Chapter 29
“These snacks are really delicious.”
“Eat as much as you like, unnie!”
I listened to Bibi’s chirping, lark-like voice with a satisfied heart as I finished my cookie. The ones topped with apricot and strawberry jam were truly divine.
Watching the maids through the window—who were currently praying for my recovery in a makeshift tent set up in the Empress’s front courtyard—made them taste even sweeter.
I felt a little guilty eating cookies and getting crumbs all over the bed, but so what? I’m still technically a patient in the eyes of society! Besides, the sheets are changed every day, and I’m not the one doing the cleaning!
I gazed out at the sun-drenched scenery, lost in thought for a moment.
It had been three days since the maids, who had once wailed in front of the Lycoris Palace demanding to know the Princess’s whereabouts, had voluntarily begun praying for my recovery.
The Empress had never been fond of people drifting in and out of her palace.
The power dynamics within the Imperial Palace were subtle.
The Empress was, by all accounts, the legitimate Empress and the biological mother of the 2nd Prince. However, the Emperor favored the Imperial Consort and the 1st Prince with such blatant partiality that it was impossible to ignore.
In the palace, those of lower rank learn to sense the shifting winds of their superiors faster than the wind itself.
In other words, the Empress’s standing within the palace wasn’t great. Of course, for an Imperial Princess like me with no backing, it might be different, but would any servant dare to openly ignore the Empress?
It was simply that the Imperial Consort was more terrifying.
The Imperial Consort crushed people with a smiling face. She intimidated through fear and enticed with wealth. She knew her own weaknesses regarding her origins better than anyone.
She might dare to insult the Empress while wearing the Ocean of Stars on her head, but she could never enter the Room of Glory, a place reserved only for the reigning Emperor and Empress.
Even if the current Empress were to die, the chances of her becoming the new Empress were slim. Thus, she settled for gripping the people of the palace in her palm, subtly ignoring and threatening the Empress.
Though I didn’t know the details, the Empress must have faced countless assassination threats. At least the spies within the Lycoris Palace were rooted out the day before yesterday….
“Bibi.”
“Yes, unnie?”
The child’s face turned toward me with a soft smile. Just looking at her sunflower-bright, gentle expression was enough to melt my heart.
She looked like a living doll, with a yellow flower tucked behind her ear—one she said she’d picked for me since I couldn’t leave the palace.
I suppressed the urge to grin foolishly and spoke.
“Bibi-ya.”
I quietly met her gaze, looking into her blue eyes. Those eyes, clear as a lake, wavered slightly.
“You’re overdoing it, aren’t you?”
“W-what do you mean? Bibi doesn’t know.”
“Our cute Bibi is pushing herself very, very hard for Princess Titania, isn’t she?”
“…….”
Bibi looked down dejectedly, avoiding my eyes.
The room fell silent.
Except for one maid attending to Bibi, everyone else had cleared out. That maid was a former assassin turned bodyguard who followed Bibi after owing her for her family’s lives, so everyone felt safe leaving us alone.
Since narrowly escaping death, I had received an overwhelming amount of gifts from the Duchy of Castline.
There was a letter of gratitude written in the Duke’s own hand. There was Lisianthus, who was struggling and panting in an attempt to act strangely close to me, and Raymon, who came with his usual expressionless face to say he ‘came to see if I was safe’….
Yes. I was getting a bit tired of the fuss from the Castline family, who were fussing over me excessively.
Even the Empress, the owner of this palace, and Prince Adrian, who had organized and explained the situation to me, weren’t making such a scene.
Though it hadn’t been officially announced to the outside world that I was awake, the Castline family members were punching their time cards here every day, not to mention the supplies constantly flowing into the Lycoris Palace.
Given the Empress’s usually frugal lifestyle, anyone with half a brain would have realized by now that I was awake.
In other words, by protecting their savior, the Duchy of Castline was effectively declaring—without a care for what others thought (and that ‘other’ being the Emperor, you reckless people)—their stance quite bluntly….
“But unnie, what’s wrong with pushing myself?”
As I sat there lost in thought, Bibi chirped at me with sparkling eyes.
“My Papa said! That a person of the Castline family! Never! forgets a favor or a grudge. Especially since I’m now the proud daughter of the Castline family, he told me never to forget!”
“I see….”
Papa…. She called him Papa…….
