ITIF Chapter 4

The Repetition of Coincidence

“Hidden motives?”

A blunt informal tone burst from Giselle Grante’s mouth. It was such an immediate reaction.

Before becoming Giselle Grante, she had been the Empire’s princess, and even the great nobles with white hair bowed their heads before her.

Such was the life of the Empire’s First Princess. Never having to bow her head to anyone.

But now she was in Giselle Grante’s form.

‘Ah…….’

Unfamiliar with her own voice, she quickly opened her mouth again.

“What do you mean by hidden motives?”

“……You seem exactly like a different person.”

Sure enough, Kavelaseth pointed out that exact part.

“I did die and come back to life. Since I was given a new life, I thought I’d try becoming a new person.”

She spoke calmly while observing Kavelaseth’s expression.

“So you’ve decided to drop the pathetic acting now?”

Giselle Grante’s brow furrowed slightly as she looked at Kavelaseth.

‘Acting?’

“Or is it that you’ve now achieved your original purpose?”

‘Achieved… my purpose?’

One incomprehensible word after another spilled from his mouth.

But she couldn’t very well ask what he meant.

All she knew was that the owner of this body, Giselle Grante, had even pretended to die to catch the attention of this man before her.

‘……Is that it?’

Trinity, who had been quietly gazing at his face, finally realized.

‘Lindsey said that Giselle Grante made an extreme choice just to get this man’s attention once.’

And now that very Kavelaseth had personally appeared before her.

As he had said earlier, Giselle Grante’s purpose had been achieved.

Though the person actually facing him was Trinity, so her efforts had come to nothing.

“I understand.”

She nodded slightly and continued speaking.

“You must be displeased that such a commotion brought a busy person all this way.”

“…….”

“From now on, I’ll conduct myself well so that Duke Cardia will have no need to pay me any further attention.”

Whenever the Emperor came looking for her due to unwanted disturbances, Trinity always gave the same stock response.

That she would conduct herself well so as not to waste the time and energy that His Busy Majesty should be spending on state affairs.

The moment she uttered those words that were so familiar to her tongue, Trinity found herself recalling memories from the imperial palace.

****

A brief rest period given during the rigorous succession lessons.

Even that wouldn’t have existed if Viscount Flerino, who was in charge of military studies, hadn’t had to rush back to his estate urgently.

Trinity dismissed her maids and entered her bedroom, intending to catch her breath.

Just as she bent her knees to sit on the sofa.

Heavy footsteps echoed from the corridor, then the door burst open, and the Emperor stormed into the bedroom with a thoroughly enraged face.

“What are you complaining about now!”

The Emperor shouted furiously.

“Your Majesty. Please don’t be so angry.”

The Empress began making a show of restraining the Emperor while glancing at Trinity.

It wasn’t just yesterday or today that the Emperor would suddenly appear and yell at Trinity.

And every time that happened, the Empress was always by the Emperor’s side.

The Empress would deliver her lines like an actress performing a well-scripted play, telling him not to be too harsh on Trinity.

“She’s at a sensitive age. I worry so much as her mother that she might go astray.”

When she was young, she believed the Empress truly cared for Trinity herself.

Though she hadn’t given birth to her, as the Empire’s Empress, she treated her own children and others’ children equally without distinction.

Her father the Emperor wanted a perfect successor, and if she deviated even slightly from his ideal standards, he was merciless.

So Trinity devoted herself day and night to her succession lessons to meet the Emperor’s high ideals.

During the day, she studied imperial studies and learned swordsmanship to train her body. At night, she gave up sleep to review the day’s studies.

She had nosebleeds on precious books several times, and whether due to chronic sleep deprivation, her mind was always hazy as if shrouded in fog.

‘Just a little more, just do a little more and if I become a little more perfect, then… I’ll be able to satisfy father.’

Then one day she realized.

That no matter what she did, she could never satisfy the Emperor. That the Emperor had been under the Empress’s control from the beginning.

“What’s wrong with causing some trouble? As long as she’s healthy. Isn’t that much better than being dull-minded like Duke Amaterasu’s daughter?”

When she was young, she thought the Empress’s excuses to the Emperor were meant to protect Trinity.

But as she gradually grew older, she finally understood the Empress’s true intentions.

