Who Ever Deserves to Die?
In the novel, Bibi was a regressor. Though trapped in a child's body, her mental age was far beyond her years. Naturally, that meant she understood precisely what I meant by those words.
Even in that troublesome original story, when confronted with the woman who had literally tried to kill her, she had told her people to spare such an insignificant life because the true culprit lay elsewhere.
Well... while the original text made no further mention of Princess Titania after her imprisonment in the northern tower, it was frankly doubtful that Bibi's fiercely devoted circle would have let an imperial princess, practically abandoned by her own family, live out her days in peace. She had probably been disposed of quietly, without a single soul ever knowing.
With a tangled knot of feelings, I spoke.
"Thank you."
"..."
"But really, it's alright."
I understood the despair the original Titania must have felt before Bibi. A young lady beloved by all. A girl who could have whatever she desired. A child who, without lifting a single finger, effortlessly possessed everything Titania had ever yearned for. A little girl cherished like the rarest treasure by every member of the terrifying, cold-blooded Castrein Duchy.
Merely looking upon her must have bred an unbearable sense of inferiority—especially when Young Duke Raymon, who had always looked at Titania like vermin beneath his boots, doted on Bibi as though she were a delicate sugar confection that might dissolve in the rain.
Even so.
"You should be worrying about Young Duke Raymon's well-being rather than mine, Bibi."
"...Eldest Brother's?"
Bibi, who had been resting quietly beneath my hand, tilted her head up as a subtle shift flickered through her eyes.
"Yes, Bibi. Not that anyone truly needs to worry about the great Castrein Duchy... but if we break the engagement now, he'll still have time to meet someone better before it grows too late. We've dragged this out for far too long."
Both Raymon and I were nearly twenty. The original plot had already strayed considerably from its course. Far from attempting to murder Bibi, I had actually saved her life once, so I wouldn't suffer a catastrophic ruin and end up rotting in an isolated tower. Even so, standing in the way of a brilliant young nobleman's marriage prospects any longer simply felt wrong.
"..."
I did my best to soothe Bibi, who was puffing out her cheeks and glaring at me with eyes full of discontent.
"I really am fine, Bibi. I'm still the Empire's only princess, after all."
Besides, if the Emperor truly intended to sell me off to some pot-bellied foreign royal as a second wife, I had already devised a suitable escape plan... In fact, breaking this engagement was a prerequisite for that very scheme. I had no desire to entangle myself any further with the Castrein Duchy and bring trouble upon Bibi. So, as guilty as I felt toward the worried little girl, my midnight getaway plan had to remain an absolute secret from her.
Well, calling it a midnight escape wasn't quite accurate; it was closer to Operation 'Play Dead'...
Still, wouldn't everything be neat and tidy if I simply faked my death and vanished? Even if Bibi might grieve for a little while.
"—Please, do not apologize to me."
Suddenly, I remembered the man who had looked at me with eyes resembling crumbling stars. He had looked wounded, yet also terrified. Perhaps he had been both. After all, to him, I was surely a symbol of misfortune rather than good fortune.
"—Why are you apologizing for this? I was the one who put you in danger! Why... why do you only smile and say you are fine just because you saved someone else?!"
A faint ache pinched my chest as I recalled the strained voice that had pleaded with me through clenched teeth. Still, he was a man burdened by an overwhelming sense of duty, convinced that he owed me an irredeemable debt. Now that our engagement was finally coming to an end, however, there was no longer any need for his protection. All that remained was for each of us to go our separate ways.
After all, no one can bring back the dead, can they? The cold, rational Young Duke Raymon would never obsess over a deceased former fiancée. He would find someone new.
"So, shall we have our dessert now? Hmm? I set this all up specially because you were visiting."
"...Fine."
Her eyes darted around in persistent grumpiness, but she didn't refuse the fork I pressed into her small hand. Watching her, I simply gave her a bright, reassuring smile.
"Liar."
Inside the carriage returning to the ducal estate, Bibi muttered in a thoroughly sulky tone, clutching the box of tarts the princess had wrapped as a gift tightly against her chest.
"What does she mean, 'I'm fine because I'm the Empire's only princess'?! She doesn't even believe that herself!"
Lucy, Bibi's faithful maid, gently smoothed down the girl's tousled hair and spoke softly.
"Her Highness simply worries about you, Lady Bibi."
"...If they break the engagement now, there won't be any way to protect Sister. Does she really think it's okay to be sold off to a foreign land? Not that I'll ever let that happen, of course, but..."
The young girl, who had been chattering her worries aloud, suddenly trailed off. Perhaps she truly didn't care. If she was the Titania that Bibi had come to know, she might genuinely feel that way.
Having suffered a miserable death and regressed into the past before being adopted into the ducal family, Bibi had vowed to change everything. Yet that vow had never included the Empire's notoriously arrogant and insolent princess, Titania. At least, not originally—not until that fateful day five years ago when she ran into her in the imperial palace and plummeted into the Underground Maze.
Originally, Bibi had been searching for a hidden imperial relic near the maze—a forgotten treasure that no one in the Imperial Palace even remembered anymore. Since it would be awkward if someone questioned where she got the information, she had intended to slip away and retrieve it while no one was looking. It was an artifact that anyone, even someone without imperial blood, was supposed to be able to claim.
