Previously
Declan finds Sienna in the bathroom and, despite the awkwardness of her state, insists on escorting her back to her quarters. Sienna is cold and dismissive, assuming his actions are merely out of duty to her rank.
How to Part with You Completely — Episode 14
Seeing how she spent her days staring blankly out the window and refused ever to set foot outside the quarters where the priestesses resided, Theo felt a profound sense of disparity from the princess he remembered.
At first, he had assumed it was merely because she had yet to fully recover, but the longer he watched her, the clearer it became that this was not the case.
Standing beside the baggage cart, Theo abruptly broke the silence.
“Honestly, Her Highness has seemed a bit strange lately.”
“How so?”
“It feels as though she suddenly became a completely different person. In the past, she…”
He was about to say that she had looked ready to strike a deal with the devil if only it meant returning to the capital, whereas now she seemed to have lost the will for everything, but the words caught in his throat.
It belatedly occurred to him that nothing good would come from the Count learning that he had been the first to suggest returning to the capital to the Princess. After all, the Count was more hell-bent on having him return than anyone else.
“In the past, she seemed desperate to return to the capital as soon as possible, but these days she has this demeanor of having attained enlightenment about everything in the world, or something…”
“Isn’t that a good thing? It seems she has finally come to terms with reality after coming here. That everything is different now.”
At Theo’s stammering babble, the Count responded without much suspicion.
Even so, considering the Princess’s usual temperament, it was quite a surprising transformation, so he was inwardly taken aback. She had always acted rashly as if she had no fear of tomorrow, and such reckless conduct had constantly come back to bite her.
‘Whatever the case, it seems even Her Highness the Princess has finally grown up.’
Well, she must have endured quite a lot in this place. One could easily guess she had been unable to lead a proper life simply by looking at the Abbot’s attitude.
The Count glanced toward his younger brother, who wore a grave expression.
“There is no need to brood over it so deeply. It is far wiser to face reality, even if it has to be like this. Even Her Highness is well aware of the facts, yet you alone remain ignorant, Theodore.”
“Forget it. Talking to you really is impossible.”
Theo shook his head with an exasperated expression. Before the Count, flustered at being abruptly dismissed, could snap another retort, Theo let out a heavy sigh and brushed past him.
He could hear what sounded like rebukes being hurled behind his back, but he lightly tuned them out and approached Declan.
“Your Grace. Is there anything else I might assist you with?”
“I appreciate the thought alone.”
Declan replied nonchalantly as he adjusted the reins. Despite the rather early hour, his face showed no sign of fatigue whatsoever.
Declan’s gaze shifted toward Theo.
Though countless questions surrounding Theo and the Princess had swirled inside his head throughout the previous night, seeing Theo’s face now made him feel it was all pointless.
Theo was the complete opposite of his calculating brother. He was inept at suspecting others and far from proficient at lying.
Seeing him striding about with such a bright expression from early morning, the claim that he did not mind staying behind and avoiding a return to the capital did not seem like a lie.
If this was not something Theo himself had desired, why on earth had the Princess said such a thing?
* * *
Though I had barely managed to shut my eyes, the sky was already fully bright. I gazed listlessly out at the crisp, dawn-lit world before slowly getting to my feet.
Running away any longer was futile. Having already confronted him once, continuing to avoid him was meaningless.
‘After all, this is the last time.’
I forced my reluctant body up and opened the wardrobe door. A modest array of plain clothes hung neatly inside.
My body had once known only dresses that could not be put on without someone’s assistance, but since coming here, there were only one-piece dresses that could be worn alone. In a position where I could not even employ a maid, I had no other choice.
From among the meager selection, I pulled out and donned the neatest one. Even so, to a stranger’s eyes, I would look like a commoner of humble means. At the very least, compared to yesterday, it was completely orderly.
Stepping outside, the soldiers busy with departure preparations were moving briskly. Engrossed in their tasks, they failed to properly recognize the Princess.
It was only natural, as none of them would ever imagine that a woman wandering alone in humble attire without a single attendant could be the Princess. That realization no longer stung my pride.
Scanning the surroundings with a blank expression, I searched for someone. Before long, Count Monches and the Grand Duke came into view.
The first among them to spot me was Theo. He looked quite surprised, perhaps having assumed I would not show my face until the very end.
Only then did the Count notice me walking toward them. His face registered surprise, and he hurriedly bowed his head.
“I greet Her Highness the Princess.”
