“My goodness.”
Vice Captain Élisabeth gasped. It was because the person was a face we recognized.
The night of the Harvest Festival parade, one of the old ladies selling goods in the narrow alley…
The kind old lady who handed an apple…
She was Old lady Pom, who supposedly passed away after being hit by a carriage, ‘Mada Victoire.’
However, this old lady had been questioned along with the other old ladies and was released.
The Imperial Crown Prince scowled. I too was surprised as I did not know that she was Old lady Pom.
“It is not that precious young lady’s fault. It is not your subordinates’ faults either. Cough! It’s just that I am old…”
The woman coughed and laughed as she spoke.
The moonlight shone down on her and I could see that her hair was not the typical brown.
Her head, full of thin white hair, fluttered in the breeze.
Christelle blankly looked at her.
“Marquis Jesse did say that he thought you might be alive, Old lady Pom. But how…”
“Nobody suspects you for anything when you get to my age. Nobody sees you as suspicious. That is the secret.”
Cough cough! The old woman coughed as if her body would break apart. So blood gathered at the corner of her thin lips.
I quickly pulled out a handkerchief but Old lady Pom waved her hand.
“They pity and don’t even charge for riding the carriage a lot of the ti… They believe when I tell them I am basically blind and when I say that I can barely walk. Nobody treats it as weird even if I am roaming around the walls early in the morning. An old woman over seventy years old, cough!”
Her body convulsed for a mont. We flinched and took one step toward her.
However, the old lady placed both hands on her knees and managed to remain standing.
Her deep eyes were glowing just as bright as the moon.
“Danger… Who would think of as dangerous? Who would think that I am an acrobat running across roofs…”
“You were great at vocal mimicry as well.”
I added on. She chuckled as if she was amused.
The way her face lit up for a mont made her look like a seven year old child.
She looked extrely pure and full of joy.
“The events of that night… I’m sorry about what happened. But I was able to have fun thanks to you. After playing two roles and using up every ounce of strength in my body, I was sick for quite a bit. When our little ball of talent told to retire…
I should have listened to him.” She whispered that last part before she started falling down.
I didn’t care about anything and ran to catch the old woman.
“Your highness!” Sir Johann’s voice trying to dissuade beca distant.
Plop. The body that fell into my arms felt extrely light and small. Her bones felt sturdy but that was it.
My instincts told that she was on her last few breaths.
The old woman looked up at and continued to speak.
“What a nice young man. How could soone so important… Look at soone like with such eyes?”
I couldn’t help but clench my teeth.
“Did the House of Andresy cast away their children? Is that how you ended up alone as well, Old lady Pom?”
“Henriette was angry about it. As for , I just lived my life forgetting the reason to be angry…”
Her lips twitched.
Christelle cautiously approached before sitting down across from to listen to the woman’s story.
I looked into the main character’s warm gaze.
“I don’t even rember. Was it the Count from two generations ago who threw away… Why would that be important? It is sothing that happens all the ti. I was just a common orphan. As for Henriette… She is a child the current Count Andresy threw away.”
This was shocking information. I looked at crown prince Cédric.
His orange eyes were burning with rage.
The old woman’s story continued, despite sounding as if she might be unable to talk at any mont.
25 years ago.
She was traveling and performing with the troupe as usual. They were camping out in a forest near the Andresy Lord’s Castle when she saw soone throwing a basket away.
It was a servant from the Count’s House who had co to see the show.
The fact that he was out at such a late ti and avoiding people’s gazes to leave this basket in such a sketchy place felt weird.
Old lady Pom checked the basket once he left.
There was a kid, about two years old, asleep in silk clothes. That was Henriette.
“Why? Why are they throwing away these innocent babies?”
An upset Christelle asked. Old lady Pom made so gurgling noises before spitting out so blood.
I was worried that the blood would get stuck in her airway and quickly supported her head.
Her deep wrinkles looked full of pain.
“Cough. Because they were sick… That’s all I knew. All of the illegitimate children who were thrown away were sick… I was weak over here…”
She lifted her shaking finger to point at her lungs.
