“We are returning to the Royal Palace.”
Having settled the chaos inside and outside the Castle Walls, Peleus turned to leave the fortifications.
“Your Majesty?”
Peleus suddenly stopped in his tracks, his blue eyes turning cold.
Dianzel, with quick intuition, moved to pick up the object Peleus was staring at. It was a sophisticatedly crafted dagger.
“This is…”
When the Regent Duke had tried to strike Medeia with his sword, this hidden blade had flown in a split second faster than Peleus, parrying the strike.
The reason the sword fragments had shattered so finely that they struck the Regent Duke’s eye was due to the immense impact received from weapons striking from both sides.
Peleus looked up, retracing the direction from which the dagger had flown. In the distance, he saw the tower facing this spot.
“Search that area.”
“Yes, Your Majesty. However, this… is Mithril.”
Dianzel narrowed his eyes as he examined the dagger together.
“To throw away a precious weapon made of such a celestial material and not even recover it.”
Furthermore, it was an expert who could hit and break a sword from such a long distance. No matter how one looked at it, it was no ordinary opponent.
Peleus’s gaze swept down the sharp blade.
*Thwack!* The dagger, readjusted in his grip, flew and embedded itself between the bricks of the inner castle wall.
‘What kind of fellow is approaching Dea?’
His noble brow twitched.
***
The Queen Dowager’s Palace in Baldina.
The Queen Dowager’s bedroom was filled with the acrid smell of medicine.
The Queen Dowager, who had stabbed her own chest with a dagger, fortunately avoided a fatal wound.
However, perhaps because the psychological shock of her son targeting her grandchildren was too great, she had not been able to wake up easily.
“If even this medicine has no effect, Her Highness the Queen Dowager’s recovery… will likely be difficult in the short term.”
Despite the pungent, stinging smell, Herthos Knight, the attending physician, poured the medicine into the Queen Dowager’s mouth with an expressionless face.
Eventually, the Queen Dowager slowly opened her eyes.
“Your Highness the Queen Dowager, are you conscious?”
She repeatedly blinked her eyes at Herthos Knight’s voice before suddenly snapping them wide open.
“Medeia!”
The moment she bolted upright, dizziness washed over her.
If Herthos Knight hadn't caught her arm and restrained her, she would have nearly fallen off the bed.
“You must not overexert yourself. The wound could reopen.”
The Queen Dowager didn't even check the bandages wrapped around her body.
“What happened? Where is Medeia! Is she alive?!”
“Please calm yourself, Your Highness. The Princess is safe.”
“What happened, tell me what happened!”
When Lady Pinatelli hesitated, the Queen Dowager’s heart sank.
‘Did you truly, Hoakin…! Did you finally harm your own niece!’
Before she could faint from the surging rage and sorrow, Medeia appeared from behind Herthos Knight.
“Calm yourself, Grandmother. You shouldn't move like that because of your wound.”
“Medeia!”
“I am safe. My uncle’s rebellion has been suppressed. The Royal Capital is secure.”
Medeia calmly delivered the outcome of that day.
“Oh, Goddess, thank you.”
As soon as she confirmed her granddaughter’s whole face, the Queen Dowager collapsed as if in prayer.
She fumbled to pull Medeia’s hand to her forehead, reciting thanks to the Goddess.
“I thought I had lost you. I thought I was sending you away just like Johan.”
“…”
“I am sorry, Medeia. It is all this old woman’s fault. I made it so. Your pain, Hoakin’s ambition—it’s all because this old woman failed to do her duty.”
These were words she hadn't been able to express all along. Words that had been engraved in her heart because she couldn't say them until the very end.
The Queen Dowager offered a sincere apology from the depths of her heart to her granddaughter.
“…”
Medeia looked down at the bowing Queen Dowager blankly.
An undefinable ambivalence flowed through her.
She couldn't attribute all of this as the Queen Dowager’s fault alone.
Medeia herself was not free from the numerous mistakes she had committed in her past life. Therefore, she couldn't simply resent her grandmother.
