Chapter 137
Chapter 137
Translation: godsn
Medeia gazed down from the towering heights of the royal palace.
"Your Highness should have been down there as well."
Neril let her shoulders slump with a heavy sigh.
"Though it may be presumptuous, I still cannot comprehend why Your Highness so adamantly refused to participate in the triumphal procession."
Her voice gradually grew louder.
She couldn't suppress the frustration and inexplicable sorrow seeping through.
"The Regent's downfall, the suppression of the rebellion, the victory on the plains—none would have been possible without Your Highness's arrangements. It was Your Highness the Princess who saved this nation."
Did those cheering commoners below truly understand?
That for today's victory, the princess had staked everything—every single time.
That to perfectly ensnare their enemies' necks without a single misstep, the princess had endured countless sleepless nights.
"Neril, I'm sorry for not recognizing you, for being so foolish."
"Neril, where is your master now?"
"Neril, prepare my sword."
Every moment the princess had orchestrated, every instance she had moved to assist her—all flashed through Neril's mind.
As if understanding her heart, a small hand approached and patted Neril's shoulder.
The princess lifted the corner of her lips slightly and spoke.
"That is not my place."
'Nor do I deserve it.'
She had merely returned what she had stolen and plundered back to her homeland at long last.
Medeia's eyes faintly captured the scene of the triumphal procession.
The lively, joyous atmosphere of the royal castle overlapped with her memories of Valdina from her past life.
Gray smoke, the piled corpses of magic beasts and humans. A wasteland where no life remained. The curse she had brought upon them.
'It's different. This time, it's changed. I... was the one who changed it.'
Her other hand, not extended to Neril, clenched into a tight fist within the folds of her dress.
A steely resolve flickered through her jade-green eyes.
'And I will continue to do so.'
It was both a wish and a conviction she repeated to herself.
"The triumphal procession no longer matters. Neril, don't forget we still have tasks ahead. Who visited Claudio's prison?"
At Medeia's question, Neril suppressed her frustration and regained her composure.
She must never forget that her most important duty was to serve as the princess's reliable hands and feet.
Though her expression remained sullen, Neril, who had stood by the princess all this time, instinctively sensed that Medeia's plans were far from over.
'How far ahead is Your Highness looking?'
"Yes, Count Laju visited with medicine and a physician."
"Hmm... So Laju managed to survive after all."
'He was always good at tightrope walking, even back then.'
Count Laju, despite incurring Perdiccas II's displeasure, had secretly supported Iason with all his might beneath the surface.
And only when Iason's ascension to the throne became certain did he finally step out of the shadows.
'Then he wouldn't have given up on his daughter so easily.'
While Medeia gazed thoughtfully toward the direction of Claudio's cell with an unreadable expression, elsewhere in the palace, two others stood locked in an irreconcilable confrontation.
"Saya, you're being deceived!"
It was Theo and Saya, the siblings.
Theo had come to the royal palace to see his sister.
Without even a moment to rejoice in their reunion after years apart, a sharp tension radiated between them.
"Do you even know what kind of person that woman—the princess you serve—truly is?"
"What exactly am I being deceived about?"
Saya retorted sharply.
Gone was the girl who always smiled brightly, beloved by all in the princess's court.
She stared at her brother with a face devoid of any warmth or laughter.
Theo's appearance had changed considerably from what Saya remembered. He had grown taller and broader, his features more rugged.
Though his handsome face remained, it carried an inexplicable gloom and weariness.
The eyes that once brimmed with a boy's passion and vitality had long lost their spark, like a faded painting.
Saya could guess that Theo's time apart had not been easy either.
But none of that brought her any comfort.
"Saya, the Princess staked your life to threaten me! She used you as bait to stop the rebellion! She took you in as her handmaid from the very beginning for that exact purpose!"
Theo pounded his chest in frustration.
He believed his little sister had fallen for the Princess's cunning schemes.
Once she learned the truth, she would surely be horrified—disgusted by the fact that she had aided such a cruel villain by her side.
But contrary to his expectations, Saya merely responded with chilling calm.
"So?"
"What?"
"So what do you want to do now, Theo? Are you upset that the rebellion ended halfway? Or are you dissatisfied that Her Highness the Princess personally pleaded with the King to spare your life?"
"Saya, how can you say such things...!"
Theo stared at her in shock. Disbelief, betrayal, and disappointment flashed across his face.
"After everything I did to save you! Everything I gave up! My freedom, my convictions—everything!"
"Don't use me to justify yourself!"
Saya's retort was scathing.
They were siblings born from the same womb, raised together. They knew each other's thoughts as clearly as if they were written in the open.
"Theo, do you think I don't know you? If you had truly believed in them—if the revolution had been real—you would have protected them to the death, no matter what threats the Princess made. You would have borne any sacrifice. Even if it meant my life."
Even if it tore his heart apart, he would have accepted it.
He would have considered a small sacrifice for a greater cause inevitable.
Just as he had left Saya behind without hesitation back then.
"Should I be grateful that you valued my life more than your fake rebellion?"
"I..."
Theo's face paled.
Only after his sister struck at the heart of the matter could he finally reflect on the past.
Why had he assumed she would simply understand him? That she would forgive him for leaving the Royal Castle in a fit of rage and resentment, without a second thought?
The rift between them, carved by time, had grown too deep.
Too deep for Theo to mend so easily now.
"Saya. I was wrong. I can't imagine how much I hurt you... I'll make it up to you. Come with me. Let's leave this place, okay?"
Even as he offered his belated apology, Theo reached out to her.
He thought he could gradually soothe his wounded sister's heart.
The important thing was that he couldn't leave her by the side of that vile Princess any longer.
"We'll go to the Holy Kingdom. If I join the temple, supporting the two of us won't be difficult."
"......"
"I can't leave you near that woman any longer. She's a monster who sees people as nothing more than chess pieces—who knows when she'll use you again—"
"Theo, if you were so worried about me... Why didn't you think about how I was supposed to survive alone on those streets after you abandoned me?"
Back then, she had so much she wanted to say to her brother.
So many grievances to pour out, so many complaints, so many resentments.
But all those words, even the heart that had once searched for Theo, had long since vanished, buried in the sand like a forgotten memory.
"Her Highness the Princess warned me."
"That I might regret choosing her as my master."
Saya still hadn't forgotten the words the Princess had spoken the day she accepted her earnest plea.
Perhaps the reason she wasn't shocked by Theo's accusations was because she had already anticipated this day.
"Ah, but mine is so shabby...! This is the most precious thing to Her Highness! She gazes at it every night before bed!"
The bracelet of the King, which the Princess had stubbornly pressed into her hands. The silent apology the Princess had tried to convey.
Only now did everything make sense.
'Your Highness, you had no reason to feel guilty toward me.'
She understood the Princess now.
'The fact that you spared a disloyal traitor like Theo, leaving no room for future trouble...'
It was because he was her brother.
An exception made for the sake of the one who would grieve his death.
Saya rubbed her stinging eyes fiercely, as if to ward off the unsightly tears threatening to fall.
"Theo, the only reason Her Highness spared you is because you're my brother."
"What?"
Theo's eyes widened like lanterns.