The Price of a Name
It wasn’t as if Roella had loved her mother all that deeply. But then again, the Emperor had never once acted like a father to her, either.
She didn’t know the circumstances of her own birth. As far as she knew, the Emperor had simply used her mother as a convenient source of comfort and then, effectively, discarded her. They were hardly a proper married couple; they likely hadn’t even faced each other more than a handful of times.
Just as Roella herself had experienced.
And yet, now, he was acting as if he were a true, aggrieved husband, making an issue of her mother’s affair to force a divorce and strip her of her title. Did that even make sense?
It wasn’t that Roella didn’t find it repulsive that Lilian had been bewitched by some lowly actor—and a lover of Laila’s, at that. But her mother’s authority was directly tied to her own legitimacy. Even if a scandal had broken out, they should have covered it up for her sake. Both the Schwaben faction and the Emperor.
Was she not the one and only Imperial Princess?
Helmut spoke solemnly.
“It is a matter concerning the prestige of the nation.”
“The prestige of the nation? Are you saying my mother did something that damaged the nation’s prestige? Don’t you realize that doing this is what truly drags *my* prestige into the dirt?”
Helmut ignored her sharp, piercing outcry. Roella grew even more furious, thrashing about in a rage.
“It’s true! All of you, you’re all ignoring me!”
“That is not the case.”
“If locking me up here and not even letting me see Mother isn’t ignoring me, then what is it? How dare you treat me, an Imperial Princess, like this!”
Knock, knock. Knock.
Just then, there was a knock at the door behind Helmut. Recognizing the unique rhythm of the knock, Helmut stepped aside.
The door swung wide, and the one person capable of settling the current situation stepped inside.
“Ezekiel!”
Roella rushed forward in a single breath and threw herself into his arms. Her expression, which had been burning with rage, transformed into a mix of affection and spoiled petulance.
“Ezekiel, please help Mother.”
Ezekiel’s handsome face twitched slightly. He had come knowing it would be a nuisance, but the situation was even more troublesome than he had anticipated.
“Did Helmut not explain the situation to you sufficiently?”
As he glanced over, Helmut quickly averted his gaze. It wasn’t that she truly didn’t understand; no matter how clearly he explained it, nothing would change.
Roella wrapped both arms around Ezekiel’s neck. She pleaded with her one and only precious lover, pouring out her regret and trust.
“Mother was just deceived by a wicked man. Don’t you think?”
“The decree of deposition has already been issued, Roella.”
“If it’s you, you can find a way to fix it.”
“Don’t be foolish. If you aren’t careful, it will cause problems for your own reputation. It is better to remove her from the public eye entirely.”
Roella, who hadn’t expected such a cold rejection, squeezed her eyes shut. But she corrected herself, thinking that Ezekiel must have had no choice.
After all, public opinion was terrible. Although she had been prevented from seeing Lilian, Roella had been reading all the newspapers. Yes, there was no use clinging to something that was already over.
Besides, he said it was for her own sake.
Even so, she couldn’t just pretend she didn’t know her mother. Roella spoke earnestly.
“Then at least lighten the punishment. There was no need to send her into exile. It would be better to buy a nice mansion near the capital and let her stay there.”
“…….”
“Please, Ezekiel. I’m begging you.”
Ezekiel let out a sigh.
He had no intention of forgiving Lilian. Considering how she had ruined everything, hanging that foolish woman wouldn’t be enough to satisfy him. Even sending her into exile was a generous act.
However, persuading Roella was too much of a hassle. He answered vaguely.
“Understood.”
“Really?”
“It’s difficult right now. Once the situation settles down, I will consider it.”
As if everything had been resolved, she broke into a bright smile. Ezekiel let out a mocking chuckle. Roella was self-centered enough that once this moment passed, she would soon forget about Lilian. Even if she remembered her occasionally, she wouldn’t try to take care of her with such anger as she did now.
