Free Web NovelRegarding becoming one of the chosen successors, Colette showed no emotion at all.
There was neither excitement nor anticipation, nor fear or dread—just the same flat indifference as always, as if it were someone else standing at the front accepting the glory.
After the ceremony ended, gazes filled with flattery, congratulations, sycophancy, envy, jealousy, and hatred converged upon her. Nobles approached with different intentions, but she rejected them all, walking alone, leaving the Crimson Hall with an apathetic expression.
Returning to her usual cold, remote side palace, she removed her hair ornaments and that elegant, magnificent gown, changed into a relatively simple dark red silk dress, and took a stroll in the somewhat desolate backyard.
There were no beautiful roses here like in other palaces—only some withered yellow weeds. On the high wall in the distance hung a tattered flag, heavy with grime, occasionally swaying in the wind.
If one shifted the view to the other side of the palace—where Prince Horsa and Princess Eve resided—it was a completely different scene.
Relatives and friends who usually kept close ties now gathered in one place. The banquet hall was filled with delicious delicacies. Maidservants bustled in and out, bringing all kinds of rare treasures and fine wines for the attending nobles to celebrate. The lively voices even drowned out the orchestra playing on site.
"Congratulations! The prince's succession to the throne is now just around the corner!"
"Hahaha, that's too exaggerated. You can't say such things carelessly—His Majesty is still robust and mighty." Nearby, Prince Horsa's uncle, Grand Duke Ferren, accepted congratulations from a group of nobles with a hearty smile. Then he walked over to Prince Horsa, patted his shoulder, and said some more encouraging words, drawing applause from the entire hall.
Although he was the center of attention for everyone present, Prince Horsa was still relatively young and couldn't suppress the excitement surging in his heart. His fingers had been trembling slightly ever since the ceremony ended, his mind completely immersed in this tremendous shift in status.
He had always been aware of his position, but even so, receiving public acknowledgment at such a grand ceremony made it impossible to contain his surging emotions. His thoughts couldn't calm down for a moment.
After the congratulations, everyone drank fine wine together, and the topic still revolved around the ceremony. Finally, someone brought up the most obscure of the three—Colette.
"That princess... I haven't heard of her before," someone asked.
"She's not very famous, after all. Her mother has been dead for almost twenty years."
"Princess Reanna was quite a beauty in her day. I heard she was favored for a while, but unfortunately, her family wasn't powerful. Not long after giving birth to Colette, she died of illness."
"Illness?" That word was quite rare for the Blood Clan.
"Yes, a very rare disease. The royal physicians couldn't do anything about it. At the time, some suspected deliberate poisoning—out of jealousy for her being favored."
"When Princess Reanna passed away, His Majesty was furious too. I heard he conducted a thorough investigation of the entire palace, found a few people suspected of hiding poison, and executed them all. Only then did his anger slowly subside."
"In the first few years, His Majesty would still visit Princess Colette out of lingering affection, but later he gradually forgot about her. After all, he has far too many children."
"I wonder why Colette was included as one of the chosen successors this time. Her maternal lineage has long been in decline. The current clan head and family leader are from a former branch line—the blood relation is thin, and they rarely contact her."
"Perhaps it was the Erosion Sorceress's idea. She's highly trusted by His Majesty—not only his lover but also his closest advisor. Logically speaking, her son, Prince Reid, should have been one of the three chosen successors, but surprisingly, he wasn't this time."
"The Erosion Sorceress is very clever. She knows that although she's trusted, she has little influence in the royal court. If she made her son one of the chosen successors, he'd be caught between two major factions. She probably deliberately gave up that position to let some unlucky bastard take the fall."
"Colette is actually a good choice. She has almost no external support. If the Erosion Sorceress is interested, she could probably manipulate her quite well. Besides, she's Princess Reanna's daughter. Perhaps when His Majesty sees her, he'll recall some past memories and accept the child as one of the chosen successors."
The crowd buzzed with discussion. Over at Princess Eve's palace, similar conversations were taking place.
"How pathetic," Princess Eve remarked as she used her fork to pick up a piece of delicious cake, commenting on Yuan Junyue's situation.
"Do you think that position as one of the chosen successors is something just anyone can sit firmly in?"
"If she comes begging you, you could give her a way out, hehehe." She laughed as she spoke.
"Your Highness is truly benevolent—you can even forgive your competitors!" The sisters and friends around her immediately praised her.
Laughter and celebration echoed endlessly outside the small hall.
---
At night, Colette returned to her silent palace. Only the lamp at the entrance was lit, leaving everything else shrouded in darkness.
She entered her room, sat at her desk, placed a glass lamp on it, then picked up a book and slowly began to read.
Sylutia, now taking on her identity, also slowly read this book, gradually immersing herself in its content.
