Chapter 24: The Past — After She Was Gone ①

It had not been long enough to call those days nostalgic.
And yet, she could not help thinking of them, because the present was not the future she had wished for.

Aeria pressed her fingers against her temples, massaging her furrowed brow, wondering how to get rid of the uninvited guest who had shown up as if to kill time despite her being busy.

“Ah, haha, that’s quite the face you’re making, Lady Aeria.
Such a beautiful face, totally wasted.”

“Your concern is most touching, Prince Neige.
You seem to be in excellent spirits.”

The kingdom’s Second Prince, Neige, looked down at Aeria with a smile that openly declared his amusement.
Aeria was seated at her desk, locked in battle with a mountain of documents that looked as though it could reach the ceiling, so naturally Neige remained standing.
These documents were work that should have been handled by the Crown Princess, but because the duke’s daughter who had only just become Crown Princess was utterly incompetent, everything had been dumped onto Aeria instead.

“Mother knew this would happen, which is why she tried to persuade my brother so many times.
That woman was never fit to be Crown Princess.”

“Yes, yes, indeed.
Thanks to that, all the burden has landed squarely on me.”

“You were chosen as a secondary consort to serve as Faustina’s replacement.
There’s no helping that.”

Faustina, the former Crown Princess candidate and Bernhard’s ex-fiancée, was gone.
After attempting to murder her beloved younger sister Elvira out of jealousy over Bernhard’s affection, she had been stopped in advance by Bernhard, who had sensed the plot.
Ordinarily, she would have been punished according to the law, but at the Queen’s plea and through the mercy of her father, Duke Wittgenstein, she was disowned instead and vanished from sight.
Recalling Bernhard’s displeased expression at the time made Neige laugh even more.
He casually flipped through one of the documents.

“I’ll help you out.
I’m bored anyway.”

“And what would you like in return for your help?”

“That’s cruel.
I wouldn’t demand anything so heartless from someone clearly in trouble right in front of me.”

He gathered up a stack of documents, carried them to a glass table meant for breaks, and, after receiving a seal, quill, and ink, settled onto the sofa.

Elvira had been chosen as Bernhard’s new fiancée shortly after Faustina was disowned.
That had happened a year ago, after waiting for Elvira to graduate from the noble academy.

However, problems surfaced almost immediately after the marriage ceremony, which had concluded just half a month ago.

Elvira proved utterly incapable of handling the duties of a Crown Princess.
Diplomacy could be managed as long as Bernhard accompanied her, but she lacked the ability to process documents at all, and the ever-growing piles of paperwork left everyone around her clutching their heads in despair.

That was when the spotlight turned to Aeria, who had once competed with Faustina for the position of Crown Princess.
After hearing everything from Faustina, Aeria had flatly refused.
The Marquis of Laris had also seen straight through the royal family’s obvious intention to make her clean up after Elvira and had no intention of agreeing.

And yet, here she was.
Aeria had married Bernhard as a secondary consort.

Neige continued reviewing and signing documents one after another, taking the next stack from Aeria’s desk.

“I hate to say this because I love my brother, but do you think he might actually be an idiot?”

“There is no need to state the obvious.”

“Ahaha.
You’ve really learned to speak your mind.
You were so obsessed with the Crown Princess position back then, harassing Faustina at every turn.”

“Yes.
I don’t even understand myself why I clung to it so desperately.
At first I told myself it was for the sake of my family, but while Father may be another matter, Mother always said there was no need to force myself to pursue that role.
If Father became too overbearing, Mother would shut him up in the end.”

The Marquis of Laris often boasted that his wife’s homemade cookies were the best in the world.
Had she declared she would never bake them again, he surely would not have pestered Aeria so insistently about becoming Crown Princess.

In the end, the one who clung to the position was Aeria herself.
She no longer intended to use her family as an excuse.

The reason Aeria had become a secondary consort was—

Knock, knock.

At Aeria’s permission, the door opened, and a maid she had brought from her family home entered, holding parcels in both hands.

“These are deliveries from Lady Norn.”

“From Mother?”

“Yes.
And the Crown Prince has also sent word that he wishes to speak with you and will come here tonight.”

“Refuse him.
Tell him to go paw at that hollow-headed girl instead.”

“Lady Aeria, Prince Neige is present.”

The maid tried to admonish Aeria for her foul mouth, but knowing full well it was pointless, she said nothing further.
Since Neige often came to help Aeria when she was drowning in paperwork, his presence did not particularly surprise her.

Aeria accepted the delivery from her mother and opened the package.
She let out a small gasp.

“Prepare tea, please.”

“At once.”

“Would you like some as well, Your Highness?
These are cookies my mother baked.
I’ll do the tasting myself, just in case.”

“I’ve heard all about the Marquisess of Laris’s cookies from my mother, so I’m not worried.
Besides, you have no benefit in poisoning me, do you?”

He gestured toward the mountain of documents.
Even without those, Aeria had no benefit in poisoning Neige.
Killing her husband, on the other hand, might have had its merits.

The maid left the room to prepare tea.

After finishing the documents she had been working on, Aeria left her desk and sat on the sofa across from Neige.

He had once given a fragile, sickly impression, but as he grew older, though still weaker than average, he had become remarkably healthy.
She never would have imagined him to be so talkative and mischievous.

Aeria absentmindedly gazed out the window.

What was she doing now, she wondered.
Was a former duke’s daughter truly managing to live properly as a commoner?
There was probably a way to find out.
But that Crown Prince would never allow it.
The moment anyone showed the slightest sign of investigating Faustina, the demon in human skin would reveal himself.
Faustina had certainly been at fault for continually harming Elvira.
Even so, it was Bernhard who had driven her into a corner.

Aeria had always doubted Bernhard’s feelings toward Faustina.

When he looked dissatisfied with the decision to disown her, Aeria had maliciously said this to him.

“It looks as though Your Highness would have preferred an execution.”

The expression on Bernhard’s face then was unlike anything she had ever seen.
It was neither the disgust he had shown toward Faustina for bullying his sister, nor the mocking smile he wore when ridiculing her desperation to cling to her position as his fiancée.

(That was…)

As Aeria stared blankly up at the sky, she failed to notice—

“Honestly…

—stupid, utterly stupid brother.”

The words Neige spoke in a voice utterly devoid of emotion.