Chapter 11: The Contents of the Dream
I came to hate looking at the sky.
A cloudless, perfectly clear day was more than enough to make me think of her.
I regretted it again and again and again.
How did it come to this?
Why didnât I notice?
âŠWhy didnât I look at her more?
She wasâ
âââââŠ, ââââŠâŠâŠâ
Even though I couldnât see her face or hear her voice, I knew what words she was forming just by the movement of her lips.
They werenât words of self-blame.
They werenât words of anger either.
âThey were all words of the utmost gratitudeâŠ
Leaving her there, wearing a smile that had been thoroughly painted onâŠ
The other party laughed with a beautiful face.
“â!!”
Bernhard jolted awake as if leaping out of bed, his entire body drenched in sweat.
He had clearly seen a terrible nightmare, yet the moment he woke, he forgot its contents.
Breathing roughly, he looked outside to see the night sky, painted completely black, reigning overhead.
Even if you wake from the nightmare, I wonât let you escape.
A voice he both knew and did not know echoed in his head.
Faustina stared intently at the flowers blooming in the garden.
Although evening had already arrived, she had been standing like this for several tens of minutes.
Linsy stood silently at her side.
It was not unusual for her young mistress to quietly gaze at flowers like this.
At the Wittgenstein ducal estate, various flowers were planted according to the season.
She gently pinched a petal of the cassia flower, whose flower language meant âa maidenâs prayer.â
Then she immediately let it go.
What kind of prayer would my former self have offered?
Probably something like wishing for my unrequited love for Bernhard to come true.
Then, what is my wish nowâ?
“Linsy.”
“Yes.”
“I heard that the flower language of cassia is âa maidenâs prayer,â but if it were you, what kind of prayer would you make?”
“Me?
Letâs see⊠I would pray that you donât run away even when His Highness the Crown Prince visits.”
“Ugh.”
Linsyâs words stabbed straight into her chest.
Bernhardâs birthday party at the royal castle was ten days away.
The dress that had arrived recently was being kept under strict guard in the valuables room.
Kane had said it was dangerous to keep it in Faustinaâs room.
And also, just in case.
“I think Brother could trust me a little more.”
“Hmm⊠I canât put it into words well, but I think Lord Kaneâs judgment is probably correct.”
“Why?
Even I wouldnât do something like misplacing a gift from the royal family.”
“Itâs not you, milady.
Um⊠well⊔
“âŠâŠ”
Linsy repeated âumâ and âwell,â clearly searching for words.
From her reaction, it was obvious she didnât think Faustina herself would do anything.
Then who would?
A certain person came to mind, but surely they wouldnât try to lay hands on a gift from royalty.
At least⊠she hoped not.
“Dear Sister.”
Just as Faustina was about to tell the flustered Linsy that it was fine, Elvira called out to her from behind.
Elviraâs pastel-yellow dress matched strangely well with the evening glow.
“I heard that a dress was delivered for Bernhardâs birthday party.”
âSheâs angryâŠâ
“Yes.
Itâs being kept in the valuables room right now.”
The day the dress arrived, this topic had come up at the dinner table.
Unlike their parents, who were relieved that things seemed to be going well with the crown prince, only Elvira had puffed out her cheeks in a sulk.
Faustina had been restless, wondering if Elvira would say something, but she hadnât that day.
And now she was bringing it upâŠ
“I have a favor to ask you, Sister.
I want to wear the dress Bernhard sent.”
Did she even understand what she was saying?
Did she really think Faustina would agree?
Even if Faustina did, Citrine would never allow it, and surely Ludmila wouldnât tell her to give it up either.
Ignoring Faustinaâs shock and Linsyâs stunned silence, as well as the attendant maids, Elvira continued speaking.
“Donât you think it would suit me better than you?”
“Itâs not a matter of whether it suits you or notâŠ
Elvira, you already have so many lovely dresses, donât you?
You donât need to wear mine.”
“But I donât have a dress from Bernhard!”
“âŠâŠ”
Faustina glanced at Linsy.
Her expression clearly said she had no idea what to say.
Faustina dug into her past memories.
Elvira hadnât been this proactive before.
She hadnât been quiet, but she hadnât been this selfish either.
At first, she had been confused but happy that the crown prince came to see her instead of Faustina.
But as time passed, Elvira soothed a heart that had grown tired of Faustinaâs increasingly intense jealousy and verbal abuse.
It didnât take long for Elvira to be drawn to the beautiful prince unlike anyone else around her.
Rather, demanding someone elseâs dress was exactly like the former Faustina.
“Then you should have a similar dress made for yourself, Sister.
I want to wear that dress!”
Faustina felt relieved that their mother wasnât here.
(Whatâs different from last time⊠me?)
Before, Elviraâs position had been that of a pitiful younger sister who received the crown princeâs favor while being harshly bullied by her elder sister.
Beloved by her mother and adored by the crown prince, she had been more than enough to fuel Faustinaâs jealousy and inferiority complex.
Now, how did Elvira look?
Arrogant, selfish, jealous, possessive, and obsessively attached to the position of the crown princeâs fiancĂ©eâ
Without the Faustina who clung to that role, Elvira seemed to become nothing more than a spoiled child.
