CH 73

Who is the Fake Bride? (15)

‘It’s definitely not the Empress whom I used to serve. But still, she certainly is the Empress as well.’

Lucy’s eyes became more complicated. There were no longer any signs of the Empress who had always cared for the others first as she looked at them with concern too. Therefore, it was only natural for Silloa and the other ladies to feel betrayed and upset all at once.

And that was how they truly felt.

‘What happened? What kind of change of heart did she abruptly have……’

An unexpected visit by the Rakain delegation. That would have actually been the trigger. Lucy then recalled the suddenly changed Empress right after the day when the delegation’s representative had paid her a rather reckless visit.

“What really happened that day?”

No matter how hard she searched in her memory, she just couldn’t tell. She couldn’t even recall anything else except for the fact that the attendant who accompanied the delegation was crying out of joy and exhaustion before coming out while being supported instead……

“Oh! What is this?”

At that moment, a sharp sound could be heard from ahead. She could see that Erita had completely stopped walking. Lucy gave her thoughts up before she approached her in a hurry.

“Empress, what is the matter……”

“My dress has gotten dirty because of those bushes. What the hell is the gardener even doing—he just lets this stuff run free like that! Get the gardener in charge of this place right this instant!”

It had been a flower bed with a number of short flowers. Its characteristic was that of being often brushed against the hem of one’s clothes whenever one passed by.

But the usual Empress never complained about it at all. On the contrary, she even dissuaded the gardener from pulling down flowers as well.

<It’s all right. Do we really have to thin out what is blooming according to the provisions of nature just because it has merely brushed against the hem?>

It hadn’t been long since she said that, but she was now making a fuss to call the gardener as if she had forgotten what she just said before.

As soon as Lucy tried to open her mouth to Erita when she saw that Silloa and the other maids were panicking, the gardener had already rushed from afar.

“Greetings to the Empress…… aah!”

A red hand mark was imprinted right across the cheek of the gardener, who couldn’t even finish his greetings. It was a mark that had been caused by the Empress’s direct slap.

“……!”

Each of the maids breathed in with a surprised look on their faces. Even Lucy was momentarily embarrassed as she couldn’t cope with any of that.

“How dare you greet me when you can only manage the Palace’s garden like this? My dress is all messed up because of this.”

Erita’s words were extremely exaggerated. Just because the leaves had brushed against the bottom of her dress, it didn’t really make the grass run riot nor did it become terribly dirty as well. However, Erita was blaming the gardener as if he had committed such a serious crime instead.

At an age that was well over his own retirement, he had been so notable within the Imperial Palace that even the Emperor had caught wind of him since there was no better gardener other than himself.

Nevertheless, the Empress was now spouting all kinds of insults towards him.

“Haa, Empress.”

Lucy belatedly came to her senses as she tried to stop her. But before that, Erita had already waved her hand at the gardener once again.

No, she tried to swing it, but someone had stepped in between and her action was blocked instead.

“Who—You, Your Majesty?”

Erita widened her eyes in anger at the hand that had grabbed her by the wrist before she opened her mouth as soon as she realized that Kergel was actually the one.

“Oh, Your Majesty. I was just on my way to the Main Palace to see you……”

Erita tried to lower her hand with a smile in her eyes as if nothing had ever happened. But Kergel wouldn’t let her go as her wrists were still clasped in.

And on the contrary, she instantly felt pain and twisted her face since he was gripping it even harder.

“Your Majesty, let go of this hand. My hands hurt. I’ve got a wound as well…”

“Well, I saw that you were still good with a bandage on anyway.”

Kergel scoffed coldly and glanced at the bandage that was all wrapped around her hands. Erita then stammered before she managed to make some excuses.

“That’s because I was just so angry.”

“Well. I just saw that you can swing it well even with a bandage still pasted on it.”

“Ha, but… I was on my way to see Your Majesty. And I got absolutely angry since the bushes had made my dress this dirty. As a woman, it’s utterly obvious that I want to look pretty to the man I love the most. So…”

“Love, love……”

Kergel’s voice while listening to Erita’s excuse gradually subsided. Lucy could feel his voice growing cold and instinctively trembled.

It was right at that moment.

“How dare you say such a thing! Are you kidding me?”

“Argh!”

A scream had erupted from Erita, who was previously making excuses. At the same time, Lucy, Silloa and the guards as well as the rest of the servants and maids around them were surprised as they tried to dissuade Kergel.

“Sire! Your Majesty, how could you do this?”

Lucy grabbed a hold of Kergel with such a bewildered expression on her face. She knew that even brushing against the Emperor’s body was considered blasphemous, but she couldn’t help it any longer.

Their own Emperor, Kergel, was currently clutching onto the Empress’s neck in his one hand.