Volume 1 Chapter 23 The Hanged Man
With a small face and violet eyes, the beautiful girl with straight black hair and pale skin curtsied while holding her white skirt.
"Nice to meet you, I'm Lydia Rest."
Lydia smiled shyly at me, looking small and thin for a girl her age.
I thought she seemed quite frail for the daughter of the Rest priest family.
My engagement to Lydia was an order from my father, King Zeere.
I didn't have any particular ideals about marriage.
The divine ancestors, Theobald and his wife, the goddess Alexandria, are both worshipped in the Bernard Kingdom, where the power of the priests is strong.
The influence of the head priest, Feldur Rest, is almost equal to that of the Bernard royal family.
I understood that this marriage was a political one to strengthen ties with the Rest priest family.
Lydia, brought by Feldur, and I exchanged greetings for the first time in the palace garden.
"I'm Stefan Bernard. I look forward to working with you."
That day was the first time I met Lydia.
Feldur, the head priest, kept saying that Lydia was useless and didn't inherit any of the power of the Rest family, insisting that if we were to marry, it should be the second daughter, Francois.
He said she was a disgrace to the Rest family and shouldn't be shown in public.
I listened in disbelief at how he spoke about his own daughter.
"Ferdur. The royal family does not desire the mysterious power of the Rest priest family. What is needed is the fact that the Bernard royal family and the Rest priest family are bound by trust. If either side has too much power, the nobles and the citizens will become uneasy. Isn't it a bit too much to say that about your own daughter?"
"Lydia is a failure who doesn't even have magic. I have never thought of her as my daughter."
"Then even more so, it wouldn't be a problem for the royal family to take her. No matter what you think, Lydia is the legitimate daughter of the Rest priest family. ...A person's worth is not determined by the presence of magic, their background, or their race."
My father sighed as he spoke and led Head Priest Ferdur from the garden to the palace.
I was left in the garden with Lydia.
Even after being thrown such harsh words by her real father, Lydia smiled without seeming to care much.
Her eyes sparkled with curiosity as they flickered toward the garden full of blooming flowers.
"...Lydia, do you like flowers?"
"I like flowers. But, it's my first time being outside the priest family... so everything is new and interesting."
"What do you mean?"
"Um... well, I'm a failure who can't use magic, so... in the priest family, I'm not needed. It's my first time being properly dressed and taken out like this."
"Lydia... that's not something to say while smiling...!"
I was somewhat shocked by the words of the younger girl who smiled as she said them.
When I grabbed her delicate, small shoulders that seemed like they could break with just a touch, Lydia opened her violet eyes wide in surprise.
"Why aren't you angry? Why aren't you angry that you're being treated so badly, that your father is saying such terrible things to you, Lydia?"
"Why... I'm just grateful to be in the mansion. I'm useless, you know. But I'm not really in trouble. I've learned how to cook recently... the cooks don't get angry when I watch them cook. I can even fry an egg and eat it without getting in trouble..."
"That's not right. Lydia, as my father said, a person's worth is not determined by whether they have magic or not."
"This is the first time I've talked to someone like this. ... Talking is tiring, isn't it?"
"...I'm sorry. ...Did it hurt, Lydia?"
Lydia smiled awkwardly, and I released my hands from her shoulders.
"It didn't hurt. Sir Stefan, body temperature is warm, isn't it? I didn't know that."
"...From now on, I'll protect you, Lydia. I'll ask my father to take you out of the Rest family mansion right away."
"Thank you, Sir Stefan... I can't do anything, but... I'm happy that you chose me to be your wife."
Lydia looked straight into my eyes for the first time, blushing. Her clear violet eyes were beautiful beyond measure.
I thought I had to protect Lydia, who didn't seem to recognize pain as pain.
I vowed in my heart to protect Lydia for life.
* * *
"...Lydia."
Leaning against the wall with both hands, I supported my body.
I thought I had been knocked over by the round sheep, but I had no injuries and no impact.
I shooed away the Saintwise mages who were constantly worrying about me.
My head hurts.
What happened after that? Lydia, me...
I asked my father to move Lydia from the Rest family mansion to the palace.
My father agreed and approached the Head Priest Feldur, but he was apparently refused because she was still young and her manners were immature.
In a few years, she will enter a boarding school.
Then Lydia will be free. She will escape from the control of Head Priest Feldur.
I told Lydia to endure for a while.
Even the royal family cannot interfere with the internal affairs of the Rest family. It's a shame, but that's the way it is.
And then, there's me.
"...Mine is not just a thumb size...!"
I remember the words Lydia said, glaring at me, angry for the first time in her life.
It seems like a lot of my memories have been erased.
The image of Lydia glaring at me with tear-filled eyes, and Ciel leaning on her like a lover, comes to mind.
Why, how, Lydia was my fiancée.
I vowed to protect her.
I strongly believed that I would make her happy. And yet.
"Sir Stefan...! I heard there was a disturbance in the palace, so I came because I was worried... My big sister has infiltrated the palace."
I raised my face at the sound of a lovely voice.
Is it a lovely voice? It doesn't sound pleasant, like being licked by a snake's tongue.
"My clingy sister...! It's like a mouse wanting someone else's leftovers to show herself in front of Sir Stefan."
"Francois... You're right. ...She looked pathetic, like a mouse."
No.
That's not right. Lydia was crying. She was crying and angry.
Her black, lustrous hair, her violet eyes, her white skin, her small lips...
Nothing has changed since then. My cute fiancée...
But now, a woman with a much more flashy face than Lydia entwined her hands with mine.
My vision turned red.
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