Chapter 62
A Being to Be Protected.
'It has begun.'
While pretending to worry, he was belittling Odelia as if she were a child who couldn't do anything on her own.
"The Cardel family has always protected you, and you grew up cherished in its warm embrace. But this is the North. It's ruthless, harsh, and frightening. I'm worried that this barren land might push you too hard... I'm concerned you might collapse as you did at home."
On the surface, he was a blood relative who loved and worried about her more than anyone.
But in reality, he was planting doubts in the minds of many here about whether she was truly qualified to be the Grand Duchess.
Gawain smiled nonchalantly.
As if he were merely a caring older brother concerned about the well-being of his only sister.
"Still, if you desire this life... Odelia. Life as the Grand Duchess won't be easy, but if you ever need help, just say the word. Your brother will be by your side. We are..."
He paused for a beat, casting a warm gaze upon her.
"...family, after all."
Family.
'I didn't even know if Gawain knew my name.'
He had called her 'Purifier' so often.
To him, Odelia was a disposable item that could be squeezed to extract the mystical power of Purification.
Now that her lifespan was nearing its end and even threatening the family's safety...
Was he wondering whether to just discard her, or squeeze her again since there seemed to be a little left?
That was probably all he was thinking as he probed.
And now, family...
It was so absurd that she didn't even feel angry.
'If I expose him here, I lose.'
Gawain's words sounded like an attack, but they were couched in the form of 'concern.'
If she retorted, Odelia would be the one who looked strange.
The moment she brought up stories of abuse or exploitation, people would whisper.
The Cardel family?
The woman who ran away for love is suddenly criticizing her family?
Besides...
'Gawain knows better than anyone what happens when I use my Purification Power.'
That power consumes life.
The greater the power, the more deadly the price.
Even if she drew upon her Purification Power and proved that this power was the Ancient Magic they knew.
What if she collapsed, coughing up blood, the next moment?
She would appear all the more unstable.
To the people, compared to the 'Ancient Magic of Cardel,' which had symbolized stability and peace for hundreds of years, Odelia's 'new power' was merely an exceptional variable.
No matter how much truth she revealed, the masses, who only believed what they wanted to believe, would ultimately side with the 'familiar authority.'
In the first place, the more she used this power, the more her lifespan would be shortened.
That was the picture Cardel wanted.
Why would she willingly hasten her own death?
Therefore...
Odelia quietly set down her glass.
She did not react emotionally to Gawain's words.
"...Thank you."
She simply responded briefly.
But that wasn't the end of her words.
"So, the family was protecting me."
Odelia continued calmly, as if recalling a distant memory.
"Keeping me indoors at all times, preventing me from even breathing fresh air in a room where the outside air couldn't easily enter, was all because they cherished me. I understand now."
She turned her gaze to survey the banquet hall.
"Ruthless, harsh, and frightening, you say... Well, I suppose it's a matter of perspective. I only realized it after coming to the North. That the outside world is much warmer than I imagined."
Those gathered in the banquet hall stirred for a moment.
Because Odelia's words sounded ominous to anyone who heard them.
"Of course, I will gratefully accept my brother's concern. But now, instead of remaining someone who needs to be protected, I want to choose to stand by someone's side."
Odelia paused for a moment.
And then continued in a low, clear voice.
"As the Grand Duchess."
An implication that she had been confined under the guise of protection.
Combined with the rumor that the third daughter of the Cardel family had never left the family estate, it sounded quite convincing.
The gazes directed at Gawain began to change.
No matter how much it was for protection, it was not logically acceptable to prevent someone from even leaving their room.
Gawain's lips moved, but he seemed unable to say anything, as if he were at a loss for words.
Caught off guard by Odelia's unexpected counterattack, he couldn't even think of putting on an act.
A heavy silence fell for a moment.
It was then that the sharp sound of heels broke the silence.
"Brother, you were here."
A quiet voice slipped into the gap.
A woman with her silver hair neatly tied up appeared, cutting through the crowd.
Like Gawain and Odelia, her hair was as white as snow.
A typical symbol of Cardel.
As soon as Gawain spotted her, he smiled brightly.
"Beloa."
The tension left his shoulders, and he became triumphant, as if he had gained a thousand soldiers.
On the surface, it merely looked like an older brother welcoming his younger sister.
But Odelia could see it.
How pathetically Gawain was relying on his second younger sister.
"But Brother, saying things like that could lead to unnecessary misunderstandings."
She continued, walking slowly between them.
"It might sound as if we had confined our youngest somewhere."
Beloa nonchalantly addressed the content that Odelia had alluded to metaphorically.
Her words were an elaborate move that gave Gawain a chance to make excuses.
"Ah, that's not what I meant."
Gawain didn't miss the opportunity.
"Confinement? That was never our intention."
Gawain feigned embarrassment, wagging his snake-like tongue.
"We only wanted to prevent any possible danger. But to think that it was so difficult for you... It breaks my heart."
He placed his hand over his chest and sighed.
"Odelia, you know how often you were sick. Watching you like that, our hearts were truly torn apart."
Beloa, standing beside him, fixed her gaze on Odelia.
Then, her expression became strange.
She had clearly recognized that Odelia had changed.
She had guessed that she would have changed through the circumstances, but she didn't expect it to be to this extent.
But Beloa soon maintained her composure and said.
"We unintentionally hurt our youngest. Would we have been wiser if we had been more sensible? Then you wouldn't have misunderstood us like this."
She didn't act as exaggeratedly as Gawain, but that made it feel as if she genuinely cared for Odelia.
She was always like that.
While directly setting the stage, she always stepped back, and while making the most cruel decisions, she never dirtied her own hands.
Among the thousands of regressions, there were episodes that Odelia couldn't forget.
The episode where she was branded as mentally ill and locked in the basement of the temple for refusing Purification.
The episode where she was bound to a Magic Circle that forcibly extracted her Purification Power in order to exploit her abilities more efficiently, making her cough up blood several times a day.
The episode where Ludville was branded as a demon worshiper and tortured by the inquisitors of the temple.
And even the episode where Odelia was deemed no longer necessary and burned at the stake as a witch...
Beloa was behind all of it.
She had set the stage for everything.
"Even if you hate me, I just hope you'll be happy with this marriage. To think that they accepted you, even after you ran away..."
Beloa quietly trailed off.
"Isn't that something to be grateful for?"
Something to be grateful for.
Wasn't that a condescending remark, as if she was grateful that someone had taken away her discarded trash?
"That's nonsense."
It was then.
A heavy voice flew in, openly criticizing Beloa.
It was Castia, the previous Archduke Excepcion.
