Chapter 273. Epilogue, Part I

Translator: Khan

Editor: Aelryinth

Julietta shook her head at her father, who was standing at a distance that she could not cross. "No, I don't like the idea. I resent my father. Come back later when you can give up Christine. Then, as a daughter, I can share a joyous reunion with my father."

---

Julietta turned around and left the Marquis' office, heading for Christine's bedroom. The room, decorated with sky-blue wallpapers and curtains, was too bright for the present situation. Christine lay in bed with her face wrapped in bandages, indicating her treatment was over.

Julietta looked at her figure from the door. Standing still for a long time, she turned and said in a low voice, "I want you dead, but not right now. You'll pay the price with that face for the rest of your life."

Originally, she wanted to whisper it in her ear. But she didn't want to get close to Christine, even if she was lying down. It was difficult to have even a little sympathy for her.

Julietta went out across the vast hall of the desolate Anais mansion and told the waiting Count Valerian, "I think Christine's treatment is over. Now we can leave."

Christine would be exiled from the Empire, and a watcher who Killian attached would follow her for a lifetime. If she contacted the First Queen or her younger brother Fjord with a false heart, she would be killed immediately.

Duke Dudley would also be executed as soon as the trial was over. The key was how to include Marquis Marius in there. Even if they couldn't get him involved with this, they didn't have to worry about him, because he was like a scarecrow without Francis.

It was like everything was over now.

---

She looked out of the window on the carriage ride back to the Imperial Castle and said, "Even if we can't have a party at this time of year, we'll have a nice, cozy meal between ourselves, because His Highness wants us to."

Maribel had followed her from the main castle and been waiting in the carriage. She replied, "Let's do that. Count Adam and the Marquis of Rhodius will be back soon. Now it's time for Mrs. Grayson to act as Princess Kiellini's head maid," Maribel joked, as if to cheer up the gloomy Julietta.

Before they knew it, the carriage stopped in front of the Asta Palace. Julietta headed inside, saying to Maribel, "But can I go back to the Asta Palace as if it's nothing? I think I should stay in the Kiellini mansion until the wedding."

"Is it necessary to do so at a time when there are already rumors?"

"That's true. I'm engaged anyway, and I'm about to get married, so what's the matter with everyone else's chatter?" Julietta frowned as she walked, making an appropriate response. "But His Highness Killian looks like a real Prince."

"What do you mean by that? He is a real Prince." Maribel asked, as if it were some kind of nonsense.

"He has said that he loves me so much, but when he found a safety issue in the Imperial Castle, I felt like I was pushed aside."

After what had happened in front of the conference hall of the Congress, Killian had kissed her lightly on the tip of her nose and busily disappeared. If he broke up for a moment, he used to leave a deep kiss, as if he were saying good-bye, but this time he only kissed on the tip of her nose, not on her lips.

Maribel smiled at Julietta's grumbling. "That's because you almost got yourself into trouble over the fragile safety of the guard. Do you like a stupid man who falls in love and doesn't even know what's important?"

"It's not that." She felt a little relieved that it was for her, but she couldn't help but feel sorry about it.

"I guess you must have really finished your work. I see you are grumbling about a trivial thing." Maribel, who had already taken control of the Asta Palace, went into the lounge and looked around at Julietta, then ordered a maid to call in the head maid.

"Now, as the hostess of the Asta Palace, it's your first time preparing for dinner, so you have to try your best. What's good for appetizers?"

Maribel's tone changed when there were other maids in the lounge. Julietta replied soberly, thinking Maribel was a real fox, "His Excellency Oswald hates any fish with eyes on it, so we have to be careful about that."

"Oh, my God! How delicious the fish head is! Anyways, he's too delicate. Vera, Julietta's dress tonight should be a bright light green one that reminds people of a bud, like a long winter is over and a new spring is coming."

Julietta was in a hurry to dissuade her, listening to Maribel busily giving out endless instructions. "Not today. His Highness will be busy reconfirming the security of the Imperial Castle, and Count Valerian will not be able to return to the castle today because of Christine's deportation."

They could feel the fatigue in her voice, despite her intentionally smiling and talking brightly.

Maribel stopped being more deliberately energetic than usual. "Yes, it's not over yet. Let's take a good rest today. Please feel sad and angry as you want, and do whatever you want. But tomorrow..."

"That's right, Maribel. My future position is that I can't show my personal feelings for long. So tomorrow, I'm going to stand up with a casual face and have a good dinner with those who have suffered through this and celebrate their hard work. It's a safe end to a hard journey."

------

Maribel accompanied Julietta to the bedroom, where she took off her dress and let her hair hang loose. After Vera helped her put on her pajamas, Maribel took Julietta to bed and asked, "Only today, Julietta. Send everything into your dreams today."

"Yes, I will." Julietta's eyes closed as she listened to Maribel's request.

She was so tired. Rather than a sense of accomplishment that she had kept her place, she was instead relieved that she survived and that she would see tomorrow. It seemed to cover her whole body, and she had no energy left. It was finally over.

Julietta fell asleep and muttered as if she promised to herself, "I'll have a lot of fun every day, starting tomorrow..."

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Epilogue

Julietta's promise to get everyone together and have a nice dinner was not kept for a while, because she slept like an exhausted person. Everyone tried to call a royal physician, but Julietta said that she was only physically ill and that she wanted to rest for a few days without any interruption.

After her exhaustion was gone, Julietta rose as if she had found all her vitality.

Killian asked softly, as he had kept watching to see if she was recovering, "Did you sleep well?"

She slept soundly without even dreaming. No, she thought she had a dream, but she couldn't remember. "Yes." Looking into Killian's friendly silver eyes, Julietta smiled.

"If you didn't wake up today, no matter how much you hated it, I was going to bring a royal physician."

"I was laid up with fatigue. I guess I finally felt relieved and my body decided that it could take a good rest. In this case, it's better to sleep well than a royal physician who comes, asks me a question, and gives me some medicine."

Killian lightly touched Julietta's forehead and then tilted his head. "I think you have a slight fever. Are you all right?"

"It's just that I slept a long time. Anyway, let's have the dinner we were talking about last time."

"The sun is already high. Mrs. Grayson has been busy every day, saying she would have a nice dinner as soon as you got up."

"It's a fight to secure her position, so she will be busy."

Not long ago, Maribel appeared to have started a fight with Countess Auguste, the head maid of the Asta Palace.

"If Mrs. Grayson decides to do that, Mrs. Auguste is no match. If it were Albert, he might be a match," Killian raised himself after a long kiss to Julietta.

Julietta asked, looking at him fully clothed. "Is the work done yet?"

"That's not it. I'm going to take this opportunity to make major changes to the security of the Imperial Castle."

Killian decided to take this opportunity to get rid of the remaining forces of the First Queen, the Duke of Dudley, and Francis, because Francis had died.

"You'll be back before dinner, right?"

At her question, Killian turned around and came back to the bed. "It's not the problem of coming back, I don't want to go out at all. But this is our chance. We need to fix everything."