So I Was the Persecuted Grand Duchess Destined to Die? Chapter 54

Chapter 54

Following Karl’s guidance, Diana arrived at the open lot behind the ducal castle.
The place that had once been left to rot had somehow turned into a small vegetable garden.
And honestly, even setting that aside—
What… am I even looking at?

The scene in front of her was nothing short of shocking.

“...And who is that? Don’t tell me that’s Katharina?”

“Yes, my lady.”

Wearing plain linen work clothes—something she’d rather die than put on with her own hands—Katharina was digging away in the garden like her life depended on it.

“Lady Renée! Look! There are so many potatoes!”

“Wow, you’re right. Ngh… why am I pulling up rocks instead of potatoes?”

Beside her was a girl with shimmering silver hair tied up tightly, red eyes sparkling as she hacked at the soil with a hoe.

That girl is…

Renée Blanche?

Diana, deliberately unfolding her fan, sized Renée up from head to toe.

Renée was smaller—and more beautiful—than she’d expected.
A noble, delicate appearance that didn’t match her frantic, rabbit-like digging at all.
If anything, the contrast made her shine even more.

“Ugh…! There must be a boulder under here.”

Renée’s round eyes drooped in pure disappointment.

That was when Xavier—who’d been loitering behind them, watching for no good reason—stepped forward.

“Move.”

He drew his sword without hesitation.

That’s… sword aura?!

A faint, shimmering force rippled along the blade.

“Hah!”

He drove the sword straight into the ground.

Ruuumble!

“Wah!”

“Eek?!”

The earth trembled as if a small quake had hit.

Startled, Renée clutched her chest and stared up at Xavier.

“W-what did you just do?!”

“There was rock beneath. I shattered it into powder. Now you can harvest the potatoes easily.”

Xavier answered with a strangely proud look on his face.

But Renée looked utterly aghast.

“Then… wouldn’t the potatoes also be… powder?”

“!”

Apparently he hadn’t thought of that, because Xavier’s eyes went wide.

Beside them, Katharina frantically rummaged through the dirt, cupped both cheeks, and screamed.

“Eeeeek! My potatoes! His Grace is a murderer—no, a potato-killer! Do you know how hard I worked to grow those?!”

“…How unfortunate.”

Xavier went pale in an instant.

That isn’t what sword aura is for.

And yet he was watching the reaction of a woman half his size like his life depended on it.

“Hah.”

Diana let out an incredulous sigh.

Her grandson looked polished—glossy, even.
The face of a man who’d been eating well, sleeping well, and living disgustingly healthy.

“Hey! I brought water for the watering can—...what? Why’s the mood like this?”

A young man with long green hair swaying as he walked strolled up.

He had a strange, distinctive presence—someone Diana had never seen before.

She immediately asked Karl,
“And who is that?”

“Ah. That would be Lord Ternox—His Highness Xavier’s newly appointed adjutant.”

“An adjutant?”

The grandson who trusted no one, guarded everyone, and had lived his entire life on edge… had taken an adjutant?

Diana couldn’t believe what she was seeing.

She’d only been gone for half a year at most… yet the castle she’d lived in all her life felt unfamiliar.

So all these changes center around that girl.

Diana narrowed her eyes and watched Renée.

And then—

“…Grandmother?”

Only then did Xavier finally notice Diana.

Ridiculous. So distracted by a woman he didn’t even realize his grandmother had arrived?

With her mood turning sour, Diana snorted.

Xavier approached, hastily straightening himself as he addressed her.

“Grandmother. What brings you here? Without so much as a letter—”

“Must I announce myself before entering my own home?”

“Lady Diana! It’s been so long!”

Katharina—who’d been hidden behind Xavier’s broad frame—burst out like a chirping lark, laughing brightly as she greeted her.

“Yes, Katharina… You look… healthy.”

“Hehe! Of course!”

But Diana still didn’t feel any better.

Renée had stood up awkwardly, dirt all over her, eyes wide and blank.

“Oh. This must be our first meeting.”

Xavier gestured Renée forward, bringing her to stand before Diana.

“This is Diana Celeste—former Archduchess, and my grandmother.”

“Ah—h-hello…!”

Renée snapped into a full ninety-degree bow.

With her arms flailing awkwardly, she looked like she was giving a greeting you’d see from some alleyway gang boss—making it painfully obvious how flustered she was.

Diana’s brows drew tighter.

And this is what passes as the Archduchess of Celeste?
What a disgrace.

“Grandmother, this is Archduchess Renée—”

“No.”

Diana cut Xavier off coldly.

“I have no granddaughter-in-law.”

My mind won’t change. Keep that in mind when you conduct yourself.

Leaving only icy words behind, Diana turned sharply and walked away.

Only Renée—still half-bowed—lifted her head with a giant question mark on her face, glancing between everyone.

Xavier, watching her quietly, offered what seemed like his idea of comfort.

“She’s angry, that’s all. She’s a good person. She’ll open her heart soon enough.”

But…

That didn’t happen anytime soon.

“Haaah…”

I sighed deeply as I watched Xavier, who still didn’t look remotely ready to get on his horse—ten minutes and counting.

“At this rate, we’ll lose daylight.”

“We can go another time.”

For some reason, he looked genuinely worried.

Ever since Ternox became his adjutant, they’d apparently been repeating treatments regularly—enough that some subtle bond had formed between them.

Xavier had received a report related to monsters, and said he wanted to revisit the clearing he’d checked alone last time—this time with Ternox.

The schedule was set.

And then, unexpectedly, Lady Diana returned.

Of course, Lady Diana had hated the Blanche family her whole life.

Apparently she’d opposed the marriage so fiercely she’d even gone south for “convalescence.”

Which meant she’d basically abandoned me in the dead center of the mother-in-law-from-hell battlefield—so I could see why he felt uneasy.

But still—

That’s that, and this is this.

I frowned and shook my head.

“Do we really need to?”

“If we’re talking ‘need,’ then scouting isn’t strictly necessary either—”

“Why are you delaying it? This is literally life-or-death for us!”

…

“If anything happens, send a messenger hawk.”

“Yeah, yeah. I got it.”

And after the two of them left—

“…Yes! Freedom!”

…

“You have no table manners at all. That’s the dessert fork. Do you not even know which cutlery to use and when?”

…Yeah. Not happening.