Ch.142The Declining Imperial Family (13)

# Amelia Windsor’s Gloomy Days

These days, Amelia Windsor’s days are gloomy.

“Ame, are you okay?”

“Yes.”

“You look like a corpse that just came back from the dead.”

“Yes.”

“…Ame?”

She had struck her one and only precious younger brother’s cheek.

At the time, it was an unavoidable action while urgently stopping Ruide from committing murder—

Amelia was regretting it. How could she strike the cheek of her small, precious brother who she should protect?

She was a failure both as a knight and as an older sister.

“You must have been quite shocked.”

Charlotte smiled awkwardly.

“But shouldn’t you come out of your room soon? Everyone’s waiting. There’s no one to handle the overall duties.”

“Someone as useless as me couldn’t possibly help…”

Charlotte’s words didn’t reach Amelia, who was sunk in depression.

“This is serious.”

Only then did Charlotte’s expression turn grave.

“…I want to be alone.”

“But I brought good news today. Don’t you want to hear it?”

Amelia spoke with a voice that sounded nearly dead.

“I’m not worthy of hearing such…”

“Ruide came out of his room. He even cast a powerful spell on the defense line before leaving, which helped stop this wave. Isn’t this a good opportunity to reconcile?”

“Hearing that won’t make any… R-Ruide did?!”

Crash! The table Amelia was sitting at toppled over.

Struggling to her feet, Amelia rushed to Charlotte and grabbed her hands.

“Ruide came out? Where is he?!”

“Y-you startled me… Yes. I heard he was looking for you.”

“I’ll go right now…!”

Amelia hurriedly tried to leave, but then stopped herself.

-Stay put for a while. You wouldn’t just move on after slapping your brother’s cheek, would you? Consider yourself under disciplinary action for now.

She remembered Irene’s words.

That’s right. Amelia wasn’t here voluntarily.

It was an “order” from Irene, the captain of the Windsor Knights and heir.

Being lower in the family and knight hierarchy, Amelia couldn’t refuse.

“Me too, you know.”

Charlotte stroked Amelia with a loving smile.

“I used to cause a lot of trouble.”

“Trouble…?”

“Yes. Before Irene, Victoria was the captain, and I was there even then. Even when ordered to stay confined, I always escaped to go play.”

Charlotte made a V-sign and brought it to her cheek.

“Because confinement is boring!”

“T-that’s… because Charlotte is strong.”

“How strong could I be? Compared to our Duke, I’m nothing.”

Charlotte whispered.

“Let’s escape. That much is fine. I, the Vice-Captain, will vouch for you!”

Amelia’s pupils dilated.

Before being Irene’s sister, she was a Windsor knight.

She couldn’t disobey a superior’s orders.

But…

“Don’t you want to go to Ruide and apologize? If too much time passes, you might stay on bad terms forever.”

More than anything, her desire to see Ruide was overwhelming.

**

Amelia eventually disobeyed the confinement order and went outside.

The Windsor knights who were monitoring her to enforce the confinement pretended not to notice.

They understood the situation. They even encouraged her to reconcile with her brother.

Amelia was tearfully grateful. But the problem was that Ruide was reportedly with Irene.

“I’m doomed.”

Amelia slumped down.

“If he’s with my sister, I can’t see him.”

“That’s true… With Irene’s personality, you wouldn’t get away unscathed. Hmm.”

Charlotte brightly suggested, raising her index finger.

“How about going to Ruide’s room?”

“That… wouldn’t be easy, would it? There’s probably magic on it.”

Ruide had placed a spell on his room that prevented anyone from approaching when he shut himself in after the incident.

Since Ruide had come out, that spell might be lifted—

But it was more likely that it wasn’t. Just because he left his room didn’t mean his anger had subsided.

“Just this once.”

Charlotte grinned.

“What?”

“I’ll break that spell for you.”

“…Can Charlotte do that?”

“Ah. What do you take the Vice-Captain for?”

Charlotte thumped her chest, telling Amelia to just trust her.

She was a knight who used a sword, but she was closer to a magic swordsman.

