Chapter 75
Chapter 75
-----------------------------------------------------------------
Translator: Vine
Chapter: 75
Chapter Title: The Conspiracy Surrounding the Child Princess
-----------------------------------------------------------------
Princess Anessa lifted a handkerchief to wipe the tears streaming down her face.
“Eek, h-how could this happen?!”
With a face that seemed to have gathered every tragedy in the world, Princess Anessa leaned against the sofa. The crown prince, who had been watching her with a cold gaze, finally spoke.
“It couldn’t be helped. I did my best.”
Anessa bit her lip hard and urgently retorted.
“If I had known it would turn into a marriage like being sold off...!”
The paternity trial had the greatest impact on Anessa’s life. Matthias Mirmod, who had directly confronted the emperor, had revealed everything Princess Anessa had done up until now.
‘Matthias Mirmod, how dare you.’
It seemed the emperor had taken into account everything—the princess frequenting the Mirmod household and tormenting Sien, as well as conducting the paternity test.
“Since His Majesty the Emperor has already pushed forward with your marriage to a foreign prince, it’s safe to say it can’t be undone.”
“......Ha.”
Anessa knew what the foreign prince the emperor had paired her with looked like.
He was fat, pot-bellied, and ugly. Though he was the sole legitimate heir, his appearance was sorely lacking.
It was, in short, a marriage purely for fostering friendship between kingdoms—one that was decidedly not good.
Recalling that fact, Anessa roughly wiped the corners of her eyes with her handkerchief.
The crown prince looked at Anessa with a bored expression and said.
“It was a marriage that would happen anyway. We could have delayed it, though.”
“Brother!”
Anessa cried out in anguish, as if vomiting blood, but the crown prince’s expression remained rigid.
“Anessa, there’s no way I can help you.”
“Yes, so neither you, nor Saintess Melodya, nor even His Holiness the Pope can help me, is that it?”
It was then, as Princess Anessa, who hadn’t expected such a sudden marriage sale, sniffled and twisted her face into a venomous scowl.
Melodya, who had been silent until now, gave a faint smile tinged with melancholy. Even in this moment, Melodya’s beauty was striking enough to leave Anessa staring blankly, her lips parting unconsciously.
But unlike Anessa, Melodya no longer looked at her. Despite having built considerable rapport with Anessa up to this point, she regarded her as if seeing her for the first time.
In other words, she seemed to have lost all interest in Anessa. Sure enough, without responding to Anessa’s words, she lifted her teacup and whispered.
“Your Highness the Crown Prince, Matthias Mirmod has finally stepped in.”
Unlike when he had looked at Anessa, his gaze toward her dripped with honeyed sweetness.
“Yes, Melodya.”
She continued softly with a gentle smile.
“I hear he spoke with His Majesty. I’m curious what they discussed.”
The crown prince bit his lip hard as he gazed at Saintess Melodya, who was set to depart on the Path of Light.
He could easily guess the gist of their conversation. The emperor had summoned him and the princess and berated them harshly.
And that wasn’t all.
He had even arranged a marriage for the princess and bellowed at her to go abroad.
“They say he’s handing over the Michel Mine to Mirmod.”
He ground his teeth.
The crown prince had long disliked how his father cowered before the Mirmod family.
Look at him now—folding immediately after Matthias Mirmod applied pressure. The imperial authority was mired in the mud.
At that moment, Melodya whispered after taking a sip of her tea.
“Seeing you this angry, it’s not just that, is it?”
“......Yes.”
If that were all, he could understand. But his father had played another trump card.
He had said he could no longer trust the crown prince and that he needed a new incentive for him.
‘He still sees me as the heir, but he spoke as if he could replace me at any moment.’
Was it because he chewed his lips in rage? Blood trickled from the corner of his mouth. Melodya reached out with her soft hand and wiped away the blood, saying.
“What is it, Your Highness?”
“Ha! What? He says he’s summoning that half-wit Grand Duke Sebastian to the capital. Does that make any sense?”
Summoning Grand Duke Sebastian, his half-brother who guarded the capital, no less. It could only be seen as an attempt to narrow the crown prince’s position.
‘Father has no ambition whatsoever to strengthen imperial authority.’
It was then, as the crown prince gnashed his teeth. Melodya spoke in her characteristic calm tone.
“Ah, Grand Duke Sebastian—Your Highness’s half-brother, correct?”
“Yes!”
Up until then, the princess, who had been clutching her handkerchief while listening to their conversation, sneered mockingly.
“It means he intends to split the succession structure. Not just me being sold off in marriage, but you’ve taken a proper hit too, Brother. To be threatened for the next emperor’s seat by a half-wit grand duke of all people. How tragic.”
“......Anessa.”
“Why? Thinking about it, messing with Mirmod was a mistake. Why did we overreach like that? It’s almost as if......”
Anessa stared piercingly at the crown prince before glaring at Melodya.
“As if we were bewitched by something. Right, Melodya? Why did I ever listen to you? It doesn’t make sense. That advice to attack Mirmod... it was so sudden, and so strange.”
At Anessa’s words, the crown prince slammed his fist on the table in irritation.
“Melodya didn’t bewitch us!”
“Who knows. If Melodya hadn’t egged us on, would we have made such a bad move just to go after Mirmod? Think about it carefully, Brother. Me taking the risk to torment and drive out Sien Mirmod—it was all because of you and Melodya.”
Tensions rose between the crown prince and the princess. Melodya merely sipped her tea, a faint smile playing on her lips.
“......Hoo.”
She waited patiently, exhaling softly until the crown prince and Anessa calmed, then set down her teacup.
Even Anessa, who had been poised to attack Melodya, flinched at her elegant demeanor.
