“Fanora?”
“You might not know this, but I’ve always hated you to death. This thought hasn’t changed since the moment I first met you.”
“…”
“Even the fact that I threw myself in front of the bandits was all calculated, but do you still want to trust me?”
Fanora mercilessly slapped Vasago’s hand away as she tried to hold her hand. And she continued speaking in an attitude as cold as the winter breeze.
“I’m tired of pretending to like you.”
“How could you…”
“So from now on, please pretend not to know me.”
Vasago shook her head in denial. But Fanora inserted dagger-like words into the princess’s heart consistently.
“I always feel sick just by looking at your face…”
She didn’t know what else to say, but this wasn’t a lie. Fanora felt bad when she saw the woman with blue hair. Looking at her made Fanora naturally remember the past when she was deceived by Aloken. For her, the sight of Vasago was a symbol of failure.
“Are you upset because you were deceived by a noble lady like me?”
“…”
“Then punish me however you want.”
So Fanora decided to break up this fake relationship at this time.
As Fanora spoke coldly, as if she would never see her face again, Vasago chewed her lower lip and uttered a few words. “…Are you serious?”
“Yes.”
“Was it really a plan that you threw your body for me?”
Vasago had her head down, so her expression was hard to see. But she couldn’t hide her trembling voice. Fanora looked at her and spoke quietly.
“Vasago, I regret not being able to kill you with my own hands.”
With those words, the unlikely relationship between Lady Celsius and Princess Guelder came to an end.
The shocked Vasago glared at Fanora with poisonous eyes and said in a low voice, “If that’s what you mean, you’ll really pay for taunting me.”
“I know.”
Fanora calmly accepted her anger and went back into the mansion.
“…”
However, Vasago could hardly take her steps even though she had already left. She hesitated at the front door for a long time.
“Huh, was it true that she deceived me?”
Soon, a small voice scattered through the air.
“Did she calculate everything, including the scars that would remain on my behalf? Her words, they didn’t make sense.”
For the first time, there was someone she truly wanted. She was a person Vasago wanted in a society full of lies. Vasago had conducted numerous verifications because she had suspected Fanora was a young lady who approached her with ulterior motives. Paradoxically, this verification allowed true trust to bloom in Vasago’s mind. Unlike the other people she had encountered so far, Fanora didn’t respond to any of her sweet bait, and she just wanted to be by her side.
“As expected, Gamiel has information about Fanora…. Right. Her weakness has been found from that weed-like thing…”
She thought she had finally found a friend she could purely hang out with. A friend that would be her friend without coveting Guelder’s power. But now that she finally trusted her, Fanora, not anyone else, revealed her betrayal in her own words.
“…”
Vasago was overcome by a miserable feeling she was experiencing for the first time. Although it wasn’t intended from Fanora’s POV, it was another form of revenge.
Vasago had been robbed of the trustworthy friend she had sought all her life. Because in the bleak social world, she could never get back a person she trusted with all her heart.
A few minutes later, Fanora checked out of the window again, and the Guelder family’s carriage was gone.
“…”
Again, the room became quiet. After some time, she heard Cecil’s voice informing her that the meal had been brought, but she didn’t answer. She just sat in a daze in one corner of the room, wondering whether the bread would go bad or not.
I don’t even feel like I want to eat something.
Fanora lay face down on her bed and looked at her own fingernails.
My physical condition is really…starting to look similar to before I went to the edge of the cliff.
One day, Hanar made an attempt to poison her. Unfortunately, Fanora didn’t die even after eating the poisoned food due to her small portion. At the time, Celsius’s relatives were paying close attention to the family’s situation, so this one failure was fatal to Hanar.
Unfortunately, Panora did not die even after eating poisoned food due to the small amount of food. At that time, Celsius’s relatives were paying keen attention to the family situation, so this one failure was fatal to Hanar.
In the past, Hanar had given up her attempt to kill her, but the impact of this was great. Fanora no longer believed in the food given by the servant, fearing that she would be subjected to the same thing. When she was hungry, she would steal leftover ingredients from the kitchen and eat them.
