Celebrity Lady - Chapter 140

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This chapter was translated by Lunox Novels. To support us and help keep this series going, visit our website: LunoxScans.com
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Celebrity Lady
Chapter 140
“Tell me more about it.”
Wishit rose and asked urgently.
Future Sight demands tremendous power. That’s why Wishit, blessed with all spirits’ abilities, has never actually used it directly—to conserve strength.
“If I speak? Revealing this truth to the Contractor would break the Taboo. With my power nearly spent, the Contract would shatter immediately.”
“I know that.”
Yes, Bilkin—taciturn by nature—would have brought it up first, since nothing could be said anyway.
For Wishit, whose every priority orbits Rubetria, staying at her side is all that matters, even at the cost of his own strength.
Which means he can never speak, no matter what catastrophe he foresees.
“Tell me anyway.”
“Yes, well.”
As Bilkin revealed the grim future, Wishit’s expression hardened by degrees.
* * *
After Wishit fled in such a panic yesterday.
I slept soundly and woke without a care in the world.
‘That fool—he must’ve exhausted himself helping against Lüben yesterday.’
It was irritating that he’d acted without being asked, but what’s done is done.
With the stalker problem neatly eliminated, I might as well enjoy the peace of mind.
“Mmm, lovely weather.”
Sunlight streamed through the window.
After a good stretch, I headed to the kitchen on the second floor.
As expected, Victor—my second-oldest brother, punctual as clockwork—was already at breakfast.
“I think it’s time we arrested the Duchess. Your younger brother hasn’t been in contact for a while now; she may have already sensed something’s amiss. I’ll send the Military Police. But before that—”
“Right, so you’re saying not to get excited and just spit it out?”
“…That’s right. I don’t want a sword fight breaking out in court.”
What if Victor—who’d gone half-mad just knowing I’d been tormented—learned the whole truth?
‘Ugh, horrifying.’
I gave myself a small shiver and rubbed my arms, then approached Victor from behind.
Calming him down was my responsibility alone.
“Big brother~”
I kneaded his shoulders playfully, and he grimaced.
“What?”
“You worked hard yesterday, so don’t go in today.”
“…? What kind of logic is that?”
“This kind. I’m the boss, aren’t I?”
“Stop it. I don’t want to hear about the boss playing favorites with his brother.”
“Don’t be like that—let’s spend today together. Actually, I already told the manager yesterday. You’re quitting after today.”
Victor spun around to face me.
“All of a sudden?”
“You promised me you’d return to the Knight Order, remember?”
“I said I’d stay one more month after getting paid.”
“Don’t worry. We haven’t hit a month yet, but I’m not petty enough to take back wages. Come on.”
“That’s not the point!”
“Oh, our brother’s shoulders are rock-hard, just rock-hard…”
“Ha.”
I tapped his shoulder and started rambling nonsense. Victor clicked his tongue, exasperated.
“Rest for a few days, spend time with me, then go back to your real work.”
“Rubetria.”
“Hmm?”
Victor’s voice suddenly turned serious.
The strange atmosphere as he caught my hand made me tense.
“Why? What?”
“The Duchess—there’s more you’re not telling me, isn’t there? Was it more than just tormenting you?”
…How does my brother always know?
I was caught off guard by Victor’s perceptiveness.
“Actually, I had a conversation with Father yesterday.”
“Ah, okay.”
“I told him I had no intention of going home until Grandmother and the twins are dealt with, and…”
“And? So what?”
“That wasn’t enough, apparently. He said if her eyes go half-mad, he’d kill her. Not just a figure of speech—he meant it literally.”
Wow. Father’s anger at the right targets is no joke, but…
“So I thought about it, and if you’d only been tormenting me, he probably wouldn’t have said something like that.”
“Right?”
“What else is there? What don’t I know?”
Victor tilted his head back, meeting my eyes.
I held his face in my hands, studying those golden eyes.
His gaze had matured considerably from before—calm and steady—which allowed me to breathe easier.
“You know I have my birthday coming up soon.”
“Yeah.”
“I want a birthday present from you.”
“What?”
“From now on, listen to what I have to say and don’t run wild like an unbridled colt. If tears come, cry only until today, all right? Father’s said he’ll kill her, so you wait quietly until then.”
Victor’s eyes flickered slightly, understanding that what I was about to say was no ordinary matter.
“Can I start?”
He fell silent for a moment, then spoke.
“…Yes.”
* * *
I stayed home all day.
After sending Victor back to his third-floor room—where we’d switched places for just one night—I stationed attendants and guards throughout the house and kept watch with him.
Victor’s door remained closed the entire time.
There were cries of anguish in between, wails, and the sound of something shattering, but nothing more.
Satisfied that he didn’t immediately draw a sword and bolt out, I gave him time alone to gather himself.
“Sigh.”
It wasn’t until dawn that Victor finally quieted. Unable to sleep, I was lost in thought—
Tap, tap.
The window rattled, and when I checked, Lark was there.
“Hi. I need to talk to you.”
“Why not just come through the front entrance?”
“I’m leaving soon anyway.”
“Don’t. Come through the window like last time. I don’t want Victor catching us.”
“Huh?”
Lark hesitated, pulling back slightly.
