Mess 158
by Cristae158.
“…Are you sure you’re all right? You have no regrets, do you?”
Seraphy asked cautiously, as if probing for any uncertainty.
“Would a woman go back on her word?”
There was not a hint of falsehood in Peonia’s reply. Breaking off the engagement was nothing to her. She was confident she could accomplish anything, and nothing could stand in her way.
In that sense, the crown prince was merely something to be set aside.
“After the banquet, I plan to ask my father to request the annulment.”
Peonia said this as she picked up a cookie and fed it to Lillie. Lillie’s face melted into bliss as she accepted the treat.
“That’s certainly the most ideal way,” Seraphy agreed.
Before the banquet, everyone tends to be cautious. Causing trouble now would only invite the stigma of having disgraced a royal event.
“But whether the crown prince will take this quietly is another matter entirely…”
At Seraphy’s remark, everyone fell into reluctant silence.
The crown prince, despite showing interest in Lillie, had never broken off his betrothal to Peonia. That was because he knew the power of House Felikia would greatly benefit him when he ascended the throne.
Keeping Lillie close served a similar purpose—her white magic carried a symbolism he wished to claim for himself.
Furthermore, as someone who had to control everything to be satisfied, it was unthinkable that he would willingly give up the engagement.
“This will be harder than I thought.”
“Hmm,” Luni murmured with a serious frown, arms folded.
“I figured as much…”
Peonia had agonized over it countless times, but only one solution came to mind.
“There’s nothing for it but assassination, girls.”
“Lu, mind your words.”
“She’s right. This isn’t so much about assassination as it is making him disappear.”
“Neither of those is helpful…”
Peonia regretted bringing them along.
“But would the imperial family really accept the annulment so easily?”
Seraphy had another worry.
“At the very least, you’ll need grounds for the annulment…”
The reasons necessitating the break were all on the crown prince’s side. But after all, he was the emperor’s son and first in line to the throne.
There was dignity and honor at stake for both families. The betrothal of Peonia and the crown prince was a political alliance, not easily dismissed by a simple justification.
“What if Penny did something truly wicked?”
“Where would you find someone as virtuous as me?”
“Oh, come on, that’s not a joke I can trust…”
“She’s right! Lady Peonia is the kindest, most admirable person!”
“……”
Luni, who had meant to tease lightly, recoiled in surprise. Lillie’s adoration for Peonia bordered on fanatical.
“What about citing irreconcilable differences?”
Seraphy asked.
“What if the crown prince says, ‘Penny, I can do better than that’?”
“That’s just revolting,”
Seraphy shuddered at the mere thought. Lillie clapped a hand over her mouth, gagging. Even Peonia’s face soured as she patted Lillie’s back.
“Just act up a few times, would you?”
Luni, growing bored, muttered soullessly.
It was so nonsensical that anyone would have ignored it, but Seraphy seized on the idea.
“She’s right. To shake off a lunatic, you need to act crazy too.”
“My point exactly! Penny, go out and slap someone at random! Spit on the palace gates! Start a fire—anything!”
“I’ll do it to you two first.”
“Lady Peonia! If you must, please slap my face and spit on me…!”
“No, Lillie, calm down…”
No matter how much they talked, no decent solution emerged.
By the end, the four sprawled across the sofa and rug, faces drained and spiritless.
“…The crown prince.”
In the lethargic silence, Penny spoke up.
“I was truly frightened of him for the first time.”
“……”
Seraphy, collapsed on the rug, crawled over to the sofa on her knees.
With her face hidden behind her arm as she lay stretched out, Peonia’s expression was unseen.
But the faint tremble of her fingers and her tensely bitten lips revealed her honest state of mind.
“He didn’t seem human.”
Seraphy nodded slowly.
“Almost as if he was pretending to be human, right?”
This time, Peonia nodded as well.
“…Is he really that strange?”
Luni sat up, baffled. Of the four, Luni was the only one who had never met the crown prince in person.
“Pretending to be human—what does that even mean…?”
“I think it’s like this,”
Sliding off the sofa as if on a slide, Lillie spoke, recalling her own experiences.
“He has no emotions. Or rather, he has them—but they’re of a kind very different from ours.”
Even saying a single word sent chills up her spine. Lillie hugged herself as if shivering from cold.
“He knows right from wrong, and understands laws…”
But that’s all—he merely knows.
“The crown prince never abides by them. The only thing that matters is his own success, and he’ll do anything to achieve it.”
At first, Lillie hadn’t thought much of it. She’d simply believed he was stubborn, emotionally stunted, an incorrigible flirt. She disliked him then.
But having watched him up close, she realized he was a monster.
“He doesn’t understand other people’s feelings—no, he doesn’t even see the need to.”
Lillie shuddered.
“Keeping me near isn’t out of love! He only does it because I could be useful to him. The only thing that matters to that man is someone’s value to him!”
