Chapter 75 - IT HAD ORIGINALLY BEEN MY POSITION

“…”

Petronilla was frightened by the words of the street vendor. She had a flustered expression on her face as she looked at the old woman who was wearing a black robe. The old woman had grown her white hair out to reach her chest, and for some unknown reason looked quite bizarre because she was wearing a black robe. Petronilla stuttered as she asked her a question.

“That… What does that mean…”

“…”

“Is not anyone afraid of a future that has not come? Street vendor, you seem to be implying that this is not the case.”

“You are right, my Lady. But you know…”

The old woman laughed, revealing that only a few of her teeth were left.

“Not everyone would let a good opportunity pass by without even trying to grab a hold of it, my Lady. Even if one was to be afraid of the future that was yet to come.”

“…”

When Petronilla went pale while looking like a person who had her mind pierced through for her thoughts to be read, Rothesay looked over her face to make sure she was okay, but Petronilla just nodded her head once to show that she was alright. The old woman’s words did not end there.

“Are you afraid, my Lady? Afraid that the situation will repeat itself, I mean.”

“How do you know that?”

“It’s just a shallow gimmick to trick the eye.”

The old woman confused Petronilla with words she could not comprehend, and spoke on with a bright smile.

“It seems my Lady has taken a liking to that crystal ball. Take it.”

“The price…”

“The price is not necessary.”

In response to Rothesay’s words, the old woman firmly turned him down. Then she smiled and added on.

“This bachelor is the price.”

“… Pardon?”

At those words, even Rothesay couldn’t help but feel taken aback. The old woman’s words continued.

“Now, my Lady. Carpe diem. Enjoy the present.”

“…”

“Everything has been going wrong since the beginning anyways. Is it not?”

“Who in the world are you…”

Petronilla muttered like someone who had been deprived of their soul by a ghost, and Rothesay urged Petronilla to leave after he caught on that something strange was going on.

“My Lady, it would be better to go now.

“Ah… Wait a moment please.”

Petronilla asked with a trembling voice.

“Who are you? A God? If not that then…”

“God… That word is too much for a humble servant of God.”

The old woman stretched out the crystal ball that resembled the night sky to Petronilla, with an unknown smile. She accepted it without realizing she had, and the old woman advised her in a gentle voice.

“Now, my Lady. If you even have any worries, look into that crystal ball.”

“…”

“You never know? The answer may come out from it.”

Petronilla continued to stand there with a confused expression on her face, and was taken out of the store by Rothesay, who had decided that there was something dangerous happening. The old woman continued to chuckle and laughed even after the disappearance of the two people, and soon began to wipe away the other dusty crystals with an expressionless face.

Meanwhile, Rosemond stared at the white rose from the Empress Palace with a shocked look on her face. She looked at Mirya with an expression as if she was asking what kind of scheme was this about now, and Mirya also did not look too pleased at the situation. If so, it meant that the Empress was acting alone… As she thought this, it was even more ridiculous. She guessed that she had gone crazy after she found out that she was infertile.

“The Empress sent it?”

“Yes,Marchioness.”

“Huh.”

She shook her head back and forth, and spoke in a voice lacking sincerity.

“Pass on to her that I said thank you. And ask her if she is not feeling well in any way.”

“…”

Mirya quit before trying to answer that she had already asked that question. She then left the Vain Palace straight away with a dissatisfied face, and even Glara did not have a bright face. She seemed to be at a complete loss in trying to figure out what this situation was about. Rosemond asked her.

“What could this be about? Feint attack, well something like that?”

“… From that Empress who is so proud?”

“And there is nothing she could really come up with.”

She cocked her head while muttering to herself.

“That is the way it is, Glara. The Empress is infertile. It is a barren body that cannot bear children. Her background is not as great and powerful as the deposed Empress Alyssa, so if I can just produce an heir to be the Crowned Prince, it would be difficult for her to even preserve that position…”

Hmm… Rosemond contemplated on this for a while, and reasoned with herself before coming up with a possible answer.

“Is it indeed flattery then?”

