Next day.
Jeremy and Erphia's funerals were held at the same time.
Everyone in the imperial palace wore black mourning clothes.
Seliya was no exception.
Seliya, dressed in a black dress, looked down with an indifferent expression as the coffins of Jeremy and Erphia were placed side by side next to the tomb of the Emperor who had died by her own hands.
“How could the Third Duke not attend the royal family’s funeral even though he was in the imperial palace?”
“...There must be a reason for that.”
Behind Seliya's back, the ministers could be heard whispering.
“Who would have known that the Abelon royal family, which had lasted for hundreds of years, would go to waste like this? That’s also a murder, right?”
“They have probably incurred the wrath of God. It may be that someone without any ability has paid the price for coveting the throne.”
"Shh. Everyone be quiet. There’s a funeral going on right now.”
Seliya looked at Dietrich standing next to her.
Dietrich, wearing a black uniform and lowering his eyelashes, was also the officiant at this funeral.
He seemed to have no interest in whether people were talking or not.
He seemed isolated as if he were alone in another world.
Seliya looked away from Dietrich.
It was the death of a member of the royal family, and a priest dispatched from the main shrine personally recited a prayer.
“Although the spark of life has gone out, may the soul be free forever. They will enjoy the paradise given to them in the arms of God, where all pain has disappeared.”
When the high priest's prayer was over, the imperial knights, palace ministers, and maids working in the imperial palace placed the white flower bouquets they were holding on the body's coffin one by one.
“Please go to a good place.”
“I hope you’ll be happy there.”
They often blurted out things they didn't even mean to say.
Seliya also placed a bouquet of white flowers in her hand on Erphia's coffin.
People were curious about what Seliya would say and waited for her next words.
The Emperor who coveted Seliya was murdered, and soon his son also coveted Seliya and was murdered.
Now, the rumor going around the imperial palace was that she, Seliya, might be a witch.
Seliya overhears them saying that since Dietrich is Seliya's lover, he too may be murdered for her sake.
She said that they were the ones who coveted her when Seliya stayed still, but she doesn't know why they call herself a witch and not them.
Seliya listened to people's comments, but could not embarrass Dietrich, her partner, so she forced herself to attend the funeral.
"Please."
Seliya said just one word. She didn't add anything after that.
There was no such thing as going to a good place or being happy.
Why do you have to say something you don't even mean to say?
Wouldn’t it be nice to see her face at the funeral?
Seliya doesn't know why she even has to say goodbye when the people who tried to harm her are dead.
Seliya turned around as if her work was done.
People were whispering.
"Oh."
Dietrich watched Seliya in silence as she walked away.
Dietrich, the officiant of the funeral, had to remain present until the funeral was over.
He wanted to hold Seliya right away, but she was more uncomfortable in this position than anyone else, so there was no excuse to hold her.
Dietrich had no choice but to watch quietly until Seliya's back disappeared from sight.
Seliya did not return to Dietrich's mansion.
Instead, she walked throughout thr palace and listened to what the people had to say about her.
Few people recognized her, perhaps because she wore a black hat with a veil.
“Your Excellency Duke Gregrick will sit on the throne, right?”
“I don’t know. Perhaps Duke Portman, the sword master, could sit down.”
“His Excellency Duke Cervantes is also in the imperial palace right now. Isn’t the reason why a genius wizard who hasn’t been seen in the imperial palace for several years came to the imperial palace to sit on the throne?”
Unlike the gloomy atmosphere of the funeral, the people at the funeral were very excited.
Seliya slowed her steps as she overheard people talking.
“Now that I think about it, they say that as soon as the mourning period ends, a ceremony will be held for him to be crowned as Emperor..."
Someone pounced on Seliya, who was eavesdropping on the conversation of the imperial palace maids! They hit her loudly.
As a result, the black hat that Seliya was wearing fell to the floor.
Seliya's silver hair cascaded over her shoulders, revealing her obscured face.
Seliya quickly tried to pick up the hat that had fallen on the floor.
However, someone cruelly trampled on Seliya's hat with their shoe.
“Oh, sorry...”
It was a voice that didn't even contain the slightest hint of regret.
Seliya's eyes moved to the owner of the shoe shoes.
Her waist-length pink hair was wavy.
Her blue eyes were filled with hostility as she looked at Seliya.
Seliya remembered seeing the woman in front of her.
She was clearly the woman who confessed her love to Dietrich in front of his mansion.
