RAMHM Chapter 123

What Bliea Stole

"And the reason your body recovered its health—we can deduce it's because your body absorbed Bliea's magical power that was in that mana stone coffin. What should have been there returned, so it's a natural progression."

Rotsy's gaze, which had been talking steadily for some time, now shifted to Olivia, who kept swallowing back tears.

"But you. What's the reason you suddenly came all the way to Ellaconia looking for Bliea? You two hadn't met since she ran away."

"I always wanted to meet Lady Bliea! It's just that my body was weak, so it was difficult to come directly to Ellaconia, and since Lady Bliea didn't want to meet, I held back."

"So what wind suddenly blew that made you drag dozens of escorts to this forest? If you bought high-grade information to tell you my location, you must have spent quite a bit of money."

At Rotsy's sharp point, Olivia closed her mouth for a moment.

When all the gazes in the cabin turned to her trembling lips, Olivia, unable to bear the silence, carefully opened her mouth.

Adrienne's death shocked the peaceful Pirreta territory greatly.

Upon hearing the news, Duke Pirreta collapsed on the spot.

Aged as he was, he couldn't calmly accept Adrienne's sudden death and remained bedridden ever since that day.

It was unusual enough that all the servants thought, 'Even if His Grace didn't show it, he clearly loved the Princess.'

It was natural for the servants to think that way.

The Duke never mistreated or scolded Adrienne, but neither was he a father who came close affectionately to pat her head or speak tender words.

Fortunately, the Princess's elder brother, Young Duke Pirreta, and his wife Bianca had taken on the role of Adrienne's protectors since childhood, and under nanny Olivia's protection, Adrienne had grown up without any hardships.

Duke Pirreta wasn't the type to be overly affectionate even with his son Gregory, so it was difficult to see it as favoritism.

The servants considered it remarkable enough that the Duke, who had loved his wife more than his children, had sent his wife away early and never brought in a new duchess.

Because noblemen's love was nothing if not fickle.

And Olivia was also one of those who had begun to revise her thinking that the Duke was a father who loved his children 'at least a little.'

Olivia had always hated the Duke after Helene's death and the Bliea incident, but when even Adrienne left this world, she thought even that hatred was all futile.

What the Duke said when she visited him after a long time was enough to make Olivia's eyes fly open.

"That child..."

"Pardon?"

"That, that child."

Late at night. The day she went to bring the Duke his medicine.

The Duke, languishing in illness, sought out Bliea.

"If I'd kept that child alive, it wouldn't have been this hard."

"!"

Olivia set down the medicine bowl with trembling hands and listened closely to the Duke's words.

"If that child had been alive, instead of Adrienne..."

The words weren't finished, but Olivia felt a surge of joy that 'that' Duke, for the first time, sought out his daughter not because he wanted to kill her, but on the premise that it would have been good if she'd been kept alive.

Perhaps Bliea could be recognized as the Duke's daughter. Be acknowledged as Pirreta's legitimate eldest daughter and Princess like the deceased Adrienne.

Then Bliea too could forget all those difficult past days and live together here in Ronteaux, not in Ellaconia.

"Your Grace. Would you like it if your first daughter had lived?"

"Yes. Why I told you to abandon that child. My thinking was... shortsighted."

Even if it was a somewhat selfish thought, Olivia began to burn with the will that the living must live.

Adrienne's death was certainly sad, but to speak coldly, Adrienne had always been weak, so she'd guessed she wouldn't live long. Just as Helene had been.

So making the long-neglected Bliea happy became Olivia's only reason for living now.

"Your Grace. Actually, I..."

So she tried to summon Bliea. When she revealed the secret she'd kept tightly hidden alone for over 20 years, the Duke rose from his sickbed that very day.

Bring Bliea back. He'd let that child enjoy wealth and glory. He'd let her take Adrienne's place.

Every time she heard such words, Olivia used the money he provided to search for Bliea.

Though the Duke collapsed again after the Crown Prince's death.

"I'm sorry, Miss. It's this inadequate nanny's fault. If I'd known you were alive like this, I would have taken care of you."

The nanny, her face full of regret, seemed unable to shed even tears now.

I approached her and wrapped my arm around her shoulders.

"No. You were always sincere with me. That I never once felt the empty space of not having a mother—that wouldn't have been possible without you."

Rather, I was worried about Olivia.

'Father didn't search for Bliea because he missed her, because he truly regretted his choice.'

I didn't want to disappoint Olivia, but I had to speak what needed to be said.

The reason Father collapsed was clearly because I, the symbol of his solid alliance with the Crown Prince, had died. And because that Crown Prince had also died, leaving him cut off.

The reason he searched for Bliea before the Crown Prince died, too. He must have hoped that she, as a twin, would impersonate me and become the Grand Duchess, and furthermore become the Crown Prince's mistress and bear his child.

With the premise that Father was that kind of person, everything Olivia said fell into place. Though my mood was low, goosebumps rose at the feeling of a frustrating puzzle being solved.

"Olivia. Don't be shocked—just listen."

I told Olivia the truth.

Just as I'd told Rotsy. Very briefly but with the major situations.

And furthermore, that Father was also behind all this, and the reason he was looking for Bliea was probably hoping she'd become the Crown Prince's mistress in my place.

But since even that Crown Prince had died, he couldn't bear it without falling ill.

"That can't be!"

Olivia forgot even to lean on her cane and leaped to her feet with a scream close to a wail.

