Chapter 141: Blame That Came Full Circle

Chapter 141: Chapter 141: Blame That Came Full Circle

"I favour the sixteenth of November."

Deborah spoke first.

Then, as if she had only just remembered, she added, "Oh, I nearly forgot. That is the day Her Grace injured her legs."

She adopted a look of feigned concern.

"Your injuries must still cause you pain, right?"

The date had not slipped her mind at all.

She had chosen it precisely, then waited for the right moment to notice it aloud, so that the cruelty might pass for thoughtfulness.

Elysia was about to respond when Ilara sighed.

"Every time I think of that, I feel it was such a pity."

She looked at Elysia with a weighty expression.

"I told you so many times back then to stop sneaking out of the palace. Trouble was bound to find you. If you’d just listened to me earlier, you wouldn’t have been hurt and suffered so much."

Elysia was taken aback.

Ilara was placing all the blame squarely on her shoulders.

She had been wilful.

She had insisted on leaving the palace.

Therefore, she had encountered danger.

It had nothing to do with Vaelen.

For a moment, Elysia found the words deeply unpleasant.

Not because they were cruel.

Because they were said so easily, in the tone of a woman recalling a small domestic misfortune rather than the afternoon that someone had saved her son’s life.

Sometimes, it was no wonder Vaelen had turned out as he did.

If even his mother could look at what had happened and see only Elysia’s fault, perhaps it was hardly surprising that Vaelen had learned to do the same.

Elysia wanted to refute her.

But she was also wary of displeasing Ilara and creating unnecessary strain between Zephyrus and Cassiel.

She hesitated.

Then, from the corner of her eye, she caught sight of Maude standing quietly behind her.

Maude was a woman of few words.

She preferred action to empty explanations.

More importantly, she seemed to fear no one.

Once, when Miriam had spent a few days learning from her, she had returned full of admiration and told Elysia,

"Maude says there’s no one in the world she fears except the King, with His Grace backing her!"

Cassiel had specifically asked Elysia to bring Maude today.

*Perhaps he had known she might need her.*

Elysia pressed her lips together.

In her previous life, she would have swallowed it.

She would have lowered her head, agreed that she had been wilful, and carried the guilt of her own injury for another decade.

Not this time.

Then she made her decision.

She nodded.

"You’re right, Your Majesty."

She met Ilara’s gaze.

"It is only a pity that Your Majesty was not by His Majesty and the Duke’s side in their earlier years."

Ilara gave a light laugh.

"Which earlier years do you refer to? I married His Majesty quite early and have been Queen for many years."

"I refer to the time when His Majesty and the Duke were still princes."

Elysia calmly set down her cup.

"When the princes vied for the position of Crown Prince, and His Majesty and the Duke were involved. They even faced an assassination attempt."

She paused briefly.

"The Duke took a blade for His Majesty then. He still bears the scar on his hand."

Ilara’s smile faded slightly.

She could already sense that the conversation had taken an unexpected turn.

Elysia continued in the same composed tone.

"Just as Your Majesty said, you advised me not to leave the palace. I did not listen, and thus my knees were injured."

Her gaze remained steady.

"Had Your Majesty been by His Majesty and the Duke’s side back then, advising them strongly, perhaps His Majesty would not have faced that assassin, and the Duke would not have been wounded."

Ilara’s smile vanished entirely.

For a moment, she was at a loss for words.

To agree would be to admit fault in a matter involving the King’s life.

To disagree would be to admit that her reasoning had never been reasoning at all.

Elysia had not raised her voice.

She had not accused the Queen outright.

She had merely applied Ilara’s own reasoning to another situation.

If leaving the palace had made Elysia responsible for the danger that followed, then surely the same logic could be applied to the King’s younger years.

And unlike Elysia, the King had not merely been injured.

He had nearly lost his life.

The hall had grown noticeably quieter.

Even the attendants near the doors had stopped moving.

Deborah, eager to impress her future mother-in-law, immediately sensed that Ilara had been wrong-footed.

