Chapter 86 (1/2)
Chapter 86
Proofreader: somnium
“Ah, Your Grace.”
Mel, who felt her presence, stepped back and knelt down in a hurry.
Artizea had met Mel when she had just come here. It was when she was greeted by everyone on the trail.
At that time, Mel looked majestic as a knight captain with one hundred knights under her control.
After the Knighthood, she was supposed to serve in the fortress of Thold Gate. And, after gaining experience as a commander in another region, she would have succeeded Aaron in the future as Countess Jordyn, a vassal in the Grand Duchy.
The black clad captain was no different from the other knights who attended the funeral today.
The status of all of Count Jordyn household was forfeited. However, a trained knight is a skill that cannot be abandoned.
Just because the punishment is applied, it is not possible to bring about an immediate power decline.
Updated from novelhall[.]com
For that reason, Mel had her epaulets covered with white cloth.
She served as a knight, but lost her post and was demoted to a commoner.
Even now, instead of kneeling on only one knee and saluting, Mel knelt down on both of her knees and bowed.
It is in accordance with the tradition of the common people greeting the Grand Duchess.
“Rise up.”
Artizea said in a split voice.
Mel stood up with her head down. It was a quiet and calm attitude.
“If I met someone, I thought I would see Margaret or Aaron….”
“My father went out on patrol. My mother is sick.”
Updated from novelhall[.]com
“At the age of Sir Aaron, patrolling would be difficult.”
“He volunteered. He wanted to pay at least a little bit for teaching his child wrong…..”
“Is that so?”
Having said that, Artizea looked at the coffin silently for a moment.
“Aubrey wouldn’t be pleased about my visit, but I came because I thought it was right to send her.”
Mel lowered her head.
“Thank you. It wasn’t an honorable death….. She was Your Grace’s lady-in-waiting for a while, so if Your Grace would forgive her, that would wipe out Aubrey’s disgrace a little.”
Mel stepped aside.
Artizea approached Aubrey’s coffin and placed a white silk flower next to the mistletoe fruit.
Updated from novelhall[.]com
And she silenced for a moment. It wasn’t pure condolences that caught her heart. Rather, it was a complex tangled dark emotion.
“I’m sorry.”
Eventually Artizea said.
She didn’t intend to make it this far, and she won’t make such an excuse.
She has done countless things even worse than this, and she has never looked back on those deaths.
She couldn’t make excuses just because she was feeling sentimental.
There’s no reason for Aubrey’s life to be heavier than someone else’s.
Mel said.
“Aubrey is a disgrace to Count Jordyn.”
For more, visit novelhall[.]com
“Dame Mel.”
“My parents and I… raised her wrong.”
Mel put her gaze down.
“It may sound only as an excuse, but Aubrey is a child born prematurely on the day we heard that the Grand Duke was purged.”
“…..”
“At the time, Evron was having a hard time and both of my parents had suffered a lot… and felt a lot of guilt.”
“…..”
“On the day she was born, I knew they were worried about just covering her head with a blanket. At that time, everything was opaque. I heard they thought it would be a burden to have a newborn child in the Jordyn family if there was a war with the imperial family. So it would be nice to just die when she doesn’t know anything.”
“Dame Mel.”
For more, visit novelhall[.]com
“You did a good thing by saying sorry. You don’t behave like the wives of the capital do, they wear pretty clothes, do what they want to do…… As if to make amends for what happened then.”
Mel said she didn’t make amends, but was trying to make amends.
“One day, I realized Aubrey wasn’t just immature, she was thinking of herself as the Grand Duke’s Lady. I realized that it shouldn’t be, but it was too late.”
“Regardless of how their parents raise them, people live by their very nature.”
Artizea replied in a low voice. Mel replied.
“Yes. Some people don’t change no matter how they were taught. Still, I regret it.”
“Dame Mel….”
“She might have been a different child.”
Mel shed tears.
Visit novelhall[.]com for the best novel reading experience
“His Grace the Grand Duke had his first battle on his sixteenth, and so did my father. So, if Aubrey was armed and posted on the fortress walls of Thold Gate, she might have understood why Evron was loyal…. I’m sorry.”
She apologized to Artizea by bending her back. Her tears fell on the stone floor of the temple.
Artizea sighed a long sigh.
“Dame was a good older sister. You don’t have to doubt that.”
If she regretted it, she wouldn’t put Aubrey up as the lady-in-waiting, but Aubrey’s blood was buried in Mel’s hand.
Aubrey’s words of envy pushed down her throat.
Aubrey had everything she wanted.
Artizea knew that if she had been in Aubrey’s position, there would be nothing else she wanted to have or wanted to do in the world.
She had loving parents and good older sisters, so just enjoying that happiness would have been enough for her life.