A Desperate Confession
Kneeling prostrate on the floor, Sarah poured out words that sounded thoroughly rehearsed, speaking without a single pause.
"I-it's true that I took money from Consort Cleo and secretly tormented Your Highness! It's true that I embezzled so much—money, fabrics, and jewelry! I also reported every single move Your Highness made, and I-I spread all kinds of vicious rumors about your relationship with Young Duke Raymon! I deserve to die for what I've done, I know it!"
"..."
The servants of the Rose Palace subtly mocking, tormenting, and pulling all sorts of stunts against their royal mistress didn't even make me feel bitter anymore.
After all, anyone who worked in the imperial palace and acted so foolishly without considering the consequences was bound to meet disaster. Sarah and Mary, in particular, were so blatantly under Consort Cleo's thumb that I had assumed they wouldn't manage to keep their heads anyway. When Sarah returned to me alive and unscathed, I had thought Cleo was trying to use her against me once more for some specific scheme. But what on earth was this?
As I looked on, utterly baffled, Sarah continued speaking as if she had finally made up her mind, her eyes trembling.
"B-before Miriam died, I spoke with her."
Miriam? Who was that? As I tilted my head in confusion, Debbie leaned in and whispered into my ear.
"That maid from the Rose Palace... The one who tried to steal Your Highness's sword and went around screaming to everyone that it was possessed by an evil spirit."
"Ah..."
—How dare she, how dare she, HOW DARE SHE! You mean that traitorous sinner who touched me without permission and spread rumors that I was a wicked demonic blade?!?!? Trying to tear me away from my noble Contractor's hands! [ ᴼ ▃ ᴼ ]_/¯!! Unforgivable!!
'No, no, calm down. She already paid with the most precious thing she had—her life.'
Honestly, that maid... wasn't entirely at fault. Well, sneaking into an imperial princess's chamber to steal something was certainly a capital offense in its own right. But touching the Emoticon Sword, screaming in sheer terror, and bolting out of the room wasn't inherently worth execution. How many people in that situation wouldn't have reacted the exact same way?
I remembered that after failing to insult the Empress and me, an enraged Consort Cleo had pinned all sorts of blame onto the maid in her place, subjecting her to a horrific ordeal...
Yes. She must have died. There had been no justification for me to save her back then anyway. It would have made no sense for me, having miraculously awakened through the holy sword's power, to rescue a maid who had slandered my blade as a cursed demonic weapon.
Trembling violently, Sarah lifted her head.
"S-she told me the sword really spoke to her. When she thought back on it, she said it even called her a 'thief.' That the... the power Your Highness displayed in the imperial palace might n-not have been a lie after all..."
"Is that so? I hardly think Consort Cleo would have permitted anyone to visit such a prisoner. How impressive that you two managed to talk."
Were they hometown friends or something? It wasn't as if Sarah had been in a particularly comfortable position either. If they had risked everything to see each other out of genuine worry, I might have felt a shred of pity for them...
"I-I bribed the guards to see Miriam in secret... W-when I smuggled scraps of lace and trims from the Rose Palace, Miriam used to sell them outside the palace for me..."
Poignant backstory, my foot. They were just partners in theft and fencing.
Judging by the way her gaze darted everywhere in shame, she hadn't gone out of pure sympathy. Miriam had been imprisoned for theft, so Sarah had probably snuck in to make sure the sparks wouldn't fly back at her for fencing goods through Miriam. Well, at least her shameless honesty made her somewhat more believable.
"I-I know Miriam committed a mortal crime! And I know I've sinned gravely against Your Highness as well! B-but... to slaughter Miriam's family, and even the people of her hometown village... Claiming they plotted to lure demonic beasts into the palace and assassinate His Majesty the Emperor, calling it high treason... That was too cruel!"
"...Such a thing happened?"
The emotion vanished from my face. Tears dripped heavily from Sarah's eyes.
"W-when I went to see Miriam, Consort Cleo suddenly arrived... so I hid. The... the Consort whipped Miriam relentlessly, screaming that if not for Miriam, she wouldn't have even thought to stage such a plot, that a wretch like her pulling that stunt at such a time ruined her plans... She said... did Miriam think her sick mother or her young sibling studying in her hometown would be spared, the ones she faithfully sent every meager coin she stole? She said they would all be stoned to death for treason in front of the crowds..."
"..."
Silence settled over the room, save for Sarah's choked sobs.
