While it’s common for spouses to have different opinions, this situation was not good. First, the king who should decide the matter was not present, and Salode, who had to convey his will instead, seemed to have firmly earned the queen’s dislike.

Moreover, the queen was her superior. Hazel quite liked her position as the queen’s guard. Since the king had independently recognized the queen’s power, while serving as her guard, she didn’t have to cooperate with her aunt, the family head, or her cousins.

Of course, in terms of power, being under the king would be best, but then she would have to face family members frequently. This was because the entire Chesa family were meritorious retainers of the current king, so their spheres of activity overlapped. It was something she was reluctant to do.

So whatever it was, I wish she would recognize that I’m different from that damn cousin. No sooner had she thought this than the queen’s bedroom door opened. Hazel blinked as she saw the room’s owner opening the door, wearing an outer garment at a time when she should have been asleep.

“Is there anything I can help you with?”

The queen blinked her eyes, which couldn’t be read properly, for a moment before speaking.

“…I can’t sleep.”

She certainly looked that way. Hazel remembered hearing that she had been having trouble sleeping lately. That’s when the question came.

“Where’s Anika?”

The Lord of Rohos, who had been staying in the castle until recently, had gone outside Edegrun today. Hazel answered.

“She hasn’t returned yet.”

“…She did say she might be back in a few days.”

And the queen silently looked at her. Just as Hazel was starting to wonder if she should break the silence, the queen spoke.

“Follow me.”

Despite the late hour, the queen went outside the building. Hazel followed behind as she circled the garden, which was incredibly plain compared to those in the south. Finally, the queen sat down in front of an artificial pond she had seen before.

“I heard that Chesa was the first family to support my husband when the rebellion broke out. I suppose you were the same.”

“That’s right.”

And Hazel realized this was an opportunity to break down the wall her superior had built up.

“Actually, there’s something people don’t know about that.”

“…What is it?”

“It’s true that I supported the rebellion, but I didn’t just go along with the family’s wishes.”

This fact, which she hadn’t told anyone because there was no need to, was perfect to use now. She added.

“I’m not on good terms with my family, so my cooperation was separate from the family’s.”

You know how there are relationships where you can’t like each other because you know each other too well.

The woman was silent for a moment after hearing her words. Hazel asked before the atmosphere could become awkward.

“May I ask why you can’t sleep?”

“…Because of a dream.”

And the queen looked down at the small pond. The pond, carved from stone and filled with fish and aquatic plants, was familiar to Hazel as well.

Once, on the queen’s orders, she had dunked Prince Leden in it. Since there wouldn’t be many chances in life to dunk royalty in fishy-smelling water, she had quite enjoyed doing it.

Until then, the queen hadn’t kept such a distance from her.

Anyway, that cousin was never helpful in life. Hazel thought that Salode must have done something to earn dislike with his abrasive personality.

While she might have defended his personality when he was younger, she had no intention of doing so for a grown man now, so Hazel decided that if the queen opened up about her true feelings, she would thoroughly criticize her cousin. It was better to get along with one’s superior than with a cousin she wasn’t even close to.

As she was resolving to maintain her attitude going forward, not much different from before, the queen continued speaking.

“There was someone really precious to me. Someone who went through things they shouldn’t have because of meeting me.”

Hazel raised an eyebrow at those rather serious words. It seemed the other had decided to let down her emotional walls for a moment today.

“When I think about it, I feel really sorry for him, but I can’t regret meeting him.”

Even if I could turn back time, I couldn’t refuse someone like that. The quietly added sentence sounded bitter. Suddenly curious about what expression the queen might be wearing, Hazel looked into the pond, but a timely breeze rippled the water’s surface.

“I know it’s selfish. But I’m not inherently an altruistic person.”

And the queen, looking down at the water reflecting the pitch-black night, asked.

“Have you ever felt like that?”

After briefly observing the other who had clearly spoken due to the judgment-clouding night, Hazel began to speak.

“When I was young, there was a daughter of a family servant. That girl, named Rena, was a bit older than me.”

After saying that much, Hazel realized the story needed some background explanation. She added more details.

“At that time, I wasn’t very welcome in the family. My father was the brother of my aunt, who is now the family head, but he had left home when he was young and returned with me.”

“Why?”

“Because my mother, who was his lover, was a commoner, and the family strongly opposed it. When they couldn’t get permission to marry, he left home.”

But the woman who grew up in a poor family wasn’t very healthy, and the period the lovers who pursued love spent together wasn’t long. Hazel summarized her parents’ past, which she knew more from hearsay than from direct observation.

“They said my mother left a dying wish. To take the child back and raise her as a noble.”

And Hazel touched her nape. She felt oddly unsettled. The woman who had nothing but love probably wanted her daughter to live comfortably, but her life ended up far from that of a young lady.

Still, without noble status, it would have been difficult to become a corps commander. Cutting off the deepening thoughts, Hazel continued.

“So my father followed the dying wish and brought me back to the family, and he was treated quite harshly. At that time, it was my grandmother who was the family head, not my aunt… Well, isn’t it stranger to love a son who chose love over family and ran away, and then came back with a child?”

