Episode 28
Helen’s brow furrowed as she pondered deeply.
“Don’t tell me… it was to extract information from the mansion’s people!”
“That’s right. As you said, I cannot trust everything the people of the Heksilov estate say.”
It was true that an ominous feeling was always right, but wasn’t this too much? To think the Emperor would even make a false marriage proposal to uncover the Platini family’s secret, hidden from the world!
More bewildered than shocked, and utterly at a loss, Helen let out a hollow laugh without realizing it.
Lucas had known from the start. Count Platini would never divulge the truth he had hidden for over a decade simply because the Emperor asked. The world had been told his daughter was sent away to recuperate, but in reality, she had been abandoned.
That was why he had come while the Count was away from the mansion. The mere fact of the Emperor’s visit would draw the attention of Countess Platini and Rosy Platini to him. In the meantime, he must have obtained information on Helen Platini through a mage.
“What was the reason for going so far?”
“I told you. I can’t tolerate my curiosity.”
Lucas’s gaze was frigid. It resembled the dignity of an Emperor, yet also an archer drawing his bowstring upon his quarry.
“Which is why you must explain yourself well. So that I won’t grow any more curious.”
“An explanation….”
Helen muttered softly. It was rather laughable to be asked for an explanation when he had already gathered the facts and deduced the truth. If he had believed Helen Platini had no connection whatsoever to Violet Drifon, he never would have pressed her like this.
What Lucas wanted wasn’t an explanation, but the truth connecting her and Violet.
“It’s a coincidence.”
“A coincidence?”
In that instant, Lucas’s expression hardened until it twisted into something fierce. He leaned forward, looking as though he might slam his palm onto the table at any moment.
“So many coincidences overlapping like this, and you call that a coincidence? I don’t think so.”
Helen simply listened carefully to the words of someone whose irritation was evident. Not a single word of his was wrong; they were nothing but the truth.
“The day I first met Violet, the young lady of Heksilov lost consciousness. And the day Violet died, the young lady of Heksilov regained her consciousness. Is this a coincidence?”
On a winter day when rain fell instead of snow, the Imperial Princess beloved by all appeared before the world.
And on a day when even the wind was perfect, the most beloved Imperial Princess in the world vanished. At the same time, the young lady of Heksilov awoke. None of this was a coincidence.
“Tell me what you want to hear from me.”
She might as well tell him. Right when she had resolved to lay everything bare to this man—since she had lost all her memories and would never return or meet him again.
Lucas, who until moments ago had displayed the Emperor’s dignity, raked his hair with a face that looked like he might burst into tears at any moment.
“I know. What is it I want to hear? Even though I know it makes no sense, no matter how much I think about it.”
She was someone who had only wished for happiness even until the moment of her death, yet she wasn’t happy. The people she loved were unable to be happy in a world without her.
Helen hung her head at the mistake she had made. She couldn’t bring herself to look at someone so unhappy while waves of guilt crashed over her endlessly.
“If I truly were the Imperial Princess… If that were really true, what would you do?”
“What else? I would have to punish you for the crime of slighting the Imperial Family.”
“Punishment?”
“Yes. I’ll punish you for daring to take Violet away from me.”
Now she understood. If Helen Platini and Violet Drifon were the same person, he would be unable to punish the one who was the same existence as the Violet he loved. Therefore, she realized that his words just now were nothing more than a jest.
Even if Lucas did not punish her, Helen was receiving punishment enough. Watching her loved ones suffer in pain over the fact that Violet was gone was a punishment. Moreover, since they still couldn’t forget Violet, it was hell.
At some point, tears had clung to Helen’s lower lashes; she quickly brushed them away.
“Really… how unpleasant.”
*Unpleasant*—it was a word no one would dare speak before the Emperor. Lucas’s brows twitched at the utterly irreverent remark.
“You are the first person to tell me something is unpleasant.”
Only then did Helen realize she had made a mistake. It was a mistake born of momentarily forgetting that this person was the Emperor, treating him merely as another human being.
“Will you punish me for daring to speak out of turn?”
“I will.”
Lucas spoke with a nonchalant expression. At the edge of his vision, he saw ten long, slender fingers trembling with fear. They belonged to someone who had once been Violet.
“To think you didn’t come to find me. You truly have no fear.”
“How could I, who am not the Imperial Princess, come to see Your Majesty?”
Helen quickly retorted, but Lucas brushed it off. Just because she denied it didn’t change the facts.
“You might fool others, but you can’t fool me. And you’ll admit it in the end. Because you’re that kind of child.”
“What do you know about me….”
That kind of child?
If she were truly that kind of child, as Lucas claimed, she would have left Heksilov the moment she returned as Helen Platini. She would have rushed back to the palace and claimed everything that was Violet’s. After all, she was someone loved by everyone.
But now there was no Violet. Her body had long since been buried, and the soul that had once lived as her resided in this body. Even if she claimed that Violet’s soul had actually been hers, would a single person believe her? She herself would turn away, calling herself mad. And she was too sorry to Violet to ever do such a thing.
