Your Majesty, Please Don’t Kill Me Again - Chapter 2

Terms:

참회의 방이: Room of Repentance

루페르트 황자: Prince Rupert

상파뉴에: Champagne

루페르트 에드가 라스페 벨네르움: Rupert Edgar Raspe Vellelum

황명(皇名): Imperial Order

라페르트 황녀: Princess Lapertte

“My lady?”

“Today is… wait, how old am I right now?”

“Pardon? Since today is your birthday, you are now twelve years old.”

“Twelve… years old?!!”

The nanny stared at me with concern as I turned pale and didn’t move an inch.

Nonsense.

The Viscountess couldn’t be telling the truth.

Twelve years old?

I died when I was eighteen years old.

I hurried to the door after turning away from her troubled stare.

If this place is House Bellua’s estate and this room is really the Room of Repentance, then my younger brother, Lehan, should have been sleeping in the tiny bedroom next door.

When I had to spend the night here, the boy, who had been a good little brother to me since childhood, was constantly in the next room because he was aware of my deep fear of being alone.

I called out to Lehan in a voice that didn’t come out well.

“Lehan, Lehan!!!”

The door wouldn’t open.

I was trembling with fear at this point.

‘Stay with me… please be here.’

“Lehan! It’s me, Lariette! Please unlock the doo—”

My voice was desperate as it cried out.

I wanted to see Lehan once again.

If this isn’t heaven, it doesn’t matter if it’s hell.

“Lehan!”

“What?”

Creak.

When the hefty door hastily opened, a little boy in his night clothes emerged.

He wasn’t the robust young man I had in mind, but Lehan’s young face was similar to his.

Lehan, but not quite like Lehan.

Instead of a soft, dull brown like mine, his deep, dark velvet brown Bellua hair was a tangled mess and partially hid his face.[^note1]

I gave a giant bear hug to young Lehan, who looked a little perplexed as he turned to face me when I suddenly leaped at him.

It is a serious expression that does not resemble a child’s.

“What’s the matter? Did you just have a nightmare?”

Lehan had been speaking politely with me since he was ten years old. 1

But now I was glad to hear those horrible honorifics that he used and didn’t change even up to the day he died, even after I cried, begged, and even ordered he shouldn’t use them.

I sobbed, grinned, and kissed Lehan on the cheek.

“Good morning, Lehan.”

“Happy birthday, Sister.”

Lehan said stiffly while using his tiny hands to dab away my tears.

I seized the dress stretched out on the bed that seemed to have been prepared by the maid.

It was a heavy winter dress made of green velvet that suited the light-green velvet ribbon that tied up my fine brown hair.

I wasn’t even aware of the cold because I was so excited, but when I held up that heavy clothing exquisitely embroidered in gold thread, I became acutely aware of how lightly I was dressed right now.

I had simply been moving around in a thin nightgown I had been sleeping in.

Now I understood why the nanny always walked around carrying me when I was twelve years old.

I was sensitive and often felt cold.

I often feel cold.

I shivered, crossed my legs, and hastily buried my face inside the dress.

Typically, a noble girl with a haughty expression would wait for a maid to dress her, but due to my father’s frugal nature, I’ve never even had an exclusive maid.

I quickly changed my clothes before my nanny, who had brought my toiletries back, tried to assist me.

“My lady, oh my. When did you start dressing by yourself?”

“I’m already twelve years old!”

I first dressed myself without a nanny’s assistance when I was fourteen, two years older than I am now.

Naturally, I had done it before, but at a time when I clearly didn’t need her assistance.

I smirked, remembering that I wasn’t always so dependent.

I turned to my nanny, looking at me in shock, and shrugged.

“I’m all grown up.”

“It seems so. My little lady really is all grown up now. Now.. you will be able to do everything just fine without me.”

After I was able to dress myself, I assumed she would be happy and proud of me, but my nanny gave me a really dejected expression instead.

Even today—no, even more so than then, she wore a fake smile.

I rushed to her and opened my arms wide to avoid my nanny’s fake smile.

“Pick me up.”

“Pardon?”

“I’m cold, so hug me.”

Despite the nanny’s high-pitched voice, she seems moved by my obnoxious and haughty order.

She immediately hugged me, and I took it upon myself to loosen my hair.

“I put my dress on, so you can go ahead and brush my hair….”

“Oh, my sweet little lady. Just a moment ago, you said you were all grown up.”

“Wipe my face for me as well.”

“Alright, I’ll do it just for today since it’s your birthday.”

Despite having a helpless expression on her face, my nanny seated me in front of the dressing table.

The nanny could not conceal her bitterness as Lehan and I grew day by day.

However, we desired to become adults quickly, as children often do.

The more my father emphasized the virtues and responsibilities of aristocrats to us, the more I wished that time would pass quickly and that I would mature into a lady who could live entirely on her own.

I didn’t realize that when my childhood was finished, my nanny wouldn’t be around anymore.

“Would you like me to braid your hair?”

“Yes. Dorota’s 2 style of tying my hair is not as attractive as how my nanny does it.”

It wasn’t a lie, but it was spoken to cheer her up. Dorota occasionally messed up my fine hair since she couldn’t handle it.

After I said something that would have made Dorota unhappy if she had heard it, I turned to face my proud nanny in the mirror and grinned.

“Nanny, you have to play with me every day, even when you have already returned to your hometown.”

She also cracks a small smile at my extra words.

I hardly opened my eyes as I listened to the nanny’s gentle laughter fill the space.

When I noticed her delicately hand-brushing my hair, I felt better.

A long time has passed since she last stroked my hair.

When I was fifteen, my nanny returned to Coen, her hometown. The following year, she passed away. I don’t have much time left to spend with her.

