RAMHM Chapter 109

The True Enemy

The word "Auntie" dripped with unmistakable mockery, paired with a smile stretched across that angelic face.

I had to clench both hands into fists to keep from clawing that face apart.

For a brief moment, pain must have lanced through his heart—Bardenaldo clutched at his chest.

"What's the point of hiding anything now? Huff... hck."

Bardenaldo had selected the two Crown Princess candidates who would best serve his future.

Adrienne Pirreta. Princess of the Pirreta territory, which had served as the capital when Ronteaux was still a kingdom.

And Doris Castagna, daughter of Duke Castagna, a noble house of ancient lineage.

Compared to Doris, who showed him favor, Bardenaldo felt an unbearable fury toward Adrienne—who maintained closer relations with Rhodness than with him, the Crown Prince.

To Bardenaldo, who suffered constant anxiety and inferiority, it felt as though Adrienne mocked him by choosing the superior Rhodness instead.

In the end, he decided to take Doris Castagna as his wife, while offering Adrienne Pirreta the position of "the Crown Prince's mistress."

He considered this decision a punishment for Adrienne, taking smug satisfaction in it.

The mere thought of keeping the woman Rhodness so desperately wanted as his mistress, toying with her at his leisure, was enough to make him grin like an idiot.

When he first summoned Duke Pirreta, he immediately recognized which of them held the power in this relationship.

House Pirreta possessed the legitimacy of having once been the Empire's capital in ancient times—but precisely because of this, they faced checks from countless other noble houses.

Their geographical proximity to Ellaconia played its part as well.

The Empire, which both disdained and feared Ellaconia, employed various methods to suppress the influence of anyone from Pirreta territory who might hold friendly relations with Ellaconia.

Thus, despite their prestigious heritage, the eastern territories—especially House Pirreta—could neither advance into the capital's central social circles nor secure major government positions.

So when Bardenaldo selected Adrienne Pirreta as a Crown Princess candidate, Duke Pirreta had been overjoyed.

He understood that for Bardenaldo to ascend the throne without incident, the Crown Princess's house needed to remain strong.

House Castagna in the west, though not as large as Pirreta, also faced checks as a major power bloc and eagerly joined the selection battle, dreaming of advancement to central positions. The victor was ultimately Castagna, which had established slightly firmer footing in the capital.

Duke Pirreta, deeply wounded in his pride, did not readily respond to the Crown Prince's subsequent summons.

Then, on the Duke's final day before returning east, Crown Prince Bardenaldo made the following proposal:

'The truth is, the one I love in my heart is Adrienne Pirreta.'

At the word "love" falling from the Crown Prince's lips, Duke Pirreta's expression went momentarily blank.

But Bardenaldo's face that day was more earnest and pure than any other day, so the Duke could not help but believe the words of the Crown Prince called Ronteaux's saint.

'...If you're about to propose the Empress's seat, I refuse. I won't have Pirreta's daughter miss her marriageable years without any documented promise.'

'Is that so.'

'Besides, would Castagna stand for it? Even if Your Highness safely ascends the throne and welcomes Adrienne later, I can hardly bear to see my daughter publicly positioned beneath an Empress from House Castagna.'

'What about the position of Grand Duchess Trovika?'

In the Empire, it was the most desirable match after Crown Princess. A far more valuable and promising match than the second prince Rhodness, called a problem child, or the ninth prince who'd been shoved off to Ellaconia like a hostage.

'...Could you truly treat the woman you love as your aunt?'

'No. No, I couldn't.'

Bardenaldo folded away his gentle eyes and smiled tenderly.

'Adrienne Pirreta will one day become the mother of my son.'

'!'

The Duke froze in place, staring vacantly at the Crown Prince who showed more powerful resolve than ever before.

'Her public position will be Grand Duchess Trovika. But in reality, she'll be my woman.'

Bardenaldo whispered more sweetly than honey.

'The two most powerful men in this nation... your daughter will have both of them in the palm of her hand. Wouldn't the dignified position of Grand Duchess serve the Princess's future better than the constantly checked position of Empress?'

'But how could that...'

'There's only one thing I can offer to give you confidence, Duke.'

'...'

'No child will be born between Doris Castagna and me. Do you understand my meaning?'

Bardenaldo was certain of his victory.

The Duke's desire—which he'd tried to hide deep in his heart yet could never truly conceal—rose vividly in those violet eyes.

"Your father wanted to reach the capital badly enough to accept that."

"..."

"He believed utterly when I said I truly loved you. He was even moved to gratitude when I sent all sorts of precious medicines to the Grand Ducal estate to keep you alive."

The memory surfaced.

The maids' voices insisting I drink every drop without spilling, telling me these were precious medicines sent directly by His Imperial Highness the Crown Prince.

Annie's particularly sharp voice—that would have been because she was Duke Castagna's spy.

"...Did you kill me with that medicine?"

"Ah, you must have always wondered. How you died."

Cough. Cough, cough.