“Nothing else can explain this otherwise, Marchioness.”

“Ha.”

Rosemond exhaled a breath out.

“She pretended to be so noble and yet, the Empress is no better that anyone else.”

“That is correct since she is just a barren woman. What else could she do?”

“But you never know, so be sure that you do not bring down your guard. Are you making sure to be good with the surveillance around the Empress Palace?”

“Yes, Marchioness. There is no need to worry.”

Only then did Rosemond make an expression of relief, and she smiled.

“Yes, this is how it was supposed to me.”

“…”

“It had originally been my position, since the beginning.”

She thought that now everything was going back into their places. The Empress’ position belonged to her, and the Dowager Empress’ position was even more hers. She would surely become the most precious woman in the Empire. No matter what anyone said, she would surely.

“I think that old street vendor was a bit weird. Do you not think so?”

Rothesay said this with a skeptical look, but Petronilla replied to him with an unaffected expression on her face.

“It is alright, Sir.”

“Mmm…”

Rothesay thought about something with a seemingly unfamiliar expression, and soon spoke in a voice that was full of regret.

“As expected…”

“…?”

“There must be a lot more that I do not know about my Lady as of yet.”

“…”

“My Lady.”

Rothesay made a warm smile as he locked eyes with her. Petronilla did not avoid his eyes for the first time. He asked her.

“Can I learn more about my Lady, by staying by my Lady’s side?”

“…”

PLIP, PLOP. It was then that raindrops began to fall from what was once a sunny sky. Before he could hear her answer, Rothesay placed the jacket over Petronila’s head as he hurriedly spoke to her.

“You should be a little bit avoided.”

“… ”

“Let us go over there to that store, my Lady.”

“Petronilla.”

Petronilla quietly brought up her name. While still holding the jacket over her head, Rothesay made a puzzled expression on his face.

“My Lady, we can have this conversation later…”

“Call me Petronilla, Rothesay.”

“… Petronilla.”

The two faced each other as if they had completely forgotten about the fact that it was currently raining. The people surrounding them were losing their minds trying to avoid the sudden shower of rain, and it seemed ridiculous to them to see these two people standing silently. Of course, the situation was serious to the max for the interested party.

“I… ”

Petronilla slowly opened her mouth.

“I have a lot of fears.”

“What does that mean.”

“I mean I am very afraid to fall in love.”

Petronila spoke with a trembling voice.

“I do not believe in destiny. I believed in destiny once, and I was burned greatly for it. I thought a certain person was my soulmate through our destiny, but that was not the case.”

Petronilla laughed bitterly. Rothesay listened to her in a serious manner despite being hit by the rain.

“I pledged to myself that I would never do something such as love again. I thought something like that simply did not suit me. That I was incapable of love in the first place, and that was really my destiny. Because of the illusion of such a destined fate, it would only damage others.”

“…”

“So I decided I would not love until I died. I would never get married even if I had to throw away love.”

“… Petronilla.”

“I can be clumsy and inexperienced. I may not be that much fun and not have any charm.”

Petronilla looked up with sorrowful eyes at Rothesay, who was already wet with rain, and asked him.

“If that is all still acceptable… If someone like me is still acceptable…”

“…”

“I want to meet with you, Sir.”

“…”

Petronilla appeared to tremble as she awaited Rothesay’s reply. Rothesay could not say anything for a while, and after a long time had passed, he called out to her with a much more trembling voice than the one Petronilla had used.

“Petronilla.”

“… Yes.”

“I said this last time at the Founding Day celebration, and said it earlier as well.”

“…”

He came close to Petronilla. She made a frown on her face without her knowledge. Rothesay carefully loosened the creasing on her face, and tenderly spoke to her.

“Petronilla.”

“… Yes.”

“I love you.”

“…”

“A lot at that.”

“…”

“You are a wonderful woman who can be truly loved and be able to love. Not just myself, but anyone else would not be able to stop from doing so.”

“… However.”

“Shh. That is why you need to stop criticizing yourself, Petronilla. Because that is an action where you are undermining yourself.”

