Chapter 96

“That’s so like Father. On the Omerta side, they can’t show it openly because of the presence of the princess, but it’s possible if we push her.”

Ha, yes. It’s really a Borgian idea.

Unless the Pope admits it, no king of any country can sit on the throne at will.

It was a powerful holy right that came down through a very long history.

Of course, no matter how absolute the power was, it was surprisingly unlikely that it had a great impact on the succession rights of other royal families without a proper justification in the Vatican.

For now, it was a common practice for the heir to the throne to pledge loyalty to the Pope, and for the Vatican to send greetings to attend the coronation ceremony in the sense of approval.

But if it’s the current situation in Britannia…….

If the Pope declared that there could be no king mixed with the blood of a pagan, there was no shortage of justification.

It was rather unfair. There would be many people inside Britannia who’d welcome it.

No, there’d be a lot. If Omerta agrees with that, the result was already set.

Was that why they were talking earlier?

Did King Feanol ever guess what would happen?

“Do you want to be a queen, Ruby?”

There was actually someone else who wanted to hear that question.

As the wave-like confusion receded, my mind worked quickly.

If it really happened, wouldn’t the ending of the original work, which I was so worried about, be a completely different world story?

Ellenia’s assassination was likely to have never happened.

But what about Arien? What will happen to Arien? And should I say that this was right?

“I… I don’t know, I’ve never imagined it. I don’t know if my husband will agree with it.”

“It’s your husband. All you have to do is say that you want to be a queen.”

Cesare muttered with a snort.

I wondered if he was serious, as his purple eyes became distorted.

I carefully chose my words, swallowing my trembling breath.

“But then.. I have no chance of going back home. Is that okay with you?”

Cesare did not answer immediately.

Instead, he just stood holding my hand and stared at me silently for a long time.

Emotions were completely gone in both eyes.

“You’re right. Even if it’s not Father, I’m me.”

Finally, the voice answering the question was low. It sounded almost hoarse.

“So you can’t be a person who is satisfied with catching fish while living on an island.”

“That…”

“Do you want to be a queen, Ruby? Be honest. Are you happy here?”

Fireworks quickly erupted in his eyes. As the blue fire blazed, my hand hurt.

Aside from the sudden question, it was such a terrible situation that I was aghast.

“What’s that all of a sudden?….”

“I’m asking if you’ll be happy to be a queen next to him. I don’t think you want to come back home anymore.”

My mouth fell open. This wasn’t a question.

If he could slaughter a person only with his eyes, I would have been fragmented and scattered.

“That can’t be true. I’m only…”

“You’ve been thoroughly turning a blind eye to the temple’s approach throughout your time here. Why is that?”

“That’s because people in the family always doubt it, so my husband hates it and…”

“No. If you still missed me, you would have found a way to communicate with the temple at all costs. You don’t just write letters that are monitored every time. Seriously, what rights does he have to stop you? What right do you have to do whatever you want?

The last word sounded like an explosion.

Rather than just anger toward me, I felt the hatred of someone who was not here vividly.

A doubt passed through my mind.

Was he mad with jealousy?

My husband who had everything he craved?

Because he had to put all his strength against his father, didn’t have a natural right from birth, a flawless noble lineage, knight’s path, shining throne, not even the ability to go against his father?

The sense of inferiority that the Pope’s eldest son, Cesare de Borgia, secretly retains.

Perhaps it was because of the inferiority complex that he was such an ambitious person.

Nevertheless, I didn’t know it would be this bad.

I didn’t expect Izek’s presence to be a reminder of an inferiority complex that bothered him.

“I…”

“…….”

“Brother, I’m very confused right now. My husband is nice to me, but…….”

I guess I shouldn’t have said that.

I shouldn’t have said ‘nice’.

However, the decisive problem was that I had no idea what the source of Cesare’s inferiority complex was or exactly what made him who he is today.

The problem was that I was not the real Rudbeckia to know that, but an outsider who monopolized her body three years ago.

“I shouldn’t have let you go here.”

He cut me off and growled graciously. Then he pulled me close.

Like that of the viper who made the decision, it was suffocating to be near him.

“Nice to you? Yes, God forgive me if I didn’t expect that even after seeing all those moments. Do you want to be a queen with him? Really?”

