Chapter 4 - CHAPTER 3. TABOO NAME

“Lady Rafaela of Marquis Bringston, Lady Greta of Count Arzeldo, Lady Barbara of Marquis Divar, Lady Patrizia of Marquis Grochester, and finally Lady Trisha of Duke Vashi.”

“…So, who told you about that.”

The man spoke in a disapproving tone and when the woman heard those words, she smiled seductively and asked him a question, “Why? Can’t I know?”

“What would you do if you knew?”

“So what! Shouldn’t the side chamber know the names of the candidates for the main chamber?”

Although the words were spoken calmly, Emperor Lucio heard steel in her voice and his forehead wrinkled. ‘My Rosemond always whispered sweet words in my ears but sometimes she turned sharp and biting like this. This kind of whim is part of her charm.’ Lucio smiled softly and soothed her, “Why, are you jealous?”

“What if I am? Anyway, I’m… just Your Majesty’s mistress without a name.”

Rosemond pursed her lips and grumbled. She had remained at Lucio’s side for nearly a year as the Emperor’s woman but wasn’t even recognized as an official mistress because the Empress’ seat was vacant. Lucio told her in a voice that showed he understood her feelings, “After the Empress is determined, I will give you a position. Then will you be satisfied?”

“…I don’t know.”

Truthfully, she had already let it go and was feeling better but chose to act as if she was still upset. Perhaps she might get a bit lucky. Soon after she heard Lucio’s affectionate voice, “You know you’re the only one, right?”

“I don’t know. You need to express it for me to know.”

Rosemond, who had been continuing with her upset tone, changed her attitude that moment and began complaining to Lucio, “Your Majesty, Lucio. Now even the maids ignore me. They say I receive Your Majesty’s holy orders, but still haven’t received a position yet. You’re not going to just leave me this way, are you?”

At those words, Lucio’s facial expression quickly worsened. He asked, as if he was picking a fight, “Who said that?”

Rosemond smiled brightly. ‘It was a lie.’ There weren’t any high-ranking maids in this Imperial Palace who would give such an insolent response to her who had tended to the Emperor for a year or so. Before anyone could, she would have made sure their heads were chopped off. Of course, Emperor Lucio wouldn’t have known that. Soon, Rosemond changed the topic, “Are you promising me a position? I was so sad when I was being looked down on.”

“Don’t worry, Rose.”

Lucio muttered in a low voice as he gently stroked Rosemond’s hair which gleamed in pink color, “Start as a Baroness, but the end will be the Queen.”

“Oh my.”

‘The results were better than expected?’ Rosemond pulled up the ends of her mouth high and laughed. ‘I thought I couldn’t even mention the position of a Queen. It was unexpected.’

“Aren’t you affirming this too easily, with the Queeness candidates already being confirmed?”

“Although, I have no choice with the Queenesses but I am the one that decides who will be the Queen. At the moment it is difficult, but some day, surely.”

He began to blatantly grope Rosemond’s body and Rosemond groaned loudly to get him excited. It seemed to work as Lucio’s touch became more intense.

“I will put you on the bed of the Empress.”

‘Oh! It was exciting to just imagine it. How exciting would it be to share love with him in the bed of the Empress.’ Rosemond burst into cunning laughter and held onto his hard shoulder.

“We have arrived, Lady Patrizia.”

As she was escorted by the coachman out of the carriage, Patrizia expressed her gratitude with a kind smile, “Thank you.”

“You can follow me from here.”

Like a ghost, a servant from the Imperial Palace had approached her carriage and she nodded without an alarmed look. Soon this servant would lead her to the room which she would reside for a week.

She began to walk behind the servant without speaking but the more she walked on, Patrizia’s facial expression seemed to worsen.

“…” ‘I kept thinking. When Nilla was finally determined to be the Queen, she invited me and Mother into her room where she had been staying. I am walking the same path as that time.’

Due to the intriguing discomfort she slightly frowned but soon her expression returned to the way it had been. ‘There was no point of being caught up in the past when the present is the reality.’

She returned to her usual calm self and stood in front of the room the servant stopped at. A woman was waiting for her and as soon as she checked her face, Patrizia almost burst into empty laughter, ‘Mirya.’

“I am Mirya and I will be serving Queeness Patrizia starting today.”

‘Mirya was my sister’s maid. She was a pitiful woman who claimed Nilla’s innocence until the very end, before she disappeared.’ Patrizia felt a deep discomfort in her chest and yet, it was difficult to explain such weird feelings. ‘This poor woman, who was my sister’s maid in the past, now became my own maid.’ Recognizing that fact gave Patrizia grief for some unknown reason, “Nice to meet you, Mirya.” ‘Of course, I shouldn’t show any of this externally. To these people, I wasn’t the 22-year-old Patrizia from the past, rather the 19-year-old Patrizia who just became the Queeness. It was dangerous to act awkward.’ As Patrizia stepped into the room, the maids helped her change into a dress dedicated to a Queeness. During that time, Mirya introduced a brief schedule, “Queeness will stay here for the next week and take part in the competition. At the end of a total of three competition courses, the Queen will be selected, and the first course takes place tomorrow. Do you perhaps have any other questions?”

“No, Mirya. Thank you.”

