Episode 31
The Imperial House officially announced the state marriage with House Platini ten minutes before ten o’clock the following morning.
The mansion’s butler had come bearing the news just as the clock’s hour hand was about to point to ten, delivering it to the Count. At the news of the state marriage of his daughter—a girl so beloved that she wouldn’t hurt his eye even if he placed her in it—the Count was said to have beamed with delight.
And it was not only the Count. The Countess, who had been chatting softly with him, upon hearing the news rushed out of the study without so much as exchanging a glance with the Count.
The first person the Countess sought was Rosie, the subject of the news. While receiving the news from her mother, Rosie held only a faint smile at the corners of her lips.
The Emperor had not lied. That was enough for Rosie.
The Countess prattled on for quite some time in her daughter’s bedroom. As this was her first time experiencing a state marriage, the main point was that she did not know what to prepare first.
There was much to prepare, but she thought they would indeed have to choose again the dress to be worn that evening first. Now that the marriage to the Emperor had been officially announced, there was nothing more to hide.
She would wear the most splendid dress this evening. The Countess’s steps as she left her daughter’s bedroom were lighter than a feather.
After confirming her mother had gone down the stairs, Rosie stepped out into the hallway. Perhaps because preparations for the party were not yet complete, there was no one on the second-floor hallway but her.
The hallway of the Platini mansion, bearing a long history, seemed to make one feel the weight of those years, accompanied by a slight creak with every step.
Rosie advanced, muffling the sound of her footsteps. Her right hand, clenched into a fist, was hidden by her left.
Helen’s bedroom door was open. Through the slightly open gap, bright sunlight spilled in.
After knocking twice, Helen’s gentle voice was heard.
“Come in.”
She seemed to know exactly who had knocked.
Rosie exhaled, pressing against her somehow tightening chest, and opened the door. A book with a dark green cover lay open, face-down, upon the table, and the gaze of Helen, seated in a chair by the window, turned toward her.
“I had a feeling it was you.”
“Why? I could have been a servant coming to ask if you were going to have lunch.”
At the genuinely curious question, Helen covered her mouth with her hand as if greatly amused and let out a laugh.
“I already said I would have lunch. And besides, I knew from your footsteps.”
It was a soft, dainty gait. The footfalls, like a model of a noble young lady’s steps, were a sound only Rosie could produce within the Platini mansion.
Had the hallway floor not creaked, or had the door been closed, she would not have noticed.
Helen put away the book lying face-down on the table, pushed her chair back, and stood. Then she went to the bookshelf and slipped the bookmark resting on the third shelf from the top between the pages. It was a book she would read again after Rosie left.
“Congratulations. You’ve become one of the most exalted people in the Empire, haven’t you?”
After entering the room, Rosie had remained standing right beside the door. It was partly because Helen had immediately risen from her chair, but more than anything, having entered Helen’s domain, she could not judge how to act.
Until not long ago—indeed, even yesterday morning—she would have sat straight across from Helen without hesitation.
Could she have been nervous? Just from stepping into her half-sister’s bedroom, even if they had different mothers? Hardly.
And yet, Rosie’s right hand remained hidden within her left.
“……Not yet.”
“Not yet?”
Helen’s hand, which had been brushing dust from the book, stopped. She withdrew her hand entirely from the bookshelf and stood directly before Rosie.
Two green irises intertwined. In one pupil, pale yellow hair filled the view; in the other, vividly red hair.
“What do you mean, ‘not yet’? The Imperial House has announced it. Moreover, it is a promise from His Majesty the Emperor. You know well that it cannot be easily changed.”
“…….”
“So enjoy it to your heart’s content.”
Helen placed her hand on Rosie’s shoulder. The texture of the ornate, frilly fabric could be felt against her palm. It was the same pink dress as when they had first met on the day Rosie returned to the mansion.
Her days wearing that dress befitting a young lady of House Platini would likely be brief.
People would soon arrive from the Imperial Palace for the Empress’s tutelage and the state marriage preparations. After that, many things would change, but first and foremost, Rosie’s appearance was slated to change.
