Chapter 48: Mother and Sister — Part 2
After drinking tea for a while and calming myself down, I asked about one more thing that had been bothering me.
Even though I was curious, it had been difficult to bring up.
“What happened to Jason-sama’s daughter?”
Noel answered casually.
“It seems the daughter was taken in by a wealthy merchant family that was close to the Marquis and his wife. She’ll live as a commoner now. But it’s a very wealthy household, and apparently the Marquis couple gave her a large dowry. I’m sure she’ll live happily. If she stayed in noble society, the scandal would follow her forever.”
“So she’ll grow up there.”
“That’s good,” Mother said.
“That’s good,” I said as well.
I never imagined things would turn out like this, but I want the daughter who survived to grow up happily.
Mother lowered her gaze and spoke thoughtfully, little by little.
“They say the girl has beautiful silver hair, just like Jason-sama. She must resemble him in appearance too, and she’s at such a cute age. I’m amazed the Marquis couple could let her go after losing their only son. Among women of our generation, people admire that decision. They must have thought about their granddaughter’s true happiness. That’s probably why they also took responsibility for Mary. If the granddaughter were to grow up and learn that her mother had been abandoned, it would be painful.”
Then she lifted her face and looked at me.
“So regarding that whole series of incidents, the tone hasn’t been one of harshly condemning the Marquis family. And since so many events overlapped, your incident seems to have been buried.”
She looked slightly apologetic.
I was surprised by what Mother said.
I had thought the story would be exaggerated and turned into gossip, but perhaps for women of her generation, it was something deeply relatable.
I had read in novels that love is difficult to control—that before you realize it, you fall in love, and things no longer proceed according to reason or logic.
Perhaps Jason-sama had been the same.
In contrast, Noel spoke brightly.
“Recently, people have been calling you a lucky and courageous young lady.”
I was exasperated, but also impressed.
Society really is something remarkable.
I thought all those scattered rumors would spiral out of control, but somehow they had settled near the truth.
As for myself, it was completely mistaken—but it would probably fade from conversation soon enough, so it didn’t matter.
“So socially, the matter of my wedding with Jason-sama has more or less settled, then.”
“That’s right,” Noel said with a smile.
The way she said it so lightly made her seem like a complete outsider—so detached.
“Then I’ll forget about it too. After all, I’ve managed to live safely like this.”
As I said that, I looked at Noel’s face.
At fifteen, love and marriage were still far-off matters for her.
Unlike Mother and women of her generation, she didn’t yet have the life experience to imagine herself in such a situation.
She didn’t know that her own life had truly been in danger during the attack on the Cruz family.
She also didn’t know that visiting Belsia might come with the risk of death.
I had another cup of tea poured and picked up a small white dragée.
How much should I warn this sister of mine?
If she knew there was danger, it might actually make things worse.
She probably wouldn’t be able to act naturally anymore.
When I looked at Mother, she too was watching Noel with a slight tilt of her head.
Grandmother’s words came back to me—
“Your mother may look like that, but she can be quite capable. It seems like her true feelings are completely obvious, but she can actually hide things very well.”
Someone who appears unable to hide anything, yet actually can—that’s strong.
Perhaps I could tell Mother part of the danger.
Our eyes met as she absentmindedly looked my way.
I gave her an ambiguous smile and picked up another almond dragée.
Looking at the beautiful purple sweet, I was reminded of Jason-sama’s eyes.
I could never love him, but he had a beautiful face.
In my previous life, he might have died the same way as this time.
A man like him would have eliminated those involved.
Then what about me?
In my previous life, I think I died around four months after marriage.
After I became bedridden, I lost my sense of time, but I remember flowers that bloomed during that season being placed by my bedside.
Will I be able to overcome my fate of death in this second life?
The timing overlapping with the visit to Belsia feels terribly ominous.
But I can’t tell anyone about this fear.
It would only worry them too much.
Carrying this unspoken limit on my life in my heart, I will spend the next few months.
I gently placed the purple dragée in my mouth and bit into it.
Late that night, Brian-sama, Lloyd, Bell, and I gathered once again in my brother’s room.
“Well then, what shall we do?”
My brother spread his hands as he spoke.
“We cannot refuse the visit to Belsia. From here on, we prepare under that assumption,” Brian-sama said with a stern expression.
“Vice Commander, what were the Belsian royals like? Were they scheming and unpleasant?”
“No. The king was a ruggedly handsome man. The crown prince resembled him, and he also seemed like a good person. They looked like the portrait of the late King Marcus.”
At that, Brian-sama glanced at me.
I instinctively smiled back.
Bell watched that exchange with a thoughtful hum.
I wondered if I had done something wrong again and tightened my expression slightly.
“What about the Queen Dowager? Don’t tell me she seemed nice too. That would just make it creepier.”
My brother joked, but Brian-sama’s expression stiffened.
“That’s exactly how she was. A gentle, soft-spoken beauty. She had a very mild and graceful demeanor.”
“Ugh,” my brother muttered.
“But this entire series of events has been thorough, cold, and ruthless. And bold. If that Queen Dowager orchestrated it, then she’s a monster who can completely separate her public and private faces.”
“The male spy said the actual orders came from the Queen Dowager. I was skeptical, but when I saw that letter, I understood. She’s like a venomous snake.”
As I listened to Brian-sama, I remembered what the female spy had said.
“She told the spy that she won’t be satisfied unless she makes me unhappy. Her first target is probably me, and then Noel. If we don’t go this time, another trap will come. That’s why I think we have no choice but to go.”
Everyone’s eyes turned to me at once.
Bell hurried over with a desperate expression.
“Wouldn’t it be better if you didn’t go this time, my lady? If we wait, her interest might fade.”
“Bell, thank you. I appreciate it, but if I don’t go, I think she’ll force the situation until I have no choice. Someone in the family might get hurt.”
My brother cut in firmly.
“Maria, you can say it more clearly. Most likely, we’d all be killed, and then someone would go to collect the bodies. Judging from this incident, they wouldn’t hesitate to kill anyone. They already eliminated a marquis’s son without anyone knowing. Killing our family would be nothing—just say a carriage was crushed by falling rocks, and that’s it.”