I had Tristan stay with Lilia.
I gave him strict orders to monitor her every move, and if directly following her proved difficult, to use every insect within the capital to ensure her whereabouts were never lost.
‘It could be a bluff.’
It might just be a hastily concocted story to escape a momentary crisis.
But on the other hand, it could also be an event that should have occurred within the life granted to Lilia by Birth.
Or perhaps……. To stop the resurrected agent of death, Birth might have urgently established new contact with its own proxy.
‘The Temple, all of a sudden? Is an oracle descending or something?’
I paced anxiously by the window. I had sent an urgent note to Samuel, who was at the pre-arranged lodging, tied to Zigore's leg, but it was unclear whether meeting him would lead to a clear resolution.
Ultimately, whether Lilia's words were a prophecy or not could only be confirmed after they came to pass.
So, at least five days from now.
‘But I can't just sit idly by.’
I need to at least check the current atmosphere within the Temple. And how much influence Samuel holds there.
I had, of course, also contacted the imperial palace. I have a direct communication channel to Heinri.
If the incident Lilia spoke of truly occurs…….
*Bang! Bang!*
The sudden, loud noise startled me back to my senses. Pallides, who had been sitting in a chair intently knitting, quickly hid her ball of yarn under the cushion and sprang to her feet.
Someone was pounding on the door so violently it was almost embarrassing to call it a knock, and before my permission could even be given, they flung the door open.
It was the Phrygian sister, her eyes bloodshot.
"It must be important. You seem unusually flustered for you, sister."
"Anelli."
She approached me with a terrifying expression, as if she wanted to strangle me on the spot.
"Please maintain your distance."
I stopped Pallides, who quickly tried to intervene, with a gesture of my hand and stared at the Phrygian sister.
"Did you finish your conversation with Father?"
"What is the meaning of this?"
"Meaning of what?"
At my words, she opened her mouth wide as if to roar. But immediately, she clenched her fist and suppressed her emotions.
The anger she was currently suppressing was fully conveyed through her trembling eyelashes.
"You know…… your value has become higher than mine. It's only natural Mother chose you."
The Phrygian sister, gritting her teeth, took a deep, heaving breath. It seems she had spoken not only with Father but also with Mother.
Her face, admitting with her own mouth that her 'value had decreased,' was full of wounds.
It was easy to glimpse her wounds. Because that emotion was precisely what I had once felt in this mansion.
And the person who had taken the lead in discarding and replacing me like a worn-out part when I lost my value was the Phrygian sister standing before me now.
"I'm glad you understand. The imperial family is a good place. The food especially will suit your palate, sister. The bedding……."
"But there is something neither Father nor Mother knows."
The Phrygian sister cut me off with a forceful tone.
Even in the midst of despair, the burning desire in her gaze had not diminished in the slightest.
"The fact that you have not a shred of affection or interest for this family."
Yes, that was the Phrygian sister I knew.
I didn't answer and simply stared intently at her. Seeing I showed no reaction, the Phrygian sister continued, her words forced out.
"You just want to vent your anger. On Roam, which abandoned you. On all of us…… who sent you to the scaffold."
As well as I knew her, she must know me just as well. Otherwise, how could she read my intentions so accurately?
I parted my lips with a faint smile.
"What a frightening thing to say. I abandoned the imperial palace and came here. Why would you think that's venting anger?"
"So, you suddenly want to become the next Duke of Roam? Don't make me laugh. You never had any interest in such a position from the start!"
"But I wasn't particularly interested in or aiming for the Empress's position either."
"What you wanted wasn't to be Empress, it was Maxel!"
Her sharp retort momentarily left me speechless.
While I missed my chance to reply, the Phrygian sister, now thoroughly venomous, continued.
"You're the one who couldn't capture a single man's heart! Just because you didn't get what you wanted, you're going to drag me down into the mud with you?"
A chill ran down my spine.
I, who had been staring at her expressionlessly, slowly parted my lips.
"You think I wanted Maxel?"
"Yes! Are you going to deny it?"
If I said no, she seemed ready to mock me on the spot.
I had no intention of denying it. I……
"You knew that?"
I thought there was nothing left to be disappointed about, but it was somewhat surprising to find there was still further to fall.
Everyone had accused me of being obsessed with the Empress's position. That I was born and raised to become Empress, and thus was greedy for it.
They said even my words of love were nothing but hollow expressions to cloak my own selfish desires.
"And knowing that, you argued that Lilia should be pushed to Maxel's side instead of me?"
