Lea’s and Shuren’s beds were hidden from each other by curtains.
Yet anyone could easily tell which was Lea’s bed and which was Shuren’s.
“I heard quite an amusing rumor, Shuren. They say you threw a lady?”
“Whoahahaha! If she picked up a wooden sword and resisted, she wasn’t a lady—she was a warrior!”
“Whatever she was, to hurl a woman around so recklessly… Just where has the South’s elegance gone?”
There was no way the heads of the other factions would let such an amusing incident pass them by.
The North came to mock him with curiosity, and Ursel came to scold Shuren for damaging a southerner’s dignity.
And they came at the same time.
Thanks to the crowd, the curtains were pushed all the way toward Lea’s bed.
“Get out, all of you!”
“He says get out, sirs!”
“You get out too!”
It was the second day since he had been admitted to the infirmary.
By late afternoon, Shuren, unable to endure the gossip unfolding right in front of him any longer, drove them all out.
After chasing out even Belgirt, Shuren lay there fuming, then flung a question toward the bed beside his.
“Aren’t you bored?”
“……”
Lea lay motionless, staring blankly at the ceiling.
She had no sense of how much time had passed.
She could not even remember the last time she had lain down for this long.
The coziness of the bed, and the emptiness of her plans falling apart, wrapped around Lea’s heart.
But most importantly, Lea’s heart had long since been filled with gloom.
‘No one likes me.’
If that was so, then they should have just left her alone.
‘Even Seorin.’
These days, she was realizing that her love was not infinite.
‘How could she not visit even once in three years?’
At the Restoration Day event she had attended after receiving Seorin’s summons, she had even been forced to watch her mingle her body with another husband.
‘Why am I hated?’
Some people were blessed and loved from the moment they were born.
Lea had never wished for that much.
She had only wished not to be hated.
She had begun to doubt whether Seorin even liked her.
‘What did I do wrong?’
She should not have raised her voice at Seorin that day.
But all she had done was put a little strength into her voice.
For the first time, she had said she was hurt.
And after that, Seorin had not come to Earei.
Even though Lea had written and sent letters every single day without fail.
‘Aside from that first act of defiance, I had no scandals, and I carried myself properly.’
Even before becoming Lea, she had preserved her chastity.
Now that she was a lady, it should have been an even more important virtue.
And yet she was mocked, hated, and ignored.
Shraaak!
“Hey! Don’t ignore me!”
Even here, near where she lay, there were plenty who would torment her.
Shuren yanked the curtain aside and fumed.
“This is all your fault.”
“……”
“I even advised you to come to our faction early on and crouch there like the piece of vermin you are.”
“……”
Lea did not respond.
Reacting would only be like throwing him bait.
Irritated, Shuren poured out even more heartless words.
“For God’s sake, know your place.”
They were exactly the same words Demitrix Bisharen had once said to her.
Words she had heard after being beaten for begging to be taught how to swing a sword just once.
“No matter how much you strut around, it won’t change the fact that you’re the daughter of a cowardly traitor family.”
“……”
“Look at me. No matter how much of a mad dog I act like, people who call themselves my friends, people who want to get on my good side, come to me on their own. As long as I bear the name Hailan.”
“……”
“I’m still useful, you see.”
“……”
“But even for someone as impressive as me, there are things that can’t be done. Even though I served in the coup as part of the Northern Army and earned merit, no one would even pretend to listen.”
“……”
“If it’s like this for me, do you think someone like you can manage it? You, the daughter of Bashport, who followed the tyrant and lost?”
“……”
“No one cares what you do. No, they do care. They simply won’t take it well. It’s not something a wretch like you can change by struggling alone.”
“…I don’t know how much you’ve struggled.”
She could not endure Shuren’s words.
Lea hated him.
In some ways, she hated and loathed him even more than Yurien, who had made her a woman.
“I’ll do it.”
“Ha. Then die. Go on, throw yourself at a world you can’t change, fail because you’re not good enough, and die.”
“Is death all you can threaten me with? I guess you’re afraid of dying.”
“You bitch…!”
Shuren raised his fist, then flinched to a halt.
Lea’s eyes were wide open.
From those wide eyes, tears were silently flowing.
He had made her cry again.
The pleasure sent a thrill through his brain, and yet he disliked that will of hers that still had not broken.
The corners of Shuren’s mouth curled up.
“Fine. So you’re not afraid of death? Shall we see if that’s really true?”
“Do as you like.”
What a woman, even more childish than he had been as a child.
Shuren clenched both fists and approached Lea.
Just where on that frail body should he strike to make her groan, scream, and beg him to stop?
As he was indulging in a hideous thought no one could call worthy of the very person who had already ruined her shoulder, someone appeared to stop him.
“Young Master Hailan. I see you are in good health.”
Thud. A basket filled with fruit bumped against Shuren’s arm.
“Your Highness. This is not a place to read books, is it?”
“I came to visit the sick.”
“I’ve decided not to receive any more visits today.”
“Not you.”
