Chapter 20 - CHAPTER 18. AN UNEXPECTED MEETING

Patrizia felt like her body was beyond heavy, once she returned after finishing the meeting. It was probably because she remained tense, preparing hard for her work today, but was still nervous about the possibility of unknown variables. In addition, it was also because she had to worry about stopping Rosemond’s tactics.

Anyways, as a result, the terrible things she had expected didn’t happen, and her hospitality had ended brilliantly.

But it was definitely too close for comfort. No matter if she had been reborn, it had not been herself who was the Empress, but her sister, Petronilla. So, information available to Patrizia was limited, and she had no choice but to not know what would happen in the future.

So the fact that she had returned to the past was not so much as an advantage for her, but a catalyst would play a role in being a little more careful in the future.

But it was an undeniable advantage that she had a new opportunity to change the future and that she would be more cautious about things related to Rosemond.

Anyways, today’s work would have led to a big catastrophe if she didn’t pay attention to the dynamics of Rosemond. She sighed tiredly, thinking that she should focus all her nerves on the movement of the Vain Palace. Rafaella approached her then and talked to her.

“You look tired, My Empress.”

“Yep. I’m tired, Sir Rafaella. I completed a big job today.”

“Right. It would have been a big deal of trouble because of that nasty mistress.”

Even as she thought about it now, she inevitably gound her teeth at her hatefulness.

“Oh my world, how could she think about doing something like that? There should be a limit to so much recklessness. In the end, a war could have happened. Thinking about changing into pork steaks for noblewomen from a country where pork is taboo, is she sane? Plus, if Lady Phelps’s tactics had become reality, it’s not only you who would have been harmed. His Majesty also would have suffered damage.”

“I know. That’s why I had blocked it. Anyways… Looking at the result, nothing has happened now.”

“How easygoing.”

Rafaella clicked her tongue and then sat down calmly next to Patrizia. She then asked her in a soft voice, “Your Majesty, are you really not going to tell His Majesty anything? You could take away the Baroness’ title with this.”

“There isn’t anything that would change if news of this went into His Majesty’s ear. He would never publicize this matter unless His Majesty was an insane person. Before saving Lady Phelps, he would need to save this country. He wouldn’t show recklessness by trying to cause trouble.”

“Ha. That is true.”

Rafaella sighed as if she was frustrated, and in fact, Patrizia was also frustrated. It was certainly a good opportunity, but the subject was too sensitive to publicize it.

There was no choice but to cover it. Anyway, after giving Rosemond enough warnings, it would become quiet at least for the time being.

“Your Majesty, His Majesty, has visited.”

At the time the voice of Mirya was heard, both Patrizia and Rafaella were both surprised. He wouldn’t have heard all of their words, right? As they were waiting nervously, Lucio appeared through the open door. Rafaella stood up tactfully and then greeted him, “The humble sword greets Your Majesty. Glory to the Sun.”

Then she left the spot without looking back. It was the polite thing to do for her to leave now. And in fact, she was not confident that she would not say some rude words to the Emperor.

Well, she would rather get out of the way than put out some words that would bring misfortune to Her Majesty.

Rafaella moved to the room where she was staying, thinking to herself that she should have some rest.

Eventually, only the two people were left in the room, and Patrizia’s heart pounded strangely in the case that he had heard the conversation between her and Rafaella.

Of course, she had done nothing wrong, so there would not be a problem with him asking her about it, but nevertheless, she felt like she had said something she shouldn’t have. It was a strange situation.

“I greet the Sun of this precious empire. Glory to the Father.”

Immediately after she greeted him, she asked for the purpose of the visit.

“What is the reason for this visit? You must be exhausted from the meeting with the envoys.”

“…”

Lucio said nothing about what he was thinking, and Patrizia suddenly recalled her interaction with Rosemond. Surely he hadn’t come to blame her for that.

If so, she was planning to utter all the details of her work without delay. She had no intention of protecting Rosemond if it meant she was to be harmed.

“… I just came to ask if you had a good meeting with the envoys’ wives today.”

Fortunately, it wasn’t what she had expected. She sighed in relief without realizing and then gave him the answer he wanted to hear.

“It ended well.”

Of course, something big could have happened, but… she quit trying to add it on. She thought that this would just make the story longer. She wanted him to return quickly so she could take a bath.

“Is that so?”

She noticed that when he finished saying that, he felt awkward, and she had to worry about whether she had to excuse him to leave first. Fortunately, however, the worries were meaningless, and he told her what she wanted to hear.

“Then, you must be tired today. Take a rest.”

“Yes, Your Majesty. Your Majesty should also rest comfortably.”

She bowed politely, and the Emperor stared at her blatantly, then soon turned back and left silently.

What, he had come here just to say those words? It wasn’t even a short distance from the Central Palace to the Empress’ Palace? She was shocked and at a loss for words, but since he had left quickly, the amount of time she had to rest had increased.

Patrizia thought that it was simply a relief as she carefully pulled the tiara off from the center of her head.

