TSMMT Ch 147

Gesture of Goodwill

At Ionia's instruction, maids escorted the weeping young Rosalia away.

[Dianna] "How long were you watching?"

Ionia crossed her arms.

[Ionia] "From the beginning."

Had she been observing all along?

Then why hadn't she raised a commotion? Ionia harbored deep distaste for Dianna and Lodbrog, hardly someone to overlook such an incident. What was the meaning behind this attitude?

[Dianna] "Are you offering to cover this up?"

[Ionia] "Why? Do you dislike the idea?"

She asked shrilly, prompting the onlookers to shake their heads.

[Dianna] "Ionia, this is clearly..."

Just then, voices echoed down the corridor. Having concluded their prayers, five priests walked down the hallway, their jaws dropping in utter shock at the scene of destruction. The timing proved exquisite.

[Franz] "W-What in the world...?"

High Priest Franz knitted his brows in utter disbelief, looking between the shattered statue and the Lodbrog retinue.

[Franz] "Did you... destroy this?! Do you have any idea what this is?!"

Just as Dianna prepared to speak, Ionia stepped forward.

[Ionia] "I apologize, High Priest Franz. I accidentally shattered the statue."

[Franz] "..."

[Ionia] "I broke the gift presented as a gesture of peace, and the Lodbrog delegation was lodging a protest."

Wait, why on earth...?

As Dianna called out her name, Ionia met her gaze. Her earnest expression conveyed an unspoken plea to Dianna.

[Franz] "Is this true, Your Majesty?"

Dianna offered no response, prompting Franz to fly into a rage.

[Franz] "Priestess Ionia!"

Dianna flinched in surprise. The harshness in his voice felt excessively sharp toward someone who was once a royal princess. Granted, a low-ranking priestess committing such a blunder deserved reprimand, yet she was still a princess.

[Franz] "Follow me!"

Worried, Dianna caught Ionia's sleeve, but Ionia shook her head. Lowering her voice, she whispered rapidly.

[Ionia] "I am already considered a clumsy fool anyway. Everyone expects me to make mistakes."

[Dianna] "..."

[Ionia] "So just wait. I shall return later."

Ionia stared at Dianna's hand for a long moment before curling her lips into a faint smile and departing. Dianna stood dazed, watching her receding back.

[Leonie] "W-Why did she do that?"

Why had Ionia taken the blame?

The retinue wore thoroughly bewildered expressions.

Dianna watched the direction Ionia had gone before lowering her gaze to stare at the fragmented pieces for a long while.

Among the Lodbrog retinue, opinions surfaced suggesting they ought to speak up even now.

Looking down at the shattered crystals, Dianna exhaled a quiet sigh before suddenly offering a cool smile.

[Dianna] "Let us leave it be."

She reached a surprisingly rational decision.

Expecting her to rush after them and deny the claim immediately, the onlookers exchanged cautious glances at her composed judgment.

Dianna squatted down, examining the amethyst shards on the floor.

[Dianna] "Nothing serious will happen."

The retinue exchanged glances.

Squatting alongside Dianna, Adelheit picked up an amethyst fragment, letting out a cold, quiet scoff.

[Adelheit] "Indeed. Nothing serious will happen."

---

Hours later, a soft knock echoed at the door, and Ionia entered the room. Dianna immediately stood up. It was past midnight, in the quiet hours of early morning.

[Dianna] "Ionia."

[Ionia] "You haven't slept yet?"

[Dianna] "Are you alright?"

[Ionia] "Yes, well. I received a bit of a scolding."

Dianna bit her lip, gazing at Ionia with concern, prompting her to speak candidly.

[Ionia] "I have been a troublemaker since childhood anyway. Even the Holy See has given up on me."

[Dianna] "I see..."

Observing Dianna's face, Ionia spoke.

[Ionia] "Judging by your expression, you already knew. That His Holiness engineered the statue to be shattered."

[Dianna] "Were you an accomplice to it as well?"

[Ionia] "No. His Holiness never shares everything. He merely constructs a scene and assigns the appropriate roles."

Ionia's gaze appeared desolate. What horrors had she endured? Curving her lips into a bitter smile, she spoke.

[Ionia] "How did Your Majesty realize it?"

Dianna answered slowly.

[Dianna] "In truth, for a piece supposedly crafted over two generations, the workmanship was atrocious."

Having grown up as the daughter of a ducal house, Dianna had been surrounded by precious artifacts. Even through her aesthetic eye, the statue appeared hastily put together. Yet such practices were common, so she had accepted it without question initially.

[Dianna] "Furthermore, I doubted an amethyst of that size existed. Examining the broken shards, I noticed traces of magic fusing smaller pieces together to disguise fractures as natural cracks. The amethyst had been deliberately assembled into a large sculpture as if designed to break upon impact."

[Ionia] "..."

[Dianna] "The surrounding floor was slick, and the marble pedestal holding the statue was equally smooth. One way or another, someone from Lodbrog would have committed the blunder of knocking it over."

[Ionia] "Precisely. And I, harboring hatred toward Lodbrog for destroying my homeland, was meant to witness the scene and cause a massive uproar. That was the scenario he constructed."

Dianna narrowed her eyes. The Pope had intended to ensnare her in this trap from the very beginning.

[Ionia] "His Holiness is a frightening man, Ann."

[Dianna] "..."

[Ionia] "You must be careful."

[Dianna] "Don't worry for me. Rather, worry for yourself. Why on earth did you take the blame when you knew all this?"

[Ionia] "First, because it was a staged incident fabricated by His Holiness without prior agreement, I calculated that claiming responsibility would yield no severe punishment. And second..."