Declan turned toward me as well and lowered his head. I gave a calm nod.
“I am ashamed to only show my face on the day of your departure.”
Straightening my spine and holding my chin taut, I strove to maintain the most elegant posture possible.
It was partly to make up for the humiliation I had suffered before him yesterday, and partly to belatedly assert the dignity of an imperial royal before the soldiers.
Either way, it was nothing more than petty pride, and before this man, it was an especially futile gesture.
“I heard you are departing without a morning feast; are there sufficient provisions for the soldiers?”
“Yes, there is plenty, at least until we reach the capital, Your Highness.”
Instead of the Grand Duke, the Count standing beside him answered. I nodded without a word and cast a sideways glance toward Declan.
He merely looked down at my face in silence. After meeting his gaze with an upturned, piercing stare, I was the first to look away.
Even a momentary silence felt unbearable.
Just then, a red-haired soldier approached them.
“Your Grace. All preparations are complete.”
“Thank you for the report, Sir Gaius. We shall depart at once.”
Declan answered with a gentle smile.
As the red-haired soldier bellowed an order, the troops fell into formation in an orderly fashion.
Having stood clasping my hands and shifting my gaze, I hesitated briefly before abruptly extending my hand. Declan’s eyes immediately fell upon the pale hand offered to him.
“I hope you arrive safely.”
It was a faint voice, barely audible, yet to him, it was clear.
Declan looked down at Sienna’s hand in silence for a moment, then slowly reached out and clasped it. Compared to his own, the hand was impossibly small, yet somewhat rough for that of a noble lady.
It was a touch painfully familiar to Declan. Without realizing it, he tightened his grip on her hand.
As Sienna gave their clasped hands a light shake like an ordinary handshake, his gaze shifted back to her face.
Holding her gaze directly, Declan drew her hand toward him. It was then that astonishment surfaced in the blue eyes watching him with bewilderment.
When he pressed his lips to the back of her pale hand, her body stiffened visibly. It rendered the dignified pretenses she had maintained all morning utterly meaningless.
Declan let slip an involuntary soft laugh.
Sienna’s eyes widened even further.
“Take care of your health.”
It was the exquisitely sweet voice I had once heard in a dream. The sensation of his lips firmly pressing against the back of my hand lingered vividly.
Just in time, the Abbot and the healers emerged from the monastery entrance.
The hand holding mine tightened for a brief second before pulling away. Frozen with my hand lingering in midair, I hurriedly withdrew it only after he had stepped completely back.
As if nothing had happened, he returned to his usual composure and expressed his gratitude to the Abbot and the healers for their hospitality. While I stood there blankly, he finished all his preparations.
My vacant, trembling gaze slowly trailed after him, but he was already mounted on his horse.
A soldier raised high a standard bearing the imperial crest. As if taking it as a signal, the horses began to march forward.
Until the troops descended the cliff, I stood stock-still, watching his receding back. Long after the army had completely vanished from sight, the gentle sensation against the back of my hand refused to fade.
* * *
Looking back, Sienna Rosamond Mel Malony’s life was misbuttoned from the very start, but it had not been a disaster from the beginning.
Until ‘that incident’ took place, a certain warmth lingered in the public eye toward Sienna. Even those who backed the siblings Joseph and Marianne never dared treat Sienna carelessly.
She was the sole princess of the grand empire that commanded the Cralto Continent. The Duchy of Ricata, one of the empire’s greatest noble houses, was her maternal family, and her mother was the only empress ‘officially recognized’ by the Emperor.
Thus, in terms of birth at least, she undeniably possessed a lineage so brilliant that she was truly worthy of the title of the continent’s most noble being.
Spoken of just as frequently as her exalted status was the Emperor’s deep affection for the Princess.
As she was the child born to the woman he had loved since his youth, there was no questioning the sheer magnitude of the Emperor’s favor at the time. He had granted the sunniest room in the imperial palace to the child, gracing it with his presence in person whenever he had a spare moment.
For six years, Sienna grew up more lavishly than any child in the world.
A noble lineage looked up to by all. Parents who cherished her above anything else in the world. The world surrounding her was always beautiful and peaceful. She believed those days would last forever.
Yet life was impossible to foresee even an inch ahead.
No matter how exquisite and lovely something was crafted, it was bound to be terribly wrecked before a colossal wave. Sienna’s life was no different. Falling from a life reigning above everyone straight into the mire took only an instant.