Chapter 96: I Shouldn’t Have Gotten Married

“Edelweiss. My dear.”

She trembled with disgust at Duke Stern’s shamelessness.

Now pretending to be a loving father concerned for his daughter, and a doting grandfather eager to see his granddaughter—it was contemptible.

He had once begged her to save Rosemary. Even knowing all about how his hands were stained with her gruesome death, if Duke Stern truly felt remorse, wouldn’t he have refrained from trying to engage with her again at all?

“To speak so rudely of the Grand Princess of Lorendel and Crown Princess of Rejenoel—did I ever permit the Grand duke to use my name so freely?”

She felt nauseated by the empty apology, offered just to ease his own conscience.

Edelweiss hated everything about this situation. To outsiders who knew nothing, she would only appear as a daughter shunning her family now that her status had risen.

“Duke.”

She turned her gaze to Tessen.

“…Your Highness. I offer an apology on behalf of my father’s discourtesy. Please, grant us your forgiveness. We had no choice but to come today as there is a matter we must urgently convey.”

Tessen bowed respectfully as he answered.

Edelweiss pressed her fingers to her forehead, trying to ease the headache building behind her temples.

“I…”

“Father. Please, allow me to speak to Her Highness. Remain silent for now.”

As Duke Stern tried to speak, Tessen stopped him and stepped forward.

If Tessen was behaving this way, it was likely they hadn’t come just to see Gloria.

“I have no desire for lengthy conversation, so I won’t be serving tea. Say what you must and leave.”

“…I recently met with His Holiness the Pope. He offered his blessings for Her Highness Gloria’s birth and mentioned the matter of her baptismal name.”

When a member of the imperial family was born, the Pope would often receive divine inspiration to give them a baptismal name.

The baptismal name thus revealed would be officially recorded in the lineage during the baptism ceremony.

“But apparently, God did not bestow a baptismal name upon Her Highness Gloria.”

“…What do you mean?” That God didn’t give her a baptismal name?

Normally, a baptismal name is given on the day the child is born—so why only Gloria?

“…No way.”

There were only two possibilities in such a case: either the child wasn’t of imperial blood, or an early death had already been determined, preventing the bestowal of a name.

“…Are you saying Gloria didn’t receive a baptismal name because she’s destined to die young?”

“…Yes. I also heard that Her Highness was born earlier than expected. I’ve already made a donation and asked His Holiness the Pope to pray again, but…”

“……”

“If in the end the baptismal name is never given, then Her Highness Gloria—”

“Stop!”

Edelweiss cut off Tessen, unable to bear hearing any more about the possibility of Gloria dying young.

Her vision went white.

Her heart pounded violently, and her fingertips trembled.

She had always known Gloria’s body was on the weaker side—but if she couldn’t even receive a baptismal name, didn’t that mean she wouldn’t live long?

“It’s… it’s my fault.”

“Your Highness…”

“It’s because I didn’t take better care of myself, because I fell, because I gave birth prematurely. If only I had brought her into the world a little healthier, Gloria… then maybe…”

Tears welled up, and her vision blurred. Edelweiss bit down hard on her lips, blaming herself.

“…I understand, so please just go back.”

“Edelweiss. If not now, I might never see Gloria again, just once—”

Her mind was already overwhelmed, on the verge of breaking, but the Duke of Stern wouldn’t leave her be.

Losing control, Edelweiss descended the stairs and shoved him in the chest.

Thud!

With a dull sound, the Duke of Stern’s body toppled backward. His aged, unsteady hand flailed in the air before finally catching the floor.

He looked up at Edelweiss in disbelief, blinking.

“By what right do you think you can see my daughter?”

“…That’s not what I meant.”

“If you were truly sorry, you wouldn’t be asking to see Gloria—you’d be kneeling before the Pope, begging, pleading with God to somehow grant her a baptismal name.”

“……”

How bitter he must have been to have yielded his title under Tessen’s pressure.

“You didn’t come here because you truly wanted to see Gloria. You came because you were afraid of being condemned for doing nothing about your granddaughter’s death. Or maybe you planned to use Gloria to reclaim your dukedom?”

The Duke’s silence, lips tightly pressed, was frustrating.

“Say something. What, were you expecting me to say, ‘Thank you for worrying about Gloria,’ ‘Thanks for making a donation on her behalf’? What parent exchanges pleasantries when they’re told their child is dying?”

“……”

“Don’t ever show yourself to me again. If you truly want to give something to the Gloria you supposedly miss, then die quietly, without me knowing. That’s the only gift you can give her.”

Edelweiss turned and walked away for a long time. Out of sight of the Duke of Stern and Tessen, she climbed the stairs and leaned against a wall.

Only then did her forcibly held-up body crumble in a crouch.

She knelt quietly and bowed her head.

“…Haah.”

Only her ragged breathing echoed in her ears.

It felt like everything was her fault. That Gloria was born fragile and suffering, that she couldn’t even receive a baptismal name.

‘If I can produce as many blue roses as possible and have Gloria eat them…’

Then maybe Gloria could live longer.

Edelweiss summoned a green butterfly, closed her eyes, and poured in as much strength as she could.

Each petal that bloomed in a soft blue hue glowed as if coated in freshly fallen frost.

A faint glow pooled at the flower’s core.

It isn’t enough. Gloria needs more—she has to take far more than this.

The memory that even Princess Charlotte had eaten blue roses yet still died made Edelweiss’s heart plummet. Panic quickened her breath.

Determined, she forced every last drop of strength into forming the largest, most perfect blue rose she could.

***

“Edelweiss—what are you doing…?”

The door to the bedchamber opened; Damian strode out and rushed to her side, grasping her arm to lift her up. The moment she saw him, the tears she’d been holding back burst free.

“Your Highness, w-what do we do? I…I don’t know what to do!”

“What’s wrong?”

“Gloria, because of me—”

A pain like her chest being torn open swallowed the rest of her words. She couldn’t breathe. Something deep inside threatened to burst.

“—kh!”

“Edelweiss!”

Blood surged up her throat. She clamped a hand over her mouth, but dark red seeped between her white fingers and dripped onto the carpet.

The mingled scent of blue roses and iron filled the corridor. Edelweiss collapsed into Damian’s arms.

“Why are you doing this to yourself!”

‘Because she’s worth more than my life—because nothing compares to Gloria, I just want her to live, to be happy…’

Edelweiss looked up at him with aching eyes. She knew Damian did care for Gloria—he was only clumsy. If only they could share a little more time together…

She reached out, brushing his cheek. Conflicting emotions flickered through his eyes, spreading into confusion. He clutched her blood-stained hand, as though terrified it might slip away forever.

But her strength failed, and the hand went limp.

Through a voice ragged with pain, Damian ground out the words:

“…I should never have married you.”

“…”

“If I hadn’t asked you for those blue roses—”

He looked so desperately lost; she wanted to hold him, but her eyelids were impossibly heavy.

“I’ll just…sleep a little… and then I’ll wake up,” she whispered.

As darkness closed in, she thought she saw tears sliding down Damian’s cheeks—but perhaps that, too, was only a dream.