As soon as I returned home and lay on the bed, it felt like heaven.
“Goodness, young lady! You have to wash up before lying down!”
Emily panicked and tried to pull me up, but my body had already reached its limit and wouldn’t budge.
“I-I’ll go get some water! Don’t fall asleep in the meantime!”
Emily hurriedly left the room. I let out a small sigh and took a pouch from my arms.
Inside was the root of the World Tree I had brought from the Drimokan Forest.
“So disgusting I could die.”
Just looking inside the pouch made my face twist. And for good reason—the World Tree’s root that had been buried underground was nothing like the roots I had seen before.
‘I’d believe it if someone said it was a leech.’
It wasn’t the right way to describe the World Tree’s root, but I couldn’t think of a better comparison.
Squirm.
See? It was even moving like it was alive!
I scowled and closed the pouch.
Ugh, I’d better just get it to Peril quickly.
After seeing something so disgusting, it felt like things were crawling all over my body. As I rubbed my goosebump-covered arms and stepped out of the room—
Thud!
I heard someone moving frantically on the first floor.
Wondering what was going on, I went downstairs and saw Bonica, pale as a sheet, hurriedly moving her luggage.
“Young lady!”
Atticus approached me as I stood there in confusion.
“……What’s up with her?”
He also looked like he had no idea.
“Right after you got back, she suddenly said she had to go down to the countryside.”
All of a sudden?
It hadn’t even been a few hours since the coronation ceremony ended.
Well, if she’s leaving, that’s good for me.
But it didn’t seem like she had discussed it with Elizabeth.
“Bonica, is something wrong?”
“I-I just suddenly wanted to go home……!”
Her flustered manner made it obvious she was hiding something.
“You’re leaving already?”
As I walked down the stairs and asked Bonica, she visibly flinched. Up close, her appearance was even more telling.
It wasn’t even the middle of winter, but her face was deathly pale, and even her lips had lost all color.
“……What is this, are you sick or something?”
Unless it was a terrible illness, how could someone look that bad?
“Who are you trying to mess with?”
I asked sincerely, but Bonica seemed to think I was mocking her.
Just then, Elizabeth walked up to me.
〈That’s why you should’ve died on the battlefield……!〉
The words she had hurled at Grandfather.
Those words kept taking over my mind.
“I heard yesterday that you told our granddaughter to leave the house, Bianca?”
“Yes.”
“And just because she annoyed you.”
“I won’t deny it.”
I glanced at Bonica without thinking, and she flinched in surprise.
“It’s not because of that! Please believe me.”
Even if she was leaving because of what happened yesterday, I honestly didn’t care.
I just wanted both of them out of our house as soon as possible.
I figured I should at least say my goodbyes before they changed their minds.
“Come to think of it, I’ve been late in thanking you, Grandmother.”
At my words, doubt filled her eyes.
“If you had accepted my brother and me, we would have grown up like Bonica. Thank you so much for abandoning us.”
Elizabeth then sneered at me as if she had made the right decision.
“It’s obvious just by looking. Blua isn’t fit to raise anyone. You follow the man who killed your parents, don’t you?”
“Oh, you mean the curse of the Magic War?”
I lightly shrugged.
“I thought it was a curse laid down by you and the other relatives.”
Elizabeth’s brow furrowed.
“Telling someone who returned alive from war that they should have died—if that’s not a curse, what is?”
“Are you criticizing us right now?”
“Oh no, of course not. I just wondered if it was actually a blessing instead of a curse.”
Bonica, who had been silently watching our exchange, parted her lips. But when my gaze turned to her, she began hiccuping.
……She wasn’t like this just yesterday.
“If that man had died on the battlefield, not only your parents but you too would’ve grown up in a warm, loving place. You would’ve turned out better than you are now.”
“There’s nothing more foolish than hypothesizing about the past.”
I continued in a calm voice.
“If Grandfather hadn’t been there, we would’ve frozen to death after being abandoned by you.”
“So what? Are you trying to make me into a murderer?”
“No, Grandmother, you could never be a murderer.”
I let out a quiet chuckle.
“Because you would’ve brushed off our deaths as another tragedy of the Magic War.”
It must have hit the mark.
For the first time, Elizabeth was at a loss for words.
……Ha, how shameless could she be.
“Don’t ever appear before Grandfather again.”
“…….”
“So that I don’t end up spreading tragedy to the side family out of petty revenge.”
I gave a faint smile.
* * *
After the day Elizabeth and Bonica hastily left.
Grandfather and Cedric found it puzzling, but I didn’t explain the details. I had asked the servants to keep quiet, too.
‘Grandfather would worry.’
He would be furious to hear what Elizabeth had said to me. And I didn’t want that.
Besides……
‘Grandfather wouldn’t want people to know the cruel words he heard either.’
So, I decided to bury everything that had happened with them deep in my heart.
Anyway, Bonica really was the worst until the very end.
〈About you and the Duke. You really do make a perfect pair.〉
She left after spitting out one last curse. Just thinking about it still made me grind my teeth.
‘Haah, whatever. I’ll think about it later.’
I sighed inwardly and pushed open the shop door.
Ding.
“Welcome!”
Instead of the usual owner of the Sun’s Shop who greeted me, an unfamiliar woman stood in front of me.
It felt a little empty not to see those wary eyes I was used to.
“Where’s the person who used to be here?”
I didn’t feel like explaining Peril from the start. Just then, the woman’s eyes, which had been staring at me, curved gently.
“You’re Lady Bianca, right?”
“Huh? You know me?”
“Of course. Aren’t you the one who called our master ignorant?”
“……I did?”
She nodded with a smile.
I didn’t think I was the kind of person to speak so boldly.
But then again, there was exactly one time I’d said something gutsy.
〈You could’ve sent a bird like last time, so why did you use such a reckless method?〉
Ha, such a petty man.
He must’ve told all his disciples about it.
“Our master went to treat someone personally, but came back deeply hurt by those harsh words.”
The woman began tying her hair back with a scrunchie on her wrist.
No matter how you looked at it, she was a real beauty. I stared at her in a daze without realizing, and she gave a small laugh.
“Because of that, he said he needed to take a break for a while.”
“What a half-hearted excuse.”
This man! Taking a break at a time like this?
“Maybe so. Our master is lazier than he looks. He pushed all the work on me and ran off again today.”
“Oh dear……”
What a shame for such a beauty to suffer like this.
I felt deeply sympathetic, completely bewitched by her face.
“He’s really too much. I actually came because I had a request, and over something like that…… Do you know where he is, by any chance?”
“Hmm? Bed, maybe……?”
At her mumble, I let out a hollow laugh.
Unbelievable!
Sure, I was the one who asked for help first, but this was practically a business transaction!
“Is he where the Moon’s Shop used to be?”
“Yes, probably……”
“Then I’ll go see that petty man myself.”
I huffed as I moved to leave. Just as I was about to open the door—
Someone grabbed the doorknob I was holding. At the same time, snowy white hair cascaded over my shoulder.
“Who are you calling petty?”
I looked up at the ominous voice, and there stood Peril, smiling.