Chapter 111

* * *

In the dark Northern Spire.

Deborah quietly walked up to the place where no sunlight could penetrate the cold stone wall.

After spiraling through endless steps, she finally arrived at the corner room.

The room of the woman who went from the beloved daughter of the Duke of Mavis to the ‘queen’s assassin’ overnight.

Yuria Mavis.

“Lady Mavis.”

Cluck-kyung.

Deborah knocked on the cold iron bar.

A black veil was hung over her hat, which was worn to hide her identity as much as possible.

She paid an expensive entrance fee to the gatekeeper and sneaked in there.

Behind the dense black mesh, Deborah’s olive-colored eyes twinkled slightly.

‘What are you doing?’

Yuria curled up her little body and squatted in the corner.

Did she not hear it, or did she pretend not to hear it… 

‘Well, I know that heart well.’

‘Feeling like you’ve lost everything in one day… I felt it earlier too.’

The chagrin and misery, because of that damn queen.

‘I wanted to kill her.’

‘If I could strangle her to death right now, I could sell my soul.’

Deborah was momentarily caught up in her anger towards the queen, and then she felt pity for herself.

‘Even Kalen doesn’t recognize me…’

She was at a loss as to what to do next. She was just wallowing in her own plight.

The little girl in front of her, who would soon be sentenced to death, was of course not in her mind.

“…I shouldn’t have done it.”

At that moment, Yuria’s soft voice echoed through the firm stone walls.

She finally raised her head.

Tear-stained cheeks, swollen eyes, and an emaciated face.

There was no color in her white face, and her lips must have been bitten a lot judging from the crusted blood.

But even in the midst of that, she had a pitiful and beautiful face, her silver hair shone in an innocent glow.

To the extent that she did not appear to be the woman who tried to kill the queen.

It had to be.

Because she wasn’t actually trying to kill her.

If it had been a simple self-made play, she would not have been sentenced to death.

But now that Berylia had collapsed, the chances of receiving a death sentence were high.

No, it was almost a 100% chance.

Nothing could wash away the sin of being an assassin of the queen.

Yuria’s light silver eyelashes fluttered softly.

“I really shouldn’t have done that. Such a terrible thing…”

“….…”

“I think there was something covering my eyes.”

“….…”

“How am I going to pay for all these sins?”

The moment Berylia collapsed, Yuria…

…She finally realized

“…Berylia!”

It was a desperate voice like his heart was being ripped apart alive.

Those eyes filled with despair.

The expression on the face of Rixus, who was holding the queen’s body with shaking hands, was that of a human right in the middle of hell.

It was then that a lightning bolt of realization came.

‘……Ah, I was the villain!’

She had committed an indelible sin against the crown prince under the pretext of ‘repaying the favor’ with false beliefs.

The queen, who she thought was a wicked woman, must have been a good person.

She couldn’t be bad for a woman who was loved by someone as good as the crown prince!

It was the conclusion she came to after thinking and pondering over and over, trying to be objective for several days as she was locked in this tower.

‘I’m the worst.’

Yuria shuddered at her terrible guilt.

“What the hell did I do with these hands…?”

Tears of atonement welled up in Yuria’s light blue eyes again.

“….…”

Deborah looked down at that face coldly.

Yuria bit her already messed up lips.

“I feel like I’m going crazy because I regret it. Why did I become such a monster?”

Deborah contributed a lot to her becoming such a monster, but…

…She only looked at her sullenly, akin to looking at a fire across the river.

As if it was something that she didn’t know.

“…….”

“I’m so sorry… Her Majesty, Is she okay?”

It was then that Deborah frowned.

‘What is she talking about now?’

It was painful, but she had to answer.

“It was sad that the Queen woke up today. Soon, the lady’s trial will begin.”

“…Ah! I’m glad. I’m glad, really!”

Yuria covered her mouth with her frail hands and wept tears of joy and relief.

She did not seem to care about the news of her own trial.

‘Crazy bitch. Who’s worried about who?’

‘……Now, are you crazy?!’

‘This is why you were beaten by the Crown Prince!’

Deborah’s stomach turned upside down and she wanted to scream.

This was Deborah’s defeat, who until now, had only crafted schemes without failure.

Yuria was more naive than the other women Deborah had been dealing with.

Deborah, who has lived her whole life doing only bad things, could not understand Yuria who regretted and reflected like that.

The younger woman’s temperament was seen as just ‘weak’, so it was very irritating.

Unfortunately, she did not understand that that was the attitude of a person with common-sense, and that it was the atonement of a person with a moral conscience.

‘She annoys me to the end…’

Deborah chewed the inner part of her lower lip and slowly leaned her body towards Yulia.

“Yuria, I came here to tell you something.”

Yuria looked up at her, through her shaking fingers covered in her tears.

Her appearance was pitiful yet beautiful, but it didn’t enter Deborah’s eyes.

“I’m going to be straight-forward.”

“…….”

“Confess to the charge for attempting to murder the Queen and just accept the death penalty.”

“!”

‘Don’t talk about my involvement.’

Deborah thought to herself as Yuria flinched, startled.

Then she spoke with an innocent expression like a child plucking a dragonfly’s wings.

“Currently, the lady is only accused of being the ‘Queen’s assassin’. But even with this alone, the Duke of Mavis has to pay a huge compensation.”