The day has finally come when I hear the female lead of a childcare novel utter the word ‘Papa’ with her own voice. I feel a strange sense of deep emotion.
“So, it’s only natural that I care about you, unnie!”
“I almost died, but I didn’t. And I won’t even have a single scar.”
“If it weren’t for you, unnie…!”
“You wouldn’t have died.”
Bibi blinked at my firm words.
“You wouldn’t have died. You are a blessed child, and you deserve to be loved.”
“……Th-that, unnie. That’s…….”
Bibi’s lips worked as if she wanted to argue with my words but couldn’t find the right thing to say.
Since it was an incident that hadn’t happened in the original story, I was a bit suspicious, but Raymon had arrived right on time anyway, hadn’t he?
“Unnie.”
After a moment of contemplation, Bibi called out to me quietly.
“Why did you save me?”
“Because Bibi is much younger than me?”
“…Unnie is still very much a child compared to adults, too.”
“There were no adults there. In times like that, the older person is supposed to take responsibility.”
“…….”
The truth was, I was scared.
I missed my mom.
I missed my dad, too.
I wanted to go home.
Even though I knew I was Titania now and couldn’t go back.
Even though I realized I had to live as a child who had been broken beyond repair because no one loved her.
Because that burden was so heavy, I had actually thought that it wouldn’t matter if I died while saving this child.
“Unnie.”
Bibi’s voice trembled thinly.
“…I won’t tell anyone the story about Imperial Consort Elaine-nim.”
“…….”
I gave a bitter smile. Before I woke up, and even after I woke up, there had been no word from the Lycoris Palace where Imperial Consort Elaine resided.
There was no one who didn’t know that fact. Everyone had guessed. Seeing my expression, Bibi looked like she was about to cry herself.
“C-could I… stay on your side, unnie?”
“…….”
“If I love you, and if I bless you… If I say that you are also a blessed child, a loved child…. Is that not allowed?”
That’s right.
The Bibi in the original story had also despaired while being abused by her trashy foster parents before her regression. That was likely why she empathized. But having read the book, I knew.
Though Bibi didn’t know it yet, her biological mother was the Duke’s missing younger sister. She had been a woman of great ability and had given birth to Bibi as the result of a short, fiery romance with the man she loved. She was also the one who had hung the necklace around Bibi’s neck before she was abandoned at the orphanage.
“If you stay on my side, Bibi, I’d be truly grateful.”
Bibi’s face lit up with a joyous, blooming smile.
“However, Bibi. Let’s be closer than strangers but further than family.”
“Why, why, why?! Unnie, why?!”
Bibi protested indignantly, like a child who had just had a favorite snack snatched away.
“That’s because, Bibi, we still have many enemies.”
“Enemies?”
A sharp intelligence flickered in Bibi’s eyes. Even when she had been driven to a miserable state and wandered from place to place before her regression, she had never been lazy about listening to news from the outside world.
Ironically, because everyone looked down on her situation, no one had bothered to guard their tongues in front of her.
She likely knew about my past villainous behavior, the bad blood with the Castline family, and the current mess that was the Imperial Family.
“The Castline family has many enemies, and I have enemies too.”
“…….”
Instead of answering, Bibi stole a glance at the scenery outside the Lycoris Palace. It was a sign that she understood.
Behind Imperial Consort Cleo stood the Marquis Rand family.
The Marquis Rand family had always struggled with heirs. There were only two: the legitimate daughter who had been halfway designated as the Empress, and the eldest son who was to be the successor.
After the legitimate daughter died suddenly, they had hurriedly pushed an illegitimate daughter who had been serving as a maid in front of the Emperor, but the situation between Imperial Consort Cleo and the Marquis Rand family was not good.
They were merely cooperating and using each other for the goal of making the 1st Prince the Emperor.
Furthermore, the Emperor’s blatant favoritism toward the Consort was a problem. Short of starting a rebellion, one cannot defy the Emperor’s command.
Imperial Consort Cleo did not yet view the Castline family as enemies.
She was simply testing the waters, as they were too big a catch to just let slide over to the opposition. Yes, using the bait she thought she held in her hand: Princess Titania.
But if my relationship with the Castline family were to be smoothly restored following this incident…?
“She’ll try to use me as bait to manipulate you and the Castline family.”
“I can handle that much….”
Bibi’s confident voice trailed off at the end.
