CH 17

Despite having already poured everything into the banquet, the royal maids’ routine continued. Perhaps that was why there were a series of melancholy expressions everywhere one looked today.

“Things will be a little better soon when summer arrives.”

Tracy, the old maid, complained of back pain.

“Because His Majesty will leave the palace and spend the summer somewhere else.”

“Where is he going?”

“He hasn’t decided yet.”

She shrugged.

“At least it won’t be Redfield Castle, where he spent last summer.”

Redfield Castle was a familiar  name. Perhaps a short trip south down from the capital, Cathedral, would be enough to find it. There was something special about that area, but Millicent couldn’t quite recall.

Tracy continued talking to Millicent, who lost in her thoughts.

“What you should do before the  gratifying summer comes is washing the bedsheets. It’ll be easier in the fall if you wash them clean and organized beforehand.”

“I thought I was in charge of the shirts.”

“No, you’re in charge of laundry.”

Tracy did not accept Millicent’s preposterous rebuttal.

“Millicent!”

It still wasn’t enough, and the royal head maid’s call struck her like a whip.

“Go to the market.”

Mrs. Galbraith looked impatient.

“I have to put a fish dish on for dinner, but I don’t see anything I could use. I don’t know where in the world all the ingredients that were delivered went.”

Suspicious muttering ensued.

“Ever since Baron Mariboro has been named custodian of the royal estate…'”

Baron Mariboro was Gregory Grant. And he was Jane Grant’s father.

It was said that even though he had a small manor with a small estate, he had served as an advisor to the king for generations, thanks to the wealth and power he had built up near the capital, Cathedral.

During the reign of Frederick II, when the king’s authority was particularly low, he controlled the king’s private estates.

Then he was dismissed rather than removed from office shortly after Frederick III’s accession to the throne, but whatever wind blew in his direction, he was again appointed as administrator of the royal estate at the beginning of this year.

“I’ve been there the day before yesterday.”

Anyway, Millicent first went out of defiance.

It was already mid-spring. As the weather got hotter and hotter, the food in the cellar seemed to rot quickly.

Whenever there was not what was needed, the palace cook would shout, Mrs. Galbraith would scream, the other maids would shout again, and it would fall to Millicent’s role every time to do the urgent shopping.

“What did you say?”

Mrs. Galbraith looked like a hawk with a furrowed brow.

“I’ll be back as soon as I can, ma’am.”

Millicent quickly brushed off her apron and stood up.

She had to visit the seafood market and get herring and dried cod. Millicent shoved the request form signed by Mrs. Galbraith and a pocket of gold coins into her pocket and ran.

It was annoying, but she didn’t have to work in the kitchen while she was out. So it was not a business that lost much money.

Millicent hummed as she enjoyed the end of spring.

{About the time they forget all about it,

Annamaria slammed the door with a bang.

Then you asked.

What is the best thing to eat cold?

No one could answer.}

It was not the song of a lady who learned it by being whipped on the back of the hand by a governess. It was a folk song often sung by the children of Wind Whistle Rock. Moreover, the villagers sang that song until the last moment.

“…Millicent.”

Someone called out from behind, even though she had just left the palace.

Startled, Millicent stopped humming. Surely the prompting for something was obvious again.

“I’ve gone meekly on an errand! I haven’t even reached the other side of the street yet!”

She turned, anticipating the royal palace servant who was about to wield Mrs. Galbraith’s whip instead.

“Apparently, you’re afraid of Mrs. Galbraith.”

To her surprise, her eyes met Frederick’s.

He was alone. He did not have a group of vassals to escort him. Moreover, he understood too well Millicent’s fear.

“How could Your Majesty the King…?” Millicent bowed her head.

“I followed you.” Frederick said.

“Why?” Millicent asked, stunned by the unexpected answer.

“Because you followed me first.”

With an even more unexpected answer, Frederick’s gray eyes lit up.