“If the young master had seriously set it up, it would be impossible, but he’s just a child, right? Children create puzzles hoping someone will solve them. He probably used a barrier that can be broken.”

Charlotte’s reasoning seemed plausible. Above all, Amelia wanted to apologize to Ruide as soon as possible.

Wounds fester if left untreated for too long. By then, it would be too late.

Amelia made up her mind and headed to the Windsor mansion. Ruide’s room was on the second floor.

“Hmm… this doesn’t look easy. This place is filled with Ruide’s mana. It seems he didn’t remove the barrier before leaving.”

There were about seven rooms on the second floor. Ruide’s room was in the middle.

However, due to the barrier’s effect, it was impossible to tell which entrance was his. Charlotte first opened Ruide’s door.

“No luck.”

Charlotte immediately assessed the nature of the barrier. It was a spatial barrier. It made the room unfindable for those without permission.

“What if we open all the doors?”

“If it were that simple a spell, he wouldn’t have used this much mana.”

Charlotte drew her sword with a curious smile.

“Sorry to Ruide, but there’s no choice. I’ll have to break it.”

“W-wait. If you destroy the second floor, Ruide will definitely be angry.”

“Ah, I’m not destroying the second floor. I’ll just cut the magic.”

Charlotte confidently stabbed her sword into the floor.

As if proving the assessment that she was the strongest among Windsor’s knights was no exaggeration, she muttered something quietly.

It was a mysterious language. Although Amelia was right beside her, she couldn’t remember what it meant or even what was said.

“Let false illusions retreat, and only truth be reflected before me.”

She could clearly understand those words.

As soon as she finished speaking, there was a cracking sound, and a fissure appeared in the air.

Charlotte continued reciting the spell with the same smile.

“Truth, having revealed yourself, devour the false ones.”

Light leaked from the cracked void. Amelia covered her eyes with one hand, but couldn’t look away.

‘Amazing.’

Even if the caster, Ruide, was absent, breaking Ruide’s magic wasn’t something just anyone could do.

This itself proved how strong Charlotte was.

Amelia admired Charlotte.

‘Will I ever be able to do something like that?’

“Among all falsehoods, only the truthful one—erase the wrong in this world and reveal yourself!”

At that moment, Charlotte swiftly slashed her sword in four directions.

The slash entered the cracked space, and the increasingly swelling crack burst with a pop.

Charlotte sheathed her sword and wiped away her sweat.

“Whew. I didn’t expect to have to recite it three times. Ruide really is amazing.”

“This is…”

Amelia looked around with wide eyes.

It was clearly the same space they had been standing in, but it looked different.

The walls were covered with writing in mana, and especially on Ruide’s door, it said:

-Amelia is stupid.

“The entire space we were seeing until now was an illusion. That’s why we couldn’t enter Ruide’s room.”

“This is cute though. He must have been really upset,” Charlotte said, smiling as she caressed the crooked writing.

“Shall we go in?”

“Yes.”

Amelia nervously grabbed Ruide’s doorknob and turned it.

However, there was an unexpected person inside.

“Ruby?”

“Oh!”

“…Hello, Charlotte, Amelia.”

Ruby bowed with a blood pack in her mouth. Charlotte smiled awkwardly.

“Sorry. We interrupted your meal.”

“It’s fine.”

“But why is Ruby here…”

Ruby got up from Ruide’s bed.

“I was trapped. Thank you for breaking the barrier. I only had this one blood pack left, so I was in trouble.”

“Trapped?”

“The young master forgot to lift the barrier before leaving.”

Amelia understood the situation.

“Y-you must have had a hard time.”

“Have you met Ruide?”

Ruby asked directly.

Amelia shook her head.

“I came here to meet him. I plan to wait. Ruby, you can go now.”

Ignoring Amelia’s words, Ruby asked:

“Then, where is Ruide now?”

“…I heard he’s with my sister Irene.”

Ruby’s expression hardened.

“Ruby?”

Sensing something was wrong, Amelia questioned her. She felt uneasy.

“Irene is trying to do something to Ruide right now.”

