(56) There's nothing you can do. (2)
People waiting outside the courtroom without public viewing tickets saw Ariana appearing with Rachel. A reporter, fortunately inside, occasionally relayed news of the trial, so everyone had a rough idea of Rachel's side's arguments.
Rachel's victory meant that Ariana was, as she had said, a villainess of the highest order. People didn't look kindly on Ariana, who had caused her mother pain and tormented her sisters.
People pointed and criticized Ariana, but she held her head high and walked. Despite her confident demeanor, her heart felt like it was about to crumble.
'The Western Duke has sensed something.'
Neither the Eastern Duke nor the previous Duke could defeat the Western Duke through strategy. If he had, he wouldn't have been tricked by the Western Duke and turned against the Emperor in the past.
The Eastern Duke may have been a good person, but goodness didn't help her avoid moments like these.
'What if the Western Duke makes the first move?'
Ariana had two options.
She could either stubbornly run away and cling to the Eastern Duke or obediently follow Rachel to the West and wait for another opportunity.
But she knew the second option was unworkable.
She realized it as she watched the Western Duke's gaze, which had been fixed on Ariana earlier. The Western Duke had no intention of letting Ariana live.
'The Western Duke is a cautious man. Having run away once, he'll never trust me again. No matter where he imprisons me, or who he marries me to, he'll assume I'll run away again.'
The moment she returned to the West, locked in the dungeons of Rosen Castle, he'd act when the people had forgotten about this trial.
The moment of death came back vividly.
She still vividly remembered being locked away, her body festering and rotting. She trembled, but barely managed to hold it back. She bit the flesh inside her mouth to keep her fear from showing.
Rachel took Ariana and boarded the waiting carriage. The Western Duke also boarded.
Rachel and the Western Duke sat side by side, while Ariana sat across from them, forced to face their gaze.
A suffocating silence weighed on Ariana until the courtroom was out of sight. The days in the East faded like a dream, and the memory of death grew darker.
No one spoke until they arrived at the Western Duke's villa in the capital, but countless emotions swirled within the carriage.
As soon as they got off the carriage and entered the villa, Rachel glanced at Ariana and raised her hand. The Western Duke said quietly,
"Rachel. Don't hurt her. Be careful until we leave the capital."
"...Yes."
Rachel lowered her hand indignantly.
Ariana wished Rachel had just given her a few blows. Then, if she had the chance to escape, she could use the bruises as evidence.
But as long as the Western Duke was by her side, Rachel wouldn't act rashly.
The Western Duke ordered the knights to secure Ariana's room and assigned three maids. The Western Duke looked down at Ariana with contempt and mockingly ordered,
"Make sure she has enough to eat, in case she reports me for not feeding her. And change her clothes too."
Ariana was surrounded by her maids and headed to her room. The maids followed her into the room without asking permission.
One maid brought her a wine-colored dress, the ceremonial attire of a clerk, and said,
"Don't even think about running away. Knights are guarding you outside the window."
Ariana knew that escape was impossible.
Ariana sat down on the sofa. The room was spacious and clean, but to Ariana, it felt like a dungeon she'd been locked in for a long time in the past.
The Western Duke gave Rachel a stern warning.
“We will be leaving the empire in two or three days. Until then, do not act rashly. Act as if eyes are watching you everywhere.”
“Yes, Father.”
“The Eastern Duke may not be very strategic, but he will do anything for his daughter, so you must be very careful.”
Rachel stared blankly at the Western Duke, who repeatedly urged her.
Gray hair, wrinkled face. At 65, the Western Duke was the oldest king among the nations, but his blue eyes shone with the brightness of a young man.
Usually, a lord would step down when his children grew up and were of marriageable age, but the Western Duke continued to hold on to his position, using the excuse that he had no sons to inherit. If he had no sons, he could adopt a child who could be his successor, or he could take a second wife and have a son or daughter, but the Western Duke did not do either of those things.
‘A greedy old man.’
Rachel knew that her father would not step down from his position until he died of old age.
Although she won this trial with the help of the Duke of the West, it was ultimately about the Duke of the West's honor that she intervened.
'He probably thinks Ariana might have discovered some family secret while by my side. How much can someone so young find out?'
The Duke of the West was worried that Rachel, unable to keep her mouth shut, might have told Ariana things she shouldn't have. Otherwise, she wouldn't have interfered in this trial, even if it meant severing ties with Rachel.
Still, her cautious nature had helped her. However, she couldn't know how long this protection would last.
