Chapter 63
“M-my lady?”
Daisy looked at me with an awkward expression. She had grabbed so close to the roots of Elena’s hair, and with such precision, that the spell-casting Elena couldn’t even move.
Once she heard Daisy address me and realized I’d arrived, Elena let out a shrill scream.
“Help me, Belienne!”
Avoiding my gaze, Daisy released Elena’s hair and shook out her hand.
I called her name.
“Daisy.”
“H-hic… sniff!”
I wanted to ask what had happened, but the moment I opened my mouth, Elena burst into sobs. It was hard to look at her — she resembled my mother too much.
“I-I just said there were things I couldn’t eat… and then… that maid, she… she did this to me… hic, sob!”
Daisy cut in, voice firm.
“My lady. Let’s be accurate, shall we? You said, ‘This garbage is inedible. You eat it all.’ And then you flung the food around, didn’t you?”
“B-Belienne…”
Elena looked at me with a pitiful, indignant expression, as if to say look how unfair they’re being. This is ridiculous.
I turned to Daisy.
“She tried to hit you?”
“Yes.”
“W-what are you talking about!”
Elena sputtered.
Now I looked directly at her.
“Elena, did you study magic to silence your assaults on people?”
“What…?”
Flustered, Elena froze. But as soon as she spotted Rose and Lily entering, with Rose freshly healed, her demeanor abruptly changed. She crossed her arms, masking her panic with a smug expression.
“Hah. You seem to like things quiet, so I was just playing along. If your little servants knew their place, I wouldn’t have had to bother.”
“You do realize these people are vassals of the House of Staedt, don’t you?”
“Oh… is that so? No wonder they seemed excessively insolent. But so what? They’re here for your sake anyway. If you lent them to me, shouldn’t I be able to use them however I please?”
“I didn’t lend you objects.”
“To a royal of Amortan, those things are no different from objects, Belienne.”
Elena said something horrifying with a gentle face. The feeling of unease returned in full force.
It wasn’t just a difference in background that explained her mindset. Even if Elena’s bloodline was of the Amortan royal family, she was born and raised in the Empire. And her way of thinking was deeply authoritarian. She had simply hidden that side of herself until now, adapting to me.
A royal of Amortan? My beloved mother was also royalty of Amortan. But never, not even once, had she treated people that way.
On the contrary, she had shown the same warmth to Sean and Ken, orphans of unknown origin, as she did to me.
“As royalty, you’re supposed to love your people, but to call them objects?”
“Hah… like mother, like daughter. Don’t tell me you don’t know why Arina was offered to the Demon King as a sacrifice?”
“A sacrifice…?”
“Oh, you didn’t even know she was a sacrifice? Born a princess, talking about commoners’ human rights and undermining the nobles’ privileges, so they sent her off to the Demon King to talk about human rights there, didn’t they?”
It was the first time I’d heard such a thing. The official history recorded that Princess Arina Amortan went to the Demon King’s castle to protect the country.
‘Could it be that Elena heard this from Aunt Alyssa, who witnessed it firsthand at the Amortan royal palace back then?’
That might have been the truth. But Elena’s way of speaking was a bit strange to just be relaying what she heard.
Elena continued in a gentle tone, speaking carefully.
“But ironically, she sold out the country to the Demon King, and now she’s enjoying wealth and glory as a duchess.”
It was very strange. I had never heard anyone speak about my mother like that before. Among the people I saw on the battlefield were survivors from Amortan — soldiers and knights who had volunteered to fight alongside my mother.
None of them ever said that my mother was the reason Amortan vanished. To them, my mother was the only royal who truly tried to protect the people.
When the Demon King invaded, the Amortan royal family abandoned the country and fled into exile in a foreign land. Because of that, the Empire’s royal family granted them no rights. They were seen as those who had shirked their responsibilities.
“You’re just a novice; I can’t have a proper conversation with you. I should talk to the duke or the duchess instead.”
“Elena.”
“Yes. You’re royalty, so those maids matter more to you than I do, your own blood.”
I stared at the opponent who looked pure and innocent but was like a poisonous mushroom underneath.
‘She really is strange.’
To find the root of this persistent discomfort, I recalled the first time I met Elena.
In the house where she lived, there was only a single distinct scent remaining.
Her mother, Alyssa Amortan, doesn’t live there now? That could be possible. If she replaced all the clothes and shoes, every curtain and wallpaper, and even got rid of the bed.
But in that small space, there was only evidence that a single person had lived there for a long time.
Elena Amortan was said to be weak and rarely appears in public. All information about Elena was just hearsay passed from mouth to mouth.
And that rumor probably came from the very person standing before me now. So then…
“Is Elena Amortan even a real person?”
The person who heard my question closed her mouth and smiled enigmatically.
That woman was definitely related to my mother by blood. Her face, aura, voice, and even scent bore similarities to my mother. So the answer was simple.
“Aunt Alyssa.”
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