Her palm had dried blood and was dark red from new blood as well.
“Henriette… Needed to sleep a lot. I guess to those fancy nobles, that was a terrible illness as well… Hehehe.”
She made a face that made it hard to tell whether she was laughing or crying. The young Countess was grinding her teeth.
“The Count’s House of Andresy is famous for their indecisiveness. Maybe… It is possible they were trying to get rid of existences that might be a stain on the family na.”
“…”
The crown prince was as silent as the calm before the storm.
The reason that Henriette, who was thrown away in Andresy, was believed to have co from the Bellang Barony, was because there were not many territory lords who accepted orphans into their territory.
However, Baron Bellang was not the type of person to see soone in need and not help them.
Within two years of roaming the Empire with the circus troupe, Henriette beca a child who called the poor Barony of the south her ho.
Old lady Pom’s gaze looked past the stars.
“Last spring, after we saw the Great Clearance of Demonic Beasts together, I… told her the truth on our way back to the inn. Where I picked her up, who her real family was… Even now, I have no idea why I did that.”
We had no idea at all.
On that spring day when light pink flower petals were filling the air, the two won were in the stands watching us.
“Seeing an important person who ca to this Empire by himself as a diplomatic hostage being so amazing… What is our Henriette lacking that she needs to live as an acrobat in the streets? I must have had an arrogant thought like that. I didn’t know my place.”
The old lady mocked herself. Percy, who had been quietly sitting on my shoulder, nodded his head.
I quietly responded.
“Baron Savanier, whose territory is next to Andresy County, was Victoire’s first victim. That was in May. That must have been Henriette’s first cri.”
“Ah ah, that was not her first…”
Her hand twitched.
She seed to want to reach into her pocket, but she had no strength to even lift up her robe.
Christelle couldn’t watch anymore and helped the old lady open her inner pocket.
What her rough hand pulled out was an old notebook, and…
“My goodness.”
…An extrely splendid diamond necklace. Christelle and my jaws dropped.
The old lady chuckled after seeing our reactions.
“Kill… Henriette went to kill the Count but, cough! She only stole this necklace. She said that she couldn’t get herself to kill soone… Of course she couldn’t. How could she kill, kill a person! Cough, cough!”
She could not stop coughing for a while. I bit down on my lips.
I knew she was at a point that I could not heal her, but I wanted to at least try.
“I am going to open a healing circle.”
“No, no. That’s not right… The excitent will be broken if the phantom thief is caught. A clown should go while playing on the stage.”
Gulp, she forced down sothing that was coming up her throat.
She then looked at and whispered.
‘Feeling unnecessary guilt is not a profitable business, Marquis-nim.’
“That is why she changed her mind. She chose to steal instead of to kill.”
The crown prince mumbled in a low voice. The old lady shushed him and chuckled.
“That’s right, your Royal Highness. That’s right… And that child beca as hot as a ball of fire with this feeling of revenge. She said sothing about how she was going to smudge the na of the family that made this old granny suffer or sothing… As for , I forgot how to even get angry. It wasn’t that big of a deal. Why did she feel so wronged that she was thrown away… There are orphans everywhere in this world.”
She then closed her mouth. A thick stream of blood trailed down her cheek.
I could tell that she was suppressing intense sorrow.
Sir Johann, who had been quietly listening, chid in.
“Then the one who was hit by the carriage must have been Henriette.”
“He…”
The old lady scowled. Christelle used a handkerchief to dab at the old lady’s eyes.
The tears did not stop and the main character’s hand did not stop either.
“Andresy. She was hit by one of their carriages…”
“Oh Almighty God.”
Vice Captain Élisabeth looked up into the air. I blinked a few tis as I was at a loss for words.
This was unexpected. We had been too half-baked to expect such a tragedy.
“After performing at your palace, Marquis-nim, we were rewarded handsoly and all that was left was for us to get even more famous… There are so many things she has yet to do because she’s so young. Food she had yet to try, places she had yet to see… But the coachman of the Count’s House gave a gold coin.”