I remember clearly at that time.
However, her anxiety didn’t go away even though she restricted her food. At that time, Fanora felt as if she was livestock whose slaughter day was approaching.
Is tomorrow my last day? Or the day after tomorrow? As these thoughts filled her mind, normal life became impossible for her. So she locked herself in her dark room and began sleeping constantly. It was so painful to stay awake all the time in reality, and she thought it wouldn’t hurt if she was assassinated while sleeping.
“I didn’t want to come back with this feeling.”
That was probably the most despairing moment of her life.
“Never again…”
Stuck in the room, she barely felt the passage of time watching her nails grow, not by watch. Fortunately, her suffering didn’t last long.
After spending several months like that, one day, she suddenly felt energized. But this unnatural change couldn’t have been positive. She planned to go to the cliff as soon as she regained her energy.
I want to go back again. Fanora pulled her head down, tearing her own hair.
When she regressed, it was much better. At that time, she had the goal of getting revenge on her enemies, so she was able to run forward like a blindfolded horse. But now, neither her murderous intent nor her anger welled up. Once she was so absorbed in happy days that she forgot her desire for revenge, she no longer had the same passion as before, and depressing feelings filled the void left by her desire for revenge.
It’s all about me. It’s because I’m being stupid. I’m the one who ruined my life, not anyone else.
Fanora swallowed her breath, wetting her pillowcase with tears. But, it was that moment.
“…!”
Knock, knock, knock. When Fanora heard a knock, she wiped her eyes and got up from her seat.
“Come in.”
As she spoke in a subdued voice, the door slid open. Of course, the one who appeared was Cecil, her exclusive maid.
“Ah, Lady hasn’t eaten yet.”
“I don’t need it, so put it away.”
“But…”
Cecil was about to say something when she found a meal left in the corner of the room. She seemed concerned and suggested she eat. Fanora, of course, turned it down coldly.
“…I understand.”
She realized that her master’s decision wouldn’t change. Cecil looked at Fanora’s glance and quietly agreed. Then, she revealed her real reason for coming to this room.
“There’s one more thing that needs confirmation from you, Lady. You have a guest outside.”
“Again?”
It seemed like it wasn’t long since she sent Vasago back, but she wondered if someone else had come. Fanora frowned at the news that a new guest had arrived. She wasn’t very pleased about guests visiting her.
“You’ll know the guest when you see this…”
“…!”
However, the story would be different if it were a visit from this person, not another noble. Fanora looked at the thing Cecil had brought in her hand, then examined it. What was placed on the silver tray was a family seal carved from a red gemstone. Only after holding the seal in her hand and examining it was she able to determine the identity of the guest. A seal with the face of a lioness engraved in it?
She got up from her seat and pulled back the curtains. When she woke up and checked outside the window, it started snowing.
“It appears that the third son of the Andras family has come.”
As she focused on avoiding the snowflakes falling from the sky, she saw a man standing at the gate. He had red hair, so it was easy to spot him. She kept her mouth shut when she confirmed that Carl Andras had visited.
“Actually, this isn’t his first visit. He came once last weekend as well.”
Fanora heard that he had come while she was unconscious. Nevertheless, her choice has not changed.
“Send him back.”
“Pardon?”
“I don’t want to meet him.”
Fanora decided not to contact Carl Andras. Because when she met him, she couldn’t think of what to say. Additionally, this decision was Fanora’s last remaining pride. She didn’t want to show Carl her ugly face anymore. Since the deal was over anyway, she wouldn’t be in trouble if she ended the relationship like this. I already told him the location of Europa, so I’ve done enough.
Fanora closed the curtains of the window she was looking at. Cecil seemed to have no choice but to follow her master’s words.
“Sigh…”
It was long after she told Cecil to send him back. Cecil came up to Fanora’s room again. For a moment of panic, she thought Cecil was there to clean up untouched food, but that wasn’t the reason.
“What’s wrong? Cecil?”
The maid, who usually had a calm expression, looked especially embarrassed today. Fanora looked at her face and reluctantly asked a question. Then Cecil rolled her eyes and answered.
