TDRL 06

Chapter 6

Iana’s lips parted slightly. Just as she was about to answer, a voice came from outside the door.

“Iana?”

It was Cecilia. Startled by the voice, Iana flinched like someone waking from a dream.

“Yes, sister?”

“Mm. May I come in?”

At those words, Iana’s face showed bewilderment. Her heart dropped as if she’d been caught in a secret tryst.

She glanced at Diabel. If only he could vanish like smoke, like a demon—but he was still there in the room.

After a moment of hesitation, she stood up. There was no reason for her to feel guilty. Here, she had to act confidently.

“Come in, sister.”

Soon the door opened, and Cecilia entered. She seemed taken aback at the sight of Diabel—her always kind face stiffened slightly. Seeing that, Iana spoke to Diabel.

“You may leave now.”

“Yes, understood.”

Diabel bowed politely and left the room. Once he was gone, the strange atmosphere that had been flowing moments ago vanished in an instant. Only then did Iana breathe a sigh of relief.

“Isn’t he the guard who came recently? What business did you call him for?”

“Ah, we were just talking about this and that…”

As Iana tried to deflect, Cecilia let out a small sigh. Somehow, she felt a sense of déjà vu.

“I understand you’re excited, but you do have a fiancé. Please act more prudently.”

Yes. She had heard this before—thirteen years ago. When Iana used to summon Diabel to her room often, her sister had warned her.

Back then, keeping Diabel by her side was simply out of fondness. Diabel was young, handsome, and capable.

Iana enjoyed taking Diabel around, feeling as if she had become the heroine of a romance novel.

Even then, Cecilia had worried about her. No matter how much a servant, don’t get too close, she had said.

“Yes, I’ll be careful, sister.”

Iana bowed her head as if in reflection. Cecilia soon smiled kindly again and sat down in the empty seat.

“Now that I think about it, have you prepared your dress?”

Dress? As Iana blinked at Cecilia with wide eyes, her sister spoke, somewhat surprised.

“Iana. You haven’t forgotten, have you? Tomorrow is the day we go to the party.”

“Was that…?”

She couldn’t remember well. After all, it had only been two days since she returned to thirteen years ago.

“I had forgotten.”

“What’s come over you? Forgetting a whole party. You’ll spoil your skin if you stay up late, so go to bed quickly.”

At the affectionate nagging, Iana gave an awkward smile. A party. When she was young, she used to lament that there wasn’t a party every single day.

Now, she couldn’t afford to eat tea and sweets and engage in idle chatter.

“You were overjoyed when you received an invitation to Lady Pletta’s party. How strange.”

Pletta. At that name, Iana froze for a moment.

“Pletta… You mean Pletta Rosell?”

“Yes, Lady Pletta of House Rosell. You haven’t forgotten her name, have you?”

No. There was no way she could forget. Iana remembered that filthy name of House Rosell all too clearly.

Pletta Rosell. No one in high society didn’t know her. A powerful family, beautiful looks, and that magnetic charm that drew people in.

There wasn’t a woman who didn’t admire her. Iana was no exception. She had been desperate to be invited to Pletta’s party, to the point of feeling sick. When she coincidentally received an invitation, she was so happy she couldn’t sleep properly for days.

Looking back now, it only sent chills down her spine. House Rosell had invited Iana to a party, and a month later, they attacked her family. The sheer malice of it made her shudder.

She didn’t know how much Pletta knew about the raid. But if she did know…

“If you’re unwell, you could rest tomorrow…”

Cecilia said, observing Iana’s complexion. Iana smiled brightly.

“What are you saying, sister? Of course I’m going. It’s Lady Pletta’s party, after all.”

Seeing her younger sister brighten again, Cecilia chuckled.

“Alright. I hope going to the party will lift your spirits.”

At that, Iana’s eyes sparkled as she smiled. If Cecilia had looked a little closer, she might have noticed that although Iana’s lips were curved upward, her eyes were not smiling at all.

“Yes, I’m so very much looking forward to it. To meeting the people of Rosell.”

The carriage swayed gently as it headed toward Rosell’s castle. Iana was dressed in a blue gown.

The deep blue fabric matched her eye color perfectly. Her tightly cinched waist accentuated an elegant curve.

The accessories Cecilia had carefully chosen, and the hair that the maids had pinned up, all complemented her well.

Because she was going to Pletta’s party, they had taken even more care than usual to adorn her. Even among the maids, Pletta’s reputation was famous.

It was a party everyone wanted to attend, but Iana remained expressionless. As she gazed out the window with tension in her eyes, Diabel spoke to her.

“I’m surprised.”

Iana slowly turned her head. Diabel, too, was dressed to the nines like Iana.

His black hair was styled with pomade, and instead of his usual armor, he wore evening attire. Even that alone gave him an elegance unbefitting a mere swordsman.

A beautiful young man and a noble girl were riding in the carriage, but the atmosphere was far from sweet. The carriage had been filled with silence until just a moment ago. Iana’s cold voice rang out.

“Surprised? About what?”

“That you decided to take me to the party.”

Outside the window, the landscape drifted by slowly. A lake could be seen in the distance. The weather was fine enough for a picnic outdoors rather than a party. Iana answered with a blank face.

“It’s a dangerous place, so I had no choice but to bring a guard.”

