kscans

Chapter 50 - This Can't Be Allowed

This wasn't supposed to happen, Falty thought. She was the chosen one, chosen by the Crown Prince, loved by the people, and blessed with friends. She was supposed to be a special existence. But the two women before her refused to see her as special. Why? What went wrong? As she trembled, Vernella and Carla simply stared back at her with icy gazes. She had used people for her own convenience, only to be too careless at the crucial moment, leading to this situation.

"...Hh!"

Falty reached out a pleading hand, but the two women just looked at her with suspicion and took a step back.

"Would you mind not getting any closer? ...I thought it was strange. There's no way Lupia would be friends with someone like you."

As Carla spoke with undisguised disgust, Falty's ladies-in-waiting rushed to her side, supporting the stunned Falty while glaring fiercely at Carla.

"They were good friends when they were students! That's an undeniable fact!"

"Oh? So they were strangers until then, and friends for just one year?"

"W-Well, that's..."

"And only for a limited time, until you got married?"

"N-No, but, that's just because Lady Lupia resented the Crown Princess and left on her own!"

A shriek-like voice echoed, and the place fell silent.

"...Oh?"

Vernella murmured, snapping her fan shut with a pachin. She brought it to her lips and stared intently at the lady who had claimed Lupia resented Falty. So that was how everyone saw it. It was a bother to correct them, but she, and Carla, would definitely get annoyed if they kept harping on the same old story to badmouth Lupia. They were already getting annoyed right now. So, she had to drop a truth bomb. If she caused a stir here, what would the dazed Crown Princess do? With that thought, Vernella opened her mouth.

"Why would my sister-in-law resent someone like her?"

"Her beloved was stolen from her!"

"...Whose beloved was stolen by whom?"

"His Highness Liam! That's right, Lady Lupia loved His Highness Liam, so she was envious and jealous of Lady Falty!"

"That's right, that's right!" The ladies began to clamor, but Vernella just watched them coolly. Just staring. They had assumed her lack of rebuttal was an affirmation, but this was clearly not the case. One of them timidly asked:

"W-Why... why aren't you two saying anything?"

Vernella and Carla tilted their heads in unison, looked at each other, and then turned back to the ladies before them.

"My sister-in-law didn't harbor any romantic feelings for him, you see..."

"Indeed. It was a rather one-sided engagement, born from His Majesty the King saying, 'It's convenient.'"

Vernella and Carla stated it matter-of-factly. Falty, who could only manage a weak "no way," was given a fleeting glance before they continued with a sigh.

"What would we gain by lying?"

"Because you're Lupia's friends, you're trying to protect her, so... that's why you're saying that, right?!"

Was she planning to manipulate Lupia's image to suit her own convenience until the very end? Or did being instigated by the 'System' make her think her position was unshakeable, no matter what happened? A wave of irritation washed over Vernella, and she smacked her fan against her palm with a sharp PAN! The unexpectedly loud, dry sound made the ladies, who had little tolerance for sudden loud noises, flinch.

"...I'd ask you not to underestimate my sister-in-law."

With a low voice and a gaze so intense it seemed to hold murderous intent, Vernella scanned the group of ladies and declared it firmly. Lupia was not the kind of woman who would be content to be protected. As if to follow up, Carla spun her own words.

"Lady Vernella is right. Would you stop underestimating Lupia? Besides, the one who interfered was the Crown Princess standing right there."

"I told you! Lady Falty had no such intentions; the two of them are bound by true love!"

She's still going on about that, Carla thought, pressing a hand to her throbbing head.

"It was just a simple affair, wasn't it?"

She had meant to be diplomatic, but she couldn't figure out how to sugarcoat it, so the truth just slipped out. The word made Falty let out a dumbfounded, "Huh?"

"I said, it was just an affair, wasn't it? And both His Majesty the King and Her Majesty the Queen permitted it. That's why I have no intention of staying in a country like this any longer."

'What?', 'Huh?', the ladies began to murmur amongst themselves. Carla wanted to ask them what they were so confused about now, but she figured they could think it over themselves. It was the plain truth, and she had just thrown it right in Falty's face like a pie, skipping all the niceties.

"You've said quite enough, haven't you...?"

