Duchess Mecklen’s Elegant Revolt - Side Story 15

Eleanor responded casually, “Nothing in particular. Why do you ask?”

“…Oh, it’s nothing. Just something I said.”

The Empress Dowager awkwardly brushed it off.

No baby would appear just because she pushed now.

She didn’t want to pressure Eleanor unnecessarily.

The conversation naturally returned to the topic of Lubraith, and the Empress Dowager let out an “ah” as if remembering something.

“Oh, about Hail’s guardian.”

Eleanor’s teacup halted midair.

“Wouldn’t it be better to appoint one a bit earlier?”

“By earlier, when do you mean?”

“Roughly within a year.”

“……”

“Ideally, I’d like it settled by the end of this year.”

Even Berenice looked surprised and turned to the Empress Dowager.

“It’s not easy to send such a frail child outside the palace… But hearing about the state of Lubraith made me think we need to be more decisive.”

“……”

“Is it too cruel of me to say that as his grandmother?”

Eleanor silently fixed her gaze on her teacup.

She had a good idea what the Empress Dowager was thinking.

Hail was a prince in name only, never considered an heir.

The Dowager’s intent was to eliminate any potential roots for the sake of Eleanor’s future child.

It was cold, but this was how the Empress Dowager had protected the imperial family all this time.

The Dowager took Eleanor’s hand. “I know how fond you are of Hail.”

“Your Majesty.”

“And I’m grateful for that.”

However—

“You’re the one who proposed finding a guardian for Hail, didn’t you?”

“……”

“Then you must know. That he’s a child you’ll have to part with someday.”

“……”

“All I’m suggesting is to move that time up a bit.”

“No noble has yet come forward to be Hail’s guardian.”

Unlike her graceful appearance, the Empress Dowager’s hands bore the marks of time.

Eleanor took those hands in hers. “Though he’s a child I’ll have to let go of one day, just as you said—I only hope that when Hail looks back on these days, he won’t live with resentment.”

“Eleanor.”

“There’s no pain more corrosive than resentment.”

Like her own, when she had been flung into Baden after the annexation.

She hoped Hail would never be thrown out of the palace against his will.

Unknowingly, Eleanor had begun to see Hail’s circumstances as parallel to her own past.

“If a reliable guardian appears—someone who can take full responsibility for Hail until he comes of age—then I will accept Your Majesty’s words.”

Until then—

“I will protect Hail.”

Eleanor met the Empress Dowager’s eyes.

Her resolute gaze seemed unshakable.

The Empress Dowager’s upturned eyes slightly lowered.

“…I concede.”

She gave a small shake of her head.

“Do as you wish.”

“Thank you, Your Majesty.”

“But don’t take too long. Watching from the sidelines with bated breath isn’t easy, you know.”

Though her final words were said in jest, the Dowager couldn’t completely hide her regret.

Berenice likely felt the same.

To both of them, Eleanor gave a quiet nod.

***

“Did Jack Ruby meet with Hail today?” Lennoch asked late in the evening, his tone slightly weary. He seemed a bit drained.

Eleanor helped him undo the cravat he was wearing. “Yes, did he mention it?”

“Hail told me himself.”

Before returning from official duties, Lennoch had stopped by to see Hail.

Unlike usual, Hail had been unusually cheerful.

He had excitedly described how Jack Ruby had played with him, and for once, didn’t beg to sleep together.

The reason was—

“Jack Ruby seems surprisingly good with kids.”

“…Are you serious?”

Eleanor meant that Jack Ruby had taken good care of Hail, but Lennoch took it a little differently.

As he unbuttoned his shirt, he looked back at Eleanor.

‘Did she not hear the rest?’

What Hail had shared wasn’t just about being bounced around.

“I need a little sibling!”

“…A sibling?”

“So Eli and you need to exercise hard and make one!”

“……!”

“Jack said if Mom and Dad hold hands and run hard together, the sibling will come faster! The nicer they run together, the quicker it happens!”

Lennoch made up his mind: Jack Ruby was never entering the palace again.

Still, Hail seemed to have taken quite a liking to him.

He kept begging to play with Jack Ruby every day, and Lennoch had exhausted himself trying to dissuade him.

“We should invite Jack Ruby to the palace more often. Hail really likes him—”

“Absolutely not.”

Before Eleanor could finish, Lennoch cut in quietly.

“He’s very dangerous to Hail.”

“…Pardon?”

More precisely, Lennoch was worried the child might learn too much about the couple’s private life.

“From now on, I’ll make sure Jack Ruby doesn’t come near him for anything unrelated to work.”

Lennoch spoke so firmly that Eleanor could only tilt her head.

It was fortunate she didn’t pursue it further.

With just a few buttons undone, Lennoch walked to the wine table prepared in advance.

He popped the cork and held out a glass to Eleanor.

“Did you prepare this?”

“Did I? I asked a chamberlain to do it.”

Eleanor, following him to the table, sat across from Lennoch and sniffed the wine in her glass.

She had asked them to choose something he would like, and it wasn’t bad.

The two clinked glasses lightly and began a casual conversation.