Lillie, having held back her resentment for so long, let it pour out of her in a rush. Tears welled at the corners of her eyes.
“……”
“……”
Seraphy and Luni could find nothing to offer by way of comfort.
“…Seraphy.”
Peonia consoled the sniffling Lillie as she spoke.
“I looked into what you mentioned at the estate a few days ago.”
Bearing in mind the possibility that the former Marquess Iris had been bound by magic, Peonia had checked the roster of mages from the Tower.
“There was no one suspicious.”
It was a disappointing result. Even so, Seraphy was inwardly relieved; had anyone from the Tower been involved, things would have become far more complicated.
“So….”
Only one course remained.
“We’ll have to wait for the duke.”
“We’ll be off, then.”
“We’ll see you at the banquet.”
“Take care on your way.”
Lillie saw Seraphy and Luni off as they left the annex.
By now, the sunset had stained the walls and broad gardens of the annex in crimson. Lillie’s honey-colored hair glowed with a reddish gleam.
“Lady Peonia, aren’t you going?”
“I’ll stay a bit longer.”
“Would you like to go up to the annex rooftop with me?”
“The rooftop?”
Peonia’s interest was piqued.
“One of the maids told me—the view up there is said to be spectacular.”
Inviting her to hurry, Lillie grabbed Peonia’s hand and led her upstairs. Peonia trailed behind, pretending not to want to but going along all the same.
On the highest floor of the annex, there was an attic that led to the rooftop. Each time they passed through a dust-laden room, a sneeze escaped.
“Wow!”
Having reached the rooftop, Peonia gasped at the scene before her. The wind tousled her hair.
The sun, poised on the distant horizon, was fighting back the encroaching darkness. The sky flared red as night pressed in, and in the space of a moment, the world was bathed in violet.
Suddenly, Peonia was overcome by a sense of solitude—a faint and unfamiliar loneliness.
“Beautiful…”
But with Lillie standing beside her, gazing at the same view, the loneliness vanished as quickly as it had come.
“Thank you for showing me this. It’s the most breathtaking sight I’ve ever seen—better than any jewel.”
At Peonia’s heartfelt gratitude, Lillie bowed her head. Through strands of hair, her rounded ears and pale neck shone bright red even in the gloom.
“Compared to all the help you’ve given me, Lady Peonia, this is nothing at all.”
As Peonia watched Lillie, smiling softly, she looked up again at the sky.
The two of them spread a blanket and sat. Though the occasional breeze was chilly, it was the perfect air for easing hearts that had felt stifled of late.
“No one would have guessed we’d ever become friends like this,”
Peonia said with a laugh.
“Lady Peonia, you didn’t care for me at first, did you?”
“I didn’t dislike you. I was just annoyed.”
“Hmph…”
Lillie hid her face behind her knees, lips pouting.
“…Once the engagement to the crown prince is broken,”
Peonia began quietly,
“I’m thinking of leaving on a journey.”
“A j-journey?”
Lillie looked up in surprise. Peonia nodded, gazing off into the distance.
“You’ll come back soon, right?”
“I expect it will be a while.”
“……”
Caught off guard, Lillie’s lips drooped. Tears welled up as if she might cry at any moment.
“Would you like to come with me?”
Lillie, on the verge of tears, froze like a broken doll.
“When the engagement is over, I’ll begin preparing in earnest to succeed as the next Tower Master. For that, I’ll need to restart the research I set aside…”
“The research… the one from the fire at the Tower?”
“Don’t remember it like that.”
Peonia gave a wry smile.
The research she had postponed for lack of progress finally had new direction, thanks to the new material developed in Validus.
“You’ve always been interested in my work, haven’t you, Lillie?”
“……”
“I don’t need to insist on doing everything alone anymore. I’d like someone by my side to help.”
“Could that helper possibly be…?”
“Don’t tell me you still haven’t figured it out after all this?”
Lillie shook her head so quickly her face was a blur.
“If you’re interested, will you come?”
Peonia asked one last time.
Lillie was so overwhelmed she couldn’t speak, but Peonia pressed her no further. She already knew what the answer would be.
The day of the banquet was now almost at hand. Preparations in the palace grew more intense, and the atmosphere was restless.
But the tension was not just from the busy schedule.
“…Did you hear about that maid who served in the crown prince’s palace?”
“Someone claims they actually saw her!”
“Is it true—the crown prince killed her?”
“They say he stabbed her again and again with a knife…”
“I heard she was found completely naked!”
The topic among the palace staff was the maid’s recent death. Though it was meant to be kept secret, as always, rumors spread on swift and silent feet.
“I heard the mood in the crown prince’s palace is like death itself now.”
A maid in a crisp white cap glanced around and lowered her voice.
The others instinctively swallowed and fell quiet.
“My friend works there, and…”