CH 28

28. Nobility (1)

“I apologize, Her Majesty. To think that the two of you were delayed because of me… Ah, I really didn’t expect this…”

Yvette turned pale at the sight of the still unopened silverware. It seemed that he would either fall down or fall down while weeping. But a bigger problem than Yvette’s being late for dinner was Yvette’s appearance now.

“What the hell happened?”

Lasilia asked with a hard face. Yvette’s clothes were dirty with soot everywhere. It was even more pity that there were traces of washing to try to wipe off the soot.

“That’s it, Her Majesty…”

Yvette was speechless. Instead, she moved her eyebrows vigorously. She looked like she couldn’t figure out how to say it.

“Princess of Shryden. You would know that trying to save your words would be useless. Please keep in mind that there are other places where I can ask you a question and answer.”

She said that if she didn’t answer properly, she would ask Pippi. Yvette quickly recognized the words and barely nodded.

“Ah… That’s right. yes, that’s it…”

There was an accident on the way. From the railing overhead Yvette descended the stairs, a barrel to scrape up the ash from the fireplace suddenly fell. It was covered with ashes in an instant, so she couldn’t see who did it. But it was obvious. The ladies-in-waiting must have made up their mind to act properly. There would be plenty of grumps disguised as accidents like this in the future. It was something to watch out for in the future. Yvette, who had a tough personality, knew very well that she was now the first lady-in-waiting in the Empress’ palace. From the time she was born, she couldn’t fight with noble ladies-in-waiting, but at least she thought of finding a way to deal with the courtiers. That was fine, but there were other things that weren’t really good.

“Because my clothes are so dirty more than anything else… I serve meals, but I couldn’t come because I was covered in soot… It’s so upsetting…”

Tears welled up in Yvette’s round eyes. Lasilia let out a light sigh.

“It is my fault. It wasn’t enough that she let Mrs. Farshad out of the palace.”

Yvette jerked her head.

“No, what are you talking about! How could that be Her Majesty’s fault! Please stop saying that. This happened because I was inexperienced and immature! I will do well in the future, Your Majesty the Empress!”

“No. Those who were territorial towards you were also people of the Empress’ palace. So it means that I didn’t handle the people around me very well. Serving meals is fine, so the princess should change her clothes and come. What happened to the princess today will be covered later.”

“That is… I apologize, Her Majesty the Empress. I apologize.”

Yvette straightened her back, her weeping face. Serben made a slightly sad face.

“The two of you have been very late with your meal… Keuheum, so why don’t you move away for now, keuheum. Great.”

Persson subtly instructed Yvette to leave. The reason she dropped her words uncharacteristically was because of her shabby appearance, which was not seen as the first lady-in-waiting. No matter how she looked at her clothes, accessories, or way of speaking, she did not look like a noblewoman, but since the empress called her a princess, it was difficult to either exalt her words or demean her.

“Ah… I really don’t know what to do. I will go out. I am sorry, I am sorry.”

Yvette left her dining hall. Lasilia spoke to Lescal with a not very bright face.

“I must apologize for interrupting the meal due to the Empress’ palace people. Eat now.”

“It’s okay if it’s late.”

Come to think of it, Lescal was still washing Lasilia’s hands. Her skin was already dry, so now he just wrapped a napkin around her hand and fiddled with it.

“It’s marketable.”

“Not at all.”

“…I say it is.”

“Ah.”

Lescal slowly let go of her Lasilia’s hand. sing that as a signal, Persson opened the lids of the silver dishes one after another with a moderate movement. The opened lids were placed on a large silver tray and passed on to the other attendant waiting outside the door.

“I’ve been thinking about it since yesterday.”

Lescal held up his fork and knife and gestured at a dish with his chin. Persson swiftly cuts a roast venison thigh elegantly and places it on Lescal’s plate. Lescal cut it in half and placed it on Lasilia’s plate. It was so natural that it was hard to believe that the emperor and empress had been sitting next to each other every day for a meal.

“I think it’s a lie that you lost your memory.”

…Click.

The tip of Lasilia’s fork brushed the edge of the plate, making a small noise. It wasn’t well marked, but the name of the noise was tension.

“…Why do you say that?”

“I don’t mean that you are lying. Rather than losing your memory… I meant that you became a completely different person.”

“…”

She almost missed the fork.

“So good.”

“…”

“I said it’s marketable, so it’ll cost a lot.”

Lescal continued to serve this dish and that dish to Lasilia’s plate. He seemed oblivious to the fact that the food on her plate was cooling down as he watched what kind of dishes Lasilia was eating well.

“…thank you, I hope His Majesty will eat it soon.”

“If you want.”

It seemed friendly, but on the other hand, an embarrassing meal continued.

* * *

“Ryan.”

Serben approached Ryan, who was sitting at the window of the corridor outside the dining room of the empress’ palace and touching his leg. Ryan muttered, turning her head to look at him.

“I’m glad I didn’t have a knife.”

“You knew me long ago.”

“Ah, there are a few people with the same pace as you.”

