Chapter 21 — The Truth of Her Birth
Chapter 21 — The Truth of Her Birth
Translation: Godtl
"...."
In the original work, she was a device created for certain episodes.
The first device was to show how overprotective Julianna's older brothers were, and the second device was this.
A person who inflicted great wounds and sorrow upon Emperor Perseus.
In short, a disposable character. An unfortunate supporting character created for Perseus's sake.
In the original work, Emperor Perseus learns the truth long after Lelia dies.
He suffers and falls into despair upon knowing that fact.... But his adopted daughter Julianna comforts him and becomes the hope that lets him live again.
'Honestly, I don't even want to think of him as my real father....'
Until now, she had deliberately ignored it, but actually seeing him before her eyes, she felt a strange sensation. It was different from the brothers who were simply childish brats.
"Your eyes resemble that man."
The eyes of the knight Princess Iris had loved were greenish, similar to Lelia's.
And Perseus's deceased wife, Lelia's biological mother Elizabeth, also had beautiful peridot-like eyes.
"...."
Lelia raised her head again to look at Perseus. He distorted his cheek as if in anguish, then turned his head away.
"Take her back."
Perseus said to the servant standing behind Lelia.
"Understood, Your Majesty."
The servant immediately approached Lelia and yanked her back by the nape of her neck. It was rudeness completely devoid of any respect, unworthy of an attitude toward a member of the imperial family.
However, no one pointed it out.
The Emperor turned his chair to show his back as if averting his gaze, and the other servants and knights simply looked at Lelia with cold eyes.
'It's absurd. What's the point of regretting it later?'
Lelia mocked Perseus internally as she returned to the tower.
In the original work, Emperor Perseus belatedly learns that Lelia is his biological daughter and regrets having hurt her.
But regret came too late. In the original work, Lelia had died.
Honestly, she sometimes thought about telling the Emperor the truth even now....
'There's no way.'
Without evidence, saying such things would get her treated as a crazy person.
'I can't reveal it until the nanny who disappeared appears.'
But the time when the nanny would appear was still far off. She had no intention of staying here blankly waiting until then.
'Before that, I'll be used for a political marriage.'
If she got married like being sold off to some strange fellow and then it was revealed she was his biological daughter, it would be useless.
'The only way is escape.'
Lelia made a firm resolution as she returned to the tower. Her body felt drained of energy, and she collapsed onto the bed.
'I'm exhausted....'
Having encountered Cedric, Damian, and then Emperor Perseus in succession, her energy had been sucked dry.
Lelia lay motionless, staring at the ceiling as she recalled memories of the original work.
'The nanny is the key to the secret....'
The nanny who had cared for young Lelia before suddenly disappearing one day. In the original work, the nanny's whereabouts were revealed much later.
She had been Princess Iris's maid, and under the princess's orders, she protected and lived with Lelia. Then one day, she suddenly received urgent news from her family. Her parents living in the countryside had been imprisoned, suspected of being heretics. Those branded as heretics could never escape execution. She immediately stole the princess's jewelry and fled. She took her parents and escaped beyond the borders.
No matter how much the princess had left final instructions, before the lives of one's family, nothing could be more important.
The nanny, the only person who knew the truth, would return to the imperial palace much later.
'And recalling the situation at the time, she would confess all the facts to Emperor Perseus....'
At that time, both Elizabeth and Princess Iris were pregnant.
Normally, there would have been a difference in their due dates, but unfortunately, Elizabeth gave birth earlier than expected.
Perseus was away on a campaign at the time, and his two sons were being cared for at Elizabeth's family home.
And around that time, an incident occurred where the current Emperor, Perseus's father, suddenly collapsed.
Everything was a scheme by Lydios, who coveted the throne. Even the fact that Perseus, then the Crown Prince, had gone on campaign.
Elizabeth, who realized all the facts, understood that Perseus might not return.
And that along with her own life, the child in her womb might not survive either.
Amidst this, Elizabeth's labor began, and she dismissed all the servants and gave birth alone.
Perhaps it was for the best. She had to smuggle the child out before Lydios's surveillance intensified.
