Chapter 196
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Translator: 8uhl
Chapter: 196
Chapter Title: It's Not Wrong.
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"Heh heh, so that's your choice."
"If that's what you want, then do as you please. Now that royal approval has been granted, there's nothing to be gained from my opposition."
......
"I'm sorry, Countess Rose."
"Feel free to resent me. I failed to take your side as promised."
"But please understand. As the crown prince, I have a duty to prioritize the glory and stability of the Great British Empire above all else."
"And in my view, Countess Rose, your decision doesn't seem to benefit the empire."
"It's simply regrettable."
......
"Won't you reconsider even now?"
"If not, then there's no helping it."
"Though things have turned out this way, understand that this was a difficult decision for us nobles as well."
"If you change your mind, let me know anytime. I'll do my utmost to mediate with Duke Karl."
......
......
......
Rose thought to herself.
There had never been a ball this disastrous since the founding of the Serpent Countess family.
But setting aside those private thoughts, Rose opened her mouth with her usual composed demeanor.
"Have all the guests returned home safely?"
"Yes. However......"
"What is it?"
"......Most of the guests went to the party at the Makers Guild instead of heading home."
Lucas wore a grim expression, as if even reporting it pained him.
But Rose nodded calmly, as if she had already anticipated it, and spoke.
"From next Walpurgis Night onward, there won't be any more balls held at our countess's residence."
"That can't be."
"Sir Lucas, acknowledge what must be acknowledged."
With her ever-serene face, Rose deflected his words and continued softly.
"We fell for Duke Karl's scheme."
"This can't even be called a scheme! For someone called a lord to throw the populace into chaos like this—what a heinous act!"
Lucas revealed his fury.
He was the closest aide to the Blue Dragon Princess, always showing a grave and composed demeanor.
Yet even he couldn't hide his anger, for Karl's ploy was utterly vile.
To fabricate a fake twilight and plunge London into chaos, then present himself as the solution to forcibly gain support.
It was the kind of dirty trick a back-alley thug might pull.
But Rose shook her head.
"Duke Karl wasn't underhanded. I was too complacent, trying to resolve things through dialogue without grasping his resolve."
It was a simple matter.
Rose had seen this ball as the final negotiation table to settle things, but Karl had staked everything on an all-out battle, accepting the risk of total loss if he failed.
That small but crucial difference had led to this outcome.
From the moment she saw him arrive at the ball fully armed like he was storming enemy territory......
No, she should have realized it even earlier, when he openly met with Duke Robert.
If she had recognized that as a ploy to draw attention, she would have known Karl had no intention of persuading her from the start.
"......It's not Your Highness's fault. The failure to recognize his intent to wage war on us is my responsibility."
After a deep breath, Lucas slowly nodded.
But that didn't mean his anger had subsided.
"So, Your Highness, give me a chance to make up for my mistake."
"What do you plan to do?"
"If Duke Karl—no, if that man truly wants war, then why not give him what he desires?"
If it were any other matter, Lucas wouldn't have made such a radical proposal.
He was one of the merciful Blue Dragon Clan, after all.
But this was an exception.
Karl had violated two of the three absolute taboos the Blue Dragon Clan would never tolerate, all at once.
In that sense, less as a personal opinion and more representing the collective will of the Blue Dragon Clan, Rose gazed silently at Lucas, who burned with cold rage.
Then she spoke softly.
"I'll think more on that matter. Withdraw for today."
"But Your Highness......!"
"I won't hear objections."
Rarely cutting off Lucas's retort, Rose spoke with a cold and stern expression.
"Sir Lucas, is the cleanup from today's chaos in London complete?"
"......The chaos itself has subsided a great deal, but minor disturbances continue."
"I understand your anger. But don't commit the folly of neglecting your duties for personal vengeance."
His lips twitched briefly at her words.
In the end, Lucas lowered his eyes, placed a hand over his chest after a short silence, and bowed his head.
"Forgive my impertinence."
"It's fine. Now go do what you must."
"......If that's Your Highness's will."
He couldn't accept it, but as a knight of the Blue Dragon Clan, he would obey her command.
After Lucas vanished through spatial transfer with a polite response, Rose turned her head.
She glanced around the now-empty ballroom, which had been bustling just moments ago, as if it had all been an illusion, then slowly walked away.
She didn't use spatial movement.
There was no particular place she wanted to go.
She simply wanted to leave this place and sort her thoughts while walking alone.
Fortunately.
Or perhaps unfortunately.
With most of the Blue Dragon Clan racing around London to quell the chaos, being alone wasn't difficult.
Thus, Rose strolled through the garden by herself, calmly retracing her memories.
'......If only I'd thought a little deeper.'
The more she reflected, the more regret surfaced—not just for being wary of Karl, but for failing to see through his scheme.
She had excuses.
Already swamped with countless tasks, she had limits even without adding the witch murder investigation and preparations against Karl.
She had even pushed herself to the point of insomnia over the past few months by increasing her workload.
