Chapter 44

This time, the protagonist is one of Alek's attendants.

I would like to touch on the memories of the days when Alek and his attendants were provisional knights, as well as the subsequent situations of Via and Alek.

In the first chapter, most of the characters who have appeared so far are not named, so I will post the first and second chapters consecutively.

I had long given up on my life.

No matter how much I wished, my wishes would never come true, and I would be forgotten by everyone and eventually disappear.

But one day, a message from my homeland was brought to me. After hearing that message, I began to harbor a faint hope that perhaps I could dream again.

After all, even Romaris, who had opposed the emperor, was given a future.

Then perhaps, even I might be shown a hand of mercy.

Sedia of the Cainz family sighed as she looked in the mirror.

Her soft, arched eyebrows, large amber eyes framed by long lashes, small, plump red lips, and the faint dimples that appeared beside them.

Her appearance was such that she would never be overshadowed even among the beautifully adorned noblewomen. In terms of looks alone, her appearance was certainly not bad.

It made sense, Sedia thought sarcastically to herself as she looked in the mirror.

Her father was a handsome emperor, and her mother was a woman beautiful enough to catch the eye of that emperor.

Yet, why was she spending her days in such a place, alone and in despair?

Or perhaps, from the moment her mother caught the emperor's eye, her fate was already decided.

Sedia's father was a man of loose morals who would immediately call a woman he liked to his chambers.

Sedia had two older sisters, but their mothers were both palace maids who, once they became pregnant, were no longer favored by the emperor.

A princess alone was not enough to grant a low-ranking maid the title of concubine, especially one who had royal succession rights.

And as a princess born to a mother in the unstable position of being the emperor's mistress, she had little national significance, and her marriage prospects were limited.

Her two half-sisters were married off to nobles of the Securt Federation when they were around seven or eight years old.

It might be more accurate to say they were sold.

There was something that benefited both nations, and the princesses served as useful tools in that regard.

Sedia, too, was betrothed at the age of eight to Glen, the heir of Lord Cainz, a prominent figure in the country of Sees.

At such a young age, Sedia did not understand the meaning of marriage; she only remembered how painful it was to be separated from her kind mother.

Glen, who became her husband, was a young boy of eleven, with a cousin of the King of Sees as his mother.

Because their ages were not very different, Sedia heard from the maids that her elder sister's mother envied the match, as her sisters had been married to nobles much older than themselves.

At the time, Sedia thought it was a fine match for her.

Glen was proud of his family lineage and bloodline, and while he was somewhat arrogant, he liked Sedia's appearance, and the two young children lived a doll-like married life.

That situation changed dramatically three years later.

While riding, Glen fell from a horse that had tipped over and suffered a life-threatening injury.

Sedia later heard that it was a miracle he survived.

Desperate efforts were made to save Glen's life as he ran a high fever and convulsed, and he eventually managed to survive.

Whether it was fortunate or unfortunate for Glen to have survived, Sedia herself could not say now.

He survived with only his life, and Glen was left completely paralyzed from the neck down.

Glen had been the pride of Lord and Lady Cainz, but as soon as it was discovered that he was paralyzed, their attitude toward him changed.

Concerned about appearances, Lord and Lady Cainz moved Glen to a separate residence in the capital under the pretext of convalescence, while maintaining his position as the heir.

Unaware of the situation, Sedia was told by her in-laws to go to the separate residence in Uzku, where Glen was waiting, and there she met her bedridden husband again.

From the moment he was sent to the separate residence, Glen realized that he had been abandoned by his parents, and that all their love, interest, and expectations had shifted to his healthy younger brother.

Glen was filled with despair and deeply resented his parents, brother, and his own fate.

No one visited the separate residence, and there were only a dozen servants and a young wife in name only.

Unable to move his limbs, and with his digestive abilities diminished, he could not eat as he wished.

His once robust body wasted away, and unable to turn over, the parts of his body that bore his weight quickly turned red and developed bedsores.

It must have been an unbearable situation for Glen.

Glen often cried out that it would have been better to die.

He resented his parents for abandoning him, cursed his life, and the only relief he had was to vent his anger, frustration, sadness, and despair on those around him.