Yet something had gone terribly wrong. A trap was triggered, sending her tumbling down into the legendary Underground Maze beneath the palace.
Had Titania not rushed in out of nowhere to shield Bibi with her own body, the girl would have died right then and there. Even after having her limbs mauled by the demonic beast guarding the maze, Titania had smiled with an ashen, bloodless face.
Normally, unless provoked, that demonic beast would never attack anyone carrying imperial blood. Had Titania simply ignored Bibi, she would have walked away unscathed. Instead, Titania chose to protect her. She had held the little child tightly in her arms and refused to let go, shielding her until the beast—snarling for the intruder in her embrace and viciously snapping its fangs for an opening—finally retreated.
With pale, bloodless lips, Titania had smiled and told her that help would arrive soon, urging her not to cry and that everything would be alright.
"—You have to return to the people who love you, Bibi."
Then what about you?
Soothing the child who was frozen stiff in primal terror, stroking her with hands grown freezing cold from severe blood loss, Titania had spoken her final words. Yes, they were undoubtedly final words. Princess Titania... spoke with a voice that held not the slightest expectation of surviving.
If Bibi had truly been a child, she might not have understood. But she had already lived through an entire lifetime, experienced death, and regressed. She had watched people die before. She knew exactly when a person took on that specific tone of voice.
It was when they had resigned themselves to everything.
Only then did someone speak in such a terribly calm, quiet voice.
Why are you doing this here? Why are you saying those words to me?
"—I'm alright. ...And now, Young Duke Raymon will be alright too."
Realizing the weight behind those words, Bibi had felt utterly stunned. This woman genuinely believed that it was perfectly fine for her to die right here. Because if she died... nothing would be wrong. Once her troublesome fiancée was dead, Young Duke Raymon would finally be at peace.
Something hot and fierce surged up from deep within Bibi's chest.
"—...No, you're not!"
Clutching that pale, trembling hand, Bibi had screamed through her tears.
"—I'm not fine with this! How could I let you die like this when I haven't even repaid the one who saved my life?!"
Titania's hands were so small. Compared to her older brothers, compared to her father, compared to all the hands Bibi had held in her life, they were far too delicate. They were barely large enough to wrap around young Bibi's trembling hands.
Ah, that's right, Bibi had realized. This person is only fifteen years old.
Yet in this vast and sprawling Imperial Palace, there wasn't a single soul who loved or worried for Princess Titania.
"—I-I am a daughter of the Castrein Duchy! We never forget a kindness or a grudge—we always pay our debts!"
Bibi had desperately choked back the sobs threatening to burst from her throat.
The Princess Titania that Bibi had known before her regression had been arrogant and insufferable. Puffed up with false pride yet riddled with an inferiority complex, she had clung obsessively to Raymon, becoming the laughingstock of high society with people mocking that they wished she would act half as lovely as her face. When Bibi returned to the past and discovered that such a woman was still her eldest brother's fiancée, she had disliked it immensely. Since her brother clearly didn't care for the princess either, Bibi had planned to find some excuse to get the engagement broken.
Yet...
"—Who in this world deserves to think it's fine for them to die?!"
To think that Young Duke Raymon would be alright?
As much as Bibi adored her eldest brother, in that single moment, she had felt a flicker of genuine resentment toward him. She was his fiancée, after all. Even if it was an arranged match forced upon him, couldn't he have treated her with just a little warmth? If he had... would she have sacrificed her life to rescue the little sister of her beloved fiancé, only to say so calmly that he would finally be at ease once she was dead?
At Bibi's tearful outburst, Titania had paused for a brief moment before letting out a soft, faint laugh. It was a sorrowful smile, fragile as a withered spring blossom.
"—...Yes, thank you."
That distant, ethereal face had looked as though it might vanish into thin air at any moment.
Even now, just thinking about that day filled Bibi with overwhelming unease. And during their tea just a moment ago, Titania had worn that exact same smile as she soothed Bibi's pleas not to break the engagement!
"...Eldest Brother, you absolute idiot!"
At Bibi's sudden, furious outburst, Killian, the escort knight sitting beside her, remarked flatly.
"Well, Young Duke Raymon has always possessed that sort of temperament."
"I know Eldest Brother likes Sister Tia too!"
"I'm sure he does."
"If he likes her, he should show it! Instead of obsessing over limiting my snacks to three chocolates a day because my teeth might rot!"
"Which is precisely why he drops by Her Highness Princess Titania's palace all the time to eat desserts, isn't it? Everyone knows how much trouble Her Highness went through scouting a master pâtissier just to keep him settled in the Rose Palace."
"Uuuugh."
Gloomily, Bibi rubbed her cheek against the outer packaging of the tart box in her arms. Before the delicate cardboard could crumple under her weight, Lucy deftly rescued the box from her grasp.
Bibi watched her confiscated prize with a teary pout, when a strange thought suddenly struck her mind.
Come to think of it... exactly when did the 'arrogant and insolent' Princess Titania begin to change like that?
Slowly, Bibi traced back through her memories.
If she recalled correctly...
Wasn't that around five years ago as well?
It had happened right after that infamous 'accident' in which Princess Titania had nearly lost her life.