Princess's Struggle for Survival-Chapter 263: Regret to Cause

White walls, pale yellow lights, a row of metal chairs, the woman’s smooth silver hair reflecting a warm glow under the light, adding a bit of brightness in Astrid’s eyes.

Looking at Astrid’s hair hanging down to her lap, Lyra lowered her head, her fingers gently gripping the edge of the chair, quietly waiting for the other party’s response.

After half a minute, she heard the slight rustling of silk stockings and the clear and sharp sound of high heels hitting the bricks, the enlarged shadow in her eyes reminding her that the physical distance between her and Astrid was getting closer.

"Why do you say that?"

The fragrance lingering in the nose suddenly became much more obvious. Hearing Astrid’s words, Lyra pursed her lips a few times and spoke in a low voice.

"The information that Astrid has previously known, if made public, will have a serious negative impact on Reneth’s father, Viscount Cort, right?"

Astrid gently fiddled with her hair a few times after hearing this, leaning forward with her elbows on her thighs.

"There will be an impact, but it’s mostly just a loss of face, it won’t hurt the foundation."

The titles in the Valeria Empire, apart from hereditary succession, can only be obtained through contributions to the empire.

The specific criteria for conferring titles are quite strict, and accordingly, the removal of titles is extremely rare in the aristocratic circle.

The unspeakable news that Astrid mentioned would at most make Viscount Cort stumble, and it would take a year or two to recover.

After hearing this, Lyra’s eyes rippled slightly, and her fingers gently touched the cold metal chair.

"If it’s just an apology, it shouldn’t be worth using one’s future as a bargaining chip. Even if they win, it wouldn’t be meaningful..." freeweɓnøvel.com

"Is Miss Reneth really doing this for the so-called aristocratic face?"

No matter how Lyra thought about it, Reneth’s motives couldn’t be just what she had previously shown.

It was too unreasonable.

Hearing Lyra ask this unexpected question, Astrid was slightly stunned for a moment, then pursed her lips and softly chanted the general spell of a silencing barrier.

Feeling the fluctuations of magic around her and the magic spell that Astrid spoke from her lips, Lyra realized that the content of their conversation might be quite private, and she actively leaned closer to Astrid.

Seeing this, Astrid’s expression remained unchanged, and her calf gently bumped into Lyra’s.

"What do you think about it?"

Lyra was silent for a while after hearing this, and then replied.

"...Like me, Miss Reneth also has a reason that she must win the duel."

And most likely... It was related to the son of the Duke Thomas, Vorelter Redgrave, that Elise reported to Astrid that night...

While thinking, Lyra heard Astrid slowly speak.

"Although you have been in the capital for a little over a year, as my personal maid, you often come into contact with nobles, so you should have seen some of the things floating on the surface."

"I am closer to Crown Prince Lucas and relatively distant from Prince Alistair, which in itself means that the political faction behind me are more inclined to the former, which is a hidden alignment different from public support."

Originally, Astrid didn’t plan to tell Lyra these things, but since the other party had already mentioned Reneth’s motivation for wanting to win, it meant that Lyra had been thinking a lot in private.

Working in a bakery for a year and being a personal maid by the princess’s side for a year, the knowledge gained is different, and there is no doubt that the current Lyra has a broader vision and thinks more than the simple girl in the original story.

"Reneth’s father, Viscount Cort, is a noble from Prince Alistair’s faction and a conservative who holds reservations on the development of magical devices, which is inherently incompatible with me."

"Reneth’s behavior can be seen as her being young and reckless, her father would not dare to publicly jump out against the best friend of the third princess of the empire and cause a lot of trouble."

"That is to say, Reneth’s appearance has a certain degree of chance, and she provided an opportunity for the nobles who are bound to have a fierce conflict with me, in other words, she was just used as a pawn in this duel."

If she wins, Vorelter can not only tarnish Lyra’s reputation, but also indirectly suppress Astrid’s rising momentum.

