IMHMF 30

Chapter 30

“Would it be all right if the Princess comes to visit you while you recover?”

I was glad to hear that, but I was the future Duchess, and this was Eden’s home.

Because of that, I could not answer the Emperor’s question right away. Perhaps he noticed my hesitation, because Eden spoke before I could.

“After you return to the palace, please tell Her Highness that she may visit.”

“Good. Get some rest now. And stop blaming that poor knight.”

I knew which knight the Emperor was talking about without him having to say his name.

It was probably Siobhan.

The Emperor, who had been smiling brightly and waving at us, took out a small magic stone. With a flash of bright light, he disappeared in an instant.

“Is Sir Siobhan under disciplinary confinement?”

When Eden did not answer my question, I pressed him again.

“Eden.”

“…He’s in the underground prison.”

“Eden!”

“I saw you spit out blood right in front of me. If it happened because of my knight, then I cannot forgive him so easily.”

His voice was calm, but there was an unknown anger hidden inside it. It was not the cold voice I was used to hearing from him. It sounded like he was desperately holding something back.

I knew he had been worried about me, but now that it had been proven that Siobhan was not the culprit, shouldn’t it be fine?

The slightly warm atmosphere quickly turned into a cold silence.

“Get some rest.”

I did not know who my parents were or where I had been born.

From the moment I could remember, I had lived here. To survive, I had begged for food.

The boys around my age in this place lived by stealing. I had thought about stealing too. But I was much smaller than them, so I had no confidence that I could run fast enough. And whenever I saw the children who were caught being beaten, I knew I could not endure that.

On days when the children of nobles came and showed pity and sympathy just for appearances, begging was very easy.

The pieces of bread were nothing special, but it was still a proper meal after a long time.

“I can eat half today and the other half tomorrow.”

“Hey, begging girl!”

The begging girl from the borderlands.

That was my name.

The boys who had eaten all their own bread had already come over to me.

“You get full after eating just a little, right? So we’re taking this bread!”

Before I could even answer, they reached for the bread in my hands and tried to take it away.

“That might be a problem.”

It was a voice I had never heard here before.

Unlike the people from this place, his voice was relaxed and gentle.

When I turned around, a man wearing clothes even more beautiful and dazzling than the clothes of the noble children I had seen several times was standing behind me, lowering himself to my height.

“Give that bread back and leave quietly. Otherwise, there will be trouble. Instead, take that over there.”

At the man’s gentle warning, the boys went toward the place he pointed at.

“Hello.”

There was no place where people helped without expecting something in return, so I did not take the bread he gave back to me. I only gave him a small greeting.

Even though I ignored him, the man continued following me and talking to me.

“Is your name Begging Girl?”

“…….”

“Come with me. I know your father.”

Father.

A word I had never heard before and had never said before.

That word stopped my little legs.

“I’m your uncle.”

“…….”

“Hello, Resilla.”

That name made my dead heart start beating hard again.

That voice made tears that had never existed before flow uncontrollably.

And that was how I came to the Imperial Palace.

Because I had come from the borderlands, because no one knew where my mother came from, and for countless other reasons, I was insulted and whispered about.

But I was fine.

Unlike the place I had lived before, this place was warm. I could eat freshly cooked meals, and I could wash myself whenever I needed to.

All I had to do was pretend not to hear those insults.

And then there was the first person who smiled brightly at me without prejudice and greeted me properly first.

“Hello, Princess. My name is Eloa Rumania, the daughter of Count Rumania.”

“Res… Resilla Istria….”

I did not know how to properly introduce myself. I tried again.

“No, I… I mean….”

Even when I made a mistake in greeting etiquette, she did not insult me. Instead, she warmly held out her hand.

That person was the Duchess of Hylus.

My small feet became tangled with each other as I ran toward the knights, and I fell hard.

Crash—

It made a loud sound even to my own ears.

I must not cry. Don’t cry, Resilla Istria.

The unfamiliar name had gradually become familiar, and I had come to understand that it was my name.

If I cry here, it will be rude to the Duchess who saved me….