Once he became Emperor, it wouldn’t be impossible to actually release Lilian. When that time came, it wouldn’t matter what happened to one former Empress of the fallen imperial family, whom no one cared about anyway.
18. Before the Tombstone
Clatter, clatter.
The old transport carriage jolted and bounced as if it were constantly springing up and down, even on the well-paved road. Every time it did, groans leaked out from all sides.
“Ouch!”
“Don’t step on me!”
“Stay still, damn it!”
“Ugh!”
No one would expect comfort from a transport carriage, but since they had crammed over thirty people into a carriage meant for twenty, it was difficult even to sit. Every time the carriage jolted, fights broke out everywhere.
Sophia sat huddled in a corner, half-crushed. No thoughts surfaced in her mind. What she would do in the future, what had happened to her family… No, it was better not to think about that at all. Because the day would never come when she could do anything for herself.
She tried not to think about what would happen next. No matter how fallen her family was, she was still a noble. She had some experience with labor, but there was no way she could properly handle the work of a miner.
Neither resentment toward Lilian nor anger at the harsh treatment by the Schwaben family, whom she had served for so long, rose within her. She felt no regret, nor did she feel sadness. She didn’t have the energy for it.
It wasn’t as if she hadn’t known that Schwaben was that kind of place from the beginning. Sophia herself had once sent people to Wintertal with her own hands.
‘In the end, you never know until you experience it yourself.’
She was thinking that blankly when the carriage stopped.
“Oh, are we taking a break?”
“I needed to pee, thank goodness.”
A few people giggled, as if a brief stop in the carriage would change their impending future.
The iron-barred door swung open, and the guard shouted.
“Brief rest. Five at a time, bound together!”
A man who had been trying to trample over the person in front of him to rush out, claiming he was in a hurry, was struck on the head with a club. The soldiers dragged five people out from the front and took them to one side.
Sophia watched them with dull eyes, then suddenly realized something strange. Wasn’t the interval between breaks too short compared to last time?
There were regulations, but the guards had no reason to follow them well. Opening the door itself was a hassle. They usually skipped break times, and even when someone pounded on the door screaming that they needed to relieve themselves, they would often hear curses telling them to just do it inside because it was annoying. This carriage had been filled with the stench of all sorts of filth since the moment they boarded.
And yet, they were letting them rest on time like this?
“Hey, get out here!”
The soldier shouted at her. She stepped out of the carriage slowly. Breathing the fresh air made her feel a little more alive.
The carriage was standing near a small village. A few people were out on the roadside, perhaps to gawk at the transport carriage.
She cast a glance in that direction inadvertently, and Sophia stopped breathing.
‘Philippa?’
Her younger sister was standing there. She was wearing a simple maid’s outfit, but Sophia could recognize her. Her sister was covering her mouth with her hands as if holding back tears, sending desperate signals to Sophia with her eyes.
‘You were safe…? How?’
She had naturally assumed that her family would have been dragged away and sent to Wintertal first. There was no chance they could have heard the news and fled. But how…
The moment that thought crossed her mind, one of the soldiers shouted.
“An attack!”
Almost simultaneously with that shout, someone struck the back of her head. Sophia fainted on the spot.
When she opened her eyes, she was lying on a pile of straw in what looked like an empty warehouse. Whether it was because there were no windows or because the sun had set, the dark interior was lit by a single torch. Sophia blinked, staring at the ceiling in a daze, then panicked and sat up.
“Are you awake?”
It was a man’s voice, with a neat and refined tone. Feeling the intense pain in the back of her head, Sophia brought her hand to it.
“My subordinate was a bit rough. My apologies.”
She blinked a few more times. A few more people moved in the dim distance, and soon the number of torches increased.
Only then did her vision clear properly. There were over a dozen men wearing swords. A couple of them looked like thugs, but the rest were undoubtedly knights. Their attire was similar, but their upright posture and intimidating demeanor made it clear.
And the man sitting alone in a chair was a familiar face.
“Count Lutgarth.”
Sophia gasped for air.