It Was Me, Not You

(Diana’s POV)

“But why is she dressed like this?”

Seia’s face furrowed as she stared up and down at me. Leah hurriedly waved her hand to Seia and murmured.

“These aren’t Diana’s clothes. I lent them to her for a while. She is not in a position to wear a  dress. Lowly Diana.”

It’s true that it’s not her clothes, but her mother refers to her as “lowly.”

She didn’t want Leah to be loving, but she was upset because she claimed she was a child.

Even animals care about their young, but does Leah have no feelings for her?

“You mentioned that it was unusual. Don’t use dirty clothes and then return them. It’s a big shame for the family.”

With a twisted smile, Seia gazed at Diana.

She squeezed the hem of the dress, sensing that Seia’s sneer was making Diana smaller.

“The Princess is right.”

Yes, Leah is the one who makes me feel this way.

This wasn’t the first time I’d heard this from Seia, but the reason I’m feeling more uncomfortable today is because Leah was indeed agreeing with Seia.

Even At this moment, I felt pathetic and upset because I couldn’t make a sound if it would satisfy Leah.

It was unfair that she couldn’t do anything, and when she gave strength to her hand, exposing her bones, Leah’s painful words echoed in my head.

“Don’t be insulted by a child, Princess. Because it’s a cold day, hurry up and return to your room. I’m worried that you’ll catch a cold.”

“It’s still a little cold, but I’ll have to return. Raise your head, what you hit, since you have something to say.”

“What are you doing, Diana? The Princess has called for you!”

Leah slapped Diana with her sharp voice since she didn’t raise her head.

Diana, who was close to cry and biting her lip, tightened her eyes and lifted her head to avoid crying.

Her face wrinkled as she looked at Seia, as if forcing her to see something she couldn’t.

Seia drew her tongue over and said, as if to warn.

“Don’t even think of entering the castle.

Because this is not the place to be for people like you. Just being here gives the impression that this castle has already been tainted. okay?”

“…Yes. “

Diana bowed her head quietly, fighting the need to cry.

I had no desire to come again.

Then, as if she had been waiting, Leah said to Seia.

“I’ll take you to your room, Princess. The icy floors are dangerous to walk on alone.”

“Hmm… I can’t help it.”

Seia wrinkled her impression as if she was reluctant to say Leah’s words, and then pulled out the frozen ground.

Rather than trying, she reached out to Leah.  Diana, who looked at Leah gently grabbing Seia’s hand with her emotional expression on her face, looked down as if she couldn’t see her anymore.

“You go home quietly. Take off your clothes and fold them neatly, okay?”

Leah spoke to Diana in a completely different, cold voice than when she was speaking to Seia.

Diana said she didn’t want to see them as she lowered her gaze.

“Yes.”

“Why the hell is it so damn dark?”

Leah’s contemptuous murmurs flew through the air.

Diana hears the sound of two footsteps moving away.

When she couldn’t hear anymore, she lifted her head, which had just been bowed down.

“Go.”

Leah, who stays here and returns

If caught, she was sure to hear a lot of bad noises again.

Diana moved her steps over the road, as she slowly left her nature.  

“Oh!”

After a few steps, Diana staggered heavily on the slippery ice floor and hit her butt wheel.

“It hurts.”

When she came, she was drawn by Leah’s power and did not know, but on her frozen road, it was slippery and dangerous enough to trip her even if she took the wrong step even a little.

The floor she touched was also frozen solid.

-The icy floors are slippery and dangerous to walk alone.

The image of Leah speaking to Seia in her worried voice suddenly came to mind.

A figure that had never been shown to Diana reddened her ears in the midst of a flood of emotions that burst forth in tears. As she swallowed the tears in her eyes, she said softly.

“It’s cold. I have to get back immediately.”

I wasn’t sure if it was the coolness of the ice spreading from her palms or the loneliness that filled her heart.

Perhaps that’s why, as a tear streamed down her face, an unexpected voice spoke out from behind her.

“Princess?”

‘Princess? Is Seia back?’

Diana stood up quickly, wiping the tears off her face. Looking behind her, she saw a man with light blue hair dressed in a black uniform.

The emerald eyes of the man who was paying close attention to Diana were filled with doubt.

“Princess… “I believe I heard you were blonde…”

The guy tilted his head and said something.

This isn’t so much that Seia had returned, as he had mistaken Diana as the Grand Princess.

Diana answered the man, who looked to be an Archduke’s knight.

“I am not the Princess.”

“No… huh? So who are you?”

The man treated him awkwardly, as if he could not guess her identity.

‘This person… You don’t know me?’

To be more precise, this person was clueless that the Grand Duke had an illegitimate child.

That could be enough.

It’s because they weren’t the ones who had been working in the Grand Duchy for a long time, and the new people that came in were unaware of Diana’s presence and looked astonished the first time they met.

First, she was a child who did not inherit from the Grand Duke’s family tree.

As a result, it was quite likely that the Archduke, who saw her as the illegitimate child a source of shame, hid her existence from the public.

