CH 24

After the party was over, Ella, with the help of Maylin, removed her corset. Then she enjoyed a feast that the family chef had prepared for her on her bed. Normally, Maylin would have lectured her on her improper behavior, but she didn’t. Instead, she assisted Ella with her feast. 

“Mmmm, I love this. The meat is so delicious. Maylin, can I have some of that chocolate-dipped apple?”

As she enjoyed her food, Ella rolled around her bed. Maylin, who tried to hold back on her lectures, couldn’t hold onto her frustrations anymore. She then began her lecture in a much kinder tone. “My lady, I’m sure you’re not going to eat all this, right? God, please stop rolling around. Where did you learn to eat like that?”

Ella laid on her bed while holding onto a plate filled with sauce and a fork with a large piece of meat. In all of Maylin’s 17 years working for her, she had never seen her move like that.

“Don’t worry. I won’t eat all of this. I still need to look good for tomorrow too. Oh, pass me that cake over there. The red torte.”

“If you eat anymore, you’re going to be bloated tomorrow.”

“Lies. I know my body really well, and I know that won’t happen. This body, here, is a miracle. I can eat everything here, and I won’t have any problems.”

Luciella had a delicate body. Like everyone else, whenever she ate an entire cake due to stress, it was difficult for her to lose weight. Fortunately for Luciella, it was easy for her to maintain her weight. She had the body that any woman would be envious of having. Now, this body belonged to her. “Maylin! Toss me that lemon tart! I need to spice up my appetite with the tarte’s freshness.”

“My lady!”

After finishing her feast, Ella sat at her desk with a feeling of satisfaction. Eating had helped her to relieve some of her stress. Now, it was time to focus on her plan. She had many things to think about before meeting with Cladis tomorrow. It would be great if things were to go according to the novel, but honestly, she didn’t have any faith in the novel anymore. She had a feeling that the prince wouldn’t be there tomorrow even if she looked all over the Glass garden. Although Cladis visits the garden tomorrow in the novel, there wasn’t any guarantee that he was going to do the same this time around.

In the worst-case scenario, he might even go to the Glass garden with Clara. There was a high possibility that they would visit the Glass garden together. What should Ella do if he really comes with Clara? She needed to think about that possibility too. She began doodling on a piece of paper with her feather pen, but she couldn’t think of any solution to her dilemma. Eventually, Maylin returned after cleaning up Ella’s meal.

“It’s already midnight. It’s time for you to sleep, my lady.”

“I still need to decide what to do tomorrow. You can go to sleep first. I’ll go to sleep once I come up with an answer.”

Maylin smiled as she watched Ella concentrate on her doodling with a serious face. Everyone in the house knew how rude the prince was at the party today. There was also a rumor that he was with another woman. She was shocked when she heard all about that. Thinking about how upset her lady might be, Maylin’s heart almost sank. She was trying to figure out how to comfort a disheartened Ella, but she seemed fine as she entered the room. It almost seemed like nothing had happened to her in the first place.

Maylin thought that Ella was pretending that nothing had happened so that she wouldn’t worry anyone. She wanted to comfort her by saying only good words to her but in the end, she couldn’t hold it and nagged at her. Now that she looked at her serious face, it seemed like she didn’t want Maylin to worry about her, thus she felt warm.

“My lady, you’ll make a fine empress. No matter what, you always look after your people. Just make sure you get some sleep tonight. Everything will be sorted out eventually. You can stay up all night thinking about things once you enter the palace. Goodnight, my lady.”

Long after Maylin had left, Ella continued to stare at the door. Maylin’s words had lingered in Ella’s mind. ‘You can stay up all night thinking about things once you enter the palace.’

A few of those words lingered in her mind more than others. Maybe she forgot about something important? Something much more important than the prince or Clara. What did Luciella do after she entered the palace? At that moment, Ella began to remember events from the second half of the novel where Luciella begins living in the palace. As those memories flooded her mind, her face became pale, and she gasped. ‘Why did I forget all of this?’

Luciella’s life at the palace seemed like a happy one in the novel. It was, however, actually difficult to describe Luciella’s ending as a joyful one. Although she was loved and respected as the empress, there were many responsibilities she had to perform. She had to deal with a lot of paperwork every night. Although the amount of paperwork was less than the emperor’s, there was still a lot. In addition, she had to endure many tea times with the wives of various ambassadors every three days. Those tea parties were as fierce as a political debate. Not only that, the empress was in charge of all the operations within the palace. As a princess, she would inherit about half of these responsibilities, and by the time she became empress, she would have to deal with the entire workload.

Luciella endured a lot for Cladis. Ranhee, on the other hand, thought that Luciella was doing too much for him as she read the novel. The crown princess’s workload was too much even when compared to Ranhee’s busiest days. It was going to be even more difficult once she became empress. Now, Ella couldn’t imagine herself enduring all that for Cladis. How was going to handle all of this? Pretty soon, the answer came to her.

“No way. I’m not doing all that. Never.”

She didn’t want to return to a lifestyle where there were only mountain loads of work waiting for her every day. ‘Cladis doesn’t even love me!’ she thought. The road to the palace was like the road to hell. She had to escape. But how? Ella, who could only think about running away, stopped all of a sudden. A bright smile appeared on her face.