Previously
Cecilia attempts to discourage Leoport's potential crush by explaining that true love is signaled by a 'ringing bell,' a phrase she knows he will later use for Emily. Leoport challenges Cecilia's cynical belief that she is only loved for her beauty, sharing how his own family loves him simply for being alive.
“Sister, you’re here!”
“Yes. Have you been doing your schoolwork, my Cecil?”
I rushed forward and threw myself into Rebecca’s arms.
“Mary, Sister….”
“I cannot stay long, so it is quite all right. I must head to the temple immediately.”
Rebecca, possessing innate holy power so formidable it could have disrupted the line of succession, had officially joined the temple last year after completing her coming-of-age ceremony.
Normally, those who joined the temple lived on its grounds, yet Rebecca commuted back and forth to the Imperial Palace through the prerogatives of the Imperial Family.
Tiring as that inevitably was, she chose it solely in case something happened to me.
‘Maybe that’s why it never really feels like Rebecca left home.’
I looked up at my sister in gratitude, watching the one who had always rushed to my side whenever my health faltered.
‘Does that mean Rebecca’s devotion to me isn’t just because Cecilia looks cute…?’
Once we settled side by side on the sofa, Rebecca pulled a small pouch from her bodice.
“Your eighth birthday is coming soon, isn’t it? Your sister is being deployed on a mission to the Sea of No Return, so I doubt I will be able to celebrate it with you. That is why I wanted to give you your present early.”
‘Ah, that cursed sea, the Sea of No Return.’
The Sea of No Return was not merely a concern during the concurrent twin eclipses that brought forth great storms.
Roughly once a year, whenever both moons turned new together, the energy of the demon realm surged and corrupted the area even if the threshold never fully opened.
For that reason, temple priests had to be dispatched alongside the Holy Knights to purify the land.
Even Rebecca, despite the numerous privileges granted to her as imperial royalty, had no choice but to join the expedition to the Sea of No Return.
‘It might be a perilous place… but if it’s Rebecca, she’ll be fine, right?’
The memory of a female knight hovering near death in an old dream flashed through my mind, as did the climax of the original novel where that expedition turned into an abrupt catastrophe….
When Leoport was deployed, the Sea of No Return suddenly burst wide, thrusting Emily, who followed him, into mortal peril; the second male lead perished, retainers fell, and soldiers were poisoned….
‘It was utter chaos.’
In the midst of that dire crisis, the moment Leoport and Emily reaffirmed their love was moving enough that I had reread it time and time again.
‘And Roselia’s role in that scene was magnificent, too. That was why I was so thrilled the first time I saw her.’
Yet now….
‘My sister coming back safe and sound is my birthday gift.’
The mere mention of the Sea of No Return sent a shiver through my heart that I could not calm.
It was no longer just plot points happening to storybook figures; that place felt like nothing less than a threat hanging over my siblings….
‘Her safety comes first.’
Since Rebecca was destined to appear ten years later upon the stage of ‘The Violet of the Duchy,’ nothing was likely to happen this time either, yet the unease refused to fade.
Was it because I had lived as Cecil for nearly eight years? The Imperial Family were no longer merely Cecilia’s family from ‘The Violet of the Duchy’—they were my own real family.
As that thought settled in, tears welled in my eyes unbidden. A warm smile spread across Rebecca’s face as she looked down at me.
“Cecil, you know your sister possesses the greatest holy power among our siblings, don’t you?”
“Even so….”
Rebecca gently reached out and wiped my cheeks.
“I am far more worried about you. Naturally, you will be staying safe in Freesia Palace where nothing can harm you, but the thought of us being apart for so long… That is why.”
Rebecca opened the pouch and drew out what lay inside.
It was a lace choker hung with a crystal roughly the size of an adult’s thumbnail.
The delicately woven lace ribbon looked exquisite, though the crystal itself was cut rather roughly, making it appear unlike any ordinary accessory.
“What is this, Sister?”
