Chapter 81 - IT IS A SECRET BETWEEN THE TWO OF US

PART 4. THE TRUTH IS BOUND TO COME TO LIGHT ANYWAY

The girl who mistook someone else as her fated partner received a severe punishment.

This was the story of Petronilla Laura Les Grochester.

When she first saw that man, Petronilla was caught up with her own heart’s flickering illusion. The handsome man’s perfection made her eyes go blind, and stopped her red heart from beating. As she was a young girl, Petronilla did not doubt that the man in front of her was the fated partner of her destiny.

‘If I could just become that man’s bride…’

Not all of the Queeness candidates wanted to become the Emperor’s bride. This was because of the public rumors of the Emperor’s favor for his mistress. This was why Petronilla was the only one who wanted the position.

Eventually, after Lady Vashi had deliberately made a move to fail the Queeness competition with the help of her powerful father, when she had originally been designated to become the Empress, Petronilla was able to become the Empress without a hitch.

Petronilla rejoiced at the thought of her destiny being fulfilled, but that joy merely lasted less than half a day after she got married to him. Her husband had coldly informed her that she should not expect any love from him.

From the very first night of their wedding day, he went to go embrace the woman that was his mistress.

It was alright though. She loved him, and above all she was his one, true Empress. He could not discard his actual wife. Petronilla, unfortunately, was thinking in such a manner.

She was not able to receive his intimate favor, and her family was not able to wield indomitable power, like the family of the dethroned Empress Alyssa. Her authority gradually narrowed, and the mistress relentlessly tried to threaten her position. Her husband’s coldness, indifference, and leading such an impoverished Imperial life made her increasingly exhausted.

Her warm character was gradually changing as well. It was not a good change. She knew this fact, but she could not turn it back around. She cursed herself for becoming a villainess, but did not dare to stop. She did not cease to curse himself, but the evil deeds continued.

The Emperor looked at her even less than before, and the people by her side either left her or protected her with their deaths. Among them were Mirya and Rafaella.

When she finally got to know all of his secrets, Petronilla realized the truth, that she and he were not fated to be together. For her to embrace and love him, he was a man that was scarred with too huge of a wound. Petronilla did not possess the ability to embrace his wounds.

And when she heard from her husband that his mistress had been able to do so, she realized the truth once again. The mistress was her husband’s true destiny. The fact was that her young, green puppy love was nothing more than a little girl’s emotional arrogance. She was completely wrong and mistaken. But it was too late for regrets, as she was already the Emperor’s woman.

The mistress was a smart woman. The wicked woman, who was always one step ahead of Petronilla, finally managed to frame her on false charges, dethroning her from being the Empress, along with bringing ruin to her whole family. Her beloved parents and twin sister were punished together with her. She disappeared with the dew of the guillotine, and her family would also have met the same end.

‘It was a life full of pain and regret,’ Petronilla thought of this in the last moment of her life. If she was to be born again, if she only could. No, if she could just go back to the time just before meeting him, she would never make a connection with him again. She would not even give a passing of a glance. As people that did not know each other, thoroughly as strangers, they would live like that.

As she bleakly closed her eyes, Petronilla promised this to herself.

And when she opened her eyes, she seemed to have come back in time. But Petronilla was only able to thank God for this blessing for a brief time, as she had to feel despair once again. This time, instead of herself, her sister had become the Empress.

Petronilla instinctively realized that she had also come back in time to save her foolish older sister, and wept tears of misery. She felt so sorry towards Patrizia.

She changed her personality, which had only been bright and sunny in the past, to something a bit more dark. And pledged to herself. Since the events had already unfolded in this way, all that remained was to change the past, no, the future that was yet to come. Petronilla firmly made up her mind to never relive that tragedy in this lifetime.

She vowed to help her sister. Fortunately, Patrizia was smart and not as foolish as Petronilla, to need her older sister’s help. Occasionally, Petronilla would catch on that Patrizia was obviously unhappy, but there was nothing she could do except have her heart hurt for her.

The only comforting point was the fact that her sister was much more mature and calmer than she was. Only then did Petronilla realize for certain, that her personality was unsuitable for the role of being the Empress.

After being heavily burned once from mistakenly believing her love was fated, Petronilla thought that she would never be able to love again. There would be no man who could love her, and she herself believed that she was sick and tired of the notion of love. But God’s tricks shook her up once again.

“I fell in love with you at first sight, my Lady. I am in love with you, my Lady.”

One man had confessed his love to her. It was a confession that would have been accepted with joy if it had taken place before, in the past. But Petronilla was afraid. That perhaps this man was the same kind of person as herself, and if he was mistakenly believing that his young, puppy love was real love. Therefore, she may end up getting hurt again, and hurting this man as well.

“I cannot accept it.”

So she refused him, ran away, and evaded him. Until the point when the old woman had enlightened her.

“Do not run away.”

‘Be faithful to the present, Carpe Diem.’ Upon hearing that, Petronilla decided to rouse up her courage once again. Even if this life presented her with an unsuccessful love again, one could never know? Next time, God could bless her with another return trip to the past. Petronilla decided to show some courage.

