Episode 148
“Oh, Your Highness…”
Sarah paced anxiously outside Elonia’s room. It had been five days. Five days since Elonia had been confined.
Five days since Sarah had last eaten a proper meal, her mind consumed by worry.
The other maids tried to drag her away.
“Lady Sarah, you’ll collapse!”
“We’ll watch the door. Please go and rest!”
“How can I? Her Highness isn’t even eating properly…!”
The food trays returned from Elonia’s room practically untouched.
“If anything happens to Her Highness, I’ll…!”
“Lady Sarah!”
Sarah’s vision blurred, and she collapsed.
She woke up in the middle of the night.
“…Ugh.”
“Lady Sarah, are you awake?!”
“Alisa…”
Sarah blinked blearily.
“…Where am I?”
“Where else? Your room!”
“…Oh.”
She looked around, disoriented. She hadn’t been in her room for so long that she didn’t recognize it. She sat up, her head throbbing.
“I’m sorry for worrying you, Alisa. Where are Cecilia and Canaria?”
“They’re watching Her Highness’s room. So please rest.”
“But…”
“You’re not the only one who cares about Her Highness!”
Alisa, usually so meek and indecisive, was surprisingly firm.
She was also worried about Elonia, worried sick.
“We’re all worried, Lady Sarah. But we can’t help Her Highness by collapsing! She’ll be sad if we’re not there for her when she’s released.”
“Alisa…”
“You’re not the only one who serves Her Highness. It hurts us when you try to do everything yourself. Don’t you trust us?”
Sarah, chastised by Alisa’s unexpected outburst, reflected on her actions.
She had been trying to do everything herself.
But she was just a maid, just like Alisa, tasked with caring for Elonia.
She was also Elonia’s godmother, a role bestowed upon her by Philemon, but their duty was the same.
To raise and protect Elonia.
Sarah, her body relaxing, nodded.
“Thank you, Alisa.”
“I’ll do it even without your thanks. Now rest.”
“…Okay.”
Alisa smiled and patted her shoulder, then left to relieve the other maids.
Sarah, looking out the window, thought,
‘Worrying wouldn’t have solved anything.’
She should have confronted Artius. She had been so consumed by worry that she hadn’t been thinking straight.
‘I have to recover and then go see Her Highness. I have to be strong for her.’
Elonia had sharp ears. She must have heard Sarah crying and panicking.
Just as Sarah was about to lie down, she saw something moving outside her window.
“Huh…?”
She couldn’t believe her eyes. It was…
“Young Master…?”
Llewellyn, dressed in black, like a thief, was sneaking past her window.
He put a finger to his lips, urging her to be quiet, and then quickly disappeared. Sarah, still stunned, then saw another figure.
“…”
It was Simon and Olivia. They were following Llewellyn, and they, seeing Sarah, quickly scurried away.
“What is going on…?”
Was she hallucinating from exhaustion? No, that was impossible. She jumped out of bed and rushed out of her room, her earlier fatigue forgotten.
“Your Highness, are you alright?”
Elonia looked up at the man standing outside her window and whispered, her voice filled with disbelief,
“Simon…?”
It was Simon.
She felt a pang of disappointment, a disappointment she didn’t have time to analyze. Simon, his hand outstretched, urged her, his voice filled with urgency,
“You have to escape!”
“What are you—”
“El, hurry!”
“Llewellyn?”
Llewellyn was also there. Elonia, her mind short-circuiting at the sight of two people who shouldn’t be together, stammered,
“W-what are you doing here…?”
“I blackmailed Brother to let me in! His Majesty isn’t in his right mind! We have to escape!”
Elonia’s heart clenched at his words.
Escape? Why?
She hated running away. She remembered her past life, always running, always choosing the safest path, a path that had led to her death.
She wasn’t going to run away again, not as the princess of Ravanta.
“Your Highness, hurry!”
Simon reached out again, but Elonia pushed his hand away.
“Go back. If I escape alone, it’s fine, but if they find out you helped me, it’s over for all of us, considering Dad’s current state.”
“Your Highness!”
“Simon, your life is on the line, you know?”
Elonia glared at him, her voice sharp.
“I tried to protect you! And you not only went to prison willingly, but you’re also trying to break me out?! You offered me a marriage of convenience, without any regard for your own life?!”
“Y-Your Highness.”
“Go back!”
It was her last act of kindness. She wouldn’t treat him like a naive child anymore.
Just as she turned away,
“Simon, you idiot! Why did you do that?!”
“S-sister!”
It was Olivia’s voice. Elonia turned around and saw her, dressed in black, scolding Simon.
“Olivia, how did you…?”
Simon had been imprisoned, so escaping was plausible, but Olivia should be at the Bereta estate.
Had she escaped Duchess Bereta’s surveillance? Alone?
There was only one answer. A faint trace of Ricardo’s mana lingered on her. Olivia knelt down, meeting Elonia’s gaze, and said,
“El, are you going to let them use you as a sacrifice? After you promised to free us?”