Despite my determination, tears began flowing uncontrollably from my eyes.

I thought I had finally become used to life in the palace.

Maybe I really am not worthy of being a Princess.

“Your Highness, are you all right?”

Before I could even recognize the owner of the voice, a strong force pulled me up.

I did not even have time to wipe away my tears before I found myself facing the person who had lifted me.

He was not a servant of the Imperial Palace.

He was the Prince of the Western Kingdom.

The first thought that came to me when I saw him was not gratitude.

I must keep my dignity as a Princess.

“…Thank you, Sir Enoch….”

I was not sure if I should call him Sir Enoch, but I remembered the Duchess calling him that at the banquet.

“Please feel free to call me Enoch.”

At Enoch’s kindness, the tears that had refused to stop finally stopped.

Enoch politely held out his hand to me and spoke.

“Your Highness, you like the Duchess, don’t you?”

I nodded without hesitation.

The Duchess was the only person I had met in the Imperial Palace who had approached me first without prejudice.

“Then, would you protect the Duchess together with me?”

I nodded again without hesitation.

“Good. From now on, Your Highness and I are on the same side.”

As soon as Enoch finished speaking, he shouted loudly.

“Imperial Knights!”

The knights who heard Enoch’s loud command hurried toward the source of the voice.

“I have knocked out the maid who tried to harm the Princess. Quickly inform the Emperor and protect the Princess.”

Resilla did not understand what Enoch was trying to do, but it seemed that he also wanted to help the Duchess.

Why did the Duchess have to leave in such a hurry…?

Before I could organize my thoughts, the Imperial Knights hurriedly knelt before me.

“Your Highness, we have no face to show you. Are you all right?”

I did not know what I was supposed to say to the knights.

Before I could say anything, Enoch spoke.

“I will raise my voice for a moment in front of the Princess, the mistress of this Imperial Palace.”

He truly was someone who carried the dignity of a Prince.

Enoch told them everything that had happened to him.

However, he spoke as if he himself had done everything the Duchess had done.

Thanks to his skillful handling of the situation, everything was settled quickly.

The news of the attempted attack on the Princess reached the Emperor in an instant.

He wanted to stop the banquet immediately and search for the person behind the attack, but his responsibility as Emperor, especially the matter of diplomacy, calmed him down.

The banquet ended as planned.

I returned to my room first under the excuse that I needed to rest, but instead of resting, I spent my time searching for the culprit.

Interrogating the maid who had already been captured was not difficult.

If she refused to speak, all they had to do was give her enough pain that she would have no choice but to talk.

The maid really had been working in the Imperial Palace.

The anti-imperial faction had simply bought her with money.

Istria was a more compassionate Emperor than I had expected.

But things were different now.

Eden had told him that the anti-imperial faction was running wild in the black market, and now they had tried to kill his own niece.

The moment the maid tried to say the true culprit’s name, her lips began to burn, and she closed her eyes as pain tightened around her throat.

“Burn the maid’s lips with an iron bearing the Imperial family’s crest, and hang her neck before the execution platform.”

“Yes.”

“This person did not die because of a curse. She died for the crime of rebelling against the Imperial family.”

An example was necessary.

An example to show them that if they failed to properly serve their Sun and became blinded by momentary gain and betrayed the Empire, this was what would happen.

After the bloody storm that swept through the Imperial Palace, silence returned for a while.

But it was fine.

Because thanks to it, all the servants who had ignored Resilla became quiet.

After all, Resilla was also a member of the Imperial family.

One had been dealt with.

Now it was time to deal with the other one.

It was easy to find the person who had poisoned the tea drunk by Rumania.

She had come forward herself, begging to be kept alive.

Had the news already reached the servants?

Well, after everything that had happened, it was only natural.

Out of all the times I had seen Eden over the past several decades, this was the moment when he had lost his composure the most.

I enjoyed seeing him like that.

He had once claimed that he would live like a block of wood for the rest of his life.

Rumania was an interesting young lady.

She was someone I wanted to keep watching from a little closer.