CH 90

Just as expected. Richard added, tilting his head.

“One, it’s not a matter to drag on and complicate.”

In the future, after all these things were over, Richard wanted to hold hands with Ophelia and be by her side, so from the beginning he had planned to do away with all the complicated procedures.

Anyway, since even the emperor said that he would not touch anything concerning the crown princess, it should be done according to his will.

But of course, since no one knew his thoughts, Iris and Cooper were more urgent than before, and Ophelia bit the insides of her mouth.

“Since I have already allowed the saint to enter the palace, there is nothing to prevent others from entering as well.”

Now that Richard’s words had fallen, he could no longer turn back.

Iris and Cooper eventually bowed their heads, but Ophelia just stared blankly at Richard.

And he didn’t avoid her gaze.

Again.

She couldn’t read it again.

It was hard to read his thoughts from the golden eyes she faced.

Ophelia involuntarily clenched her fists; her uptight nervousness and the sharp thorns of unknown origins stabbing her insides caused her to do so.

She had never felt this way before.

But this one stabbed deeper than before.

Ophelia consciously tightened the reins of her thoughts.

“Then, let’s proceed this way.”

“I’ll heed your orders.”

As Iris and Cooper bowed, so did Ophelia.

But she didn’t answer anything.

The answer she held in her throat was something she could never tell anyone.

At this time, Ophelia, let alone Richard, did not know.

The fact that their relationship would change completely in no time.

.

Selection of the crown princess was approved by the emperor and crown prince.

It happened in just a day, no, in a few hours.

And, naturally, the news traveled to the Marquisate of Neir, who was in the top five, close to the imperials.

Raisa, who had dismissed all the servants, bit off the tips of her nails.

It was bleeding, but she didn’t care and chewed on it almost like digging.

Cloudy gray eyes were again, looking at the past and the future, not the present.

When was it? Since when did the saint appear?

Searching the past, she was soon able to recall the time when the saint appeared.

The saintess was a variable.

A variable she never expected.

When she first heard the news that a saint had appeared, she was more interested in the medicine she was distributing than the unrecognized saint.

The medicine she had been stocking up to poison her mother reappeared just as it was about to run out.

Appearing as a saint, but all she did was give drugs.

It was only for a few days that Raisa laughed so much.

The saint, whom no one knew where she came from, uttered nonsense that exceeded not only Raisa’s but also everyone’s expectations.

“The crown prince. Because of that crazy thing!”

—Krrrt.

The sound of teeth grinding echoed through Raisa’s teeth.

She could no longer ignore the fact that it was that saint.

In fact, even now, the saint was nothing.

It was like a bug that would die if crushed with the fingers.

The problem would be the person who summoned the saint.

“The crown… prince.”

Raisa gritted her teeth until her jaw hurt.

The ‘crown princess’ that came out of the mouth of the saint and the ‘crown princess’ that came out of the mouth of the crown prince have different weights.

The difference was so great that it was not even worth comparing.

Whatever the saint said could be passed off as a clown’s joke.

Whereas… It was said people from all continents were already flocking to the empire to seek the crown prince.

So she, too, could not just sit still and watch.

She was annoyed and she couldn’t stand it.

Raisa had no interest in the crown princess seat in a completely different way from Catherine.

What she wanted was the throne, not the spot next to the crown prince.

It was hard to endure the fact that she had to move and plot for the position of the crown princess which she was not interested in.

But if she just left it alone, it was possible that Sheffield’s crazy hive, or even a smaller family that was at odds with Neir, would become the crown princess. 

“It’s several times harder than it is now.”

She had barely managed to get this far. 

Nothing had been perfectly obtained yet, but it would soon fall one by one into her mouth.

‘As long as it goes according to plan.’

And she had been working tirelessly to keep things going according to plan.

Regression.

But, now…  

“I have to regress.”

She had never returned since the festival.

She scratched the hard cover of the notebook.

‘I have to do it.’

Because this was a problem that couldn’t be rectified.