“I-I mean…”

“I don’t want to be a puppet for my father anymore. Don’t get me wrong, Ruby. It’s only a moment before he abandons you. If that happens, the queen will stay as the queen. In the end, it’s always you and me. You’ll realize it from now on.”

* * *

“Oh, I remember hurting my head while rolling here a long time ago. Was it when I was 9?”

“Is that so…?”

“Don’t you remember? At that time, the princess was playing hide-and-seek over there.”

“Well, I was so young.”

She hesitated, but she actually remembered.

A dim afterimage of old memories. A time when the courtyard of Omerta’s was full of young children running around.

Pushing away a chapter of dimly rising memory, Ellenia stared at the sparkling glass building.

The siblings seen over the transparent wall showed no signs of movement. Her long golden hair shook.

“Are they fighting?”

“I think so too….”

Ivan tilted his head and scratched his head. Likewise, he seemed to regret chasing them.

“At this point…”

“Ellen!”

At this point, she was about to say let’s just go back.

Ellenia flinched at the sudden voice. At the same time, she wondered why she felt uncomfortable about her appearance.

“Frey? Why did you come all the way here…?”

“I’m here to find you, to take a walk. I’ve been sitting down for so long that I have a headache.”

Next to Freya, who grumbled and pressed her temple, Sir Camu, a man with wet hair, escorted Freya with a feisty face as usual.

Ellenia turned a blind eye to him and Ivan exchanging strange looks with each other.

“I was about to go back.”

“Really? Oh, wow. That’s the cardinal Valentino. Is he here to see the greenhouse?

“Let’s go.”

Ellenia quickly held Freya’s hand and urged her.

The reason was still unknown, but she was confused whether it was right for Freya to be here. To be exact, watching them.

“…wait a minute.”

But for some reason, Freya, who was about to turn around together, hesitated.

And then she didn’t move.

Ellenia, who was slightly stiffening her face with a soaring feeling of irritation, soon realized that Freya was not the only one staring at one place frozen on the spot.

Camu and Ivan also looked completely horrorstruck.

So she also threw her gaze at the greenhouse again.

* * *

The shock I’d felt so far had not been a shock.

I had no idea exactly what was going on until his hand suddenly grabbed my one face.

Funny enough, I just thought he’d hit me. That was all I knew. Until then.

There was only one person who put his hand on my face for another purpose.

Was I ignorant? Was I a fool who didn’t even guess?

I didn’t know. How much did I have to understand the hearts of others in order to survive?

Did I have to grasp all the twisted feelings that even he tried to suppress?

My mind was blank. It was all white. I didn’t feel anything in my head.

The short moment when Cesare retreated with a short kiss on my lips, dropping his hand seemed slow and unrealistic like a slow motion video.

“It’ll always be you and me.”

I thought he said something, but I couldn’t understand.

The hem of the black robe fluttered. I couldn’t move on the spot until he turned away and disappeared completely.

I was spaced out like I was possessed by something.

As if something had jerked my shoulder, I even looked back.

At that moment, I didn’t know what made me look at the wall behind my back.

Standing not too far beyond the glass wall, the moment I saw the blue faces of four people who were as shocked as I was, a roar that sounded out.

A hallucination that only I could hear.

There was no way I didn’t know.

There was no way that Cesare could not have recognized their existence. This was what he meant when he said I’d realize from now on.

Looking at Ellenia’s red eyes, which were wide with indescribable astonishment, I suddenly wondered if Izek would have the same eyes.

Furthermore, I wondered what emotions I should feel.

Shame? Chagrin? Frustration? Horror? Or all of them.…?

“Don’t say anything.”

“…….”

—

T/N: Anddd that’s all for today xD I almost cried at the part where Cesare hit her with a belt ngl,,, made me so damn angry ADJSKDJJDBS

In case y’all missed the note from before, I am not doing sponsored chapters for kofis until I’m done with the current donations(don’t want to leave donors hanging for too long). Ofc if you just want to support, you’re very much welcome desu <3

Oh and shoutout to Nila for helping out in editing the novel from the start :DD I’ll be uploading the edited chapters soon, give the book a re-read if you feel like it :3

And I’m sorry T_T I was going to do a 10 chap mass upload but I lost the hang of translating with so much gap ;-; hope you had fun reading these 8 chapters! Have a nice day/evening~