At first, she had considered not attending the party. Out of instinctive revulsion. These were the people who had killed her family. Until a few days ago, she had been locked in Rosell’s dungeon.

Back then, she had traveled on a shabby prisoner transport wagon; this time, she was riding in an elegant four-horse carriage. It felt like walking into a den of wolves, but she resolved to think calmly.

The last time she attended Pletta’s party in her previous life, nothing had happened. She worried about being captured or killed, but it was likely just a groundless fear.

“I can’t waste a precious opportunity to be invited into enemy territory.”

“Do you have a plan in mind?”

Diabel’s lips set in a stiff line. Was he worried about her, or was he concerned about witnessing a dull affair? Iana tilted her head slightly to the left.

“If I ordered you to assassinate someone, what would you do?”

“I would obey.”

One corner of Diabel’s mouth curled up. His expression seemed to ask, “Really?”

“It’s a joke. I have no intention of doing something so stupid.”

What were the odds that she would luckily kill Ansgar, Lord of Rosell, luckily go unnoticed, and luckily escape the castle before the murder was discovered?

Moreover, even if Ansgar died, he had children. In her previous life, Ansgar had died, but the revenge hadn’t ended.

His second son, Erez Rosell, had simply inherited the position. Nothing had changed. Killing Ansgar alone would not bring any peace of mind.

If she was going to do it, she had to do it properly. If she was going to kill, she had to leave no roots. Half-measures would only bring greater calamity.

Iana herself was living proof. Could House Rosell have ever imagined that an innocent, ignorant young lady would spend thirteen years plotting revenge?

“Then what do you plan to do there?”

His eyes were those of a spectator curious to see what would happen in the next scene. Iana didn’t feel like pleasing Diabel too much. She said indifferently:

“I need a card to persuade my father.”

“Persuade?”

“I’ve always wondered. Why did Rosell target us?”

Even after thirteen years of fighting against them, she had never discovered the reason. She wanted to know what had driven such a horrific tragedy.

“Ansgar annihilated our family under some absurd pretext.”

“Yes. He claimed that Lord Wilhelm tried to assassinate the current king, the usurper.”

The current king’s name was Casimir Galbraith. As the second prince, he had no claim to the throne, but he ascended due to the sudden deaths of the first prince and the late king.

Anyone could see those deaths were unnatural, so some had suspected the current king of being the culprit. After a few heads were chopped off, the murmurs quieted down.

“Father a traitor? That’s utter nonsense.”

Iana ground her teeth. Her delicately powdered face twisted uglily.

Treason—it was a lie. But there was no one to prove it. The party involved, Wilhelm, had been poisoned, and most of the family had been killed.

Even if some had survived, their testimonies would not have been accepted. Moreover, with everyone dead, there was no way to prove anything, nor any need. What Ansgar claimed became the truth.

“Treason is just a convenient excuse. There must be some reason why Ansgar did what he did.”

“Hmm. And what do you think that reason is, Lady Iana?”

Diabel asked calmly, as if solving an entertaining riddle.

“Ansgar was a man of the late king. When the current king seized power, House Rosell’s influence weakened. He must have wanted to overcome that.”

Iana continued flatly.

“Capturing and executing a traitor would leave a favorable impression on the current king, and they would also seize the traitor’s assets—a profitable war in many ways. In the end, it also concealed their true intentions.”

“Then why choose House Lihaf as the prey?”

“Father was the late king’s chancellor, so it was easy to frame him as a traitor. Also, there were no marriage ties, so there would be no subsequent complications.”

Marriage among nobles was a form of business and alliance. In that sense, House Lihaf had no allied forces.

“That’s just speculation.”

After saying that, Iana looked at Diabel. Diabel spoke as if it were no big deal.

“Or perhaps it was for a more emotional reason.”

“Emotional?”

“It could be because of personal feelings. Like you, my lady.”

People largely act in pursuit of gain, but there are also quite a few cases where they don’t. Iana in her past life was like that. Diabel was like that.

Diabel had followed Iana when she had nothing. A master who could give him neither honor nor wealth. Watching Diabel, who claimed to be her escort knight, Iana thought that he stayed because of conviction.

No—she had wanted to think so. To turn her eyes away from a motive far clearer, easier to understand, and far more foolish than chivalry.

Love.

Iana had thought that perhaps Diabel loved her. Thinking that made everything clear. If it wasn’t love, why would this man foolishly follow her?

But even while thinking that, she had turned him away. Even while loving him, she had.

It can’t be love.

It must not be love.

Because a heart burning with revenge would surely cool if it met love.

So until now, she had never asked. Why he helped her. If, by chance, he said it was because he loved her, Iana wouldn’t have known how to answer.

But now she knew. The reason Diabel had sworn absolute loyalty. The reason he had followed her at the risk of his life.

Without realizing it, Iana let out a bitter laugh. It was a mockery of herself. To think that once she had believed this man loved her. To think she had agonized until the small hours over the possibility that he might love her.

She was a little surprised by how eerily calm she felt. Like pouring water into a broken vessel, emotions did not pool inside her—they simply flowed out.

“Personal feelings.”

Saying that, she quietly lowered her eyes. Her golden lashes seemed to glint in the sunlight—or perhaps it was tears welling up.

“Right. Maybe it’s because of personal feelings that Ansgar killed my family. Just like you followed me simply because you found it interesting.”