Regentera and Bladin (2)
The letter was so heavy and long-winded that I will only read the important parts.
Lady Lilche, the Marchioness, drew an old envelope from within her bosom. It bore the lily seal that symbolized the Bladin family.
“‘To the esteemed Marchioness Lilche, I confess something I could never tell others out of shame. My youngest daughter, Ebony, is not a child born of my lawful wife. Because of this, she has suffered torment from her half-siblings. As her aged father, I can only feel endless guilt.’
“……”
“‘Once I am gone, I cannot even bear to imagine how much worse her half-siblings will abuse her. Please, take pity on the child alone and allow her to leave the Bladin estate and live freely. This is a desperate plea from Bladin to Regentera, one we will never make again.’
The Marchioness placed the letter on the table. The moment she saw her father’s handwriting, humiliation flooded across Ebony’s face.
“After that, I grew curious about you and looked into a few things. Your birth mother was a maid at the Bladin estate, wasn’t she? Your father lied and claimed you were the Marchioness’s daughter to hide that fact.”
“……”
“After much deliberation, I decided to ease the order confining you. Just as Bladin once helped a Regentera bastard, this time Regentera would help a Bladin bastard. Only then did I understand why your family sided with Faviel. How amusing it must have been—watching the same household tear itself apart over legitimate and illegitimate children.”
“……”
“I knew it even then. That your father intended to make you his heir. Would a man who loved a mere maid’s child so deeply expose his own shame to me, his lifelong rival? No. Your father was not that kind of man. He simply chose the child with potential—even if she carried a maid’s blood—over the ruined offspring of his lawful wife.”
Lady Lilche leaned deeply into the sofa and studied Ebony’s face at length.
It was a face that greatly resembled the man who had been her longtime enemy. Yet the young woman before her possessed a patience and sense of reality that her father had never shown.
Is it because she grew up under the scorn of being a maid’s daughter? She is certainly more difficult to deal with than the average noble.
The Marchioness judged that, for the sake of the future, she needed to break Ebony Bladin’s spirit.
“The reason I allowed you to roam freely—to the eastern academy, to the grand duchies of the South and North—was entirely to provoke jealousy from your half-siblings. That way, once you inherited the title, they would lose their minds even more, wouldn’t they? Then your household might suffer internal strife just like ours. A truly perfect revenge, don’t you think?”
“What exactly does the Marchioness gain from all this? The Bladin family has already suffered the humiliation of being demoted from duke to count. Everyone in the empire knows that it belongs neither to Bladin nor to the imperial family, but to Regentera. So why go to such lengths?”
Though she was trying her best to control her emotions, Ebony’s voice trembled far higher than usual. The Marchioness looked thoroughly satisfied at the sight.
“That is precisely why I did not go that far.”
“Pardon…?”
“The fact that you are a bastard. No one knows except your family and me. Because I never spoke of it.”
Ebony frowned, her brows knitting in confusion.
Her siblings were drunkards and gamblers. No matter how much they bore the Bladin name, no noble would lend an ear to their words.
Once, one of her older sisters had burst into a party while intoxicated and screamed that Ebony was a maid’s child, but no one believed her.
Every noble knew how dangerous it was for a bastard to inherit a title in the empire. Contempt and cold treatment were only natural; finding a suitable marriage partner was nearly impossible. And if political issues became involved, bastards were frequently stripped of their titles and status.
Drunkards and gamblers though they were, Ebony’s siblings were legitimate children born to the Marchioness. If they clung to the matter and took it to court, Ebony could lose both her title and her identity.
That was why her father had registered her as the Marchioness’s daughter, but it was merely a nominal document that would collapse under a paternity examination.
“It is not at all pleasant for someone as clever as you to inherit Bladin. Nevertheless, the reason I have not exposed your shame is because you are not my equal.”
“Will you reveal it on the day I become the Marchioness’s equal?”
“Somehow I doubt that day will ever come. Did I not say it earlier? There is no one in the Tebron Empire who can stand against me.”
“So you mean to hold that leash and torment me for the rest of my life?”
“I doubt I could even do that. As you can see, I am an old woman with little time left, while you have a long road ahead.”
Even while speaking of her own death, the Marchioness did not bat an eye. The old noblewoman sat with her arms crossed, gazing at Ebony with dry eyes.
“Even if it is not you, someone will have to play the role of the imperial family’s dog. The Emperor’s younger brother, who has coveted the throne his entire life, would have found a way to coax the Emperor to his side.”
