C108
"Grandpa...?"
Liena couldn't understand what Roland had just said, so she just blinked.
"Liena! Are you okay?"
"What are you doing?"
While Leheim checked on his sister's condition, Duke Cassius was furious and lashed out at his father.
"It's me who wants to ask you what you're doing, you bastard!"
Roland didn't seem intimidated but yelled loudly and waved his staff.
"Do you have nothing better to do, so you take in an orphan peasant girl into your family as your daughter?"
"Why...?"
At that moment, Liena, still lying on the ground, let out a cry.
"Grandpa, why are you suddenly doing this to me?"
She then grabbed the hem of her grandfather's pants and pleaded.
"You always called me a little bunny and made me feel pretty."
"A bunny? More like a bloodsucker than a bunny."
Liena's face colored with surprise at that cruel tone. The hand holding the hem of her pants withdrew.
"That's too much!"
Duke Cassius shouted as if he truly didn't understand.
"Why are you like this all of a sudden? Sometimes, even if I don't like it, you come and go from Cassius Castle to see my daughter!"
"Don't even talk about what happened back then! It's terrible that I loved something so ugly!"
Roland trembled and looked at his son.
"It must be some kind of black magic! They've brainwashed me all this time!"
"What a ridiculous excuse!"
"Wake up! If I were sane, would I have liked a peasant girl?"
"......"
Edman was speechless. Roland's words and actions were absolutely unacceptable, but his current words were in line with the doubts he had been feeling for some time.
The man he knew, Roland Cassius, was a man who couldn't truly love others. Would he act differently with a commoner with no blood relation? At least in Duke Cassius's opinion, the way he ignored and scorned Liena was much more in line with Roland than before when he took care of her a lot.
But why did Roland like Liena so much? And why did he suddenly change his attitude now?
"Please stop that!"
Liena shouted as if to dispel those doubts.
"I understand that my grandfather talks badly about me."
Liena stood up, staggering, tears streaming from her eyes.
"Because you've been through hardships over the past few days trying to fulfill my wish of becoming the owner of that mine."
The moment he saw his daughter's pitiful appearance, the Duke's heart broke, and his mind went blank at the same time.
"You're being loud! You, monster!"
Then he came to his senses due to an urgent shout.
Roland simply stepped back in silence, distrusting Liena, who cried helplessly.
"Are you trying to bewitch me again?"
"What do you mean?"
"You've been bewitching me for the past twelve years!"
"Grandpa, no matter how angry you are, please don't speak like that. It hurts my heart a lot."
"Dad, don't get any closer!"
"You really worried about me, didn't you?"
"I told you to stay away!"
Roland finally turned around and headed toward his carriage.
"Just wait and see! One day, I'll expose your true evil colors!"
Finally, he left a message to his son as well.
"Edman! If you don't want to ruin the Cassius I raised, expel her from the house immediately!"
Thus, Roland Cassius disappeared from the sight of the three people.
"Don't cry, Liena."
Leheim handed his handkerchief to his sister.
"Has Grandpa gone senile? Whether it's black magic or brainwashing, I think he's a bit crazy. Isn't that right, Father?"
"......"
Liena glanced sideways at Duke Cassius, who didn't respond, and murmured sadly.
"It's okay; I'm used to being hated."
The Duke and Leheim, surprised by those words, looked at Liena.
"Thanks to the overwhelming love I received from my father and my older brothers in Cassius, I had forgotten. But looking back, I endured and overcame worse situations than this."
She referred to when Liena was in the orphanage.
"So I'm fine, brother. This is nothing compared to the time my biological parents abandoned me, and the orphanage director mistreated me."
"Liena..."
Leheim's throat warmed at seeing his younger sister speak calmly with a sad voice and even a faint smile.
The Duke did the same.
The always cheerful and bright Princess of Cassius had occasionally shown a shadow like this since she was a child.
At times like that, the people of the duchy's eyes filled with tears at the thought of the cruel experience this little child had gone through.
"What was I thinking until now?"
A sense of self-destruction sprang up inside Edman.
He regretted the past when he suspected that Liena was hiding a secret side and that this side might be detrimental to Cassius.
How dare he think that way? Isn't Liena nothing less than his daughter, whom he raised for a long time?
His mind went blank again. He didn't want to have more annoying and uncomfortable doubts.
"Dad."
Liena, whom Leheim was consoling, approached the Duke and gently leaned against him.
"Still, I'm a little sad."
This was also the childish behavior that the trusting girl showed whenever something sad or difficult happened.
"Will you comfort me?"
"Of course."
The duke stroked his daughter's head.
"Now, let's go home quickly..."
"One moment!"
In that case, an angry voice interrupted the sweet moment between father and daughter.
