Sister I am the Queen in This Life [Novel] Chapter 139

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Translator: Harry Potta
Chapter: 139
Chapter Title: The Direction of Desire
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"You know this as well, don't you? Even if everything unfolds as you've planned, the chances of you emerging as a pure, unscathed victim are exceedingly slim."

Ariadne was taken aback. Queen Marguerite helping her without regard for any political gains or losses was entirely outside of Ariadne's calculations.

"B-but, Your Majesty. There is no other way out."

The queen simply gazed at them all with her blue-gray eyes. Lady Carla, growing impatient, added her own words.

"Your Majesty! Prince Alfonso, at the very least, must be absolutely protected from scandal!"

Lady Carla had watched over Alfonso since he was a child. He was not her own son, but he was her mistress's only son, the future king who would secure her mistress's future. He could not be tarnished under any circumstances.

And Sir Elko, Alfonso's knight, felt the same way. Sir Elko, who had been kneeling silently and listening to the conversation, stepped forward before Queen Marguerite.

"Your Majesty. Your Highness. Use me. I will take the fall for everything."

"Elko!"

Prince Alfonso's alarmed voice echoed through the 'Queen's Drawing Room.' The prince tried to stop his knight.

"I did this. I will take responsibility. I have done nothing shameful under the heavens."

But it was Queen Marguerite's sharp question that stopped her son.

"To prove you've done nothing shameful, you would have no choice but to speak of Lady de Mare. Do you have a plan for that?"

Alfonso couldn't reply and clenched his fists. After a long moment of choosing his words, he spat them out as if chewing on them.

"But... a sovereign must protect his people. Far from protecting them, I cannot push my own faults onto my vassal."

In other words, he had no plan. Seizing the opening, Sir Elko spoke.

"Your Highness. In principle, it is right for a lord to protect his subject. However, until the lord possesses the power to do so, it is the subordinate's role to protect him."

This was Sir Elko's atonement.

A few days ago, Sir Elko had departed under Prince Alfonso's orders to escort a certain clergyman's daughter. The moment he saw her, he felt as if he'd been struck by lightning.

Her elegant posture, refined manners, the deer-like nape and limbs beneath her high-quality clothes. And a captivating vitality that made it impossible to look away. Of all the women he had ever seen, she was the most aristocratic, and at the same time, the most vividly alive.

But she was his lord's woman. This was the lord who had rescued him from the gutter, when he had run away from home and was barely learning swordsmanship by eavesdropping while doing unpaid chores for a martial arts instructor in San Carlo.

This was the very lord who had included him in the prince's personal guard, breaking through the opposition of other young nobles who took issue with his origins.

He tried to rationalize it as natural chivalry toward a noble lady, but he could not convince himself. What he felt was less like worship and more like an irrepressible desire.

Since that day, he had spent every night wide awake. He couldn't bear himself for succumbing to his sordid imagination. So, in a way, he was grateful for what had happened today.

'Let me atone to my lord. Let me atone to her. If I can protect her through this atonement, nothing could be better.'

Sir Elko glanced at Ariadne with impossibly cold eyes before turning his head back toward Alfonso. Other than that single glance, Sir Elko never once looked at Ariadne.

"If Your Highness wishes to protect her, that is also fine. How you use me is up to Your Highness's will."

But the words that left his mouth were frigid. Elko, still kneeling, continued to address Alfonso.

"I will say that I was dressed as a royal stableman and, while stopping the suspiciously acting Duke Mireille, killed him without knowing who he was. That way, she will not be the subject of any gossip."

Alfonso stared at Elko with shocked eyes.

"But... if that happens, Elko, you...!"

"If I claim to have killed His Grace, Duke Mireille, instead of you, Your Highness, I am as good as dead anyway."

Elko looked straight at the wavering Alfonso and said.

"If it is said that you killed Duke Mireille to save her, there might be a chance of salvation, but it only increases the possibility—it does not guarantee survival. For me, regardless of the motive for the murder, it will be difficult to escape unscathed. If a life is to be spent, it is better to spend it for the two of you."

