Lilia’s gaze moved slowly.
It had been a very long time since she last visited the Duchess of Roam’s private chambers. At some point, the room’s owner had simply stopped summoning her.
That likely began around the time Maxel started losing his footing in the imperial palace.
“I cannot express how happy I am to sit face-to-face with you like this, Mother.”
“You must have been weary, suffering under those groundless rumors. I have been preoccupied with Anelli and neglected you. I hope you do not feel slighted.”
The Duchess of Roam’s voice was affectionate. Yet Lilia no longer placed undue confidence in her outward appearance alone.
There was a time when she believed she had the people of House Roam in the palm of her hand. However, through the series of rapidly changing events of late, Lilia had gained many insights.
The greatest of these was the realization that Roam was a far more ruthless place than she had ever imagined.
To survive on this thin ice, she had to somehow preserve her regained foresight ability.
And to avoid losing that foresight, she had to step forward more actively to ensure this vision could become reality.
“People are easily swept up by sensational rumors, after all. But I believe they will surely come to know the truth. More than that, it is my own immature actions that have caused you worry, Mother. For that, I am truly sorry.”
“No one will dare speak ill of a member of Roam. Your father will not stand for it, so set your mind at ease.”
As if she had completely forgotten the talk that had circulated just last week about Roam re-examining the adoption procedures, Lilia let out a sigh with a grateful expression.
“Thank you, Mother. And please do not feel sorry. Having this time for reflection allowed me to regain my foresight, so it is rather a fortunate thing.”
The Duchess of Roam gazed at Lilia, who was smiling sweetly, with a meaningful look for a moment. Then she quietly turned her attention to her teacup.
Carefully observing the Duchess’s face, Lilia deliberately shifted the topic with a bright tone.
“It truly is a relief that my foresight has returned. The world these days is so unpredictable. Just recently, the Temple made a terrifying announcement.”
“Indeed.”
“To think a heretic who betrayed the gods was reborn in the form of a Dullahan… it is truly shocking.”
Lilia infused her voice with profound sorrow.
“That is why I am so worried. It seems my elder sister keeps getting entangled with Dullahans.”
Despite Lilia’s incessant words, the Duchess of Roam drank her tea without a flicker of disturbance.
Closely observing the other’s complexion, Lilia continued in a slightly more exaggerated voice.
“Mother, are you aware of the circumstances on the day my elder sister appeared at the imperial palace?”
The Duchess of Roam gave no particular answer, but Lilia was certain she was listening.
“The Dullahan that attacked the imperial palace is said to have appeared from the Black Tower. And my elder sister appeared there as well. Why would she appear in the same place as that fearsome Dullahan?”
“Anelli is the Resurrected One chosen by the goddess. It must be to confront the rampant evil.”
“But according to Lord Maxel, when the imperial knights tried to kill the Dullahan, my elder sister stopped them?”
As soon as Lilia’s words ended, the Duchess of Roam set down her teacup with a clatter.
The clinking sound of the porcelain cup hitting the saucer was small, but it was enough to make Lilia close her mouth.
“It seems you have already forgotten the great disgrace you suffered from the Magic Tower’s guest at the banquet.”
At the Duchess of Roam’s gentle words, Lilia’s eyelashes fluttered.
“Mother.”
“Pointing a sword at family living under the same roof is akin to cutting off one’s own arm. Sisters should foster affection.”
Pushing the teacup slightly aside with her fingertips, the Duchess of Roam rolled her eyes and glanced at Lilia.
“As a younger sister, shouldn’t you treat your elder sister, who has returned home with difficulty, warmly?”
Her voice was kind, but her gaze held no warmth.
Lilia, blinking rapidly, could not endure that gaze and turned her head away first.
‘If it were Phrygian sister, she wouldn’t have received such a warning.’
Lilia was an adopted daughter, in a position where she had to be much more cautious. That twisted her feelings.
Lilia, who had pressed her lips together and remained silent for a moment, forced the corners of her mouth upward.
“I know Father has decided to support the First Prince, Your Highness, instead of Lord Maxel. But that will fail.”
“Is that your foresight?”
The Duchess of Roam asked in an unchanged tone. In her calm voice, not a trace of agitation could be found.
Suppressing her anxiety with effort, Lilia bowed her head a little more.
“Lord Maxel was destined from the beginning to overcome adversity and become Emperor. I already knew that.”
“So you mean the Crown Prince is currently facing adversity.”
“While Lord Maxel is in a slump, the First Prince, Your Highness, might temporarily divert His Majesty the Emperor’s attention. But it is only temporary.”
