MLIIWTFL Chapter 244

244

The fact that Camilla was a victim whose glory had been stolen remained unchanged. But after learning about the circumstances surrounding the late Empress, Letticia could no longer bring herself to blame her.

How could she have overturned a decision made by the Emperor, who wielded absolute power, even in the face of everyone's opposition? If she had refused, she would have been punished for defying an imperial command.

"Anyone who was in the capital's social circle at that time must have heard of it, the saying about the Ruby, the King of Gems, and the Diamond buried in the wall."*

"…"

The sharp expression that came out of the Duchess's mouth made Letticia flinch. It was the very phrase Matthias had used at Countess Freke's ball, when he mentioned how Camilla, who had been deprived of the Diamond's position, had actually enjoyed even greater glory than Emilia.

'So it wasn't Matthias who came up with that phrase? It was really something people used back then? Was it even written in the diary?'

While Letticia was briefly lost in thought, the Duchess poured herself another cup of tea and continued.

"Her Majesty the late Empress was a Diamond in name only. In reality, she was always overshadowed by Camilla. Yet both the Emperor and Her Majesty the Empress at that time kept pressing their expectations onto her, which only made her avoid social gatherings all the more."

 "Then, how did my mother behave back then? She wouldn't have openly criticized the Imperial Family, would she?"

Now, Camilla only sneers that the Imperial Family made a great mistake, never voicing any complaint about not becoming the Diamond.

But back then, when her rightful position had been unjustly taken away, when she, like Letticia now, had only been eighteen years old, could Camilla really have accepted the outcome without any protest at all?

The Duchess gazed quietly at her teacup before answering in a soft voice.

"She didn't say a single word."

"She didn't say a word? You mean..."

"I mean it literally. She never said a word about the Imperial Family's decision. No matter how much people around her sympathized with her as the victim and tried to lift her up, she never agreed with them. Whenever the topic came up, she would always steer the conversation elsewhere. And whenever she met Her Majesty the late Empress, no matter what she really thought inside, she always treated her with perfect courtesy. It was flawless social conduct."

Indeed, just as the Duchess said, it was flawless conduct. With the exception of one side effect.

"Then, at that time, the people around her must have been desperate to portray my mother as the victim."

"To be precise, they tried to frame Camilla as the poor woman wronged by the Imperial Family. And while doing so 'on her behalf,' they would criticize Her Majesty the late Empress and wallow in their own sense of superiority. The men were especially bad about it. Even their so-called compliments were things like, 'Camilla is better than the Empress,' always comparing the two… So when Camilla announced she would marry Count Sharon, it wasn't really surprising at all."

It seemed the reason the Duchess, an old noblewoman from the old aristocracy, did not cut ties with Camilla after her marriage, but instead continued to associate with the Sharon family, was because she had grown weary of people endlessly disparaging the late Empress. Perhaps her avoiding wider socializing was for the same reason as well.

'Well, I'd be frustrated too. The person who deserved blame was someone else entirely.'

Feeling a little stifled, Letticia cut a tangy orange éclair and swallowed it down with tea. Unlike Letticia, the Duchess, perhaps with no appetite, left her éclair untouched and only took another sip of tea.

"And then, the nobles in Duke Leopold's faction, as well as the old nobility who had long been under the Emperor's checks, vented their accumulated resentment by ostracizing Her Majesty the late Empress. Since Camilla kept silent, they spoke all the louder as if they were her representatives."

"…This may sound cold, but my mother wasn't under any obligation to defend Her Majesty the late Empress, was she? No matter the circumstances, the fact remains, my mother was the victim."

Letticia set her fork down and fixed the Duchess with a blank expression. If by chance she, like Matthias, intended to place blame on Camilla, then Letticia was prepared to argue, even if the Duchess was her opponent.

Fortunately, the Duchess was more clear-headed than Matthias.

"I'm not saying Camilla was at fault. But when the entire social circle had decided to oppose Her Majesty the late Empress, what could Camilla do? No matter how promising she was, she was still just a debutante who had only just made her entrance. If she went against the atmosphere, would everyone have simply laughed and embraced her as a friend? No. Remaining silent was the best choice Camilla could make."

"Then were there no nobles who sided with Her Majesty the late Empress? Those loyal to the Emperor, or nobles hostile to Duke Leopold's faction, surely there must have been some?"

