Bitter Medicine and Wounded Pride
That was why Barbara could understand what had happened back at the temple. When the sudden fire broke out, she had run around in a frantic panic searching for Titania, only for the princess to appear without a scratch on her and burst into exaggerated wailing. At first, Barbara had been utterly flabbergasted, but seeing Lisianthus looking just as bewildered while Debbie expertly played along—pretending to restrain the princess—Barbara had grasped the situation and chimed in without missing a beat.
After all, they say you must deceive your allies before you can deceive your enemies. The corrupt clerics had tried to grasp at straws to quietly torment Titania, and the princess had simply repaid them in kind for all to see. When Raymon stormed the temple and moved their accommodations to the Castrein Southern Villa, Barbara had actually breathed a sigh of relief. Even by her estimation, lingering in that foul den of priests would have done Titania no good whatsoever.
Still, the cryptic parting words High Priest Ilian left with Titania, and the flustered reaction they drew from the princess, nagged at Barbara like a bone stuck in her throat. Even so, she had not stepped forward to pry. She was merely a maid. If Titania did not place her complete trust in her, Barbara could hardly blame her. Until the princess arrived at the Empress Palace, they had been total strangers.
Truth be told, Barbara belonged to the Empress Palace through and through. Her utmost priority was, and always would be, Her Imperial Majesty the Empress. If forced to choose between Titania and the Empress, Barbara would choose the Empress without a second thought. That was why she believed she simply had to bear it, even if she was left in the dark about crucial matters—even if she felt deliberately excluded. Titania was joining hands with the formidable House of Castrein to orchestrate something grand; it was only natural that an ordinary maid could not be privy to it all.
Barbara had also realized early on that Debbie, whom the ducal family had assigned as a maid, was far from ordinary. Though she always wore a breezy smile and babbled nonsensical chatter, the glint in her eyes was razor-sharp, and her hand movements were unnervingly precise.
So Barbara had believed that as long as Titania took Debbie along, no serious danger would befall her.
…Yet, while staying at that very Castrein villa, Titania had slipped out once more without Barbara, only to be carried back drenched in blood in Raymon’s arms, sending Barbara’s heart plunging straight into her stomach.
Though the high priest had treated her and saved her life, Barbara had spent the entire night pacing the floor, gnawing her nails in fretful anxiety. Still, because the high priest insisted that the patient be left to rest in quiet solitude until she woke, Barbara had reluctantly left Titania lying on the bed and retreated to her own quarters, but…
The following morning, Titania’s bed was completely empty.
In that horrific instant, Barbara nearly fainted dead away from pure shock.
Desperately turning the room upside down just in case, she stepped into the adjoining chamber—only to find Titania nestled soundly beneath the duvet, snoring softly away like a dormouse. The profound relief and utter stupefaction that washed over Barbara had left her knees shaking.
And when she finally shook Titania awake, the princess had merely blinked her drowsy eyes and mumbled in the cheeriest, most innocent voice imaginable:
“Huh? When did I fall asleep in here? I was sitting on the balcony chair… And wait, when did I pull the blankets over myself? Wow, I must’ve been exhausted!”
It was enough to leave anyone speechless.
Barbara’s blood pressure had spiked so violently she nearly keeled over backward. If Titania were not an exalted imperial princess and the mistress she was sworn to serve, Barbara would have scolded her for having a true talent for turning people’s stomachs into knots, and happily smacked her across the back.
Of course, with the way Titania was these days, even if Barbara did smack her back with all her might, the princess would probably just play along, crying, “Ouch! Barbara! I’m sorry! Ow, ow, ow! Aack, an imperial maid is striking royalty! N-No, wait, I’m just being dramatic! Don’t bow down apologizing!” But one could hardly lay a hand on someone who had narrowly escaped death just the day before. So Barbara had swallowed her frustration in stony silence and gone off to brew her medicine instead.
Upon receiving the bowl, Titania muttered disgruntled complaints under her breath. Then, squeezing her eyes shut, she tipped the bowl back and gulped down the dark concoction. Holding her breath, she immediately dumped an entire glass of chocolates into her mouth and crunched them frantically. Her smooth, fair brow wrinkled up like a sheet of paper caught in a torrential rainstorm.
“Blegh! Bitter! Soooo bitter! Ugh! I’ve… I’ve had to drink every kind of medicine under the sun since I was little, but this is downright hideous! It’s torture! I let the chocolate melt, but mixing that with the medicinal stench makes me want to throw up! What on earth is in this?!”
“You are better off not knowing, Your Highness.”
“T-This is all I have to drink, right? Since the high priest treated me, my body feels remarkably light. Seriously, nothing hurts at all…”
“His Eminence explained that, both this time and the last, you sustained wounds far too grave. Divine power—or rather, healing power—is not an omnipotent miracle. He warned that your constitution has been severely weakened.”