“….…”

“The Margrave’s status had also fallen.”

Yuria’s eyes flickered.

Because of her own sins, she had shaken the roots of her family.

“My uncle is….”

“The Margrave was said to be deeply troubled when he heard the truth.”

“……Ahh.”

This was true.

The last years of an honorable knight who lived his whole life, respected by everyone on the borders, was completely ruined.

Besides, the margrave loved Yuria very much.

He didn’t make it obvious, but every year when the days started to turn cold, he sent precious medicinal herbs that were good for the body.

The only thing the blunt old knight showed to his niece was warmth and affection.

Yuria’s heart kept pounding, and her tears kept flowing down.

Deborah continued relentlessly.

“If the full story is revealed, the charges of indecency and disgracefulness will be added to the charges of attempting to murder the Queen? And perhaps making a ‘self-play’ or ‘trying to give a potion to the Crown Prince’.”

“…….”

“Then the Mavis family will rot in filthy scandals. They will live in shame from generation to generation.”

“…Aaahhhhhh!”

In the face of this torment, Yuria finally screamed and clenched onto the iron bars in agony.

“So, make a choice! Yuria.”

Kkukk.

Deborah put her hand through the gap and wrapped it around Yuria’s chin, raising her head.

Then she spoke freely, her eyes gleaming wickedly like a vicious snake.

“Will you die cleanly as the queen’s assassin… or will you die leaving all kinds of disgrace and scandals in addition to being the queen’s assassin!”

Yuria couldn’t even breathe; she gasped as she cried.

Deborah brought her head up to her nose.

“If even one syllable of my name appears at trial…”

Deborah’s face turned cold.

“I’m going to blow all this up one by one and throw your family in the dumpster.”

‘You should also think about the rest of your family.’

‘Shouldn’t you, Yuria Mavis?’

The corners of Deborah’s lips twisted.

* * *

“It’s overprotective. Too overprotective.”

“But…! His Majesty the Crown Prince told us to do this!”

Seryl was shielding the sunlight from the window with an awning made of white lace and jewels.

Everyone was excited about getting some sun after a long time.

“Your Majesty, sudden exposure to the sun can make you dizzy.”

I replied indifferently to Laura’s words.

“People don’t die just because they’re dizzy.”

At that moment, Maribel, who became something like a large inflated cloud, said,

“…The Crown Prince told me to change the blanket to a lighter one.”

“…Why?”

“He said the current blanket would be too heavy for the fragile Queen.”

‘Of all the— Worried about dying under a blanket!’

Besides Rixus’ absurd worries, the maids took the lead.

All three chicks were making loud noises.

When I woke up, they ran and hugged me and cried for an hour.

They said that Rixus had restricted visits during that time, so they couldn’t even see my face.

Was it just me? No, it wasn’t just me. All three of them had quite emaciated faces.

‘I know you’re worried, but…’

It was not wrong that I was the second strongest in this world view……

‘If I leave it like this, it will only get worse.’

It shouldn’t be like this.

I rolled the blanket over and stood up from my seat.

The three chicks’ eyes widened at once.

“I’m going for a walk. I can’t stand it because it’s stuffy.”

It was the time when I was about to step forward decisively and shake off all the shriveled chicks at once.

The door slammed opened—

And Rixus appeared.

“!”

Like a cat caught trying to steal a fish, I stiffened for a moment.

‘It was me who said that he could just come in without an audience request.’

…I regretted making that statement.

“Rixus, you’re here?”

As I was laughing awkwardly, Rixus said, narrowing his eyes.

“Where are you going with those feeble legs?”

It was then.

A silhouette of a man snuck out from behind Rixus.

“Your Majesty the Queen.”

A bright face, cleanly curved eye smile, and a heavy bass tone.

It was Johann.

‘Huh, what’s going on? Did Rixus and Johann come together?’

But I soon realized that was a stupid idea.

“….…”

With an openly displeased look on his face, Rixus’ eyes gave off the words of ‘When did this crazy bastard follow me?’ 

Johann greeted Rixus briefly in one second, saying, “Your Highness the Crown Prince,” and sneakily walked up to me.

Even before Rixus.

Then, while I was bewildered, he pressed a large, colorful and beautiful bouquet of flowers in my arms. 

The scent of flowers exuded.

Among the flowers, a handsome face looked at me and smiled kindly.

“Your Majesty, I’ve been worried about you day and night. I’m so glad you woke up like this.”

“Archduke Marquis…?”

‘I think you have to run away now if you want to live.’

‘Someone is staring at you in the back of the head.’

Unaware of my thoughts, Johann tried to gently kiss the back of my hand.

“….…”

At that moment, Rixus strode closer. Then he quickly covered the back of my hand with his hand.

Chuu—

“!?”

Johann, who suddenly kissed Rixus, widened his eyes.

Ame: Debbie is truly a cockroach. I bet Berylia is going to help Yuria somehow so that she can get the help of the Margrave (and the Ghost Army) during Event 2 or 3. 

Dea: Deb needs to be mysteriously pushed into a river and drown. As for Yuria..I kind of pity her, but then again no one forced her, she made her own decisions and needs to own up to them. 

PS. Give it up to the best couple of them all, Rixus and Johann!