CH 21

“G-Greetings to the little Duchess… May Goddess Resina’s blessing reach you.”

Baron Ite, brought by the knights, pretended to be okay but stuttered his words as if he was nervous. Unable to do this or that, Kanna’s face showed an uneasy expression.

“Baron Ite.”

“Yes, little Duchess.”

“How many years have you been working with me?”

“It’s been… around seven years.”

Charelize, who watched the scene as she brought it up, grinned.

“I don’t even have to ask who ordered you.”

“I-I have no idea what Your Highness is talking about.”

“I didn’t call Baron here to play a joke leisurely.”

Charelize’s words pointed sharply to Baron Ite, who consistently said he didn’t know the situation.

“Tell this to your new master.”

“Y-Your Highness.”

“If you show stupid things too much, just like now, you will lose what you have.”

“That’s… what do you mean?”

“It means that your relationship with me ended today.”

“Your Highness!”

“If you want to live, shut your mouth.”

Seeing Baron Ite shut his mouth right away, Charelize grinned again. She felt heartbroken when she realized that Baron Ite had stabbed her back to the extent that the time they spent together felt insignificant now.

“Kanna. When you first greeted me, you said Baron Ite was the one who recommended you.”

“Th-That’s right.”

“Did you try to protect your identity because you were afraid you would be caught for opening the door to the spy?”

Kanna’s face darkened. She looked as if she had seen a ghost.

“The emerald earring that you said Jenny took…”

“…”

“It never went missing in the first place.”

Kanna put her head on the floor and begged with her hands together.

“I-I was wrong, Your Highness. I just did what Baron Ite told me to do. Your Highness, please, save me just for once.”

“You’re wrong. Baron Ite only ordered you to open the door. Wasn’t it you who said that Jenny took it?”

“I-I will never… let this happen again…”

“Kanna, I definitely gave you a chance.”

“…”

“As if it was not enough to open the door to the spy, you also frame someone else to avoid getting caught. It was a heinous sin that could never be forgiven. I will cut off your tongue so you will never play with your mouth again.”

There was not a single hesitation in Charelize’s words.

“N-No. Your Highness, p-please forgive me just once! Your Highness!”

“For Baron Ite, who cooperated with other people to kill me…”  

“…”

“I order the death penalty.”

“Your Highness! No… No, you can’t… t-there’s a baby in my wife’s womb… I have a baby to be born soon!”

“I have already given you great generosity. What you did was treason. Originally, someone who committed treason would be punished with their family being destroyed for three generations, but didn’t I make concessions considering our seven-year friendship?”

“…”

“If you’re not satisfied with this, go to the Duke and confess your crimes, then stand in the trial.”

Charelize was right. For those who tried to kill their master by sending people to kill them, it was natural for their family to be destroyed for three generations. Duke Marsetta would give them what they deserved, but he wasn’t as lenient as Charelize.

“Take both of them and put them in jail for now.”

“Your Highness! Please help me! Little Duchess!”

“I must have been crazy for a while. Therefore… therefore… Your Highness… Please give me other punishment!”

“I don’t think Baron Ite is so stupid that you didn’t expect anything like this.”

“Little Duchess…”

“If you were me, what punishment would you give to someone who betrayed you and wanted you to die?”

“…”

Hearing that, Baron Ite made a bewildered face and didn’t struggle anymore.

“My wife… and my baby’s life… thank you for saving their life…”

“Baron Ite.”

“I’m… sorry, Your Highness.”

After giving up everything, Baron Ite thanked her for saving his wife and child, then apologized to Charelize.

“Who did I join hands with… why don’t you ask about it?” asked Baron Ite.

“Many people already pointed their swords at my neck, but how can I not know who ordered them?”

In response to Charelize’s reply that she already knew the culprit, Baron Ite quietly left the room.

Baron Ite was a vassal with whom she had been together for seven years. The price for giving him affection and her heart was surprisingly horrendous. In Charelize’s previous life, Baron Ite didn’t send a servant to open the door, nor he betrayed her. It was surprising and very shocking that he made a different choice than in the past.

