episode_0165

It has finally come.

I crossed my arms, looking at the messenger who was out of breath and shaking his hands.

“Ha… … . ha… … . Charlotte… … !!”

“First, calm down and take a breath. If the Rochelle family squire showed such a disheveled appearance, what would others think?”

“Ah… … . yes. I apologize.”

The messenger said that and slowly began to catch his breath.

And soon after, the messenger, who had calmed down, took out a letter with the family seal from his pocket and read its contents.

“With the authority of the Duchess of Genea la Rochelle, this is reported to Princess Charlotte la Rochelle. Quit everything you are doing right now and return to your family.”

“Yes? Mom, why did you suddenly say that? He also sent not just a letter but a messenger… … .”

“I will tell you more details in the carriage. The carriage has been parked near the academy entrance.”

At the messenger’s firm words, I lightly looked around and nodded.

Because a messenger came running to me just now, calling my name. This is because quite a few people were gathered around.

‘It attracted enough attention. ‘I have made my departure from the Academy fully known, so it is time to step away for a moment.’

“Good. Please guide us.”

I said that and looked back for a moment.

Hermel was looking at me with an expression telling me not to go, but I just slightly bowed my head to express my apologies and continued to follow the messenger.

As I walked behind the messenger, I saw two carriages standing at the main gate of the academy. Both carriages bore the Rochelle family seal.

Perhaps one of them will be Priscilla’s carriage. There is no way they would have prepared two carriages to take me away.

“There are two carriages… … ?”

“Yes. The carriage behind us will follow us after we leave, so please get into this carriage.”

The messenger said so and opened the door of the carriage in front, and I nodded and got into the carriage.

Inside the carriage sat a one-eyed female knight with her hair tied up, and as soon as she saw me, she nodded lightly.

“What on earth happened that even a few knights came to the territory?”

I said that as I sat down, and my question was answered not by the messenger but by the driver sitting across from me.

“The head of the family was poisoned.”

“… … Yes?”

The head of the duchy of Rochelle was poisoned.

The words the article calmly uttered were news so big and shocking that the moment it spread, it shook the country.

Of course, I wasn’t surprised because I knew this from a long time ago… … . I pretended to be surprised.

To be precise, she played the role of a good, dutiful daughter who denies reality.

“Did you say poisoning? … ?”

I asked back with a blank face and smiled awkwardly, fluttering under my eyes.

“Ahaha, aha… … . My father… … . You said your father collapsed… … ? Did I hear it wrong?”

As I said that, my hands trembled slightly, and the driver made a sad face when he saw me like that and kept his mouth shut.

That can’t be possible. Father, no… … . I guess I heard wrong… … . I muttered that and approached the messenger, grabbed the knight’s armor and looked at her.

“Can you tell me again… … ? What happened to your father? … ?”

When I asked with a trembling voice, the knight with his eyes quietly closed slowly opened his mouth.

“Lady. Please calm down first. You seem so excited.”

“How to calm down in this situation――!!”

I trembled with the hand holding the knight’s armor, bit my lip, and lowered my head.

“Yes… … . Yes… … . Even if I get excited here, nothing will change… … .”

After saying that, I covered my eyes with trembling hands and leaned against the back of the carriage.

“But, why did your father… … ? He was clearly a person who did not have any political enemies, and even if he did, he was someone who could easily shake them off… … . Strange… … . It’s strange… … .”

After muttering that, I bit my lip and lowered my head.

“Wait a minute… … . Please leave me alone for a moment… … . I need time to think… … .”

“… … Please understand that you cannot leave your seat until the carriage departs.”

The driver said that and got out of the carriage, and when I felt that the people were moving away, I lowered my hand covering my eyes and looked outside the carriage.

The messenger and knight visible outside the window were not taking any particular stance. I know there was a poisoning incident, but I haven’t heard any details.

It could be that they were intentionally controlling the news. They intentionally tried to distract me by making me focus on the information about the matriarch’s poisoning.

They’re trying to trick me so that I don’t feel suspicious and run away or fight back.

‘No problem, everything was as expected.’

I quietly lowered my eyes and closed them with a low sigh.

‘okay… … .’

