Chapter 39: The Black Hand

An apple pie placed on a table covered with a pure white tablecloth, releasing the sweet aroma of apples and cinnamon.
Watching Faustina pour all her brightest attention into the apple pie of the day, Rinsy felt genuine relief, having been the one to talk about it in the first place.
Curious by nature, Faustina often asked Rinsy—who liked to go into town on her days off—about commoner life and the shops there.

When Rinsy had been told that the apple pie, which could not be bought even if you arrived an hour before opening, was chosen as a birthday present, she had felt a twinge of regret.
It might be popular among commoners, but whether it would suit the palate of a duke’s daughter who ate dishes prepared daily by top-class chefs using luxury ingredients was another matter entirely.
Even if it did not suit her taste, Faustina would never show it on her face or say so aloud.
She would surely say it was delicious.

The shop clerk had said that if it was not eaten right away, warming it just before serving would make it almost indistinguishable from freshly baked.

Rinsy poured Faustina’s favorite orange juice into the piglet-themed mug that Lyun had given her.
At first, Rinsy had pressed Lyun about why it had to be a pig.
She had demanded furiously whether he meant to imply that her precious lady was fat.
Flustered, Lyun had explained that he simply wanted Faustina to know how adorable piglets were, and that was why he chose the mug.
Since the recipient herself looked happy, Rinsy let the matter drop.

With eyes full of anticipation, Faustina smoothly used her knife and fork to cut the apple pie into bite-sized pieces.

Faustina had changed since her engagement to the Crown Prince was decided.
If one were to say it out loud, others might think there was no major change.
But Rinsy, who had been tasked with caring for Faustina since she was three years old, understood.

First, no matter what Ludmila said, Faustina no longer flew into a rage or talked back.
Even if she did respond, she handled it calmly, hiding behind an emotionless mask.

Second—there was nothing else in particular.

Her attitude toward Elvira was almost exactly the same as before.

(If there’s no change in how she treats the Master or Lord Cain either, then it really is only toward Madam that her response has changed so drastically.)

Rinsy did not know why Faustina disliked her engagement to the Crown Prince.
Even as she worked hard at her queen consort education and lessons with her tutors, earning steadily rising evaluations, she still ran away whenever Bernhard came.

The head butler had told her.
Apparently, Faustina had once said to Bernhard that if he ever wanted to break off the engagement, he should say so at any time.
Why would she say that?
It should have been shocking, yet watching Faustina constantly flee from Bernhard, it had not felt entirely surprising.

All that remained unclear was the reason she ran from him, and why she wanted to annul the engagement.

Rinsy wished she would tell her.
As nothing more than a mere maid, there was little she could do for Faustina.
Even so, she wanted her to share her feelings, even just a little.

“It’s really delicious, Rinsy!”
“I’m glad you enjoyed it, my lady.”
“May I have another glass of orange juice?”
“Yes.”

Behind that warm, dazzling smile like the sun—
Rinsy wished to know the small wish hidden within her young mistress’s heart.

—Night, Faustina’s private chamber—

“Haaah, special days really are the best.”

This year’s birthday was the happiest she had ever had, including the previous one.
And because of that, she found herself despising her former self’s arrogance, greed, and narrow-mindedness even more.

“I was always flailing around trying to make His Highness Bernhard fall in love with me.
I never once thought about asking for what I truly wanted.”

She had demanded dresses in colors Bernhard might like.
She had wanted to enter his field of vision, to see a warm smile, to be loved.

She had pushed nothing but selfish demands onto him.
Her awful personality and the insidious way she bullied her own sister had driven his feelings from zero into the negative.

“What should I say next year, I wonder.”

Dinner had been an everyday meal, simply made more lavish.
She had bathed and dried her hair.

All that was left was sleep.

“Will I be able to dream…?”

She wanted to see dreams of the past, to fill in the blank pieces of her memories.
Not only clues connected to breaking off the engagement, but also the reason she herself had died.
If Aeria did not know, then no one else did.

Faustina would have to remember it herself.

“Alright, time for bed.”

She slipped beneath the covers and closed her eyes.
If you tried too hard to sleep, you only ended up more awake.
That did not apply to Faustina, who could fall asleep the moment she decided to.

“Zzz… zzz…”

She was asleep in an instant.

—At that moment, the doorknob turned.
The door opened quietly.
The intruder softly closed it and approached the bed where Faustina slept, poking her plump cheek with an index finger.
She twisted her face as if tickled, but showed no sign of waking.

The blankets were pulled aside, and her small body was carefully lifted.
Cradling her protectively, the person left the room.
Outside, they placed her into a large box, curling her body into a knees-hugged position before closing the lid.

The box was lifted, and they began to move.

It was already late at night.
At this hour, no one walked the halls of the mansion.

They exited through the rear door of the estate and gently set the box down on the ground for a moment.
Transporting an eight-year-old girl inside a box was no small labor.
Wiping the faint sweat from their brow with a sleeve, they lifted the box once more.

At the back gate, the person handed the box to a man who was already waiting by an open gate.

“Handle it gently.”
“I know.
I won’t damage valuable merchandise.”
“….”

Being called merchandise made the person grimace in discomfort.
The man pretended not to notice, moved aside a large pile of straw, placed the box there, and covered it with straw.

“In this country, fairy tales can become reality.
I don’t care if she’s a reincarnation of some goddess or whatever, but if we take this girl hostage, we’ll get an enormous ransom from the royal family and the ducal house.”
“…Let’s move.
It’ll be troublesome if we’re discovered.”
“Yeah.”

The person closed the gate and started to follow the man pulling the cart.
After casting a complicated look back at the ducal estate, they answered the man’s call and began walking.

—The next morning, when Rinsy came to Faustina’s room to wake her and cried out in panic, “The young lady is gone!”
That single shout sent shockwaves through the dining hall, where Citrine and the others had been waiting for Faustina, plunging the entire estate into chaos.