IMHMF 31

Chapter 31

Eden, who had been full of concern for Roa, returned to his study with a heart full of jealousy after seeing that she was more worried about Siobhan than about her own condition.

Not long after he entered the study, there was a short knock.

When he answered, “Come in,” Dias appeared.

“Master.”

At the unexpected visitor, Eden stopped what he was doing for a moment.

Even after returning to her duties, Dias did not usually come to see him personally. So the fact that she had come meant that something serious had happened.

“There is something I need to tell you.”

At Dias’s words, Eden gave a short nod. It meant that she should continue.

“…The poison the Duchess drank seems to be a poison that is circulated within the Marquess Shaga family.”

“What is your evidence?”

“My mother.”

The only female knight of the Hylus Ducal House, and a knight whom Eden himself had brought from the Shaga Marquessate, was Dias Shaga.

Before they knew that the Shaga Marquessate was part of the anti-imperial faction, they had agreed to bring members of each other’s families into their households in order to promote harmony between the nobles.

Dias was the person Eden had personally brought back from the Marquessate at that time.

Later, they learned that she had been despised by her family because she was the child of a man whose bloodline was unknown.

“My father was forced to separate from my mother and me. After that, we could not find out anything about him. Thinking about it now, I think the Marquess Shaga may have had something to do with it. That man is extremely obsessed with bloodlines.”

“……”

“After that, my mother kept waiting for my father, who never came back, and eventually took her own life. There was something she said to me at that time.”

Dias stopped speaking for a moment, swallowed her trembling breath, and then continued.

“Never drink the poison of this family.”

“She poured a blue liquid from a small glass bottle into a teacup and drank it herself.”

“……”

“At first, I thought it was medicine. My mother did not collapse immediately. But when I returned after training alone, she was vomiting.”

For a moment, their voices overlapped.

“Just like Roa.”

“Just like the Duchess.”

A brief silence filled the room.

“My mother was the cousin’s daughter of Marquess Aibel Shaga. So she is even more distantly related to me. The Marquess Shaga interfered with and controlled even the bloodlines of his distant relatives. That is why, regarding the Princess…”

Dias could not continue.

She could not bring herself to finish the sentence.

After the Emperor introduced divorce and abolished the system of concubines, an ordinary woman could become Empress. Around that same time, the anti-imperial faction began to emerge.

Considering that the leader of the anti-imperial faction was Marquess Aibel Shaga, it was likely because she believed that the Imperial bloodline had been tainted.

That was probably why they had tried to kill Princess Resilla.

Princess Resilla was the child born from a discarded Imperial Crown Prince and a woman whose origins were unknown.

“The Shaga Marquessate considers bloodline more important than anything else and educates its people very strictly about it. The reason the former Marchioness was able to become the Marquess was partly because the Marquess died early, but also because she had eliminated many people whose bloodlines were unknown.”

Dias rarely spoke about herself, so Eden could not help but pay close attention to every word she said.

During the brief silence, Eden remembered the day he had brought Dias to the Ducal House.

For someone who had trained as a knight, her body had been extremely small. Muscles could be seen beneath her thin body, but it was difficult to tell whether they were visible because she was well trained or simply because she was too thin.

After returning to the Ducal House, the first order Eden gave Dias was to participate in the official training of the Duke’s Knights.

There was only one condition.

She had to gain ten kilograms.

After hearing the order to participate in the knights’ official training under such a condition, Dias suddenly came to his room.

“If I gain just ten kilograms, can I participate in the training?”

“If you don’t lose it again.”

“Yes.”

After giving that short answer, Dias was about to leave when Eden called her back.

“Dias.”

“……”

“If you want, I can change your surname.”

“……”

“Dias Hylus.”

“The name Dias was given to me by a father whose face I don’t even know. The surname ‘Shaga’ was given to me by my mother, who was the only family I had.”

“……”

“The only thing she left me was my name.”

“As you wish. If you ever change your mind, tell me.”