About an hour passed like this. Suddenly, hurried footsteps came from outside the door, followed by a rough push of the door.
The maidservant who had raised Colette since childhood walked in again. Compared to ten years ago, she now had some wrinkles at her temples. Behind her, she brought two younger maidservants.
"Colette! What's wrong with you? Such an important event, and you come back to just lie around doing nothing?"
"Also, I heard that many important figures greeted you at the ceremony, and you didn't respond to a single one. Don't you know any manners?"
"Do you know? I grew up with Princess Reanna. Back then, she was praised by everyone for her dignified and perfect bearing. How is it that you haven't learned a thing?"
In the past, Colette would have panicked and explained herself. But now, she just silently continued reading, not even lifting her head.
Sylutia was a bit curious as to why this maidservant dared to be so arrogant and rude, but this body still had a deep-seated inertia toward such scenes. She didn't want to rashly change habits, just wanted to see what would happen next.
Seeing that Colette still didn't respond, the older maidservant strode over, snatched the book from the girl's hands, slammed her palm onto the desk, and shouted again in fury. But this time, Colette was completely unreachable—she just leaned back in her chair, staring blankly into space.
Seeing Colette continue to ignore her, as unmoved as a stone, the maidservant finally couldn't hold back her anger. She raised her hand and slapped her.
A sharp crack echoed, and several bloody marks appeared on Colette's face. Finally, she opened her eyes.
Seeing this, the maidservant felt a surge of satisfaction and smugness.
"Get up! Explain yourself properly!" she said arrogantly.
Colette didn't respond immediately. She just wiped the blood from her face with her finger, carefully examining the traces left on her fingertips.
Faced with this scene, the two younger maidservants behind her were at a loss. They could only lower their heads, carefully avoiding eye contact.
"You're very noisy," Colette finally spoke, her voice still calm.
At this, the old maidservant's eyes bulged with fury, ready to strike again. But somehow, a hand had already pierced through her chest and gripped the heart inside.
With a slight squeeze, that heart burst like a water balloon, then shattered.
Watching the old maidservant's eyes fill with disbelief as she slowly collapsed, Colette didn't bother with her further. Instead, she told the two young maidservants to bring her clean water to wash her hands.
"Drag this person away, or she'll mess up my study by lying here." She wiped her fingers clean and sat back down. The dead maidservant lay at her feet, within reach if she moved.
"Y-yes!" Their voices went from weak to strong, afraid of answering too slowly.
And just like that, the voice that had pestered Colette for over a decade vanished from her life. Yet still, she felt no emotional fluctuation.
She wasn't saddened by the woman's death, nor did she feel happy to finally be rid of this annoying presence. She had no interest in many things anymore.
If a normal person's will to live scored 10 points, their desire for power and wealth scored 7 points, and their craving for delicious food scored 3 points, then Colette's desire for anything wouldn't exceed 1 point. Sometimes, she couldn't even understand other people's obsessions and madness.
She didn't understand why so many people spent all day doing various things just for those round, golden metal discs. What could these metal discs even be used for?
To buy food? The most exquisite feast in the palace and simple wheat porridge—to her, the difference was 0.012 points versus 0.011 points. Having it or not made little difference.
To give to someone she liked? What person was worth liking? Didn't everyone have one head and two eyes? Maybe they just dressed a bit cleaner, but that didn't spark any extra expectation in her.
To earn flattering praise from others? Did she need extra sound waves produced by those vibrating lips?
To improve her strength? This was indeed the only thing Colette still cared about, but even then, her desire was only around 1 point—about the same as taking a walk in the backyard at night.
Another thing worth mentioning was that Colette's desire to stay alive scored 0.3 points. In other words, to her, the difference between death and living wasn't significant.
This world held nothing she looked forward to, no one and nothing she cared about. Everything was like gray-white plaster—flat and fragile.
Objectively speaking, she held a noble princess identity that others envied. But from her own actual perspective, this was also an utterly boring and unremarkable matter.
There was no joy or anticipation, no pain or despair. She just lived on in utter flatness and apathy. The only reason she hadn't collapsed yet was that she was still moving along the trajectory of her past life, waiting for the right opportunity.
She didn't care about anyone, not even herself. And that was how Colette silently passed her youthful years. Even becoming one of the chosen successors brought no change.
Several months later, no one cared about her new identity anymore. The formal gown she had worn to the ceremony that day sat in the wardrobe, slowly gathering dust and being forgotten.
Until one night, this calm was broken by a figure who had traveled from afar.
She was the sorceress who accompanied the king's side—this mysterious woman who had lived through long, long years silently gazed at Colette. Her deep purple eyes narrowed slightly, then opened, and she spoke a sentence that changed Colette's behavior.
"It seems that the wound you suffered as a child has never healed."