‘Because of the experience from the past, there was no curiosity nor desire to ask about anything.’ With Patrizia’s light reply, Mirya walked out of the room with the maids. She left with words expressing understanding about her being tired from moving.

In the room where she was left alone, Patrizia dazed and soon went to sit on the bed. She had no desire to lie down until she was on the bed and realized she wanted to. Patrizia suddenly muttered as she spread out on the bed from the waist up, “Rosemond…” ‘So far, a taboo name.’ Then Patrizia pulled a woman out of her memory.

‘Rosemond Mary La Phelps. The current informal lover of the Emperor but once the Empress was determined this woman would get the position of Baroness.’

‘In the past, Baroness Phelps was the one who drove my sister and my family to tragedy.’ Patrizia’s eyes sank.

‘There was one more reason why I and Petronilla didn’t want to volunteer as the Queeness, other than what was said earlier. This was because of the existence of Rosemond in the public eye, she was the Emperor’s lover throughout the year and all the rumors already implicitly acknowledged this was true. In the end, in fact that the rumor was true apparent after Petronilla became Empress in the past. That probably didn’t change even now.’

‘It didn’t matter if I didn’t become the Queen but even if I became the Queen, I didn’t have any plans of acknowledging Rosemond. The Emperor loved Rosemond, from my memory and even with my reincarnation, that wouldn’t change even now. There was nothing can beat the Emperor’s right hand. This had already been proven with our deaths in the past.’

‘So if I unfortunately became the Empress, I would have to make the most of it to survive. With no interest or care for the Emperor and his concubine. It was now my goal to be the eventual winner, with a thin and long life.’

“For now… Let’s just try to fail in tomorrow’s contest.”

‘The best option was definitely to not become the Empress. If so, everything I had worried about until now would be nothing, with very positive consequences.’

She wished herself to not become the Empress. In any case, the idea of spending her time in this Imperial Room caused Patrizia a great deal of stress.

The Queeness wear only white dresses that symbolize purity for the fairness of the screening. This dress was the only one that was allowed by the Imperial Court, truly a pure white dress with no decoration.

‘It was easier this way. If it was free to wear anything, it would have been harder to wear unobtrusively.’

The Marvinus Empire’s Queen meant more than the partner of the Emperor but rather for the subjects, it was seen as the only person who was equal to the Emperor that could help the Emperor’s reign. Because of this, the Empress’ competition was held in front of all the nobles who watched intently. Of course, there was also the Emperor on the spot.

“Are you trembling, Queeness?”

At Mirya’s words, Patrizia smiled mysteriously. She wasn’t scared. If she failed or passed, it was all the same. If anything it was better to fail. So there was no reason for her to tremble. Only…

‘That man. The Emperor. A man who was once my brother-in-law. A man who ordered the destruction of my family and took the lives of my family. Looking at it from my position, there was no enemy like him, but if only looking at the truth, there wasn’t a lot of regret with the Emperor. My elder sister, Petronilla, was found guilty of making the Emperor’s mistress, Rosemond, miscarry her unborn child, adding the treason of murdering the Imperial bloodline.’

‘So with the Emperor’s position the sentencing would have been unavoidable. With the former, there was room for extenuating circumstances, but in the latter case it was a felony which was implicated with treason. It was clear when you looked at the end of what happened to me and my family without any subjectivity.’

Patrizia didn’t know exactly what had happened in the last few days. The information she knew was just what she picked up from the others. No one, not even the Marquis and Petronilla, told her the whole truth. No, maybe they didn’t even know the clear truth.

“It’s fine, Mirya.”

She broke off her ideology by saying so. It was the work of the past and she was here now to change that past. One moment in history has already changed since she became a Queeness. So… there was a possibility that the tragedy wouldn’t happen.

“Now you have to go in.”

Out of all the women attending as the Queeness candidates, the Duchess Efreni words made all five Queeness’ use quiet footsteps as they entered. With almost complete silence, the wide-open door revealed the gaze of everyone.

‘It was uncomfortable. But at least at this moment, it couldn’t be helped.’ Patrizia internally gave a sigh while acting perfectly as a Queeness.

“Lady Patrizia of Marquis Grochester, Lady Rafaela of Marquis Bringston, Lady Greta of Count Arzeldo, Lady Barbara of Marquis Divar, and finally Lady Trisha of Duke Vash. A total of five Queeness has entered.”

The voice seemed to command while sounding like they were in some sort of auction which made Patrizia not feeling good. ‘Actually this strange situation wasn’t much different from an actual auction.’ Patrizia ridiculed herself internally.

“The first topic for the challenge will be presented by the Duchess Efreni.”

The Queen was determined by a total of three parts. Two Dukes and the Emperor would present the subjects in order but the presentation was only symbolically represented by them as the subject was discussed and decided by the three Dukes and the Emperor of the Empire. The other nobles were actually just supporters while the actual decisions were carried out by the four with the Duchess Efreni, who made the assessment. Of course, the nobles had the ability to challenge these decisions. Naturally there weren’t any nobles that were brave enough, and since there were rewards, most nobles were happy with this approach.

“This is the first topic.”

“…”

The room was full of silence. Patrizia recalled the topic of the challenge told by the Marquis Grochester three years ago.