Chapter 19 - CHAPTER 17. LAST MERCY

It wasn’t a fresh feeling, nor was it a new feeling to hear the cursing from a constantly smiling person. It was just dirty. Patrizia’s eyebrow twitched on one side.

“Oh, because you called me by my name first, so will I. Is that okay? Anyway, it has already happened now, and you have no intention of leaking what happened today.”

“Ha! That shamelessness, it is so great that one would want to learn it. I want to live quietly. I won’t mess with you unless you mess with me first. I can promise. However… ”

Patrizia glowered as if she was going to kill Rosemond. Today’s work really could not be forgiven. It was so infuriating that she had planned this peculiar plot that gave her goosebumps.

“If you mess with me first, I won’t be able to help it. Mistakes and forgiveness will be the last this time. That is why… let us stay quiet. If something else happens after this, I have no idea what I will resort to doing.”

“How scary.”

Rosemond muttered in a form of mockery and glared at Patrizia as if looking down at her. Patrizia thought she was a woman who had a talent for ruining a person’s mood and spoke.

“I feel like I want to reveal today’s work all over the world and bury you, but it would lead to a very messy situation. So this is the only time, Rosemond. There will be no mercy for the second time.”

It was not difficult to promulgate this event. Even for an Empress who was not favored, she had this much power.

However, while this would solve the internal problems, there would still be room for external problems. Of course, the most desirable case would be that nothing would happen, but if this led to some pretense and disadvantages in the diplomacy with the Christa Empire, there would be nothing as difficult as dealing with that.

From the beginning, diplomacy was such a thing. With a little plausible justification, you could exercise ridiculous and unfair power at any time.

The Christa Empire was not a weak country but was a great power along the lines of the Marvinus Empire. She did not dare to guess what kind of problems would arise, and how to deal with that.

So darn it, she couldn’t act as she pleased. This was a big issue that would not simply end with internal problems.

“Ahah, I will remember, Your Majesty. This is like, I’ll be so scared that I won’t be able to even pee.”

“Put away with that messing around attitude as much as possible. I might end up grabbing you by the hair because it’s so infuriating.”

“Oh, I will remember that as well.”

Rosemond glared at Patrizia with an imposing expression as if she will not be deterred no matter when she’ll be hit, until the end. Patrizia accepted all of her looks without averting her gaze.

There was no reason to avoid it. It was the other person, not herself, who should be looking away. Patrizia laughed in a low voice and asked, “That confidence, I’m really curious about where it comes from. Do you think I will not be telling anyone about this?”

“Of course, Your Majesty. Your Majesty would not have the guts to do that.”

There was a reason Rosemond was so confident. First, the beef wasn’t really exchanged into pork as she had planned. In other words, there was nothing that had happened.

Second, there was no practical evidence. The only thing that the Empress knew about the involvement of this scheme were Rosemond and Glara. But it would be resolved if both of them remained silent. No one was as loyal as Glara, so she probably wouldn’t open her mouth even while being tortured.

Third, above all, it was a great danger to spread this story so that it reached the Christa Empire. If so, there might be diplomatic friction Patrizia was so concerned about. Patrizia also knew this better than anyone else, but still decided to go a little harder.

“If you have sinned, you can just reveal it, or even if you don’t have one, you can make one. But in this case, it’s the former, so there’s no reason for it to be difficult.”

“Have you not made a promise to His Majesty? That you won’t touch me.”

“That was a story when you didn’t touch me first. I haven’t promised to stupidly become a victim like an idiot.”

“There was no example of a mistress grabbing hold of an Empire, but there is a precedent for bringing the Emperor into their skirt. Your Majesty, don’t you think this is just that time?”

Patrizia had nothing to say when she saw Rosemond’s confident expression while she asked the question. Shamelessness should have a limit.

“Be confident, Rose. I really do hate that part of you.”

She smiled twistedly then approached her, and whispered in her ear.

“Anyways, thank you for the gift, Rosemond. Thanks to you, I have made a promise to myself. Mercy is only this time, and the next time, I will be first.”

Patrizia’s first attack, she would look forward to it. Rosemond, smiled brightly when it didn’t match the circumstances, and talked to her in an amused voice.

“Can I look forward to it, Your Majesty?”

What a crazy woman. Patrizia felt her throat close up and the ridiculousness. She was expecting it, but this was truly not a light opponent. But at least for now, she has the upper hand.

It was like the struggle of a loser struggling to do anything to not look weak. So she had no need to be scared or shrink back. Patrizia spoke again.

“I hope that doesn’t happen, Rosemond. I am a pacifist.”

That was ridiculous. Rosemond laughed internally at Patrizia. If she wanted peace, she would give up that position right away and disappear neatly. Because she would never give up on this fight until she became Empress.