“It holds my holy power. If you ever find yourself in dire danger, it will at least protect your body. You practiced manifesting holy power before, didn’t you?”
I gave a small nod. Claiming it was impossible for me to lack holy power entirely, a high-ranking priest—one of the Saint’s closest confidants—had come to instruct me several times. It had produced no real result, however.
‘Because Rebecca has been healing me with her holy power all this time so I wouldn’t fall ill….’
This would be the first time I had ever been apart for so long from Rebecca, who took care of me more than any of my siblings.
“Oh dear, our Cecil is such a crybaby.”
“Uwah, Sister.”
Perhaps because my body was still that of a child, I couldn’t hold back the tears.
Rebecca smiled as she wiped them away, then fastened the choker around my neck from behind.
“What do you think? Doesn’t it go well with your dress?”
Rebecca brought me before the mirror hanging in the corner of the reception room to show me my reflection.
“Your nanny seems quite worried as well, knowing I will be gone for several months. For my sake and hers, take your medicine properly and be careful not to catch a cold, all right? Though of course, my Cecil always behaves so well on her own.”
Reflected in the mirror was an elder sister already fretting over the younger sister she would not see for a long while, and a little girl still unable to fully embrace the love poured out upon her.
I was no longer just a reader congratulating herself on having a front-row seat to admire the beautiful cast of ‘The Violet of the Duchy.’
The bond I shared with Rebecca now… ran far too deep to be explained merely by having a doll-like little sister.
‘Even if I never felt loved in my past life, I loved deeply many times. There’s no way I wouldn’t know the difference.’
Feeling ready to burst into tears again, I buried my face in Rebecca’s embrace.
“Sister, you must return safely. And when you come back, I’ll….”
I will love you properly.
I swallowed down the words only I could truly understand.
‘Leoport was right.’
In my heart, I sent my thanks to my friend, who had ceased to be just my favorite novel protagonist.
Leoport was an exceptionally innocent and pure boy.
An only child raised with every doting comfort in a noble household, blessed with such an adorable appearance—who could ever dislike him?
There was neither shadow within him nor the prickly wariness that darkness brings.
‘That’s why the hero’s nature in ‘The Violet of the Duchy’ was so steeped in innocence….’
In this manner, two years passed since I first felt that silent debt of gratitude toward Leoport.
As time went on, Leoport grew into a beloved little regular at Freesia Palace.
A child so bright and sweet to everyone was simply impossible not to love.
“Your Highness, when the young lord from House Ornbach visits, please don’t stay cooped up in the playroom. Go out into the garden as well.”
“Every time I step outside, you make such an uproar. How could anyone enjoy a garden with all that racket?”
“Couldn’t you just think of it as birds chirping?”
“Do let us feast our eyes a little on the two of you playing together.”
…What pests, honestly. Teasing two nine-year-olds like that.
I was hardly blind to the palace servants lingering in the courtyard of Freesia Palace whenever Leoport came over, just to catch a glimpse of the charming young lord.
‘He smiles at everyone and speaks so kindly, so who wouldn’t like him?’
What was more, he was my only friend, so anyone who cared for me ended up fond of Leoport too.
‘…Yes, loving Leoport isn’t just about his face.’
Though I couldn’t deny his angelic looks certainly played a part….
Yet Leoport’s charm ran much deeper than that.
‘How much sweeter will this precious boy become when he falls in love? Ah, I wish time would hurry up so I could see it….’
At any rate, what I looked forward to most was watching that wonderful gentleman from ‘Violet’ fall in love.
Watching Leoport grow up and sharing his company as a friend was delightful on its own, but isn’t it the original storyline that gives meaning to the prologue?
Half of it was eager anticipation; the other half, sheer gratitude.
Because of that, I began paying close attention to ensuring Leoport grew into the proper gentleman he was meant to be.
“I’m talking about that mythical beast. The one in the legends of the Serant Tribe from the Eastern Continent.”
“Seran… what?”