Holding the child who had come into the world early without completing the full months, Elizabeth wept. But she couldn't just keep crying.
'What should I do...?'
She tried to think of someone to ask for help. But there was no one in the imperial palace who would help her.
Her mother-in-law, the Empress, had passed away long ago, her father-in-law the Emperor had collapsed, and her sister-in-law Princess Iris hated her intensely.
'There has to be a way....'
Elizabeth thought that even if she died, she absolutely had to protect this child, and left her quarters.
Late at night, the place she went was Princess Iris's quarters.
Coincidentally, Princess Iris had also just given birth. However, the princess's chambers were filled with gloom.
The moment she stepped inside, Elizabeth felt the shadow of death.
The child Princess Iris had carried to full term had died.
Princess Iris was writhing in pain and crying. Her beloved had died, and now even her last remaining child had died.
She had no will to live anymore.
Elizabeth knelt before the princess and begged.
"Princess Iris, please save this child.... As a mother yourself, show mercy just this once, please...."
Princess Iris glared at Elizabeth, whom she had always hated.
"In a situation where my child has died, you're asking me to save yours? Did you come here thinking I would listen to those words?"
Princess Iris wanted to kill both mother and daughter right then and there....
But when she saw the child held in Elizabeth's arms, her heart wavered.
Though her own child had died immediately after birth, still, she was a mother.
As someone's mother, she couldn't bring herself to harm that child.
Princess Iris wept for a long time, then made her decision.
"Leave the child and go."
"Princess Iris...."
Princess Iris received her dead child from her maid and handed it to Elizabeth.
Iris, who even had to send away her dead child's body, and Elizabeth, who had to leave her child behind.
That day, Lelia's fate was decided.
Elizabeth returned to her quarters, sobbing, holding the stillborn child.
Lydios heard this news late and rejoiced greatly. The child he had intended to kill immediately after birth had died without him lifting a finger. God was on his side.
Then he heard the news that Crown Prince Perseus, as well as his older brother's two sons, had all died.
Lydios had no more reason to hesitate. He fed Elizabeth poison as well, killed her, and took the throne that should have returned to his older brother, becoming Emperor.
Amidst that chaos, Princess Iris ended up raising Elizabeth's child in her place, but fell deep into illness and began to waste away.
Sensing her death, Iris entrusted Lelia to the only maid who knew the truth, asking her to take good care of her, and closed her eyes.
All of this was a tragedy for Perseus, and the lovely daughter Julianna who would heal him. A narrative prepared only for those two.
Lelia had absolutely no intention of becoming a tool for that narrative.
"...."
Lelia rose from the bed and quietly gazed beneath the wooden floor. Down there were the fountain pen and letters she had shared with her friends.
Perhaps more letters had arrived. But Lelia had no intention of opening that wooden floor again.
If she saw them, she might end up writing letters again.
'I don't want to make them feel betrayed for being deceived.'
Lelia turned her gaze away completely and burrowed into the blankets. The happy memories from the Temple felt like a distant dream.
Her own self, smiling brightly, seemed like a lie. Come to think of it, since returning to the main country, she had never laughed as loudly as she did back then.
That fact made her heart ache for no reason, but Lelia shook her head.
'Now isn't the time to play like a child. I need to come to my senses.'
Lelia recalled her original plan and pictured in her mind the cottage nearby.
The cottage left behind by Emperor Perseus's deceased wife Elizabeth, Lelia's biological mother.
'The food supplies should be running out around now anyway.'
There would be not only emergency rations but also quite a few useful magical tools there.
'Perhaps there might even be something that would let me learn magic.'
Mana affinity was often hereditary, so there was a possibility she might develop some ability.
'If I could use magic, I wouldn't need to wait until I'm bigger to leave the palace....'
She would be able to protect herself, after all.
Lelia chewed her lips anxiously.
The time when she would die in the original work was not far off.
'It was after the doll incident... so probably within two or three months.'
Just in case, she planned to stay holed up in the tower as much as possible during that time.
'I shouldn't even go near the pond. Even if I accidentally fall in, I won't die anyway.'