When Seliya said nothing, the woman raised the corner of her mouth and pressed the heel of her shoe on her hat, completely ruining it.
Seliya's eyes sank low as she looked down at her feet.
“It fell on the floor anyway, right? There is no need to regret it too much.”
The woman who spoke in a cheerful voice folded the corners of her eyes and smiled.
Seliya had a pretentious womanly laugh, she thought, and she looked a lot like Ileon.
“What are you doing?”
The smile disappeared from the woman's face at Seliya's informal words.
“Do you not know who I am?”
Seliya looked straight at the woman and she said.
“I don’t know who you are, but I know you have a dirty personality.”
“!”
The angry woman raised her one hand. Seliya held her hand with her strength as she tried to strike her sword towards her.
“This is outrageous! How dare you know who I am!”
“Whoever you are, it’s none of my business.”
Seliya answered calmly.
"Yes? Your foolishness brought you upon yourself.”
The woman let out a voice full of scorn.
“Because you touched me without knowing who I was.”
“You touched me. You were the one who started a fight with me who stayed still.”
“You come from a street orphan, so there’s nothing you can’t say to me, a Princess!”
The woman tried to scrawl Seliya's cheek mercilessly with her other hand, which Seliya was not holding.
However, her hand was grabbed by someone before it could touch Seliya's cheek.
“Who dares!”
The woman looked behind her with her hands clenched violently.
Long silver hair that is almost gray, and clear, bright blue eyes.
“Oh, brother?”
The woman made a noise of surprise. The person who grabbed her wrist was none other than Illeon.
“Reina. You shouldn’t harass innocent people.”
Reina bit her lower lip and shouted at Illeon's soft voice.
"Brother! This lowly thing first...!”
“Reina.”
Illeon quietly called her sister's name with a gentle face.
“There is a limit to just overlooking your tyranny.”
"Brother!"
“I watched everything from the beginning. You were the one who first started a fight with Lady Seliya, who was quiet, right?”
Reina huffed.
“Do you want to go back to the palace for now? Your brother has a conversation to talk with Lady Seliya.”
“...”
Reina glared at Seliya as if she would kill her at any moment.
"Hurry."
At Illeon's urging, Reina trampled on Seliya's black hat one last time and walked away.
Instead of Seliya giving Ileon her gaze, she was looking down at the completely trampled and unwearable hat.
“Lady Shelly. Shall we talk in a quiet place?”
“Why should I talk to you?”
Illeon lowered his voice and spoke in response to Seliya's wary tone.
“Should I do it? I know a lot of things that you don’t know.”
Illeon smiled brightly at Seliya.
Unlike usual, where he always wore white clothes with wide arms, Illeon was wearing a black uniform, perhaps because it was a funeral.
Seliya thought that he looked much better in his current black clothes than in the white clothes, which were the exact opposite of his dark interior.
“Do you like this outfit?”
As Seliya did not take his eyes off Ileon's clothes, he asked in a plain voice.
"No. I just thought it suited the Duke well.”
Illeon suggested, folding the corners of his eyes in response to Seliya's answer.
“There are a lot of eyes watching here, so would you like to come to my palace?”
"No, I do not want."
“You will regret it.”
“I think I’ll regret it more if I go to that palace.”
"Why?"
“Because the Duke is not a good person.”
Illeon tilted his head. Following his nod, long silver hair that was almost gray fell over his black uniform.
Illeon whispered softly into Seliya's ear as if telling a secret.
“Instead of your beautiful face, you ruined the Crown Prince’s face, right? Then shouldn’t I be a good person for Lady Seliya?”
Seliya said, taking a step back from Illeon.
“If you think about ruining someone else’s face, you are not a good person.”
After finishing his sentence, Seliya turned his back on Illeon. As if it wasn't worth talking to him anymore.
Illeon wrapped his arms around Seliya's shoulders from behind as she tried to walk away from him.
He said in a voice tinged with laughter that Illeon was at her side as a startled Seliya tried to throw him off.
“Tomorrow, you will see something very interesting.”
After he said those words, Illeon gently loosened his arms.
Seliya shook her head at Illeon and she walked away from him.
It was not until the next day that Seliya learned what Illeon meant by his words.
Imperial Calendar Year 323, November 15th.
The day after the royal family's funeral, Abelon's new Emperor was proclaimed.
The new Emperor was Illeon Gregrick.
Support Novellate!
Comments
Post a Comment