Chapter 86 - CHAPTER 84. HAVE YOU EVER SERVED HIS MAJESTY?

He was simply not visiting the Empress Palace, but he was still a father who knew the news of the Imperial Palace very well. She asked him.

“How did you know about that?”

“Just because someone chooses to lead a quiet life, does not mean that person lives by covering up their ears, Lizzy.”

The Marquis of Grochester laughed out loud in a low voice.

“And I have also heard that His Majesty is showing interest toward you these days.”

“… Did you plant a spy in the palace or something?”

As if it was something amazing, Patrizia chuckled as she asked, and the Marquis of Grochester just shrugged his shoulders.

“Everyone can know that much. It is not some incredible knowledge. Rather, that means this was not just a rumor that I heard then?”

“It is just a passing interest, Father. Even if his favor stays with me, I would not know when that favor would leave, like it did with the Marchioness of Ethyller for example?”

“That is the wise attitude, Lizzy. Originally, monarchs are all people like that.”

At the end of the Marquis of Grochester’s words, Patrizia just laughed. She made a facial expression as if she was thinking about something, then opened her mouth after a long time had passed.

“But maybe this fight may very well end soon.”

“Why, did the Marchioness get some kind of incurable illness or something?”

‘Then how good would that be?’ Patrizia muttered this to herself, knowing that this was an outcome that was difficult to occur, and answered her father.

“It is not that. I just have procured something that can grab her by the nape of the neck.”

“You are certainly competent.”

“It is all thanks to Nilla.”

“It is something to be happy about.”

The Marquis of Grochester seemed really happy with her words. Originally, the affection between the two sisters was truly a delight for parents, so this was not unusual. Patrizia spoke further.

“I will have to make sure that no harm will come to our family.”

“But if you are willing to take the damage in our stead, then I want to tell you Lizzy, that there is no need for that.”

“… Yes. Of course.”

Patrizia smiled complacently, and asked the Marquis of Grochester.

“How has our family been these days?”

“You know Nilla better… There really is not much that happened to us, my child.”

No news was good news they said. He said these words and laughed like a silly person. Father was still the same person. Patrizia followed suit, and laughed with him

“That is truly a relief.”

“That is the only way you will not worry. If we can not be of help to someone in charge of having to accomplish big things, the least we can do is to not bother you in any way?”

The Marquis of Grochester said these words, and then hesitantly asked.

“More than that, do you have absolutely no feelings for His Majesty- at all?”

“…”

Patrizia did not say anything, and she soon answered nonchalantly.

“I am not sure. If hate, compassion, and sympathy, can be considered feelings.”

“What is the compassion and sympathy you feel?”

“… Father, do you know about His Majesty’s ‘dirty laundry’?”

“What are you talking about?”

“He has a shameful secret.”

Patrizia said this quietly.

“And I sympathize with that. But that can never turn into love.”

“So it is like that.”

“Father, you seem to want me to have feelings for him. Is that not true?”

“That is your freedom. But from the parental point of view, if His Majesty did not love you, I would hope that you also did not give him your heart. But if that is not the case, then I would want you to create a happy and harmonious family as you live on.”

“If that is that filial piety is, I do not think I can do that, at least for the time being.”

This was due to the existence of Marchioness Ethyller. Patrizia sighed to herself internally.

“Fortunately, I do not think it is too bad right now. I have an older sister, and my family that I can sometimes see like this…”

“Yes, then that is enough.”

With a warm smile, the Marquis of Grochester nodded his head.

“Because happiness does not necessarily have only one kind of breed.”

“Yes.”

Patrizia laughed.

“More than that, Father, have you prepared a gift for Mother’s birthday?”

“Have you prepared something?”

“Absolutely. Surely… you did not forget?”

“I would not be such garbage as that. Put your worries aside.”

The Marquis of Grochester laughed graciously, and said to her.

“Let us try unwrapping the birthday gifts during dinner time. I wonder what you prepared for her birthday as well.”

“It is nothing special.”

When Patrizia blushed, the Marquis of Grochester looked at her with eyes overflowing with love. Fortunately, even after his daughter had entered the Imperial Palace, she did not seem to have changed much. He said to Patrizia in an affection-filled voice.

“Now, let us go back to the rest of our family.”

“This time, there should be no mistakes.”

When Rosemond said this to Glara with a sharp voice, Glara responded with a low voice as if she was telling Rosemond not to be worried.

“Do not worry, Marchioness. It will be for certain this time.”

“Now I have to finish everything. If I delay this any more, the damage on my end will only get worse.”

Her age had reached twenty-seven this year. It was not that good of timing to be having a child. She had to produce a prince before she reached thirty years of age, at all costs, and had to make that prince into the Crown Prince and make a seat for herself as his mother. This was all she currently wanted at present.

“And you have clearly told them to clean up everything well afterwards?”

“Madam January is not a fool, Marchioness. Do not worry.”

“Yes, that is right. She is a pretty smart person.”

Rosemond spoke again, after muttering to herself with a thoughtful expression on her face.

“If the Empress dies, the arrow of doubt will be aimed towards me. But well, what of it? Who could corner me as the culprit unless there was some kind of clear evidence?”

“If only January’s mouth remains closed, everything will unfold as desired by the Marchioness.”

“January cannot betray me. If I fall, that would mean that the Duke of Efreni will also reach his end, so where would January go then?”

Rosemond chuckled to herself, and downed all of the remaining green tea in the cup, that had been placed on the table, into her mouth. She felt the heat permeate through her throat, but even that seemed to be overshadowed by the thoughts expecting her upcoming victory. Rosemond spoke in a voice full of joy.