“…”

Diana licked her lips as she couldn’t answer the knight’s question.

It wasn’t because I was saddened by the fact that no one knew I existed.

It’s simply that I’m at a loss for words.

Is it proper to refer to it as an illegitimate child, or…

Should it be said that she was a child who never made it into the Grand Duke’s family tree?

In any case, it was weird for them to speak with their own mouth.

Diana paused for a second before the light blue-haired knight quickly bowed his knees and lowered himself.

The knight who locked his gaze on Diana smiled faintly.

“If it’s difficult to say, don’t say it. Could you tell me where you’re going?”

He was described as kind in the situation.

Was a noble who was stationed outside the capital. Is it necessary to say no?

I need to break the knight’s illusion.

Even though she thought she did, she didn’t open her mouth freely, saying no to the deep green eyes staring at her.

Most peoples views of Diana changed after learning that she was an illegitimate child.

Diana eventually bit her lip without saying anything, which she hadn’t done in a long time.

We don’t want to speak about it, either.

“Can I help you cross this ice road well?”

Diana paused, furrowed her brows, as though concerned about the young man, and opened her mouth again.

He said, “The road is slippery, and walking alone is dangerous. If you fall, your lovely dress may be damaged. It’s a waste.”

The knight, who smiled at Diana’s pink dress, reached out as if to grab it.

Diana took a glance at his large hand and slowly reached out to take his hand.

Finally, she put her hand over his, and the man grinned brightly at Diana.

“Oh, you didn’t even tell me my name when I requested an escort; my name is Ed Windroit, but you may call me Edwin.”

Edwin droit

Diana said his name out to herself.

Even if you learn Diana’s identity, you will see her with new eyes, but this is because I wanted to remember the kindness of this moment for a long time.

“Thanks…”

Diana said in a voice so low that she could not be heard by Edwin.

“It was nothing.”

But Edwin looked down at Diana and smiled as if he had heard her little whisper.

Diana, embarrassed like a child who had found something she had been hiding, hurriedly avoided his gaze and bowed her head.

Edwin then grabbed Diana’s hand.

‘I feel something strange.’

She felt the warmth spreading through her body, which had been cold before.

Diana took Edwin’s hand in her soft, strange mood and walked slowly down her frozen road.

***

(Ewin’s Pov)

“Edwin, where are you coming from?”

As soon as he returned to the Knights place, the vice-captain’s voice fell to Edwin.

Edwinn stood right in front of Vice-Captain Daryl and bowed his head.

“I’m sorry. I’m a little late to find the Princess.”

“Did you go looking for her too?”

An hour ago, a maid in the mansion suddenly came to the Knights place and asked for help.

She said she couldn’t find the princess and she asked them to search.

Daryl released the knights who were having a break, thinking that they would have to look around the castle and take emergency measures if it didn’t work.

He didn’t know that Edwin was included there.

“Didn’t you have training time?” 

Edwin raised his head at Daryl’s question.

“Ah, training is over.”

“Already?”

Daryl looked at Edwin in surprise.

Obviously, today’s training is said to be done by the head coach himself, but it seems that Edwin’s skills have grown again since it’s already over.

Daryl was taken aback to see Edwin respond calmly, but he quickly gathered his expression.

Thinking he is the one who the general manager and His Highness the Grand Duke are observing.

Edwin furrowed his brows, as though Daryl was having a more difficult time.

“The training ended soon,” he said. We went in search of the Princess, but we couldn’t find her. “Have you found the Princess?”

Edwin had a troubled expression on his face, as if he had been distracted by other things for a time and had forgotten about the Princess’s existence.

“You don’t have to be worried because the Grand Princess has been found.”

Edwin’s face brightened at Daryl’s words.

“Fortunately.”

“Okay, so don’t worry about that and get ready for the afternoon group training.”

“Ah, that deputy chief.”

Edwin caught the deputy chief on his way back to his office.

“What’s going on?”

“It’s no different…are there any other noble ladies in the Grand Duchy?”

“Another noble lady?”

Daryl narrowed his eyebrows at the out of nowhere question.

“Yes, is there a young girl who is the same age as the Princess?”

“No, there are no other noble girls who have visited the Grand Duke’s Castle.’

“Oh, is it?”

“Why?”

“No, no. I must have misunderstood.”

At Daryl’s bitter eyes, Edwin smiled and shook his head.

Fortunately, Daryl went into his office without asking Edwin any further.

When Daryl disappeared, Edwin though about the girl.

He said, ‘There are no other noble ladies who have visited the Princess.  So who is that child?  Is she the servant’s child?’

Edwin remembered the little boy he had seen earlier.

Brown hair and brown eyes.

The pink dress she was wearing didn’t make her look like a commoner, but on closer inspection, she was too skinny to be called an aristocrat.

Thinking of the little child’s body that looked like only bones left, his forehead narrowed.

I don’t know who her parents are, but they raised their child like that.

Edwin was angry at the child’s parents, whom he didn’t know, at the sight of the child reminiscent of his miserable childhood.