Naturally, I had assumed the Phrygian sister thought the same way. I truly hadn't known she properly recognized my feelings.
I had thought the taunt about failing to capture a loved one's heart was merely an expression meant to mock me.
"That…… you were sick anyway!"
"And yet you tell me I couldn't capture a man's heart? You dare say such a thing?"
She seemed at a loss for words, her lips moving soundlessly a few times before closing.
I was so dumbfounded I couldn't even laugh.
"……I spoke too harshly."
The words that came after a long silence were hardly an apology.
That, too, was something she wouldn't have said if she weren't currently cornered.
"You're the one who drove me to this state. I am sufficiently humiliated now…… and in despair. So let's stop here."
Yes, she certainly looked despairing.
It was plain to see how unfamiliar it was for someone who had spent her life lording over others as a minor duke to be uttering such pitiful words.
But the thing is. Is that despair she's feeling now truly all there is?
"In the imperial prison, you only get one meal a day."
I began speaking in a quiet, calm tone.
"Just a very hard, stale piece of bread, and a soup that smells foul, though you can't tell what's been boiled in it."
"Anelli."
"You can't bite into the bread, you have to soak it thoroughly in the soup. If mold grows on the bread, you can see the black clumps floating on the soup. The soup might even have someone's saliva mixed in."
"……Stop it, Anelli."
I don't know why she's so disgusted by what little I've said. I'm just lightly describing the meals available in prison.
"After surviving by forcing that stuff down your throat, you're sentenced to beheading. Do you know how I felt then? I……."
"Stop it!"
The Phrygian sister cut me off as if screaming.
But after pausing to catch my breath, I continued slowly.
"I felt immensely relieved."
"I understand, so please……."
"Sufficiently humiliated and despairing? No, sister, you are not at all. When a person truly hits rock bottom, they don't even feel that."
The Phrygian sister was grimacing as if just listening was painful.
She couldn't bring herself to look at me, her gaze fixed on the floor.
"Nothing remains."
Only when you finally reach the end do you feel a sense of liberation.
The Phrygian sister, who had been listening while biting her lip tightly, finally turned away without a word.
I stared intently at her retreating back as she left without a farewell, clicked my tongue softly, and closed the door she had left open.
Now then, shall I return to considering the countermeasures that were interrupted earlier?
"Captain……."
A tearful call reached my ears as I headed toward the desk.
……Tearful?
"Pallides?"
Doubting my ears, I looked toward the source of the sound and saw Pallides trembling, a handkerchief clutched in both hands.
"Captain, I…… I had no idea you endured such hardships…… sniff…… I was just stupidly knitting…… sob…… saying I'd make you a scarf……."
I don't know if one can cry without a head, but her voice was certainly full of tears.
I tried to calm her with the most composed and rational expression I could muster.
"Pallides. That's all in the past now."
"Sniff……! To think the Captain really went through all that……! Sob……! And I didn't even know…… just knitting away……!"
"My past and your knitting are completely unrelated matters. So you can keep knitting. I permitted it in the first place."
"Don't say thaaat……! What's the use of any of this nooowww!"
Letting out a cry I'd never heard before, Pallides covered the eye holes in her helmet with both hands.
"Pallides, it's fine as long as such things don't happen again."
"Of course, of course I'll…… beat up all those bad guys……! Sniffle……."
"Pallides? Pallides?"
It was quite a while later before Pallides finally regained her senses.
* * *
"It's a good thing you don't have a head. If you did, your eyes would surely be swollen?"
"That's right. And I…… have learned that Dullahans can cry too."
When I muttered with a weary voice, Minte, sitting on the windowsill, spoke with a sigh.
[I leave for just a moment and this disgraceful scene occurs. Pallides, you are too soft-hearted.]
"Minte, you are too inhuman."
[We aren't human to begin with, Pallides.]
"My goodness, how can you say such cruel things?"
Listening to Minte and Pallides' conversation, I absently opened my mouth.
"Pallides, don't cry."
"Ah, yes! Understood!"
I have no idea how to comfort a being who cries without a head……
"But thanks to the Captain comforting me, I calmed down quickly!"
I didn't do anything? No, wait. That was 'calming down quickly'?
Whether she couldn't see my astonished expression or not, Pallides spoke in an excited voice.
"The Captain is truly too kind!"
I have no idea at which point she sensed kindness. I feel like I'm reaping all the benefits of the Captain's good image from the past.
"I am different from that Captain from the past you knew."
"No, not the Captain from the past, but the Captain before me now!"