If she loses, the intensity of slandering Lyra will be increased, further affecting Astrid’s reputation.

No matter the outcome, as long as the follow-up is handled properly, Vorelter can achieve his goals and it is not easy to get burned.

The person who did these things was Reneth, and the attack was on Lyra, not Astrid.

Both parties exposed on the surface are proxies, and Viscount Cort will spend time and energy to investigate and collect evidence for those who hurt the pearl in his palm, but he will not even care about what happened to her daughter’s friends.

"Vorelter... is he from Prince Alistair’s side?" Lyra whispered.

Astrid nodded and affirmed.

"Yes, so he seized the opportunity to take action against you, using Vorelter to frame and try to completely destroy Lyra’s reputation."

"Perhaps before the duel started, Vorelter has already made relevant arrangements, and no matter the outcome, this matter will be difficult to link back to him."

"Viscount Cort would not dare to expose Vorelter, who is the son of a Grand Duke, far more noble than him, not to mention the existence of a high and mighty prince behind him, as long as the secret is leaked, everything he has will be wiped out."

The political struggles between the nobles and the royal family, once the small nobles get involved, they may even be crushed by the aftermath, Viscount Cort is such a case.

"So, actually, from the moment I challenged Miss Reneth, everything could not be changed..." Lyra whispered, her eyes falling on her knees.

Although it seemed that Reneth was at fault, the punishment she received was too severe.

"She is just a poor person caught in the middle... with no way out..."

As Astrid said, the giant waves caused by the struggle between the two forces could easily swallow those left on the shore, Viscount Cort was already like this, let alone other ordinary people with no power.

Thinking of this, Lyra suddenly remembered the broken corpses under the Jones farm, in the eyes of the Crown Prince, people with no working ability, homeless wanderers, children abandoned by their parents on the streets, these people not only have no productive value, but are also unstable factors that affect the empire, so their lives are as cheap as grass.

Perhaps this is the cruelty and cold-bloodedness of the upper nobles...

Suddenly, her face was pinched by a hand, Lyra’s delicate body trembled, her waist subconsciously straightened, and she looked up at the silver-haired princess.

"Listening to Lyra’s tone, you seem to have a lot of sympathy for Reneth?"

Astrid’s tone was calm, her eyes neither sad nor happy.

Looking at the cold red eyes, Lyra couldn’t guess Astrid’s emotions, nor did she know if she would provoke her anger if she continued, her voice involuntarily lowered a few degrees.

"Well... I was really angry when Reneth said those things, so I always wanted her to apologize properly once..."

"But, I never expected that the duel would become like this, the price Miss Reneth paid was too great..."

"And because of this... I have been thinking if I was too emotional that night and couldn’t keep calm, which led to all of this."

"Perhaps there was a more gentle way to solve the problem, rather than a duel. The position Reneth is in, no matter what she does, is wrong, she can only watch herself slide into the abyss of despair step by step."

Like slander and murder, although both are crimes, the sentencing basis cannot be the same, Reneth just spoke out privately, did not spread it on a large scale and caused extremely serious consequences, the crime is not worth this.

After the words fell, Astrid was still silent, Lyra looked at the reflection of herself in the other party’s eyes, bit her lip, and lowered her voice.

"I know my thoughts are very immature... or childish..."

"It’s only because of Princess Astrid that I have this opportunity for a duel, but now I am saying such things."

"Really... very bad..."

The more she spoke, the more she felt that she had let down Astrid’s kindness, Lyra’s head drooped, and the shoes on her feet gently fought.

After a while, Astrid spoke coldly, "It is indeed quite childish."

"Then Lyra, do you have a better solution?"

"..."

This time it was Lyra’s turn to be silent, in fact she also knew that her thoughts were too naive and unrealistic.

There is no perfect solution in the world.

"I could have forced her to apologize to you at the time, but that’s not what Lyra wanted, is it?" Astrid asked.

"There was no gentler way, without this duel, it means that you have to endure Reneth’s insults in silence."