“Lady Fanora. That, I told the guest that Lady couldn’t meet him today. But he hasn’t returned and is still waiting.”
“What?”
She approached the window and checked the gate again. In the distance, a red-haired man was seen standing.
“I explained it wasn’t a good situation to meet because master is away and Lady hasn’t yet regained your consciousness, but…he insisted that he must see Lady.”
“Carl won’t turn when you tell such a lie.”
“Pardon?”
After all, she lied to Carl. Fanora frowned. Carl would have already realized that she was awake if her maid had come up with such an excuse.
What are you going to do when you meet me? You’ve got everything you wanted now.
Although Carl was gentle, he wasn’t tactless. If he gets kicked out the door knowing that the other person is awake, it will be obvious that she didn’t want to meet him. Nevertheless, he tenaciously stood tall at the gate.
“It’s okay. He’ll go back reluctantly in a little while. Just leave him alone.”
“Yes, Lady.”
Fanora eventually decided to ignore his visit. After hearing her words, Cecil walked quietly out of the room.
About an hour has passed since then. Fanora checked the window again. Uh? However, she saw red hair in the same spot she had seen earlier. It was surprising that Carl Andras hadn’t returned home yet.
“It’s snowing… It must be cold.” She looked up and checked the sky. The small snowflakes that had been falling sparsely until now were now quite thick. It wasn’t just a shower of snow, but it would pile up quickly with this amount of snow. As if to prove that it was cold outside, the servant who was clearing the snow from the front door was stamping their feet.
“…”
Fanora looked down at the man standing far away in the snow. It was true that I was shaken for a while by the sight. But she turned around with her eyes closed.
“Foolish.”
Carl must have come here with good intentions. She guessed that he had just come to visit her without any particular plan. She knew this much. But Fanora felt vague fear at his visit.
“Just a little bit longer. He’ll return because it’s cold.”
There was only one reason why she was afraid of Carl’s kindness. She was afraid that she wouldn’t be able to return it.
“Fanora?”
“You might not know this, but I’ve always hated you to death. This thought hasn’t changed since the moment I first met you.”
“…”
“Even the fact that I threw myself in front of the bandits was all calculated, but do you still want to trust me?”
Fanora mercilessly slapped Vasago’s hand away as she tried to hold her hand. And she continued speaking in an attitude as cold as the winter breeze.
“I’m tired of pretending to like you.”
“How could you…”
“So from now on, please pretend not to know me.”
Vasago shook her head in denial. But Fanora inserted dagger-like words into the princess’s heart consistently.
“I always feel sick just by looking at your face…”
She didn’t know what else to say, but this wasn’t a lie. Fanora felt bad when she saw the woman with blue hair. Looking at her made Fanora naturally remember the past when she was deceived by Aloken. For her, the sight of Vasago was a symbol of failure.
“Are you upset because you were deceived by a noble lady like me?”
“…”
“Then punish me however you want.”
So Fanora decided to break up this fake relationship at this time.
As Fanora spoke coldly, as if she would never see her face again, Vasago chewed her lower lip and uttered a few words. “…Are you serious?”
“Yes.”
“Was it really a plan that you threw your body for me?”
Vasago had her head down, so her expression was hard to see. But she couldn’t hide her trembling voice. Fanora looked at her and spoke quietly.
“Vasago, I regret not being able to kill you with my own hands.”
With those words, the unlikely relationship between Lady Celsius and Princess Guelder came to an end.
The shocked Vasago glared at Fanora with poisonous eyes and said in a low voice, “If that’s what you mean, you’ll really pay for taunting me.”
“I know.”
Fanora calmly accepted her anger and went back into the mansion.
“…”
However, Vasago could hardly take her steps even though she had already left. She hesitated at the front door for a long time.
“Huh, was it true that she deceived me?”
Soon, a small voice scattered through the air.
“Did she calculate everything, including the scars that would remain on my behalf? Her words, they didn’t make sense.”
