Chapter 13. Nostalgia for the past

Geraldine bowed once more before the princess of the north.

— Please follow me, your highness.

— Alright.

As the girl walked forward, about to follow the butler into the manor, she suddenly noticed that the young head of the order still remained standing behind her. Remesis was a little puzzled by this, as she had assumed they would enter together. But in answer to her silent question, Liana Daehsin smiled weakly at her and bowed her head.

— Please forgive me, princess. I still have some business to attend to. You may go on without me.

— Yes, I understand.

Remesis only gave her a brief nod, not going into too much detail about her 'business' as it didn't really interest her too much. Instead, the girl continued on her way. As soon as the tall doors to the ceiling swung open, the gazes of many people who were in the lobby on the ground floor at the time turned to them. They were truly stunned.

— My goodness, is this really our youngest lady?

— It had been a long time, she had changed so much.....

No one dared to say it openly, but almost everyone present was thinking the same thing. In the old days, when the Duke's youngest daughter was still living in this mansion, she was unsupervised, and it seemed that she was doomed to live in oppression for the rest of her days. But looking at her now, it was hard to imagine that this girl, so dazzling and brilliant, could really be that very abandoned child. How was that even possible?

'...She is truly beautiful.'

Remesis Rania Ashelot was beautiful enough that anyone with eyes could be mesmerised by her at first sight. Her dark hair with a bluish tint fell in waves down to her waist, its owner had a swan neck and delicate skin, and her eyes always shone brightly like stars in the night sky. Nevertheless, the girl's appearance gave as cold an impression as her character. Remesis had been selfish and aloof since childhood, but that didn't stop those around her from admiring her like a beautiful antique sculpture.

— I heard that Lady Remezis has achieved outstanding success in the north.....

— You're a man who lives in a cave? Who in this day and age hasn't heard of that?

When the returning junior lady of this house followed the butler, the staff immediately parted to open the way for her. Excited exclamations reached Remesis's ears every now and then. When she slowly raised her head and looked in that direction, the servants and maids flinched and immediately bowed their heads to her. Soon the girl averted her gaze, which made many people here more than a little worried.

'This is a sight truly worth seeing.'

These people showed respect and manners in front of her that they had never shown in front of her before. However, Remesis had no false illusions for herself, and clearly understood exactly what this was about.

It wasn't that the staff of the manor had taken a sudden liking to her, or that they were finally beginning to see her as a full-fledged member of the Duke's family. It was because they simply had no other choice right now. At this moment, the authority and power of the northern region in the empire was undeniable. And Remesis, who was the wife of the Lord of the North and part-time mistress of the northern castle, was now one of the prominent figures in the empire without exaggeration. Everyone here understood this very well.

In other words, in the eyes of the staff, this did not negate the fact that she was still that damned girl who was born to bring misfortune to the ducal family. The only difference was that now they couldn't also openly show their disdain as they had done before. All these displayed manners in front of the princess of the north were only forced.

However, it was quite enough for Remesis, who had long ago discarded for herself the idea of gaining favour from humans. Better she be shunned than openly despised as she had been.

Continuing to follow the butler, they made their way up to the first floor, and Remesis looked around at the beautiful corridor. The splendour of Carter Manor had not faded in the slightest over the years, and everything was still almost the same as it had been when Remesis had left the mansion as a child. At one point, as she continued to walk forward, Remesis casually asked the butler a question:

— Geraldine.

— Yes, Your Highness?

— Where exactly are my older brothers and sister right now?

This question caused an expected pause on the butler's part.

— Ah, that... — The old man hesitated, ''The thing is, Lady Katrina also returned to the manor only yesterday. The young gentlemen and my lady haven't seen each other for a long time, so today they decided to spend some time together and went to town. They should be back later this evening.

Remesis thought briefly about the butler's words. Soon, she nodded her head in response:

— ...Okay, I understand.

For as long as Remesis could remember, the Duke's eldest children had always been friendly with each other. More precisely, even if that relationship may have only seemed so from the outside, it didn't change the fact that they spent a lot of time together.

It would seem that being close to each other was the normal order of things for children who were born and raised in the same family. But for Remesis, it had always been a sore spot in her past life. She always regretted and saddened that she couldn't establish a good relationship with her siblings. While the Duke's older children were having fun and enjoying themselves together, Remesis, who was alone in her room at the time, would often cry into her pillow.

For although she was also their sister, they never treated the girl as such. At best the Duke's children ignored her, and at worst they bullied her. Being 'rejected' by a member of this family had once been very painful. But now it was all in the past. In this same life, such things had not mattered to Remesis from the beginning.

'Well, there will be an equally pleasant surprise awaiting them upon their return.' — the girl mentally smiled at her thoughts.

After walking for a while along the corridor of the first floor, Remesis's gaze unconsciously caught on an unremarkable door, which was almost at the very end and compared to other doors with gilded carvings and other decorative elements, looked more like the entrance to a back room. The girl, of course, recognised it immediately.

— Wait a moment.

— Your Highness?

Geraldine froze in a daze as Remesis approached this shabby door and when she was about to open it, she was unable to do so as it was locked. At this point the butler volunteered to offer the princess his help.

— Please forgive me, Princess.

The old man briefly rummaged through his bundle of keys to all the doors in the house before he found the right iron key and inserted it into the keyhole. As soon as the door opened, Remesis saw her old room where she had lived as a child. All the furniture here was draped in cloth, and as soon as the girl pulled the cloth off one of the pieces, she saw a thick layer of dust on it. It looked like this room hadn't changed a bit since the Duke's youngest daughter had left here.

