Chapter 41 - Woman’s chatter

The glasses that everyone raised in unison was sparkling.

After seeing Fabian’s strange smile at her, Evelyn swallowed the embarrassment only in her heart.

Even if she didn’t know what the intention was, Fabian’s black eyes, which seemed to look at her with a cold face, made her feel awkward.

‘What? he’s… so scary…’

In fact, in his own way, Fabian tried to show his little sincerity. But Evelyn pretended not to see that smile and quickly turned her eyes.

In her eyes, his facial expression seemed threatening and intimidating, unlike Fabian’s true intentions.

‘Don’t tell me he’s going to kill me?’

If Fabian knew what she was thinking, he would have gone crazy and felt unfair, but fortunately, he enjoyed the banquet with pride.

The Emperor’s appearance was rare even at a banquet held in the Imperial Family, so the nobles gathered warmly and were busy stamping their faces.

“I’ll have to say hello to the Emperor.”

Arthur and Miriam got up from their seat to show some etiquette. But Evelyn shook her head after remembering his evil look earlier.

“I think I’m going to say hello to all the rest of the ladies.”

Fortunately, Rebecca came to her side, and Evelyn quickly moistened her dry lips with wine.

As it turned out, the noble ladies’ eyes turned towards them. They were going to gossip about two troubled widows with their colorful hair pulled up while holding their hand-fan.

“Princess, the hyenas are here.”

“I know. I already have a headache from the smell of perfume. Are you all right?” Evelyn had been curious about it from before.

“I couldn’t help it. I think I gave up my sense of smell.”

“You have a similar mind with me. I thought the imperial man had a dull sense of smell.”

It wasn’t a joke. The smell hurt her head even a few steps away. But there was no mystery about the human body as they poured various perfumes into bottles and talked with their heads facing each other.

“They’re coming this way.” Rebecca whispered coolly with a beautiful smile.

The noble ladies were so focused on decorating themselves that they looked just like a flock of birds. Well, their intellectual level was no different.

“Be careful, before the banquet started, I went to His Majesty and they looked at me cynically.”

“Woah, I’m trying to remember the old days.” Like Rebecca, Evelyn, with her weapon-smile, whispered in a low voice.

“Greetings to the Princess of Felice Kingdom and Lady Akshire.” Lady Satin, the group leader, gave an example with her blue-feather fan, which was similar to her outfit.

The other ladies also smiled strangely and gave proper greetings. When Evelyn was Empress, they were always selfish, so now there’s nothing more to look at.

“I’m glad to see you in such good health when I’ve had so many concerns about you in the social world.”

“Ah … I think you’re still the same.”

“You must have had a lot of trouble preparing for the banquet.”

Between the loving words, there were so many invisible thorns. And in her experience, this wasn’t a compliment.

“It’s not the Imperial family, so I’m pretty sure it’s not easy to make these arrangements in a place where there’s nothing.” said Countess Hernia.

She was doing her role well. In just two words, she pointed out that Evelyn and Rebecca had divorced and left the Empire.That the Felice Kingdom was a small country. They even underestimated the capability of both of them.

Evelyn had the feeling as if she had returned to the imperial family for a moment. The ladies didn’t change a bit, as if they had just met yesterday.

“Actually, I haven’t done anything in particular. With God’s blessing, this year our Kingdom is filled with prosperity and wealth, and Akshire’s glory has helped me with their extraordinary eyes.”

But it’s different from Evelyn. She changed. The noble ladies remembered the former Empress, who never responded to them properly.

“It’s a good thing to be able to share friendship. Right, Lady Rebecca?”

“Yes, Princess. I am grateful for all this wealth and prosperity.”

The noble ladies, except Lady Satin, whispered something to each other. Evelyn, who had no base of support in Imperial society, rarely bowed to her pride, choosing to stay alone. And she was left completely out of ladies. But she had been like a totally different person in this place.

“It’s all thanks to the generosity of His Majesty. Wasn’t you really worried before the banquet started? …… I wonder if His Majesty actually didn’t want to come because this banquet disturbed him.”

“Why did you say it out? Of course, today’s banquet couldn’t be finished.”

“Really, your majesty’s generosity cannot be followed.”

“Yes, we were surprised, too. His Majesty is a very fair person who shows that he doesn’t mind being in the same place with the Princess.”

Evelyn tried to hold back her laughter. When she looked at them from this spot, they were afraid of the day when she was smiling.

Everything clumsy and meaningless, as if watching a child lie. She felt like a stupid person as she thought about it about why she was hurt by their words before.

“I’m glad you’re still worried about us. Right, Princess?”

Evelyn held Rebecca’s hand tight, who was staring at the Lady Satin’s blue-feather fan, like a cat looking at her prey. Otherwise, Rebecca might jump in and snatch her blue-fan.

“We’re ashamed that we can’t even set up a banquet curtain … Oh, I’m sorry, my tongue is twisted.”