Titania’s pupils trembled like aspen leaves in the wind. Then, in a stiff, desperate tone that sounded entirely like an attempt to flee reality, she asked,
“…So I only have to finish this one bowl, right?”
“You will need to take it steadily for the next month.”
“Auuugh…”
A miserable groan drifted from Titania’s lips. Beside Barbara, who was clearing away the empty medicine bowl and dessert dish with a frosty expression, Debbie chimed in brightly.
“Looks like Barbara is pouting! Oh dear, Your Highness, why did you have to go and give everyone a heart attack first thing in the morning by abandoning your own bed and turning up in the guest room next door?”
“I-I just woke up at dawn and stepped out for some fresh air, meaning to come right back… but my memory cuts off somewhere along the way…”
Titania cautiously gauged the reactions of both Barbara and Debbie. Barbara’s brow twitched.
“…Opening your eyes at dawn is certainly a blessing worth celebrating, Your Highness. However, you ought to have summoned me. Exposing yourself to the brisk morning chill when your body has scarcely begun to recover—what would you have done if you developed pneumonia? You are well aware that divine power cannot cure illness or aging, only physical trauma.”
“Ahaha… But my body felt completely fine… Wait, wasn’t Young Duke Raymon supposed to be in my room?”
Even to her own ears, Titania’s voice carried a lingering doubt. As the princess rolled her eyes thoughtfully, wondering about what had happened, Debbie seemed to catch on and answered with a jaunty grin.
“The young duke rode out at the crack of dawn! Said he had urgent business to attend to. But there’s no way he would have abandoned you while you were still unconscious, so he probably confirmed you were awake before he slipped away, don’t you think?”
“…Yeah…”
Titania squeaked like a cornered animal. She clamped her lips shut and furrowed her brow, looking unmistakably guilty about something.
Right then, the door swung wide open.
There stood Lisianthus, wearing nothing more than a pair of trousers and a loose shirt with only half its buttons done, looking as if he had thrown on his clothes mid-stride. His face lit up like a golden retriever spotting its beloved master.
“Titania! You’re awake!”
Catching sight of him, Titania forced a bright, sunny smile.
“Ahahaha! With High Priest Ilian here, my body’s in tip-top shape. Were you worried about me?”
Lisianthus, who had been bounding toward her without even waiting for an answer, froze dead in his tracks.
“Y-Y-You absolute…! Do you have any idea how much blood you lost yesterday?! And you’re asking if I was worried?!”
He practically hit the ceiling.
“It’s a good thing the high priest told me you’d be fine, that you were out of danger, and that I should just let you rest easy! If he hadn’t, my heart would’ve shriveled to a cinder and I wouldn’t have moved an inch until you opened your eyes! Seriously…!”
Lisianthus’s face twisted with raw anguish.
“…I talked so big about coming here as your escort knight to rescue you and keep you safe. Yet since coming to this place, I haven’t managed to protect you properly even once.”
Titania’s eyes widened.
Lisianthus kept his gaze glued to the floor, as though he could not bear to look her in the eye. It was entirely unlike him—the boy who usually dashed about like an overexcited hound on a snowy day, bubbling over with wild enthusiasm or righteous fury. Right now, his shoulders were slumped in utter dejection.
“…When the temple caught fire, fine. I got tricked by those bastards’ sweet talk and wasn't by your side. Let's write that off. Debbie told me you weren't in real danger back then anyway. But… this time…”
He clenched his fists so tightly his knuckles turned white, trembling under the weight of his own fury.
“When the time actually came, I was too weak… I couldn't even keep you safe. …I was an idiot for strutting around, bragging about being decent with a sword. I thought that since I wielded fire, if push came to shove, I could just incinerate the entire surrounding area and solve everything.”
In truth, Lisianthus was drowning in despair.
He had known he was weaker than his father or Raymon, but he had genuinely believed he could handle almost any ordinary foe. He hadn't mastered complete control over his flames, but he had thought that was good enough.
He had considered his fire to be his trump card—a wild card that, so long as he was prepared to discard his own safety, could reliably bring down any enemy.
Yet…
Facing that terrifying opponent who targeted Titania and blocked his path, the harsh reality had struck him square in the chest.
So long as there was someone nearby he needed to protect, his wild card was worse than useless.
If he lost control of his power and burned Titania to ashes along with the enemy, what could possibly be more foolish than that? In the end, until Raymon arrived to rescue her, Lisianthus had accomplished virtually nothing. He hadn't defeated the enemy; the enemy had simply chosen to withdraw.
And having no choice but to stand there, watching with wide, helpless eyes as that monster walked away… It infuriated him beyond words.
‘If it had been my brother… he never would have let her end up in such danger in the first place.’