Stepmothers Are Not Always Evil

Chapter 94  Suddenly, the hand that was heading towards the teacup stopped. As expected. I answered as calmly as possible.“He’s resting in his room.”“Is he sick?”“No, he’s not sick, but as you can see, he is pretty shaken up from what happened that day. The doctor says he needs to stabilize for a while, so he is resting.”‘So there’s no need to bother meeting him?’Princess Adela rolled her eyes at my words and stood up.“Where is his room?”I asked.“Are you going to meet Escal?”“Yes. It’s because of me, so I have to visit.”I wanted to say that you don’t have to, but the Princess came to the mansion herself, and I couldn’t refuse it again.I reluctantly got up.“I will guide you. Grand Duchess, would you like to go with me?”“I will be talking with the Duke here, you can go with the Princess.”“Yes.”I hid my reluctance and left the drawing room with Adela.And I had to bite my tongue several times while walking down the hallway from the drawing room to Escal’s room.There were ribbons and hair ties everywhere, the kind a girl would wear.It seems that the maids didn’t find it while cleaning, or Tiaris left the mansion frequently.‘You can’t see it.’In case Adela noticed, I hurried my steps and arrived in front of Escal’s room.And I gently knocked on the door.“Escal, are you sleeping?”“No.”The answer came quickly. I couldn’t give myself an excuse that he was sleeping, so I quickly opened the door.Escal, who had just changed into pajamas and was sitting on the bed, looked at me.“Escal, the Princess wants to see you.”“The Princess?”Escal’s eyes narrowed in disbelief.“Escal.”Adela pushed the door wide open and entered the room without hesitation.Escal looked puzzled at the unexpected visitor, but Princess Adela did not care and approached the bed.“How have you been?”“… Uh huh.”“They said you were very surprised by that monster back then? Are you in a lot of pain?”“No, it’s okay.”Escal answered calmly and looked at me standing behind me.His gaze seemed to ask for help, and I cautiously interjected.“The Princess said she was worried about you and came to visit.”“I’m worried, and I don’t think I ever thanked you.”Princess Adela, who spoke softly, took a short breath and said to Escal.“Thank you for saving me that day. I would have died without you.”“Uh…”“Mother and Father also praised you a lot. You’re brave and handsome.”Princess Adela, who gave a soft compliment, pulled something out of her handbag. It was a puppy-shaped teddy bear, slightly larger than my hand.“This is a get-well present,” she said.“What is this?”“This is how you do it.”Princess Adela put the doll on the bedside table, and the puppy started to move.The doll was made with fairly sophisticated technology for something from this place.“Wow….”When Escal saw the doll for the first time, he exclaimed slightly.“It’s something I cherish, and I’ll give it to you especially.”Adela’s eyes, saying that, stayed on the side table all the time.‘It must be precious.’The doll was in clean condition, but seeing that the mainspring was softly worn, it seemed to be a doll that the Princess loved quite a bit.“You should try it too.”Adela opened her mouth, pointing to the doll that had stopped winding.When I nodded my head as if he didn’t know if he could touch it, the child turned the mainspring.As before, Escal’s face brightened at the softly moving puppy doll.“Escal, you should thank the Princess.”“Thank you.”“You’re welcome.”Princess Adela, who answered, and then turned away from the table.“Then I’ll go, you can rest.”“Go-good bye.” ***** “Go back safely.”“I’m sorry if I bothered the sick person by coming unannounced.”“No, please don’t say that.”Helios shook his head politely towards Grand Duchess Crawford.Grand Duchess Crawford, looking at Helios with deeper eyes, got into the carriage.“See you again soon.”“Yes. Please tell His Majesty that I will enter the palace as soon as I feel better.”“Yes.”After a brief exchange of greetings, Princess Adela climbed into the carriage first and closed the window.“Let’s go.”As soon as the Grand Duchess’ words left her mouth, the carriage began to move.Grand Duchess Crawford, who had been watching the distant mansion, finally turned her head.Princess Adela, who had not spoken since meeting Escal, was biting her thumb with a frown on her forehead.“Adela, what is the matter?”“What? Nothing.”Grand Duchess Crawford tilted her head at Adela’s forced smile. But she didn’t ask any further questions.Adela returned to her thoughts.“Who does that hairpin belong to?The hairpin on Escal’s bedside table clearly belonged to a girl.She couldn’t help but feel a twinge of discomfort. ***** “Huh, that’s a lot.”“I know, right. It will take a day just to clear the boxes.”As I opened the boxes that Grand Duchess Crawford was carrying, I finally raised my hands.Aside from the gifts the Grand Duchess had shown us, the boxes left by the servants were filled with all kinds of ingredients and rare fabrics.Originally, a gift given by the Emperor had to be opened by the person who received it, but it doesn’t matter since it’s not a public gift.“Merlin, take care of organizing these boxes.”“Yes, madam.”I left the box with Merlin and headed to the office.Helios, sitting in front of the desk, looked at the medal with a complicated expression.“Helios? What are you doing, not resting.”“It’s okay.”Helios, who covered the decoration case, messed up his frizzy hair once again.“Come here.”At his call, I stepped in front of his desk and he pulled my arm and sat me down on his lap.It seemed to be almost back to normal now, but his body was still hot.I turned my head and gently stroked his face.He hadn’t shaved, so the texture of his rough beard caught on my fingertips.The eyes that met each other turned round, and I smiled brightly at the same time.“You must be a great person.”“What?”“The amount of gifts His Majesty sent you. You must have done something amazing for him to send you so many gifts.”Helios grinned at the joking compliment.“So, did you get anything useful?”“I didn’t open them all, but most of them were expensive fabrics and ingredients. Merlin said the price would be huge.”Helios laughed bitterly.“Nothing is free in this world.”“You mean you have to pay the price again?”“Well.”Helios answered vaguely and hugged my waist more deeply.He seemed to be thinking a lot, so I quietly turned my back to him.After enduring the silent silence, I carefully opened the jewelry box.A flower petal-shaped decoration made of pure gold flashed burdensomely.The emblem of the Imperial family was engraved in the middle of the medal, and a ribbon made of blue silk hung above it.I asked, fiddling with the medal.“What was Your Majesty thinking when he brought this down?”“As an example.”“An example?”“To show us that loyalty to the imperial family can be rewarded with something like this.”Helios muttered bitterly.After hearing those words, I felt like I knew the Emperor’s calculations.After the ouster of the Duke of Eaton, and even before that, when the Baron Rockefeller affair had been discovered, the Emperor’s authority had been tested many times.Such was the case of disregarding the Emperor’s orders and making a report later, or expressing resignation as a group to break the Emperor’s will.Of course, I can’t deny that Helios and I were at the center of it.In any case, the Emperor’s anxiety must have increased day by day as he experienced such things several times.“Is loyalty at a price meaningful?”“Even if you need it, there’s nothing I can do about it.”“Is Prince Frederick’s position so insecure?”There was only one reason why the Emperor felt such a sense of crisis. Count Turner’s report discussing Prince Frederick’s status as Crown Prince.“The report itself is fine. Their relationship with the Duke of Eaton is at stake, but I can’t blame him for being close to his uncle.”“Then what’s the problem?”“That the report has been written. And that His Majesty hasn’t seen the finished report.”Those two facts proved that there was no power to help the current Emperor to check the nobility.“Therefore….”“He’s trying to tie me up. Even doing this kind of self-play.”