She lowered her gaze. In her downcast face, Dianna caught a fleeting glimpse of Ionia's younger self. She possessed a habit of twitching her cheek slightly whenever struggling to speak.

[Ionia] "Simply because... you embraced that child."

[Dianna] "Pardon?"

[Ionia] "Because you embraced her."

She spoke, looking directly into Dianna's eyes.

---

[Ionia] "W-What should I do? Now I'm a bed-wetter... hiccup!"

On her tenth birthday, Ionia believed her life had ended. And understandably so, having wet herself at her own birthday banquet. "Reputation" was what her mother valued above all else, leaving Dianna's voice unheard.

[Dianna] "Remove your dress. If you stay wet, you will catch a chill."

[Ionia] "M-Mother... Mother will..."

Her mother would surely condemn her with a frosty expression. The Queen showed kindness only when obeyed, turning thoroughly cold whenever her daughter acted foolishly. She had once slapped a beloved maid and cast Ionia out. Her mother loved her most when she acted 'like a princess.'

That was precisely why, even when the young girl developed incontinence from the trauma of an assassin's attack, her mother had hosted a grand birthday banquet anyway. The world treated her like sweet sugar, yet indulging in that sweetness felt terrifyingly cold.

I am ruined now. Mother will abandon me. I am...

[Dianna] "Your Highness, pull yourself together. If you continue weeping, it will show on your face!"

[Ionia] "I am..."

[Dianna] "I promise I will tell no one. This can easily be resolved."

Her words snapped Ionia back to reality.

It was filthy, yet Dianna had tended to her kindly without a single grimace. Dianna had been a young child herself back then...

That goodwill, that kindness, that tenderness had saved Ionia.

And here in the Holy See, Ionia had looked upon the scene before her. The shattered statue and the loudly weeping girl.

She grasped the situation immediately. That young ducal daughter had broken the statue.

How foolish. How can people remain foolish until the very end?

Ionia ought to have shouted on the spot, condemning the Lodbrog retinue for shattering the statue. That was why she had been stationed here.

Yet somehow the situation felt eerily familiar, prompting her to stand still and observe how it unfolded. She knew not why. She simply wished to watch.

Ionia had assumed Dianna would fly into a rage. Time had passed, the girl had grown into an adult, and she had become a "Queen." Just as her mother had treated her, Dianna would surely vent her fury upon that young girl.

She surely would. She had to.

Yet Dianna had not. Instead, she had comforted and embraced the girl—gently, just as she had once comforted Ionia weeping over her accident at her tenth birthday banquet.

Ionia had watched the scene in dazed silence.

Ah, you were always that kind of person.

Handling troublesome, filthy messes without a second thought, keeping secrets... Dianna was that gentle a person. Relentlessly so.

That was why. That was why Ionia couldn't bring herself to play the villain.

---

Dianna was rendered speechless.

She took my side merely over something like that?

Observing the confusion on her face, Ionia curled her lips into a bitter smile.

[Ionia] "Why? Does it seem strange?"

[Dianna] "..."

[Ionia] "Is it that strange to remember a kindness received at ten years old and repay it?"

[Dianna] "..."

[Ionia] "You likely never knew, but that single act kept me alive. I had never received such kindness from anyone else..."

She spoke through choking sobs.

[Ionia] "You probably didn't realize it, but I genuinely liked you."

Her tone sounded somewhat dry, yet like a bursting dam, immense emotion surged forth.

[Ionia] "Ann."

Her voice turned wet with tears. In her reddened eyes, the image of the young girl Dianna had once known gradually emerged.

Staring mournfully at Dianna, she spoke.

[Ionia] "Why... why did you leave without a word, Ann?"

[Dianna] "..."

Standing before her was the young Ionia she had seen on that final day.

[Ionia] "Why did you do that? We were close. We were close... I've always liked you."

[Dianna] "..."

[Ionia] "Philip left, you vanished... I... didn't know what to do."

She wept openly.

[Ionia] "I didn't know. I had no idea what to do. Mother only thought of marrying me off like livestock and refused to share any information with me, claiming women had no need to know such things."

[Dianna] "..."

[Ionia] "Even when I tried to speak up that something was wrong, I couldn't. Then war erupted, and they said Philip had surrendered."

Clinging to Dianna like a child, Ionia sobbed hysterically.

[Ionia] "So I came here. This was the only place I could think of... I racked my brain, and this was all I could come up with, because no fools seeking to exploit my royal bloodline would be here."

[Dianna] "..."

[Ionia] "I couldn't stay beside Philip. Do you think I was unaware that my mother tried to murder him and his mother?"

[Dianna] "..."

[Ionia] "There was nothing I could do. Nothing except becoming a priestess to serve as the Pope's trophy..."

She wept piteously.

Dianna looked at the young princess who had once followed her like an elder sister. She observed a girl who had tried to grow and move forward, only to be dragged down and crushed into despair.

Ah, I can't help myself.

She couldn't bring herself to condemn this woman. Reaching out, she wrapped her arms around Ionia.

[Dianna] "You endured so much hardship, Ionia."

[Ionia] "Ah, sob, sniff!"

Few words were necessary.

Ultimately, Dianna couldn't view Ionia merely as Panborough royalty. Warm memories existed between them. She embraced the girl who, much like herself in her past life, had lost everything.

[Dianna] "Ionia, it is alright. Let it all out."

[Ionia] "Waaaah!"

Ionia burst into unrestrained, wailing tears. Dianna gently patted her sorrowful back for a long, quiet moment.

---

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