So I Was the Persecuted Grand Duchess Destined to Die? Chapter 59

Chapter 59

Gasp, the Imperial Palace?

Is this finally the “social season” the young ladies talked about?

At Karl’s words, my heart started pounding, and my gaze naturally slid to the Grand Duke.

Xavier looked grim.

Suddenly, a sharp line he’d once thrown at me flashed through my mind.

“Don’t make pathetic excuses. Were you sneaking around the castle like a rat, digging up information to hand over?”
“Information? What are you talking about…? Who would I even be giving information to?”
“Either your rotten family, or the Empress. Or both.”

Back in the beginning—when he’d been openly hostile—he used to say things like that all the time.

It came from his disgust toward my family, House Blanche, and the imperial family.

More specifically… the Empress.

Even in the original The Northern Duke’s Wife Doesn’t Know Spring, the Grand Duke supported the Crown Prince, so he hated the idea of marrying into House Blanche—one of the Empress’s biggest factions.

And that was where the whole tragedy began.

Everything had gotten twisted after I became “Renée Blanche,” but…

“Why are you staring like that, Renée?”

Maybe because I’d been digging through memories so hard.

Our eyes met, and Xavier asked in a surprisingly gentle voice.

Yeah… so much has changed.

Like right now.

In the original, Xavier never once called Renée by her name—not until the moment she was dying.

He’d only ever said: You. Hey. Blanche…

And on the rare occasions he had to use her name, it was always the cold full name:

Renée Blanche.

As if he was declaring she’d never belong to Celeste.

He’d treated me like that too, once—

but it felt like a lifetime ago.

“It’s the annual thing. I guess spring really is here.”

Lady Diana, who’d been listening in silence, spoke like she was bored to death.

“Yes, ma’am. It’s an invitation to the imperial banquet—one that arrives every year around this time. The Crown Prince’s birthday banquet is when the ‘social season’ unofficially begins.”

As he spoke, Karl offered a luxurious envelope.

The Crown Prince’s birthday banquet!

I remembered what the ladies had told me during tea by the lake, and the words alone made my chest flutter.

At this point, the original story was basically just an empty shell.

Now that I’d escaped the misery genre…

Couldn’t I—who’d hijacked the role of heroine—step into the capital once?

But it wasn’t my decision, so I kept my mouth shut.

“Oh. That side.”

Xavier took the envelope and immediately pulled the invitation out.

Thunk.

In the process, a small note—one I hadn’t even known was there—slipped out and fell to the floor.

“Oh!”

And since I was the shortest person here—
why does that feel so pathetic and bleak…?—
I reflexively bent down and picked it up.

The note read, in neat handwriting:

So you got married and just stopped showing your face? I’m hurt.
Come by sometime—with that precious wife of yours.
– Kallian

For a second my brain froze at the unfamiliar name.

“My dear, could you hand that to me?”

Lady Diana, who’d been deep in thought, extended her hand kindly.

“Y-yes!”

She took the note, read it—and immediately turned to Karl.

“Hm. Tell them to have the townhouse in the capital cleaned and ready.”

Karl simply bowed his head in assent.

I was the one who startled.

“Really? We’re going to the banquet?”

“Xavier has always been painfully shy, so he hasn’t bothered attending every year… but things are different now. And this is a personal note from His Highness the Crown Prince.”

“Gasp.”

Then that “Kallian” is that rumored… universally handsome man?

I can’t miss this!

I wanted to sprint straight to the imperial palace and pay my respects to the legendary pretty face.

“Then we don’t have time to waste.”

Lady Diana shot to her feet and scanned me and Xavier up and down.

“We need to make a new dress that suits my dear girl. I’ll go first. Karl, prepare everything.”

“Yes, Grand Madam.”

As she walked away with graceful steps, she looked… weirdly excited.

And at the same time, my own excitement swelled too.

Not because of the dress.

The capital—what is it like?

The original plot had already been rewritten.

So since I’m here anyway, I’m going to do everything a romance-fantasy heroine is supposed to do.

“Perfect timing,” I muttered. “I was just looking for an excuse to go to the capital.”

Xavier leaned back against his chair, looking a little tired.

“Yeah. A convenient excuse that doesn’t draw attention.”

Ternox—who’d been standing behind Xavier like a dignified aide in front of Lady Diana—pulled out a chair and sat opposite us.

“Why the capital? Did you find a clue in the monster’s traces?”

I snapped myself back to practical concerns and asked the question I’d been holding since they returned.

No matter how much of a romance heroine I was, if I was truly terminal, enjoying life would be hard.

But I had no intention of accepting fate.

I’m not the original Renée.

I’m extremely attached to living.

I’m going to the capital, I’m going to the banquet, and I’m going to live a long, full life.

I stared at Ternox with determination.

“Hm. Where should I start…”

After a brief pause, he launched into a simple explanation.

Originally, supernatural power was just mana.

A vast magical energy that circulates through the world—its name and form may differ, but the root is the same.

Even what people now call “divine power” is mana that’s been altered through a priest’s talent—so it’s mostly used for healing.

Swordmasters’ “aura” is the same.

Mana fused with a swordsman’s talent, specialized for sword techniques.

So… like Eevee evolving depending on the stone.
Honestly, I only understood about half, but—whatever. Keep going.

“But when we reached the site, what I sensed wasn’t mana.”

“You can sense that?”

“Yes. If you stand on the land and read the flow, you can tell.”

Whoa. He can do that?

“Nox… I’m seeing you in a new light. You really are a dragon.”

I meant it as genuine admiration, but Nox let out a scoff.

“Like there was any chance I wasn’t?”

“But it wasn’t divine power either.”

Xavier cut in, still deadly serious.

“Even I can tell that much, and I have no ties to the temple. It felt… like hostility. Like malice itself.”

Ternox’s eyes narrowed again.

“Yeah. Your instincts as a swordsman are probably sharper than mine. I’ve lived a long time, and I’ve never once felt an aura like that. It could be…”

“!”

And then—without reaching my ears at all—Ternox’s voice rang directly inside my head.

[It might be a ‘fragment’ like you. Only… on a truly bad side.]

So this was something he only wanted to tell me.

“Ah…”

“It could be what?”

Xavier asked sharply, irritation plain in his voice.

He’d noticed something passed between us.

In that tiny moment, he’d sensed the gap.

Honestly, it was less observation and more instinct.

There’s no way a man with the social grace of a rock should be reading the room this well.

Xavier isn’t normal either!

“Nothing. Just… that we need to confirm things properly.”

Ternox shrugged casually.

“It felt weirdly unpleasant.”

“Like something was imitating pure mana.”

Xavier nodded slightly, as if he agreed.

“That’s why we’re going to the capital—where the main temple is. I suspect the High Priest might be backing the monster issue.”

“The High Priest?”

“Yes. Your uncle by marriage, isn’t he?”

“Ah.”

Wait—the High Priest is Blanche too?

This stupid original story—new settings keep popping out that I never even knew existed!

I stiffened at the information, but thankfully Xavier misread my reaction as something else.

His expression darkened.

“Did he ever do something to you?”

The killing intent rolling off him was so sharp it raised goosebumps all over my body.