Chapter 199

Translator: Yonnee

It was a complex emotion. Violet still disliked Cairn, but at the same time, she harbored feelings of ‘remorse’.

It was a sense of guilt towards her younger brother who, despite her anger, had suffered major injuries while trying to protect her.

Humans were indeed complicated beings.

And so, she decided to just let things be. Violet thought it was better to leave the situation as it was.

She had no intention whatsoever of resolving her long-held grievances just because of this one incident.

Roen, caught between them, seemed uncomfortable despite his outward smiles.

He just laughed, watching his two siblings sit in silence during a meal together.

Busy beyond belief, he hardly had the time to worry about them.

The duke, learning that his son and daughter had faced a major ordeal at the hunting competition, showed tremendous anger in the letters that he sent.

The emperor was equally furious, but not to the extent of the duke.

Upon receiving the duke’s letters, the emperor secretly ordered an investigation. The incident was kept known only to the imperial family and a few high-standing households. This was to keep any rumors at bay.

But the duke did not put his full confidence in the imperial family’s investigation. He, too, ordered his people to gather information.

Already planning to do so, Roen smiled slyly.

He told Violet about this, but despite being one of the concerned parties, she remained indifferent.

Days had passed since the hunting competition ended, but her mental fatigue had not faded.

Days went by in this state. Cairn was frequently absent from the mansion, and Roen, having escaped from the crown prince, sat at the tea table, drinking tea while reviewing documents.

Without taking his eyes off the papers, he asked Violet.

“What should we do about Aileen?”

“About her?”

“I’ll handle it as you wish. We can impose her under official procedure and send her across the continent this time.”

“Hmm.”

Knowing Roen’s words were out of consideration for her, Violet smiled.

“It doesn’t matter. Let her be. Let’s see what she does.”

“Really? Is that okay?”

“Just don’t let her into this mansion.”

“If you say so.”

Violet answered simply.

Her honest feelings were half annoyance, half amusement.

It was amusing to her how Aileen had clung to a prince from another country, determined to reclaim what she thought was rightfully hers, and even made her way up to the imperial capital.

She was curious about what Aileen could do.

But, really. At this point, she couldn’t care less about what Aileen might do.

Violet disliked Aileen’s very existence, and if she crossed the line this time, Violet was fully prepared to crush her.

In fact, she rather hoped for it.

Back in the Everett domain, Violet suffered from severe lethargy and wanted to stay out of everything. Even if it was directly related to her.

So, she didn’t care.

It wasn’t much different now, but at the same time, she felt a bit more relaxed and curious.

Violet knew she was different from her former self—before her two egos had merged. She now understood how to deal with Aileen and how to respond to her actions.

Thus, such thoughts occurred to her.

Let’s see you try. I’ll watch.

Such an attitude was something Aileen would intensely abhor.

She continued to think.

‘With what audacity did she come?’

She wondered whose side that girl planned to latch onto this time.

Or perhaps, she intended to melt the imperial crown prince’s heart with her charm and win him over.

Either way, it wasn’t a good choice.

If that were the case, then Aileen would have to face not only Violet, but the entirety of high society.

Watching his younger sister’s reaction, Roen smiled.

“Then, shall I create a suitable excuse?”

“Do as you like.”

If Aileen, bearing the name of Everett, couldn’t use it, the blame would inevitably turn back to Violet.

Since she obviously wouldn’t care, Roen had to act preemptively on her behalf.

Currently, Aileen was staying at the imperial palace. Precisely, she was there because the prince she followed was receiving royal treatment, and she was serving as his aide.

Roen chuckled as if he had a good idea.

“We could say she wanted to focus more on serving the Royal Prince. That it’s also part of her foreign education. It’s half-true anyway.”

He laughed heartily. Fabrications become more credible when mixed with parts of the truth.

Violet responded for him to go ahead. It was of no concern to her.

 

* * *

 

More days passed by.

The empress, aware of the ordeal Violet had gone through, postponed the commission for the imperial princess’s portrait, telling her to rest. Violet gratefully accepted the suggestion and continued her recuperation at home.

Sometimes, she ran into Cairn around the mansion.

On those occasions, her younger brother would simply nod at Violet and leave.

His rigid nod was full of awkwardness, and Violet thought of him as being overly dramatic.

Not that his reactions weren’t valid, but the harsh words Violet had hurled at Cairn that day were nothing compared to what she had endured.

Hence, in her perspective, his reaction seemed truly excessive and surprisingly new.

She didn’t want to think about it too deeply.

And nor did she want to feel guilty.

So, Violet decided not to dwell on it.

