CH 61

Chapter 61

Translator: Yonnee

—

Not an ounce of guilt could be seen on her face. Neither crisis nor anxiety, too.

As she sat there, Ophelia wasn’t the same weak person Hydar had viewed her as.

—I heard that Alei removed the glass shards, so maybe that’s why you look better than the last time I saw you. And I was even thinking of shutting you up.

She didn’t have to do that anymore since he couldn’t even speak properly.

Ophelia murmured so, and without further delay, left the ward. The last thing she said before leaving was not an apology. It was a warning.

—I don’t know how much you can recall, but know this: you might face a more difficult situation in the future than what you’re experiencing now. So I recommend that you take a good look at your own behavior while you’re recuperating.

He was here, lying sick in bed without even being able to move his four limbs, but that woman was there with all of her limbs intact, maintaining that characteristic dignity of the imperial family.

In anyone’s eyes, it was clear who had the higher and lower position between them. Just this fact alone made Hydar shudder endlessly.

‘But now that it’s come to this point.’

She also would want him to cooperate with welcoming unidentified people into his land?

A groan filled with malice flowed out of his lips. It was difficult for him to speak even one proper word.

“Guh… urk… thi… this ins, olent…”

Understanding Hydar’s sparse words, Ophelia’s eyes shone like blue gems.

Insolent, he said.

“I’ve always thought about how interesting this word is. I’ve heard this a lot, people saying that I’m ‘insolent’.”

In fact, just looking at her status alone, there were only a few people who could tell her that she was ‘insolent’.

While staring at nothing in particular, an overlapping recollection came to her.

“To be honest, everyone knows. It’s not because I’m an illegitimate child, but because I’m someone who can’t retaliate against such an insult.”

A powerless imperial princess.

People who hadn’t been able to experience it wouldn’t know how degrading this word was.

Just because she was Ophelia, why was it that she couldn’t retaliate? Even a worm would wriggle if it was stepped on.

Although Ophelia was sired by a maid, she had received the same education as her siblings.

The emperor had constantly called for her just to check what she had learned, and she was also steadily instilled the dignity and superiority expected out of her as she was an imperial family member.

—The God of Milescet has bestowed upon the imperial family His grace and blessing as His descendants, so the imperial family has then become the lord presiding over the largest land in the Maynard continent. Therefore, those who have been sired with the imperial bloodline accordingly deserve to be regarded highly and, at the same time, those who commit blasphemy against those who have the name Milescet consequently deserve to be condemned.

How many times did she have to recite this declaration in front of her father?

Ophelia had always lived with this statement in her heart. Until she attended the debutante ball for her coming-of-age.

No matter how much people say that she was an illegitimate princess, she firmly believed that no one could look down on her as long as she had the name Milescet.

However, she was hit with the cold, disparaging reality.

High society was a field wherein masks of hypocrisy lay prominent against the dismissal of social hierarchy. What mattered and what determined everything was the wealth and power that one could flaunt.

It was in that moment that Ophelia realized this for the first time.

The fact that an imperial princess, who wore a dress without a single ornament, who received only the basic necessities to preserve dignity, was worse than any other countryside noble lady who came to the city for the first time that evening.

In the case of countryside noble ladies, if they were eloquent enough and if they were adequately talented, they would be able to find benefactors and become the center of high society as much as they wanted. Rather than directly expressing their influence, older, wealthier aristocrats tended to become excellent guardians to young nobles in order to sway the social world.

However, being a benefactor to an imperial princess would be nothing short of creating complicated political issues. No matter how good a piece of firewood was, if one were to rush into this shadow, it would be considered as a direct challenge to the imperial family. Furthermore, the matter might also blow out of proportion.

Something that was large enough that couldn’t be devoured in one bite, yet it was empty and had nothing within.

In other words, a fool’s gold.

That was Ophelia.

‘Even if everyone were to look down on me, I can’t even respond like this.’

And, in other words once more, reality had hit her all too late.