'If Ariana causes trouble again, Father will cut ties with me. It's easier to cut ties than to constantly have to deal with annoying problems.'
She hated the Duke of the West, but being his daughter meant many things. Being cut off didn't mean she could completely escape his control.
'I must never be cut off.'
Rachel thought of Ariana, who had sat pitifully throughout the trial.
Thinking of Ariana, desperately trying to bring Rachel down, made her want to strangle her right then and there, but for now, she had to hold back. She had to play the perfect mother, so Ariana couldn't escape, no matter what she did.
Ariana spent the night staring into space.
No matter how much she agonized over it, she couldn't come up with a solution to this situation.
At least the Bronte manor was relatively free. But under the Western Duke's surveillance, she had no choice.
'What would the Duke of the North do?'
She couldn't understand why he came to mind in such a situation.
But Cyrus would probably know a way to resolve even this moment with ease.
'Has the Duke of the North ever been in such a state of complete invisibility?'
After the deaths of the previous Duke of the North and his wife, the North fell into chaos. To avoid the group that sought to oust the young Cyrus and take his place, he had to leave the North.
Suddenly, she remembered the conversation she had had with him in the cave.
"Your eyes always shine with such a desperate gleam. I've seen someone with those eyes before."
When she asked who had those eyes, he pointed to himself.
Ariana had those eyes because she had been thoroughly exploited, abandoned, and died. That meant Cyrus had also lived a life just as miserable as Ariana's.
The current noble Northern Duke didn't come about by accident.
'The Northern Duke overcame that misery and splendidly reclaimed the Northern Territory. There must have been situations more difficult than what I'm facing now.'
Light returned to her clouded eyes.
'I can find a way. I can't let it fall to this extent.'
Ariana glared at the food that had been on the table earlier. The food the maids had brought last night. She shoved the cold, dried food into her mouth and chewed it.
'Think, Ariana. Don't stop thinking just because it's dark.'
Ariana stared at the fork and knife she was holding. Upon entering, the Western Duke had his maids thoroughly search Ariana's body. As a result, all the daggers she had been carrying were taken away.
The forks and knives were blunt, but not so sharp that they couldn't inflict wounds.
'I'm not afraid of wounds on myself. What I'm more afraid of is being dragged to the royal palace without being able to do anything.'
While the maids were momentarily distracted, Ariana tucked the fork and knife between the sofa cushions. She then swept the table with both arms.
Crackle!
The dishes fell to the floor, shattering with a loud crash. The maids, startled, came running.
"Let me out!"
Ariana cried.
"Let me out! I want to go back! I don't belong here! Let me out! Let me go!"
Ariana, who had been acting as obediently as a doll, now screamed, startling the maids. Grabbing both of Ariana's arms, she called for the maids to clean up the broken dishes.
The maids, caught in the commotion, hadn't even noticed the loss of the fork and knife.
"Enough."
Even after the maids left the room, Ariana continued to thrash and scream, unable to feel at ease.
At that moment, the door opened, and the Western Duke entered.
The Western Duke frowned and glared at Ariana.
“What on earth are you doing?”
“Let me go. Please. I beg you. I will never say anything bad to His Excellency the Duke. This mouth will never open. So please... please let me go. Yes?”
“Hmm…”
“Please save me. Please save me, Your Excellency.”
Ariana pleaded with tears in her eyes, but the Western Duke, his expression unwavering, quietly studied her. As his cold eyes lingered on her face, Ariana continued to scream and plead.
The Western Duke's eyes narrowed.
"Why are you acting so childish all of a sudden? What are you hiding?"
The Western Duke tore his gaze from Ariana's sobbing face, surveyed the room, and gestured to the knights. While the knights guarding the room entered and carefully examined the room, the Western Duke ordered the maids to search Ariana as well.
Ariana was dragged into the bedroom and roughly searched, gritting her teeth and staring at the door.
'The knights shouldn't have found it.'
When the search was over, and she left the bedroom, the knights had already retreated.
"Did they find anything?"
The Western Duke's expression, silently observing Ariana, was indiscernible. The Western Duke slowly walked toward Ariana.
The closer he got, the more she felt like she was being crushed by a massive mountain. The Third Prince and the Western Duke. Two enormous pillars Ariana would have to overcome in this life.
The Western Duke stopped before Ariana and bent down to meet her eye level. His sparkling blue eyes fixed on Ariana, and he said,
"You want to run away, Ariana. You think there's a good opportunity, don't you?"
