Your Majesty, I’m Not that Man - Chapter 7: The First Outing (2)

Since there were no procedural issues, the carriage smoothly exited the Imperial Palace. Lavinia could hardly believe how easy it had been to get this far. Then again, in the original story, even Albert had managed to escape the palace multiple times.

“Lady Lavinia, where shall we go?”

“Toward the north gate… there’s a café called ‘Traveler’s Wish.’ The coachman might know it.”

The maid opened the small window connecting the carriage to the coachman’s seat and passed on the instructions. Fortunately, the coachman seemed to know the location.

“Head there,” she confirmed.

There had been no reply from Robert, the Wendell family’s butler. Lavinia had written in her letter that a reply wasn’t necessary. She trusted that the dutiful butler would show up, but if he didn’t, she would have no choice but to leave without him.

“Robert…”

During her childhood, her solace came from Maggie and the other maids, not Robert. While Robert had ensured that Lavinia lacked for nothing, he was more of a loyal servant than a family figure. Robert’s true allegiance lay with the Wendell family, and to him, Lavinia would always rank below Maxim.

Of course, Robert had always sympathized with Lavinia, but only because he believed she fit the role of the Wendell family’s heir.

“Robert might… betray me.”

Still, she had to speak to him. Though she had sent away everyone else from the Wendell household, Robert had been impossible to sway. She doubted he would follow her, but she wanted to try.

Lost in thought, Lavinia didn’t realize they had arrived at the café until the carriage came to a stop. As she prepared to step out, she ordered the maid who had accompanied her to stay inside.

“But…,” the maid began.

“But what?”

At Lavinia’s curt response, the maid closed her mouth, her displeasure evident. There had been a time when an unmarried woman was expected to always be accompanied by a maid. But Lavinia was no longer unmarried, and the times had changed.

“Lady Lavinia, you must remain in our company,” one of the escorting knights said hesitantly, his expression uneasy.

Lavinia had anticipated this as well.

“Go inside first and check for any suspicious individuals. Then wait outside the café where you can’t hear our conversation.”

Though the knights visibly disliked the idea, they obeyed after meeting Lavinia’s irritated gaze. Regardless of her status as the emperor’s concubine, she was still the Wendell family’s daughter. As much as they might grumble internally, they couldn’t treat her carelessly.

“…Lady Lavinia, there doesn’t appear to be anyone suspicious,” one of the knights reported after their inspection.

“Good work. Now wait outside,” she replied curtly, cutting him off mid-sentence as she entered the café.

Eight knights had accompanied her, a number that wouldn’t be easy to evade. As Lavinia surveyed the room, she felt a sense of relief knowing she had the teleportation scroll as a backup plan.

Seated at a table toward the back was Robert, the Wendell family’s butler.

“Milady,” Robert said, rising from his seat as he spotted her. Lavinia wasted no time, walking briskly toward him.

＊ ＊ ＊

Lavinia moved to the second floor of the café and confirmed that it was entirely empty. Given that it was a Saturday morning, it wasn’t a time one could expect the place to be completely vacant.

“Did you arrange this, Robert?”

“Yes, milady. Isn’t this a café you’re particularly fond of? Considering you summoned me, I assumed you had something important to discuss, so I reserved the entire upstairs floor for privacy.”

“I see. That certainly makes it easier to talk. Robert, do you still have the cufflinks I gave you? I assume you haven’t sold them off yet….”

“Of course, milady. I would never sell a gift you gave me.”

Robert looked slightly offended by Lavinia’s question. She nodded and continued speaking.

“The gems on those cufflinks are genuine. Selling them alone would ensure you live comfortably in your old age. Combined with the money I gave you before, it should be enough for you to escape far from the Wendell household.”

“Milady, what are you trying to say…?”

Robert looked at her, confused and flustered. He had been waiting for the right moment to report that, following Lavinia’s orders, he had Hans trailed and discovered the money he had hidden. However, with Albert now back in the capital, Robert had no way of knowing that finding the money no longer held any significance for Lavinia.

“Robert, listen carefully, and don’t be alarmed. I’m leaving the empire.”

“What? M-Milady… What do you mean? Did His Majesty say he intends to exile you?”

“No. That’s not it. I’m saying I no longer want to live a life where I’m at the mercy of others.”

Lavinia spoke with a weary expression. When she was younger, she had poured all her energy into becoming the heir to the duchy—a title Maxim had never even intended to give her. She had engaged in meaningless competition with Albert, taking on tasks for Maxim and Zelenka in an effort to win their affection, even replacing them in their responsibilities.

“What… What kind of reckless talk is this? Milady, if you run away, what will happen to the Wendell family?”

“Robert. The Wendell family is already beyond saving. Do you know whose son Albert really is?”

It was a shameful truth about the family that Lavinia would have preferred not to speak aloud. But to persuade Robert, it had to be said.

“He’s Hans’s son. My father planned to force me into a marriage with the son of his mistress.”

“T-That can’t be…”

Robert looked at Lavinia with a face full of shock. Lavinia sighed, her expression weary.

“I’m tired. I don’t want to clean up after those two anymore. I don’t want to play the emperor’s concubine, either. I need to get away from here.”

“But, milady… Isn’t His Majesty deeply fond of you? If you were to become empress, the Wendell family would surely…”

“Empress? Robert.”

Lavinia’s gaze turned cold as she looked at him.

“Do you know how many concubines have died or been cast out of His Majesty’s harem over the past five years? And how many new ones have come in to replace them?”

“That’s…”

Though there were about forty concubines left in the harem, it was said the original number had been closer to one hundred. The numbers had dwindled due to deaths and banishments. Recently, the emperor hadn’t added anyone new, but who knew when his whims might change?