For the first time, there was someone she truly wanted. She was a person Vasago wanted in a society full of lies. Vasago had conducted numerous verifications because she had suspected Fanora was a young lady who approached her with ulterior motives. Paradoxically, this verification allowed true trust to bloom in Vasago’s mind. Unlike the other people she had encountered so far, Fanora didn’t respond to any of her sweet bait, and she just wanted to be by her side.
“As expected, Gamiel has information about Fanora…. Right. Her weakness has been found from that weed-like thing…”
She thought she had finally found a friend she could purely hang out with. A friend that would be her friend without coveting Guelder’s power. But now that she finally trusted her, Fanora, not anyone else, revealed her betrayal in her own words.
“…”
Vasago was overcome by a miserable feeling she was experiencing for the first time. Although it wasn’t intended from Fanora’s POV, it was another form of revenge.
Vasago had been robbed of the trustworthy friend she had sought all her life. Because in the bleak social world, she could never get back a person she trusted with all her heart.
A few minutes later, Fanora checked out of the window again, and the Guelder family’s carriage was gone.
“…”
Again, the room became quiet. After some time, she heard Cecil’s voice informing her that the meal had been brought, but she didn’t answer. She just sat in a daze in one corner of the room, wondering whether the bread would go bad or not.
I don’t even feel like I want to eat something.
Fanora lay face down on her bed and looked at her own fingernails.
My physical condition is really…starting to look similar to before I went to the edge of the cliff.
One day, Hanar made an attempt to poison her. Unfortunately, Fanora didn’t die even after eating the poisoned food due to her small portion. At the time, Celsius’s relatives were paying close attention to the family’s situation, so this one failure was fatal to Hanar.
Unfortunately, Panora did not die even after eating poisoned food due to the small amount of food. At that time, Celsius’s relatives were paying keen attention to the family situation, so this one failure was fatal to Hanar.
In the past, Hanar had given up her attempt to kill her, but the impact of this was great. Fanora no longer believed in the food given by the servant, fearing that she would be subjected to the same thing. When she was hungry, she would steal leftover ingredients from the kitchen and eat them.
I remember clearly at that time.
However, her anxiety didn’t go away even though she restricted her food. At that time, Fanora felt as if she was livestock whose slaughter day was approaching.
Is tomorrow my last day? Or the day after tomorrow? As these thoughts filled her mind, normal life became impossible for her. So she locked herself in her dark room and began sleeping constantly. It was so painful to stay awake all the time in reality, and she thought it wouldn’t hurt if she was assassinated while sleeping.
“I didn’t want to come back with this feeling.”
That was probably the most despairing moment of her life.
“Never again…”
Stuck in the room, she barely felt the passage of time watching her nails grow, not by watch. Fortunately, her suffering didn’t last long.
After spending several months like that, one day, she suddenly felt energized. But this unnatural change couldn’t have been positive. She planned to go to the cliff as soon as she regained her energy.
I want to go back again. Fanora pulled her head down, tearing her own hair.
When she regressed, it was much better. At that time, she had the goal of getting revenge on her enemies, so she was able to run forward like a blindfolded horse. But now, neither her murderous intent nor her anger welled up. Once she was so absorbed in happy days that she forgot her desire for revenge, she no longer had the same passion as before, and depressing feelings filled the void left by her desire for revenge.
It’s all about me. It’s because I’m being stupid. I’m the one who ruined my life, not anyone else.
Fanora swallowed her breath, wetting her pillowcase with tears. But, it was that moment.
“…!”
Knock, knock, knock. When Fanora heard a knock, she wiped her eyes and got up from her seat.
“Come in.”
As she spoke in a subdued voice, the door slid open. Of course, the one who appeared was Cecil, her exclusive maid.
“Ah, Lady hasn’t eaten yet.”
“I don’t need it, so put it away.”
“But…”
Cecil was about to say something when she found a meal left in the corner of the room. She seemed concerned and suggested she eat. Fanora, of course, turned it down coldly.
“…I understand.”
She realized that her master’s decision wouldn’t change. Cecil looked at Fanora’s glance and quietly agreed. Then, she revealed her real reason for coming to this room.
