LADAD Chapter 3

"You weren't planning to run away again, were you?"

Louise asked suspiciously. Amelia quietly shook her head.

"If I was planning to run away, why would I have been in the prayer room? I should have been loosening the chains on the locked door."

It was a rare sensible response. Louise's suspicious expression relaxed and she finally nodded.

"I was startled when you suddenly weren't in your room."

"Sorry about that."

Amelia replied, turning to look at Louise with a face that showed she wasn't sorry at all. Perhaps sensing the insincere apology, Louise didn't jump or deny it.

"Well, get some rest."

"You too, Louise."

The moment Amelia stepped foot into the bedroom, the door closed. This generation's Amelia was particularly lacking in sociability or affection. It was fortunate she was kept hidden away—if she had been exposed to the world, she would have caused trouble a hundred times over. Louise sighed and turned away.

"......"

Only after hearing the footsteps fade away did Amelia walk toward the bed. Her touch was careless as she removed her pearl earrings and placed them on the bedside table.

"Of all times to come then."

Truth was, she wasn't in a good mood at all. Never mind not being able to escape—she hadn't gotten to hear about life beyond the castle walls either.

"I had so many questions."

She was curious about so many things beyond the castle walls. How lively the markets were, what kind of clothes people wore, what kind of houses they lived in, how they spent their spare time, how they went about their romances.

"And...."

And how ordinary people built families and lived together.

"......"

Amelia was close to a blank slate when it came to such matters. She had lived her entire life imprisoned. The only beings Amelia had encountered in the world were her dead mother, Aaron, a few familiar great nobles, Louise, and the servants who had been replaced several times.

Oh, there was one more. A girl who had been smaller and more fragile than herself. Born as twins, Amelia had a nameless sister. The name Amelia was given only to the one destined to carry on the line.

"No, please. Please no! I'll do whatever you tell me to do...."

"Twin girls are unprecedented."

Despite their mother's pleas, the little one died before turning three. Amelia squeezed her eyes shut as she recalled the moment the blade pierced her sister's heart. It was a horrific memory from very long ago, when she was very young, yet it stuck in her mind and wouldn't fade.

"Kill me instead!"

The moment she recalled their mother's screaming voice, her hand slipped. As she fumbled over the bedside table to steady herself, her hand dragged the earring into her palm. When she clenched her fist, the sharp earring pin stabbed into her palm.

"...Ah."

Only then did she come to her senses. Amelia let out a short sigh and released the earring. Blood was flowing from the hole in her palm. It wasn't anything serious. The several scars already on her palm proved that.

"I don't want to die."

'I really don't want to die like that.' Vivid rejection and hostility flashed in Amelia's black eyes.

Before the night came when she would have to fulfill her 'duty,' she had to escape somehow. If it was impossible with her own strength alone, then by using something else—anything else.

"There isn't much time left until the night you fulfill your duty, is there?"

Duke Russell, the leader among the great nobles, spoke as he lifted his wine glass. Aaron, sitting across from him, quietly nodded.

"Already, this generation's Amelia is twenty."

"Indeed she is."

Duke Russell laughed lowly and drank down his wine in one gulp.

"Why don't you have a drink? You're not really a priest anyway."

And he held out the bottle toward Aaron. Aaron smiled awkwardly and shook his head. Whatever his true nature, his exterior professed to be that of a priest.

"I don't feel like it."

"Well then."

Duke Russell easily backed down. While he thought the man rigid, whether Aaron drank or not didn't really matter to him.

"The man is already prepared."

Aaron's hand, which had been fidgeting with his empty wine glass, stopped for a brief moment. It was only an instant, too quick to notice.

"Is he disposable?"

At Aaron's question, Duke Russell laughed lowly.

"Hardly. It's rare to conceive on the first try."

Of course, they couldn't bring him in often to avoid spreading impious rumors about men coming and going from the sacred maiden's bedchamber. However, unless she conceived immediately, they couldn't finish with just one attempt.

"Besides, there are quite a few cases of giving birth to boys."

Duke Russell gestured to a servant standing nearby, and the servant who attended him skillfully pulled out a cigar case. He cut the end of the cigar and offered it to him.

