The One Who Won't Be Abandoned - Chapter 42

“…Yes.”

My heart pounded.

The fact that she knew about me…

That she had investigated me…

It was unsettling.

“It’s nice to finally meet you.”

Her voice was smooth, light, almost friendly.

“Of course, I doubt you feel the same. But don’t worry—I won’t be around for long. Just bear with me a little.”

I forced a smile.

“Please don’t say that. Everyone in D’Hel Castle welcomes Your Highness with open arms. It is an honor to have you here.”

Good job, Jeanne. Well done.

I silently congratulated myself for responding smoothly, without hesitation.

“Welcomed? Hardly.”

The princess scoffed, swirling her tea.

“You should’ve seen Andre’s face when I told him I was coming to D’Hel. He looked at me like I was some filthy rat about to spread disease through his land.”

“That’s impossible, Your Highness,” I replied smoothly. “The young master is a gentleman. There’s no way he would look at someone as beautiful as you with such disdain.”

Good job, Andre!

I was praising him endlessly in my head. A man shouldn’t fall in love so easily! Well done, my young master!

“Do you know how much effort I put into Andre?”

The princess sighed dramatically.

“He’s so ungrateful. He has no idea how hard I work to keep all those annoying women away from him.”

She shot me a playful glare, as if I were Andre.

I forced my lips into a stiff, awkward smile.

“Now that I think about it, I’ve been doing all this work for free! And for someone who doesn’t even appreciate it!”

I fought the urge to roll my eyes.

“I’m bored,” she groaned. “If I had known I’d have this much free time, I would’ve left for Ferrier today. They’re throwing me a huge banquet.”

“That sounds wonderful,” I said blandly.

“Of course it does! I can’t wait!”

She hummed happily as she sipped her tea.

A little while later, she sighed, reaching up to touch her hair. Some strands had come loose while she was changing, and they seemed to bother her.

“Tie my hair up for me.”

I froze.

I had never tied anyone’s hair in my life.

Ever.

But making her wait would only irritate her.

Swallowing my nerves, I grabbed a velvet ribbon from the vanity and hesitantly approached her.

“A maid should at least know how to tie hair, don’t you think?”

“Of course, Your Highness,” I replied. “I’ll make it look beautiful.”

I stood behind her, carefully gathering her long hair. My fingers trembled slightly.

“Want to hear a story?”

I barely registered her words, too focused on not yanking her hair out.

“Yes, I’d love to hear it.”

She let out a quiet chuckle.

“You’re quite amusing, Jeanne. Fine, listen closely. You can even brag that you had a princess entertain you with a story.”

“Wow. What an honor, Your Highness.”

I looped the ribbon around her hair, only to undo it and try again.

Every failed attempt sent a fresh wave of cold sweat down my back.

I should have brought a hair tie instead of this stupid ribbon.

“In the royal capital, there is a castle called ‘The Castle of Twilight.’”

The princess’s voice took on a softer, more mysterious tone.

“Some say it was named after the reddish hue of its stone walls, but that’s not the real reason. Do you know what twilight symbolizes, Jeanne?”

“…It’s beautiful,” I murmured distractedly, fumbling with the ribbon.

“Twilight means the sun has set. It means the brilliance of the day is over, and all that remains is darkness.”

I frowned.

“The castle was named so because it became a graveyard for women—discarded, no longer useful, abandoned.”

A chill ran down my spine.

What kind of bedtime story is this?

“One day, a woman arrived at the Castle of Twilight,” the princess continued, her voice turning wistful. “She had spent her entire life being controlled by others, like a marionette.”

I finally managed to gather her hair neatly, just about to tie the ribbon—

Snap.

I messed up.

Again.

I almost had it!

Gritting my teeth, I tried to stay calm as I started over.

“The woman cried when she realized what her obedience had led her to. The castle was cold, her sobs echoing through its empty halls.”

The princess sighed heavily, as if she truly pitied the woman.

I almost felt sorry too—until I realized my hands were mirroring her movements, causing me to mess up again.

Dammit.

“But!”

The princess suddenly perked up.

“There was a knight who had loved the woman for a long, long time. He had been by her side as her loyal guard for years.”

“…Wow.”

As I tied the princess’s hair, I occasionally added small responses. As I began to catch more of what she was saying, I found myself unconsciously listening more closely.

“The knight, unable to bear witnessing the woman’s despair any longer, believed that only he could comfort and embrace her. And so, like a true knight, he acted. Thanks to him, the woman was able to soothe her loneliness through him. Ah, have you ever seen a knight’s body up close? Their physique is truly… impressive. Especially the royal palace knights who never neglect their training—such tireless stamina, like untamed wild horses!”

As I listened to her story, the existence of the illegitimate child she had given birth to suddenly came to mind. A boy who had inherited the purple eyes of the imperial family, a mark that led the emperor to acknowledge him as royalty.

“A tragic yet beautiful love story between a woman who lived her whole life in loneliness and the faithful knight who silently stayed by her side. Isn’t it just heartbreaking?”

The princess, immersed in her own story, sniffled and dabbed carefully under her eyes with a handkerchief.

By then, I had finally finished tying her hair. I took a step back, satisfied, and admired my handiwork.

“In the end, their love bore fruit. They had the most precious, lovable baby in the world!”

I had a strong suspicion that she was talking about herself. To describe having a child out of wedlock in such a romanticized way… Though being born should never be a sin, that child would carry the stigma of being illegitimate for the rest of his life.

“Can you imagine the love the woman must have felt when she held her newborn? Like finding a dazzling diamond in a pit of despair.”

“That must have been a joyful moment for you.”

Lifting both arms, she made the motion of cradling a baby, gazing down at the empty space in her embrace with an expression overflowing with affection.

