KTMD - Chapter 62

Celine sat in an armchair, a blanket draped over her lap, her eyes closed. A chill ran through her body as the conversation she'd had with her father three days earlier came back to her mind. She pulled her collar up tightly.

Her father told her a story from long ago.

"Celine. I didn't inherit a title, so I had a deep sense of inferiority. Society and perception only served to torment me."

He paused for a moment and sighed. He felt pain as he recalled, one by one, memories of being ignored by his brothers.

"You shouldn't do that. Marrying a man of high status? That's not your calling in the first place, so you can't be proud of it. I'd rather you become a woman of power than marry a man you don't love."

“Dad, no way...”

“I tried to make you a Queen, Celine.”

Celine's face grew increasingly pale. Her once-refreshing green eyes faded and dried. Grabbing the hem of her skirt, she questioned the unbelievable words again.

“What are you talking about?”

"I have sinned against you and your mother. I fell in love with Queen Medea, who was once a princess, and had a child with her, leaving you and your mother behind. The current princess is not the real one. I had someone swap her out and brought Diana here instead."

It was a story so overwhelming that it was almost impossible for the listener to handle. She barely managed to open her mouth and asked again.

“You committed adultery?”

The lieutenant colonel had already mentioned it, but she didn't want to believe it. Her clenched fists trembled slightly at the sight of her beloved and revered father admitting it with his own mouth.

"Forgive me, Celine. I will make you Queen and grant you the Medea United Kingdom. Only descendants born of Medea's bloodline can inherit the throne, but the Queen doesn't have a royal title, so she has no other direct descendants. Even if you're of mixed blood, there's a way to gain recognition."

"I can't. It's impossible. Even if another heir were to succeed, the people there would never recognize it. And I'm not even half-blood. My appearance is nothing like that of Medea. I can't live my entire life being accused of legitimacy."

"I heard Frogen is planning to attack Medea right now. They might even form a temporary alliance with Belford in exchange for sharing Medea's colony."

International relations are subject to change, like turning the palm of a hand, depending on national interests and conflicts of interest. This means war will break out again. In the process, the Queen might be killed.

If that happens, a war on a scale incomparable to previous wars will break out.

Celine also hated war. She lived comfortably in a safe place, so she never experienced it, but her negative perception of it was strong.

The admiral began to tell everything that had happened in the past.

The story of Diana's birth, her mother's death, and the Duchess of Groenendael, who was caught up in her weakness and switched children, then fled here.

She felt a profound sense of betrayal. The jumble of impure emotions that had been tangled in confusion began to subside, and what emerged clearly was either hatred or forgiveness.

Will she hate him for betraying her mother and herself by having an affair with the Queen, or will she forgive him in memory of her father, who loved her and gave her all?

Recalling her conversation with her father, Celine bit her fingernails in anxiety. It was a childhood habit she had barely managed to break. It had suddenly resurfaced, leaving her thumbnails blunt and untidy.

“Celine, I leave it to you to decide.”

Those were her father's last words.

Celine, who had been biting her nails with her small lips, rose from her seat with a determined expression. "Are you telling me to become a puppet Queen of a puppet state? A blonde Queen of a black-haired people?" She's nothing more than a tool to destroy Medea's long-held legitimacy and her people's pride. Furthermore, a King must marry someone of his own race. Even if it were a custom that no longer needed to be observed, there was no way Lieutenant Colonel Groenendaal, with his righteous nature, would accept it and become a state official.

She immediately prepared herself and headed to Lieutenant Colonel Groenendaal's mansion. When she arrived and met the colonel, she sat up straight and spoke to him.

"Lieutenant Colonel. You told me to break the chain of misfortune, and you said I could do it."

“That’s right.”

"I'll stop all of Father's plans. Maybe I can stop Diana's death, and maybe even a bigger war."

The lieutenant colonel, sitting on the sofa with a cup of tea in his hand, stared at her with his blue eyes, observing her instead of answering. Celine, well aware of that unspoken question, continued calmly.

"The Duchess, the lieutenant colonel's mother, swapped Medea's Princess with a child from the slums. So, I knew everything through the Duchess."

It was to save you and your brother. You have a responsibility too.

The lieutenant colonel set down his teacup without a word and smiled faintly. His face was bitter. Celine knew that he and she were sharing a great burden.

The admiral originally planned to use Diana to blackmail and provoke the Queen into war. He intended to seize the opportunity to eliminate the Queen and Diana, then install Celine on the throne.

Even if it were a country that valued bloodlines, if it had been defeated, it would have no choice but to accept a new Queen from Belford as its governor.

This is not something that the admiral can achieve alone.

In short, it was the Belford Empire's war plan, proposed and accepted by the Admiral. The relationship between the Queen, Diana, and the Admiral, as well as the details of the situation, was known only to the Emperor and Admiral of Belford.

The Admiral had no doubt that Belford would win the war against the Frogen. He had, in fact, been in the clear, but after a prolonged trench war, the situation quickly deteriorated.

This long-standing war plan was completely thwarted by Diana's kidnapping and the near-defeat of the unfavorable ceasefire negotiations.

If this fact becomes known, Medea's Queen will not remain silent. If Medea, with its powerful naval and air power, were to declare war, it would be a serious headache.

The Frogen will also break the ceasefire negotiations and rush in like hungry beasts at a deliciously prepared feast to fill their bellies.