If this continued, it wouldnât be good for Elvira herself or for the Wittgenstein ducal house.
Even if she would be nagged by her mother again, Faustina would not abandon her role as an older sister.
If nothing else, she could think of it as atonement for what she had done to her before.
“Itâs not about whether it suits you or not.
If you were to wear a dress gifted by His Highness, and he saw it, what do you think he would think?”
“ThatâŠ
Bernhard would say it looks good on me.”
After thinking for a moment, Elvira muttered that, and Faustina quietly sighed.
“Elvira.
I said from the start that this isnât about whether it suits you.
It could be seen as me being dissatisfied with the dress His Highness gave me and pushing it onto you, or as you forcibly taking it from me.
That would be disrespectful to royalty.
Even if the other party werenât royalty but just a noble, it would still make them uncomfortable.
That alone is reason enough.”
“Thatâs enough!”
There were still many things she needed to say, but Elvira raised her voice in anger instead.
“I donât need your lectures!
Besides, I donât want to hear them from someone whoâs always getting lectured by Brother!”
“Lady Elvira, thatâsâ”
When the maid standing slightly behind Elvira tried to admonish her, Elvira shot her a sharp glare with ruby-red eyes.
“Iâm just stating the facts, arenât I?”
Watching Elvira lash out at the maid, Faustina felt a strong sense of déjà vu and understood.
The Elvira who was shrinking under shouted abuse had been Elvira.
The Elvira now yelling without regard for others was her former self.
It was as if their roles had been reversed.
She couldnât leave Elvira like this.
Elvira had an important role to play.
(I need her to become His Highnessâs new fiancĂ©e.
Thatâs the future where no one ends up unhappy!)
Even if things were fine now, no one knew what the future held.
Short of asking a mage to see the future, there was no way to know.
But there were no mages in this world.
They existed only in fairy tales.
From Bernhardâs behavior, Faustina believed it was only a matter of time before he was drawn to Elvira.
“Elviâ”
“Whatâs going on here?”
Before Faustina could call out to stop Elvira, Citrine appeared in the garden.
Seeing that he wasnât accompanied by a butler, he must have been on his usual garden walk.
Elvira, who had been pressing the maid, seemed to realize this was bad and immediately lost her momentum.
She averted her gaze and looked down awkwardly.
“Did something happen, Elvira?”
“Um⊠well⊔
Citrine treated servants and family alike.
He had scolded Elvira several times before for lashing out at maids in her tantrums.
This time as well, Elvira had snapped back at the maid who tried to correct her.
If the truth came out, Elvira would be the one scolded.
Even though Faustina wanted to step in, thinking of Elviraâs futureâ
and partly for her own sakeâ
she decided it would be better to let their father scold her and make her reflect.
Since Elvira remained silent, Faustina explained what had happened.
The maid who had been lashed out at looked awkward for a different reason, clearly uncomfortable.
After hearing Faustinaâs explanation, Citrine gently and carefully admonished Elvira in the tone one would use with a small child, and the lecture ended.
As they returned to the house, Faustina walked beside Citrine, chatting about the delicious tea from a neighboring country she had learned about from the queen the day before.
Elvira glared at her sister with dissatisfied ruby-red eyes.
When Faustina turned toward her after feeling that strong gaze, Elvira quickly looked away.
(Itâs going to be tense again for a whileâŠ)
Faustina hoped that whatever scolding might come at dinner would end quickly.
In the end, there was no scolding at dinner.
Or rather, Elvira said nothing at all.
Normally, whenever something displeased her, she would immediately complain to Ludmila and seek comfort.
“There wasnât anything this time.
Thatâs creepy.”
After her bath, Faustina thoroughly dried her hair, slipped under her blanket, and shivered despite the warmth.
“It feels like a bad omenâŠ
No, that canât be.”
She tried to laugh it off and reassure herself, but her face quickly turned pale.
“There are ten days left until His Highnessâs birthday party.
Will something happen during that time?
But Iâve written down everything that happened around and on the day of the previous birthday party in [Various Notes on Faustina] and prepared countermeasures⊔
There would be no days off from queenly education until the birthday party itself.
She would be confined to the royal castle from morning until evening, leaving Elvira no chance to do anything.
Even if Faustina didnât intend to.
But conversely, that meant Elvira had plenty of time to act.
Would she try to take the dress from the valuables room?
The thought crossed her mind, but the room was strictly guarded.
There were five locks that had to be opened in a specific order, making entry impossible even if the keys were stolen.
If not taking the dress, then what else might she doâŠ
“I need to think and find an answerâŠ
âŠbut Iâm so sleepy⊔
âŠy.
Before she could even finish the word, Faustina lost consciousness and fell asleep, breathing softly and evenly.
âThe dream she had that night filled her with a warm, fluffy feeling.
A voice she knew yet couldnât remember soothed her heart, which had been growing more and more worn down.
ââŠ, âŠâŠâŠâŠâ
With the whisper of someone whose face and voice she couldnât recall lingering in her ears, Faustina woke up.
Outside, the skyâblue like her hairâshone beautifully under the sunâs light.