At Lilia’s words, the Duchess of Roam smiled as if amused.
“Have you forgotten why His Majesty the Emperor’s gaze turned away from the Crown Prince?”
“Because my elder sister, who became the goddess’s Resurrected One, held a grudge against Lord Maxel.”
At Lilia’s firm words, the Duchess of Roam’s smile faded slightly. Capturing that change in expression with her eyes, Lilia spoke again in a strong tone.
“Lord Maxel did not incur the wrath of the goddess, but the wrath of my elder sister.”
The Duchess of Roam erased her smile and let the corners of her mouth droop with a subtle expression.
It was an ambiguous look, her intentions unclear.
“Please help. Lord Maxel and me.”
Lilia pleaded with a delicate face. Her kind, warm green eyes were such that anyone’s heart would waver.
Unfortunately, however, Lilia’s tricks no longer worked on the Duchess of Roam.
“It is already too late.”
The very edge of Lilia’s mouth trembled slightly. Lowering her gaze for a moment and quietly steadying her breath, Lilia composed her reason more calmly than before.
She now knew she could not captivate the people of Roam with simple appeals like smiles or tears.
From the beginning, Roam had accepted her because of her foresight ability. And now that she had regained that ability, Lilia had no reason to shrink back.
“What could be the reason the Temple suddenly made such an announcement? It is to correct something that is going wrong.”
Dullahans are rampant evil.
Lilia wholly trusted the Temple’s announcement. Dullahans were beings that, even in the future she knew, had to be exterminated.
And in Lilia’s future, it was naturally Maxel’s role to defeat those beings. In her regained foresight, Anelli’s role existed nowhere.
If Anelli truly were the goddess’s Resurrected One, how could there be no trace of her in her dreams?
“Who can say for certain whether a monster’s submission to my elder sister is the power of the goddess, or the power of evil?”
“That is a dangerous statement.”
The Duchess of Roam rebuked her in a low, warning tone.
But Lilia was not easily cowed. Remembering how difficult it had been to arrange this teatime with the Duchess in the first place, she could not simply retreat.
During the precarious time when it seemed she might be driven out at any moment, there had been no opportunity for private tea like this.
The fact that the Duchess of Roam was facing Lilia meant she judged Lilia’s words worthy of hearing.
Lilia opened her mouth again.
“While my elder sister is praised as the Resurrected One, it is natural for Roam to keep her. But is it necessary to establish her as the master of Roam? What if later it is revealed that my elder sister has some connection with monsters?”
As the conversation moved to several themes Lilia had been consistently asserting, the Duchess of Roam observed Lilia with a quiet gaze.
“Are you saying we should recall Phrygian?”
At the Duchess’s question, Lilia sighed and lowered her gaze.
Phrygian had already been pushed out of the mansion once, and in the process, her relationship with Lilia had slightly soured.
Having seen how Phrygian behaved toward her when she had lost her foresight, Lilia had no reason to insist on Phrygian.
Rather, through past events, she had only confirmed that Phrygian was too burdensome for her to wield.
Yet, that did not mean Phrygian was someone she had to grovel before.
Hadn’t Phrygian been pushed aside even by Anelli?
“Father is in good health, so he can surely hold that position until Sayri comes of age.”
“It seems you have tried to use your head in your own way...”
The Duchess of Roam, elegantly picking up the teacup she had set aside for a moment, continued in a cold tone.
“In the unexpectedly rekindled struggle for imperial power, Maxel was utterly unprepared.”
“Then, do you believe the First Prince, Your Highness, can ascend the throne?”
At Lilia’s meaningful question, the Duchess of Roam narrowed her eyes.
Lilia spoke to her in a confident voice.
“The First Prince, Your Highness, has Her Majesty the Empress’s support, but he will soon lose it. I know.”
“I am sorry, Lilia, but we have already suffered a great loss by hastily pushing Anelli away.”
“Then and now, I simply cannot stand by and watch Roam head down the wrong path.”
In the past, such earnest words from Lilia might have been effective.
However, the moment Anelli resurrected and returned with the goddess’s blessing, Lilia could not regain her former absolute trust. Anelli’s very existence proved that Lilia’s foresight had been off the mark.
Knowing this, Lilia was not disappointed by the Duchess of Roam’s firm attitude. Instead, she calmly spoke of the future she knew.
“Lord Maxel will be tasked with subjugating the Veladia Mountains.”
Perhaps because she heard an unexpected place name, a glint appeared in the Duchess of Roam’s eyes.
“Because the Dullahans, identified by the Temple as rampant evil, have their stronghold precisely in the Veladia Mountains.”