I scrunched up my nose, vowing to forbid the nanny from even approaching the wagon.

“When that time comes, you will have already wed, my lady. And the Bellua estate will no longer be your home,” she replied.

That was my nanny’s response.

Knowing I wasn’t even married when I was eighteen made me snort a little.

Although the County of Bellua is well known and respected, no marriage proposals came to me.

No noble family wanted to connect with Bellua through me, to the extent that everyone found it unusual.

It was absurd and quite humiliating, even as I recall it today. 3

Lehan, who was a year younger than me, who would have married a little later than most other ladies, had been quite a popular boy throughout the noble circles and had received multiple marriage offers since he was fifteen. Meanwhile I was introduced to a baron from the countryside whose name I couldn’t recall.

I was quite the ordinary one.

I was the daughter of the illustrious Count Bellua, highly regarded by both commoners and nobility. I was the only daughter from a family full of sons.

I didn’t have any unusual physical issues, and my personality wasn’t particularly unique except for being a touch naive.

My stern and passive demeanor, which was similar to my father’s and cannot be perceived as cold, is undoubtedly unpopular with men. Still, such little issues wouldn’t be a problem in marriages between noble families in the first place.

But a Bellua is still a Bellua: we are always under the Count’s gaze. 4

And since my father is kind towards others, a child could grow up with a lousy personality.

I didn’t understand why I wasn’t as well-liked in the wedding talks, and I still don’t, but I’m not concerned about it anymore.

My existence will now be centered on ‘survival.’

If I’m not married, that’s okay.

I shall try my best to defend Bellua rather than wiping away tears and declaring that no one wants me.5

She put the ribbon she was holding onto my beautifully braided hair and I, on the other hand, adopted an expressionless countenance that was in contrast to my young face.

Dedicated husband?

Not necessary.

Nice clothes?

I used to want that, but now I won’t have any of it.

My lack of political interest prevented me from knowing my father’s position among the aristocracy or what kind of relationship he had with the Emperor, who was now a soon-to-be Crown Prince, which led to our family’s downfall.

However, I had to know these things immediately.

No matter what it takes, I need to make a good impression on that lunatic of an Emperor and make him on my side…

I only saw him once during an imperial ball.

How wretched.

Why did my father live that kind of life just to be framed for a crime as disgraceful as treason?

I considered the words I spit out before I died, thinking of the Emperor as I did so.

If my nanny heard it, she would be livid.

That Emperor is a jerk at multiple levels.

So I decided on one goal.

I despise him so much. Even so, everything he wanted to hear from my father, such as words of flattery dripping with honey and sugar, would come from my mouth as I would protect House Bellua.

How old is he right now?

I silently turned around.

He might have been a year or two older than I was.

He was fifteen when he became Crown Prince and made his public debut in front of the Empire’s citizens on a fall day.

Before becoming the Crown Prince, he was holding his breath and lived quietly, but it was only after becoming the Emperor that he began running wild…

I would have heard rumors about his cruel deeds right now, but I haven’t yet… so it must mean that he’s still bidding his time.

I’m only twelve years old now, so he must still be a prince at this point.

“How old is Prince Rupert, Nanny?”

The empire’s Crown Prince, who resided in Champagne6, has never had any significance to me.

An aristocratic girl spends her youth dreaming of being a princess in a fairy tale with stories of the princes who shined brightly. Yet, all I had to do was approximately follow the imperial family’s genealogy as it was narrated by my tutor.

Of course, the royal family has no place for one’s loyalty.

Even if they humiliated someone because he was stupid, he could never retaliate.

But it was unfair to judge a person just because the monarch hates you, especially something like the death penalty.

As my fury grew, I gritted my teeth and awaited my nanny’s response.

She seems a little confused by my inquiry.

I spoke again to encourage her to start working, but I got a speedier answer this time.

“What do you mean ‘Prince Rupert’?”

“Rupert Edgar Raspe Vellelum, the Empress’s son.”

The Imperial Order has not been given yet, and the current emperor is still not Raspereich I7. Still, his name will forever be engraved in the Vellnelni Empire’s history as the most despicable and bloodiest name of them all.

My nanny cocked her head as if she had just heard the name.

“Are you referring to Princess Lapertte, my Lady? The Empress’ only daughter?”

What’s going on?

Her brother, Lehan, has the classic, distinctive feature of a Bellua: rich, deep, dark brown hair. She didn’t inherit it, instead having what she considers a dull brown, washed-out hair color and is self-conscious about it. ↩️
Even as siblings, Lehan always used “polite” speech towards Lariette, his elder sister. She didn’t like that he was talking to her formally because it gave the impression he was distant from her. She tried without success to get closer to him in the first timeline, and they never were close as siblings until the day they died. ↩️
One of the Bellua maids. ↩️
Lari is deeply ashamed and self-conscious that in TL1, she didn’t receive ANY marriage proposals up until the moment she died at age 18. Most girls debut at age 16, but many nobles already had fiances or marriage offers even earlier. Lari had a simple wish and dreamed of meeting a lovely young nobleman, starting a family with him, and bringing pride to the Bellua name. However, that hope slowly vanished as she continued to have no marriage proposals, even at age 18, where she would be considered “unwanted goods.” She had been raised strictly to be an ideal young lady, and this was a blow to her pride. ↩️
It means that her father will always be the one to make a decision for anyone in the family. ↩️
At this moment, Lari decided that she didn’t want to aim for marriage anymore, that she won’t wait for anyone or love anymore. ↩️
The Capital city of the Vellnelni Empire. ↩️
Read as Raspereich the First; The designated Emperor name of Rupert Edgar Raspe Vellelum when he was crowned. ↩️