Chapter 39: The Fake Princess’s Resolve part 2
‘This might be my only chance! The only way is to destroy her before it’s too late!’
Duchess Klein adored Dott immensely. As if she had never scolded her during her Eina days, now she granted her every request. She even hinted that the Crown Prince had shown a rational interest in her and that she should look forward to the spring debutante.
So perhaps, at the spring ball, the Crown Prince, having ended his seclusion, might personally escort her. That’s how cherished and noble she was. In that case, that girl…
But Dott, who had been brimming with hope, soon fell into despair.
‘Ah… No. That d**n Morgana has already set foot deep in the palace. She’s grown wings under the royal family’s protection, making it impossible for a Duchy with no ties to her to suppress her.’
Dott grew irritated at the feeling that Morgana had slipped beyond her reach.
‘Ugh! The Crown Prince, whom I’ve set my sights on, has made her his subordinate? Does this even make sense?’
A few days before Morgana entered the palace, Dott had overheard something in passing.
Her eldest brother, Kassel, had discovered a mage from the Mage Tower, someone of extraordinary ability. The Crown Prince himself intended to bring this person in as his vassal.
At the time, she hadn’t given it much thought. But who would have guessed that mage was Morgana?!
They hadn’t even mentioned she was a female mage! Even if they had, she wouldn’t have realized it.
How had things come to this?
Now that even the paternity test had been conveniently skipped over…
Dott had believed Morgana had become an easy target, but instead, she had escaped beyond reach.
The Mage Tower… Even the royal palace hesitated to touch them. At the Summer Fruit Festival, hadn’t they said that one could only ‘request cooperation’ from the Mage Tower’s mages, never ‘command’ them?
And now that she was a vassal of the Crown Prince, no one would even punish her for harassing me. At most, she might be put on house arrest for a few days. Ah… What should I do?
No matter how much she thought, no clear answer came to mind. She racked her brain, but there was no solution. Dott was on the verge of exploding with frustration.
If she had known things would turn out this way… she would have run straight to the training academy the moment she returned to the past and strangled Morgana to death right then and there!
Ah, she knew. If she had done that, she wouldn’t have been able to pass the paternity test… No. But this time was different! Even if she had gone alone, she would have passed with ease!
Was it possible that she had passed the test because she had stolen something from Morgana and made it her own?
‘Ugh, no matter how many times I think about it, I just don’t know. There’s no way that thing will step into high society, right?’
Morgana suspected that Dott had stolen the missing silk robe. Even if Dott desperately silenced everyone around her, the Grand Temple of the Supreme Deity wouldn’t simply overlook her intentions.
Once spring arrived and Dott wielded her full influence as Lady Klein… they might spread that rumor in the temple.
That they had restored the rightful daughter’s status. And the item used in the process was the very silk robe Morgana was searching for!
If Morgana, now inside the palace, heard about it from someone else’s lips…
That clueless fool wouldn’t stay quiet. Without a doubt, she’d start blabbering about how she, too, had once owned a precious silk robe and that someone had stolen it! As long as Morgana lived, getting caught was only a matter of time.
This was urgent. There was no time left.
“There’s no other way… She has to die. No matter what it takes, she must.”
Burying her lips deep into her pillow, Dott opened her eyes, filled with a sinister gleam. She recalled when the Duchess had asked her whether the silk robe was hers. At that moment, she had made her decision. She had already boarded a burning carriage, and there was no turning back.
If her fate was to perish in that fire, never to step off…
Then she would take Morgana with her as her companion in death. She would charge at her like a raging buffalo and crush her completely.
Do you understand? Before I die, I will not allow you to outlive me!
A mage? A prodigy? Ha! What kind of talent is that when even your own parents couldn’t recognize you?
No matter what, you will always be the foolish Morgana, and I will be the brilliant Lady Tiana. Do you understand?
I swear, the day you are called Tiana will never come. Because I am the one who decides the order of this world!
* * *
Ever since returning from the palace, Fay had been unable to shake off a single thought.
Even when practicing horseback riding with Momo, researching combined magic with the undines, or reading other books for a change of pace, she unconsciously muttered to herself.
“In this world… Is Dottricia the only other person besides me who has returned with memories of the past? There must be at least one more in the capital.”
Right after her death and return, she had been too consumed with disillusionment toward her family and resentment toward Dott to notice. But now, seeing how drastically the present had diverged from the past, she found it astonishing.
She had wanted to change things: wanted to prevent Grace Monastery from burning, to save Mother Superior Beryl and the Priestess Cheryl, and to escape Dott’s grasp. The determination she had forged in the summer had become her reality.
Dott had pursued the same goal as before. Seizing Tiana’s position as the noble lady, she ultimately succeeded.
Meanwhile, Fay had escaped the monastery, become a mage of the Mage Tower, then a Drakan Rider, and finally, the Crown Prince’s vassal.
“Dott wanted to change her fate too. She seized my Eina position ahead of time to become a fake noblewoman sooner. Could just the choices of the two of us really have altered the world this much?”
Two people. Two awakenings.
……
(T/N: I don’t really believe that everything in life is predetermined by fate or destiny. At the end of the day, you came to a situation because of your decisions prior to that. Similarly, Dott had other options, like living well, but she chose not to, so her fate is, of course, a bad ending 🤷)