However, the time that had passed was too long to understand and accept her belatedly.
Such kind understanding and generous forgiveness had long since eroded within Medeia.
The tears of regret streaming down the wrinkled cheeks did not reach Medeia. Regrettably, the emotional distance between the two was too far.
“At that time, Grandmother, you did your best.”
However, the fact that the Queen Dowager had risked her life to stop the Regent Duke was clear.
She was not swayed by blood ties, nor did she evade her responsibility. That alone was reason enough for Medeia to protect the Queen Dowager.
‘So, Grandmother, this distance is appropriate for us. This exact distance where you and I coexist as royals and as pillars for Peleus.’
Medeia had no intention of creating a friendly grandmother-granddaughter relationship, nor did she intend to vent belated resentment.
She would simply remain in that place like an old tree through which the wind passes.
“Peleus.”
To protect the true master of this country.
Along with Medeia’s call, the handsome young man walked toward the Queen Dowager.
“Medeia, what did you just sa—”
The Queen Dowager, who was asking her granddaughter to repeat herself, widened her eyes.
She rubbed her eyes with her wrinkled hands as if she had seen something impossible.
Brilliant silver hair, clear blue eyes. Although his features had become sharper and he had grown sturdy, it was the eldest grandson she remembered.
“Peleus, is it truly you that I am seeing?”
Peleus approached and knelt by her bed.
He moved his face closer so the Queen Dowager could personally verify him.
“Yes, Grandmother. Your grandson has returned.”
“T-The plains? The war?”
She asked abruptly as if suddenly remembering while fumbling over her grandson’s face. At Peleus’s nod, Dianzel brought over a scroll.
It was the letter of surrender obtained from the defeated chieftains.
“We have reclaimed the tribes of the plains. Baldina has won, Grandmother. I have upheld Father’s legacy.”
The Queen Dowager’s lips trembled violently. Hot tears flowed down her cheeks once more.
“Well done, well done. Truly well done…”
Medeia stepped back and watched the reunion of the King and the Queen Dowager.
One step. Two steps. She suppressed her presence and left the room silently.
The acrid smell of medicine was actually welcome.
Because this stinging scent would fill the space where she had disappeared.
Medeia left the Queen Dowager’s Palace, unaware of the fact that her brother Peleus’s gaze had briefly followed her as she departed.
***
“Princess Her Highness, Kensington is waiting. Shall I take you there?”
Neril was waiting in front of the Queen Dowager’s Palace.
Medeia nodded.
On the street of the Royal Capital where the two had once reunited, this time Kensington had arrived first and was waiting for her.
“Count, you look well.”
When Medeia greeted her first, Kensington responded in kind.
“As do you, Princess Her Highness. Everything flowed exactly as you arranged; truly, you are remarkable.”
The rebellion in the Royal Capital had been a massive trap set by the Princess to bring down Regent Duke Claudio.
When she realized that fact, Kensington felt a chill, while secretly wondering by what means she would suppress the Regent Duke and emerge victorious.
However, the return of the King of Baldina was a complete variable that even she hadn't anticipated.
The sight of the Regent Duke’s private soldiers falling like autumn leaves scattered by the wind under the overwhelming martial force of the Agema made her skin crawl even now when she thought back on it.
“Wasn't it to confirm that result that you remained here? To see if the board I set was correct, and whether I would actually succeed.”
Medeia shrugged her shoulders expressionlessly.
Even an arrogant air hung about her face, as if Kensington’s shocked appearance was a perfectly natural reaction.
“…I noticed that the young maid you brought in recently is the sister of the rebel boy who struck down the leader of the uprising. Had you planned it since then?”
“You know that wasn't the only thing I wanted to show you. You must have also seen me ‘saving’ Theo?”
Medeia countered in a calm voice.
“I protected the life of a rebel who hated me. Only because he cooperated with me, even if by force.”
Kensington swallowed a hollow laugh. It was because she realized what the Princess was trying to say.
“Princess.”
“Let’s stop the back-and-forth testing. So, Count, what is the answer to my courtship?”
