Chapter 22

"Ha!? Return the title!?"

What is Father talking about!?

"Synthia, don't you really understand what you've done?"

"But I'm the Holy Maiden, and it's the crystal's fault for not glowing! Besides, it's back to normal now!"

"If the crystal had remained broken, it wouldn't have been just a matter of returning the title."

Father, who is always kind to me, said this with a cold look, as if he were looking at my sister.

Mother, who had aged rapidly since the day of the ceremony, sat on the sofa with a vacant expression.

"It doesn't matter to me because I'm going to be the queen, but I don't want our family to lose the title of Duke!"

"… Queen… Synthia, are you serious?"

"Of course! I'm going to marry Lord Keith."

"… I have nothing more to say."

Father sat down next to Mother, looking exhausted.

Why? Why? Why? Everything was going so well!

"I declare, in the name of the First Prince,

that Synthia, the daughter of the Duke of Silver, is the Holy Maiden!

And I will make her my new fiancée!"

When Lord Keith declared this loudly beside me, I felt like I was on top of the world.

What is this? It's like I'm the heroine of a story!

Lord Keith, you're amazing! Amazing! I love you!

Everything went wrong after those strange bees appeared.

I was stung all over and it hurt so much.

I was treated immediately, but it felt like everyone was looking at me coldly. Everyone was so disrespectful.

Moreover, when I returned to my room in the Duke's mansion, several of my jewels and accessories were broken.

Ha!? Why?

I have to tell Mother to fire the maids!

I didn't realize that all the broken jewels were the ones I had taken from my sister, as I had taken everything of hers without discrimination.

"Margaret will be married to Lewis Morgan, the eldest son of the Earl of Morgan."

When Father said this after a while, it was the worst.

Lewis is too good for my sister!

He's handsome, smart, and cool and quiet! If it weren't for Lord Keith, I would have dated him myself. Kyah.

Usually, Mother would join me in opposing it, but since I became Lord Keith's fiancée, she has been afraid of my sister and won't even speak ill of her with me, which is boring.

"Lewis, please break your engagement with my sister!"

I went to talk to Lewis directly.

"Synthia, what are you saying?"

"Lewis, you poor thing. You're being deceived by my sister.

My sister, every day she... "

I looked up at him with teary eyes, thinking he would surely listen to my request like Lord Keith.

"I have talked to Lady Margaret many times and I want to live with her."

Ha!? Why! When I involuntarily distorted my face, Lewis said coolly as usual.

"I wish I could have seen that face earlier, Your Highness."

What is this guy? He always sticks to Lord Keith like a goldfish's poop, yet he thinks he can say such things to me, the Holy Maiden?

"Excuse me."

Lewis bowed and left.

I will crush you. I have to tell Lord Keith right away.

I'll say I was almost attacked or something.

"Synthia! The grades are posted! 215th place, it's clear that you are not fit to be Lord Keith's fiancée."

Ugh. Here it comes. What is this person, always picking on me, I really hate it.

Come on! I'll deal with Canaan first, and then I'll take care of Lewis.

There's no way my sister will be happy marrying such a cold and quiet man anyway.

"Lord Keith, I want to have tea with you."

I hate the education for the queen. I'm the Holy Maiden, so I don't need it.

So whenever Lord Keith showed up, I always invited him to tea.

"Synthia! You haven't made any progress on today's assignment!"

The instructor tried to be mean, but Lord Keith always said,

"Synthia is working hard, so she needs a break too."

and took me out.

After about six months, the instructor stopped trying to stop our tea time, and it was very comfortable.

Having tea with Lord Keith was the best. There were lots of delicious pastries, and he listened to me with interest.

The only thing was, I liked the most luxurious room in the palace, but Lord Keith wanted to have tea in the garden.

"Lord Keith, you once fainted here after drinking tea, don't you hate it?"

"Here is a place of memories with Synthia.

Besides, if something happens, Synthia will protect me, right?"

"Yes! Of course!"

"You're reliable. But this time, I'll protect Synthia.

I'll work hard to become a king who can protect the Holy Maiden."

Lord Keith, you're too amazing! I love you!

The day of my sister's wedding was the worst day of my life.

Dressed in a first-class wedding dress, my sister looked very happy as she gazed at Lewis.

Lewis, who always had a cold expression with me, blushed and smiled at my sister.

I didn't sign up for this!

