Chapter 119

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Translator: Harry Potta

Chapter: 119

Chapter Title: Parting in the Dark Passage

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Baldina Royal Palace.

“There’s nothing here! Are you sure His Highness the Grand Duke really left his belongings behind in this place?”

In the empty delegation quarters, Birna burst out in irritation.

“Damn it, that vulgar little wench. She can’t do a single thing right!”

I’ll give her a thorough beating when we get back to the ducal house, Birna grumbled sullenly.

A few days earlier, Grand Duke Castulo had secretly visited the Claudio Ducal House once more.

But perhaps humiliated at having been chased out of Baldina Palace like a fugitive, he had merely given Birna a curt nod in greeting as he passed by.

“Um, miss... I overheard what His Highness the Grand Duke said to his subordinates... It seemed like it might give you a reason to meet him...”

In the midst of it all, a new maid had passed along the gossip that Grand Duke Castulo had left something behind in his lodgings—something he hadn’t had time to pack—and so Birna had slipped into the palace in secret.

“Hmph, Sheila was an utter fool, but you’ve got a brain in your head, huh? Keep it up just like this, and I’ll promote you to lady-in-waiting before long.”

She tossed out the words like praise, oblivious to the cold glint that flickered in the maid’s eyes.

If it’s an item from the late Empress, it’s no trivial matter. The Grand Duke will be profoundly grateful to me.

She had been confident she could use it to pry open the conversation that had been blocked off from her, but in truth, his lodgings were completely bare—nothing left behind at all.

As Birna stormed out of the quarters in a huff, she suddenly froze. She had sensed the chaotic atmosphere pervading the palace.

“What’s going on? What happened?”

The clanking clamor of metal striking metal, and in the distance, black smoke billowing up from the Administrative Palace and Queen Dowager Palace.

For some reason, she instinctively felt a chill of danger.

“Birna!”

At that moment, someone came dashing toward her.

“Y-Your Highness?”

Fluttering silver tresses, beautiful green eyes. Birna blinked in a daze.

“Thank God you’re here! Thank the heavens. I don’t know how long I’ve been searching for you. I thought you’d already been caught.”

Medea clutched her chest, panting for breath.

Why is this wench looking for me? And caught what?

Birna was utterly baffled by what she was hearing.

“Hurry, we have to go. We need to get away from here.”

“What’s happening, exactly?”

“There’s been a rebellion! They’ll storm the palace any moment now. Come on!”

Medea seized Birna’s wrist and tugged her along. Urgency filled her face.

Her hand, slick with the sweat of terror, gripped tight.

“A r-rebellion?”

Birna’s eyes went wide.

“My uncle told me about an escape route. Hurry and come with me.”

As if there was no time for further words, Medea hurriedly led Birna toward the gardens.

Birna hesitated and tried to shake off her hand, but when she spotted the Claudio Ducal House crest engraved on the armor of the knight standing beside Medea, she meekly followed along.

If Father sent even one of the house knights, then it must be real.

If there were any danger up ahead, the knight would have stopped Medea long before trying to drag her there.

How long had they walked? They brushed aside the thick ivy clinging to the wall at the rear of the royal gardens, revealing a small side door.

Crack. The knight wedged his scabbard into the gap and twisted. With a creak, the door swung open.

The long passage beyond was chill and pitch-black. An impenetrable darkness lurked within, hiding who knew what.

“N-No, I don’t want to. Your Highness, you go first.”

Birna backed away, shoving at Medea’s back.

“All right.”

The knight lit a torch, as if to say not to worry.

Only after she confirmed that nothing happened when the knight and Medea entered did Birna finally step into the secret passage.

The tunnel reeked of damp earth and musty grass. Birna pinched her nose shut.

This is the worst.

The floor was slick with moisture, and the air was stagnant.

Cough, cough. Just the thought of breathing in this filthy air made her throat feel like it was rotting away.

“They say this path connects to outside the palace walls. Someone will be waiting to help us escape, so just bear with it a little longer, Birna.”

The princess comforted her with mature reassurance.

At that moment.

“Ruuun!”

“Aaaahhh!”

Chilling, distant screams echoed from afar. It sounded like the palace had descended into pandemonium.