“Lady Satin, you seem to have been twisting your tongue a lot, so does it hurt? I’m worried, too.” Evelyn was laughing, and the smile of Lady Satin then hardened a little.

Evelyn lived in a limbo state, even though she was the Empress before. After divorcing and returning to the Kingdom, she was in shabby condition, but her life now was different from before.

“Of course, I understand the ladies’ concerns. The Imperial Family is very rich, but not all the nobles can do that…..”

“Yes, Princess. Not all nobles can enjoy natural prosperity like the Felice Kingdom. Unfortunately, you have to keep your families with limited estates which is surrounded by forest.”

The noble ladies were trying to despise Evelyn by saying that they were born noble and educated. This was because the ancestor of the Felice Kingdom had no long history and wasn’t a nobleman.

The land of Felice Kingdom was small. So, many people laughed at them, who made money from doing business.

“Oh, no, I didn’t realize the difficulties because I lived only in the Imperial Palace and the Felice Palace. Is it okay for everyone to stay here?” asked Evelyn.

She pretended to be worried about the hospitality of the ladies. It was such a painful blow that made Lady Satin to bit her lips hard behind the fan. And also, it was a reminder of the fact that no one could follow the heel of the Felice Kingdom without wealth.

“I didn’t think much about it. Well, I actually wanted to prepare a gift for this banquet because it was organized in a nice way, but unfortunately I have to hand over it for your stay and travel expenses.” Evelyn said.

It was the Felice Kingdom’s ‘vulgar-gold-coins’ which the nobles most spoke ill of.

It was an inferiority complex that drove them crazy. They wanted to be richer than anyone else, but they were jealous because they didn’t have it.

“Princess, it doesn’t make sense.”

Rebecca didn’t miss the opportunity and stepped in. “How can the nobles of the Empire receive money? It’s against their pride. Look, noble ladies are very pennywise! No matter how many banquets we hold, they always wear the dress they always use everyday.”

Evelyn tried to hold back her laughter. Rebecca seemed to be half-failed. It was worth seeing the ladies in front of them having various complexions like a vegetable shop.

Evelyn had given up the idea that ‘I didn’t want to be a person who made fun of other people’s weaknesses,’ or ‘I didn’t want to be on the same level as the enemy.’

An eye for an eye, a tooth for a tooth. That was right.

“Thank you Lady Rebecca, you saved me from making mistakes.”

Evelyn was about to stop doing that kind of childish thing when a different figure suddenly entered Evelyn’s view.

It was Fabian, the Emperor, who appeared behind the despicable ladies.

Their distance was close, but it was ambiguous to give a separate example because Evelyn was walking around at the banquet.

“Yes, Princess. You should always be wary of mistakes. Especially today, because this is His Majesty’s banquet. It’s important to serve Him well. Of course, even in the imperial family, it was difficult, so it would be harder here.”

Lady Satin dug up Evelyn’s divorce. She might have thought it was Evelyn’s fatal weakness, but Evelyn didn’t give a response. Besides, those words couldn’t hurt her anymore.

“Well, at least, you should show some effort and try it, right?”

Instead, Evelyn felt a little sympathy for Lady Satin when she saw Fabian had shed a murderous aura behind her.

“What kind of effort ?”

The ladies hardened to Fabian’s low voice. Some of them seemed as if they wanted to think of it as hallucinations.

“I didn’t know you were here, Your Majesty.”

The ladies were all giving examples at once. Only then did Evelyn show him the courtesy too, but Fabian waved his hand.

“Continue what you said before. It’s very interesting.” Fabian said, his cold eyes stared sharply at Lady Satin.

“Why don’t you keep on? It’s a story I’ve never heard of in my life.”

“Forgive me, It was just a woman’s talk.”

The woman’s chatter wasn’t something the man could mingle with. But there were also certain limits. Fabian was oddly annoying from the beginning, but hearing what he said was a new sight for Evelyn.

Besides, it was an insult to ridicule the Emperor about his marriage and divorce.

“It seemed like there’s my marriage history in your conversation.”

The ladies lowered their eyes.

“If you can’t speak with your tongue, wouldn’t it be okay to pull it out?”

The noble ladies’ faces were already sunken. The atmosphere in the banquet hall turned into cold water instantly, and no one listened to music or drank alcohol.

“Your Majesty, I …..”

“Shut up. I don’t want to hear any dirty excuses. Don’t dare you call me with that mouth.”

The Imperial marriage was a matter of concern to the whole Empire, so Fabian knew more or less what people thought. But, it appeared they knew too much. He couldn’t even imagine that it would be a mockery in front of Evelyn, the person involved.

“And, what is the Princess doing?”

His anger turned to a different place. Fabian was looking at Evelyn.

“What the hell, I’m asking you why you’ve been so quiet to listen such a dirty story.”

Even the orchestra had stopped playing music. To put it in other words, the banquet was already over.

“I don’t understand what your Majesty is saying.”

Among those people, Evelyn was the only one who answered calmly.