The guards left reluctantly right after that. Though what they did to the poor woman wasn’t exactly honorable, Dhein understood that they were only acting upon the Emperor’s orders.
Emperor Vedis had issued a nationwide investigation and was raring to punish the culprits of the crime. And until such a person was executed in front of him, the imperial soldiers will suffer his wrath.
Dhein offered a hand to the white-haired lady. After wiping her tears, she hesitantly accepted.
"Thank you, Lord Dheinyrus, Lady Fiorelle. You saved my life."
Fiorelle extended her hand, offering the poor woman a clean napkin.
"Here," she whispered. She observed as the lady cleaned herself in silence before continuing.
The crowd that had formed around them began to disperse, and the gossiping had stopped. Taking a deep breath, the white-haired lady answered.
"I’m Victorina. One of the princess’ maids."
Fiorelle stayed silent for a few seconds, but there was no particular expression on her beautiful face. Dhein realized that she had always done this whenever she had to think about something deep.
Moments later, she spoke.
"I know you just went through a horrible experience, Victorina, but if you would let us ask you some important questions, it would really help us find the truth."
’The truth being I caused all this!’ Dhein thought.
Victorina was probably a decoy setup by Shina to distract her guards in the night of her escape. And according to her, the princess had made her wear her dress that night.
The truth was actually not that hard to realize. Even the poor maid herself might already have an idea as to what really had happened.
By the looks of it, the truth was one word away from being exposed. Maybe Shina hadn’t really planned about this part, or she just didn’t mean to hide the fact that she had escaped. But because the Emperor would never think that Shina would defy him, they assumed that she had been abducted.
And as ironic as it was, the Emperor and the council belittling her actually worked in her favor. Because the moment they found out that she had left of her own accord, knowing that Shina didn’t really know where to go, Dhein was sure that they would find her easily!
Dhein had to prevent that somehow.
He opened his mouth and then calmly spoke.
"Miss Wixorn, I don’t think it’s a good idea to interrogate her right now."
The two ladies turned to him, waiting for an elaboration. He then continued.
"As you’ve said, she’s just gone through something traumatic, almost getting executed like that. She needs time to rest and heal from these mental wounds."
The two fell into a deep stupor. Victorina, especially, was beginning to tear up.
It was working very well.
To top it off, Dhein gave her a warm smile, a card he only used in desperate measures.
"Don’t worry about it for now. You can just talk to us when you’re feeling better."
Perhaps, it was the mood, or maybe Victorina just couldn’t help herself. The girl suddenly lunged at Dhein, wrapping her arms around him tightly while letting out loud sobs.
She began crying on his chest.
"Uwahhhhh!!! I was so scared!!!"
The scion of Divinity was, of course, startled by this sudden act. But by years of putting on a mask, he’d learned how to bury his real emotions deep within that no one could ever know how he really felt in any moment.
Still, Dhein remembered one thing: Victorina didn’t deserve what she had just gone through.
The maid was probably thrilled when Shina offered to wear her dress. Maybe that was the only time she would have gotten to wear something so lovely. She never knew how that simple joyous moment would have caused her tragic fate.
In the end, Dhen was happy with his decision to defend the poor girl.
And then, being one of the very few times that Dhein was overwhelmed with emotion, he started patting her head gently.
Fiorelle covered her mouth, her face finally showing a definite expression: embarrassment.
"Y—You’re right, Lord Dheinyrus. I should have been more thoughtful. I’m sorry!" Fiorelle said, lowering her head.
Victorina gradually calmed down and stopped crying. But she was surely not planning on letting go of that hug anytime soon. The girl wrapped her arms around Dhein’s torso firmly like there was no tomorrow, enjoying every second that possibly no other girl in the world ever could.
"If you don’t take your hands off my brother..."
Dhein almost choked on his own saliva and instantly froze.
"I’ll personally execute you right here and now!"
Victorina flew off of Dhein and hid behind Fiorelle.
"Z—Zarria?" Dhein turned and saw his enraged sister killing the white-haired girl with her intense glare. She had come back after writing to the Manor about what had happened.
She walked towards him, stomping her feet. It wasn’t the cute scene similar to an innocent girl throwing a tantrum because she was literally cracking the floor with each step.
"Dhein! How could you! We don’t even do hugs anymore!"
’Hugs? How many times have you broken my ribs?!’
His hands flailed around in front of him as he struggled to find the right words. Zarria was probably the only one who could break his cold act. But what could he say? Since the day she was born, Dhein was the one who witnessed how deadly his sister really was. No one could blame him for fearing this extremely beautiful killing machine.
"You were even patting her head?! Did she hypnotize you?!" Follow current novels on ⓝovelFire.net
Dhein cleared his throat.
"I was just trying to calm her down, given how terrified she must have been."
Zarria clenched her fist.
"Even so! You should have knocked her out when she tried to hug you!"
The dark-haired girl continued with her outburst as Dhein failed to come up with a decent response.
"I’ve been working hard lately, you know?! Even when I’m tired, even when I don’t wanna do it, I still work hard! And I don’t even get so much as a smile from you?"
"Meanwhile, this simpering fool only had to cry and all of a sudden she gets a hug? That’s it! I’ll have the guards execute me then! If that’s what it takes!"
’Ah, what a headache! Just what mess have I gotten myself into?’
Dhein let out a sigh.
"I’m sorry, Zarria. Let me make it up to you."
It was true that his sister had been taking on a lot of work lately. Because every time Dhein had some ’heavy lifting’ or ’dirty work’ to do, she was the only one capable enough to handle it.
The people of the empire relied on Dhein to protect them from the dangers beyond human comprehension. But unfortunately, the scion of Divinity wasn’t as strong as the people thought he was. And so, whenever there was a monster that needed slaying, or an army of demons that needed obliterating, Zarria was the only one he could send out.
Telling her ’This is for your training,’ or ’You’ll learn a lot from this mission’ was enough for Zarria to obey her brother. Any time of the day, whenever he needed her, she came without questions.
And the people slept at night, thinking that Dhein was keeping them safe.
The girl needed at least some sort of reward.
"I’ll do anything you want. That is your reward for working hard."
Suddenly, the raging fire in Zarria’s eyes turned into sparkles.
Still pouting, Zarria crossed her arms and turned away. She furtively glanced at him.
He accepted his fate.
But if a few broken ribs was what it would take to keep everyone happy, then it was a small price to pay.
Furrowing her eyebrows and pursing her lips, Zarria avoided eye contact and then said with an irregularly quiet voice:
Dhein raised an eyebrow.
’So I’ll do the hugging?’
If that was the case, then it was his lucky day! No broken ribs this time.
Dhein opened his arms.
"Come here, my dear sister."
Without wasting any moment, the girl dived into Dhein’s arms, savoring his warm and gentle embrace. All of the sourness from her face had melted, replaced by a natural smile of satisfaction.
"Haah..." she exhaled, enjoying every second. Dhein could have sworn he could almost feel her purring.
"Pat my head," she demanded unconsciously.
Of course, Dhein was obligated to do so.
"There, there..." he whispered with a smile.
Sometimes, he couldn’t decide whether he had been cursed to be powerless all his life, or blessed that he never had to suffer the implications of being one. While he bore the responsibility and expectations for the person that he pretended to be, he also enjoyed its privileges.
But ordinary people who we’re not blessed with status unlike he was, suffered under the mercy of this world. They were utterly and truly powerless.
"Let’s be kinder to the people who are suffering, Zarria," Dhein intoned while caressing her.
"This world is already cruel enough," he added.