The Princess' Bedroom Doll

Chapter 63

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Raha turned around. Without looking back, she walked out of the bedroom of the inner palace. It was the rear garden that she arrived at after walking unconsciously through the glamorous corridor without people.

It was the spacious garden where Count Paltz did which was now desolate.

Of course, the fire had spread to Raha’s outer palace. It had been planned in advance to help the slave escape. But she did not expect the fire to be as big as this.

“…….”

She looked up at the sky. Snow was falling again in the cloudy sky. Karzen was always so lucky. As soon as a fire broke out in the palace he ruled, the sky poured snow like this.

Who was favored by God?

There was a commotion outside, even from the inner palace, which was located deep inside. She could imagine what a mess it would be outside the outer palace.

Raha sat down on the seat where she had laid her handkerchief and pulled her knees together. She buried her face in a strange sense of weakness and took out the gold rose that she had put in her pocket earlier.

The maids of the outer palace were really witty. They had placed this gold rose in Raha’s bedroom vase. The gold rose which the slave had knelt down and dedicated it to his master in front of numerous nobles.

The original fresh flowers had already wilted. That’s why they filled the vase because it was empty.

It was only one flower.

Just one flower.

Raha suddenly thought it was funny.

No one was allowed to her, but the fact that only a single flower remained shabby…

She looked down at her white shoulder with a slight twist of her gaze.

She wanted to sleep with her eyes closed like this, but she had not yet managed to fool Karzen completely. She had already finished her plan with High Priest Amar during the brief time they exchanged banter. They had to thoroughly align their plans while talking together, but they didn’t have time to do so… 

The rest had to be supplemented by a few more injuries from Raha. Her wounds would make up for all that was missing in this plan.

“Is this enough for a slave’s scratch…….”

Bright red blood spurted out with the sound of skin tearing. It hurt more than expected and Raha frowned her forehead.

“…….”

The branding that the slave had which prevented him from leaving the imperial palace has already been broken.

In the same sense, it was enough for Karzen to infer that the power of the branding, which could not harm Raha, had also weakened. She was going to say that she was hurt like this and betrayed by her beloved slave because the wizard didn’t do it right.

Thank God.

That big snake-like fellow who trembled at Karzen will break out in a cold sweat under the tyrant’s wrath. The more that guy struggled, the better Raha would feel. She hoped that damn wizard would be punished for spending the night with the corpses.

Only then will he understand how Raha had felt.

Raha smiled on purpose. Nevertheless, her tiredness did not go away.

Was it because of the pain in her shoulder as if it was on fire? Raha looked at the ragged bloodstains and flesh between the torn dress. Still, it would not leave a scar. It was because of the golden diagonal that she used on Shedd’s knees at that time.

Shed’s knees had healed nicely. So her wound would be fine. She would be able to return to the beautiful doll that Karzen always wanted.

The snow fell endlessly. Her heels were cold because she walked in slippers.The hand holding the gold rose was also frozen red.

Looking down at the bloody rose, she thought of Countess Borbon, strangely enough. It had snowed so much that day. So it was that childhood day when she was stuck in a separate palace for several days.

Raha brought flowers decorated in the bedroom and placed them on the body of Countess Borbon and shuddered. The flowers withered away in a few days. Like Countess Borbon whom she would never see again.

So everyone gave her flowers.

She was used to it now, so she was not sad. Raha got up from the seat where she was sitting with the handkerchief. She walked slowly toward the outer palace.

“I dedicate this to my master.”

It was then that she learned for the first time that the voice could burn cold. The hand of the slave who had placed the gold rose on her clothes stabbed her chest.

The undulating flames somehow spread to the garden of the inner palace. However, it would be impossible to burn across that large garden to the inner palace. The distance was quite long, and the snow was falling endlessly in the dark sky.

It snowed so much that Raha could not see properly ahead of her.

Both her feet were a mess of snow and tangled cold mud. The slippers she was wearing were of no use. Her hand holding the rose slowly relaxed. Rach, who had been staring faintly at the flame, walked slowly.

She stopped in front of the flame that billowed above her head.

Clank.

She threw the rose into the bright red flame. The flame that engulfed the golden flower. Even in her heart, it seemed that there was only ashes left behind. Raha took her eyes off the fire and turned around after a very long time. 