Crackle! A fla finally crackled at the crown prince’s feet.
I imdiately opened up my Holy Land and placed him within it.
I was releasing my ether for him to calm down, but the young man could not easily calm himself.
He didn’t reject , but his fla fiercely crackled with rage.
On the other hand, the old lady’s voice beca extrely quiet.
“They’ll give enough money so I should go get the body cremated… And for not to go around saying useless things. That was all. The noble inside the carriage didn’t even co out to look.”
I looked at her scowling forehead and her cheekbone with a blank gaze. How could they do that?
How could things be like this?
“That is why I decided to carry on in her place. The things that child did not manage to gain, manage to do, manage to pay back…… I wanted to do it for her. But I didn’t have ti.”
‘Ti…’ She sounded as if she was lanting or singing. It was as my friends and I expected.
The reason Victoire suddenly said that she would steal was because she did not have ti.
The woman wanted sothing that would have the greatest impact before she passed, making people talk about the na of Andresy.
However, she did not have any plans of really aiming for .
She was planning on using the commotion from the abduction to keep all attention on the Imperial Capital while she infiltrated my territory and stole the portrait.
What she was looking to do through this was to get the attention of the Imperial family.
It was not for her own satisfaction but for revenge.
“Marquis-nim, you smiled so beautifully. At your age, most people find acrobatics to be boring… It was a smart move to co to the tavern to draw out. I wanted to play to my heart’s content with you, cough!”
She gasped to breathe. Dark red blood dripped down her chin.
I tightly grabbed her shaking hands. The crown prince silently walked up and stood behind .
His rage made him warm, making it feel as if the tension was calming down a bit.
“Cough. All I managed to do was leave a will-like card… It was a boring act.”
“No, it was wonderful. We struggled so much because we couldn’t decipher the tarot card. We only figured it out thanks to this little guy.”
I smiled brightly and pointed to Percy. Thankfully, my voice ca out normal.
Old lady Pom’s eyes curled up.
“Thank you, even if they are just empty words. I had no strength to even pick up a canvas… I’m basically a living corpse.”
She slowly turned her head.
Christelle moved to allow the old lady to see past her.
The large white moon was filling the dark sky and the clear lake.
The two lights that were as bright as the eyes of the Almighty God faced the thief.
“At least this moon seems to belong to that child. It is not the full moon nor is it a new moon… This moon that’s nothing special seems to be our stolen goods.”
I could barely hear the end of it. The woman’s breathing beca weaker.
I was unable to say anything when Sir Johann knelt down on one knee next to .
“Your highness. You must do it even if it is painful. That is the only way to help the two of them.”
His voice was not shaking at all. His mint-colored eyes sparkled resolutely.
I clenched my mouth.
[Oh Almighty God, please forgive the lies she has confessed to .]
I called for the Divine Oracle.
I needed to know. We needed confirmation, with everybody here as witnesses, that what the old lady said was the truth.
It had to happen before she left.
“…”
Our surroundings were silent. All we heard were the cries of geese.
There were no reactions at all to my circle. I urgently explained.
[I’m sorry for this, Old lady Pom. I did not do this because I did not trust what you said. That you told the truth-]
“I know… I know. I know you are not soone who would do sothing like that, Marquis-nim.”
She looked at and smiled benignly.
“Who, tell , who in the Imperial Palace…… Would buy items from an old peddler in the streets?”
“…”
“Will you forgive ?”
That was the old lady’s last question.
It was hard not to know what she ant. My throat felt as if it was clenching up.
I clenched my teeth and bowed down so that she could hear well.
I then proclaid with full sincerity by her tired ears.
[I forgive you. The Almighty God will also forgive you.]
– Shaaaaaaa……!
Golden ether burst out of my Holy Land.
Victoire D’Andresy t her eternal rest with a peaceful look on her face.
—
Translator’s Comnts
My eyes…who cut the onions?!
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