Sir Gino departed for the fort in preparation for the war. I’d planned to send him off with a smile, but in the end, I wasn’t able to hold back my tears. I was tasked with staying at home, though I would have preferred to be with him. I was confident I could have been of use. Also, on the off chance that something happened to Sir Gino, I wished to die with him there.
Unfortunately, Sir Gino was very against me being near the battlefield. I would have protested more for him to change his mind, but I didn’t want to risk him coming to hate me, so I held back. With him in danger and so far away, I was extremely worried and there was nothing I could do about it. Please come back to me safely!
“Are you thinking about Duke Ginorious?”
I was brought back to my senses by my aunt’s voice. I can’t let myself get distracted like this. We’re in the middle of having tea. It was just the two of us in the forty-fourth drawing room, known as the Fan Columbine, but my preoccupied thoughts must have been making her uncomfortable. Much time had passed since she’d first arrived at our doors, and now I was calling her my aunt rather than “Her Majesty.”
“I’m terribly sorry. He’s the only thing on my mind these days,” I said.
“There’s no need to apologize. He had to deploy to battle because of me. If I’d been able to bear a child sooner, this situation would never have come to existence. The state of affairs in our country wouldn’t be so chaotic.”
“You’ve nothing to blame yourself for. Children are blessings from the heavens, after all.”
“That’s not what I mean. It’s that... The reason I wasn’t able to conceive for so long was that...I never noticed contraceptives being added to my food and drink.”
“Huh?!”
“You see, I was raised like a princess. All my friends at school were good people too. Before becoming an adult, I never met anyone who tried to deceive me or wished ill on me. It was only after I graduated, married, and moved into the palace that I learned how sheltered I’d been and what true evil intent was. Of course, I was taught in my training as queen to be wary of others. But even so, the real deal is much more frightening than anything you learn in a classroom,” she said as if mocking herself. “Back then, I was truly...truly foolish. I was a sheltered girl and far too trusting of others. That’s why he...he turned out the same...”
For a mere moment, I saw anger and resentment flicker in her eyes. I couldn’t blame her after all the horrible things she’d endured. However, the intensity was shocking. The rage that appeared on her face was like a bright pain as if she’d swallowed melted steel, and the bitterness that accompanied it was profound. It wasn’t a simple emotion like disdain, but more like a large sea of deadly poison bubbling up, threatening to cover her entire world in black. My body went cold all the way to my fingertips at the realization that someone right next to me could possess such intense emotions.
“That’s right. John was killed by that woman.”
I must not have been able to hide my fear and confusion, because she looked at me and said this. John was the nickname for Johnathan, my aunt’s first son and the second-born prince, but he had died when he was still young. Officially, he’d died of illness. “That woman” was the king’s concubine. I realized my aunt must have experienced hardships beyond what I could even imagine, to produce these emotions from her that could make a cold sweat run down my back.
“I swore I would die before I let anything like that happen again. That’s why I decided to make Dee king so he could have great power. I thought it was for his sake.”
Dee was the nickname for the former crown prince, Dietfried. So that’s why she worked so hard for him... But despite her efforts, he deliberately caused problems to reject the throne. I felt sorry for my aunt that he’d never realized her strong feelings.
“But...after coming here, I’ve started to doubt myself. Despite hating training, he’s practicing his swordsmanship late into the night. He’s much more lively than he ever was at the palace. It makes me wonder if I really was doing all this for him or as revenge against that woman. I can’t help but think about that when I look at him...”
The former crown prince had turned over a new leaf. At first, he’d hated the program we’d placed him in to help his mental health, but now he threw himself into it. Even after completing the basic training, he would continue swinging his sword until the late hours of the night. He was enthusiastic to the point where his instructor had to step in to make him rest.
When he’d first arrived, he’d been almost like a living corpse, but now he was much more burly and a little tan. He’d become very healthy.
“The other day you mentioned ‘ultimate love,’ do you remember? I’ve been thinking about that over and over again. Did my motivations really come from ‘ultimate love’ for Dee? Or was my true intention all along simply to get revenge on that woman? It only makes sense that if you raise a child for revenge, he won’t turn out as well as he should...”
“Are you planning on trying a new direction with him?” I asked.
“Oh? Have you already caught on to my plan?” Oh, what a blunder. I meant to be more casual with my question, but she saw through me. “That’s right. The reason I came here was to do everything I could to get the Sevensworths to mobilize so I could take down that woman and Christopher. There’s a low chance everything would go exactly as planned since Lady Jennifer can most likely see right through me, but it’s not zero. I was planning on getting Dee to the throne.”
Oh, I see. Sir Gino was right. Her telling me the story about her son was a strategic move to get our family to act. However, I’m sure the intense emotions I saw in her were real.
“Don’t worry. You don’t have to be so guarded. Though that was my plan at first, I’ve decided to sit back and observe. At the very least, I won’t do anything for a little while.”