How have you been?

"Hey, someone is looking for you."

"Who?"

"Who knows? It looks like a noble lady out of nowhere. The robe is very beautiful."

"A noble lady…" muttered Hacket.

He didn't want to hope for much, but in the end, he came out of the workshop to meet the noble lady who was said to be looking for him.

Outside his workshop, a person in a hooded robe stood facing out. Her figure is quite tall for the size of a woman. With that robe on, even that figure looked like a young man.

"Excuse me, My Lady. I am Hacket. Are you looking for me?"

Slowly the figure turned around and lowered her hood.

There was a woman whose face looked like she had just grown up with black hair that he recognized. The look in her olive eyes had changed from those once filled with fear to now filled with confidence. There are still many other changes in her, but Hacket if the woman in front of him is the person he served before.

"Sir Hacket?"

Her voice… now also changed. But Hacket remained convinced.

"Lady Selah… How have you been?"

***

Even though dozens of years have passed, almost nothing has changed from Hacket. His hair was still fast and messy, his skin was still as tanned as ever, and his tone was just as calm. The only difference is that his body is a little thin. Selah also noticed a scar on one side of his face. She doesn't know what Hacker has experienced so far.

"The taste might not be the same as the one at your residence, but this is simply the best citrus tea I could find in this shop," said Hacket as he placed a cup of tea in front of Selah.

Selah smiled thinly. "You haven't changed, Sir Hacket."

"I am no longer a knight, My Lady. You don't have to call me 'Sir' anymore," said Hacket. "I didn't expect you to meet me here."

"Yeah…" Selah looked at her reflection in the tea in her cup. "I found out from Mother's diary and with Jeremiah's help. I thought… where have you been all this time?"

"It was the late Lady Helena who brought me here. She said this as a form of her thanks for taking good care of you."

"I never knew Mother did it…."

"Not only that. The late Lady Helena also gave me financial help for the first two years." Hacket smiled at Selah. "I'm sure she didn't reveal my whereabouts to make you stronger, Lady Selah. The late Lady Helena loved you in her way."

"I don't like the way it is."

"Of course, you have every right to feel that way. I also think that her way is wrong. But… can you forgive her? The late Lady Helena was forced to do it."

"You sound like you know more about Mother than I, her daughter."

"Even though she has been gone for a long time, it is never too late to get to know her earlier, My Lady."

That's right. Helena's diary allows Selah to know more about her mother. About her relationship with the people around her, what she has done, her secrets, and her hopes, too...

"Sir Hacket, I'm sure you know what happened recently."

"Yeah," Hacket muttered. He looked at Selah doubtfully. "About you becoming a duchess, Lord Archibald, and your betrothal to Prince Aeneas."

"I want to know," Selah said slowly, "what do you know about Prince Aeneas."

Hackt looks doubtful. "If you have read the late Lady Helena's diary, shouldn't you…"

"I know, it's just that I…."

"Hard to believe it?"

Selah nodded slowly. "Was… was Prince Aeneas really unable to defend himself back then? Was… really that no one could help him back then?"

"I have accompanied the late Lady Helena to meet Queen Consort Catalina several times. At first, it was normal, but over time we realized that there was something odd. Queen Consort Catalina doesn't dare to accept reality, even though Prince Aeneas was trapped in the Royal Palace at that time," Hacket began to tell slowly.

Hacket says he doesn't know exactly how. One day, Helena asked Hacket to smuggle her into the Royal Palace to meet Aeneas. Hacket also helped, and together they searched for the whereabouts of the second prince.

When Aeneas was found at that time, his physical and mental state had been destroyed. Aeneas cannot be spoken to and is frightened when he sees Hacket, so only Helena can approach him. And since they were infiltrating, there wasn't much else they could do.

Those were the times when Catalina was deeply trapped and nearly every second became hysterical. Helena knew that the maids at the Royal Palace would not help her, so she had to move on by herself. It was Helena who planned everything from building Aeneas' sanity from scratch to creating a line of communication between them.

"I don't know how the late Lady Helena communicated with Prince Aeneas after I left Dulcia's residence. But about two years after I left, the late Lady Helena started asking me for help to be a courier to the Royal Palace," said Hacket.

"Did you know... that one of the things that Mother might have left behind was poison for King Tristan?" she asked.

"Yes," Hacket replied without the slightest hint of fear. "I know, and I will not regret it if King Tristan must die from the poison."

"Wh-why didn't Crown Prince Blair ask for help back then?" asked Selah quickly. "Even without Mother's help, Blair should be able to help Prince Aeneas, right?"

"The late Lady Helena has tried to talk to Crown Prince Blair, My Lady. But… but I also don't understand why he doesn't want to help us. The late Lady Helena thought that Crown Prince Blair was still too young to fight King Tristan at that time. Moreover, he had not yet built his own power. But in my personal eyes," Hacket squinted hatefully, "he's just too cowardly to help his own little brother!"

Blair was terrified. He must have received a threat or punishment from King Tristan.

Well, apart from that, Selah understands how Aeneas feels now. It's only natural that he wants to kill King Tristan, it's only natural that he can't forgive Blair, and it's only natural that he wants to burn the Royal Palace to the ground.

Because Aeneas has struggled to survive and struggle, trying his best to stay sane, but in the end, someone else helps him.

And the people closest to him actually turned away.