gladness comes second – where have you been all this time, only showing up now?!”

Living like Snow White and the Seven Dwarves at Troy Orphanage… No, wait, then Layora would be more like Snow White?

I swiftly dismissed that disturbing mental image.

Drehan had also been observing the Imperial siblings’ clash but soon found his gaze meeting Rachel’s.

“Oh, we have a guest present.”

She’s only noticing that now?!

Rachel was a captivating young lady with long black hair and golden eyes. There was no mistaking her as Luka’s sister – they were utterly identical.

She seemed destined to become a formidable ice princess in the future.

Rachel eventually lowered her fan and smiled wryly at us.

Once Luka dropped his defensive stance, she seized the opportunity to swing her fan, striking his head with a sharp Whap!

‘Ouch, that must have hurt.’

“Drehan of the Rayes Duchy, it has been a while.”

Ignoring Luka’s pointed glare, Rachel had already snapped open her fan, laughing merrily.

“May the brilliant glory of the Great Greffin Empire be with you. I greet you, Your Highness.”

“May the brilliant glory of the Great Greffin Empire be with you. I greet you, Your Highness.”

Following Drehan’s lead, I rose from my seat this time to properly curtsey before Rachel.

“And who might this lovely young lady be?”

“My younger sister, Laveria Jenne Rayes, Your Highness.”

“Younger sister? Laveria…?”

Rachel regarded me with widened eyes.

I smiled awkwardly under her dazzling, scrutinizing gaze, and Rachel soon grinned and spoke:

“The lost star of Rayes has returned. Welcome, Laveria.”

“Sister, I shall visit you at the Serazenne Palace later, as I am currently entertaining a guest.”

“You think I can trust you?”

As this feigned confrontation unfolded, Drehan interjected:

“Your Highness, it seems I must excuse myself for a prior engagement with Sir Claire.”

Luka nodded.

“I will come retrieve you later.”

Saying those words to me, Drehan took his leave.

He trusted that Luka would ensure I wasn’t disrespected anywhere. The place he vacated was occupied by the snarling Imperial siblings and me.

‘Take me with you, please!’

* * *

After our meal, we strolled through the gardens, with Rachel wedged between Luka and me.

“So I can call you Ria?”

“Yes, Your Highness.”

“Hey, can’t you drop the formalities and just call me by my name too? We’re the same age.”

“Rachel… Lady?”

“No honorifics or being too formal!”

“Can I call you just Rachel, then?”

“Yes!”

“Sister… what is the meaning of this? This is supposed to be my stroll with Ria.”

“It’s also my stroll with Ria. Friends taking a walk through the gardens is quite ordinary, is it not?”

“You’ve only known Ria for about 30 minutes, but I…”

“Two years is a long time, isn’t it? It seems our dear brother has been quite starved for company. Isn’t that right, Ria?”

…Even among royalty, siblings were still siblings, it seemed.

It was rather amusing watching their identical, ethereally beautiful appearances bicker back and forth.

“So you don’t remember who kidnapped you at all?”

Luka shook his head.

As I had mentioned, after returning to the Imperial Palace, he had thoroughly investigated the Duke Kablos’s movements but couldn’t uncover a shred of evidence.

The infamous King of Darkness, Crime Overlord Duke Kablos was living up to his reputation.

While I knew Kablos was behind it, I decided not to provide any additional hints beyond what I had already disclosed.

After all, it was a fact he will directly learn from Senia amidst the war.

And until Luka joined the battlefield, Kablos’s forces would be unable to make a move against him.

The Crown Prince who had already gone missing once would be under everyone’s watchful gaze.

Letting out a deep sigh, Rachel remarked:

“Have you met with Mother yet?”

Luka shook his head.

It seemed Rachel had much to discuss with Luka, but she refrained in my presence.

If this seemingly perfect pair of siblings harbored any deep wound, it would undoubtedly be their mother.

The court jesters outside the palace walls referred to the Empress as ‘the Pitiful Greltorua.’

‘Greltorua’ was a flower that only grew in barren, mountainous regions, blooming for a mere hour before withering away.

A field of Greltorua flowers was said to be so breathtakingly beautiful during that one hour that it rendered viewers speechless, stirring their very souls.

The Empress, born into a humble Baron’s family, had been the object of envy for all.

Yet within a year, she had lost the Emperor’s favor.