How did she know about the sacrifice? Elonia’s heart sank.
“How did you—?”
“Lucius told me everything!”
Olivia’s outburst surprised Elonia.
If Lucius had told her everything, then she should be happy about this. Elonia, her face a mask of confusion, said,
“You know everything, and yet…? Isn’t this a good thing for you? They can resurrect Chelon. Your beloved sister can come back to life—”
“Elonia, the dead don’t return.”
Olivia climbed through the window and entered Elonia’s room. She placed her hands on Elonia’s shoulders, her voice firm and resolute.
“And I love my sister, but I don’t want her to come back.”
“Why…?”
“I know how many lives she took, how much suffering she caused.”
“…”
“I’m not a child anymore. I can’t just ignore reality and cling to the past. If Tristan is planning to resurrect her as a weapon, then I have a duty, as a Heilan princess, to stop him.”
She took Elonia’s hand, her voice filled with a desperate plea.
“Elonia, if you stay here, Chelon will be resurrected.”
Elonia’s heart clenched at her words.
She was the one who had declared Chelon Heilan should disappear, the one who had “killed” her. And yet, she was also the one who kept her alive, in a way.
As long as Elonia lived, Chelon Heilan would also live on, in her memories, in her blood.
But Olivia, despite her love for her sister, had chosen what was right.
Tears welled up in Elonia’s eyes.
Olivia, misinterpreting her tears, said gently,
“Don’t cry. We have to go.”
She spoke to her like a child, which was understandable, considering their age difference.
Children grew up so fast.
She hadn’t thought of Olivia as a child, but now, Olivia seemed so much older, so much wiser.
The fact that she remembered Chelon, that she didn’t want her to be resurrected, both saddened and comforted Elonia.
Olivia held out her hand again.
“Let’s go, El. Lucius is waiting for us.”
Lucius.
His name was enough to dispel her doubts and anxieties. Elonia took her hand, her own hand gripping Alexia’s dagger, and they ran through the night.
They successfully escaped the Imperial Palace. Lucius, his face pale and drawn, called out to her,
“Your Highness!”
He was waiting for them in a secluded area, his frail body needing protection.
Elonia, seeing him, almost burst into tears, but then,
“Your Highness, we’re here too…”
Alberich, the sly fox, raised his hand. Llewellyn had blackmailed him. Elonia, looking at the group that had gathered in the darkness, was stunned.
The Asta brothers, the Heilan siblings, Ricardo, Ethan, and the other knights from the Imperial Princess’s Palace.
They were all here.
To help her escape!
And that wasn’t all.
“Your Highness!”
“Sarah?”
“Your Highness…!”
Sarah came running towards them, her arms open wide, and embraced Elonia tightly, almost knocking her over.
“Sarah, how did you…?”
“I saw Llewellyn sneaking past my window…”
Sarah hugged her tightly, her hand stroking Elonia’s hair.
“You’ve been through so much, Your Highness…”
“…Sniff.”
It was too much. They had defied the Emperor’s orders to save her. How could she not cry?
She buried her face in Sarah’s shoulder, biting her lip to suppress her sobs.
Sarah’s familiar scent, warm and comforting, calmed her down, but it also made her feel even more emotional. But they couldn’t stay here any longer. They would be discovered.
“Where’s Dad?”
“He’s in the Grand Conference Hall. …He summoned all the nobles.”
Ethan replied.
If he was distributing the potion to the nobles, it would spread quickly.
She couldn’t cry now.
Elonia wiped her eyes with her sleeve and said,
“Thank you for helping me escape. But I have to go to the Main Palace.”
“Your Highness!”
Sarah, as expected, was horrified. Elonia looked at her, her voice firm and resolute.
She couldn’t choose between her family and her people. She had to protect both.
“I’m the princess. I have to do this.”
She knew why she had been reborn as the princess of Ravanta.
She hadn’t been reborn for some grand purpose, but she wanted to live differently this time, to atone for the sins of her past life.
She smiled at Lucius.
“Lucius, I’m sorry. I’ll return your dagger later.”
“Your Highness.”
“I’ll see you soon.”
She ran towards the Main Palace, leaving them behind.
It wasn’t an easy decision.
She had spoken so confidently, but now, standing before the door to the Grand Conference Hall, her heart pounded with fear.
But she had to do this, to protect her people, even if it meant hurting the person she loved most in the world.
She opened the door, prepared to face the consequences, but,
“Elonia?”
“…Dad?”
Artius, standing in the center of the empty conference hall, looked perfectly normal, not brainwashed, not enraged, just… Artius.
He blinked repeatedly, his face a mask of confusion, as if he couldn’t believe his eyes.
“How…?”
“Ha.”
Elonia chuckled dryly, looking around the empty hall. It was a mess, as if there had been a struggle, but not a violent one.
She realized,
“You were pretending.”