It was during this time that an opportunity arose so she could help her sister. Rosemond, that wicked woman had switched out the flowers in the birthday bouquet Patrizia had prepared, into the salvia flowers that the Emperor absolutely despised. Not only that, just before it was about to be presented! Petronilla decided that this was an opportunity for her to stand up.

“Finally, I can speak about it.”

And the result of that was a,

“I also came back in time, like you.”

Success.

Patrizia could not help but feel flustered. Nilla had also returned back in time like she had! Patrizia stared at Petronilla with confused eyes. She then asked.

“Really?”

“Mhm.”

“Did you really?”

“I said that is the case.”

When she asked again, and the returning answer was the same, Patrizia released an outburst.

“Oh my world, how did something like this happen…”

“It is a secret between the two of us, Lizzy.”

“Of course… I have not told this to anyone yet.”

Patrizia sat down with a dazed look on her face. Petronilla looked at her with pitiful sorrow, and explained the situation.

“I have regained my memories ever since you became the Queen. That is why I feel so sorry towards you.”

“Even if Nil came back before then, I would have done the same thing. You do not have to be sorry, Nilla.”

“… Thank you.”

In a tearful voice, Petronilla barely managed to utter the following words.

“Shall we move somewhere else? There are a lot of eyes on us.”

The two moved to the terrace and covered all of the stories of what happened up to that point. Patrizia let out startled noises from time to time during their talk, and what amazed her most was when she listened to the story of that present day.

“Oh my goodness.”

She let out another exclamation again.

“Nilla, thank you very much. If it was not for Nil, who knows if it would have all ensued in chaos by now.”

That man really hated those flowers. At the end of Patrizia’s words, Petronilla nodded with a stiff face and replied to her.

“I am glad that I was not too late.”

“Rosemond’s ploy? Am I right?”

“Indeed.”

Petronilla nodded her head. Patrizia’s face was colored with rage.

“Oh my world…”

“Do not get heated, Lizzy. Looking at the results, it all worked out well.”

“… Yes, Nil. You are right.”

Patrizia said this in a shaky voice, and then asked her.

“Can I hug you once?”

“Acting like you are finally meeting someone now.”

Petronilla said this as if it was nothing new, but her body was already being held by Patrizia. Finally, letting a single tear drop down, Petronilla said to Patrizia.

“You have gone through a lot of trouble on your own, Lizzy.”

“Nil…”

“Now I will be with you.”

“… Thank you.”

Patrizia spoke in a voice that she barely managed to squeeze out.

“You have no idea how much of a relief it is that I have you here.”

-SLAP

Rosemond hit Glara’s cheek with a face full of anger. She quietly raged on.

“What is the meaning of this, Glara? How many times have you resulted in failure?”

“… I am sorry, Marchioness.”

Honestly speaking, it was not Glara’s fault. She had fulfilled her mission perfectly. It was only that Petronilla had gotten in the way with her interference. Nevertheless, Glara acted like someone who had no words to defend herself. To relieve Rosemond’s anger, this was the first thing to do.

“If only Lady Grochester had not intervened.”

“… Ha, yes. You are right.”

Rosemond replied with a voice expressing utter disbelief.

“How in the world did that brat find out and come to intervene?”

“That is what I wonder about as well, Marchioness.”

It was just before the box went inside the banquet hall that the hired worker changed the box that contained the flowers. But how did she know and prepare for it accordingly? Glara shook her head, thinking it was something that was beyond the unknown. It was then that Rosemond muttered in a vague voice.

“Surely not…”

“Yes?”

“No, that is surely possible.”

Rosemond spoke to Glara in a firm voice.

“If it turns out like this, everything will not go well. Glara, write a letter to January right now. Inform her that Petronilla knows about everything, so she needs to pay attention to her behavior even more.”

“Petronilla.”

Rothesay called out to her. Only then did Petronilla turn to look back.

“Rothesay.”

“I looked for you for quite a while.”

“I am sorry.”

Petronilla apologized with a sheepish look on her face. She still had room for some kind of excuse.

“I had an emergency to take care of.”

“It seemed that was the case. Is it related to Her Majesty?”

Petronilla nodded quietly. Rothesay spoke to her with a face full of understanding.

“I am not trying to rebuke you. Only that I was just worried.”

“I know, Ro.”

Petronilla said his name like that, then carefully asked Rothesay, who looked dazed.

“Can I call you Ro?”

“Of course, Nilla. I am happy.”

Laughter bloomed on Rothesay’ face. After a moment, he then urged Petronilla.

“I wanted to share a dance with my Lady.”

“Ah…”

Right. Now that she thought about it, she and he had never danced together. She murmured to herself.

“Now that you mention it, this was to be our first time.”

“Yes, our first.”

Rothesay received her words tenderly, and added on.

“But it is alright. There is a lot of time ahead of us.”

‘Unless I have to go back in time again, I will surely have a lot of time to spend with this man.’ Petronilla thought about this, and smiled sadly. There was no more return for her, to the past. She liked it as it was now. So sad that this very moment was not a part of her original life. Petronilla replied to him in a soft voice.

“Yes, you are correct. There is a lot of time ahead.”

‘Nevertheless, I want to be focused and faithful to this present time.’ Petronilla thought this internally to herself.