While cruel, there was perhaps no more fitting epithet for her than ‘Greltorua.’

“Why don’t we go meet her?”

At my sudden suggestion, Rachel turned towards me.

I smiled at the two siblings.

“Go meet her. It will surely be alright.”

The Empress was currently bedridden. The once dignified, beautiful woman more than anyone else.

Ever since the Emperor took in the Consort Jeria, renowned for her beauty and powerful domestic backing, people had begun comparing the Empress and Jeria.

Whenever the Empress made even the slightest mistake, people mocked her by drawing comparisons to Jeria, and the next day, the incident would be prominently reported.

Eventually, everyone assumed the position of Crown Prince would go not to Luka, the legitimate heir, but to Jeria’s son instead.

The Empress fell into deep self-loathing, believing her own weakness and her family’s lack of power had ultimately robbed her children of their rightful place in the Imperial family. Amidst this, as Luka steadily demonstrated his caliber befitting the Crown Prince with each passing year, he became a sole ray of light in her dire circumstances.

At the time, the Empress had been consuming psychotropic drugs – substances that Jeria had secretly swapped out to corrode her mental faculties.

After prolonged intake deteriorated the Empress’s mental state severely, she became obsessively fixated on Luka achieving ever-greater successes.

More, he had to become the very best. That was the only way, for Luka, for Rachel, and for herself.

Luka, the linchpin holding her together, had been her everything. And for those two turbulent years he disappeared, ultimately, her health critically declined until she could no longer leave her bedchamber.

She had given up everything. No longer taking the drugs, her mind was likely lucid once more by now.

And if my memory served…

‘The Empress has little time remaining.’

In the original story, she had passed away on the very evening of Luka’s return to the palace.

Since Luka had returned a year earlier, she still clung to life for now.

Luka deeply remembered those times when his mother’s mind had been sound, selflessly devoting herself to raising him amidst the public’s disdain, providing him with every necessity.

The lingering regret of never bidding his final farewell before the Empress’s death would continue tormenting Luka thereafter.

An object of conflicting love and resentment. The Empress who had harbored such terrible obsession, yet was truly a Baron’s daughter driven to desperate measures to shield her children alone in the Imperial Palace’s silent crossfire of malice.

Though unable to fully comprehend with his mind, Luka understood her actions in his heart.

“Leaving regrets only breeds more anguish.”

These two siblings likely had no inkling that the Empress currently awaited them in full lucidity, lying in her sickbed.

Rachel had also been absent from the capital for the past two years, after all.

I truly hoped this lovable pair wouldn’t shed tears of regret later on. More than anyone, I wished to prevent them from experiencing such a situation.

Because I had lived through it myself.

The inability to bid a final farewell was a regret that lingered even after death.

I slipped between Rachel and Luka, taking each of their arms as I declared:

“Let’s go!”

“Eh, where to?”

“To meet the Empress!”

“Huuh?!”

* * *

Thus led by my hand, the royal siblings found themselves before the Empress’s quarters.

While I didn’t actually know the way, Rachel had provided me with periodic directions, seeming to recognize this as an opportune chance.

The Empress’s attendants jolted in surprise upon seeing us three together.

We were the very subjects of recent rumors, unexpectedly arriving to pay a visit.

The Crown Prince, returned alive after two years. Some alleged fake Princess Rayes who had rolled in from somewhere. And the Imperial Princess who had just dramatically returned home today.

Quite the sensational combination.

“We have come to meet the Empress. Please show us in.”

While we had arrived unannounced, the two at my sides were her own children.

There were no eminent personages in this palace who would seek to alienate the Empress from Jeria.

With no prior engagements, the attendant seemed to scramble inside to seek her permission.

Soon granting her approval, the attendant led us into the quarters.

For the Empress’s residence, it seemed…

‘Hmm, undoubtedly luxurious, but…’

A sense of opulence was lacking. While retaining an antiquated palatial ambiance, the negligent lack of maintenance was glaringly apparent everywhere. There were also too few servants.

I was surprised that only this minimal staff attended to the ailing Empress.

Luka and Rachel’s expressions also seemed to sadden as they surveyed the Empress’s quarters.

Before long, we arrived at the Empress’s bedchamber, and the doors opened.

There, lying in the bed, was a woman of blinding beauty yet equally withered fragility.