“Oh right, and to the Duke of Efreni…”

RUSTLE.

At that time, Rosemond felt someone’s presence, and she stopped talking. On that one day, when she had been deprived of her title as Baroness, her distrust towards people grew even more, and even after becoming a Marchioness, she only had a few maids remain in the Vain Palace. Not only that, there was no reason to feel any other presence in the room where she was now, because the rest of the maids had been sent away so that she could address this important topic. A chill went down Rosemond’s spine.

“Glara, go and check it out.”

“Yes, Marchioness.”

As Glara caught on to the seriousness of the situation, she quickly ran to the doorway and opened the door. But there was nobody outside. At this, Glara spoke in a flustered manner.

“Marchioness, there is nobody here.”

“Of course whoever it was would have run away by now.”

Rosemond gave an order as she ground down her teeth.

“Find whoever it was now. This can never leak out at all costs!”

Meanwhile, Patrizia had a really good time reuniting with her family. After dinner, Patrizia and the rest of the family members celebrated the birthday of Marchioness Grochester, presenting the prepared gifts to commemorate the special occasion.

Patrizia presented a tea coaster she had made herself, Petronilla had prepared a tea set that had been brought over from an Eastern empire, and finally, the husband, Marquis Grochester, presented a high-quality dress from a designer that was rising in popularity for his one and only wife. The Marchioness of Grochester appeared to be very impressed by her family’s sincerity.

“Oh my goodness, I did not know you could all make me feel so touched like this.”

“Happy birthday, honey.”

“Mother, congratulations on your birthday.”

“Thank you everyone.”

As the Marchioness of Grochester rejoiced with a soft smile, Patrizia felt her heart become warm for the first time in a long while. How long had it been since she had felt such a pretty feeling as this. Even her memory could not recall, so she felt a bit strange. The Marchioness of Grochester noticed this change in Patrizia’s emotion, and asked her.

“Lizzy, when will you be going back to the Imperial Palace?”

“I am going to head back before midnight.”

“Rafaella must be suffering from this.”

“Oh my, I am alright, Marchioness.”

After smiling slightly at Rafaella’s cheerful reply, the Marchioness of Grochester soon looked around at the rest of her family, and asked to be excused.

“I would like to have a talk with my second daughter, just the two of us, is everyone alright with that?”

“Of course, Mother. If not now, you never know when the opportunity will come again.”

“Because I also had a talk with her earlier, you should definitely do that as well, honey.”

“Thank you everyone.”

When everyone gave their consent, the Marchioness of Grochester asked Patrizia with a warm smile on her face.

“Your Majesty the Empress, would you like to have a chat with your mother?”

“I would like that, Mother.”

Patrizia also gave a small smile as she stood up from her seat. The two soon moved over to Marchioness Grochester’s room. A maid brought warm chamomile milk tea and butter cookies for the two of them. When the door was closed, and finally only the two people remained, the Marchioness of Grochester opened her mouth first to express how bad she felt.

“I think that it is such a shame that I must separate with you so soon, Lizzy.”

“I do as well, Mother.”

Patrizia spoke to her with a bitter look on her face.

“Even after I became the Empress, I thought that I would still be able to visit my home often, but it was harder than I had expected.”

“I just said those words, my child. It would not appear like a good thing for the Empress to visit her old home often.”

The Marchioness of Grochester continued to speak affectionately, saying words to comfort her daughter.

“I wonder what you talked about with your father.”

“It was not much.”

Patrizia grinned and shrugged her shoulders.

“Just how I had lived, and how I had been… It was trivial things like that.”

“Oh, my child. That is not true. To say that is trivial. From the parents’ point of view, nothing is as important as how their child is doing.”

“Is that so?”

But it was a pity that the content itself was not very bright. Patrizia spoke further to her mother.

“In fact, there is something that I wanted to hide. As you know, my situation is far from any objective kind of happiness.”

“Happiness is originally subjective,my child. Whatever others may say, if you are the one that is happy, is that not enough?”

The Marchioness of Grochester said in a warm voice.

“There are many good people around you. Of course, some people that are not as well.”

“Thanks to a few good people, I am enduring life in the Imperial Palace.”

“That is a relief.”

The Marchioness of Grochester said this, and after a while, asked in a quiet voice.

“With His Majesty the Emperor… How is your relationship?”

“Mmm…”

Patrizia, who was in deep thought for a moment, spoke honestly.

“There is hatred, and there is compassion.”

“…”

“It is a sympathizing relationship.”

“So it is like that.”

“Is it a good relationship?”

“Well.”

The Marchioness of Grochester told her daughter that she was unsure.

“To see this as a relationship between a normal couple would be too unusual. As I have said before, the most important thing in terms of good and bad, is your own take on it.”

“…”

“Do you like the relationship?”

“To be honest, I am not really sure.”

Patrizia shrugged her shoulders once again. The Marchioness of Grochester did not say anything for a moment, because she already knew that it was a habit that her daughter often exhibited when she wanted to evade a situation.

Patrizia said to her.

“I do not hate it fully, but it would be tiring and difficult if I had to spend a lifetime in this kind of relationship.”

“You mean it is unstable.”

“Yes, I believe so.”

“Stable relationships are not always necessarily good. Stability will soon cause burnout, like ‘the seven year itch,’ and so forth.”

“The situation is just raging around wildly, so, I am not sure. It is to the point that right now, I would rather feel ‘the seven year itch,’ that burnout.”

“Have you ever served His Majesty?”

“…”

When Patrizia was suddenly asked this question, her face turned red.