The fruit basket was placed on the shelf drawer by Lea’s head.
“You have peculiar taste in women, Your Highness.”
“Enough. I don’t have time for a pointless argument with you.”
Yurien’s voice had already turned cold.
Now that he had witnessed Shuren openly tormenting Lea, it seemed difficult for him to respond with the same slippery ease as before.
Yurien was already restraining his anger toward Shuren.
Because none other than Lea was still lying there with her eyes closed, crying.
Only her slightly ragged breathing faintly revealed her grief and indignation.
“The infirmary physician says that since you are so sturdy, you have already recovered. Walk back to your own quarters on your own.”
“Hoh, I know this trick well. Clearing everyone out and enjoying yourself in a public facility—I’ve used that one quite a lot myself.”
Shuren was brazen.
He spoke insolently even to a member of the royal family.
“Young master. You act as though you alone are free.”
“Even the fear of death couldn’t take my freedom from me.”
“Fear is not found only in death.”
Yurien straightened and faced Shuren.
Surprisingly, there was not much difference in their height.
“The dagger of Bashport has turned toward Hailan.”
“Do you think something like that will frighten me?”
“Every person has their own pain.”
Ignoring Shuren’s bravado, Yurien continued.
“Can you even imagine what parents who have lost a child might do?”
“When they might lose even the children they have left?”
“To protect the children they have left, what would they not do?”
“So what are they aiming for? My neck, or my father’s?”
“No.”
Yurien shook his head.
“The dagger of Bashport is pointed at the new joy the head of Hailan has recently obtained.”
“……”
The new joy.
It referred to Ogir Hailan, the second wife who had married the family head, Anthony Hailan.
Shuren’s body stiffened at once.
“It has not yet been drawn from its sheath, so withdraw here.”
“Your Highness, you speak as though you are the master holding that dagger called Bashport.”
Even at that sharp inference, Yurien did not falter.
“That dagger belongs to His Majesty. I am nothing more than the one trying to stop it from being drawn in the wrong place.”
“Even if it is drawn, I doubt my father will sit still.”
“What are you saying?”
Yurien took an apple from the basket and began peeling it with a knife.
“It is a dagger hidden in the dark that has never once been seen drawn. Who, exactly, would not sit still?”
At the threat personally delivered by a royal—one that promised harm not to himself, but to someone around him—Shuren once again felt the absurdity he had experienced in the South.
“You highborn people truly do all act the same.”
“Of course. Our Rionera learned from your elder brother. Thanks to that, my elder sister is missing her beloved sword.”
“……”
Rendered speechless, Shuren cracked his body loose and trudged out of the infirmary.
Even after being mercilessly beaten by Meria Su, he had recovered in two days; he, too, belonged among monsters.
Yurien handed Lea the apple he had finished peeling.
“I heard you did nothing but sleep and could not eat anything. Have some.”
“……”
“If you take even one bite, I will give you the letter from Baron and Baroness Bashport.”
Lea’s eyes flew open, and she reached for the apple.
After giving her a conveniently cut piece of apple, Yurien took out a handkerchief and wiped her tears.
“I-I’m fine.”
“Your tears are always hot. If I simply wipe them, it will sting.”
“Isn’t the reason you are kind to me because you need me politically?”
“Despite appearances, I do sincerely hold you in my heart.”
The apple almost lodged in her throat.
When she looked at him as if she had seen something grotesque, Yurien found that alone delightful.
“Even if you do not become my ally, I do not wish to lose you.”
“If so, then stop that plan.”
“There is too much at stake for that.”
Lea ate only one piece of apple.
As there was no plate for Yurien to put the rest on, he ate it all himself.
Even as he did, the prince rustled around and took something out.
“Whether for survival or politics, if our directions align, we can join forces for a short while.”
“Do you believe our directions are the same?”
“Perhaps.”
What Yurien took out was a doll.
A doll about the size of a small baby.
Rather than having delicate, detailed features, it was designed simply, like a rounded character.
Instead, it was stuffed with plenty of cotton and was soft.
Lea’s eyes could not seem to leave the doll.
“With your arm injured, you won’t be able to attend martial classes for some time.”
Yurien carefully placed the doll in her arms.
It was indeed soft.
“I will give you a hint.”
“A hint?”
“Do they not say that the will of the people is the will of heaven?”
After handing her the hint as he pleased, Yurien rose with the apple peel in hand.
The prince put the peel into his mouth without any concern and chewed on it.
Lea was reminded anew that he, too, had spent an impoverished childhood together with Seorin.
“It is a gift from Baron and Baroness Bashport. It is in the letter as well, but they told you not to be ill.”
“Ah…”
“For reference, I am the one who chose it.”
“Eek…”
“Hahahahahaha!”
Seeing Lea’s face twist, Yurien laughed in good spirits and left.
Though she was somewhat disappointed by the prince’s words, now that she had already hugged it, it was hard to take the doll out of her arms.
Because from the moment she held the doll, she had begun to feel less lonely.