Chapter 24
Chapter 24
Translation: godsn
Had the Princess planted Samon's bracelet wrapped in the handkerchief?
One thing was certain—the Princess had known everything all along. Even that I had betrayed her.
Meeting those cold jade-green eyes felt like having ice water poured over my head.
"Y-Your Highness... I-I was wrong."
Only now, realizing her predicament, did Mariyu begin to tremble with terror.
"How regrettable that Mariyu forgot her place and committed such an act. But what's done cannot be undone. As my lady-in-waiting, I can't very well turn a blind eye and cast you out."
Medeia let out a sigh.
"Grandmother. Please grant permission for Mariyu to marry Minister Etienne. If she longs for him so desperately behind her mistress's back, their connection must run deep."
"No!"
Mariyu screamed hysterically, forgetting all decorum.
"P-please spare me."
She staggered toward the Princess with faltering steps.
Each footfall felt like stepping off a cliff into darkness. Her vision swam black.
"Spare you? The Minister is a good man. A high-ranking noble, immensely wealthy, and he even dotes on you. Mariyu, isn't he your ideal husband?"
'Husband?'
Me? Bound for life not to my beloved Samon, but to that vile old lecher?
The wretched future I'd always mocked the Princess for would become mine instead?
'No. Absolutely not. I'd rather die.'
But could I escape? Could I possibly slip free from this nightmare?
"Congratulations. Though parting with you grieves me, sending you to a better place is a mistress's duty."
The Princess's gentle congratulatory tone sounded eerily like a funeral eulogy.
"N-no, Your Highness! It was all lies!"
Half-mad with fear, Mariyu babbled incoherently.
"The Head Maid made me do it! She gave me the Minister's handkerchief and told me to hide it in Your Highness's chambers!"
The crowd gasped in disbelief.
Did the Princess's maid just say what they thought she'd said?
"Silence!"
The Head Maid moved to clamp a hand over Mariyu's mouth, but the floodgates had already burst—Mariyu sobbed out her confession like water gushing through a broken dam.
"After Your Highness argued with the Head Maid, the Regent threatened to replace her! She came to me furious and... and ordered me to do it! It was all Head Maid Cuisine's scheme! Please believe me!"
"Lies! Shut your mouth! Don't slander me!"
The Head Maid lunged violently at Mariyu but was restrained.
"She said since Your Highness dared strike her, she'd show you her true power! In exchange for helping her, she promised to have me adopted into a noble house! To cleanse my common blood!"
The courtiers murmured among themselves.
Every palace servant present was seasoned in court intrigue.
They'd witnessed countless schemes both great and small.
As they listened to Mariyu's hysterical outpouring, the full picture emerged—the Head Maid, cast out by the Regent, had sought revenge by planting false evidence to frame the Princess.
The crowd shuddered at the Head Maid's cruelty in ruining a young girl's life, then gasped again realizing she'd been the Regent's agent all along.
"I-I was blind! I must have been mad! I was wrong, Your Highness—sob—"
Mariyu prostrated herself before the Princess, babbling desperate pleas as if deaf to all else.
"I'll never do it again! Sob Please, just this once, forgive me! Your Highness, save me!"
"......"
"I may be foolish, but you cherished me, didn't you? All those years by your side... You wouldn't discard me like this, would you?"
Medeia looked down at the begging maid.
Trembling eyes held their last flicker of hope—a baseless faith that the Princess wouldn't truly abandon her.
Had my face looked like that in my past life, when Mariyu betrayed me to the Rebel Army?
'You betrayed me for love. Then, and now.'
Since you loved fiercely enough to sell your mistress, shouldn't you pay the price?
Medeia bent down and placed her hand over Mariyu's.
The gesture resembled a saint pardoning a criminal.
"How merciful," the onlookers murmured, "to clasp hands with the very maid who plotted against her."
But Mariyu trembled violently.
Because the Princess's cold fingers gripping hers weren't joining in reconciliation—they were peeling off Mariyu's desperate fingers one by one from her skirt.
"Do not resent me, Mariyu."
The princess whispered low.
"Then do not resent me, Your Highness."
A familiar phrase, as if she'd heard it somewhere before.
'She truly... knew everything!'