She shot Elysia an indignant glare.

"Why do you always invoke His Majesty and the Duke?"

Before Elysia could answer, a cold voice came from behind her.

It did not rise.

It did not need to.

"Seems the Corvis family doesn’t know manners."

Deborah stiffened.

She turned towards Maude.

"What did you say?"

Maude’s expression remained impassive.

"Setting aside that you are not yet wed to the Crown Prince, even as Crown Princess, you would be the junior."

Her voice was calm but carried unmistakable authority.

"Her Majesty and the Duchess are your elders. When seniors are speaking, a junior should listen respectfully. How dare you interrupt and question your elder?"

Deborah’s face darkened.

"You’re just a servant, and you’re lecturing me on manners?!"

Maude’s gaze sharpened.

She looked directly at Deborah, leaving no trace of intimidation in her expression.

"I entered palace service at nine and served Dowager Queen Sereia for many years."

She spoke each word clearly.

"I personally instructed countless individuals in palace decorum. Even His Majesty learned a thing or two from me."

Her eyes narrowed slightly.

"What, Lady Deborah—you think I don’t know manners?"

Deborah was speechless.

Her face flushed, then paled.

She looked instinctively towards Ilara, waiting for the Queen to intervene on her behalf.

Ilara said nothing.

She had never imagined that Elysia would have such a formidable senior maid by her side.

For years, Deborah had been treated with respect wherever she went.

Even before becoming Crown Princess, people had already begun treating her as though her position were assured.

Yet this servant had spoken to her as though she were an unruly child.

Worse still, Deborah could not find a suitable response.

Maude’s words were difficult to refute.

Every point she had raised was a matter of protocol, not opinion.

To argue with her was to argue with the rules of the palace itself.

Ilara finally intervened.

"Enough. It’s nothing. I’m not angry with the Duchess."

"Indeed."

Maude’s expression did not change.

"Your Majesty has no cause for anger."

Ilara blinked.

Maude continued,

"The one with cause for anger is the Duchess."

Ilara stared at her.

For a moment, she wondered if she had misheard.

Maude’s voice remained cold and clear.

"Because in this world, no one saves a life only to get blamed for it."

She glanced towards Ilara.

"When the Duke saved His Majesty, His Majesty was ever grateful, considering the Duke a brother bound by life and death."

Her gaze settled firmly on the Queen.

"How is it that when the Duchess saved the Crown Prince, Your Majesty feels no gratitude, but instead blames Her Grace?"

Ilara was speechless.

The question had been posed respectfully.

That was what made it impossible to answer.

The senior maid’s tone left little doubt that she would report this conversation to Cassiel.

And Cassiel, who was already so protective of Elysia, would likely take the matter to Zephyrus.

The thought filled Ilara with helpless frustration.

Zephyrus had always been inclined to favour outsiders over his own family.

If Cassiel learned that Elysia had been blamed for saving Vaelen, would he truly let the matter rest?

And if the matter reached the King, Ilara could hardly predict where it would end.

With Sylrienne still under house arrest, she could not afford any further trouble.

One misstep in the King’s presence was enough.

Two would begin to look like a pattern.

She quickly calculated her options.

There was only one that cost her nothing she could not afford.

After a moment, Ilara forced a smile.

"You are correct, Maude. I didn’t think it through and misspoke."

She turned towards Elysia.

"I was, of course, grateful for your actions that day. I only let my worry get the better of me today."

The words sounded reasonable enough.

But there was little sincerity behind them.

Elysia had never expected sincerity from Ilara in the first place.

She knew better than to demand it.

An apology offered under pressure was not an apology.

It was a transaction.

Ilara had weighed the cost of pride against the cost of Cassiel’s displeasure, and chosen accordingly.

If Ilara wished to retreat gracefully, Elysia was perfectly willing to give her the opportunity.

She took the out and smiled back.

Beside the Queen, Deborah sat very still, her eyes lowered to her lap.

She had chosen the sixteenth of November to wound.

Instead, she had watched the Queen apologise and received admonishment herself.