Even though this room was small and looked rather shabby, but it held a special place in the girl's heart, as this was where her childhood was spent. With little thought, Remesis made a decision.

— Order my luggage to be moved here.

— I beg your pardon? — Geraldine looked visibly surprised.

— I said that for the duration of my stay in this mansion, I wanted to stay here.

Remesis didn't like to repeat her own words twice.

— But...

— Are you saying you have some objection to that? — The girl's tone turned sharply cold.

— No... That's not what I meant at all.

The butler's face turned pale, though he was quite puzzled by the princess's choice. Carter Manor had more than enough comfortable guest rooms to suit every taste and colour, but instead Remesis had suddenly chosen this old and uncomfortable room that had not been lived in for years.

— ...As you wish, Your Highness. Then I will have this room cleaned for you immediately.

Remesis nodded briefly. Soon this small room was swept and polished for the girl. Now, looking around again, she concluded that this room looked much better than it ever had in her childhood. Remesis hummed to herself: 'Still, when you have a high position, it really does do unthinkable things.'

— Your Highness, I have placed the maids outside. If you need anything, you may ring the bell by the bed.

Remesis nodded as she listened to Geraldine's explanation. After that, the old man finally left her alone. Sighing quietly, the girl soon sat down on the bed, and looked around the space around her. The whole place kept reminding her of her childhood spent in the Duke's estate. Remesis experienced an uncomfortable feeling within herself, but quickly suppressed it, reminding herself that it was all long in the past.

Remesis wanted to get some rest after her long journey before meeting up with the rest of the ducal family, but at that moment there was the sound of rapidly approaching footsteps outside.

Knock, knock.

A knock on the door was heard at first, which puzzled Remesis a little, but she soon came to the conclusion that it must be the butler who had forgotten to tell her something.

— Yes, come in.

As soon as the man at the door was authorised, he made his way inside, and Remesis's face contorted at the same moment in undisguised amazement.

— Lady!

Even though a long time had passed, Remesis immediately recognised the owner of the voice, not the least bit surprised as there was only one person in Carter Manor who could miss her.

— Oh, Seyla! Is that really you?

— My lady! I rushed here as soon as I heard of your arrival!

Seeing the maid's face, Remesis smiled widely, forgetting all her previous thoughts about her homecoming. It was a middle-aged woman with light brown hair. It had been a long time since she had last seen Seyla, and felt that she was now quite mature.

The girl had no way of knowing in advance if her former maid still worked at this mansion, and it was a real relief that they could meet here again.

Remesis stood up and walked over to her.

— It had been a long time, Seyla.

— Yes, Lady. — The maid gently grasped Remesis' outstretched hand and smiled.

— Are you all right? You haven't been sick?

— I'm fine. And in good health, too. Lady, would you rather tell me how you're doing? Have you been well?

Remesis' conversation with her former personal maid took some time. The girl was indeed happy to see Seyla. After all, in her childhood, she was the only person who was on Remesis' side in this manor. So it was indeed a nice reunion after many years. Plus, as it turned out, there had been a number of changes in her maid's life in that time, some of which really surprised Remesis.

— Lady, I actually got married last year and had my first child.

— Wow, that's great!

Remesis was happy to hear the happy revelations of the maid, who continued to jabber on and on with her. They sat on the bed holding hands and talked about everything in the world.

— Lady, but what about you? I've heard that your wife is a cruel and ruthless person that even demonic beasts fear..... she doesn't hurt you, does she?

There was genuine concern for Remesis' fate in the former maid's voice.

There had long been rumours in the empire about the identity of the cold Northern Princess who had no blood or tears. People call her a murderer, obsessed with war and bloodshed.

That's why many people outside the northern castle thought that Remesis' life as her consort was full of hardships. Except... if those people actually learnt the truth about their real married life, they would never believe it. Remesis could only give a strained smile.

— Oh, don't worry about that, — she assured the maid, — I've been more than lucky with my marriage. My wife is a good person and treats me with respect.

— Is that true? — Seyla looked visibly surprised by that answer.

'...Yes, apart from the fact that I plan to divorce soon.'

It was hard for the maid to realise and accept that the rumoured monstrous murderer who was crazy about massacres could actually be a good wife. In fact, all these years, Seyla had secretly always worried about her young mistress. She had worried that Remesis might be mistreated in the northern castle, and she had corrupted herself for not being able to help her in any way.

And now this sudden confession on the girl's part had clearly made an impression on her.

'Could it be that all those rumours are actually untrue? And the princess of the north is actually not such a bad person...' — Although it all still didn't seem too believable, but at any rate, Remesis really did look like she was fine. The princess' body was unharmed and a smile shone on her face. So Seila ended up believing her words and even deep down was happy for her.

'Who knew that Madam could really find her happiness in that political marriage?' — Seyla couldn't help herself and brushed a tear of emotion off her cheek.

Remesis didn't notice that several hours had already passed. And now the moment had come.

Outside the window she heard the clatter of hooves and the sound of a carriage.

The magnificent carriage with the family crest stopped in front of the entrance to the Carter estate. Remesis watched it from the window, and her heart clenched slightly with excitement then.

It was the long-awaited meeting with the Duke's eldest children.

***

Chapter 20 is already available on Boosty: https://boosty.to/meredit