But since she hadn't stopped Karl's ploy, all those efforts had been for naught.
'I need to come up with countermeasures quickly.'
More important than reflection was finding a way to resolve this crisis.
Quell London's chaos, stop Karl, restore the countess family's prestige, and soothe the enraged clan to prevent turning London into a battlefield.
The tasks piling up were mountainous.
'But what should I do?'
Yet contrary to her rational judgment, she couldn't easily sink into thought.
Karl's eyes burning with obsession.
The nobles' eyes, cold and indifferent.
Lucas's eyes, filled with loyalty.
All of it swirled in her mind, surging the fatigue she had barely suppressed.
She wanted to forget everything and get some sleep, but her immense sense of duty and insomnia forbade it, breeding even greater exhaustion.
Unable to endure the vicious cycle any longer, it was then that Rose sat in the gazebo to catch her breath and gazed up at the moon.
"How are you feeling, Countess?"
She had finally gotten some solitude.
Seeing Rimon pop up out of nowhere and speak to her, Rose let out a sigh.
"What is it this time?"
"Oh, nothing much. Just curious how it feels to get bitten by the livestock you've been diligently tending all this time."
"Then you've asked the wrong person. I've never seen them as livestock, nor was I shocked."
"I asked about your feelings, not whether you were shocked."
"......"
Rimon smirked at Rose, who shut her mouth as if caught off guard.
Then, with deeply sunken eyes, he continued gazing at her.
"Of course, there's nothing strange about it. It's natural to be shocked if betrayed by someone you've generously favored your whole life."
"But Countess, you're not shocked because of that."
"You're shocked at yourself for feeling no sense of betrayal despite being betrayed."
"Right?"
Rose thought.
She should deny it immediately.
She couldn't accept such nonsense.
But that voice, laced with mockery, seeped in with an eerily calm whisper like a devil's temptation.
And those eyes, piercing her soul, reflected her image with crystalline clarity and serenity.
When she finally opened her mouth, Rose forgot all judgment and answered unconsciously.
"Yes, just as you said."
When everyone turned their backs on her.
What Rose felt wasn't anger, betrayal, sorrow, or emptiness.
"I wasn't shocked. If anything, I felt relieved."
Instead, it was a lightness, as if a heavy burden had lifted on its own.
Borrowing Rimon's words, it was close to the relief of no longer needing to tend to livestock she had carefully nurtured.
That's why she was shocked.
Rimon's blunt claim that she had expected nothing from them, merely extending mercy like caring for pets.
She hadn't wanted to admit it, but she realized it was true.
"It's only natural I was abandoned. Who would sincerely follow someone who sees them merely as livestock?"
To give without expecting reward, impartially.
That is surely mercy.
But it is also cruelty.
For it ignores everything the other can do or become—ability, effort, potential.
Those at the ball had turned away without hesitation because, consciously or not, they knew this.
Acknowledging it calmly, Rose wore a dry smile.
"In the end, I was a hypocrite, and everything I've done until now was wrong."
The righteous and merciful Blue Dragon Clan.
Their princess and proud noble, who had lived to protect and aid the weak.
Yet she realized it was all just child's play, driven by self-satisfaction in being good and just.
Rose turned her head smoothly to look at Rimon and asked.
"How's that? Is this the answer you wanted?"
"All but one part."
"That's surprising."
She hadn't known she still had more flaws for him to drag out.
As Rose muttered in a voice thick with fatigue, Rimon spoke softly.
"You're right—you're a hypocrite. Even a dogmatist at that."
"Yes, I know."
"But is that something to lament?"
"......?"
Perhaps because the question was so out of left field.
Rimon slowly stepped forward as Rose blinked in bewilderment.
He plopped down in the empty seat beside her and continued matter-of-factly.
"Sure. Hypocrisy isn't virtue, and thinking only purely intended good deeds for the right purposes are true virtue is your prerogative."
Donations for tax breaks.
Volunteering to atone for sins.
Help to gain favor.
Since ancient times, good deeds often hid motives, so pure ones were revered while motivated ones were scorned.
"But Countess, a guy starving to death doesn't care if the bread comes from a hypocrite or a saint."
Whether the motive is pure or not.
The bread given to the hungry is still bread.
Can you call saving a dying person not virtue just because it's hypocrisy?
Conversely, if you withhold bread out of hypocrisy and let someone starve, is that right?
Answers vary by person.
But Rimon declared firmly.
"If you call a good deed wrong because it wasn't purely motivated, that's not even idealism. It's delusion."
"......What exactly are you trying to say to me?"
"Oh, it's simple."
Rimon shrugged.
Then, to the blue-haired woman staring at him with utter incomprehension—the princess of the Blue Dragon Clan, who had fiercely opposed him in the Seven Dragon Society, second only to or even surpassing the Black Dragon Clan generation after generation—he said plainly.
"You're just a hopelessly kind princess in the end, and even if what you've done is hypocrisy, it wasn't wrong."