“Haven’t you studied the history of relations with the Eastern Continent yet? Then you don’t even know about the Globa Kingdom?”
“Glo… ba?”
“Have you studied medieval history of the Eastern Continent, then?”
Leoport’s face filled with countless question marks.
The trouble was that my attention, as the youngest child blessed with extraordinary intellect, was fixated on academic supremacy, which led me to constantly push Leoport with his studies.
“Mr. Shullen said I should finish the history of the primal continent first…. But Your Highness, how do you always stay ahead of me?”
“Because I study more than you.”
“I study hard every single day too, though….”
Having gradually outgrown his shyness around me, Leoport began to grumble in protest.
Praised as a prodigy himself, he was perpetually trailing behind me, so it was only natural he felt a touch disgruntled.
Besides, he had no other friends besides me.
‘Heh, I have the tenacity of an adult.’
Pouting his lips, Leoport seemed to arrive at his own conclusion.
“It must be because Your Highness doesn’t have to do holy power training.”
“Is it really that exhausting?”
“After just an hour’s lesson, my head feels completely blank from fatigue.”
Holy power in this world had versatile applications akin to magic.
One could coat a weapon with it like a battle aura or use it to shield the body. For that reason, noble scions underwent rigorous instruction to master it beyond their natural limits.
Yet for a ducal heir with so much already on his plate, piling on another round of training was grueling, so Leoport always envied me.
“If I didn’t have to do holy power training, I’d have mastered the history of the Eastern Continent by now.”
Publicly, it was said that I possessed sufficient holy power as a member of the Imperial Family, meaning additional training was unnecessary.
Fingering Rebecca’s choker around my neck, I replied in the serene, reassuring tone of a princess,
“If you want to join the Holy Knights later, you must work diligently on your holy power training.”
“You speak as though you know everything…. You’re truly stricter than my own parents.”
Leoport pouted again, his exasperated pout terribly endearing.
“And what about you, Your Highness? What will you become in the future?”
“Well… I shall accept whatever Her Highness the Crown Princess grants me.”
Cecilia’s future had received no setup in the original novel. She was merely a background extra mentioned all of twice.
I ought to have given it some thought, but like the Korean I once was, I had simply busied myself with the studies right in front of me.
‘When Grace assigned Baroness Rentil to me so early on, didn’t she have some sort of plan in mind?’
Rather than pondering it deeply, I merely took a sip of the warm honey-quince tea.
“You should think about your own future too, not just mine.”
“I am One Indebted to Grace, so I will manage somehow. As for you, you are cut out perfectly for the Holy Knights.”
‘One Indebted to Grace’ was a metaphorical expression denoting the Imperial Family, named after their silver hair.
Whenever I uttered those words—the very ones my sisters had used to assert their authority in ‘The Violet of the Duchy’—I felt a faint prick of self-consciousness.
“If I told you that you were cut out to be a priestess, would you join the temple?”
“And why should I listen to you…?”
“…In any case, I am going to join the Imperial Knights. Where you don’t need as much holy power.”
Leoport jutted his chin out with obvious stubbornness.
‘Looks like he’s entered his rebellious phase.’
Despite his protestations, he was bound to join the Holy Knights in the end, so I needed to soothe him and ease him into the idea bit by bit.
“You know, the day might come when the one you love is in mortal danger, and you won’t be able to save them because your holy power falls short.”
During the climax of ‘The Violet of the Duchy,’ Emily had hovered on the brink of death right before Leoport’s eyes.
Not only that, but countless hardships lay in store for him.
No matter how elegantly dressed in high drama or thrilling tragedy, in the end, ‘The Violet of the Duchy’ was a story rife with heart-wrenching frustration.
‘I should have realized it the moment I saw the word ‘Tears’ in the title….’
Then I pressed on,
“Take your heir lessons seriously as well. Your status as the heir to a duchy will serve you well when you fall in love later.”
“Love… Is that even done in a noble house?”