Of course, he could not use violence as he was paralyzed from the neck down, but he tried to vent his pent-up frustration by using harsh words to belittle and hurt those around him.

Sedia, a young girl, often cried in secret, hiding from Glen.

Trying to comfort him only hurt her, and Sedia was exhausted by the daily pain.

Then, as if to add to her troubles, one day a message from her homeland arrived, informing her of her mother's death.

She had died quietly after a long illness.

Sedia locked herself in her room.

Missing the flowers her mother loved, she spent the day gazing absentmindedly at the garden from the window, and began to embroider, as her mother had taught her, in memory of her.

After about a month, Sedia finally decided to visit Glen again.

She asked the gardener to pick some flowers from the garden, and with the flowers in her arms, she visited Glen's sickroom for the first time in a month.

Glen, who she thought would scold her, said nothing when he saw Sedia.

Sedia silently arranged the flowers by his pillow, decorating them in a colorful array where Glen could see them, and watched him in a daze as he stared in amazement.

"Beautiful," Glen whispered, and for the first time since the accident, Sedia smiled. Then, in a small voice, she told Glen, "My mother has passed away."

Glen looked at Sedia with calm eyes and whispered, "It must have been hard."

There was a definite tenderness in his words.

Sedia replied, "Yes," and then quietly cried by Glen's pillow.

Having lost her mother who loved her, Sedia thought that Glen was the only family she had left. Her father, brother, and sisters, who were in a distant country, were like strangers to her.

With the gardener's help, Sedia began to plant many seeds and seedlings. Since herbs were popular in Sees unlike in Ancheze, she also ordered herb seedlings and cultivated them herself.

In her free time, she spent time embroidering by Glen's pillow. Glen would come up with the designs, and they would choose the threads together from a palette of over a thousand colors, with Sedia doing the embroidery.

When the flowers bloomed, she would pick them and decorate Glen's pillow, and they would enjoy the scent of the herbs she picked and brewed into tea.

The peaceful days in the secluded separate residence came to an abrupt end five years later when Glen died.

His bedsores would not heal, and he often ran a fever. Due to his paralysis from the neck down, Glen could not cough properly.

He often choked on phlegm, and in the end, he died of pneumonia after running a high fever for three days.

Just before he died, Glen, who was lying in bed, managed to say, "Thank you," to Sedia, who was by his side.

Those were his last words.

When the news reached Lord and Lady Cainz, they rushed to the separate residence.

Without a word of comfort to Sedia, whom they had not seen in five years, she was immediately locked in a room on the second floor.

It seemed that many mourners had gathered at the separate residence upon hearing of the heir's death. Occasionally, the sound of the lady crying could be heard, and it seemed that her relatives were desperately trying to comfort her.

Sedia was not allowed to say a final goodbye to Glen and cried alone in the isolated room.

Her anger at her in-laws was greater than her sadness.

If they were going to collapse in tears in front of others, why didn't they come to see Glen? It was frustrating.

Glen was only fourteen when he had the accident.

How difficult and painful it must have been for him. He could not even wipe away his tears with his hands.

A child who could not show his weakness to the servants and could only maintain his mental balance by lashing out at them.

Sedia could not forgive her in-laws for abandoning Glen in such a cruel way when he needed their love the most, and now pretending to mourn.

Sedia no longer wanted to stay in this house.

In Sees, it was customary for a widow to remain with her husband's family, but Sedia could not bear to be tied to these in-laws for the rest of her life.

So she waited for the messenger from her father the emperor to visit the Cainz family.

Even if her father had been indifferent to her, he would surely send a messenger of condolences to Sedia this time.

She was willing to be confined in a small separate residence for the rest of her life, and if he sent her to a convent, she would go happily. As long as she could leave Sees, she would go anywhere.

A day passed after the funeral, then two, and finally, on the fifth day, the person who visited Sedia was not a messenger from the emperor, but a messenger claiming to be from the empress.

On that day, Sedia was told by her in-laws that Emperor Parisis had died. He had died without naming a successor, and for the time being, the empress was in control of Ancheze.

