Chapter 153 - I am Saying, do as Much as You Want

It was the Duke of Ephreni and his daughter, Rosemond. She felt a headache coming as she greeted the two of them, and forcefully smiled, “It has been a long time since I have seen you both.”

“Ah… Your Empress Majesty was also here.”

“I greet the Moon of the Empire. Many blessings to the Marvinus Empire.”

Rosemond, the Marchioness of Ethyller, greeted Patrizia, displaying perfect courtesy. This was probably because the Emperor was in front of her. If he had not been there, she might not have even said a greeting.

Patrizia returned a cynical laugh and asked Duke Efreni, “I had heard that Duchess Efreni still could not return.”

At the end of her words, the Duke of Efreni’s expression looked a bit down. “Yes, Your Majesty. My son’s illness is very serious, and his life is in danger…”

“Oh no. Hopefully he will have a swift recovery. Do you not agree, Marchioness?”

“I am very concerned about my brother as well. If I was not connected to the Imperial Palace, I would head over there right away…”

While watching Rosemond’s despicable acting, Patrizia just quietly pulled the corners of her mouth into a smile.

The Duke of Efreni said to Lucio, “Your Majesty, I have something I need to tell you at this moment.”

“Is it something urgent?”

“It is regarding state affairs, Your Majesty. It is in relation to the budgeting of the relief project for the poor.”

“Haa…” He openly sighed, and then spoke playfully, “On a day such as this, I would think that I would be able to spend the day with the Empress.”

Lucio smiled coldly; their intentions were clearly obvious, and his response made the Duke of Efreni flinch. He looked at Patrizia, but Patrizia did her best to avoid his gaze.

Lucio stared for a while at Patrizia, who had her gaze turned away, until he spoke in a dry voice a moment later. “Let us go. The Empress must heed the words I had said earlier.”

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When Lucio and the Duke of Efreni left, only Rosemond and Patrizia were left. Patrizia tried to leave with a tired expression on her face, but Rosemond called out to her, “Your Empress Majesty, you ignore me so. I am about to become a bit sad.”

“Your exaggeration is severe. I am not feeling well, so I was just trying to excuse myself to get some rest for a while. Then and now, there seems to be a big gap in your logic.”

“I do not know about that. Would that not be up to Your Majesty’s conscience?”

“…You had better refrain from speaking. I have always thought this, but you are too flippant with your frivolousness.”

“I apologize if I have crossed the line.”

Rosemond gave her a smile, contradicting her words, and spoke to Patrizia again, “What are the birthday flowers that you plan to give to His Majesty today, if may I ask?”

“Why are you curious about that?”

“I tend to have a lot of curiosity.”

“…Pandora was ruined by that curiosity.” Patrizia warned her with a low voice.

Rosemond made a fuss as she replied, “Oh my, really, Your Majesty? You are comparing me to a woman such as that, just because of some flowers.”

“It is not different. Pandora ended in tragedy because she was ‘just’ wondering what was inside the box.”

“If you do not want to let me know, you can just say you do not want to.”

“If only you knew the secret, it would not be fair.”

“I am His Majesty’s concubine, so I would think that I have that much of a right.” With that said, Rosemond changed the topic, as she laughed in a more evil way this time. “Right, Your Majesty. Do you know about that?”

“What are you talking about?”

“Alyssa, the dethroned Empress.”

“…”

Patrizia glared at Rosemond. Few people really knew what had happened to the dethroned Alyssa. At that time, the cause of Alyssa’s dethronement was claimed to be due to the sin of overindulgence, rather than her disposal of the filial relationship. Of course, the father of the Empress, the Duke of Oswin, knew the truth, and thankfully accepted something so unreasonable over the truth.

Patrizia growled in a low voice that was enough to raise goosebumps. “Do you dare to bring up His Majesty’s disgrace?”

“As expected.” Rosemond’s face also changed to a cold expression. “You know about that. I expected it.”

“It is obvious why you expected that,” Patrizia whispered low into Rosemond’s ear. “You thought I took advantage of that to take away your favor from His Majesty? You also would have thought that this was the reason His Majesty’s favor moved from you, to me.”

“Oh dear.” Rosemond let out an exclamation full of regret. “You know everything, Your Majesty. Is this not why I am afraid of Your Majesty?”

“You are good at lying; you are not afraid of anyone but yourself.”

“How could I not be afraid, since you can see through everything, including something like this.” Rosemond said with an evil smile on her face. “So then, you know this as well, Your Majesty.”

“…”

“If a woman similar to Your Majesty appears someday, Your Majesty will end up following the same path as me.”

“You seem to think that I am afraid of that,” Patrizia shook her head, an amused expression on her face. “Unfortunately, you are wrong about that. I do not love His Majesty.”

Although His Majesty seemed to love her. At Patrizia’s words, Rosemond’s fingertips trembled. After seeing that, Patrizia gave her an even more amused expression. “You seem to be feeling some jealousy.”

“That could not be.”

“Why could you not? I understand. Ever since the Founding Day celebration, apparently you have served His Majesty… not even once.”