Even if the flower melted, the traces of the stab in her heart didn’t seem to be erased even if she died. The snow fell constantly. 

“ … Shed.”

She mumbled the name, which was obviously fake.

Yet it was the only name she called, always thinking it was real when she called it.

The terrible heavy snow continued. Spring never came when the slave left. She had to admit. She didn’t want to let him go. She did not want to bring him to this place. She didn’t want to hurt him like that. She didn’t want to make it difficult. Actually….

The truth was….

The sky was fogging up before her eyes. Raha blinked slowly. Tears streamed down her cheeks without rest. She was the Princess who had inherited the eyes of the successor.

Raha Delharsa.

She stood there in a daze for a long time. A very long time.

****

****

The combat competition, which had been soaring with heavy snow and flames, literally became “nothing”.

No one could protest. Because the anger of the emperor was so great.

In particular, there was a great uproar of arson throughout the imperial palace, and more than half of the commoner participants who had been confined in the annex fled. This was the reason for the spread of suspicious rumors of unknown origin that all would be executed if they were caught.

Thanks to the security that would normally have been strict, they could not even dream of it, but in addition to the huge fire, thousands of nobles were also in the state of entering the palace.

Heavy snowfall completely blocked the visible distance. Furthermore, they were uniformly competent as they reached the final of the combat competition. By the primal instinct of not wanting to die, they succeeded in escaping from the Imperial Palace at a tremendous speed.

Soldiers from the Imperial Palace were then dispatched, but the heavy snowfall that day turned into torrential rain at dawn, making the pursuit difficult.

It did not matter what happened outside the palace. At least for Jamela. All that mattered was the fact that the Imperial Palace was a mess. She had no choice but to freeze with a pale face. The problem was that too many fire pits had been set up all over the interior for the free dress of the nobles.

“Which nobleman would do this …?”

“Don’t worry, Jamela.”

Duke Winston murmured with a serious look on his face.

“You were the only one who prepared for this competition.”

“….. father. What do you say…”

“The Princess prepared it together with you. Rather, the Princess led and you helped. There is still a pecking order, isn’t there?”

Despite the fact that he was well aware of the fact that Jamela had been up all night preparing for the event, Duke Winston did not change his expression.

“The Princess may shirk her responsibility, but…….”

That was his only concern. But Raha answered very pleasantly.

“Yes. We prepared together. We have to take the responsibility together.”

“My daughter will do her best to make up for the wedding.”

“Yes, Duke Winston.”

That was all.

In order not to go against Karzen’s mood, all the soot disappeared from the main palace and the grand banquet hall where his eyes usually touched. The annex was stripped of wallpaper and flooring and completely replaced with a new one.

As a result of the whole palace’s all-out efforts to recover, in less than a week, all traces associated with the combat competition were gone from the entire Imperial Palace.

Jamela finally caught her breath. Then she found some room to talk about something else.

“I heard that the slave escaped, Princess.”

“Yes.”

“His Majesty is really angry.”

“I know. I’ve even gotten hurt.”

The Princess had a bandage wrapped around her shoulder. Then she could have worn a dress that came up to her neck, but she wore a dress that came down to her chest that she used to wear.

This made the bandage on her shoulder and collarbone show clearly.

Jamela frowned lightly and said.

“I knew it was useless to treat them well, since they are slaves. They are also lowly beings.”

“I have never treated him well.”

The Princess must have treated them well at least once. If they gave her wounds, didn’t they give her a lot? It was not known how Jamela heard Raha’s words.

“You don’t have to treat him well. He was a lowly slave anyway. The Princess is very precious.”

Raha lifted the pen with a plain face.

“Yes.”

The cool answer was strangely uninspiring. In fact, it had been like this all along. Jamela glanced at Raha.

“….. Princess. Why don’t you have a cup of tea? You have been working all week.”

Raha drank the warm tea without refusing. A trivial chat flowed between the girls. Occasionally there would be a faint trickle of blood on her bandage, but Oliver, who was always by Raha’s side, would soon treat her again.

As soon as all the repairs were completed, Raha suffered like a ghost. She had a tremendously high fever.

***

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