What? My story’s come up too? But how does Julia even know I’ve been slipping in and out of the palace?
Who could have told her?
I’d known I’d be caught eventually, but this was far too soon. I hadn’t prepared for it at all.
I heard the sound of all the time I’d painstakingly built up with Cassion shattering to pieces. My grip on the doorknob tightened.
Should I go back as if I’d never come, or should I walk into the room?
If I walked in now, it would only confirm for Julia that I’d been going in and out of Cassion’s palace. That would narrow my room to maneuver in more ways than one.
But what if I turned and left without stepping in?
Cassion would have to bear Julia’s harsh words alone.
He’ll be hurt. It’ll leave a mark on him.
I couldn’t leave him alone in front of cruel words any longer.
My own goals matter, but that doesn’t mean I run from someone in trouble.
That was how my parents had raised me. Whatever problems came of it afterward, I could work through calmly.
“Leave the sweet little lady be. Stop tormenting her.”
Julia pressed on without giving Cassion any room to answer.
The one tormenting that sweet little lady isn’t Cassion — it’s you!
I couldn’t listen to any more of this.
I made up my mind and flung the door open.
In the past, Julia had been consistently indifferent to Cassion, start to finish.
Anyone placed in Cassion’s situation would develop a sickness of the heart.
That was exactly what Julia had been counting on. And to some degree, Julia’s calculation had been correct. Just as she’d hoped, Cassion had withered away under neglect and contempt.
But this time, a variable had appeared. Someone had shown up who paid attention to him. She’d received no report on it directly, but the moment she saw the palace, she could tell.
The bedding, not showing much on the surface but clearly far softer than before; the room, brightened now that the curtains had been drawn open; Cassion’s lips, smooth now instead of chapped and raw — all of it was the proof.
“So don’t go ruining the life of a young lady with such a bright future ahead of her…”
“Your Highness Cassion!”
A bright, clear voice rang out, cutting Julia’s sentence off in the middle.
Golden hair swayed as it swept past Julia’s side.
A girl who had suddenly burst in threw her arms around the trembling Cassion.
“Who are you?”
Julia disliked everything about it — that someone had come barging unannounced into the Third Prince’s Palace, and that this someone was acting as if she, Julia, weren’t even there, as if only Cassion existed.
When Julia raised her voice, the girl spun around. Julia’s eyes widened. A flicker of interest soon crossed them.
Julia recognized the girl at once.
“An Irenber.”
Anyone who knew the late Duke and Duchess Irenber couldn’t fail to recognize this girl as the Lady Irenber. Diana was that much the spitting image of the two of them.
At Julia’s call, Diana let go of Cassion. She turned and stepped in front of him, as if to shield him.
Diana set her hand over her heart and sank into a deep curtsy.
“I pay my respects to Her Majesty the Queen. Good day to you — I’m Diana Viola Irenber.”
Julia answered only by tilting her fan. Then, narrowing her eyes, she waited for Diana’s next words.
Most people knew that Cassion was a discarded prince, but very few knew the truth of Julia’s conduct.
More precisely, no one had ever actually witnessed Julia’s wrongdoing. And there was no evidence of it, either.
That was because Julia, determined to make Dayson king, had worked hard to keep up the appearance of a good queen in public.
If her own reputation suffered, it would do Dayson no good at all.
The timing is terrible.
Julia worried that Diana might have overheard what she’d just said to Cassion.
“I hear you’re quite fond of His Highness Cassion — did you come to keep him company even in the middle of your busy schedule?”
But contrary to her worry, Diana’s manner toward Julia was perfectly respectful.
She must not have heard what I said, then.
Had she heard the venom Julia had just spat at him, she wouldn’t have been able to use a word like “fond” at all.
Julia studied Diana. The innocent, beaming smile looked every bit a child’s.
But then why had she been sneaking in and out of the Third Prince’s Palace?
Even as the question crossed her mind, Julia found herself despising Count Kolkos for being too useless to bring a girl barely taller than her own chest to heel. Julia smiled and spoke warmly.
“That’s right. Lady Diana. I stopped by because I worried Cassion might be lonely. We were just in the middle of a rather amusing story.”
“Oh! What story was it? No, wait — don’t tell me!”
Just as Julia was about to make up some harmless answer, Diana shot her hand up to stop her.
Julia’s mood soured at Diana’s impertinence. She was about to reprimand her for it.
Just then, Diana, smiling sweetly with a face as pretty as a doll’s, spoke.
“Let me guess. You don’t mind, do you, Your Majesty?”
I can’t tell if this girl has manners or none at all.
Julia decided to watch this unpredictable girl a little longer.
“Hmm, what story could it have been…”
The girl knitted her brow and murmured, as if genuinely trying to work out the answer.
Then, as though it had just come to her, she clapped her hands together.
“Oh! Was it perhaps about a curse?”
It was an odd thing to say, out of nowhere. Julia’s left eyebrow rose.
Without giving Julia any time to answer, Diana went on.
“You know the kind. Like the legend of the cursed doll! The people around the main character all telling him — anyone who stays with you dies, everyone dies!”