"Duke! Get away from Liena right now!"
The person who appeared at the main door was the first prince of the Empire, Mikhail Fetus Asteroth.
"Mikhail! Why are you here?"
"Liena, the palace servant came and told me what happened to you."
He quickly approached and pulled his lover, who was with her father, by the arm.
"I heard that the former Duke Cassius did something cruel to you? Are you hurt anywhere?"
"I'm fine. I just had a little misunderstanding with my grandfather."
"What misunderstanding! How can it be a misunderstanding when he insults you and even pushes you away?"
"That..."
Mikhail, who hid Liena behind him, looked at Duke Cassius.
"Duke, since Cassius has treated Liena like this, I can no longer treat you as my father-in-law."
"Don't say that to my dad!"
"Please, stay still, Liena."
Edman frowned.
"Your Highness, please let go of my daughter. This is a family matter."
"How disappointing! How can we dismiss domestic violence as just a family matter?"
"Domestic violence..."
"Do you still say that after seeing what your father did to Liena?"
It was true that Roland had made a mistake, so there was nothing to say about him.
"I will protect Liena from now on."
"That's not possible!"
"Why not? My palace would be much safer than being in that corner of the house."
"I just have to prevent my father from coming to the mansion in the future. And Liena also hopes to stay in Cassius."
Liena expressed her agreement with those words.
"That's right. Now is not the time to leave our home. Mikhail, I appreciate it, but next time..."
"Ethel Wallace is here in the imperial palace."
"What?"
"She entered the palace yesterday. It seems she has something to discuss about the magic stone mine."
"..."
"You've wanted to meet that woman for a long time, haven't you? I'll prepare a place for you to meet her."
Duke Cassius hurriedly tried to dissuade his daughter.
"Don't think foolishly. It won't be good for you and Ethel to meet."
"Dad..."
"Just a few days ago, you and my father caused trouble for Ethel. I suppose you haven't given up on the mine yet?"
Liena looked alternately at the duke and Mikhail as if considering it and then shook her head.
"It's not like that. I want to talk to my sister-in-law again."
"Liena!"
"I'm sorry. But don't worry. I'll see my sister-in-law and go home right away."
"You can't..."
Mikhail prevented the duke from taking his daughter's hand.
"Stop. If you try to bother us more, I'll take it as disloyalty to the royal family."
If Mikhail left like that, it would be difficult for him to stop him any longer, despite being Duke Cassius.
"Your Highness, please return my daughter to me!"
"You speak quite well for a bystander of domestic violence."
"I told you not to talk to my dad like that!"
The two turned around and entered the imperial palace.
Liena looked at her father and brother but didn't stop walking.
Duke Cassius stared at the main door of the imperial palace for a long time.
He realized that his daughter had shown no remorse for any of the mistakes she had made.
---------------------
"That's what they said."
After hearing from Laura about the commotion at the main door, I tilted my head.
At this moment, I was in an annex of the imperial palace. This was a place prepared for guests staying temporarily in the imperial palace.
Laura volunteered to come here to take care of me.
"There wasn't much uproar. The courtiers who were watching were all whispering."
I was curious to see how Roland Cassius would act after changing so much, so I asked Laura to observe him.
"I didn't know people could change so much."
After hearing from the divine beast, I came up with the hypothesis that I probably used a blessing while talking to Roland in the mining village.
The hypothesis was that my blessing somehow interfered with Roland's mind.
To know exactly what kind of interference it was, I interviewed him all night, with the help of the Imperial Knights.
Over time, an outline began to emerge.
Roland only reacted strangely when I told him to come to his senses, just as he did back then.
"If you really love Liena, you shouldn't listen to everything she does now!"
"Ugh... stop it once and for all...!"
He continued with a blank expression and often brought his hands to his forehead as if in pain.
In the end, he struggled and tried to move his staff, so the knights with him barely managed to stop him.
When the morning sun rose, the old man spoke with an enlightened face. His eyes had become clear.
"That's right! Why did I spend so much money on something so insignificant? That's disgusting!"
... Just because his eyes became clearer didn't mean his personality became clearer.
Anyway, this made one thing clear.
My blessing seemed to be able to erase some of the love that Liena attracted from others with her blessing.
"All right, what should I do now?"
At the moment I had such concerns. Someone came to see me at the annex.
"Her Majesty the Empress is looking for you."
It was Countess Massirin, the lady-in-waiting to the empress.
As I couldn't ignore the call of the empress, I followed her to the empress's palace.
In the Empress's Palace, where I arrived shortly after, the Empress in front of me said.
"Ethel Wallace, wouldn't you like to meet my nephew, young master Birod, on the premise of marriage?"
It was an unexpected suggestion.
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