Your Regrets Are Late

“Little Duchess, due to the poisoning of Princess Lillian, you must go to the trial.”

When the knight commander approached her, the knights under his command approached both sides of Charelize and tried to grab her.

“…Who am I?”

“Little Duchess. Right now…”

“Right. I’m the heir of Duke Marsetta and have the right to succeed to the throne. And you dare to touch the body of the imperial family?”

“This is an order from His Majesty.”

“Nothing has been clarified, and it’s unpleasant to attend a trial like this… Doesn’t capturing me like this mean that I’m the culprit?”

Charelize cut the knight commander’s words. Frightened by her cold voice, the knights flinched. It was the same with the knight commander.

“His Majesty ordered the imperial knights to capture his one and only nephew… It seems he cares a lot about Lillian.”

“That’s…”

“I’m very sad that he tried to punish the person who tried to kill me by only being in exile… By the way… do you guys know the relationship between His Majesty and Lillian?”

“…”

“It wasn’t long before I found out that Lillian had drunk poison and collapsed. But how did His Majesty imprison Count Luer’s daughter in Helsen prison for such a short period of time… I’m curious.”

No one answered Charelize’s question. Breaths of different emotions flowed quietly.

“I’ll say it again, I’m a member of the imperial family who received the name Roxana as my second surname.”

Charelize emphasized that even though she had the same status as the princess of the duchy with Lillian, they had a different positions in reality.

“Did His Majesty’s order include treating me like this?”

“No.”

“If so… did he confirm that I am the culprit?”

“…No, Your Highness.”

“Well, if he had done that, you would have been ordered to take me to Helsen prison rather than the court.”

Charelize tapped the desk with her fingers and smiled.

“Then, is there anything that has been clarified other than the testimony of Lady Luer?”

“I apologize, Your Highness.”

The knight commander, who couldn’t keep his head up, trembled all over. As if angry, he squeezed his hand tightly, and the nape of his neck and ears turned red.

“Is it worth it? To hear something like this from a lady younger than you?”

“No.”

“What do you mean no? It shows all over your face. Aren’t you the second son of Marquis Lareche?”

“That’s right.”

“When I went to the Peschte Empire, I met with Her Majesty Lanensia Xavi. She told me she would become my aunt because of her friendship with my mother.”

Charelize, remembering the commander knight was the descendant of Duke Halloten, mentioned Lanensia Xavi. Because of the second wife of Duke Halloten as his mother, he has pushed aside from the succession with his brothers. Still, Lanensia Xavi was also a direct descendant. The members of the Halloten family weren’t welcoming Lanensia Xavi.  

“You do know what this means, do you?”

“…Yes.”

However, within the Peschte Empire, she was no different from empress dowager.

“But to show this attitude… Can I say this as going against the wishes of Her Majesty Lanensia Xavi?”

“…”

“Didn’t I ask? Why aren’t you answering?”

Instead of answering, the knight commander put down the sword he was bringing at his waist and knelt down on one knee. As a knight, letting go of your sword meant a lot. Although his attitude was irritating, Charelize didn’t provoke him more than was necessary.

“Tell it to His Majesty. Please go through the formal process and send the letter.”

“I understand, little Duchess.”

“Just go back now. I’m tired.”

“We’ll be on our way now.”

“Yes. Take care of yourself.”

The imperial knights with the Count and Countess Luer went out.

“Young Master, everything is my fault. Please punish me.”

The butler standing awkwardly beside her asked for forgiveness for not stopping the outsiders from coming.

“I have no intention of making a big deal out of nothing, so keep the servants under control. And leave the matter of conveying messages as it is. I don’t want the carefully constructed plan overturned just because of some strange words.”

“Yes, young Master.”

“One more thing. I hope you sort out the rumors floating around the duchy right now. If they look at me disrespectfully one more time, I’ll fix their habit by gouging out their eyes.”

“I’ll take… your command.”

As the butler bowed, the door opened, and Duke Marsetta entered.

“You can’t handle it so lightly.”

From what Duke Marsetta said, he seemed to be listening to all her conversations with the butler.

“Your Grace?”

“Butler, to let the imperial knights enter without my permission… Are you insane?”

“I apologize, Your Grace.”

It wasn’t the butler who brought in the imperial knights. Moreover, the butler tried to stop them too. But in the end, the butler was the one who supervised all the servants. Duke Marsetta sternly said that since what others did was also the butler’s fault.