Prince Alfonso tried to dissuade Sir Elko. But Sir Elko knelt before the prince.

"From the day you took me from the martial arts instructor on the outskirts of the castle and brought me into Palazzo Carlo, my life was already yours, Your Highness. Please use it here today."

Prince Alfonso didn't get another chance to refuse Sir Elko's offer. A rough pounding sound came from outside, accompanied by the roar of a middle-aged man.

"Alfonso, that bastard, he's in here, isn't he?!"

Leo III's angry voice boomed down the corridor. Queen Marguerite, flustered, exchanged a look with her lady-in-waiting, Carla.

"What brings His Majesty the King here?"

"He wasn't scheduled to visit."

Moreover, he was specifically looking for Prince Alfonso.

Leo III was already close. The 'Queen's Drawing Room' had only one exit, and to use it, they would have to pass through the corridor where Leo III was standing.

Queen Marguerite instructed Lady Carla.

"Quickly, hide the children."

Lady Carla nodded and led Prince Alfonso and Ariadne to a small private chamber attached to the back of the 'Queen's Drawing Room.' It was a space where the queen rested alone or read.

Though spring was in full bloom, logs crackled in the fireplace, and there was a wing chair and a side table. Lady Carla, searching for a place to hide the two youths, found a wardrobe in the corner.

"Your Highness, my lady, inside here."

The wardrobe in the queen's private chamber was a massive, sturdy piece of furniture made of dark brown oak with a glossy varnish. Inside were only a few cushions and covers, leaving enough space even after Alfonso and Ariadne entered.

"Hurry."

Alfonso and Ariadne quickly entered the wardrobe as Lady Carla instructed. Alfonso went in first, then helped Ariadne, who followed, to sit down.

Lady Carla hastily scanned the surroundings. After a moment's thought, she locked the wardrobe door with a key from her belt, just in case Leo III tried to open it.

"Wait here, and I will come for you as soon as His Majesty the King has left. Behave yourselves."

She left the two of them in the wardrobe and hurried back to the 'Queen's Drawing Room.'

The two were left in complete darkness.

***

Leo III had little interest in his son. Naturally, he hadn't bothered to memorize the faces of all ten knights under his son's command.

Queen Marguerite planned to use this to her advantage. She would hide only Alfonso and Ariadne in the private chamber and have her son's knight exit with Lady Carla, pretending to be one of her own guards.

"Sir Elko. Remove Alfonso's insignia."

The knight, understanding the queen's intent, removed the prince's blue laurel crest wrapped around his arm and shoved it into his pocket.

- *Fling!*

At that moment, the door to the 'Queen's Drawing Room' flew open. Led by Queen Marguerite, who bowed her head, Lady Carla and Sir Elko knelt to pay their respects to the monarch.

"We greet His Majesty King Leo III, the Sun of Etruscan."

"Enough of that!"

he roared.

"Where is that bastard Alfonso? He's hiding in here!"

"Your Majesty, please compose yourself."

Lady Carla, who prided herself on being somewhat familiar with Leo III after having known him for nearly twenty years, tried to calm him, but he roughly swung his arm and shoved her aside.

"Ah!"

She collapsed to the floor in an instant. Queen Marguerite, realizing her husband was in a foul mood, gestured to Lady Carla with her eyes.

"Carla. Leave us."

Lady Carla quickly bowed her head and tried to exit with Sir Elko.

Just then, Leo III stopped them with a grim voice.

"You rat-like bastard, where do you think you're going, trying to escape my sight?"

The one Leo III pointed to was the prince's knight, Sir Elko. A hint of bewilderment crossed his stoic face as he bowed his head once more before the king.

"That one, he's not one of the queen's staff, but the prince's man, isn't he?"

Leo III looked Sir Elko up and down.

"So, what Count Levien said was true..."