Falty's voice was laced with pure fury as she glared at Carla and Vernella. She was a lovely girl, but the glare transformed her face into something demonic, her cuteness only amplifying the horror. Oh, how scary, Vernella couldn't help but say teasingly, though she felt no regret whatsoever. The target of her remark, however, pointed a finger at both Carla and Vernella and screamed.

"Get out! Don't you ever think you'll be allowed in this royal palace again! Your crime of insulting me and His Highness is grave! The likes of you, get out of this country!"

Having finished her tirade, Falty panted, her shoulders heaving. Falty's ladies nodded with knowing looks, saying things like, 'It's a pity, but a wise decision.' Vernella couldn't quite grasp their intentions, but they probably meant something along the lines of, 'How pitiful to be driven out with your entire house!' For these two, however, it was a stroke of incredible luck.

"We are already prepared, even without being told."

"Yes, I... no, our family has also made such preparations."

"................Huh?"

Now it was Falty's turn to be even more dumbfounded.

(Why...?! They're being driven out?! Why are they so calm about this!)

For a noble to be exiled from their country was something that shouldn't happen. At least, that's what Falty's parents had told her when she was young. As servants of the country, and when their generation took over from their parents, they were to serve with utmost sincerity. She had believed that. But the two before her were acting far too casually.

"W-W-W-Why?"

Falty stammered out a question that wasn't quite a question, but Carla and Vernella answered without batting an eye.

"Because a country like this is of no use to us."

It likely wasn't planned, but the two of them said it in perfect unison, not a single word different. The statement made the blood drain from Falty's face. And then, belatedly, she remembered something.

All the noble families who had been close with Lupia's family were leaving the country, one after another.

She thought, It can't be, but no matter how much she thought about it, she couldn't come up with an answer. There are people unaffected by the 'System,' or maybe... no...

"Useless... this country... is useless...?"

As Falty muttered to herself in a daze, Vernella sighed and turned away.

"W-Wait, wait, Vernella!"

"...Would you mind not calling me that?"

"Eh...?"

"I have no desire to have my name spoken so casually by someone like you."

Faced with a look of utter disgust, the expression on Falty's face completely vanished.

"W-Why?"

"Why should I be friendly with someone who has done nothing but mock the one and only person I respect and admire? Is your head filled with flowers?"

"B-But, I!"

"How audacious, to call yourself a best friend after stealing one of my sister-in-law's futures."

The words 'stole her future' pierced her. But what was she supposed to do? Should she not have been instigated by the 'System'?

No, that wasn't it.

She should have given much, much more thought to the gravity of the situation, to the magnitude of what it meant to play with people's lives.

When the 'System' had approached Falty with its offer, she had jumped at the chance. Her ambition made her prioritize herself, and she hadn't cared what happened to anyone else. Lupia was the prime example of that. She's a duke's daughter, she has everything, so what's the harm in her giving one little thing to me? she had thought.

And what was the result? She had only been made to realize the sheer scale of what Lupia had built, the depth of her relationships, and just how cherished she was. Still, a brilliant future awaited her. The brilliant future of becoming queen. It was a position every girl surely dreamed of, an incredible achievement not easily accomplished.

"I shall send a formal document, but allow me to inform you first, Your Highness."

Vernella's cold voice snapped Falty back to reality.

"My family, the Alcioni Count Family, will be leaving this country in the coming days. Therefore..."

Wait, Falty belatedly realized something terrible. No, I can't let Vernella go. No, not just Vernella, I can't let the 'Alcioni Count Family' go. But...

"Please entrust the trade industry we have cultivated over the years to someone else. My entire family adores my sister-in-law, no, Lady Lupia. A country without her is, for us, meaningless."

It couldn't be allowed. It must not be allowed. No. Falty felt the urge to scream. Even if she reached out her hand, she couldn't reach them anymore. Lupia was gone, the people around Lupia were gone, and now these last two.

"Therefore, we will leave, just as you wished."

"Indeed. You were the one who said it. Everyone here heard you clearly.... Lady Falty, it was you."

"N-No..."

She had told them to leave.

The pillars supporting a prosperous nation had been pulled out, one after another. All that was left was for it to crumble.

But that couldn't be allowed. For the sake of her future, where she would be blessed by all and smiling happily, she couldn't possibly allow such a thing to happen.

── And yet, there was no one left to correct her arrogance, nor was there the generous help she had received during her student days.