Ruby seemed to hesitate a bit. She closed her eyes and thought deeply about something. When she opened them, there was strong conviction in her eyes.

“Ame. Go quickly before it’s too late. If you miss this timing, Ruide might no longer be your cute little brother.”

**

Ruby and Rosalie.

These twins look identical, but their personalities are completely different.

Rosalie is serious, while Ruby is lighthearted. She particularly dislikes serious matters and sometimes plays pranks.

So Ruby becoming serious was something rarely seen.

This couldn’t be taken lightly. Above all, Amelia had been feeling uneasy about something all along.

“Huff, huff—”

“It should be here.”

“…The knights are already here.”

That’s why she ran here immediately after hearing Ruby’s words.

Ruby’s words felt sincere no matter how you looked at them.

But in front of the path to the underground passage, Windsor knights were standing guard in large numbers.

When she approached—as expected.

“You cannot enter. I’m sorry.”

“I’m just going in for a moment.”

“Our orders are to prevent anyone from entering this place.”

This was troublesome.

Amelia and Charlotte exchanged glances.

‘This is strange. Why go this far?’

Suspicion bloomed in Amelia’s heart.

Something was off. Why would they prohibit entry even to the Vice-Captain Charlotte, let alone herself?

What on earth were they doing with Ruide?

“Charlotte, do you know what this basement is?”

“…I know it’s the Captain’s workshop.”

“…Workshop?”

“I asked about it before out of curiosity. She said it’s where she does her hobbies. Don’t you know? You’re family.”

Amelia shook her head. The idea of Irene having hobbies seemed strange. She had never seen anything like that.

But Irene was always an enigmatic person. Having a workshop was one thing, but…

Why prohibit entry? The brief suspicion that had crossed her mind swelled endlessly, making Amelia anxious.

“Hmm… I have a bad feeling about this.”

“I think we need to go in and see.”

Charlotte stepped back with clouded eyes.

“Ahem, our Captain is scary when angry.”

“I’ll go in alone if I have to.”

“Lady Amelia. You cannot.”

The knight spoke firmly.

“Sorry, Jack.”

Amelia drew her sword. Simultaneously, the five knights guarding the place also drew their swords.

“I apologize.”

“No. There’s no need to apologize. Irene’s orders take precedence over mine. But please understand. I must go inside.”

“Ah, whatever!”

Charlotte also drew her sword and stood beside Amelia.

“I’ll give up three months’ salary! If I run out of money, Amelia will have to support me.”

“Charlotte.”

Amelia’s expression brightened slightly.

The knights maintained their distance with tense faces. They knew that even one Amelia, let alone Charlotte, would be difficult to handle.

As Windsor knights, they were well aware of Windsor’s power. But they couldn’t disobey Irene’s orders.

It was a volatile situation.

The atmosphere felt like it would explode at the slightest provocation.

“What are you doing?”

A calm voice came from the basement. It was Irene’s voice. The knights all sheathed their swords with tense faces.

Amelia and Charlotte also looked at each other and swallowed hard.

Shortly after, Irene revealed herself.

Holding Ruide’s hand.

“…!”

Amelia’s pupils dilated. Charlotte also had a look of disbelief.

“Ru…ide?”

It was, without a doubt, the most shocking scene Amelia had ever witnessed.

Ruide’s clothes were stained with blood. His face, arms, and hands—all drenched.

Judging by the pattern and amount of blood splatter…

It looked like someone had been stabbed repeatedly with a knife.

“Hello.”

Ruide looked up at Amelia and spoke softly.

At first glance, his tone seemed the same as usual.

But Ruide’s once-clear eyes were now cloudy. His pupils were empty.

“What on earth, what have you done?”

Amelia’s legs gave out, and she collapsed to the ground.

Tears streamed down her cheeks without her realizing it.

-Ame. Go quickly before it’s too late. If you miss this timing, Ruide might no longer be your cute little brother.

Ruby’s words suddenly came to mind. Amelia’s gaze slowly turned to Irene.

“What’s wrong, Ame?”

Irene was smiling even in this situation.

So brightly.

Stroking Ruide as if he were adorable.