Soon, Melodya, who had been gauging the crown prince’s expression from beside him, patted his shoulder comfortingly and affectionately.
“Yes. In the end, we failed to deal with Sien Mirmod.”
For some reason, feeling an inexplicable peace from her touch, the crown prince flushed at the mention of ‘Sien Mirmod.’
“Yes, Melodya.”
“What a shame. Still, you worked hard, Your Highness.”
Melodya curved her eyes into a radiant smile.
In truth, Anessa wasn’t entirely wrong. The reason he had gone out of his way to eliminate Sien Mirmod was none other than the woman he had fallen for at first sight—Saintess Melodya.
Because she had insisted that Sien Mirmod must be dealt with, he had tried to ensnare the Mirmods using Anessa and the Yoter Trading Company. Like a moth to a flame, he had been willing to risk everything...
‘Everyone said it was odd to pick a fight with the Mirmod family over a paternity test, but even in total failure, following Melodya’s words made it feel worthwhile.’
Just her patting his shoulder and saying he’d worked hard melted away his anger toward his father and inferiority toward Matthias like snow in sunlight. He grasped Melodya’s hand, which lingered comfortingly on his shoulder, and said curtly.
“......Melodya.”
“Yes.”
“I think it’s only you for me.”
He ignored the incredulous stare from Princess Anessa.
To him, his beloved woman was far more precious than his foolish little sister, who would be sold off to another kingdom to make the empire even stronger.
Saintess Melodya was his first love, the only woman he wished to give the position of crown princess to. He gazed at her with overflowing affection.
Soon, their clasped hands parted, and Melodya met his eyes.
“Is that so?”
“Yes, then as we discussed before, our engagement...”
Melodya let out a short laugh and waved her hand lightly.
“I must set off on the Path of Light now.”
“Melodya? You’re really going? You’re not just secluding yourself by saying you’re departing on the Path of Light?”
“Yes, Your Highness. Of course.”
The phrase ‘heading to the Path of Light’ was commonly understood to mean walking to the Lux coastline at the empire’s southernmost tip.
Long ago, it had been named for a demon realm shrouded in dark light near the Lux coast’s shoreline—a notion close to delusion.
These days, ‘walking the Path of Light’ referred to endlessly wandering the empire’s southernmost coastline for years like a pilgrimage, bestowing grace upon the imperial citizens.
Because of this, it was also called the Pilgrim’s Path rather than its formal name, the Path of Light.
While popes, saintesses, and cardinals throughout history all visited, they typically did so in their final years just before retirement.
It was extremely rare for a young saintess to go to the Path of Light. Frowning at the unusual move, the crown prince said.
“Why are you leaving for the Path of Light so soon? You’re still young. You could marry first and then go.”
In that instant, Melodya’s tender, loving eyes turned icy cold.
It was a change so swift it left the crown prince flustered.
But as if that chill had been an illusion, Melodya softly lifted the corner of her mouth and spoke affectionately.
“The Pope and I have something we must find on the Path of Light.”
“Something to find?”
“Yes. If we find ‘that thing,’ I’m certain Your Highness will ascend to the throne without interference from anyone.”
Hearing her words, the crown prince chewed his lip.
Ever since meeting Melodya, everything had gone well whenever he followed her advice.
Though he had lost face in the Sien Mirmod paternity incident...
‘That was just me fumbling while trying to do something for Melodya; she bears no fault.’
She had thought it necessary to check a mere ten-year-old like Sien Mirmod.
“Yes, then when you return, we...”
“Yes. Sounds good. Let’s get married. Once I return safely.”
She placed her hand on the crown prince’s cheek and spoke tenderly.
It was a remarkably simple proposal.
Melodya wasn’t even smiling. Yet to the crown prince, smitten with youthful love, everything about her seemed perfect.
Anessa watched the scene with a cold gaze.
‘Not even funny.’
Even after losing everything, how could these lovers act so shamelessly?
Her mood soured oddly.
‘Why on earth did Melodya want to eliminate Sien Mirmod?’
Sien Mirmod was clever, but still just a child.
To the pure and kind Melodya, she was merely a young sprout not yet worth removing—why insist on staining the crown prince’s hands with blood?
A sudden doubt arose.
But then, her stomach churned with nausea. Noticing Anessa’s discomfort, Melodya smiled gently and said.
“Anessa, your head must hurt terribly. Rest.”
Just as she said, Anessa could no longer continue her thoughts.
Anessa rubbed her throbbing forehead and leaned back on the sofa.
***
Why was the temple side so intent on eliminating Sien Mirmod?
The one harboring such suspicions wasn’t just Princess Anessa. Matthias Mirmod, who had resolved all these incidents alongside Sien, felt the same.
In the office of the Mirmod family’s vice-duke.
Matthias rested his chin on his hand, gazing down at the desk as he murmured.
“So, in the end, the crown prince colluded with the temple to orchestrate this.”
“Yes, that’s correct. The Yoter Trading Company, the temple, and the crown prince—it can be seen as a joint effort among the three. But why the crown prince and the temple got involved is still a mystery.”
“They wanted to tarnish our family.”
“But......”
“Yes. It’s excessive. To the point where I wonder what reason they had for going this far just to scratch the Mirmod family.”
Matthias reviewed the report stating he had killed all the council elders’ aides who received bribes from the crown prince, then smiled in satisfaction.
As expected, the assassins he had personally trained never erred.
“But you know, now that I think about it, there’s no need to dwell on the reason.”
“Pardon?”
“The temple and the palace both attacking my daughter at once......”
Matthias’s eyes narrowed. His fingertip moved toward the map on the desk.
At the center of the map were the imperial palace and the central temple.
His fingertip settled right in the middle between the imperial palace and the central temple.
“Then I’ll just eliminate both.”