The next day, I woke up in a wonderful 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 positively glowing! I've never seen you like this before. Has something good happened?" Camilla's personal maid asked with a smile.
I was embarrassed by her remark.
"Oh... Well..."
As I changed from my nightgown into a dress with the maid's help, I absently thought about it. Should I tell her that yesterday was the best day of my current life?
My worst nightmare was finally behind me. Yesterday, the Duke publicly announced that he had decided to postpone the matter regarding my engagement. The reason was the lack of suitable candidates on the horizon.
Of course, the first to express his indignation about this was my brother.
"Father!" Yufil exclaimed, "Cancel the engagement? What does that mean? Didn't you say this girl should be useful to our family?!"
" 'Useful'?" the master of the house chuckled coldly: "And what kind of use did you intend to find in that rabble?"
After the most worthy options, selected by the Duke himself, were weeded out, the remaining list of candidates was frightening to look at. The last straw for the man was the incident at yesterday's dinner. He firmly decided that he would not allow the de Walte family to be subjected to such humiliation.
"But...!" the family heir tried to object.
"The de Walte family didn't just find itself in a dump. How can we agree to such proposals? It's a disgrace to our ancestors."
Of course, this decision had nothing to do with any paternal love the Duke might have for me.
If in the place of the Baron's worthless son there had been an elderly aristocrat with a harem of mistresses and a terrible reputation, but with money and power, my father would have agreed without hesitation. I was just a bargaining chip in his hands, nothing more.
I was fully aware of my position. And now, when no profitable deal was in sight in the near future, I was temporarily "free."
However, for now, this was already a big victory.
When it became known that I was staying in their house, the Duke's eldest son was furious. If I had even an ounce of interest, I would have used this opportunity to mock him. After all, when else would that bastard be so vulnerable?
But... Unfortunately or fortunately, it didn't bother me too much.
To all the maid's questions, I just shook my head with a smile.
Having finally resolved 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 dressing me and doing my hair, that's exactly what I did.
Ignoring the family meal had already become a habit for me, so I simply walked past the dining room and headed straight for the courtyard. The warm summer breeze was truly invigorating.
Imagining my bright future without burdensome responsibilities and financial limitations, I sincerely rejoiced. Since I was a duke's daughter, I should use these opportunities to the maximum.
In this regard, the guy who ended up in this world with me was much less fortunate...
We both happened to die for completely absurd reasons. Almost impossibly, after death, being reborn in the same universe, we managed to meet. I thought I had finally found a good friend here. However...
Enjoying the story? Show your support by reading it on the official site.
Despite being in the same world, we didn't have many opportunities to see each other.
Firstly, after yesterday's brawl, the Duke was unlikely to want anyone from the Seybel family to appear on his doorstep anytime soon. And secondly, the guy himself was very busy and unlikely to find much time to spend with me. The Baron still hadn't given up on the idea of finding him a profitable bride...
I hoped that soon we could meet on neutral territory somewhere in a café.
And for now...
"Is today some kind of unusual day?"
I couldn't help but notice that the estate was a little noisier than usual. Following my newly acquired 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, do you not know?"
"Huh?"
I was a bit puzzled.
"Our empire is celebrating five hundred years since its founding!" the maid exclaimed enthusiastically, "In honor of this, celebrations are taking place all over the country. Of course, everyone is preparing."
Oh, so that's it.
Hearing the reason for the general commotion, I quickly lost interest. Deep down, things like this didn't concern me too much. After all, even my own birthday had ceased to matter to me after twenty. What to say about the anniversary of some empire?
In short, I lay down again and didn't think about the upcoming holiday at all.
Until one thought struck me.
"Wait!" I sat up sharply, "Did you say founding anniversary? 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 celebration of the decade!"
I waved my hand impatiently, wanting an answer to my question as soon as possible.
"You know I was in the hospital for a long time, right?" the first random excuse that flew out of my mouth sounded absurd, "Many things get forgotten over time."
Elisha hesitated uncertainly. It seemed that it was at moments like these that doubts assailed her: was I really in an ordinary hospital, and not a psychiatric one?
"Well... At the end of this month."
The maid muttered uncertainly.
"...First, the celebration will take place in the palace, and then among the residents of the capital and the rest of the empire."
The guess that had dawned on me was confirmed.
"The Imperial Palace?" I asked again.
"Yes. His Grace has also been invited to the banquet, so he won't be home that evening."
Having received this information, I finally remembered everything. The banquet episode was one of the final ones in the original novel. At least, that's the information I found on the forum where I read the spoilers. They also said it was one of the most brutal scenes in the entire book.
Honestly, at times like this, I especially regretted not being able to read the novel to the end myself. 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 villainess died. Of course, the person who slew "world evil" was the Second Princess, Jerica de Ronan. She was declared a national heroine and savior of the empire.
In the end, the fierce battle between the sisters ended with this.
After her death, Kaena de Ronan was accused of numerous crimes and posthumously stripped of her title as a member of the imperial family. She was buried in an unmarked grave, and it was wished that her existence be erased from the country's history forever.
At the end of the novel, Jerica became the Crown Princess, and subsequently the Queen. The epilogue took place ten years after the main events.
Then, the now adult Jerica comes to her sister's grave, which she had visited alone all these years. No one knew that the former Crown Princess had been buried in this cemetery among commoners.
The last chapter was filled with notes of nostalgic memories. Anyone who had followed the sisters' story from the beginning would have cried at this touching moment.
The main heroine took out a flute and began to play a long-forgotten melody from their shared childhood. From the time when they weren't yet enemies.
"Kaena, do you still remember this song?"
With that, the novel ended.
In other words, the main moral of the novel was that revenge doesn't matter. The villainess, who spent her whole life thirsting for revenge against the imperial family, ended up losing everything. So was it worth it?
If the girl had found the strength to forgive her family in the future, would things have turned out differently? Would it have been possible to avoid those terrible consequences and, ultimately, death? One way or another, this question forever remained unanswered.
But all these sentimental plot details didn't interest me at all. Because right now, I was concerned with only one thing.
If the banquet episode was indeed the final one, then...
This meant that there were only a couple of days left until the finale of the novel.
When I realized this, I couldn't believe my own luck.
Finally, this world would be safe.
The bandits patrolling the empire's streets would no longer be able to threaten me. And most importantly, the villainess who was the cause of all these misfortunes would die.
I threw my head back and laughed. The maid stared at me in surprise.
"Freedom! Finally, freedom!"
Besides freeing the empire from Kaena's tyranny, I also had my own personal gain in mind. Because then, nothing would be able to stop me.
I would be able to achieve my main goal — gain independence and run away.