People waiting outside the courtroom without public viewing tickets saw Ariana appearing with Rachel. A reporter, fortunately inside, occasionally relayed news of the trial, so everyone had a rough idea of Rachel's side's arguments.
Rachel's victory meant that Ariana was, as she had said, a villainess of the highest order. People didn't look kindly on Ariana, who had caused her mother pain and tormented her sisters.
People pointed and criticized Ariana, but she held her head high and walked. Despite her confident demeanor, her heart felt like it was about to crumble.
'The Western Duke has sensed something.'
Neither the Eastern Duke nor the previous Duke could defeat the Western Duke through strategy. If he had, he wouldn't have been tricked by the Western Duke and turned against the Emperor in the past.
The Eastern Duke may have been a good person, but goodness didn't help her avoid moments like these.
'What if the Western Duke makes the first move?'
Ariana had two options.
She could either stubbornly run away and cling to the Eastern Duke or obediently follow Rachel to the West and wait for another opportunity.
But she knew the second option was unworkable.
She realized it as she watched the Western Duke's gaze, which had been fixed on Ariana earlier. The Western Duke had no intention of letting Ariana live.
'The Western Duke is a cautious man. Having run away once, he'll never trust me again. No matter where he imprisons me, or who he marries me to, he'll assume I'll run away again.'
The moment she returned to the West, locked in the dungeons of Rosen Castle, he'd act when the people had forgotten about this trial.
The moment of death came back vividly.
She still vividly remembered being locked away, her body festering and rotting. She trembled, but barely managed to hold it back. She bit the flesh inside her mouth to keep her fear from showing.
Rachel took Ariana and boarded the waiting carriage. The Western Duke also boarded.
Rachel and the Western Duke sat side by side, while Ariana sat across from them, forced to face their gaze.
A suffocating silence weighed on Ariana until the courtroom was out of sight. The days in the East faded like a dream, and the memory of death grew darker.
No one spoke until they arrived at the Western Duke's villa in the capital, but countless emotions swirled within the carriage.
As soon as they got off the carriage and entered the villa, Rachel glanced at Ariana and raised her hand. The Western Duke said quietly,
"Rachel. Don't hurt her. Be careful until we leave the capital."
"...Yes."
Rachel lowered her hand indignantly.
Ariana wished Rachel had just given her a few blows. Then, if she had the chance to escape, she could use the bruises as evidence.
But as long as the Western Duke was by her side, Rachel wouldn't act rashly.
The Western Duke ordered the knights to secure Ariana's room and assigned three maids. The Western Duke looked down at Ariana with contempt and mockingly ordered,
"Make sure she has enough to eat, in case she reports me for not feeding her. And change her clothes too."
Ariana was surrounded by her maids and headed to her room. The maids followed her into the room without asking permission.
One maid brought her a wine-colored dress, the ceremonial attire of a clerk, and said,
"Don't even think about running away. Knights are guarding you outside the window."
Ariana knew that escape was impossible.
Ariana sat down on the sofa. The room was spacious and clean, but to Ariana, it felt like a dungeon she'd been locked in for a long time in the past.
***
The Western Duke gave Rachel a stern warning.
“We will be leaving the empire in two or three days. Until then, do not act rashly. Act as if eyes are watching you everywhere.”
“Yes, Father.”
“The Eastern Duke may not be very strategic, but he will do anything for his daughter, so you must be very careful.”
Rachel stared blankly at the Western Duke, who repeatedly urged her.
Gray hair, wrinkled face. At 65, the Western Duke was the oldest king among the nations, but his blue eyes shone with the brightness of a young man.
Usually, a lord would step down when his children grew up and were of marriageable age, but the Western Duke continued to hold on to his position, using the excuse that he had no sons to inherit. If he had no sons, he could adopt a child who could be his successor, or he could take a second wife and have a son or daughter, but the Western Duke did not do either of those things.
‘A greedy old man.’
Rachel knew that her father would not step down from his position until he died of old age.
Although she won this trial with the help of the Duke of the West, it was ultimately about the Duke of the West's honor that she intervened.
'He probably thinks Ariana might have discovered some family secret while by my side. How much can someone so young find out?'
The Duke of the West was worried that Rachel, unable to keep her mouth shut, might have told Ariana things she shouldn't have. Otherwise, she wouldn't have interfered in this trial, even if it meant severing ties with Rachel.
Still, her cautious nature had helped her. However, she couldn't know how long this protection would last.