“For that, my husband spoke as if you were quite recognized in the family.”

The words sounded lighter than her recent attitude. Hazel checked once to see if the woman was cold. She had an outer garment on, but Edegrun’s weather wasn’t that warm.

In contrast, the south was quite hot. Hazel briefly recalled the queen’s homeland with its dazzling natural scenery. There was supposed to be trouble due to a riot.

“I’m receiving what should have been my father’s share. He passed away not long after returning to the family.”

“…I didn’t know that.”

“Ah, it’s fine. It’s an old story.”

It had already been twenty years. Hazel added a bit more explanation.

“I heard it was an illness he got during his brief time living outside.”

The outside world must have been quite harsh for a young man raised gently. The hygiene environments of nobles and commoners were quite different.

“The sudden death of someone close often leaves regrets, doesn’t it?”

The story after that was predictable. A mother who regrets her cold treatment only after her son’s death, giving her son’s share to the only child he left behind.

Although, to call it the son’s share, quite a bit of interest had accrued.

Giving away part of the family’s mine wasn’t an easy thing to do even for the family head. It would have been stupid not to accept the wealth just because she didn’t like her family, so Hazel didn’t refuse what the previous family head handed over. She also had the determination to take a solid share and leave the family.

Anyway, that wasn’t what she wanted to talk about now. Before more unnecessary past could come out, Hazel returned to the main point.

“In any case, before my father passed away, we lived separately in an annex, and Rena was a girl I knew then.”

“Was she a close friend?”

“Strictly speaking, she was my only friend. When I was young, I didn’t get along well with the family children, and Rena was the only one who played with me. I guess that bothered the other kids.”

“…Something must have happened.”

“What I’m about to tell you is a secret. The previous family head issued a gag order.”

And Hazel winked. Ophelia glanced at the knight who still hadn’t lost her playfulness despite her recent coldness and said.

“Don’t worry.”

In relationships formed out of necessity, there was no one to share personal stories with. Ophelia pulled up her knees and rested her chin. Hazel glanced over her and took off her outer garment to give to her.

“…It’s fine.”

“If you catch a cold, His Majesty will be upset.”

The man who had lived harshly all his life acted like a tender young master when it came to matters related to his wife. Hazel slipped in some criticism of her cousin.

“You know how the financial advisor reports everything to the king, right?”

“…How common is a cold in Edegrun, surely he wouldn’t report such a thing.”

“That guy has a petty side, so he probably would.”

The queen seemed convinced by those words. Seeing her silently pull the offered garment closer, it was almost certain.

Anyway, that guy, he must have left quite a bad impression. Judging by how harsh the evaluation is. After briefly cursing the man’s unchanged social skills inwardly, Hazel continued.

“To finish the story, my cousin’s kids who really disliked Rena hanging out with me got together one day and locked her in the stable. I heard they planned to scare her and then let her out.”

Later, when leaving the family, Hazel cut ties with all of them. She only met with Salode a few times, who hadn’t taken part in it. Rena, who was a kind person, got along quite well with Salode too.

She said euphemistically.

“A horse’s hoof is harder than a child’s head, isn’t it?”

When they opened the stable door again, Rena was already dead. It was an accident that could easily happen to a commoner child unfamiliar with horses.

“Rena died in an accident in the stable, and the family paid an amount of money that commoners could never earn in a lifetime as compensation to the couple who lost their daughter. Since they had many other children besides Rena, the matter was covered up like that.”

And not long after, her father passed away too. Left alone, she was brought close by the family head to soothe the sorrow of losing a son. Hazel raised an eyebrow at the unpleasant past.

“After that, after thinking many times that it was my fault, I realized something. What killed Rena wasn’t her friendship with me, but the people who locked her in the stable.”

I don’t know what story Your Highness has, but whatever your precious person went through was probably not Your Highness’s fault.

The knight’s additional words were reasonable. Ophelia lowered her eyes.

In fact, she had tried to think that way a few times too. It was Mahanas who put Haslen on the execution platform, and she had never, ever thought of harming that kind and gentle young man.

But knowing something in your head and believing it in your heart were different things. After silently moving her lips for a moment, Ophelia asked.

“But what if it still feels like my fault?”

Hazel looked down at the queen, who was showing weakness for the first time. The woman who once said she would burn even her own relatives strangely seemed like a young girl.

Looking at the delicate shoulders reflected on the water and her own outer garment covering the other’s knees, Hazel spoke.

“First, I should tell you that I’m not that smart.”

She became a knight because she was better at using her body than her head.

“What do you mean?”

“It means there’s probably a better way than this.”

And Hazel knelt beside her. The woman frowned with a gentle expression, seemingly flustered. Meeting the round blue eyes, Hazel told her superior the method she had proven effective for herself.

“When a misconception feels like reality, I constantly repeated to myself. Until I was no longer confused.”

The woman stared down at her and asked.

“Did that method work?”

Hazel answered her with nothing but the unvarnished truth.

“At least for me, it did.”