“For people supposedly in a lower position than me, how could everyone be so desperate to belittle me tirelessly for even ninety-nine days.”

Ophelia muttered these bitter words sharply. Hydar’s hand trembled in his anger, though it couldn’t move due to his bandages. However, there was no one here to care about that.

“I’m telling you, you’ll only feel mortified if you do that.”

“…Uh, ugh…”

“Word had spread. We won’t need to see each other again for a long time unless it’s for official business.”

As Ophelia said this, she took something out from her bosom.

It was a brass key. At just one glance, it looked evidently expensive.

“You know better than I do what this is, Hydar Ladeen.”

The moment he saw the key, Hydar’s seething breath could be heard.

His breaths got rougher. Had he been able to move, even a little, he would have jumped up.

‘How did this damned wench find that?’

Obviously, the key had been hidden properly in a place that only he knew.

How did she know where to find it?

And the question was quickly answered. Looking down at Hydar, who couldn’t hide his flashing emotions, Ophelia inquired.

“Isn’t a double compartment in a drawer such an old-fashioned thing?”

“……!!”

“If it’s something as significant as a fief lord’s official seal, I thought you’d put it in a safe. I’m rather disappointed that this came out when the drawer was dismantled.”

The owner wasn’t present inside the house, so picking up a key inside that empty house wasn’t that difficult.

To be exact, this wasn’t a key—it was a seal disguised as a key.

“Didn’t you think it would look suspicious if you always carried such a clunky, huge key with you all the time? And I’ve never seen such a big keyhole in the Ladeen Castle to match this.”

“Guh, ugh…!”

“Even so, I couldn’t figure out how to use this seal. I thought that perhaps there were about 39 other ways to insert a different key to release it.”

But she couldn’t find it.

The moment he heard this, Hydar eventually couldn’t hold in his anger and began writhing, and subsequently, the bed began creaking heavily. However, this action wasn’t that far off from a fish squirming on land.

Ophelia’s hand headed straight for Hydar’s neck. But instead of holding onto the bedridden man’s neck, what she reached for was the small pendant he was wearing.

The pendant was ripped off without any significant resistance, and when it was attached to the end of the key, it fit perfectly.

Click. Accompanied with the sound of a mechanism moving, the clasp of the key was released and so it transformed.

From a key to a seal.

“Since you carried around the seal with you like that, I figured that you would have carried around the release key with you as well.”

There was not an inch of doubt.

To the point that she was even tired of it.

Ophelia rose to her feet and loomed over Hydar, who started to wriggle with his injured body.

“I’ll use the seal well, Fief Lord. Next time we see each other, I pray you’ll be in a state where we can talk.”

“Ugh, urk, you—!”

The medic ward’s bed rattled and made a loud noise.

However, Hydar was now just a fish in a tank.

‘The doctor said that his broken bones would be mended in about four weeks.’

By then, Ophelia was sure that she wouldn’t be here anymore.

Apart from that, a patient would need to relax in order to recuperate quickly, but unfortunately, Hydar’s temper would not allow this.

—His Lordship was angry all day long, so his recovery is slow. He’s such a prideful person…

The head maid of the Ladeen Castle said this as she had shed tears.

She added that the only person left in the Ladeen family was Hydar, but at this rate, she wasn’t sure if there might be a change of name.

However, there was nothing left in Ophelia’s heart enough to pity Hydar.

Livid to the point that his eyes turned red while he lay in bed, Hydar tried to spit out words through his heaving breaths.

“Kugh, ugh, y-you… think y, ou …”

“Do I think I’ll be left unscathed like this?”

Ophelia had risen to her feet right then, and at that, she laughed as though she heard something truly hilarious.

She couldn’t help but think it was laughable.

It was something she’d been saying for a long time—when Ophelia still didn’t know anything about reality.

“Hydar Ladeen. How many times do you think I’ve also said those words?”

How many times had her pride been trampled on? How many times had people looked down on her?

She said the same thing every time, so who knows.

“Everyone had stayed unscathed.”