“……”
“It is better to move through the Bladin family than to conspire with someone I do not know well. And it is even better if that person is a bastard whose weakness I hold. That way, I gain a weapon with which to restrain them.”
“In the end… my entire life has been dancing in the palm of the Marchioness’s hand.”
“I cannot deny it.”
The face of the woman who had toyed with another person’s life showed not the slightest pang of conscience.
That was the kind of person Bellona Regentera was. Facing her, Ebony realized how complacent she had been.
Though she tried not to show it, Ebony’s heart was filled with a sense of futility she had never felt before. At the same time, worry about the future surged over her like a tidal wave.
This old woman already knows who I have joined hands with.
If she knew who Ebony had allied with, she would have prepared countermeasures as well. Bellona Regentera was someone who saw several moves ahead. It was certain to become a battle in which both Ebony and the imperial family stood at a severe disadvantage.
But there was one thing outside even that calculation: the fact that Ishtel Regentera had kept Karina alive. That was the greatest variable outside of Bellona Regentera’s expectations.
In the end, the one I must use is Karina—that woman. I have to make maximum use of her.
While Ebony was lost in thought, the Marchioness, who was beginning to find the whole affair tedious, let out a large yawn.
“Now then, tell me why you came here. What did you hope to gain by selling out Faviel’s descendant?”
“Please execute Karina Linton—no, Karina Regentera.”
Ebony spoke in a voice that did not waver in the slightest.
“Whether you behead her or hang her in Pleco Square, kill her where everyone can see.”
“Pfft.”
The Marchioness burst into laughter at Ebony’s words. Not knowing the true meaning behind that laughter, Ebony waited with slight tension for the woman’s mirth to subside.
“Now it’s finally becoming a little interesting. Why make such a request? Only a short while ago, the two of you worked together to bring down Count Silanda, did you not?”
“She wouldn’t listen.”
“Wouldn’t listen?”
“Yes. I helped her take revenge for her dead sister, yet she hesitated to help me in return.”
“So you’re going to kill her for that?”
“Doesn’t she deserve to die for that much? She dared to be negligent in her dealings with Bladin.”
Now that the tension was finally easing, the usual sly smile returned to Ebony’s previously stiff lips.
The Marchioness stared intently into Ebony’s purple eyes.
She was different from the other members of the Bladin family that the Marchioness knew. Among nobles, they had been especially arrogant and greedy. Great nobles who valued honor and power above life itself.
Yet the young woman before her was far removed from them. She had stepped into the fight against Regentera not for the family’s honor, but for purely personal reasons.
How should I handle a child like this?
Thinking that yet another troublesome task had been added to her plate, the Marchioness slowly opened her mouth.
“Countess, you will hear good news soon.”
“Truly?”
When Ebony smiled brightly, the Marchioness nodded.
“Thanks to my intervention, you will be able to achieve what you desire, at least for a little while.”
Then she rose slowly from her seat and murmured in a low voice.
“But watch carefully. In the end, it will be our Regentera who wins this time as well.”
Karina Linton’s arrest warrant was issued exactly one week later.
For some strange reason, the necklace had been on her mind since early that morning. There was no particular reason for it. She had simply noticed the rose necklace hanging around her neck while brushing her hair in front of the mirror.
I don’t usually think about it at all. Why today, of all days?
Finding her own reaction odd, she opened the second drawer of her desk. She reached in and felt around the very back. Yet she could not feel the object that should have been there.
“What?”
She lowered her head to look inside the drawer. But the golden rose necklace was nowhere to be seen.
“I definitely put it here.”
In a panic, she pulled every item from the drawer and piled them on the desk, but it was useless. Karina’s necklace had vanished.
Long ago, on the day she had driven Karina out of the imperial palace, the woman had not taken the necklace Ishtel had thrown at her. Keeping it would have been proof that she was Faviel Regentera’s descendant, so it was only right that she had left it behind.
Ishtel had picked up the necklace Karina left and hidden it in her room where no one would know. But a necklace did not have legs—where on earth could it have gone?
“Abigail!”
With her nerves already on edge, she called for the chief maid. Abigail, who had been waiting outside, hurried into the room.
“Did you call for me, Duchess?”
“Who cleans my room?”
“I—I do it myself.”
“Have you ever touched the drawers in my room?”
“N-no. Y-you told me not to touch your desk, so…”
Her voice had been sharper than usual, but even so, Abigail’s reaction seemed unusually awkward.
The moment Ishtel sensed something strange and tried to press her further, Molly came running with a half-dazed expression.