Bloodline is a Cheat Code - Chapter 56

—————
This chapter was translated by Lunox Novels. To support us and help keep this series going, visit our website: LunoxScans.com
—————

Chapter 56
“I heard you were meant to accompany us, yet you failed to appear. I was just wondering about it. You may raise your head.”
Even though she was nobility of the Empire, she spoke to me—a mere lady-in-waiting, not even an heir—with such gentle courtesy.
Her kindness somehow proved she was far from an easy opponent. I lifted my head slightly to observe Melissa.
Honey-colored hair and emerald eyes—a face so sacred it seemed blessed by the divine itself, gazing at me with serene composure.
“You’ve received treatment. Let me hear the circumstances first. Since your condition appears poor, everyone except the Prince and the Young Duke who accompanied you should withdraw.”
“Treatment?”
“Your Majesty! It’s far too dangerous for you to be alone.”
Ignoring the Holy Kingdom’s officials’ reactions, Lucian Advein and Serpina Rosena whipped their heads toward me. Jade Delpoi desperately restrained them both, or they would have rushed over immediately.
Yes, please don’t come. When I’ve been given a chance to handle this myself, your interference would only make things worse.
Besides, there’s something I need to tell her away from the Holy Kingdom’s people.
But those damned loyal retainers, oblivious to my wishes, remained standing their ground.
“Trust me. Would I do anything to warrant your concern?”
Yet when Melissa issued the dismissal order in a resolute voice, I felt them all hesitate at once.
It wasn’t sharp, nor was it angry—merely a quiet voice, yet it radiated an aura that dominated the entire room.
If Melissa had loved Pertona Empress so dearly, would even such an upright person harbor anger toward Empire citizens like us, as others do? The question I couldn’t bring myself to ask rose briefly before fading away.
“Should any danger arise, please call upon us without delay.”
“I shall remember. Thank you for your concern.”
Melissa soon recovered her smile and saw each of her retainers out one by one. It felt as though she was composing herself while keeping us—practically enemies—at her side.
Truth be told, the more composed Melissa appeared, the more my insides burned with anxiety.
Only after the door closed and we were alone did Melissa regard me again with those settled eyes. Still kind, yet they clearly demanded something of me.
Nothing but the ‘truth’.
“From this moment forward, I swear by the name of Rosena that everything I tell you is truth without a single lie.”
“Are you saying that if you speak falsehood, I should no longer consider you of Rosena?”
“Yes, that is correct.”
At my unhesitating answer, Melissa finally smiled and nodded, indicating she was ready to listen.
I’m not without grievance in this matter. Would I have deliberately delayed in this situation if I’d lost my mind?
At least the Magic Tower wasn’t at fault—the teleportation device into the Holy Kingdom functioned without issue.
It was amusing and even secretly gratifying how everyone welcomed Lucian Advein, so I’d been smiling to myself until then. Everything was fine up to that point.
The problem was that the day was far too hot. I’d worn a comfortable outdoor dress considering even the smallest possibility that I might move about more actively.
“Tiae, your skin is flushed. Does it hurt?”
“Oh, I mentioned it stings a little…”
At some point, it went beyond mere heat—my skin began to sting.
I’d applied copious amounts of ‘sunscreen,’ the product Minabell had developed that had caused a sensation among society ladies, yet here I was.
Looking around, most people wore long clothing. Perhaps it was because of the sun.
“Miss, please stay in the shade here. I’ll hurry and prepare different clothes for you.”
“No, the carriage to take us to the Palace will arrive soon anyway. Don’t bother. I’m fine.”
Elian fretted that she should attend to me even for that brief moment, then ushered me toward the shade while constantly having me drink water.
Minabell gestured wildly at the air, frantically pressing something, then placed something cold and sweet into my mouth.
“What is this?”
“A watermelon juice made by cutting and seeding it one piece at a time with the blood and tears of our staff. First, we need to save you. Drink it quickly.”
And so I drank someone’s blood and tears while boarding the carriage heading to the Palace. Yes, I thought things would be fine up to this point.