For instance, clothes befitting the Empress of the Empire, rather than a young lady of House Platini, would pile up, or a grueling course of education that would make it difficult to meet people would begin.
Therefore, it would be best to enjoy much—including freedom—before the people sent by Lucas arrived at the mansion.
Helen tapped Rosie’s shoulder and turned away. Even without preparing for the evening party, she was a busy person. The reason she had come to the bedroom was likely to check whether Rosie had heard the announcement of the state marriage, which meant there was no longer any reason for Rosie to stay.
“I’m done talking, but do you have anything left to say?”
“Sister, why do you speak like someone who is about to leave?”
“Because I am leaving.”
Helen had made her decision. It was to wait for the coming winter, and to that end, she judged it would be right to go to Hexilop.
She had not yet revealed this decision to Liandre. The moment morning broke, he had come to ask, but Helen had only shaken her head.
Had she said she was going to Hexilop, she could clearly see that Liandre would cast magic to go to Hexilop that very moment. Yet Helen had something she absolutely had to do.
The Emperor’s state marriage—that is, Lucas and Rosie’s wedding. She had to see it. She felt she could only wait for the coming winter with a peaceful heart if the two truly held the ceremony.
And that person who would appear there. Like that, she had to bid that person a final farewell—not as Violet, but as Helen.
Helen’s green iris hid behind her eyelid.
“But I’ll see your wedding before I go.”
The moment Helen finished speaking, Rosie rushed over and embraced her. Rosie’s arms wrapped around Helen’s neck.
“Why? Why are you trying to leave? You have only just returned home, so why are you trying to leave again?”
Questions spilled out in succession, but the meaning behind the many questions was the same. It was a plea telling her not to leave.
However, despite such pleas, Helen detached herself from Rosie’s warm embrace.
She could not reveal that it was in order to safely face the coming winter and prepare the perfect medicine to erase memories, so she needed a plausible reason. That was also the second reason Helen had made the choice to go to Hexilop.
“When you become Empress, that very day, nobles wishing to forge ties with House Platini will form a line. What do you think they will use to forge ties with the family?”
“That would be…….”
“They will likely try to forge ties through marriage with me.”
Rosie fell silent.
Helen was the one who had refused the Emperor’s proposal, saying nothing was as sad as marrying without love. Rosie knew well enough that Helen did not want a loveless marriage.
Thus, it was obvious how terrifying a forced marriage between houses would be to Helen, even without glimpsing the future.
“Rosie, I am not trying to leave. I am fleeing from the misfortune that will soon crash down upon me.”
Call it cowardice if you will. It was fine to point fingers and curse. Though it would likely never happen again, she would not care even if the Count stormed in shouting that she had disgraced the family.
To marry another while not letting go of that person in her heart was an unforgivable act both to herself and to the other party. She could roughly see what end awaited a marriage in which they faced different directions.
It was anything but sweet.
* Sibello
Rosie left a word of thanks for the congratulations and returned to her own bedroom.
After that, Helen firmly shut her bedroom door, leaving no gap. Holding the book with the green cover, she climbed onto the bed and placed a large pillow behind her back as a cushion.
About half a day remained until evening, and she intended to finish reading this book before then. She had not yet given any thought to what she would do after that.
Since she would not be attending the evening party, she thought she would probably go to the kitchen and get a few pieces of bread for her supper.
But the plans Helen had laid out collapsed. She could not be certain it was entirely ruined, but she had a feeling it would likely turn out that way.
Just as Helen was turning the rough-textured page to see the next one, a servant knocked and entered.
“Miss, a knight has come.”
“A knight?”
The servant raised his eyebrows several times before opening his mouth with an extremely puzzled expression.
“It’s just that the name is……. Ah! He said you would know if I said Sir Banjeu!”
If it was a knight from Banjeu who had come to House Platini, she had an idea who it might be. Helen deliberately did not put that all-too-clear name into her mouth.
When Helen said nothing, the servant made a tearful face, muttering, ‘He said you would surely know if I said Sir Banjeu.’
“Shall I tell him to simply go?”
After pondering briefly, Helen answered.
“Tell him to wait a moment; I shall go out shortly.”