"Huu..."

Duke Russell drew in the lit cigar. A deep, heavy scent began to fill the space where this secret meeting was taking place.

"We'll have to keep using him until she gives birth to a girl with black hair and black eyes. There aren't many black-haired men with sound minds."

Duke Russell laughed and tapped his temple with his index finger. Aaron, who knew what went on in the basement of this remote villa, didn't ask why.

"This generation's Amelia is such a wild filly that you've had quite a hard time with her."

Duke Russell laughed as he offered the glass filled with amber liquid again.

"Come to think of it, she was trouble from the moment she was born."

"......"

"Twin girls, no less."

It was unprecedented. However, there could not be two sacred maidens under heaven. They struggled until the very last moment to select the child who more closely resembled the previous generation's Amelia. Aside from the obvious characteristics of black hair and black eyes, distinguishing the features of a different race wasn't easy.

"In the end, didn't it consume her mind as well?"

In any case, as a result, they killed the weaker girl who resembled her mother less. The previous generation's sacred maiden went mad watching her child die.

"I wish this could be the last time."

Duke Russell muttered.

"It's also tiresome to keep ordering people to break necks and stab hearts."

Of course, it wasn't because he pitied the innocent victims. He was simply tired of ordering people to kill.

"It would be more comfortable for everyone if the Russell ducal house absorbed the imperial family. But His Young Majesty doesn't realize that yet."

Duke Russell said as he exhaled cigar smoke.

"Instead of calling her a sacred maiden, he goes around subtly spreading stories about her being a witch."

"......"

"Maybe because he's still young, he doesn't even know who holds the upper hand in power and acts quite impudently."

His tone clearly showed displeasure. Indeed, he found Ivan, the current emperor, extremely disagreeable. Having ascended to the throne at a young age, Ivan harbored deep resentment toward the temple and the great nobles.

"I'll have to give him a proper education one of these days."

Duke Russell smiled as he swept his hair back.

"Anyway, until then, keep a good watch over this generation's Amelia. There's no benefit to things getting noisy before such an important event."

"I'll keep that in mind."

Aaron replied obediently. In truth, he was one who had sworn loyalty to Duke Russell.

"We'll meet again soon."

Pleased with that compliant answer, Duke Russell carelessly threw down his cigar and stood up.

"Clear away the wine bottle and used glasses."

Aaron let servants into the room and ordered them to clean up the cluttered table. Then he opened the window to air out the room that still smelled of cigar smoke.

"High Priest."

"Louise."

It was then that Louise appeared beyond the open door.

"I found the sacred maiden and escorted her to her room. She hadn't run away—she was in the prayer room near the north gate."

She was there to report on Amelia's whereabouts. After that, Louise added that Amelia seemed to be feeling stifled. It was natural to feel stifled when thinking about the night of adulthood when her duty would soon be forced upon her.

After all, being a similar age and the same gender, Louise pitied Amelia somewhat. Unlike the attitudes of Duke Russell or Aaron.

"I see."

Aaron was prepared to let that degree of advocacy slide. Especially considering the conversation he'd just had with Duke Russell.

"You should pay special attention to her movements..."

So he opened his mouth somewhat impulsively.

"If she's not showing signs of trying to escape, leave her be to do as she pleases for a while."

"Is that alright?"

Louise's eyes widened. The face of Amelia, who seemed younger and more pitiful despite being a similar age, naturally came to mind.

'Surely there were times when she was that cute and lovely.' Aaron thought.

"She'll be broken soon anyway."

Aaron said with a slight smile. There was considerable discord between his gently curving lips and gentle eyes and his words.

"That much freedom..."

Of course, Aaron also pitied Amelia. That was sincere. Even if it was in a slightly different way from what Louise felt.

"Should be allowed."

"Of course!"

Louise brightened.

"Well, go back now."

"Yes. Have a good night."

Louise left his room with light steps. Aaron moved quietly to the window. And he thought.

'My beautiful flower. But my... flower that I must someday personally twist and kill.'

In the wind that hid its violence, the sky writhed like Amelia's jet-black hair.