Serben wrinkled his brow.

“What? To the Royal Guard?”

“Huh. A few guys have improved quite a bit lately. Don’t be careless.”

“Shit. I thought I was next to you… Oh, anyway. Did you just hear?”

“Hmm? What?”

Ryan narrowed her eyes. She thought that Serben would be more distressed if he heard that several members of the guards had followed him, but unexpectedly, he wanted to talk about something else first.

“Just before. What happened at the dinning hall.”

“You mean the lady-in-waiting was late?”

“Other maids said they spilled ashes on their clothes. But does she know what Her Majesty said?”

“Um… Could she have noticed the dirty and evil plan to appoint the court lady as her maid?”

“No. I don’t think so.”

“Then why are you asking?”

“She said it was her fault.”

Ryan made a puzzled expression.

“…hmm? What?”

“She said it was because she didn’t handle the people under she well… Crazy, does that make sense?”

Ryan’s mouth fell open.

“I know. It’s really crazy.”

“No matter how much she pretends to lose her memory… Can you act like everyone else that much?”

Ryan thought, then shook her head.

“Well… I really don’t know. I had always intended to welcome Her Majesty the Empress if she had made up her mind to become someone else. But this isn’t just about making up her mind, it’s just like a different person, isn’t she?”

“I do think so. I really have no idea what it is.”

Serben sighed.

“Besides, seeing the lady-in-waiting suffer like that doesn’t make me feel very good.”

“…Damn it, that’s right. So the insidious and evil side is rather like us.”

When Ryan grumbled, Serben straightened up.

“Let’s be honest, sister. It’s not us, it’s you alone. Because my sister came up with it.”

“Shut up, brother. Who was it that encouraged you to be a genius?”

“The vicious and despicable idea of turning a court lady into a lady-in-waiting came entirely from your head.”

“Noisy.”

Ryan scratched the back of her head.

“Well, I guess I’ll have to keep an eye on it so it doesn’t get too bad. Because I don’t want her to get hurt.”

“I know.”

“Is your older brother staying at the Empress’ palace for the time being? Good job. Well, the maids of the Empress’ palace won’t be easy though.”

“…Can you resent me for calling you a genius?”

“Oh, that is different. It is true that the idea was genius. In any case, we need to make sure that Princess Shyden isn’t plotting something with Her Majesty the Empress.”

“…”

“Take care.”

Ryan tapped Serben on the shoulder. Serben sighed.

* * *

‘He thinks I’m pretending.’

Lasilia rubbed her aching stomach and returned to her room. The longer the meal went on, the more the Emperor became unusual. He asked if it would be good if she took a bite of it, if it was good, if she wanted to eat more, and if he thought she would nod, he quickly brought the food. Later, he even asked if it was not bothersome to cut. Instead, it was not enough to slice it, so she was busy refusing it because he was ready to put it in her mouth. There was no reason for Yvette to come in the first place. She felt like she was fed up with being served a meal by the Emperor.

‘From now on, I will say that I will eat alone… No, I don’t think I did this last time.’

The reason why the Emperor was different could all be explained by the blue moon. Lasilia took a deep breath.

‘Just one more day to wait. Just one day.’

It was fortunate that after breakfast, requests for an audience with the Emperor came in line. The Emperor had planned to cancel all the audience today, but the imperial secretary looked like he was going to cry, so Lasilia actively intervened and told him to do what he had to do. 

Thanks to that, she was able to get away from the emperor for a while. As she watched the emperor head toward the throne room, the imperial secretary was repeatedly surprised that His Majesty’s pace was originally so slow, but she didn’t want to pay attention to that.

‘Just one day.’

From then on, she really intended to avoid having the Emperor stick around her, even if it meant feigning illness. It was the moment when she entered the truth with Serben accompanying her with such thoughts.

“Shh.”

When the guards tried to open the door, Serben stopped them.

“…?”

Laslia looked at Serben. Serben quietly opened the door on behalf of the guards and spoke in a very low voice.

“I hear a sound from inside. It would be good for you to listen.”

“Ah…”

As Serben said, sharp voices were going back and forth as if they were fighting a war of nerves inside the room.

“…It’s ridiculous to be the princess of the Duke of Shyden.”

“Did you see her? Do you think she can become the first lady-in-waiting of the Empress’ palace with her outfit like that? She will become a disgrace to Her Majesty.”

“The reason why nobles are nobles is that they have the dignity appropriate to their status. Not knowing the subject is the opposite of decency. That’s what we call vulgar.”

“If you have even a little bit of a thinking head, step back on your own. Before you get really bad.”

Yvette’s reply was not heard. It seemed he couldn’t say a word.

“…Right.”

Lasilia clenched her fists.

“Thanks. If it wasn’t for the wonder, I wouldn’t have known.”

“You are welcome.”

Serben tried to hide the pricked expression on his conscience.

“Then what are you going to do now?”

Lasilia laughed coldly. She didn’t know anyone here, but she was angry.

“Since you talked about the dignity of a noble, you should try to have it.”