“There’s one more thing that needs confirmation from you, Lady. You have a guest outside.”
“Again?”
It seemed like it wasn’t long since she sent Vasago back, but she wondered if someone else had come. Fanora frowned at the news that a new guest had arrived. She wasn’t very pleased about guests visiting her.
“You’ll know the guest when you see this…”
“…!”
However, the story would be different if it were a visit from this person, not another noble. Fanora looked at the thing Cecil had brought in her hand, then examined it. What was placed on the silver tray was a family seal carved from a red gemstone. Only after holding the seal in her hand and examining it was she able to determine the identity of the guest. A seal with the face of a lioness engraved in it?
She got up from her seat and pulled back the curtains. When she woke up and checked outside the window, it started snowing.
“It appears that the third son of the Andras family has come.”
As she focused on avoiding the snowflakes falling from the sky, she saw a man standing at the gate. He had red hair, so it was easy to spot him. She kept her mouth shut when she confirmed that Carl Andras had visited.
“Actually, this isn’t his first visit. He came once last weekend as well.”
Fanora heard that he had come while she was unconscious. Nevertheless, her choice has not changed.
“Send him back.”
“Pardon?”
“I don’t want to meet him.”
Fanora decided not to contact Carl Andras. Because when she met him, she couldn’t think of what to say. Additionally, this decision was Fanora’s last remaining pride. She didn’t want to show Carl her ugly face anymore. Since the deal was over anyway, she wouldn’t be in trouble if she ended the relationship like this. I already told him the location of Europa, so I’ve done enough.
Fanora closed the curtains of the window she was looking at. Cecil seemed to have no choice but to follow her master’s words.
“Sigh…”
It was long after she told Cecil to send him back. Cecil came up to Fanora’s room again. For a moment of panic, she thought Cecil was there to clean up untouched food, but that wasn’t the reason.
“What’s wrong? Cecil?”
The maid, who usually had a calm expression, looked especially embarrassed today. Fanora looked at her face and reluctantly asked a question. Then Cecil rolled her eyes and answered.
“Lady Fanora. That, I told the guest that Lady couldn’t meet him today. But he hasn’t returned and is still waiting.”
“What?”
She approached the window and checked the gate again. In the distance, a red-haired man was seen standing.
“I explained it wasn’t a good situation to meet because master is away and Lady hasn’t yet regained your consciousness, but…he insisted that he must see Lady.”
“Carl won’t turn when you tell such a lie.”
“Pardon?”
After all, she lied to Carl. Fanora frowned. Carl would have already realized that she was awake if her maid had come up with such an excuse.
What are you going to do when you meet me? You’ve got everything you wanted now.
Although Carl was gentle, he wasn’t tactless. If he gets kicked out the door knowing that the other person is awake, it will be obvious that she didn’t want to meet him. Nevertheless, he tenaciously stood tall at the gate.
“It’s okay. He’ll go back reluctantly in a little while. Just leave him alone.”
“Yes, Lady.”
Fanora eventually decided to ignore his visit. After hearing her words, Cecil walked quietly out of the room.
About an hour has passed since then. Fanora checked the window again. Uh? However, she saw red hair in the same spot she had seen earlier. It was surprising that Carl Andras hadn’t returned home yet.
“It’s snowing… It must be cold.” She looked up and checked the sky. The small snowflakes that had been falling sparsely until now were now quite thick. It wasn’t just a shower of snow, but it would pile up quickly with this amount of snow. As if to prove that it was cold outside, the servant who was clearing the snow from the front door was stamping their feet.
“…”
Fanora looked down at the man standing far away in the snow. It was true that I was shaken for a while by the sight. But she turned around with her eyes closed.
“Foolish.”
Carl must have come here with good intentions. She guessed that he had just come to visit her without any particular plan. She knew this much. But Fanora felt vague fear at his visit.
“Just a little bit longer. He’ll return because it’s cold.”
There was only one reason why she was afraid of Carl’s kindness. She was afraid that she wouldn’t be able to return it.