“My Titi. My emerald.”

At that moment, I became absolutely certain—this was why she could never marry Andre.

She was completely out of her mind.

“The moment I laid eyes on Titi, I made up my mind. I would give him the world. I would make sure no one could ever oppress him. Titi is my savior, the only one who has ever taught me true love. There’s nothing I wouldn’t do for him.”

Suddenly, I remembered that all imperial knights came from noble families.

According to the princess, she had been involved with a royal knight.

That meant there had been no real reason for her child to be born illegitimate—she could have simply married him.

“Um… Then, where is the child’s father now? He was a knight, you said…?”

At my question, the princess, who had been lost in her own world, snapped back to reality and looked straight at me.

She blinked her large eyes a few times before breaking into a radiant smile.

“Let me give you some advice, Jeanne. Any obstacle that could become your weakness should be dealt with immediately. You wouldn’t want your enemy picking up a perfect weapon to use against you, would you?”

In an instant, the air in the room turned ice-cold.

I lowered my head, trying to hide the color draining from my face.

“A… Anything else you need, Your Highness?”

“Jeanne. Let’s keep this fun little story just between the two of us, shall we? I must have gotten carried away thinking about the party tomorrow.”

“Yes. I will take this to my grave.”

The princess, saying she had time to spare and might as well take a nap, dismissed me from the room.

I practically fled.

I kept glancing over my shoulder as if someone were chasing me, and in my distracted state, I didn’t see the person in front of me until I collided with him.

“Ah!”

The one who caught me before I could fall was Andre.

I had thought he was resting, but he was dressed in his knight’s uniform, seemingly on his way to training.

“There you are. I was actually planning to—”

“Young Master! Please, come with me right now!”

Panicked, I looked around like a madwoman before dragging Andre into a nearby empty guest room.

Sensing my distress, he followed without resistance, concern etched across his face.

“What’s going on?”

“Young Master, this is serious. Did you know the princess is insane? Not just a little—completely, utterly mad!”

“You just met with her? What did she do to you?”

“Yes! No—well, she didn’t do anything exactly, but I was attending to her just now, and—you won’t believe what she said! Come here.”

After double-checking that the door was locked, I led Andre to the farthest corner of the room.

“Tell me… Is the princess’s residence called Noel’s Castle?”

“Yeah. That’s what people call it.”

“I knew it. Oh, this is bad. You idiot! How could you pick someone like her? Do you have no sense when it comes to people? Is your eyesight failing you? If you’re not careful, you’ll disappear without a trace!”

“Calm down and tell me everything properly.”

Andre gently grasped my trembling shoulders, trying to soothe me.

But I was so overwhelmed by shock that I didn’t even register his warmth.

Instead, I clung to his arms desperately, pleading.

“Please. Swear that you won’t get involved with the princess. Forget the engagement, forget everything. Please, for my sake.”

“…Jeanne.”

Andre tried to pull me into his arms, but I pushed him away and shouted sharply.

“Do you know what she said? She confessed to me—she admitted that she killed her child’s father. She said obstacles must be removed. She’s a truly terrifying woman. The fact that I even pitied her for having a cruel emperor as a father—I feel disgusted with myself! She’s just as bad as my father, if not worse!”

I wanted Andre to be shocked by the truth. I wanted him to immediately say that he would break off the engagement.

But the words that came from his mouth were not what I had hoped for.

“That’s not true.”

“Y-You don’t believe me?”

“That’s not what I mean… I just think you might have misheard.”

Andre didn’t believe me when I said that the princess had killed her child’s father.

I felt as if a pile of stones had come crashing down over my head.

He doesn’t believe me. He… he…

Andre trusted the princess more than he trusted me.

Could it be? Had he already fallen in love with her?

Was that why he was so quick to dismiss my words as lies?

“No… Do you love her? Is that why you won’t believe me?”

Andre shook his head in denial, but to me, it looked like a lie.

Just as he didn’t believe me, I couldn’t believe him either.

“Please, Young Master. You can’t keep such a dangerous woman by your side.”

“Jeanne, let’s stop talking about this. I told you—I’ll handle it. Who even made you attend to her? Was it Lady Judith?”

“Andre, please. I’m telling the truth. It’s real.”

Even as I clung to him, pleading for him to believe me, Andre only held me in his arms, but he never said the words I longed to hear—that he would stay away from the princess.

“I won’t let you hear such nonsense again. Don’t be scared. There’s nothing for you to worry about. You’ll be safe. Even if a disaster were to destroy the empire, I would make sure you were safe. I will protect you.”

Andre thought I was only worried about my own safety.

He didn’t understand why I was truly begging him.

And because of that, I was deeply disappointed in him.

This morning, we had shared such an intimate moment, understanding each other without words.

We had held each other as if we were the only ones left in the world.

Andre had acted as if I was the only person he could rely on, and I had willingly embraced his anger and frustrations.

But was all of that just a fleeting dream?

Had I been living in a meaningless illusion?

As the weight of those once-precious moments vanished like a receding tide, my heart felt hollow.

I shoved Andre away with force.

“Enough. This is pointless.”

“Jeanne, don’t do this. I don’t know what she told you, but it was nothing but nonsense.”

“Let go of me.”

Andre looked at me in disbelief as I coldly pushed him away.

Then his expression hardened.

“I should never have brought her to D’Hel.”

I pretended not to hear him and headed for the door.

“Jeanne.”

Andre reached out to grab me again, but I pushed his hand away once more.

“You should go to your training. The knights are waiting for you.”

Without looking back, I ended the conversation coldly, opened the door, and walked out.

Behind me, I heard the heavy sound of Andre’s sigh, but I stubbornly quickened my pace, determined to leave him behind.

 

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