Her voice was so rough that Neil briefly came in from outside to check the situation before leaving.

"Good heavens. How could this be? That old man! I should have known that damned old man wasn't the type to change just because Princess passed away!"

"Olivia, don't blame yourself. Anyone normal would have thought the same."

"I should have known! That temperament that loved no one but Lady Helene since his youth! That he was someone who could abandon even his own child in a heartbeat for ambition! From the moment he abandoned that infant, ordered her killed! I've lived always resenting him, yet how could I think of that person on the same level as ordinary people at such a crucial moment... That I, of all people, had such foolish thoughts!"

"Olivia, regrets about the past are all futile."

After comforting her for some time, I spoke somewhat solemnly. Olivia, who'd been agitated enough for her neatly braided hair to come completely undone, froze at my voice.

"I'm sorry, so sorry. Miss. At the thought that my momentary judgment almost put Lady Bliea in danger again, I just... You're right, Miss. This nanny knows that regrets about the past are completely useless. I know better than anyone. What should I do?"

Olivia asked me with eyes that looked like they could bring back Father's head if necessary.

"For now, let's make a plan. My heart is too exhausted because too many truths poured out all at once."

The night deepened.

A dark night with no moon risen.

The cabin with its lights burning was crowded beyond capacity, but filled only with quiet fury.

"You said you wanted to wake Bliea."

Rotsy, who'd been quiet, finally spoke.

"Waking Bliea is simple."

After hearing even Olivia's words, her tone was deliberately enthusiastic.

"You just need to share that child's magical power that transferred to you back with her. Then the coffin will open again, and Bliea will wake up too."

"But I haven't been conscious of having magical power in my body. Is it possible not to feel anything like this?"

"Magical power isn't easily perceived. Even I can't sense magical power from you, Miss. There needs to be a catalyst for the power's owner to awaken. If you clutch something bigger than that fingernail-sized mana stone you have—a chunk of raw mana stone—and train with my help, you can quickly learn to recognize the magical power you have and how to channel it to another person."

Rotsy's eyes began to gleam, then positively glisten.

"The problem is obtaining a mana stone that large. Ronteaux manages mana stones directly under the Emperor, and the quantity is absurdly small. Ellaconia too extremely restricts mana stone production while managing it. This is really—I'm feeling desperately eager to help right now!"

"Is a raw mana stone all that's needed?"

"Of course. It needs to be at least that much for you to practice transferring your magical power properly without losing it. If you transfer to someone else's body instead of a mana stone, that magical power vanishes. Damn it, I've been going around digging up every place rumored to have mines because I'm sick to death of these situations arising from mana stones. These blasted mana stones..."

"...I have a mana stone mine."

"What?"

Rotsy raised her slanted eyes slightly and blinked.

"In my Acacia County territory, I said there's a mana stone mine. Prince Epero definitely said that."

The brightest expression I'd seen on Rotsy's face today emerged. Rotsy immediately approached me with eyes that seemed to burn.

"Let's go. If it's Acacia territory, it's near the Ellaconian border. We just need to tell His Majesty, who must be traveling south, that since we've met, we'll go to the capital together, so he should return first."

What followed was surprisingly swift.

The personnel who'd been preparing to camp in the back yard folded their tents at Rhodness's command and organized the procession again.

Once everyone moved a bit away from the vicinity of the cabin, Rotsy muttered something and waved her hand.

With crack, crack sounds, the cabin collapsed with a crash.

The fireflies that had been illuminating around Rotsy's cabin enveloped the procession, growing their swarm larger and larger until they lit our way bright as midday even in the middle of the night.

Once I climbed into the carriage with Rhodness and the carriage left the forest, I dropped my gaze downward like someone whose soul had been stolen.

My body and my soul. Even with everything in its proper place, the sensation of not feeling like my own submerged deep into the ocean floor.

"Adrienne."

"..."

"Lean on me."

Inside the carriage where darkness and light alternated, Rhodness came to sit beside me.

When his massive shadow and warm heat warmed me, only then did my face crumble.

"I was always afraid of Bliea."

Leaning into his embrace, his arm wrapped around my shoulders, I muttered as if to myself.

"She stole my husband. Stole my family's happiness. I thought she tried to steal my position too."

"..."

"But what I lost by dying was... Novian, whom I thought was you. The Crown Prince who said he'd give his life for the country. Father, who would have loved me even if he didn't express it."

"That's right."

"Everything Bliea stole was fake that I thought was real."

It wouldn't be just me. Because by me being robbed of false things, even Rhodness who held me escaped from illusion.

I reached out to his heart, beating as rapidly as mine. The vibration and warmth felt against my palm encouraged tears.

"The words 'pitiful Adrienne Pirreta' written in Bliea's diary always made me feel miserable."

From my muddled mind, sorrow erupted like a volcano.

"If Bliea is my older sister. If by any chance she didn't write that diary hating or resenting me..."

Hot tears streamed down my contorting face.

"Then she really helped me because I was pitiful. When the truly pitiful one is..."

Fury and sadness with nowhere to direct grabbed my reason and shook it.

"That makes me truly angry and sad."

The illusions I'd been standing on shattered, and I, who'd barely been hanging on by clutching Rhodness, finally realized I had to step on the wreckage of those illusions myself.

Rhodness's lips, which had been responding quietly, descended on my tear-stained eyes.

And until the tears stopped, his lips didn't leave.