Chapter 168

Rosemond felt someone’s presence, and stopped talking. On that one day, when she had been deprived of her title as Baroness, her distrust towards people had grown, 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. 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 cannot leak out, at all costs!”

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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 their 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, her husband, Marquis Grochester, presented a high-quality dress from a designer who 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 warm up for the first time in a long while. How long had it been since she had felt such a wonderful feeling as this. She could not recall, so she felt a bit strange.

The Marchioness of Grochester noticed this change in Patrizia, 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.”

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 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 they remained, the Marchioness of Grochester opened her mouth first.

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

“I do as well, Mother,” Patrizia replied to her, 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 a 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 replied warmly. “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 commented, 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 that a good relationship?”

“Well.” The Marchioness of Grochester told her daughter, “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 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 that question, her face turned red.

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Translated by Haeli

Edited by RED