"A-after the Consort left, Miriam called out to me desperately through her blood-soaked face. She begged me to save her youngest sibling, at least. She offered to give me all the money she had secretly saved if only I would save her youngest sibling, who was so bright and dreamed of coming to the capital to study properly. Her sibling was only ten years old this year... B-but what power did I have?"
She wasn't wrong.
Even attempting to aid someone entangled in high treason was punishable by death. And with a true catastrophe having struck the imperial palace, while Consort Cleo was gnashing her teeth in fury...
It was only natural that Sarah, a mere commoner, could do nothing. Miriam had pleaded knowing full well it was impossible, and Sarah had lived with the crushing guilt of knowing it too.
"I lived in sheer terror every single day, terrified someone would discover I had visited Miriam. Then Her Highness the Consort suddenly summoned me. She said she would send me back to the Rose Palace, and instructed me to coax Princess Titania, stay by her side no matter what, and report everything without missing a single detail... A-at that moment, I plucked up my courage and asked what happened to Miriam... She laughed and said that as long as I obeyed Her Highness, I wouldn't end up like Miriam. T-the next day, Miriam was gone."
Sarah's whole frame shook violently, looking on the verge of collapse.
"I-I spent what little money I had left to secretly dig up information. And... it was true. Miriam's hometown village... was executed under the charge of treason. They said Miriam's family met an especially horrific end. I... I don't want to die like that! If I must die, I want to be the only one who dies for my crimes! I don't want my family dragged into that nightmare!"
"..."
Sarah shuffled forward on her knees and clutched the hem of my skirt.
"I-I was wrong all this time, Your Highness! Truly! Please forgive me just this once and help me!"
She squeezed the fabric of my skirt tightly, as though it were the only lifeline tethering her to survival.
"I-I have a younger sister, Your Highness. We were so poor that she was sold off as a maid to an illegitimate child of a viscount's family... But her master has a vile temper and beats her mercilessly without cause! I wanted to buy her out, so I hoarded every bit of coin I could make, hoping to open a decent beauty salon one day!"
I replied in a calm, even voice.
"And yet, you've finally realized it, haven't you? That Her Highness the Consort is not someone who will ever allow you to walk out of this palace with a fortune and live in peace."
"..."
Sarah hitched a shuddering breath, sobbing quietly.
"Then you should have chosen your master more wisely before taking the coin. Granted, there is no place in this palace completely hidden from the Consort's eyes. But had you not flaunted your makeup skills and tried to make money by any means necessary, you never would have been dispatched to this palace."
"T-truthfully, I wanted to serve Her Highness the Consort directly, but my skills weren't good enough..."
"I appreciate your honesty."
Whether Sarah and Mary lived or died, or were crushed like shrimp caught between two battling whales in my war with the Consort, I hadn't cared. Sarah and Mary were adults who understood the ruthless nature of the palace. Coveting Consort Cleo's coin, they had actively participated in tormenting a young princess, so whatever fate befell them was entirely their own doing.
Thus, I had expected Sarah to try and deceive me once more under Cleo's threats and bribes. But it seemed witnessing a horrific tragedy befall someone close to her had opened her eyes.
Mary and Sarah were living proof of Consort Cleo's underhanded schemes to manipulate Princess Titania. If my relationship with Cleo had remained outwardly pleasant, perhaps they might have survived. But now that the rift between us was out in the open, they would never leave the palace alive. The Consort would never allow loose ends—living vulnerabilities—to walk freely outside these walls.
"S-seeing how much Your Highness has changed, I finally understand. So... so please, can you not show me mercy?"
Sarah pleaded desperately. Reflected in her tear-filled eyes were my green irises—cool, detached, and utterly void of emotion.
"What was it you and Mary whispered when I lay collapsed on the verge of death?"
"..."
"Didn't you cackle that a pretty doll looks most expensive when her mouth is shut and her eyes are closed, wondering where you'd squeeze money from if she died completely? And when I insisted on going to see my fiancé in flimsy attire, didn't you laugh and say that nearly dying had turned that pretty idiot's brain to mush? You kept your voices low, whispering and snickering between yourselves, so you probably never dreamed I would hear. But I heard it all, and I simply chose to pretend I hadn't. Because if you couldn't curb such foul tongues and habits in the imperial palace, you were never meant to live long anyway."
"Y-Your Highness..."
Sarah's body trembled violently.