I looked up, saw Priscilla walking with another messenger through the small window of the carriage, and drew the curtain to cover the window.

Now was the real beginning.

* * *

On the third day after the carriage left the academy, I returned to my hometown for the first time in about half a year.

It didn’t come back to good things, though.

“Arrived, Charlotte.”

“Yes… … .”

I answered in a gloomy voice and got off the carriage, escorted by the driver. For the first time in half a year, I was able to see the Rochelle family’s mansion and garden.

When I looked back, I saw a carriage in the distance going somewhere else. Are you trying to separate me and Priscilla?

As expected, it happens like this.

As I stood looking at the carriage for a moment, the driver standing next to me opened his mouth.

“The Duchess is waiting. Come on and eat inside.”

At the driver’s urging, I nodded and headed toward the mansion. As I approached, the door to the mansion creaked open.

As soon as the door opened, I felt the heavy silence, and I took a slow, deep breath.

Even though it was a bright sunny day, the inside of the mansion was strangely dark.

“Welcome, Charlotte… … . I was waiting for you.”

My mother’s voice came from inside the mansion, and it had an atmosphere I knew very well.

It was the kind of human voice that would suddenly cut off the moment it teetered slightly on the edge of a cliff.

“Mother… … !”

Togak――Togak――

The dull sound of shoes echoing in the main hall of the mansion seemed like a strangling hand.

I shouted, stepping into the mansion as if I hadn’t noticed anything before she showed up first.

“Mother… … !! The word that your father was poisoned… … . That’s a lie! Yes!?”

The moment I tried to move forward, sharp blades flew from all directions and stopped in front of my neck.

“What are we doing now!? Get out of the way right now!”

“The Duchess told me to stop her even if I had to use force if she tried to approach me… … . No, there was an order from the head of the family.”

“What is that… … .”

I looked at the driver whose face was covered with a look of incomprehensibility and then looked forward.

There, my mother was slowly coming down under the sunlight. Even at first glance, her appearance was not normal.

Her skin, which was once full of life, had turned pale and lifeless, like a doll, and her limbs were dry and bony. Shadows had settled under the eyes, and the once kindly shining eyes had become dead eyes without a single ray of light entering them.

“Oh my… … ?”

“Ah, Charlotte… … . Until now, you don’t know how long I’ve waited for you… … . Day and night, I couldn’t sleep and waited for you… … .”

She was muttering in a dying voice, stopped halfway up the stairs, looked down at me, and continued speaking.

“But for coming to visit me like this, how… … . You don’t know how happy I am… … . How happy I am to be able to face the person who killed my husband like this… … .”

“Kill your father… … ? No, no, mother!! There must be some misunderstanding!! Mother!!”

“Misunderstanding… … ? It’s a misunderstanding… … . Hehehehe… … .”

She burst out laughing as she said that. She gave such a helpless sneer, as if she had been suppressed and held low, and glared at me with wide eyes.

“To resolve that misunderstanding… … . I researched that wine for about half a year. About that damn wine… … .”

“But nothing came out. I couldn’t find anything, nothing. All I knew was that all the wine he drank was sent by you!!”

“And, feeling like I was grasping at straws, I sent you the last bottle of wine. To Priscilla, I thought something would work out if I left it to that child… … . But that was all my mistake too. It was my mistake to believe in you just because we were related by blood!!”

She cried out in an evil voice and accused me of being the culprit.

Of course, he may be the real culprit.

“In the end, he died because of the wine you gave him. The wine you gave me made me strange, and the wine you gave me cost me my life. Because of you!! Charlotte La Rochelle, because of you!!”

“No!! Mother, it’s a misunderstanding! Please listen to me!!”

“Shut up!! Shamelessly raise your voice saying you did a good job!!”

“Mother… … !”

“Don’t call me mother… … !!”

As she finished speaking, something flew out and hit my head.

Clink–!!

It was a vase. Somehow it felt familiar.

“Knight Balderich, listen. Immediately imprison that sinful woman in the dungeon of the mansion. Right now!”

“I will accept it.”

“Sleep, mother… … ! Wait a minute, let go of this!! Mother, mother!!”

I pretended to be unfair until the end and was dragged out by the driver.