“Eger seems to be really worried. He said it’s hard to confess his feelings to Sir Joshua.”

“So that’s why he was out of it all day.”

“I told him he could borrow Kaham’s bracelet until he confesses. According to Eger, he’s carrying it around every moment without letting it go.”

Lennoch let out a soft laugh while sipping his wine. “Isn’t he relying on it too much? No matter how sacred a relic it is, even Kaham’s bracelet can’t do everything.”

“Really?”

“I’m sure I’ve told you this before. The priest who created Kaham’s bracelet began with the desperate wish to save his mother.”

It had been mentioned briefly before their marriage.

“He turned back time to save her, but ultimately failed. There was no doctor in that time who could cure her illness.”

“I remember.”

There were destinies that could not be changed, even with a return to the past.

The priest’s deceased mother was one such example.

Eleanor suddenly felt her chest grow heavy.

Lennoch’s voice continued. “If you truly desire it, you have to act yourself.”

“……”

“A relic may grant a fleeting miracle, but it’s up to the person to seize that miracle.”

Lennoch added a condition: if he were Eger.

“I’d do everything to hold onto it.”

“……”

“Because if I missed that chance, I wouldn’t know when it might come again.”

“……”

“Even if I were rejected, I would still do it. If I truly wanted to be with that person.”

Eleanor forgot to sip her wine and simply stared at Lennoch.

She faintly recalled the day they first met in the boutique district.

It had been their first meeting, and yet he had greeted her so warmly.

She had wanted to avoid him—his overly forward attitude had felt strange and frightening.

She had wondered why he was being so kind to her.

Even though she wore a mask, his gaze had been hot and unrelenting, as though he could see right through her—that only made her want to flee even more.

Time turned back, and Lennoch had poured his whole heart into expressing himself.

And as a result, they were here together now.

“Lennoch.”

Now was the moment to tell him about the past life.

Eleanor swallowed her nervous breath.

“I have something to confess.”

***

Unlike the ballroom, which was still heated from the party, the chapel was quiet.

A solemn space that seemed like no one would visit.

There, a shadow emerged—one that had not been seen until now.

It was Ernst.

He had returned to the palace to wrap up some remaining duties as Count Mecklen, and for some reason, had walked toward the chapel before leaving.

He looked up at the chapel ceiling.

The ceiling mural, depicting the symbols of the Lumana faith and various gods, caught his eye.

“……”

In his past life, Lennoch had stood somewhere around here.

Surrounded by flames, he had stared up at the ceiling just like this.

The sharp glint in Ernst’s eyes now lost focus and trembled.

‘I won’t be able to come here again.’

He had fully handed Mecklen over to Vito.

There were still elders in the house who refused to acknowledge him, but—

That would be resolved in time.

He had also returned his knighthood.

There were no more excuses left for him to enter the palace.

He had given up everything, but there was no sense of relief.

Instead, the weight of his sins only pressed down harder.

“…I’m sorry.”

A lifeless voice escaped Ernst’s lips.

He had been a coward.

He should have gone to the Emperor and apologized in person.

But in the end, he couldn’t bring himself to do it.

All he did was flee to the chapel where the Emperor had breathed his last in his past life and repeat apologies no one could hear.

“I’m sorry.”

He couldn’t even cry.

He knew he didn’t deserve to.

Ernst’s eyes, completely dried out, sank.

The hallucinations appeared again.

The same scene he always saw in his dreams.

Eleanor’s head falling from the guillotine.

The Emperor, weeping as he held her body.

And himself, standing amidst the flames.

The grotesque, agonizing vision made it hard to even breathe.

It was hell.

A bottomless pit of a hell from which no one could save him.

This hallucination would continue to torment him every waking moment.

Telling him he did not deserve happiness.

To the Emperor who had once trusted him as a friend in their past life—

To Eleanor, who had insisted on her innocence to the end—

He had to apologize.

“……”

Ernst could no longer bear to look up and quietly lowered his head.

***

A long story had come to an end.

Though the final sentence had been spoken, silence hung in the air between them.

The wine on the table had barely gone down.

Time had passed without eating or drinking.

After sitting quietly for a long while, Eleanor suddenly noticed something trembling beneath the table.

It was Lennoch’s hand.

“Lennoch?”

She reached out, but he reflexively stood up.

It was as if he were trying to avoid her.

Eleanor’s eyes widened, but Lennoch didn’t seem aware of his own actions.

He stared down at his trembling hands.

“…Did I…”

Did I—

“Was it me who killed you…?”

“No, that’s not it.”

Eleanor quickly shook her head.

It was Marquis Delph who had killed Caroline and framed Eleanor.

And Ernst, having seen only falsified evidence, had wrongly condemned her.

Even after Eleanor explained, Lennoch’s hands wouldn’t stop trembling.

“Lately.”

“……?”

“I’ve been having dreams.”

He had dismissed them as mere nightmares.

Insisted to himself they couldn’t possibly be real.

But for them to match Eleanor’s past life so precisely—

Lennoch’s eyes twisted slightly.

“That’s why I’ve always felt uneasy.”