When Mariyu lifted her head, icy eyes glared back at her.
A shiver ran down her spine.
"......!"
She collapsed right where she sat, fainting on the spot.
The Queen Dowager clutched her throbbing head.
"Utterly... disgraceful."
So this entire mess was the Head Maid's scheme? And the princess's maid was complicit?
'Meaning Medeia was innocent from the start?'
"What brazen hussies. Daring to plot against their mistress—no, against the blood of Valdina herself."
Then, Lady Pinatelli was the first to speak.
Having noticed the Queen Dowager's hesitation, she skillfully invoked the name of Valdina's bloodline.
Had she framed this incident solely as Medeia's affair, the Queen Dowager might not have been so shaken.
But the blood of Valdina changed everything.
This was no longer about personal dislike for a disagreeable granddaughter—it was an attempt to tarnish the honor of the royal family, sacred as the heavens themselves.
The Queen Dowager's eyes turned sharp.
"Take those treacherous wenches away."
No sooner had the words left her lips than sturdy maids seized the Head Maid by both arms. The unconscious Mariyu was hauled up like a sack.
"No! It's a lie! The princess ordered her maid to scheme this! Catherine! Help me! This is a trap! They're framing me!"
Sensing her doom, the Head Maid raved like a madwoman.
But Catherine was too busy biting her lip and gauging the Queen Dowager's mood to respond.
'Why is that stupid maid dragging us into this now!'
With rumors circulating that the Regent had planted the Head Maid, everyone was eyeing her with suspicion.
So preoccupied was she with finding an escape from this predicament that she didn't even hear Lady Cuisine's shrieks.
"Argh! Let go! Princess! This was your doing! You set me up, ugh—!"
The Head Maid's last struggles ended when a cloth was stuffed into her mouth as she was dragged away.
"Sever the tendons in both hands so she can never plot against her mistress again, then flog her until death. Lord Siseo, make an example of her."
"As Your Majesty commands."
Siseo gave a solemn nod.
Only after the instigator was removed did the chaotic atmosphere begin to settle.
Like the calm after a storm.
Everyone present remembered how harshly the Queen Dowager had scolded her granddaughter earlier.
How grievously wronged the princess must feel—falsely accused, even betrayed by those she trusted.
People expected the Queen Dowager to at least offer some consolation to her granddaughter.
'As if that would happen.'
Medeia knew this matter wouldn't end with the Head Maid's punishment.
True to expectations, the Queen Dowager's gaze remained frosty.
"Hmph. Flaunting the King's seal, acting as if she owns the place—no wonder the servants grew presumptuous."
Though it was clear to all that Medeia bore no fault, the Queen Dowager still blamed her granddaughter.
"Even confined here, Medeia, I've heard all about your outrageous antics."
"......"
"Do you think the King entrusted you with his seal so you could run wild? Pelleus is cursed by the heavens to have a sister like you. You foolish, witless child! Who gave you such authority? As Dowager Queen, I can no longer tolerate you throwing the palace into disarray."
The Queen Dowager's icy stare pinned her granddaughter.
"Surrender the seal. It's time to end this farce."
Medeia stood motionless, utterly still.
"I said bring it—why are you just standing there!"
The Queen Dowager raised her voice again, but Medeia didn't so much as twitch.
Each ragged breath betrayed the depth of the older woman's fury.
"Your Majesty, please compose yourself. Agitation will only worsen your condition."
Catherine stepped forward, shielding the princess.
She positioned herself before Medeia—like a mother protecting her young.
"Her Highness surely had no ill intent. She's still too young to grasp the palace's intricate politics. Just a child's naive affection for her servants. Please be merciful—consider the purity of Her Highness's heart."
On the surface, Catherine's words seemed to defend Medeia.
In truth, they reinforced the notion that Medeia acted willfully, disregarding palace decorum.
The Queen Dowager's eyes grew sharper still.
"Foolishness! Even Virna, younger than her, carries herself with dignity! How long must we indulge this incompetent wretch?"
"...Your Highness, beg forgiveness. If you promise never to repeat this, Her Majesty the Dowager Queen may yet relent."
Catherine made a subtle gesture toward Medeia.
But Medeia remained still, as if deaf to her words.