Astrid supported her cheek with one hand and looked at Lyra with her head tilted.

"Lyra you just saw the result, so she deduced the cause of the matter and produced a feeling called regret on this basis."

"But in fact, you did nothing wrong."

"For you, this duel is just a duel, the one who added the bet on it is Vorelter, the one who caused Reneth’s tragic ending is also him, this is beyond doubt."

Without Vorelter’s late-night conversation, Reneth would not have worked so hard.

After listening to Astrid’s words, Lyra swallowed her throat, her mood was complicated for a while.

She understood that Reneth was just a pawn on the political chessboard, who could be abandoned and eaten at any time, but she still had significant psychological fluctuations for the other party’s life and death.

"Sorry..." Lyra said.

Astrid fluttered her eyelashes a few times and said softly, "Why are you apologizing to me?"

"I... I have let Astrid down..."

The other party helped her get this opportunity, but she was indecisive after the event, and performed so poorly.

Princess Astrid heard... should be very uncomfortable, right...

Looking at Lyra who lowered her eyelids, Astrid did not hit the other party, but on the contrary, her tone was gentler than before.

"I don’t think so."

"Sympathy is hard to suppress, even I would think that it is a bit pitiful that Reneth ended up like this."

She just said a few wrong words and became a victim of political struggle, it is indeed worthy of sympathy.

After hearing this, Lyra was stunned, her voice as small as a mosquito.

"Then Astrid... won’t hate me, right?"

After being with her for so long, but still behaving so childish.

"Of course not." Astrid whispered, her fingers gently poking Lyra’s forehead.

"Political struggles have always been cruel, even the infighting within the faction is extremely bloody, this is hard to avoid."

"I accept such rules, but it does not mean that I agree with them, sometimes I wish that everyone could be like playing house, even if there are conflicts of interest between each other, it would not reach the point of life and death."

Reality is reality, fantasy is fantasy, even if it is a bit split, it doesn’t matter, as long as it doesn’t affect normal judgment, it’s enough to rely on pure emotion.

The fingers slid across the temples, landed on the soft flesh of the cheek, Astrid looked at the slightly sunken skin like dough, couldn’t help but think of the perfect feel when pinching, simply pinched Lyra’s face again.

"I am not disappointed in you, nor do I hate you."

"On the contrary, I am very pleased and like that Lyra has such thoughts."

Even after knowing the cruel truth and understanding the power game of deceit, she still cares and sympathizes with the weak, retaining the most sincere kindness in her heart.

This is the chosen one of the holy light.

"Don’t take all the blame on yourself, you did nothing wrong, whether it was initiating the challenge or having sympathy for Reneth."

Apart from a little unrealistic fantasy, Lyra’s other actions were not wrong, she did try her best to defeat Reneth in the duel, and did not do anything that harmed the interests of others because of this sympathy.

Wait a little longer, reality will give this holy knight enough time to grow.

After listening to Astrid’s speech, Lyra felt much better, the complicated emotions lingering in her mind also dissipated at this moment.

Astrid did not deny her feelings, nor did she hate her.

She is indeed very gentle...

"But if you want to visit Reneth, forget it, doing so will only make Vorelter think that the latter has the possibility of leaking secrets, and will hurt her instead."

"I know, Astrid."

She is just a little stupid, but not stupid, sympathy is sympathy, what should be done and what should not be done, Lyra is still very clear.

Seeing that the time was about right, Astrid asked Lyra how her body felt, if she had rested well, the latter confirmed that the injury was fine and nodded in response.

"Then let’s go, everyone is waiting for us." Astrid said.

’It’s been so long since I’ve seen Amalia, I guess this little girl is going to miss me.’

Standing up and leaving the lounge, Lyra looked at the nearby Astrid, her blue eyes rippling with water.

Talking with Princess Astrid... feels like the whole person is relaxed...

No need to think too much, no need to be indecisive.

Just do what you think is right.