“Darn it.”

Lucio, who was walking towards the Central Palace, cursed without realizing. Obviously, he had planned to go and pick on her. Why did she hit Rosemond? If she had done something wrong, she could have just said it in words. Why did she have to raise a hand at her?

However, Lucio was taken aback by the unexpected truth he had encountered.

“If that is the case…”

He muttered this with a serious expression. If by any chance, Rosemond’s plans had been successful, it would not have been difficult to abandon the Empress as she had intended.

But the problem was the next part. The fact that Rosemond’s plot of intrigue could spread like fire to himself and even to this empire. It was a sensitive issue that could lead to the end of the alliance and then to war.

And that was really bad. As it was, the Ekman Empire was constantly trying to contact the Christa Empire, and so no amount of friction could be allowed.

In addition to listening to Patrizia’s words, it seemed she had caught wind of Rosemond’s plans in advance and stopped her… If so, it wasn’t understood that the angry Patrizia had violently touched Rosemond.

For the first time in his life, he was confused about this situation, as it related to Rosemond. Since the first time he had met her, he had never felt confused about anything related to her.

Because he had always considered her to be like himself, he gave her whatever she had wanted, and did not want to do anything she hated him doing.

This was certainly the case… But this time, it was a little, no, a lot too far. He walked into his room with a complex look on his face. Originally, he had planned to go from the Empress’ Palace and directly straight to the Vain Palace, but strangely, he didn’t want to see Rosemond right now.

His head hurt in confusion. He prepared to go to bed, thinking that at least today, he should go to bed as early as possible.

On the other hand, Patrizia also had a complicated mind. She had talked to Rafaella with the world’s most calm voice, but in fact, this had all been a tremendous shock for Patrizia. Of course, she would have had to give up the position of Empress, and it was a felony that could end up ruining her whole family. If things had gone wrong, they might have reached the same end as they had in the past, with no point in her being reborn.

As she thought that her body trembled. For Patrizia who was still young, this was such a shock.

“Let’s be more careful and sharp in the future.”

As she promised herself while muttering, Patrizia sighed and swept away from her long turquoise hair. The obscured black eyes were then revealed, and the light reflected and glistened on it. She thought that it would be better to go to bed as soon as possible to stabilize her mind and body, and covered herself with the blankets after laying down.

However, no matter how much time passed Patrizia couldn’t sleep, and had kept shifting her body for a couple of hours, until she couldn’t stand it any longer and sat up quickly. Obviously her body was exhausted, but she couldn’t sleep. Her mind was just too awake.

Patrizia thought that she would rather go for a walk, so she got up from the bed and wore a not too thin shawl. When she came out, Mirya, who was waiting in front of the door, gave a startled look and asked Patrizia, “Your Majesty? Where are you trying to go at this late night…?”

“I can’t sleep. I was hoping to go for a walk.”

“Then where would you like to go?”

“No, I will go alone.”

She politely refused and then left the palace alone. She wanted to be alone. At least, tonight. It would be fine since there was a dagger hidden in her arms. At least she could protect her body.

Patrizia went to the place she had not visited once since becoming an Empress. Perhaps the last time she had gone was when she had participated in the second part of the Queeness competition.

Since then, she has become an empress and had not visited even though she had been living in the Imperial Palace. No, it was more accurate to say she couldn’t. Since that day, she had been really busy and could barely open her eyes wide. And since this was the time she should be going to sleep, this was the only opportunity to be heading over there.

It was dark everywhere, but because it was the night of the full moon, the lakeshore was bright with the moon floating on it. Patrizia, who was enjoying the moonlight falling above the water, shed tears without knowing it. When the warm tears flowed down her cheeks, Patrizia realized that she was crying, and wiped her tears off with her sleeve.

“Ah… must be crazy.”

Why was she crying? Today, she had clearly held a very good, official event as the Empress, and even successfully blocked Rosemond’s plot.

But soon Patrizia realized that was the problem. She surely warned Rosemond that this would be the last time and that she should never try to do it again. But would Rosemond listen to her? No, she would one day involve herself with intrigue again and again.

If that was the case, how long would she be able to block and survive the schemes? Perhaps until she died, until the Emperor died, would she have to live in such a confrontation with Rosemond all of the time? At such a dark future, Patrizia eventually began to cry.

To be honest, she wasn’t confident. She wasn’t like Rosemond who had the Emperor’s favor, and her head wasn’t particularly good.

However, Rosemond was now the Emperor’s chief mistress, and since she started from the bottom, she was much better adept at controlling the situation than herself, the daughter of a Marquis.

So that was why she was scared. The possibility that she would not be able to change the future. She was afraid to be dethroned like her sister, and go on a guillotine with the rest of her family. She was the type not to take caution and not make terrible assumptions, but Patrizia’s heart had weakened today, whether it was because it was nighttime, or she had confronted her first big event.

“Why are you crying?”

Suddenly, Patrizia’s body naturally hardened, reacting to the voice of the man behind it.