The Crown Prince spewed a mouthful of blood. I drew a handkerchief from my bodice and handed it to him.

"Originally I planned to wait a bit longer, you see. But then it occurred to me—what a waste it would be if you withered away further and lost your beauty before I could have you."

Cough—

Laughing with the stuttering rasp of a broken door between light coughs, the Crown Prince had already returned to last night's demon.

"But why dirty my own hands when so many people would eagerly volunteer? What would be the point of acting directly?"

"..."

"I'd like to invite Auntie to dinner when she recovers her health."

"They say Auntie is so graceful and beautiful—such a shame about her illness."

Bardenaldo wiped the blood away with the handkerchief and smiled pleasantly.

"Those words alone were enough to make someone's eyes turn bloodshot with rage, desperately wishing for your death."

Bardenaldo's focus blurred slightly, as if recalling one among countless days he'd spent provoking Doris.

"You managed to hold on for two years thanks to the rare medicines we sent—don't look at me like that."

"We?"

"Rhodness also kept sending you rare medicines whenever he found them on the battlefield, even after I stabbed him in the back like that. Didn't you know? Most of those precious medicines your uncle constantly sent you came from Rhodness."

"That's impossible."

"He sent them as gifts to your uncle under other nobles' names. Your illness as Grand Duchess was famous, so people constantly tried to curry favor with your uncle that way. Cough! Your uncle rejected most medicines, but he couldn't refuse what Rhodness obtained—they were things money couldn't buy. It was entertaining. I knew, but deliberately never told your uncle. At some point he seemed to realize, but he had no choice but to accept them. He wanted to keep you alive, after all."

Oh, Rhodness!

Trembling with betrayal.

Despairing over unrequited love.

Finally accepting reality and throwing himself into battlefields—yet even then, to me...

"So? Do you understand now who your true enemy is? Doris killed you, and your father arranged that marriage knowing I wanted you. Your father was truly stupid. All greed and nothing else. Just like watching Doris Castagna."

If Bardenaldo's words were true, Father had used me to advance into the capital.

Publicly as Grand Duchess Trovika. Privately as the Crown Prince's mistress.

Using his daughter to wrap two men around her skirts, planning to one day bear Crown Prince Bardenaldo's son and stab Castagna in the back.

The day I was ultimately excluded from the Crown Princess candidates, I'd thought Father was as indifferent as I was.

The day I received Novian Trovika's marriage proposal, I'd thought Father was supporting my first love coming to fruition.

'He knew everything, yet closed his eyes.'

My mind went numb. I fell silent for a moment.

"See my child from your body? Kck... Cough! If your father had seen me waiting for Doris to kill you, he wouldn't have harbored such vain ambitions."

His coughing fit worsening, Bardenaldo naturally extended his hand as if asking for another handkerchief.

I didn't give him a fresh one.

The Crown Prince threw the blood-soaked handkerchief to the floor and looked at me with the expression one might give a pathetic beast showing defiance.

"Foolishly deceived. Truly, truly foolish. Father and daughter both so foolish together—I've had such fun all this time. Kck. Cough, cough..."

Sickened by Bardenaldo's demonic nature, watching him look so relieved made my heart twist mercilessly.

"...Is that all?"

A different dimension of betrayal from what I'd felt with Novian or the Crown Prince scraped down my spine.

But I stood firm.

I was certain this demon most wanted to see me collapse from shock in this very spot.

Bardenaldo giggled for a long while, reminiscing about the past, then slowly erased his laughter when he saw I remained standing firm.

"Is that all, you ask."

"Yes."

The answer carried lingering implications, but I didn't press further.

I didn't know where to start or stop believing this bastard's words, but if what he said was true, it did somewhat resolve the questions that had troubled me all this time.

"I swear by the Lord, I've told you the 'truth' you wanted without a single lie. Cough, cough! Hck, hck. So... go give that damned testimony now. And try not to appear before me again if you can help it."

"...What testimony?"

"!"

"Foolishly."

The coughing began like a seizure. Without a handkerchief, blood chunks poured directly onto Bardenaldo's pale hands.

"Foolishly deceived and babbling every little detail. Thank you. That was quite entertaining."

"You... cra... zy..."

"You're going to die soon, Bardenaldo."

Cough! Cough, cough!

"Just like you, I know someone whose eyes turn bloodshot with the desire to kill you after moving my tongue just a few times."

"Wait, wait! Where are you going! Urk... call a physician! Cough, cough! Damn it! The blood..."

My insides had burned to black ash with nothing but cinders remaining, yet before this demon with no hope of redemption, I smiled exactly that wickedly.

Click—

Leaving behind the demon screaming weak protests for me not to go, I closed the bedroom door.

The moment the cold bedroom door touched my back—

I saw another demon approaching from the far end of the corridor, trailing servants in a line as if coming to pick a fight.

"I greet Her Imperial Highness the Crown Princess."

Doris Castagna, who hadn't shown her face all day.

Someone whose eyes turn bloodshot enough to kill after moving one's tongue just a few times, that is.