Have the rebels already arrived?

Birna bit her lip. She could tell from Medea’s words that the palace had been thrown into utter chaos.

A rebellion? Why didn’t Mom and Dad tell me about something this huge?

She realized now that the Grand Duke’s visit, and the way they had restricted her movements over the past few days while whispering among themselves in the study, had all been because of this.

Betrayal shook Birna to her core.

Medea came to rescue me in person, but they didn’t even bother looking for their own daughter and just left me behind?

How long had they walked the passage?

As the palace grew ever more distant and the urgency began to fade, the resentment she had pushed aside suddenly reared its head in Birna’s heart.

And so she belatedly noticed that Medea beside her was slowing down.

Snapping to her senses, she realized the princess’s footsteps had ceased entirely.

“What’s wrong, Your Highness?”

Birna whipped around.

About five paces away, Medea stood motionless beneath the dim torchlight.

“I can’t do it. I have to go back.”

“What?”

“I’m the Princess of Baldina. How can I run away like this while the palace is plunged into grief? Even if I escape the castle walls, my heart wouldn’t be at peace.”

That’s your problem! Birna twisted her face in a scowl.

No matter how soft your heart is, there’s a limit. You want to play the goody-goody even in a situation like this?!

“It’ll be fine. Even if we go back, what could we possibly do anyway?”

She tried desperately to convince her cousin sister to keep going, but Medea was utterly immovable.

“They might slaughter all my maids and the palace servants.”

“...”

“What about Grandmother? Is Her Highness the Queen Dowager safe? She’s so elderly—she must have been devastated...”

“Fine. Then go back, Your Highness. I’ll keep going to the end.”

At last, Birna’s patience reached its breaking point.

“But this knight has to come with me. I’m only humoring Your Highness’s stubbornness here.”

“Birna, Uncle said there’ll be guards waiting at the end of the passage. You just have to keep going straight along this path. But I...”

So hand over the knight to me? Out of the question.

Why should she have to traverse this pitch-black tunnel alone for Medea’s sake? Why extend such a courtesy?

I’d rather you went back by yourself and dropped dead, captured by whatever rebels are left in the palace!

Blades stabbing blindly through that wench... A cruel, delightful fantasy flitted through Birna’s mind.

All the more reason I can’t let him go.

“I’m sorry, Your Highness, but he belongs to our house. You’re not planning to take him from me just because you’re royalty, are you?”

“Birna...”

“The armor he’s wearing, the sword—all of it is Claudio property. His salary comes straight from our family’s coffers too. So protecting me, a lady of Claudio, is his duty.”

To begin with, Birna wouldn’t have been able to flee like this without Medea.

Yet she felt not a shred of gratitude; instead, she was dead set on sending Medea back utterly defenseless.

With smug satisfaction, Birna glanced sidelong at the knight holding the torch.

His face was hidden by his helmet, but his silent lips suggested he knew full well who his true master was.

“Instead, I’ll share a bit of the torchlight with you. The way back’s pretty dark, after all.”

She spoke as though granting a grand magnanimous favor.

“All right, Birna. Then... please stay safe.”

Medea stepped forward and clasped Birna’s hand tightly. A faint tremble ran through it, as if from fear.

For a fleeting moment, Birna wondered if she’d gone too far, but she quickly brushed away the guilt with empty words.

“...Please just wait a little, Your Highness. I’ll go on ahead and send a knight detachment to the palace. Don’t lose hope.”

“Please just wait a little, sister. I’ll secure Lea in a safe place and send people to rescue you. You have to hold out strong until then.”

The hollow, insincere promise rang sweet and soft—just like the one she had once made while holding Medea’s daughter in her arms.

“I’m glad, Birna. That you haven’t changed.”

Medea nodded.

“Pardon?”

“I’ll wait.”

Medea turned, torch in hand, and walked away.

In the blackness of the passage, the torchlight shrank smaller and smaller, but her figure did not seem to be swallowed by the dark.

“Hmph. Who’s going to stop someone hell-bent on marching to their death?”

As Medea vanished from sight, Birna stuck out her lower lip.

“Let’s go.”

“...”

They resumed walking down the passage.