“The day you brought me here, I swore that I would give my life to you, Master.”

“……”

“I vaguely remember this, but there is a flower garden inside the Marquessate.”

Most nobles had gardens where they grew flowers, so that alone was not particularly unusual.

“There is a garden that only Marquess Aibel and the people she approves of can enter.”

“……”

“I want to go there.”

If Dias could bring back evidence of poison from that place, it would be a good opportunity to bring down Marquess Aibel Shaga.

However, if Dias left at this time, Roa’s protection would be affected.

“I can’t decide right away.”

At his answer, Dias gave a short nod as if she had expected it.

As soon as dawn broke, the large gates of the Ducal House shook.

In front of a carriage bearing the Imperial Palace’s crest, the servants of the Ducal House stood in a line, as if they were serving the owner of that crest.

I looked at the small figure getting down from the Imperial carriage.

Behind her were countless gift boxes piled as high as the carriage.

“Princess, what are all of these…?”

“They are small gifts for the Duchess, who almost died because of me.”

While I had not seen her, Resilla’s Imperial Palace etiquette had improved greatly.

Seeing how hard she had worked, I could not stop myself from letting out a small laugh.

“This is far too much, Your Highness.”

When I lowered myself to match her eye level, Resilla buried herself in my arms.

“I was so worried. I’m sorry, Duchess.”

Her voice, which she made sure only I could hear, was full of the childish affection natural for her age.

Only after we entered the drawing room and the servants had left did Resilla seem to relax and begin speaking freely.

She kept saying that she was glad to see me and asking if I was really all right, and I could finally understand how worried she had been.

If Resilla had drunk that poison, it would probably have been a fatal dose.

Even the small amount that had gotten onto the maid’s hand and made me drink it had affected me this much.

If that small body had swallowed the full amount…

“It’s all because of me…”

“It wasn’t because of Your Highness, so please don’t feel so sorry.”

Even though I tried to stop her, Resilla continued apologizing, so I changed the subject.

“Why was Sir Enoch’s name mentioned at that time?”

Enoch definitely had not been there.

“Actually, Enoch helped me.”

“Sir Enoch?”

This was what Resilla told me had happened.

The King of the Western Kingdom—in other words, Enoch’s father—had encountered a small problem.

Because of that, Enoch had come to inform them that he might not be able to attend the scheduled tea party.

While he was leaving after discovering that the room was empty, he happened to see me running somewhere in a hurry from a distance.

He hurried after me and found the Princess falling down.

Fortunately, he had not seen me use the magic stone.

“I won’t ask where you were going in such a hurry, Duchess. I think it would make you uncomfortable if I asked.”

“Your Highness…”

“Instead, please have tea with me from time to time like this.”

“What?”

“I want to become like the Duchess!”

Resilla’s eyes were shining in a way that made it difficult to refuse, as if she had seriously misunderstood something.

If you lived in South Korea, you’d develop nerves of steel too.

I was able to obtain quite a lot of information from her visit.

Before coming to the Imperial Palace, Resilla had lived in the borderlands. While she was there, she had heard stories about quite a few shamans who lived in the area, and she told me about them.

One of them had gone to meet a young noble lady after being introduced by a noble.

When the young lady would not wake up, that shaman had fled all the way to the borderlands.

Perhaps one of the shamans Princess Resilla mentioned was the person I was looking for.

I needed to meet Eden quickly and hear about the shaman Giwoor had mentioned.

It bothered me that Eden and I had spoken coldly to each other until the day before, but I did not have time to worry about that now.

I stood in front of his study, wondering whether I should knock or not, hundreds of times.

Just when I finally made up my mind to knock, the firmly closed door opened.

“Come in.”

I had not even finished knocking, but Eden had opened the door first.

“How did you know?”

At my question, he did not answer.

He only shrugged his shoulders.

Following his gesture, I entered the study almost without realizing it.

And there, I came face-to-face with the person I had wanted to see.