So, perhaps they'd try to negotiate a compromise by executing the entire Duke of Groenendael and the Claire family. Celine and the lieutenant colonel were secretly aware that this was a situation where neither of them would survive.

"Lieutenant Colonel, we were inevitably entangled. My choice could prevent the worst from happening."

“You want something in return from me, Miss Claire.”

"Yes."

Celine smiled beautifully, running her hands through her platinum blonde hair.

“Marry me. That’s how you break the chain of unhappiness.”

She was confident that if she were to marry Lieutenant Colonel Groenendaal, she would stop everything.

Since she's marrying the one she loves, she won't be forced to become Medea's Queen any longer. And she plans to forgive her father for all his past actions. Celine knows that her existence is her father's absolution.

“Yes, but I have a condition.”

The lieutenant colonel ran his hand through his jet-black hair and let out a sigh. Celine waited for him to state what he wanted. Subconsciously anticipating what it would be, she simply clenched and unclenched her hand, hidden beneath the table.

“I will do my duty, but don’t expect love.”

Celine smiled bitterly. She didn't want anything more.

"Yes."

This was how the two became engaged.

Fate somehow brought them together, even if it wasn't true love.

***

"I guess Selena found out. She probably offered to marry Jeffrey in exchange for his cooperation."

Jace didn't seem to think much about why his brother was engaged.

Who knew if it was Selena or Selenii? Noah's hand, which had been resting its chin on his hand, traced the knee of his cream-colored chinos before stopping.

"You don't seem to be very interested in your younger sibling's marriage. You don't even know her name."

“She’s not even my woman, so why should I know her name?”

Jace stubbed out his cigarette, sat up straight, and a curious smile played on his lips. He tilted his upper body slightly and spoke.

"By the way, does the Queen know what's under the Frogen Railroad?"

“I don’t know.”

Jace laughed heartily at Noah's answer.

The Rotsilt family has led the national military and railway industries. The Rotsilt family also oversaw the construction of the railways across Frogen and the extensive transcontinental railways connecting it to other countries.

A large quantity of explosives is currently buried beneath the Frogen railway. Noah had long known that Frogen was targeting Medea. This was the work of his father, the former Duke.

If all the field trains carrying soldiers, supply trains, and train guns were destroyed after the war broke out, the situation would be very desperate, and the country would be on the defensive.

“I will place Medea at the top of the world. And in the distant future, I will give it to the Princess.”

“Do women like that kind of thing...? And if she becomes Queen, she won’t be able to marry you.”

Jace, who had always viewed all of this as Noah's ambition to become ruler, asked with a somewhat bewildered expression. Noah answered with an indifferent expression.

“Even long-standing customs are helpless in the face of omnipotent power.”

***

I was looking at Elsa, Daniel's nanny, furtively.

Discrimination exists everywhere, but to me, who has lived in a capitalist world, not a world of caste systems, it is just absurd nonsense.

Even here, treatment differs based on national title and wealth rather than social status. Many nobles, possessing vast inherited wealth, are simply more likely to be treated favorably based on their status and wealth.

"Not equal? ​​Then what class do you belong to?"

“I am a nanny who educates and raises the young master of the Duke of Hessen, a noble family.”

“So you’re one of the servants too.”

"Diana, that's rude. Behave yourself. I'm like family to the Prince. I'm filling his mother's role."

What kind of logic is that? It's like a servant at a Duke's house abusing his power by claiming to be a noble. I looked her over with a cold gaze, then gave her a condescending look.

"Where does a servant like you get to use a young Prince to act like a noble? Do you think you're a Duchess?"

“A servant or something?”

Elsa's face, now serious, flushed as red as her hair. Daniel looked at me and his nanny, at a loss.

She responded to my aggressive remarks with a sharp voice.

"You're a commoner now, aren't you? Judging by your speech, it seems you've never even received an education."

I covered my mouth and continued speaking, laughing out loud as if it was funny.

"If I become a Countess, I can come to you and ignore and treat you poorly, right? That's your natural way of thinking, so you have to accept it."

“Even so, isn’t it just an honorary title? It has no legitimacy.”

"A title is a title. You're the Duke's nanny, yet you equate yourself with the Duchess? How absurd."

She fanned herself with her hand, turned his head, and glared at me with a slanted gaze. She didn't forget to click her tongue. It was the perfect example of bullying.

"How dare you make such presumptuous remarks about being the Duchess's substitute. Furthermore, you're instilling flawed ideas in him under the guise of education. I don't think you're qualified to be his nanny."

Elsa's red lips were tightly shut in a straight line.

I could see her growing increasingly flustered, as if she hadn't anticipated this reaction. Daniel blocked my path and looked at his nanny with a stern, dignified expression, like a Supreme Court judge.

“It was the nanny’s fault. You were the one who was rude to my friend first.”

She bit her lip in resentment as even the young Prince she had cared for for a long time came forward.

“Prince? How could you have stayed with me longer...?”

"Miss!"

It was the oblivious but kind Lenny who came to end this war. She ran over, caught her breath, and adjusted her maid's hat.

“Miss, the Duke of Hessen has sent someone.”

"Yes?"

"He would like to thank you for your kindness and kindness. He would like to invite you to dinner tonight."

“My father came to the capital?”

“His Excellency?”

As Daniel and Elsa asked at the same time, my eyes widened.

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