Chapter 10. A bright future

The next day I woke up in a great mood. There was a lightness in my body, and I felt calm and relaxed.

"I have a feeling that today will be a good day too."

"My Lady, you're beaming! I've never seen you like this before. Did something good happen?" Camilla's personal maid asked with a smile.

I was embarrassed by her remark.

— Ah... well...

While I was changing from a nightgown into a dress with the help of a maid, I was thinking about it absently. Should I tell her that yesterday was the best day of my current life?

My worst nightmare is finally behind me. Yesterday, the Duke publicly announced that he had decided to postpone the issue of my engagement. The reason for this was the lack of suitable candidates on the horizon.

Of course, my brother was the first to express his indignation about this.

— Father! — Yufil exclaimed, — Cancel the engagement? What does it mean? Didn't you say that this girl should benefit our family?!

The owner of the house smiled coldly:

— And what kind of benefit were you going to find in these garbage?

After the most worthy options, selected by the Duke himself, were screened out, it was scary to look at the remaining list of applicants. The last straw for the man was the incident at last night's dinner. He was determined that he would not allow the de Walt family to be subjected to such humiliation.

— But...! — the heir of the family tried to object.

— The de Walt family did not find themselves in the trash. How can we accept such offers? It's a shame for our ancestors.

Of course, this decision had nothing to do with the Duke's paternal love for me.

If the baron's worthless son had been an elderly aristocrat with a harem of mistresses and a disgusting reputation, but with money and power, my father would have agreed without hesitation. I was just a bargaining chip in his hands, and nothing more.

I was well aware of my situation. And now, when there was no profitable deal in the near future, I was temporarily "free."

However, at the moment it was already a big victory.

When it became known that I was staying at their house, the Duke's eldest son was furious. If I had any interest, I would have taken this opportunity to mock him. After all, when else would this asshole have been so vulnerable?

But... Unfortunately or fortunately, I didn't care too much.

I shook my head at all the maid's questions with a smile.

Having finally solved this problem, now I just wanted to relieve the accumulated stress. Perhaps it would be nice to spend the whole day on the summer veranda, enjoying various snacks.

Soon, when Elisha finished changing my clothes and putting my hair in order, I did so.

Ignoring the family meal had already become a habit for me, so I just walked past the dining room and immediately headed straight into the courtyard. The warm summer breeze was truly invigorating.

Imagining my bright future without burdensome responsibilities and financial constraints, I was sincerely happy. Since I was the daughter of a duke, I had to make the most of these opportunities.

In this regard, the guy who came into this world with me was much less lucky...

We both managed to die for completely ridiculous reasons. It's almost impossible, but after death, reborn in the same universe, we were able to meet. I thought I could finally find a good friend here. However...

Even though we were in the same world, we didn't have many opportunities to see each other.

Firstly, after yesterday's brawl, the Duke is unlikely to want anyone from the Seibel family to appear on his doorstep in the near future. And secondly, the guy himself was very busy and would hardly have found much time to spend with me. The Baron still hasn't given up on the idea of finding him a profitable bride...

I was hoping that soon we would be able to meet on neutral territory somewhere in a cafe.

But for now...

— Is today an unusual day?

I couldn't help but notice that the manor was a little more noisy than usual. In my newfound tradition, I was about to send the servants shopping when it suddenly turned out that they all already had things to do.

— Of course! — Elisha was surprised, — My Lady, don't you know?

— Eh?

I was a little puzzled.

— Our empire is celebrating five hundred years since its foundation! — The maid exclaimed enthusiastically, — There are celebrations all over the country in honor of this. Of course, everyone is getting ready.

Oh, so that's the thing.

After hearing the reason for the general commotion, I quickly lost interest. Deep down, I didn't really care about such things. In the end, even my own birthday ceased to matter to me after twenty years. What can we say about the anniversary of some empire?

In short, I lay down again and did not think at all about the upcoming holiday.

Until a thought struck me.

— Wait! — I sat down abruptly, — You say it's the anniversary of the foundation? Five hundred years?

Elisha was surprised by my sudden exclamation.

— Y-yes...

— And when will it be?

The maid's eyes widened.

— My Lady, do you really not know? This is the biggest holiday of the decade!

I waved impatiently, wanting to get an answer to my question as soon as possible.

— You know I've been in the hospital for a long time, right? — the first random excuse that came out of my mouth sounded ridiculous, — Many things are forgotten during this time.

Elisha hesitated. It seemed that it was at such moments that she was overcome by doubts: was I really in an ordinary hospital, and not in a psychiatric one?

— well... At the end of this month.

The maid muttered uncertainly.

— ...First, the celebration will take place in the palace, and after that — at the residents of the capital and the rest of the empire.

The guess that dawned on me was confirmed.

— The Imperial Palace? — I asked.

— yes. His Lordship is also invited to the banquet, so he will not be at home this evening.

After receiving this information, I finally remembered everything. The banquet episode was one of the final ones in the original novel. At least, I found such information on the forum, where I read spoilers. It was also said that it was one of the most violent scenes in the entire book.

To be honest, at such moments I especially regretted that I could not read the novel to the end on my own. Now I had to rely only on the opinions of people in the comments.

I wasn't sure exactly what happened then, but the next day the main villain died. Of course, the person who defeated the "world evil" was the second Princess Jerica de Ronan. She was declared the national heroine and savior of the empire.

As a result, a fierce battle between the sisters ended with this.

After her death, Kaena de Ronan was accused of numerous crimes and posthumously stripped of the title of a member of the imperial family. She was buried in an unmarked grave and wished to erase her existence from the history of the country forever.

At the end of the novel, Jerica became the crown princess and later the queen. The epilogue took place ten years after the end of the main events.

Then an adult Jerica comes to the grave of her sister, whom she visited the only one in all these years. No one knew that the former Crown Princess was buried in this cemetery among the commoners.

The last chapter was filled with notes of nostalgic memories. Anyone who has followed the sisters' story from the very beginning would have cried at this touching moment.

The main character took out a flute and began to play a long-forgotten melody from their shared childhood. Back when they hadn't become enemies yet.

"Kaena, do you still remember this song?"

The novel ended there.

In other words, the main moral of the novel was that revenge doesn't matter. The villainess, who had been seeking revenge on the imperial family all her life, eventually lost everything. So was the game worth the candle?

If the girl had found the strength to forgive her family in the future, would everything have turned out differently? Would it have been possible to avoid those terrible consequences and, eventually, death? Anyway, this question has remained unanswered forever.

But all these snotty plot details didn't interest me at all. After all, I was only interested in one thing right now.

If the banquet episode was indeed the final one, then...

This meant that the novel's finale was only a couple of days away.

When I realized this, I couldn't believe my own happiness.

This world will finally be safe.

The bandits on duty on the streets of the empire will no longer be able to threaten me. And most importantly, the villain who caused all these misfortunes will die.

I threw my head back and laughed. The maid stared at me in surprise.

"Freedom! Freedom at last!"

Besides freeing the empire from the tyranny of Kaena, I also pursued my own personal gain. After all, then nothing can stop me.

I will be able to achieve my main goal — to gain independence and escape.