That Trinity was immature and lacked qualifications. That she was an infinitely inadequate child to become Emperor.

It was to constantly remind the Emperor of this. So that Trinity, who was first in line for succession, wouldn’t be able to inherit the throne.

There was already a problem with the Empress comparing the Duke of Amaterasu’s daughter to her.

An ordinary mother wouldn’t have compared her own child to Giselle Grante, who was rumored to be dull-minded.

“I scoured the entire Empire to select and assign the finest teachers to you. Yet why……”

While watching the Emperor’s outburst, the Empress sent meaningful glances.

It meant to hurry and apologize to the Emperor.

Trinity took a deep breath and then lowered her gaze.

Soon the answer the Empress wanted came from her lips.

“Please forgive my inadequacies, Your Majesty……. I will work harder from now on.”

The Emperor let out a great sigh and glared at Trinity with narrowed eyes.

“Never forget that everyone is watching your every action, word, expression, and look in your eyes. Do you understand?”

“Yes. I understand well, Your Imperial Majesty.”

The Empress gently embraced Trinity’s shoulders and cautiously intervened.

“Your Majesty is always too strict. Sometimes don’t you need to comfort and soothe her?”

“You tend to be too soft on Trinity alone.”

The Emperor immediately retorted to the Empress’s words.

Indeed, the Empress was only soft toward Trinity. It was a markedly different attitude from how she strictly disciplined her son Prince Joshua.

“Is that so?”

The Empress, who had paused and looked at the Emperor, moved toward the window and continued speaking.

“But at least she conducts herself properly. And above all, Trinity is your daughter……. Isn’t that reason enough to look upon her favorably…….”

The Empress, who had drawn back the curtains at the window, suddenly looked down at the floor as if she had discovered something.

“……Why is this here…….”

She was clearly startled. Naturally, Trinity and the Emperor’s gazes followed the Empress’s line of sight.

Under the long curtains by the window, an empty liquor bottle was rolling about.

Trinity was of legal drinking age under Imperial law.

But the timing was the problem. This was precisely when she should be purifying her body and mind by visiting the temple.

“Haa…….”

The Emperor, who let out a long sigh, glared at Trinity and raised his voice.

“One month! For the next month, don’t even think of taking one step outside the palace, and reflect on yourself. I wonder if you have any sense at all…….”

Grumbling, the Emperor spun around. Then without looking back, he left the bedroom.

Trinity quietly watched the Emperor’s retreating figure.

“…….”

“Huu……. Tell the maids to keep things properly hidden from His Majesty’s sight from now on. I’m sorry for not being more careful, Tri.”

The Empress looked down at Trinity with the gaze of someone looking at a daughter with alcoholism.

“……Thank you for your consideration, Mother.”

“What’s between us…….”

Trinity thought while keeping her head slightly lowered.

She hadn’t touched a drop of alcohol to her lips, yet why was that empty liquor bottle rolling around there?

It was remarkably coincidental.

Just when she was given a break, the Emperor and Empress burst in at that time, and an empty liquor bottle was rolling around in her bedroom precisely when alcohol was forbidden…….

Could all of this really be called coincidence?

****

“You’ll conduct yourself well so I won’t need to pay you any attention…..”

Kavelaseth’s low, resonant voice broke Trinity’s reverie.

“……You’re certainly different from usual today. Though I suppose it’s not an incomprehensible situation…….”

Despite his words, Kavelaseth looked at her with an expression that showed he understood nothing at all.

“You saw it clearly yourself. The fact that I opened my eyes again right after being pronounced dead.”

She meant that even if there were some differences from usual, she hoped for his understanding.

“…….”

“I thank you in advance for Duke’s ocean-deep consideration.”

She spoke politely while gesturing toward the exit with her eyes.

It was an order to leave.

“I’ll come again when you’ve recovered your composure.”

Trinity swallowed a sigh, grateful that Kavelaseth had enough sense to quickly understand the meaning of her words.

She followed his broad shoulders with her eyes as he moved away.

But Kavelaseth, who had been walking toward the bedroom door, suddenly stopped.

“……?”

And slowly turned back to Trinity.

“Do you have something more to say?”

“That proposal you made to me then……. I’m curious if it’s still valid now.”