“… Thank you.”

Petronilla’s face was full of emotion, and gave into Rothesay’s embrace who was a head taller than herself. Rothesay seemed surprised at first, but soon calmly hugged Petronilla who was already in his arms. Petronilla shed tears quietly, and held onto his collar tightly.

The shower of rain was still falling without planning to stop.

“How was it?”

Mirya’s expression showed how difficult Patrizia’s question was. How was it? Well. Did Her Majesty need the words to be spoken to be able to know? Nevertheless, she still replied faithfully.

“… It was not a good response. She seemed taken aback.”

“She must have.”

She nodded her head as if she understood.

“If she had not been taken aback, I would have been flustered instead.”

“Your Majesty, I am sorry but…”

Mirya opened her mouth with a frustrated expression on her face.

“I am very lacking, in that I cannot grasp Your Majesty’s intention at all.”

“There is nothing special, well.”

She smiled softly and spoke in a way that was hard to discern whether she was talking to herself or explaining to Mirya.

“Only… It is just important that I appear to act in the way she would want.”

“… Yes?”

“It is a secret beyond that. Maybe forever, no one will be able to know, or one day it will all be revealed.”

“What the world do you mean…”

“The important thing is that I know what I am doing, and even if someone knows there will be a hole to escape through, is my meaning.”

Patrizia remained consistently ambiguous to the end, and Mirya instinctively realized that she did not want to tell this story further. A faithful servant had to properly grasp the will of the person that was being served and act accordingly to that. Eventually, Mirya chose to shut her mouth.

“It is raining.”

Patrizia murmured, looking at the rain that was getting heavier outside of the window.

“I am worried that it might ruin Nilla’s date.”

“Originally, lovers need to have proper adversity to overcome, and be able to develop further.”

Mirya smiled brightly and said to her.

“You do not have to worry too much. The Lady is wise and beautiful.”

“… Right. That is true.”

‘I was worried for no reason. When I am in a situation where I cannot even take care of myself.’ After Patrizia muttered to herself in a bitter manner, she asked Mirya in a soft voice for a deeply brewed lavender tea.

“ACHOO!”

Petronilla sneezed loudly after she had changed into dry clothes. Because she had been drenched by the heavy rain, Rothesay had sent her back to the Marquis estate when she kept insisting she was fine, saying that he was very concerned about her health. Nevertheless, the results were not very good. The maid scolded her.

“My Lady, really. A date is good, but you have to do that while thinking about your body.”

“That… there was a bit of a problem.”

“What if you end up catching a cold?”

The maid muttered in an upset voice, and Petronilla just smiled sheepishly. The confession in the rain had brought a cold to her, but as a result she had also been granted a shot at a new beginning of love, so it was not too much of a loss in terms of profit gained. Petronilla quietly asked a question to the maid who was cleaning the crystal ball that she had brought from the stall earlier.

“What if I catch a cold?”

“I would not know, my Lady. It would mean it was just desserts.”

The maid still seemed disappointed that she seemed to have caught a cold.

“What is this crystal ball on top of that? Have you been learning astrology without my knowledge?”

“Well… no. It is not for that kind of use.”

“Then for what?”

“It is just…”

Petronilla replied soon after she had pondered for the right answer.

“It is a means of problem solving. I was told that if I have a lot of thoughts, raising my hand over the crystal ball would help me.”

“… What kind of words, that are straight out of a pseudo religion, is that?”

“You do not have to worry about it because I am not possessed.”

Petronilla, who had a smile on her face, immediately asked the maid for a request.

“Could you ask something for me from the Count of Bradington’s estate? Since I seem to have caught a cold, I am unsure whether Sir Rothesay might have caught a cold as well.”

“I will find out and return, my Lady. Do not worry and get some rest.”

“Alright. I will do so.”

After saying that, the maid left the room only after she covered Petronilla, who was lying on her bed, with a blanket all the way up to her neck. Petronilla, who calmly closed her eyes, fell asleep while recalling what had happened in the rain.