“Wouldn’t it be worse if he catches us inside the room?”
“Would he actually kill you?”
Lark rolled his eyes in deliberation, then grinned and vaulted through the window in one smooth motion.
“Pardon the intrusion.”
“Hehe.”
“By the way, Nathan could move against us as soon as tomorrow. So I’m planning to send the Military Police to the Duke’s estate within this week. The Duchess—”
“Oh, you’ll do that? I already told Victor everything today anyway.”
Lark looked surprised.
“Really?”
“Yes.”
He pointed upward at the ceiling.
“He’s behaving himself up there now?”
“Well, ‘behaving’ might be generous. He locked himself in his room, wailed and screamed all day, you know.”
“It must have been a shock.”
Lark bit his lip sympathetically.
“Your Majesty must be shocked too. What does he say?”
“Ah.”
Lark sat on the edge of my bed, his expression darkening.
“He’s shocked, certainly.”
Lark had told the Emperor everything—all the major and minor crimes Nathan had committed over the years.
The Emperor’s cooperation was necessary to send Nathan to the executioner’s block.
“Father is less shocked by what Nathan’s done than by the doubt that his own son would try to kill him. That doubt troubles him deeply.”
“Mmm, well. That’s understandable enough.”
In the Deccard Empire, Imperial Family Members are rarely sentenced to death. Yet there are exactly two ways to legally mount the executioner’s block.
Murdering a sibling of the same blood.
Or threatening the life of the Empire’s highest leader, the Emperor—and having it proven.
So to send Nathan there, we’d coordinated with the Emperor beforehand and enlisted his help.
When I was kidnapped, we’d set a trap for Nathan.
The trap itself wasn’t anything special.
We simply gave Nathan a choice.
“Does Your Majesty think Nathan is the type who’d poison his own father’s teacup for the Imperial Throne?”
“…”
I’d asked a question with an obvious answer, and Lark stared at me in long silence.
Then he nodded slowly.
“It seems he is, sadly.”
“So Your Majesty hoped he wouldn’t go that far, didn’t he?”
“Yes, he did.”
But the Emperor would be disappointed. Nathan wouldn’t hesitate to spring that trap.
The man had shown no mercy even to his full sister, the First Princess. He’d see this as nothing but opportunity.
“You look melancholy.”
“Me?”
Lark, lost in thought, smiled faintly and shook his head to reassure me.
“No.”
“You’re lying.”
“Yes, I am lying.”
He leaned back on his hands, tilting toward me, his tired eyes groping at the empty air.
“Just as Father is shocked now, I’m having grave doubts about this Imperial House.”
Lark began speaking slowly, as though to himself.
“In order to produce as many Spirit Masters as possible, countless imperial consorts have entered the palace. They’re burdened by the duty to bear Imperial Family Members at all costs. If they fail, they’re branded unnecessary members of the court.”
“Madame Endleton was like that, wasn’t she?”
“Yes.”
Though she’s treated like the Emperor’s mother now, she came from common birth and never bore children, so her life in the palace was terribly harsh.
“Princesses can’t easily fulfill the duty to produce many heirs. So even if they have legal succession rights, it means little. Despite being born as legitimate daughters and first in line, they’re forced to cede their position to a prince. There have always been princesses resentful of that…”
“…”
“So it’s only natural that so many Imperial Family Members, born of the same blood, begin to resent each other. And with their numbers so great, there are many like Nathan who covet the throne.”
“…”
“Nathan wasn’t the only one causing trouble. In my father’s generation, and in his father’s before him… brothers have always drawn blades against each other, and every emperor must climb to a throne drenched in the blood of his own kin.”
Lark paused, then swallowed a sigh and closed his eyes.
“And I too…”
“…”
“Have become that way.”
In the Deccard Empire’s Imperial House, ascending the throne without incident is a contradiction in terms.
Lark, too, could only don the imperial crown safely by cutting the throat of his own brother, Nathan.
“Was the Spirit King’s Blessing truly a blessing?”
Doubt deepened in his hollow voice.
I placed my hand gently on the back of his.
“When you become Emperor, maybe you can change something.”
“…”
“Nathan’s fate is unfortunate, but you’re not killing an innocent brother to ascend the throne.”
“That’s true.”
“So don’t weaken or blame yourself. Just reach the throne somehow, and then try to do something about it.”
I touched his cheek and smiled at him.
“You can do it.”
He laughed softly and gently covered my hand on his cheek with his own.
“All right.”
“Really.”
I pressed my forehead to his, offering comfort. It was a habit of his, too.
* * *
Moonlight filtering through bare branches.
Perched high in the Enchanted Tree, watching over Rubetria and Lark below, Wishit
“Hmph.”
gazed at the weary pair with pity, then let out a small cough and turned away.
‘Those two… something always shifts the mood. Youth, I suppose.’
One moment they were in touching, comforting silence; the next they were kissing urgently. What was that about?
“Sigh.”
Instead of watching the burning passion below, Wishit tilted his head toward the moon above and sighed.
Seeing how inseparable those two were, even now, only troubled his heart further.
The future that Bilkin had revealed…
“Who dies?”
“Randian’s Contractor, sir.”
The future that Vesta saw.
“The Crown Prince of this realm.”

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