Just as maintaining the position was directly related to survival for Patrizia, it was also a matter of survival for her. So she could not give up. To take the place of that supreme Queen.

“Oh, I have been outside for too long. I have to go now. The noblewomen must be waiting for you.”

Patrizia pulled up slightly on one side of the mouth and smiled, then talked to her as if to comfort her.

“Stop getting angry, and come inside. The beef steak, as I saw earlier, you didn’t even eat a few bites, and it should be getting cold.”

It should have already gotten cold. Patrizia walked proudly past Rosemond, holding a smile to the end. As soon as her appearance disappeared from view, Rosemond shrieked.

“Aaaaghh!”

It was a common sound that Rosemond made when things didn’t work out the way she had wanted. She angrily stomped her feet, seemingly unable to control her anger.

“Dares, dares!”

It wasn’t enough to treat her as a prostitute, that rude child had dared to give a warning. The fact that Rosemond was being played by that younger Empress was so upsetting it was unbearable.

She bit her lips hard without feeling the pain from her reddened cheek. As she did this, Glara, who was at her side, watching all of this unfold with a pale face, asked Rosemond with a worried voice, “You have a bad wound, my Lady. It would be better for us to return to your quarters.”

SLAP! However, all that returned for Glara’s worried words was a sharp assault. Glara carefully wrapped her cheek with her hand and said stoically, “I am sorry, my Lady. It is all my fault.”

“Because of you…”

She growled in a voice that seemed to be unraveling further in anger. She seemed unable to believe the situation she was in.

To be precise, she could not believe Patrizia had attacked her. That was an enormous shame for Rosemond, a seasoned veteran who had been through many of these battles.

“There will be mercy only this time, and from now on, you’ll attack first? Ha! I sure am looking forward to that. How poisonous could a naive flower in a nice greenhouse be? That would be really scary.”

Rosemond turned silently towards her palace without hiding her cold eyes. With this feeling, she just couldn’t laugh with a “hoho and haha” in front of the ladies. And most of all, it was impossible to go back to after being in such a state. She walked back to her Vain Palace, intently wondering how to get revenge against Patrizia.

Meanwhile, at that same time, Lucio was busy with meeting with the envoys. Occasionally, a question popped in his head about whether Patrizia was doing well, but he soon eased his own worries by saying, ‘I am sure she will do well on her own.’

Anyway, it was the influence of the Marquis and the Empress of a country. The Duchess of Efreni would not have been training her poorly, so she must have been doing well.

When the supper ended, and all the envoys returned to the bedrooms they were allotted, Lucio finally found freedom. He finished a brief bath in the Central Palace and went straight to Rosemond. And he faced an unexpected sight that he would never have expected.

“This… What is going on?”

He asked Rosemond in a firm voice. Rosemond, like a woman who had been waiting for that question, ran to Lucio in tears.

“SOB, Your Majesty…”

“I asked what was going on. Did anyone hit you?”

“SOB…”

Naturally, it was Lucio who became frustrated as she released her tears silently. He asked her as if he was urging her, “Tell me, Rose. Who made you like this? Is it the Empress?”

“…”

It seemed correct as she just turned her head silently. Then, the tiredness increased, and a huge anger rose. Lucio could let everything go except for one thing, and that was someone putting a hand on her, it was unbearable.

Because it was the same as putting a hand on him. While holding down his boiling insides, he calmly asked Rosemond, “Why did the Empress smack you? Was there any other reason?”

“…”

Rosemond shut her mouth. No matter what the reason was, Lucio, who cared terribly for her, would find it difficult to forgive her. In this case, it was better to exercise the right to remain silent. Naturally, Lucio felt frustrated as he looked at Rosemond’s closed mouth, and eventually, his words came out.

“You don’t want me to visit the Empress and ask, Rose? Come on tell me.”

“I… I can’t say.

She acted as if she had been subjected to unfair situations. If she just provided a sneak peek like this, then it would be on Lucio, and not her.

When Rosemond looked down with her mouth closed as if she was a young child who lost all life, that image seemed to touch Lucio somewhere. He looked at Rosemond for a moment with a shaken expression and soon began to grasp for the truth.

“Tell me, Rose. You don’t think I would do anything that would affect you negatively.”

“I cannot say…”

Cannot say. If she said this, she would be advertising herself that everything was her own fault. So the answer was to remain silent until the end. Rosemond struggled to look away from him. Eventually, Lucio had one option left for him. He pulled himself away from Rosemond, and Rosemond called him back with a puzzled look.

“Your Majesty…?”

“If you don’t tell me, I have no choice but to find out myself.”

“…”

“Glara, make sure you take good care of your master. The wound is deep.”

“Yes, Your Majesty. Do not worry.”

Glara replied quietly, and Lucio glanced briefly towards Rosemond’s cheek, then turned back. Rosemond left alone with a nervous expression, sighed unconsciously.