Read Novel Full Chapter 19
Chapter 19
The Lies of the Hero
“Wait, Maya was your spy!?”
“Au……..Forgive me, please………”
I suddenly exclaimed out of shock, making Lizbeth shrink her body from guilt.
n-no, well, I always knew that Maya was someone’s spy but, I didn’t think she was actually Lizbeth’s of all people.
“A-and so, Maya happened to see Prince Rudolf gazing at the gold coin while inside your room, and we finally started to wonder ifyour highness was indeed the boy I met on that day……..”
“I-I see……..”
And here I thought she had been definitely sent here by one of the 3 princes or one of the queens or something………
But, that does explain why Maya suddenly started to act so differently with me. A bit too familiar in my opinion though.
“…….as I thought, you are angry after all, right……..?”
“Ahaha……….I’m surprised yes, but, well,………I wouldn’t say that I’m angry per se. If anything, I should be thanking you. If not for you searching so desperately for me even after al these years, perhaps we would have never even met again.”
“Th-thank god……..”
Lizbeth showed a genuinely relieved expression as she exhaled.
“Ah………..allow me to return to the topic at hand. So the moment where I confirmed for sure that you were indeed the boy from that day was when we met for our engagement meeting. To be specific, it was when you accidentally dropped a certain gold coin from your pocket……..”
“Now that you mention it………”
I see………I thought I had instantly recovered it and hid it from her but, it seems Lizbeth definitely saw it.
“I thought of bringing it up right there and then but, your highness, you had been in my thoughts for such a long time that, well………I ended up freezing up from nervousness, and struggled to bring it up or even talk properly with you………honestly, I really was being such an unsociable girl, wasn’t I…….?”
“Aaah………”
Seeing Lizbeth say that in timid manner, I ended up leaking out a strange noise myself.
And here I was, so utterly certain that she was totally in love with Wilhelm, and actually hated me for forcing her into this marriage but, to think the situation was the exact opposite of what I had imagined.
But.
“Ehehe……….I’m so happy……..”
To think the girl who had been my emotional support all this time, had in fact continued to think of me so fondly even after 9 years had passed.
That alone, made the insides of my chest feel so warm………ah.
“Wh-what happened?”
“Ah……..fufu, forgive me. It’s just, you said the same thing and made the same face as when I gave you the gold coin on that day so……..”
Lizbeth blushed, and showed a heart melting smile.
Looking directly at me, just like that day.
Seeing her like that, I couldn’t help but break into a smile as well………….huh?
“Wa-wait just a minute. In that case, Wil……….that guy who just burst into your room just now, what is your relationship with that guy then?”
That’s right. In the [War Records of Wilhelm], Lizbeth and him had been bound to each other due to the events that occurred during their childhood.
But, the memory of her childhood that Lizbeth cherishes so much, is about me, not him.
Can reality and recorded history really be that different? It seems impossible but…………
“…….That in and of itself, is a proof of just how much of a fool I really was.”
“Lady Lizbeth……….?”
“One year ago, at a certain party, I met that man……Wilhelm, that is.”
With a sullen expression, Lizbeth struggled to get the words out.
Apparently, in that party one year ago, Wilhelm proclaimed this to Lizbeth with a wide smile.
[Finally we meet, the woman of my destiny.]
He said that.
Of course, Lizbeth didn’t believe him instantly, and thought he was suspicious.
But then, Wilhelm continued [that day, I still remember the time we met in the Imperial palace], which made her think that maybe he really was him.
And above all, Wilhelm too had amber coloured eyes similar to my own.
“……..Of course, he didn’t have the silver hair I remembered that you posses Prince Rudolf, so I didn’t instantly believe him. However, my desire to meet you was so strong that it ended up clouding my eyes and judgement. I deluded myself into believing that he was indeed the person I was looking for…….”
“……………………….”
“from that day onwards, I started meeting with Wilhelm. That said, it wasn’t much. Only once a month, we would have tea together here in our mansion.”
I continued to listen to Lizbeth but, things still weren’t adding up for me.
Of course, it’s not that I didn’t believe her words. My doubts were more towards why Wilhelm tried to pretend to be the person that met Lizbeth during her childhood?
“But, everytime I talked to that man, I couldn’t help but feel this sense of unease. Every time I brought up the talk of the gold coin, he would always evade the topic and would never answer properly to me.”
That too, was something I didn’t understand.
If he was feigning to be me, why would he not know of the gold coin as well……..wait, speaking of!
In the [War Records of Wilhelm], didn’t the episode about their meeting say that she gave him a brooch instead?
But, the reality was that Lizbeth gave me an antique gold coin that was in circulation before the formation of this empire.
Meaning……..while he knew that me and Lizbeth met that day but, he didn’t know the item she gave me.
“Lady Lizbeth…….Did you ever talk about our meeting to anyone else before?”
“………Maya is the only one that knew.”
“Then, is there a chance that perhaps your talk was overheard perhaps…..?”
“That is almost impossible. If there was someone who had, Maya would have certainly sensed their presence beforehand I’m sure.”
Oooh……..putting aside the fact that I just heard some incredible info on Maya’s skills, in that case, how did Wilhelm get this half-assed info about our meeting………
Yeah……….I have no idea……….
“And so, after finding out that the person I met that day was Prince Rudolf, I sent Maya with a letter to cut off our relations while also sending one more test to make sure for good this time. A question asking what was it that I gave him on that day.”
“…………………….”
“And the answer he came to after thinking a lot was a [brooch]. And that was when I knew for sure that that man had been deceiving me.”
After telling everything, Lizbeth bit her lip in frustration.
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