Once you see a rotten root and pass it by, the thing next to it will slowly root.

Charelize felt it was a pity, but she didn’t take back the punishment she had given to Baron Ite.

* * *

Mari and Kanna were kicked out, and Baron Ite was executed. The atmosphere of Duchy Marsetta became as cold as an ice sheet. The remaining servants worked quietly in a more tense state than usual.

“Your Highness, the air outside is cold.”

“I heard that Baroness Ite gave birth prematurely.”

“… that’s right, Your Highness.”

When it was brought up by Charelize, Hailey was troubled for a moment, then told her the truth.

“…I see.”

“Your Highness, don’t worry too much. Rather, you were being generous.”

“Support that child until that child graduates from the academy.”

“Your Highness…”

“Even if the time turns back again, I will give the same punishment to Baron Ite.”

With those words, Charelize shot the arrows in the training ground. One shot, two shots. As time went by, she ran out of arrows, but her complicated mind didn’t go away.

“Even though I have punished those who betrayed me properly.”

“…”

“Didn’t I take away that child’s father?”

She uttered her words in a nonchalant voice. But her gaze contained how deep her heart ached.

“Screech!”

Charelize could hear the chirping sound of a bird she had heard a lot from somewhere. She lifted her head toward the sound and looked up at the sky, the eagle she had seen when she met Arensis flapping its wings.

“Your Highness! It’s dangerous!”

“… it’s all right.”

“But…”

Hailey, who reflexively protected Charelize, replied in a shaky voice.

“Shishi…right?”

“Screech!”

The eagle circled for a long time in the sky and sat on Charelize’s shoulder. Then it raised one of its legs. The puzzled Charelize looked at its feet, and a small pouch was tied to it.

“Did you come on an errand for your master?”

“Screech.”

“I’m proud of you. Hailey, bring me something for Shishi to eat.”

“Yes, Your Highness. I will… bring it soon.”

Charelize untied it and looked inside it. It contained a little medicine box and a note.

[To little Duchess.

I trained it again this time so that you wouldn’t be surprised, but I apologize if you were surprised by Shishi’s excitement. You don’t have to worry about it because it was happy seeing you.

I’m sending the medicine through Shishi because I’m sure you didn’t even think to treat it because it’s only a small wound. Then, until the day we meet again, I hope you have a good night’s sleep.

-Arensis Cabel Yuan ron Peschte]

“…I didn’t expect him to send medicine.”

Just like Arensis wrote, Charelize didn’t receive any treatment. She wasn’t sick and calling a doctor was like showing that she had a weakness.

As expected, Arensis knew Charelize well. It was as if he had been by her side for a long time.

“Screech?”

Shishi tilted its head when it discovered Charelize, who had wound on her palm for shooting arrows in a row.

“Ah, it happens usually. You don’t have to worry too much.”

“Screech…”

At that moment, a twinkling light flashed from Shishi’s other foot. Charelize looked at it and found a thin silver ring on its foot.  

“Did your master do it for you?”

“Screech!”

“…this.”

Leaving behind the happy Shishi as it nodded its head, Charelize noticed something strange. The silver ring that Shishi brought was somehow familiar to her. Surprisingly, the shape was very similar to the one she wore when she was young.

“Wait… can you show it to me for a while?”

“Screech! Screech!”

Charelize pulled the silver ring from Shishis’s foot, and its foot lifted as if it allowing her. Her name was engraved on the inside of the silver ring.

“If you have this, you will always be welcome to the Duchy anytime.”

“Lize.”

“You said you weren’t going anywhere, so come with me.”

“I can’t take it. Sorry.”

“First of all… keep it. Tomorrow… Let’s talk again tomorrow, okay?”

“Lize…”

The silver ring disappeared from her sight at some point, and Charelize thought she had lost it, but it wasn’t like that. She had left it to someone and forgotten about it.