“How long are you going to keep the story of the sacred tree a secret?”
“Claudel...”
“Hannah and I can’t be free from this anymore. Can’t you tell me even when things have gotten this way?"
“Hannah and I can’t be free from this anymore. Can’t you tell me even when things have gotten this way?"
When I argued as if I had made up my mind, Madame Cronach was taken aback as if she had been caught off guard.
“The sacred tree was burned down. The village was gone too. Why are you still keeping your oath?”
“Claudel is right.”
Hannah looked at Madame Cronach.
“Mama Leonie. It’s necessary to let go of revenge and resentment, but I don’t want to get caught up in something I don’t know.”
“Please tell me. Yes?”
“If you had told me something when I first saw you in the capital, I could have persuaded Claudel.”
However, since Madame Cronach had kept quiet because it was dangerous, she had no choice but to appease Claudel with the vague statement that ‘Kaian wouldn’t do that.’
When Valquiterre said that it was Kaian who set the village on fire, Claudel was completely devastated.
“Please tell me properly, even now. Kaian is my child’s father.”
I turned my head toward the quiet baby’s room and said,
“I don’t want any more misunderstandings about him.”
“Yes. You’re right.”
“He said he still has unresolved concerns about King Valquiterre.”
Kaian looked distressed when he told me that story.
I was able to endure everything just by knowing that the baby was alive, so I simply said I wouldn’t ask any more questions right away.
In fact, I was more curious than anyone else.
Now, I truly wanted to understand Kaian.
‘The tragedy of Plogne Village must have something to do with it.’
Valquiterre deliberately deceived me in the middle.
He set the stage so that Kaian would be unable to move and would have to admit it. Just as a cylinder looks like a circle when viewed from above and a square when viewed from the side, the truth is one, but it is distorted and delivered.
The one who doesn’t know becomes the weaker one and is deceived and manipulated.
I almost lost my baby because of a dirty scheme.
While I was grateful for my current happiness, a part of my heart was quietly seething with anger.
'Even if Kaian said he would forgive me, I don't think I could do it.'
So I thought I had to know for sure about the incident where I pushed the village of Plogne into the fire pit.
Only then could I protect my baby and Kaian.
"If the village hadn't been like that, one of you might have been the Arbor Fruit."
Madame Cronach made a bitter expression.
"Because Claudel is my child. And Hannah caught me once by chance. You must have known that I was the Arbor Fruit."
Claudel and Hannah agreed in silence.
"You're right. I tried to keep my oath even though it was to a sacred tree that had already been burned down."
"The object of my oath is gone. Don't feel guilty, Mama Leonie."
She shook her head at Hannah's words.
"That wasn't all. Keeping my oath cost many people their lives. I was afraid that more and more people would know the secret.”
The souls who had been swept away by her words visited her in her dreams every night.
It’s your fault. It’s your fault. It’s your three-inch tongue.
“I was afraid that someone would get hurt if the secret that was kept secret leaked out.”
When things broke out, they always came from unexpected places.
“The reason the Queen came to town that day was because of Arbor’s misfortune.”
Claudel and Hannah listened to the story that had begun with difficulty.
***
Madame Cronach’s face turned pale after telling the whole story.
She had escaped the capital with Irena’s help and had come to hide comfortably on a boat, but she must not have come back resting because she was so worried.
The maids took her in, saying that there was a room where she had stayed for a while at Rowen Castle when she went missing.
When I was alone with Hannah, I was filled with regret.
“I shouldn’t have been fooled.”
Even after hearing Madame Cronach’s story, there were still questions that remained unanswered.
What was Queen Sylvia’s intention in provoking Valquiterre?
Did she really not know that Valquiterre would be so furious when he heard such a prophecy as she raised her child?
“Don’t say that. Even Her Majesty Queen Sylvia couldn’t have known that her child would become so unfortunate because of what she did.”
Even though Hannah tried to console me, I somehow felt that it wasn’t true.
The existence of Arbor, the talking tree hidden in Plogne Village, was sacred and mysterious. However, those surrounding it were also extraordinary.
“It seems like he made Kaian clean up the village on purpose.”
Was Kaian also trying to keep his loyalty to the dead Queen like his mother who tried to keep the oath of the sacred tree?
That blind part was understandable but also frustrating.
“It’s okay that I won’t be fooled anymore.”
I sighed deeply as Hannah comforted me again.
“Hannah. You don’t call me madam?”
“Huh? Oh... Mama Leoni is here, so I didn’t know.”
Hanna swept her cheek as if embarrassed.
“Sorry. I’ll be careful.”
“No. You’re more like my friend than ever.”
Hannah awkwardly lowered her hand as she watched me smile gently.
“I want to apologize to you, Hannah.”
Kaian also apologized to me for his mistake.
However, I still had an apology to make.
“What are you apologizing for?”
“When you came to see me in the palace. I told you not to come to me again.”
The bitterness from that time was still vivid. The pain I had experienced, even though I knew the baby was alive, was terribly engraved on my body.
“I think I lost my mind after hearing that there was something wrong with the baby.”
Hannah had a baby!
I couldn’t celebrate the joy of my closest and most precious friend.
“I’m so miserable and sad.”
The moment I hugged Hannah and felt the unfamiliar swelling on her lower abdomen, I felt crazy emotions boiling over.