“I don’t want to entrust my life to His Majesty’s capriciousness. If I stay by the emperor’s side out of concern for the Wendell family’s safety, only to lose my head… what could be a more meaningless death than that?”

She felt an overwhelming urge to scream that she had done enough—more than enough. Even if Maxim hadn’t physically abused her, his treatment of her still amounted to abuse. Lavinia no longer wanted to sacrifice herself for them. It was too unjust.

“For what? Father, the duke, shoved me into this pit just to appease his mistress!”

Robert, hearing the deeply rooted anger in Lavinia’s voice, rose from his seat and knelt beside the table. Lavinia frowned as she looked at him.

“What are you doing? Get up.”

“Milady, I’ve committed an unforgivable sin. Please… Please don’t abandon the Wendell family!”

Lavinia’s gaze remained icy as she stared at the butler.

“Don’t tell me… you knew about Albert?”

“Of course not! I swear I didn’t. But there is… one crucial matter I withheld from you, for the sake of preventing scandal within the Wendell family…”

“And what is that?”

Still on his knees, Robert looked up at Lavinia. A bitter, anguished expression crossed his wrinkled face as he explained.

“When the late duke passed on the title to your father, he imposed a condition. If the duke were to divorce the duchess… the title of duke would immediately pass to you, milady. That… that was his decree.”

Lavinia’s eyes widened in shock as she listened.

“What?”

“The late duke also instructed me to inform you of the will’s contents. But I feared that, upon learning of it, you might orchestrate their divorce…”

There would have been no need to scheme. If Zelenka had known about the will, she would have rejoiced and demanded a portion of the Wendell family’s wealth in exchange for helping Lavinia become the duchess. Zelenka would have happily divorced Maxim and flown off with her lover.

All the hardship and suffering Lavinia had endured came rushing back to her, leaving her feeling empty. How much effort had she poured into becoming the Wendell family’s heir?

Even if she had known about this, Lavinia would only have taken it as a last resort. The late duke must have been aware of this, which is why he had instructed that she be told. But Robert had interfered, and things had come to this.

“If I had inherited the Wendell title before the emperor even considered making me empress…”

Cassion wouldn’t have so easily or unilaterally declared his intent to marry her. The status of a duchess carried far more weight than that of a duke’s daughter.

She would never have ended up as the emperor’s concubine in the first place. If she had already been the Duchess of Wendell…

“Robert…! How could you do this to me…”

“I am truly sorry! It was a short-sighted decision on my part… Milady, it’s not too late! If you claim the Wendell title now…”

A hollow laugh escaped Lavinia’s lips.

“And how exactly am I supposed to do that? Robert… even if I were to become the duchess, the Wendell family would only become a laughingstock. Do you think I’d still want to claim the title after everything that’s happened to me?”

In the end, Robert’s priorities had been the Wendell family and Maxim. He must have assumed that if Maxim eventually had a son, that child would inherit the title. None of it mattered anymore.

Lavinia staggered as she stood up from her seat.

“…Considering that Father hasn’t killed Mother, there must have been an additional clause, right?”

“If… if the duchess were to pass away by any means… the title would still pass to you, milady.”

“Of course. If Mother had known that, she’d already have come to me, demanding a share of the Wendell family’s wealth in exchange for agreeing to a divorce…”

She had always wondered why Maxim never divorced Zelenka. She had assumed it was to maintain his dignity as a nobleman, but now she understood it was because of their grandfather’s will.

It also explained why Zelenka’s lovers, the ones she had become particularly close to, had mysteriously ended up dead time and time again.

The thought of herself, once obediently following her father’s orders to become Albert’s fiancée, now seemed laughable. She hated every moment she had spent taking bridal lessons.

“I’m leaving now. Whether you choose to return to the Wendell family and fall with them… or escape on your own, it’s up to you.”

“Milady! If you leave like this… I’ll have no choice but to report your plans to the imperial family! Please, I beg of you…”

Lavinia looked at the pleading Robert with a weary expression. All the people who had been truly hers were gone from the Wendell family. Robert, however, was not her person. He belonged to Maxim and the Wendell household.

“Think of the duke and the duchess! They would never dream that you’d make such plans!”

Wouldn’t they? It wasn’t as though they had paid attention to any other part of her life. They neither remembered nor cared about anything that concerned her. To them, she was nothing more than a superficial daughter.

If Albert hadn’t returned to the capital, Lavinia might have hesitated at those words. But now that Albert was back, delaying any longer would only lead to her own death. Lavinia had no intention of being drawn into the tragedy Albert would inevitably bring upon the Wendell family.

She was already convinced that the original story’s narrative had begun to reassert itself.

“The people who truly cared for me, the ones who were genuinely mine, I’ve already sent them away. Now it’s my turn to leave.”

Robert recalled how Lavinia had dismissed all those she cherished from the Wendell household. At the time, he had assumed it was because she couldn’t care for them herself anymore. But now he understood what it really meant.

“Milady!”

“Did you know this, Robert? Even if you report me to the imperial family, the Wendell household will still fall. His Majesty will never forgive them to such a degree.”

At Lavinia’s words, a look of utter despair appeared on Robert’s face. Realizing that he had truly been prepared to betray her by reporting her to the imperial family in an attempt to save the Wendell household, Lavinia let out a bitter laugh. The betrayal of someone she had trusted was, as always, deeply painful.

“I see. For you, the Wendell family has always come first, hasn’t it, Robert?”

“N-No, milady! I was just…”

She didn’t want to hear anymore. Rising from her seat, Lavinia walked briskly across the second floor with a resolute stride. Even as she descended the stairs, she could hear Robert’s voice behind her, but she didn’t look back.

Whether it was out of a sense of guilt or fear that their conversation might be overheard by her escort knights, Robert did not follow her.