Diana widened her eyes and raised her voice, like someone performing a story for children. Julia saw herself overlaid on Diana’s performance — saw herself, screaming at Cassion.
Did she hear me?
For a moment, something like faint contempt seemed to cross Diana’s face. But surely a mere thirteen-year-old girl wouldn’t make a face like that in front of a queen with as fine a reputation as herself.
Just as her suspicion was deepening — that Diana had heard everything, knew everything, and was doing this on purpose—
“…Am I wrong? Sometimes my maid tells me cursed-doll stories, and I always find them so fun.”
Diana drooped, looking disappointed, every bit the girl her age.
Then, from behind her, Cassion spoke, so quietly it was barely audible.
“…What’s fun about a curse story.”
Hearing his faint, fading voice, Diana could tell exactly how drained he was.
Never mind Julia for now — I need to settle Cassion first.
Diana spun around and took Cassion’s hand in hers. The rims of his eyes had gone red. His lips, bitten raw to keep himself from crying, were red too.
He’s red all over.
Diana hid the pity in her eyes. And made her voice sound even brighter than before.
“It is fun, though. It’s all made up, but so many people believe it anyway. I think anyone who believes that sort of thing is a fool. Besides, Your Highness, do you know how the curse story ends?”
“How?”
Diana glanced carefully at Julia. The Queen, busy gauging whether Diana had overheard the words she’d hurled at Cassion, was paying little attention to the exchange between the two of them.
Taking this as her chance, Diana lowered her voice to a whisper.
“Everyone dies.”
“What?”
“Everyone who pointed their finger at the main character and called him a cursed doll — they all die.”
A flash of killing intent crossed Diana’s eyes. Cassion, sharp enough to notice, immediately understood exactly where that intent was aimed.
The cursed doll was Cassion. And the one who would die for pointing a finger and calling him that was Julia.
Diana’s words were a comfort, but they frightened Cassion all the same.
No one knew Julia’s vicious nature better than Cassion did.
While Violetta had still been alive, Julia had made a habit of sending bizarre gifts just to torment her.
That wasn’t all — she’d also sent portraits of herself, Dayson, and King Karman, all looking like one happy family.
What if Julia had just heard what Diana said? Julia wasn’t stupid enough to miss Diana’s meaning; she would torment Diana right up to the edge of death without quite crossing it.
Cassion felt a fear greater even than when Julia had been hurling abuse at him directly.
Cassion grabbed the end of Diana’s sleeve, trying to pull her back. But Diana didn’t budge an inch.
Cassion glanced past Diana’s shoulder. Whether she hadn’t heard, or had simply drifted off into some other thought, Julia was staring off somewhere else, her gaze unfocused.
Cassion pressed his fingernail hard into Diana’s palm. When their eyes met, his lips moved soundlessly.
Stop it.
Diana understood his gentle warning and nodded. Now that Cassion had settled, all that was left was to get Julia to leave. Diana turned around.
“Your Majesty.”
“Yes, go on, say it.”
Julia’s unfocused gaze sharpened and fixed on Diana again.
“Will you tell me an amusing story too, sometime?”
Julia’s mouth curved upward. Diana’s sudden appearance had startled her, but she’d already been wondering what the girl was up to.
She could have her investigated, but meeting her directly was an easier way to find out. Since Diana herself was laying the groundwork for it, Julia had no reason to refuse.
Why does she keep slipping into the Third Prince’s Palace — and in secret, no less. I need to know why.
She could forbid it outright, right now, but what if, by some chance, there was someone else behind Diana with designs on House Irenber?
It seemed unbelievable that a thirteen-year-old child would sneak into the palace on her own, and so Julia’s thoughts naturally drifted toward the idea that someone was pulling Diana’s strings from behind.
Julia asked, her voice gentle.
“What sort of story would you like to hear?”
“Oh, this and that.”
Diana shrugged, as if it were something perfectly light. But what came out of her mouth next was anything but light.
“Nothing so grand. Oh! Though it might feel grand to Your Majesty. I have quite a few questions about Your Majesty, and about His Highness Prince Dayson.”
Julia’s eyebrow twitched. Something about the vague, slippery way the girl spoke was deeply suspicious.
She couldn’t tell whether the girl disliked her or not.
Watching her smile so sweetly and speak so sociably, she seemed like nothing more than a child — but going by the content of her words alone, she was no thirteen-year-old at all!
Thirteen in years, but every bit her father’s daughter in cunning, through and through.
Julia held back the urge to claw at Diana’s pretty, deceiving face and spoke.
“Quite an interesting subject. Come visit me at the Queen’s palace sometime, Lady Diana. And — I say this because I know your father well.”
Julia reached out her hand. She caught Diana’s small shoulder and lowered her head.
Diana tried to pull back from the pressure, but it was no use. The thick scent of lily struck her nose. Pressing down on Diana with quiet force, Julia kept her lips curved into a smile as she spoke.
“Watch where you walk, Lady. You have no one left to catch you and set you right if you take a wrong turn, so you’d best be careful on your own.”
