CH 90

Tea Party and Lorschel (4)

“You must have misunderstood something. It’s not even a gem, it’s just a stone.”

Roelin fiddled with her bracelet and opened her mouth with a smile around her lips. Then, the woman, who expressed her pride by saying that she had good eyes for such jewelry, retorted with a straight face right at Roelin’s words.

“Oh my! What do you mean, stone? Empress, are you making fun of me? Do you think I can’t tell the difference between gems and stones apart?”

The woman’s face instantly flushed like a person who had been severely insulted. Roelin shook her head at her, then resumed her words.

“I don’t mean to make fun of you at all. I just told you the truth.”

Roelin recalled the woman who had introduced herself, saying that she was from the Duchy of Pazolan.

‘And her family owns the business of jewelry and expensive items.’

Of course, the woman did not say it herself. Perhaps the woman had never even imagined that Roelin would have already known about her family.

Besides, Roelin was not unaware only about this single woman at all. It could have been said that she already had a similar understanding in regard to all of those who were invited to the tea party today.

Lucy, the head maid, helped a lot in the process. This was because Roelin herself had accepted Lucy’s advice that it would be much better to meet with basic information for the first time than just to face each other without knowing absolutely nothing about the other person.

Today, this tea party wasn’t really held for no purpose at all.

After the secret about her birth was revealed, she chose a tea party as a means to deal with the confusion amidst the atmosphere inside and outside of the Imperial Family.

Since words such as ‘The Abandoned Princess’ and ‘The Ominous Twins’ were especially pervading through the mouths of people from the Duchy, it became a necessity to call them over and revamp the whole atmosphere.

Moreover, most of them had been absent from the last hunting competition, so an excuse for a tea party was also deemed appropriate.

‘Hence, you have to end the tea party safely and well.’

Roelin looked upwards and glanced at Lucy, who was currently attending to her. Lucy smiled softly as their eyes met with each other.

“And why did you think I would do such an inconspicuous thing to you?”

“Oh, well, that’s……”

The woman’s face turned red at Roelin’s sudden question. The woman tried to open her mouth in embarrassment, but could not speak that easily. Roelin’s blue eyes, which were still looking at the figure, sank coolly.

“In your eyes, I must have looked pretty funny.”

“Oh, no! Empress! Oh, what do you mean, you look funny!”

The woman shook her head in horror at Roelin’s cold voice. However, Roelin simply looked at the woman while not feeling easily relaxed.

She didn’t just get angry. She didn’t even shoot back sharply. Instead, she merely responded calmly to the woman’s words.

But the lady and those who had gathered in this place had never seen this side of Roelin.

Should they say that they saw an unexpected appearance from the Empress whom they thought was just so pitiful and tender?

Pauline and the other old ladies exchanged glances and smiled slightly as they watched Roelin conduct herself in that manner. Unexpectedly, they seemed to be very satisfied with the appearance of the Empress who appeared to be very determined.

However, Roelin spoke to the woman again without ever noticing the reaction of those old women.

“Then, I must blame your eyes. I mean, should I be blaming your stubbornness for insisting on a stone as a jewel and still thinking your eyes are correct?”

“That’s… That’s too much to say! How could you insult me like that?”

The woman spoke in protest with tears in her eyes and soon became spiteful as she eventually added.

“Who could have imagined that the Empress would be wearing a bracelet made of stone in the first place! No matter how much you say that you hadn’t been treated properly back when you were in Rakain……”

The woman continued her words excitedly before she hurriedly shut her mouth as if she had finally realized her mistake. Nevertheless, all those who were already there had heard her.

“Tsk.”

She could hear the sound of tongue-kicking from where the old women were sitting. At the sound of it, the woman flinched and sneaked a glance at Roelin.

“Well, Empress, I made a mistake……”

“Do you think the value of gems and stones is so different?”

Roelin opened her mouth with a calm expression. She then looked around as if it was not a question just for the person who made the slip of the tongue.

But no one had immediately answered Roelin’s question. Then, she could hear someone’s voice.

“Isn’t that a given? Even children can see the difference in the value of jewelry and stone. Just as people like us and those lowly commoners can never be seen on the same line.”

The person that looked directly at Roelin and answered was a woman named Prentiss, who was from the Duchy of Kaizen. She also said that her mother was from a County in Rakain.

Roelin recalled once again the information about Prentiss that she had encountered through Lucy before.

It might have been hasty to judge a person simply by a few pieces of information, but it could still be measured to some extent.

Even if it was a small piece of information, it still had the part that made up the person anyway.

In that respect, Prentiss was likely to be quite conservative in her sense of status or class. She couldn’t just ignore the influence which she had received from her mother ever since she was still young.

Thus, what Prentiss had just said was another part of that kind of mindset.

‘…and if you are that sort of person, you wouldn’t have a very good perception of me as well.’

It would be even better to say that Prentiss retained the prejudice that Rakain once had against her. Of course, it might not have been to that extent, but it would be better to assume the worst case in the face of uncertainty.