'If Ariana causes trouble again, Father will cut ties with me. It's easier to cut ties than to constantly have to deal with annoying problems.'
She hated the Duke of the West, but being his daughter meant many things. Being cut off didn't mean she could completely escape his control.
'I must never be cut off.'
Rachel thought of Ariana, who had sat pitifully throughout the trial.
Thinking of Ariana, desperately trying to bring Rachel down, made her want to strangle her right then and there, but for now, she had to hold back. She had to play the perfect mother, so Ariana couldn't escape, no matter what she did.
***
Ariana spent the night staring into space.
No matter how much she agonized over it, she couldn't come up with a solution to this situation.
At least the Bronte manor was relatively free. But under the Western Duke's surveillance, she had no choice.
'What would the Duke of the North do?'
She couldn't understand why he came to mind in such a situation.
But Cyrus would probably know a way to resolve even this moment with ease.
'Has the Duke of the North ever been in such a state of complete invisibility?'
After the deaths of the previous Duke of the North and his wife, the North fell into chaos. To avoid the group that sought to oust the young Cyrus and take his place, he had to leave the North.
Suddenly, she remembered the conversation she had had with him in the cave.
"Your eyes always shine with such a desperate gleam. I've seen someone with those eyes before."
When she asked who had those eyes, he pointed to himself.
Ariana had those eyes because she had been thoroughly exploited, abandoned, and died. That meant Cyrus had also lived a life just as miserable as Ariana's.
The current noble Northern Duke didn't come about by accident.
'The Northern Duke overcame that misery and splendidly reclaimed the Northern Territory. There must have been situations more difficult than what I'm facing now.'
Light returned to her clouded eyes.
'I can find a way. I can't let it fall to this extent.'
Ariana glared at the food that had been on the table earlier. The food the maids had brought last night. She shoved the cold, dried food into her mouth and chewed it.
'Think, Ariana. Don't stop thinking just because it's dark.'
Ariana stared at the fork and knife she was holding. Upon entering, the Western Duke had his maids thoroughly search Ariana's body. As a result, all the daggers she had been carrying were taken away.
The forks and knives were blunt, but not so sharp that they couldn't inflict wounds.
'I'm not afraid of wounds on myself. What I'm more afraid of is being dragged to the royal palace without being able to do anything.'
While the maids were momentarily distracted, Ariana tucked the fork and knife between the sofa cushions. She then swept the table with both arms.
Crackle!
The dishes fell to the floor, shattering with a loud crash. The maids, startled, came running.
"Let me out!"
Ariana cried.
"Let me out! I want to go back! I don't belong here! Let me out! Let me go!"
Ariana, who had been acting as obediently as a doll, now screamed, startling the maids. Grabbing both of Ariana's arms, she called for the maids to clean up the broken dishes.
The maids, caught in the commotion, hadn't even noticed the loss of the fork and knife.
"Enough."
Even after the maids left the room, Ariana continued to thrash and scream, unable to feel at ease.
At that moment, the door opened, and the Western Duke entered.
The Western Duke frowned and glared at Ariana.
“What on earth are you doing?”
“Let me go. Please. I beg you. I will never say anything bad to His Excellency the Duke. This mouth will never open. So please... please let me go. Yes?”
“Hmm…”
“Please save me. Please save me, Your Excellency.”
Ariana pleaded with tears in her eyes, but the Western Duke, his expression unwavering, quietly studied her. As his cold eyes lingered on her face, Ariana continued to scream and plead.
The Western Duke's eyes narrowed.
"Why are you acting so childish all of a sudden? What are you hiding?"
The Western Duke tore his gaze from Ariana's sobbing face, surveyed the room, and gestured to the knights. While the knights guarding the room entered and carefully examined the room, the Western Duke ordered the maids to search Ariana as well.
Ariana was dragged into the bedroom and roughly searched, gritting her teeth and staring at the door.
'The knights shouldn't have found it.'
When the search was over, and she left the bedroom, the knights had already retreated.
"Did they find anything?"
The Western Duke's expression, silently observing Ariana, was indiscernible. The Western Duke slowly walked toward Ariana.
The closer he got, the more she felt like she was being crushed by a massive mountain. The Third Prince and the Western Duke. Two enormous pillars Ariana would have to overcome in this life.
The Western Duke stopped before Ariana and bent down to meet her eye level. His sparkling blue eyes fixed on Ariana, and he said,
"You want to run away, Ariana. You think there's a good opportunity, don't you?"
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