"There were, but the problem was that this incident revolved around the Diamond. Nobles loyal to the Emperor supported Her Majesty, but their wives and daughters could not suppress their resentment. In fact, among the young ladies from noble families who entered as her ladies-in-waiting after she became Crown Princess, there were even those who failed to hide their insolent attitudes and were punished. And yet, most of the maids never truly regarded Her Majesty as their mistress."

"…So it was a hopeless situation."

"Yes. She became ill, shut herself away in her chambers, and endured by pouring her emotions into her diary. But when even I had to step down as Lady-in-Waiting, a few months later, she passed away. She was only twenty years old."

Letticia's eyes widened at the tragic end that was even worse than she had imagined. The Duchess looked straight at her and spoke.

"From the time she debuted, through her marriage, through the birth of His Highness the current Crown Prince—no, perhaps until the very day she died—Her Majesty the late Empress never once rejoiced in becoming the Diamond. She lamented more than once that if only Camilla had been made the Diamond, if only the Emperor had favored Camilla instead of her, perhaps everyone would have been happier."

"…"

"But people never thought of that. While she was alive, they criticized Her Majesty, and now they are forgetting her. In fact, in your generation, the story of what happened back then hasn't even been properly passed down. At this rate, I wonder if there will be any young people left who know about Her Majesty the late Empress at all."

"But His Highness the Crown Prince is still here. Doesn't he know what his mother's life was like? Doesn't he know what happened between her and my mother?"

Letticia pointed this out, thinking that if it were Matthias, he would have tried to uncover the truth about his birth mother no matter what. The Duchess answered with a deeply troubled expression.

"He probably doesn't know. It's so close to being a disgrace of the Imperial Family that everyone keeps silent about it. Even I have not yet spoken to His Highness about it."

"Not yet?"

"He already dislikes the social world. If he were to learn of what happened to his mother, how great a shock would it be for him? That is why I thought to tell him only after he marries, once he is old enough to accept it. There is nothing good to be gained from knowing such things too early in life."

"Then… has His Highness never come to ask you about it?"

"He did come once. He asked about what his mother was like when she was alive, and whether there were any keepsakes left of her."

"Keepsakes…"

Letticia's hand tightened. If there were keepsakes, could it have been the diary?

"Was it something like a diary?"

"…There was such a thing, yes. But as I said, I had no intention of giving it to him before the right time. So instead, I handed him some notebooks where Her Majesty had jotted down poems she liked. Since he hasn't visited again after that, I suppose he is no longer curious."

"No, Your Grace… His Highness must know."

Letticia's voice was firm and grave. The Duchess looked at her with a puzzled expression, while Letticia, without touching her teacup again, spoke on.

"When I was chosen as the Diamond and danced the minuet with His Highness, he told me that since I was my mother's daughter, it was only natural I should become the Diamond. Later, when I told my mother about it and then asked His Highness again about what he really meant, he used the same expression you mentioned earlier, Duchess."

"…The saying about the Ruby, the King of Gems, and the Diamond buried in the wall?"

"Yes. Until now, I thought it was a metaphor His Highness himself had come up with. But if it was a saying widely known at that time, how could His Highness have known it?"

All the color drained from the Duchess's face. Beneath the table, Letticia clenched her fist tightly and asked.

"Your Grace, do you have all of Her Majesty the late Empress's diaries in your possession? There are no other diaries anywhere else?"

"…I managed all of Her Majesty's diaries. However, the ones she wrote just before her death were written after I had stepped down, so I could not account for every single one. If, by chance, among the notebooks I gave away, there was one that contained diary entries instead of poems…"

The Duchess now looked even graver than Letticia had earlier.

"Then His Highness must have read the diary that Her Majesty wrote during the darkest time of her life."

"How dark are we talking about?"

"…The time when she resented and distrusted everything in the world, when she wept every day, wishing she could return to her childhood. Even His Majesty the Emperor could not bear to watch her like that, so he had her rest in a detached palace. If those were the diaries His Highness read, can you imagine what they must contain?"

At the thought of the worst, Letticia squeezed her eyes shut. A diary written during the depths of her mental collapse, when she hated everything in the world, could only contain one kind of content.

'It must have said she hated my mother, hated her to death, even.'

Letticia knew in her head that none of it was Camilla's fault. But reason like that only works when a person has the emotional strength to think rationally. When someone is suffering too much to think straight, they inevitably search for someone to resent and blame.

And any writing produced in that state would never have described the situation objectively.

'From the very start, our family and Matthias were doomed.'

🍓; *It may be hinting at a rivalry or social comparison between two individuals, one publicly admired, the other hidden away despite their worth.