My sister, who had everything taken from her and had her engagement broken in a miserable way, couldn't possibly be happy.

What hurt the most was that my sister didn't even look at me, our family, or Lord Keith, not even once.

She smiled happily at Canaan, a poor girl whose name I didn't even know.

I couldn't stop my face from twisting in frustration with Lord Keith right next to me.

"You're going to be disinherited."

When I was complaining to Father about the return of the title, Lord Keith told me with the same tired look Father had the other day.

"Disinherited?"

"My brother Leonardo will become king."

"Ha!?"

What are you saying? Has Lord Keith gone crazy too?

"Wait, what will happen to me!?"

"Didn't you hear from the Duke of Silver?

When Synthia graduates, we will get married, and you will inherit your mother's baronial family."

"Ha!? My mother's family is a poor, failing place in the countryside!"

There's no way I can live in such a place.

"Synthia, why did you break the crystal?"

"Because it was a fake! Why are you and Father asking such obvious questions?"

"… Why do you believe so strongly that you are the Holy Maiden?

No one would be so foolish as to break a national treasure in front of everyone."

"Because Lord Keith declared it."

"… I did?"

"Lord Keith, you declared in front of the king that 'Synthia is the Holy Maiden.'

And you said 'Synthia is the Holy Maiden' every day, over and over again."

"… I see. … Because I said it…"

Lord Keith said it with a look of despair and lowered his eyes sadly.

That's right. Mother and Lord Keith always told me.

"Because of Margaret, we were separated from our husband, so we have to torment that devil as much as possible."

This is Mother.

"Synthia is the Holy Maiden."

This is Lord Keith.

So, I just did as they said.

Besides, the servants were also ordered by Mother to do the same.

My sister always endured in silence.

Father never got angry with me.

Even when my sister once complained about "the marks on her back" and other annoying things, she was immediately chased out of the dining room, and Mother and the servants were scolded, but I was always treated kindly.

Lord Keith would be even kinder if I said, "My sister…" and teared up.

By tormenting my sister as Mother said, I became like the heroine of a story.

So, I just have to live as the Holy Maiden as Lord Keith said, who made me the heroine of the story.

"Synthia, I'm really sorry."

"Why are you apologizing?"

"You are not the Holy Maiden. I was wrong."

"Ha!? What are you saying now!"

"Margaret was always there when miracles happened.

When the crystal was enveloped in holy light and returned to its original state, Margaret had the same dazed look she had at the tea party.

That was the first time I realized. The one who saved me was Margaret.

… The Holy Maiden is Margaret."

"… If that's the case, I have half the blood of the Holy Maiden.

It's ridiculous for someone like me to become a baron."

"The Holy Maiden's bloodline doesn't matter. Besides, you have been tormenting the Holy Maiden all this time."

"I just did what I was told."

"Synthia, let's think together about what we lacked and why we made such a big mistake."

"Lord Keith, do you love me?

I can't live in a place with no decent servants. Please do something."

"I loved you. Until I saw your twisted face at Margaret's wedding."

"Ha!? So you're going to marry me even though you don't love me?"

"That's my sin."

"Why do I have to live with someone who doesn't love me in such a remote place?"

"Because you tormented your blood sister and broke the holy crystal."

Lord Keith said this with a cold look he had never directed at me before.

I felt a growing sense of panic.

"… If I could become the queen by marrying Lord Keith, it would have been the best, but if you don't love me, I don't need to get married."

"We have no choice."

When he said this in a cold voice, I gradually realized that this was reality.

"Why? If things are going to turn out like this, it would have been much better to stay in the Duke's mansion and live the same life I have now!"

I shouted.

Why? Why? Why did it come to this?

There's no way I can live in such a place with a person who can say he doesn't love me with such a cold look.

"Synthia, that was the happiness you could have had.

You were very fortunate.

You could have inherited the Duke's mansion and lived with the Duke of Silver and your mother without doing anything, or rather, by doing nothing."

"… By doing nothing?"

"By not tormenting Margaret.

By not trying to take her accessories, her smile, and her fiancé.

By not trying to break the holy crystal.

That's all it would have taken."

Lord Keith continued with a self-deprecating tone.

"I was the same. I was very fortunate.

I could have married the Holy Maiden and become king.

If I had taken Margaret's words seriously even once."

Lord Keith's eyes were very dark.

I felt a growing sense of despair.

I will probably live the rest of my life with the same tired face as Father and Lord Keith.