Queen Marguerite interjected.

"Your Majesty. What do you mean by that? Please, speak calmly."

"Calmly? Hah! Very well, since my queen desires it, I shall speak calmly! But you had best think carefully about how you will defend the prince after my story is done!"

The king jabbed sharply with a sarcastic tone.

"Delpianosa!"

"Yes, Your Majesty."

Sir Delpianosa, who had been waiting outside the 'Queen's Drawing Room,' answered immediately.

"Drag this young man away!"

"Yes, Your Majesty."

The royal guards brought by Sir Delpianosa rushed in and seized Sir Elko.

"Your Majesty! What is the meaning of this!"

Queen Marguerite protested the sudden use of force inside her drawing room, but Leo III didn't bat an eye.

"Take him away!"

"Yes, sir!"

Sir Delpianosa and the royal guards departed in a flurry, holding Sir Elko. Leo III narrowed his eyes and glared at Queen Marguerite.

"Now, where is that boy Alfonso?"

***

Count Levien awoke in the grand duchess's room. He was sprawled on the floor, shoved into a corner of the room. His head throbbed as if it would split open. He vaguely remembered being kicked in the head by the grand duchess's shoe.

"Your Highness...?"

He looked around. The room was a disaster. A broken vase, an overturned chair, a carpet soaked with water from the vase—nothing was left unscathed.

In the midst of it all, Grand Duchess Lariesa was curled up, trembling.

"Duke Mireille will take care of everything, won't he? He's gotten rid of that hateful woman, hasn't he?"

She mumbled to herself, curled up like a fetus on the only undamaged sofa in the room.

"You know, Levien. Duke Mireille isn't back. He hasn't come back! What if that wicked wench devoured Duke Mireille too?"

Count Levien, feeling a sense of foreboding, shot up from his spot and looked for a clock.

"Your Highness, what time is it?"

No matter where he looked in the room, he couldn't see a clock. Grand Duchess Lariesa's room usually had a large wall clock.

"Your Highness?"

At Count Levien's urging, Lariesa uncurled slightly. The reason for the missing wall clock became clear. She had taken it off the wall and was clutching it in her arms. Lariesa answered slowly, her voice thick with tears.

"It's been half an hour past eleven."

"...This is not good."

Duke Mireille had left Grand Duchess Lariesa's residence a little before half-past eight, promising to deal with Cardinal de Mare's second daughter as he saw fit.

Nearly three hours had passed. If he had intended to do something within the palace, it shouldn't have taken this long. He should have been back by now.

"Is anyone out there!"

Count Levien rushed outside to find someone. To be precise, he was looking for Duke Mireille's men.

After a brief search, Count Levien found Duke Mireille's confidant and learned that the duke had not yet returned. The duke's man was also beginning to grow anxious over his master's delayed return.

"This won't do. Let's go find him."

Count Levien learned from the duke's confidant the general means by which the duke planned to abduct Cardinal de Mare's second daughter and where he intended to carry out his plan, and he began to retrace the route.

And the more they searched, the more unusual the situation became. The first thing they found was a blue cushion, the second was a completely wrecked royal carriage.

And the third thing they found was...

"It's blood."

Not far from where the royal carriage had overturned, there were signs of a person's death on the dirt ground. It had been covered with sand, but the massive bloodstain that had flowed into the perfectly manicured palace garden could not be hidden.

Count Levien's mind raced. That blood, nine times out of ten, wasn't Lady de Mare's, but Duke Mireille's.

Duke Mireille hadn't gone to kill Lady de Mare, but even if he had ended up killing her, he would have had no reason to hide the girl's body. His goal was to make a big scene. A body sprawled in the garden would have suited his purpose far better than a clean disappearance.

"...This is beyond our control now. I must inform His Majesty Leo III at once. That Duke Mireille is missing and an urgent search is needed."

- *Clatter!*

Count Levien turned his horse toward the king's chambers, where Leo III would be resting.