She could neither cut her mother’s throat right now nor grab the throne.

Although her mother had been showing symptoms of addiction, and taking advantage of the confusion of her mind, she had gradually put the family’s affairs into her hands…

“It’s not enough yet.”

Since the speed of addiction was controlled so as to not completely destroy her. Just to take her power away slowly.

Raisa’s eyes were bloodshot with anxiety.

It was because of one person that she knew she had to return, but she couldn’t do it willingly.

The crown prince.

Raisa clenched her chin, which trembled involuntarily.

She applied enough force that she could hear the friction of bones, but the trembling did not stop.

On that festival day, the fear he carved into her bones brought her death before her first regression.

Her gray eyes, which had been shining brightly as she weighed her mother, the medicine, and the Marquisate of Neir, became blurred in an instant.

Wasn’t that what humans were like?

It takes a very, very long time to develop good habits and make them a lifestyle.

But bad things come back very quickly, whether it be habits, emotions, or whatever. Like mocking the time spent away from them.

Raisa was returning very quickly to the time before the regressions.

However, because she was the person involved, she didn’t realize it.

In addition, she had no one she was close to, so she had no one to tell her about it.

Her eyes reddened as if the blood vessels had burst.

Raisa’s lips parted. 

“Come in.”

The two servants who were waiting outside the door immediately entered at the horrifying scratching voice.

They couldn’t look up, so they couldn’t see what kind of face Raisa was making.

And the next moment.

—Chack!

”Quaaaaagh!”

It was an unfamiliar sound, but it was also a sound that at some point became familiar.

The short, freckled servant standing on the left screamed and grabbed his ear.

Before the two servants even noticed what had happened, they, who were just in the wrong place and at the wrong time, had to scream and beg until their voices were hoarse.

In time, Raisa, who caused the two people to be covered in blood, gasped.

She took a deep breath, throwing away the iron whip that she was holding.

The smell of blood poked deep into her nose, but it wasn’t bad.

Yes, she felt a little better.

Right now, she couldn’t just take someone to the torture chamber and have fun.

So, shouldn’t she release the pent up stress like this?

The servants lying at her feet were already out of her line of sight. It was unknown if they were dead or alive.

Catching her breath leaving behind the horrors she had created, Raisa finally made up her mind.

“I must regress.”

At least, the possibility of killing the crown prince was higher when there were people around him than when he was alone.

Raisa hadn’t even thought about why, because she had been sending assassins to kill him for a long, very long time.

She then groped around for a calling cord to call a certain servant.

Immediately upon her call, the servant appeared and Raisa gave an order.

“Send the assassins. To the party where candidates for the crown princess gather.”

The target wasn’t stated, but the servant just bowed deeply and disappeared as if he was used to it.

Leaving without answering was something she would normally be angry with.

However, that servant was an exception. What’s the point of listening to a man whose tongue was cut out?

“This regression will be fine. It has to be fine.”

Raisa repeated to herself several times.

Drops of blood formed on the tips of her bitten fingers, then spread, but she didn’t even realize it.

Because she still wasn’t looking at the present.

.

Soon after, a huge banquet was held in the Imperial Palace.

It was an opportunity for the ladies who gathered like a cloud in the palace, while for some others, a party where all the candidates for the crown princess were gathered was a nightmare.

The night was ripening, and a certain princess from a good kingdom or a particular young lady from a noble family arrived one after another, filling the hall.

How long did things continue like that?

The time when almost everyone had come, and really only the ladies of prestigious families, such as Sheffield or Neir, who anyone would turn at the mere mention of their name, did not arrive.

The loud voice of the palace servant, announcing the arrival of the saint, rang out in the hall.

It was the entry of a saint who was rumored throughout the entire empire, or perhaps even the entire continent, due to the selection of the crown princess.

Soon the saint entered the hall.

She dressed all white as she did when she came out on the street, and, yes, her eyes lowered as innocent as a real wild flower blooming alone among the fake jewel flowers that were ‘decorated’ and flashing.

But to their great surprise…