The Opponent
Elizalina’s Side
“You want me… to disappear?”
Even as she echoed the words, Elizalina could feel it. Felisiana had truly made up her mind, without the slightest hesitation, to take her life.
“Yes. It’s truly unfortunate that I must lay hands on my own sister.”
Elizalina couldn’t comprehend why Felisiana would go so far as to decide to kill her, even after considering all possible negative factors.
It was unlike Felisiana. A completely irrational action.
Which meant Elizalina had touched a nerve so deeply that even the usually rational Felisiana had been driven past her limits.
But the truth was, Elizalina no longer understood why Felisiana was so angry with her.
Until just a moment ago, I thought it was because I interfered with her plan to involve Violet with Lux at the Royal Exchange… but that couldn’t possibly be enough to justify a decision to kill me. So then…
In this situation, with her life potentially ending at any moment, Elizalina decided there was no longer any need for restraint and spoke.
“Felisiana… earlier you said I broke something. Even if my life ends here, could you at least tell me why? Think of it as a final kindness to your sister.”
“There’s no kindness to be given. Elizalina-nee-sama, you committed the one thing I cannot forgive. If you must resent something, resent your own tendency to take your games too far.”
“…Games?”
Elizalina still had no idea what she meant.
It seemed Felisiana was angry about something Elizalina had done as a prank, but she couldn’t think of anything specific.
Elizalina had always been mischievous, even for a royal. She had played pranks on Felisiana since they were young. But it had always been within the bounds of sisterly play, and lately she’d been so absorbed with Lux that she hadn’t done anything to her.
“Hey, what prank are you even talking about?”
“Second Princess Elizalina-sama, forgive me, but to me, you are now nothing more than a target. And based on my past experience, when a target speaks while their life is in my hands, it is always nonsense or a plea for mercy. Please remain silent.”
Violet, who had been restraining Elizalina, said this calmly, then shifted the angle of her dagger so that a single motion would end her life.
It was a clear warning that any further words might cost her everything.
Yes, the situation had reached this point because even Violet had become emotionally involved.
In the past, even if Felisiana had started to lose control, Violet had always been the calm, objective presence who would rein her in.
And that was why… until now, Felisiana had never truly lost control?
“…”
Come to think of it, the last time Felisiana acted so recklessly was when she said she wanted to get engaged to someone. She’d asked Father over a hundred times. And the man in question was just a count’s son. So many better men had submitted engagement offers, and yet she was obsessed. Back then, I couldn’t understand it… but maybe now I do.
A man with captivating beauty, a mind capable of mediating national disputes, and the ability to steer any conversation while putting others at ease. There were countless suitors who felt happy just spending time with Elizalina. Even so, now she couldn’t imagine marrying anyone but Lux.
Elizalina wanted to marry Lux, but unlike Felisiana, she wasn’t someone who let emotions control her actions. She moved only with cool-headed intent. What must she do to make that engagement a certainty?
And so, even if my life would be taken by Felisiana in the end, the fact that we had both fallen in love with the same count’s son made me feel, in a strange way, that we were alike.
It was at that very moment, as she mused on that thought, that a strange realization crossed her mind.
A count’s… son?
Elizalina’s thoughts began to accelerate.
Engagement. Over a hundred requests. Scoundrel. Royal Exchange. Violet. Felisiana. Broken promise. Romance involvement. Count’s house. Lux?
“…!”
When that name surfaced in her mind, the shock was greater than the threat of death hanging over her.
And at the same time, another thought struck her.
If my guess was right, then once I was gone, Felisiana would…
There was a chance her guess might be wrong. But even the slight possibility of that future made her speak again, her eyes hollow once more, her voice flat.
“Hey, Felisiana… did you really think I came here without imagining the possibility of my own death?”
“…What are you trying to say?”
Felisiana noticed the change in her tone and responded warily.
Then Elizalina said,
“Even if things ended in death here, I wanted there to be a winner and a loser. As long as there was a clear victor, even if one of us died, the country would still hold together. That’s what I believed. But now, the situation has changed.”
Her death was inevitable now, no matter what she said.
But the thought of Felisiana obtaining the happiness with Lux that she could not… that, she absolutely could not allow.
And so,
“I told my subordinates in advance. I left it to my judgment whether to act, but now I give the command. If my life is taken, then at that very moment, take Felisiana and Violet’s lives as well.”
She gave that message to the soldiers surrounding the royal castle’s entrance.
All for Lux’s happiness.