“The moment I felt that you had the baby I lost, I couldn’t bear it.”
I literally felt like I had become a monster.
“I’ve never been hurt. You were just a victim who was used.”
Hannah said quietly.
“The King used your feelings of wanting to protect the baby for his own benefit. I know your feelings better than anyone else.”
She slowly stroked her belly.
“If I think that there might be something wrong with the baby, I won’t be any different.”
Somehow, until she was born, until she could cut the umbilical cord and cry on her own, she would fight desperately to protect her life, sharing her breath.
“Hannah. Don’t call me madam anymore.”
“What?”
“Please continue to be my friend. Okay?”
Hannah tried to say something to my words but then closed her mouth.
“If you forgive me. Please. Hannah.”
“Haa. I’m too weak for you.”
When I stared at her persistently, Hannah nodded helplessly.
“Instead, you have to speak well so that the lord doesn’t fire me.”
“Of course.”
I was truly happy that Hannah forgave me.
‘Kaian said he would forgive me several times.’
Now, he wished that he could quickly feel the relief I felt.
***
Leaving Rowen Castle and rushing to the capital was a sudden event.
Even if you had made a great decision and prepared to leave, it wasn’t a good thing for the lord to be away from the castle for a long time.
Moreover, he had been away for almost two months the previous year because he had visited the capital, and at the beginning of the year, Valquiterre suddenly came to visit, so he had to hold a ball at Rowen Castle for the first time since becoming the lord.
On top of that, there was also the annual festival of the Water Banquet, and amid all the hustle and bustle, he had lived like a person who had lost his soul after Claudel disappeared.
It was all thanks to his butler, Baron Colon, that he barely managed to maintain his human appearance and not neglect the work that a lord should do.
“That’s all for the urgent matters.”
Kaian barely suppressed the frustration of wanting to sigh as he looked over the work that Baron Colon had specially sorted out.
‘The butler must have had a hard time.’
The baby had safely arrived at Rowen because of the butler’s judgment that he had trusted.
Kaian thought that he should send the Baroness a gift of a high-quality ruby that she liked.
However, he kept losing focus.
He must be tired, but he couldn’t stand to lose himself in thought or sigh in front of the butler who brought him only the important things for managing the estate and told him to put out the urgent things, so he barely managed to hold back the sigh that was barely able to escape.
Then, when the butler said, “That’s it,” and gathered up the documents he had signed, Kaian abruptly stood up from his seat.
“You should get going and rest.”
“I have work to do, so I’m going to stay at the castle today.”
“To the castle? Why don’t you go to the mansion instead? I’ll send a gift to the Baroness.”
“But there are many things to take care of at the castle.”
“It won’t be too late to check tomorrow.”
When Kaian made it seem like he was insisting on sending him home, the butler, who had been pretending not to notice, laughed.
“Master, you should go to Madame.”
“Yes. I’m worried about what Claudel has been doing all day.”
“She ate a fair amount of soft food. She took care of the baby here and there, and after Madame Cronach arrived earlier, she had tea with Miss Hannah.”
“Did she drink tea?”
“Yes. Although she didn’t drink much.”
“Phew. That’s fortunate.”
The butler quickly added.
“The resident doctor will see Madame tomorrow. She stayed in the baby’s room today and spent the afternoon with Madame Cronach, so she didn’t have much free time.”
“That doctor knows her health well. Let’s do that.”
Kaian walked a few steps down the hallway in front of the office and turned around.
“And make sure you return to the mansion today.”
“Haha. Yes. I understand, Master.”
Only after he finally succeeded in sending the butler back to his home did Kaian head to the mistress’s room with an excited heart.
Unlike before, four armed soldiers were standing in front of her room.
“Is there anything wrong?”
“Yes, my lord.”
The men, whose spirits were firmly established, greeted him with a clank.
Kaian hesitated for a moment and then knocked on the door.
“I wonder if Claudel has the energy to get up.”
It was when he thought he had done something useless.
Claudel greeted him through the slightly open door.
“You’re here?”
“Master, you should go to Madame.”
“Yes. I’m worried about what Claudel has been doing all day.”
“She ate a fair amount of soft food. She took care of the baby here and there, and after Madame Cronach arrived earlier, she had tea with Miss Hannah.”
“Did she drink tea?”
“Yes. Although she didn’t drink much.”
“Phew. That’s fortunate.”
The butler quickly added.
“The resident doctor will see Madame tomorrow. She stayed in the baby’s room today and spent the afternoon with Madame Cronach, so she didn’t have much free time.”
“That doctor knows her health well. Let’s do that.”
Kaian walked a few steps down the hallway in front of the office and turned around.
“And make sure you return to the mansion today.”
“Haha. Yes. I understand, Master.”
Only after he finally succeeded in sending the butler back to his home did Kaian head to the mistress’s room with an excited heart.
Unlike before, four armed soldiers were standing in front of her room.
“Is there anything wrong?”
“Yes, my lord.”
The men, whose spirits were firmly established, greeted him with a clank.
Kaian hesitated for a moment and then knocked on the door.
“I wonder if Claudel has the energy to get up.”
It was when he thought he had done something useless.
Claudel greeted him through the slightly open door.
“You’re here?”
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