Theodore, who received an order to leave, failed to transfer to the academy and left for the viscounty where his mother was staying.
‘It’s peaceful.’
Diana and Raoul’s daily life also returned to its normal course.
After that day, Raoul devoted himself even more to training.
His skills improved day by day, reaching the level of winning one-on-one duels with official knights, but he never showed off or acted arrogant.
While Raoul continued to grow, Diana made a new friend.
Now she held a letter from Peniche in her hand.
Written in neat and soft cursive handwriting resembling her elegant appearance, the letter contained good news about the trial results of His Highness Prince Trian.
Thanks to Lady Diana’s intervention, His Highness the Prince’s misunderstanding was cleared up.
The poison analysis results revealed that the poison used in the assassination attempt on His Highness the Crown Prince and the poison used in the scented sachet did not match at all.
The court officials who had been abusing His Highness were also listed as traitors and detained.
You can trust this as it’s the result of a trial where my father participated as a juror.
Soon, when we meet, we’ll have a longer talk. Oh, you’re taking care of Anthony the cat, right? Be careful.
Anthony is stubborn, so I’m raising one too. He’s a reliable friend, but when he throws a tantrum, he’s very obstinate.
Still, our house cat is cute. Her name is Lobelia, and she’s a girl.
If you happen to raise a male, it might be nice to pair them up. I’ll wait for your reply.
From Peniche.
Diana looked at Sebastian, who was sprawled out on the table, while taking a sip of cold juice.
Sebastian, who had fallen into a deep sleep after playing with Diana’s pen, had been doing nothing but eating and sleeping since arriving at the castle.
Is this what cats are normally like? Even when she tried to play by waving a blade of grass, he wouldn’t budge unless he wanted to.
She had been worried about the first day’s quarrel with Raoul, but unexpectedly, the two were getting along well by ignoring each other’s existence.
Sometimes when she habitually stroked Sebastian, Raoul would secretly get jealous, but Diana didn’t notice at all.
“If every day could be like today, I’d have no other wish…”
Just then, Sebastian, who had been in a deep sleep, suddenly raised his head.
Meow.
Sebastian puffed up his body and kept mewing like a baby towards the window.
“What’s out there?”
Diana went out to the terrace and looked around, but not even an ant that could have stimulated Sebastian was visible.
Meow! Meow!
“What’s wrong?”
Sebastian, who had been squirming in her arms, finally jumped out onto the terrace. Diana was so surprised she almost fainted.
“Sebastian!!!”
The annoying cat climbed down the tree that Diana often used and sparkled his jewel-like eyes.
It was as if he was saying, ‘Come down right now.’
‘First leaves, now a cat…? Don’t tell me you’re under a spell too, Sebastian?’
Before she could even process her suspicion, Sebastian hopped towards the forest.
In her haste, Diana didn’t even think of going out through the main gate and climbed the tree.
After descending like a monkey and landing lightly, Diana started running after Sebastian’s tail.
“Stop…! Sebastian…!”
Far from stopping, Sebastian ran away even faster. Diana, lacking stamina, was on the verge of gasping for breath.
“Huff…! You…! Won’t you… come here?”
The place she arrived at following Sebastian was the gloomy back garden behind the slave quarters.
Diana, intent on finding Sebastian, roughly pushed through the bushes.
But Sebastian was nowhere to be seen, and instead, there was a rustle, rustle sound coming from behind a berry bush.
‘Is that Sebastian?’
Just as Diana was cautiously approaching behind the tree.
Meow!
‘What are you! Where did you suddenly appear from!’
Sebastian, whom she had been searching for, affectionately bumped his head against Diana’s shin.
‘Wait, if Sebastian is here…?’
The sound stopped, and from behind the short berry bush, pale gray eyes appeared.
Both Diana and the woman screamed.
Kyaaaaa!
As Diana sat down and retreated on her bottom, the woman in front of her prostrated herself flat on the ground and begged for forgiveness.
“I have committed a mortal sin, young lady!”
‘Young lady?’
Looking closely, she was wearing a maid’s uniform.
The woman with light green hair like camouflage was as beautiful as an elf living in the forest.
Diana, not lowering her guard and keeping as far away as possible, asked.
“Why were you digging in the ground?”
“Th-that… I was only doing as I was told. I had no intention of framing the young lady!”
The maid pulled out a bundle from behind her back.
Inside was a round object that looked like a bomb.
“Young Master Theodore told me to put this in the young lady’s food, but I couldn’t bring myself to do it and have just been keeping it! I knew it would be discovered if I left it in the castle, so I was trying to bury it in the forest… Please forgive me!”
“…This can’t be. This is Dunkel, right?”
“Y-yes, it is. I’m sorry…”
No, there’s nothing to be sorry about. My goodness, Diana was grateful to Theodore for the first time in her life.
To go to such lengths to torment her. Dunkel was a sacred fruit that appeared in the original work.
The people of the Empire named it the ‘corpse fruit’ due to its black appearance like something rotten and its foul smell, but in reality, Dunkel was a curse-breaking remedy that only grew in lands where sacred power flowed.
Trian had mentioned this fruit exactly once in the original work.
It was the day when Ayla, a rebel, and Trian, a prince by birth, saved each other’s lives for the first time and shared a drink of loyalty. They got drunk and entered a mode of competing with stories.
At that time, Trian clearly said this:
“When I was wandering in the desert, I was so desperate for food that I even ate fruits that smelled like corpses. One, two, I ate all the fruits hanging on the tree. But after eating, my head became clear. It turned out to be a fruit called Dunkel. I almost got roasted alive by the desert tribe who considered it sacred flesh. They say it only grows in lands where sacred power flows.”