Helen met Lucas’s gaze head-on. He presumed to judge her without truly knowing her. A regal dignity swept into her blue eyes, which until moments ago had looked ready to weep.
“Indeed. The one I know well is Violet. That girl would never have failed to come see me.”
Lucas smacked his lips, feeling hollow. Memories of that day, which should have faded with time, churned through his mind.
In his memory, Violet was someone who smiled lovingly at every moment. Even when it rained, even when fierce winds blew, she revealed no sorrow. Even until the moment she left the side of those who loved her.
That was why he could not easily accept that the young lady of House Platini was Violet. Helen Platini could not smile as endearingly as Violet had.
But the facts surrounding her pointed to her being Violet. Lucas had no choice but to believe the undeniable truth.
“It doesn’t matter. I can forgive you for suddenly leaving me and failing to find me after returning. You’ve returned, so that’s enough.”
They were words that seemed to console himself. At his tone, which seemed steeped in anxiety, Helen cautiously opened her mouth.
“Your Majesty, I like things the way they are now.”
Lucas’s eyes, greatly surprised, slowly widened.
He had said he forgave everything. Was this not enough? If that was why she wouldn’t remain by his side….
“If you wish, I could kill Count Platini this very moment. One who dared abandon you must rightly pay with his life.”
Upon learning that a daughter of only seven had been abandoned in Heksilov, he had resolved to punish Count Platini—a man unworthy of being a father. He had intended to decide a fitting punishment after discussing it with Helen.
However, judging by Helen’s expression, it seemed what she wanted was not Count Platini’s life, contrary to his expectations.
Lucas’s extraordinary mind raced. Solely to keep Helen by his side. To ensure she would never leave him again.
“Or should I bring Carlisle?”
At Lucas’s question, Helen’s movements stopped for an instant.
He was a terrible person. To mention the one she had pushed away after enduring the agony of a tearing heart.
“No! Anything but that! Please….”
If she saw Carlisle again, she would collapse. Furthermore, pushing Carlisle away was something she couldn’t do twice.
Helen decided to act a little cruelly in order to sever everything connected to Violet. Even if it hurt Lucas’s heart, it would be the best for both of them.
“There is no longer a Violet in this world. She is dead. Your Majesty knows it too. That people are forgetting Violet.”
“But there are still people who remember you!”
Saying Violet is gone!
Though Violet’s body is gone, Helen had once been Violet. Though their souls may not be identical, the soul of Violet that Lucas remembered was Helen.
In that moment, Lucas raised his voice and clutched the front of his robes as though giving vent to his searing emotions.
“I—your older brother—am right before your eyes.”
As a translucent veil once again covered Lucas’s blue eyes, Helen found it difficult to face him. She had resolved to be selfish, so she had to push him away until the very end. She had pushed Carlisle away once, so it should not be difficult to do the same with Lucas.
Helen, having steeled her heart, squeezed her eyes shut. It was something she could say only because she wasn’t looking at him.
“You are Violet’s older brother.”
“….”
“You know it. There was never a real Imperial Princess from the start. There was only a lowly, half-baked noble who stole her body. Your Majesty was deceived by me.”
She had known that her body, weakened from being confined in the tower, would not last long, and even the imperial physicians had been powerless. So she had tried to live happily for the short time remaining. Since she was living a life in place of this body’s rightful owner, she had wanted to be so happy that even if the real Violet were to return, she would be satisfied. But even after becoming the Imperial Princess, she had ultimately failed to draw a happy ending.
“I am happy enough. I cannot let myself be any happier than this—I’m too sorry to Violet.”
Only after pouring everything out did Violet’s greenhouse garden come into view. In the garden filled with beautiful flowers, the man who had built a garden for Violet was shedding tears.
“Don’t leave me. Please, Violet.”
Even at Lucas’s desperate plea, Helen’s resolve to be cruel remained unchanged. Even if not now, he too would eventually have to accept that Violet had vanished from this world.
Helen thought of what would come after choosing to remain by the side of those she loved. To be precise, the moment when she returned as Violet, and they would accept that the real Violet they had loved was no longer in this world.
That was something Helen felt she could never accept.
“I’m sorry. I’m truly sorry, Your Majesty.”
Helen stood up from her seat. Leaving behind a man whose tears would not stop was difficult, but she had to step away, even for his sake.
She could offer neither comfort nor any words he desired apart from an apology. Helen paid her respects to the Emperor and turned around.
With every step she took toward the exit of the greenhouse garden, the sound of Lucas’s sobs grew fainter. She couldn’t tell if it was because the distance was increasing, or because tears were no longer falling from his eyes.
Until only five steps remained to the entrance, she truly had not known.
“I can’t let you go.”
Lucas’s voice, even lower, rang out, and immediately several armed knights entered through the entrance. After them, two mages wearing black robes embroidered with star-shaped patterns appeared. They were mages of the Imperial Palace.
The knights and the two mages sealed the entrance to prevent Helen from leaving.