Sedia was then ordered to remain in the separate residence.

It was the moment when her hopes slipped away.

Her homeland was in a state of civil war.

The first prince, Alek, and the third prince, Romaris, born to the concubine Myall, were fighting for the throne, and the other nations were cautiously watching the situation, hoping to weaken the great power.

As time passed, about two months after the emperor's death, the first prince Alek defeated Lord Sezon, who was supporting Prince Romaris, and ascended the throne.

Sedia learned of this through the grapevine, and no messenger from the new emperor visited her.

Sedia was a forgotten princess of her homeland.

She had only seen Prince Alek once, and they were siblings in name only.

Sedia, who had been isolated in a detached palace, was allowed to meet her father the emperor for the first time before her marriage. On her way to the room where the emperor was, she happened to pass by the prince in a wide corridor.

The emperor's aide whispered, "It's the first prince," and Sedia hurriedly bowed.

Since he was six years older than Sedia, the prince must have been fourteen at the time. He was a beautiful prince, the very definition of the word.

He smiled pleasantly, but he did not recognize Sedia as family.

His indifference and coldness were evident in his gaze.

Sedia did not have the courage to write to her brother, who showed no interest in her as a widow.

She thought the letter would be intercepted by her in-laws, and even if it reached him safely, she did not think the brother who had looked at her with such cold eyes would help her.

At that moment, Sedia sadly resigned herself to spending the rest of her life in this dim place.

In Sees, women's positions were particularly weak, and if Lord Cainz, her father-in-law, ordered her not to leave the separate residence, Sedia had no choice but to obey.

She was allowed to walk around the grounds, so Sedia often took walks in the garden.

She explored the entire small separate residence and walked from one end of the grounds to the other, trying to see the outside world.

However, the area was surrounded by dense trees, and she never saw another person.

Despite the lack of visitors to the separate residence, Sedia did not feel particularly lonely. The servants who served in the separate residence were all kind to her.

To distract her, the servants began to bring her various information from the outside world.

Yosh, the stable boy who also did the shopping, would gather interesting rumors from the capital on his trips, and the other servants would share the contents of letters they received from their families and friends with Sedia.

It was through such means that Sedia learned of the rumors from her distant homeland.

Prince Romaris, who had been exiled and confined for rebelling against Emperor Alek, had been allowed to return to the royal family and was back on the public stage.

At first, Sedia thought the rumor was too good to be true.

Emperor Alek had welcomed an empress three years ago and had a prince and princess. There was no reason for a brother with a successor to welcome Romaris back into the royal family.

While suspecting her brother's true intentions, the thought that perhaps he had pitied his innocent brother grew stronger in Sedia day by day.

If that were the case, perhaps he might show mercy to her as well.

Sedia could not stop hoping for herself.

The one who most sensed Sedia's gloomy thoughts was a maid of the same age named Willa.

Willa was the daughter of the butler Mark and the only unmarried servant in the house.

To Sedia, she felt more like a friend or a sister than a servant.

One day, Willa told her that one of the emperor's attendants was visiting the country of Sees.

Visitors to Sees stay in a detached palace if they are royalty, but other dignitaries stay in a house owned by their own country.

It seemed that Willa had some connections in that house.

When Willa told her that if Sedia wished, she could deliver a letter directly to the attendant, Sedia hesitated at first.

She was afraid to hope.

Since he was one of the emperor's attendants, he was probably a high-ranking noble.

Sedia did not think such a person would accept a letter from someone he had never met, and even if he read it, it was another matter whether he would take an interest in her.

And even if he tried to contact her brother, would the brother who had looked at her with cold eyes reach out to help her?

Reaching for the quill, she clenched her fingers and hesitated many times before finally deciding to write the letter.

She wanted to do what she could, no matter how small the chance of hope.

She decided not to write a long, detailed account of her situation. If the nobleman was not interested in her, it would be a waste of time to write anything.

She wrote a brief message, added her name, and sealed it carefully.

The rest was up to the other person, Sedia thought. Whether he would help her or ignore her.

If it was to be crushed, so be it.

That was the extent of her luck.