Those who cast curses were mostly high-ranking nobles or merchants who used slaves.
This was also why the existence of Dunkel was disguised as a corpse fruit.
Diana lifted the woman who was prostrating herself on the ground in atonement, and took the Dunkel from her hands.
“That’s enough.”
“No! You can whip me until you’re satisfied, young lady. Just please don’t throw me out!”
“Whip you? You said you hid it instead of putting it in my food for my sake. If anything, that’s praiseworthy…”
“Do, do you really understand? You’re not going to curse me or to-torture me with magic?”
Diana squeezed her eyes shut and shook her head.
“I don’t know how rumors about me have spread in the castle, but I was born with little mana and no sacred power. How could I do such things?”
The woman, still lying flat, peeked out with just her eyes and watched Diana’s reaction.
“…”
“It’s alright, please get up quickly. Your clothes are getting dirty…”
“Yes…”
The woman was bright and cheerful. Thinking she owed Diana a debt of gratitude, she walked beside her and led the conversation non-stop.
“Please call for me whenever you need anything! I’ll help as much as I can.”
The woman, who introduced herself as Helen, smiled clearly without a hint of guile as she rattled off her name, affiliation, and daily routine.
‘At this rate, she might even reveal that she’s an elf.’
Diana anxiously looked behind the woman. Butterflies and bees had been clinging to her back since earlier.
She had clearly witnessed swarms of insects rising around when the woman screamed.
‘Judging by her ears not being pointed, she must be half-elf.’
“I’m sorry! I talk too much, don’t I…! I don’t have any friends in the castle…”
How could someone so sociable not have friends?
‘She must be trying to stay as quiet as possible to avoid being discovered as an elf.’
Diana looked up at Helen and smiled warmly.
“It’s okay. This is the first time I’ve had such a long conversation with a maid other than Angela. It’s fun…”
“Ah…”
Her round eyes lit up. After chattering for a while, she finally bowed when they reached the entrance of the mansion.
“I meant what I said earlier. I’ll definitely repay your kindness!”
‘I wonder if there’s anything I could ask for?’
Diana nodded awkwardly, smiling back.
[This is the timeline separator]Diana, who returned with the fruit in her hand, fell into deep thought.
Trian said he felt clear-headed not after eating just one, but after eating all the fruits on the tree.
“One might not be enough.”
It took a full 5 years for Dunkel to bloom and bear fruit.
Moreover, it was a very picky fruit that only had efficacy when grown in land where sacred power flowed.
It wasn’t distributed in markets, and since the tree died after bearing fruit once, it was as rare as hen’s teeth.
She wanted to find Ayla and ask her to heal her, but the time when Ayla received sacred power was after the later episode where Trian was on the brink of death.
It was right before reuniting with Raoul, so there was no use in looking for her early.
She closed the plant encyclopedia and clutched her head.
‘If only I had land where sacred power flows, I’d try growing it myself…!’
“What are you doing?”
“Oh, you’re back?”
Raoul, discovering Diana in deep contemplation, asked with a start.
Having finished training and even bathed, a fragrant soap scent wafted from his body.
Diana naturally made room beside her.
Raoul, who had brought a military strategy book, sat down next to Diana and looked down at the book she was holding.
“Why are you suddenly reading an encyclopedia?”
“I found a fruit tree I want to grow…”
Raoul stared at Diana’s face for a moment, then took the book and opened it.
“What kind of tree is it?”
“Well… if I had to say, it’s similar to an apple.”
“An apple?”
“Yeah.”
“Wouldn’t a peach be better?”
“Huh? Why? Do you like peaches?”
“…It’s not that. Because it resembles you.”
A full-page illustration of a peach greeted Diana cheerfully.
Resembles me? When the face embedded in the peach changed to Diana’s, it created a very grotesque atmosphere.
Somehow it feels out of place. It looks like a very fierce fruit.
“Come to think of it, you also said before…”
‘You also said I looked like a peach before.’
Her voice trailed off as memories of that night came flooding back.
Raoul, not understanding the context, looked up and burst out laughing.
‘It really is a peach.’
Sitting almost a hand’s width apart, Raoul put aside the strategy book and read the encyclopedia with Diana for quite some time.
Unable to take his eyes off her ever-changing expressions that were so lovable.
When scheming men desperately battle for her favor in the male harem
This one’s also on my reread list! The rivalry, scheming between the men in the imperial harem are just as intense and thrilling as in classic palace drama novels, where concubines fight to the death. Give it a read, girls! I promise you won’t be disappointed.
Synopsis:
“I am not worthy of her… but I still want to be by her side, even if only as a loyal dog…”
Those were the painful whispers of Yue Guanyi – the proud Crown Prince of the Great Qi, who was torn between deep love and a guilty conscience. Despite holding the supreme power of the Imperial Guard, he still could not forget the dark past when he was sold into a brothel.
Fate played a cruel twist when Qiu Shuzhi – a young female official who had just passed the imperial examinations with top honors – stepped into his life. She did not know that she was the one who had saved him from a tragic fate many years ago. And now, her heart was the target of pursuit for both Yue Guanyi and the powerful Empress Dowager Qin Qing.
While Yue Guanyi only dared to silently care for and protect the one he loved from afar, the Empress Dowager Qin Qing openly expressed his feelings and did not hesitate to take advantage of his power to approach Qiu Shuzhi. The covert struggle between the two most powerful forces in the imperial court began…
Trigger warning: All men in this novel are yandere style.
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