“My, it’s rather warm inside this carriage…”
“Wasn’t there a cooling spell cast inside the carriage? Most carriages should have one.”
Even in the Empire, which doesn’t particularly favor magic, temperature-control spells are cast inside carriages during summer and winter.
Yet the interior of the carriage during the journey to the Holy Kingdom felt like a steamer, as if I’d been thrown into a world where cooling spells had never been invented.
The air was suffocating on all sides, breathing became difficult…
Seeing not just me but Elian and Minabell drenched in sweat, it seemed this wasn’t a problem stemming from my frail constitution.
“I should probably call the coachman to inspect the carriage’s condition…”
Those were my last words before I lost consciousness, unable to withstand the heat.
…After that, I was carried out of the carriage and led to the Palace, and I regained consciousness just in time to arrive now.
I had two choices. Simply remain unconscious as if I hadn’t woken up until the conversation ended.
Or wake up late, rush to the royal palace with all my might, desperately explain why I was late, and pray this doesn’t create a diplomatic incident.
The probability of no variables occurring was naturally higher with the former option. Lucian Advein and Serpina Rosena would surely prove my poor health one way or another.
But my instincts were screaming. That today, no matter what, I should go.
In the end, I brushed off Elian, who kept insisting I needed more rest, and Minabell, who was on the verge of tears, and came rushing here, throwing caution to the wind.
After hearing the entire story, Melissa fell silent for a moment.
“So you’re saying you nearly met with great misfortune in the carriage we sent.”
She was asking in a roundabout way whether the Holy Kingdom had plotted to harm me.
“There may have been a problem with the magical formula, or there could have been outside interference while the carriage was being transported. If it’s the latter, I humbly ask that you severely punish the outsider attempting to tarnish the Holy Kingdom’s honor.”
But I know that can’t be true. Me, of all people. Just me, nobody else?
“You don’t suspect us at all?”
“Objectively speaking, eliminating Flotie Rosena would provide no political advantage whatsoever.”
The Duke’s House may dislike the Holy Kingdom. But the Empire and the Holy Kingdom are already at odds.
Would Serpina Rosena join hands with the Empire to destroy the Holy Kingdom? Would Lucian Advein strike his brother to avenge me?
Me, of all people.
Melissa looked at Lucian Advein and me with slight bewilderment.
“I’m grateful you believe it wasn’t my doing, but the two of you will become husband and wife when you come of age, so naturally this becomes problematic, doesn’t it? An attack on a future empress of the Empire.”
Ah, that kind of misunderstanding.
At this point, I’m not even surprised anymore, wondering “where did things go wrong?”
Since rumors that we’re in that kind of relationship have spread throughout the Empire, it’s no wonder the Holy Kingdom, which hears only the essence of rumors, received the story that way.
And isn’t the Third Prince suddenly emerging as the heir to the throne causing murmurs everywhere?
Since Aden Prince is here, naturally the rumors would have reached them. But has it become not just that we have feelings for each other, but that an engagement is now a fait accompli?
“I’m still only seventeen, and Your Majesty also has several years until coming of age, so discussing a definite marital bond so hastily seems a bit…”
So let me neither confirm nor deny.
For now, let it sound only as if I have Lucian Advein in my heart. As if I don’t dislike him that much.
Well, who knows what might happen as life goes on? Something that could be interpreted that way.
Actually, I’ve already thought about the future before.
If our plan succeeds and Lucian Advein becomes Emperor? What happens after that?
‘Serpina Rosena will become a Duke, so I could give Elian an appropriate title and let her build a life… Though I’d need to think about whether to attach Vincent to her side. Wait a moment. If Aden Prince inherits the throne in the Holy Kingdom, what happens then?’
…the same thoughts.

—————
This chapter was translated by Lunox Novels. To support us and help keep this series going, visit our website: LunoxScans.com
—————