“It’s my fault for not managing everything properly. I will strictly govern and educate them. Please forgive me.” The butler also answered skillfully rather than making an expression of unfairness.

“Get out. I have something to say to her.”

“Yes, Your Grace.”

Duke Marsetta, who sent out the butler, sat on the sofa. Charelize tried not to laugh when she saw him lying comfortably on his back. Nevertheless, she couldn’t stop the corners of her mouth from rising crookedly.

“What are you doing here without looking at Lillian?” Charelize swallowed a bewildered expression and suppressed her anger.

“Actually… I knew you didn’t do it.”

“Then did the Duke poison Lillian?”

“For now, sit down.”

Duke Marsetta was silent. It meant affirmative.

“Even if Lillian did something… I’ll punish her well. So, let’s move on quietly.”

The way he was trying to defend Lillian until the end made her exhausted. In fact, she felt bad because she had never been protected by him.

“About Lillian… Do you really believe that she’s Your Grace’s daughter?”

“That again… What are you talking about?”

Duke Marsetta frowned at it, giving Charelize a piercing glance.

“She has my uncle’s blood. Being born and dying to be the daughter of Lord Raya, which was the will of the former duchess.”

“You, how… Raya…”

“In the end, she indeed inherited the blood of Duke Marsetta, so there was no particular problem with the blood test. Lillian knows too, that Your Grace is not her real father. From an early age, she grew up with my uncle. This is the ‘truth’ that His Grace didn’t want to know.”

Duke Marsetta wanted to erase what he had just heard.

“Why are you looking like that? Knowing this, you don’t even look happy even though you slapped me on the cheek.”

He shook his head strongly and denied it. He even pulled his hair and screamed loudly.

“Do you want me to tell you one more thing?”

“…Stop it, stop it.”

“You’re really the worst. You don’t want to give me any chance. I know better than anyone else that people never change.”

“…”

“When I was young, I wanted to be loved, and when I grew up, I wanted to be recognized. Even when I heard your harsh words, I was so hungry to look good in your eyes. But you… You killed me because of Lillian, who wasn’t even your real daughter. Before that, you killed my mother to register Lillian to this family.”

Charelize clapped her hands and continued.

“Ah, you even removed me from the family register… I almost forgot about it.”

“When did I do that! I never killed you!”

It was natural that Duke Marsetta did not remember. It was unavoidable. Still, she wanted to rip his mouth when she saw him talking shamelessly like that.

“You killed me mentally. I died in front of you again and again. It was… too many to count.”

Killing didn’t necessarily mean harming the body.

“You will live comfortably after letting go of your position. No, you can’t be comfortable. Even now, you leave all the work to me and go around here and there doing nothing as a duke. But you will live more comfortably than now?”

“…”

At the continued silence of Duke Marsetta, Charelize calmed her anger and thought rationally. She had to keep the line. It was the right time yet as she was still a little duchess, so she couldn’t bring him down completely.

“Even if Iris made the poison and the emperor ordered it… You knew and only watched my mother suffer from the poison. Your Grace, if you were in my position, could you forgive me?”

“I—”

“Do you still have any regrets left?”

“I really… didn’t know.”

“Ignorance is also a sin. Don’t be funny. I hope you won’t live comfortably even if you die. I need to bring down Duke so that you will be recorded in the history books as the murderer who killed the royal princess.”

“…”

“I’ll let you live day by day in people’s contempt for the rest of your life, to the point it was more comfortable to die than to stay alive. Don’t feel too unfair. Because I’ve lived like that all my life. Didn’t I tell you last time? My personality is not kind enough to let my enemy close their eyes in a comfortable state.”

“Didn’t I say there were reasons for that?”

“I told you not to be funny. How many times do I have to tell Duke to know? Even if there are reasons, do you think I should close my eyes to someone who kills people? I will pay back the price for making me an orphan.”

“Orphan?”

Duke Marsetta was indignant at the word ‘orphan’. He screamed, saying that her father was still alive, and asked what she was talking about. His screaming voice was to the point that it was deafening for a moment.

“Not even once you have been a father to me.”

Unless her mother came back alive, Charelize was an orphan. It was a harsh statement that clearly meant to hurt him. However, she felt like the time and effort she had put in until now became meaningless because of the words she just brought out.

Charelize was devastated. She pinched her flesh until it turned red, but she felt okay because she didn’t want to shed tears in front of him. She really meant it.