 

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5 responses to “Chapter 199”

  1. SS Avatar
    SS

    I’m getting a bit tired of her “do nothing” attitude, it feels a bit hypocritical of her. I don’t get it, maintaining the status quo is not sustainable in the long run, but I can’t yet understand if she is aware of that and is just giving herself time before dealing with things or if she truly has no inclination to resolve her issues and relationships. From what I can understand, it seems the latter, and if so, I truly will be disappointed. I’m getting tired of the plot not moving forward and her “detached” attitude which is not really being detached but more not bothering to fix or cut away anything. All we get are these monologues in which she is judgmental of everyone and yet does not bother to reflect on herself and improve…

    1. Eh... Avatar
      Eh…

      I would posit it’s not Violet’s responsibility to resolve her relationships in the sense of, none of the other parties have actually come to terms with what they did to her, they’ve just claimed to be sorry and expect her to “move on”…honestly, her ability to even interact with them civilly seems impressive to me…

      On the “do nothing” attitude, where they mentioned Violet’s “lethargy,” I had the thought it almost sounds like she’s dealing with depression…so all the ruminating on her mental state is really her trying to come to terms with the fact that she’s not mentally healthy even with all the logic her modern ego gives her…Does this setting even have an idea of what mental illness is?

      1. xeres Avatar
        xeres

        I agree! Many people adopt doing nothing when they feel stuck. Moving forward is hard because there are many things holding you back. She isn’t revengeful and she simply wants to live at her own pace. Why do we expect people to always change and do things? The story will move forward at the pace she heals, not at the pace we believe the story should progress.

  2. SS Avatar
    SS

    My issue is that she is still unclear about what she wants and yet keeps the relationships in the limbo, not far but not close, not severed but not progressing, in order to be able to fulfill any whims she has and that’s pretty much what the majority of this novel has been about so far. We are on chapter 199.
    It is very clear that she is the one with the power to make any and all changes, but because she is unclear of her objective, everything is stuck.
    The comment above mentioned that her brothers only said sorry and yes, of course that isn’t enough, but that means they are actively trying to start to understand. I’m not saying that what they did is okay, but they are not mind readers. They are inwardly struggling with deconstructing wrong preconceived notions that were ingrained in them since their childhood and yet the one with the power to communicate with them and at the very least giving them hints is not wanting to engage. Which, again, I understand that she needs time and I can also understand that it’s not easy to have a clear cut attitude about what she wants to do regarding her relationships considering it has not been long. She might even not want a relationship with them at all or never forgive them, which is okay too. But I can’t help feeling frustrated about her conflicting attitudes, which is shown in all aspects regarding everything in her life, not just her family.
    She doesn’t want to be judged but is always judging and looking down on everyone all the time. She despises the nobles for acting the way they do (very much with an attitude of “superiority” because of her “modern” thoughts) but is very much not bothered to use her status to do what she wants, even going against convention. She gives mixed signals to her family about what she wants (for example, she is clearly stating she is drawing a line with Roen but at the same time has no qualms is using him as the heir for whatever she wants to do that doesn’t confirm with societal expectations, whilst also negating any attempts to communicate). Even with painting, she is unimpressed with the current art style, judges and looks down on it because of her more “advanced” thoughts, and yet is insecure and does not wish to be judged on her own art.
    What does she even want? I understand she is in a very delicate state mentally, but that is not an excuse for any and all behavior.
    I would respect her if she had the objective of severing the relationships and followed through. I would respect her if she continued with the order she gave them at the beginning with a clear cut intention to not engage whilst she process her feelings. I would respect her if she had the objective of mending the relationship, and whilst trying became ambiguous similarly to what she is doing now. But that is not what she is doing. Now the story evolved to the point where she is neither here nor there, being wishy washy and judgmental.
    She has no goal to sever or mend the relationships, or even a temporary goal of keeping peace in order to understand what she wants to do. She just seems to give up and wishes to keep this ambiguous attitude, what is she doing? I get it, some people are like that, but considering how the story started, it is disappointing that she has developed into this type of character.

    1. Eh... Avatar
      Eh…

      I think you might be conflating Violet being the protagonist with Violet having power…just because we’re watching matters from her viewpoint doesn’t mean she actually has power in any practical sense…All her relationships are inherently on the males’ terms, she has no power to entirely cut off her relationships with any of them: she has no means of independent livelihood, she is inherently recognizable and unfortunately pretty, so no option to go hide somewhere and pretend to be nobody, and no life skills that would make that possible, and because of her identity were she to try to cut off said relationships, not only would she be likely to fail, she has enough “enemies” that it’s more than likely someone will take advantage of any perceived breaches…I understand that in terms of a story arc, the protagonist rising up and taking matters into her own hands is attractive, but in reality, Violet’s actions make much more sense…not knowing what you want is natural if you believe you have no options…

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