“What about me?” There was not enough time to wonder. She didn’t want the King’s wrath. Giving up, Millicent asked back somewhat imperiously.

“Don’t ask me why.” Frederick smiled. “You followed me to Count Arlan’s residence. Why is that?”

Finally Millicent realized. Frederick seemed to have mistaken her spying on Adriana for several days for following him.

Not a very good situation. Millicent swallowed dryly.

No one had noticed her work since she started assassinating people. None of the targets of death and the people who tried to protect them. She had always prided herself on being born with at least one of the talents she acquired by taking advantage of the darkness.

But now, of all people, the King smelled it. She didn’t exactly how he detected it, but it was suspicious.

What’s more, Millicent was oblivious to the fact that Frederick had noticed the tailing. That was even worse.

The truth that she was looking for an opening to kill Adriana Beasley was impossible to confess. But that didn’t mean she could half-heartedly come up with some other excuse.

If anything, the tail that led to Queen Jadalin would be stepped on.

Rubert’s description of the clever King, which she had never believed before, was correct. The master of the Holy Kingdom of Kintland was no easy opponent.

“It can’t be helped that you noticed.”

Millicent said after a moment’s pondering. Instead, she decided to drag him into the utterly preposterous mess.

“Yes, I have been secretly following Your Majesty the King.”

She was inspired by Rubert’s snide remark.

“I’m totally in love with Your Majesty.” Millicent spoke plainly.

“…You are?” Frederick had an equally dry reaction.

“Yes. I wanted to have the pleasure of watching Your Majesty from afar.”

There was not a shred of conviction in her expression, which was not at all happy.

“Since when did you fall in love with me?” Frederick narrowed his eyes and crossed his arms.

“Hmmm, since the first time I saw you.”

“At that time, you scolded me to come back after becoming more handsome.”

“I joked because I was embarrassed.”

Since the water had already spilled, Millicent went with the flow.

“What do you like about me?”

“Your handsome face….”

No matter what, she must at least show sincerity in her verbal jibberish.

“No, I’m in love with your tall stature.”

“…Is that why you like Rubert Mulally too?” Frederick asked.

“Lord Mulally was with you when you followed me to Count Arlan’s residence.”

Why did Rubert have to follow her! She was annoyed that the king even noticed Rubert.

She believed in Rubert’s intelligence to take care of his own problem.

Right now, she threw randomly.

“Of course. I adore you to death.”

Millicent tried to mimic Adriana’s expression as she twisted her body.

“That tall stature of yours…”

But she just looked like she was in a hurry to go to the bathroom.

“How do you know the Cardinal?”

Nothing of confusion or disbelief could be pointed out in Frederick’s expression as he listened to Millicent’s ramblings.

“I was an orphan begging on the street, and he took pity on me and gave me bread and soup and helped me find work. He also introduced me to the Queen, who was looking for a maid.”

She mumbled a touching story that she had practiced many times.

“You mean he took you in to his butcher’s shop?”

Frederick knew exactly where Rubert was from.

“That’s right.”

Millicent nodded honestly.

She continued, “The benevolent Cardinal Mulally took pity on my infatuation with Your Majesty. Unable to shake off my earnest wish to see you from afar, he lent me his horse.”

When she put some weight on it, it became quite plausible.

“He followed me because he was afraid I would go beyond the limits.”

“Beyond the limits?”

“Seeing Your Majesty treating Lady Adriana so chivalrously,  he thought I might get jealous and do something terrible.”

Millicent made a mistake.

She laughed at her own story, which was so outrageous even as she told it herself. She should have twisted her body a little more.

And unfortunately, there was one thing that was always missing from Millicent’s laughter.

“I cannot accept your heart, Millicent. Surprisingly, Frederick sounded even crazier than her.

“You are a maid, and I am the king. And I am already married.”

She wanted him to believe her made up story, but did he really believe it?

Millicent was speechless. She was deliberately trying to confuse him, but instead she was the one who got caught in the middle.

Besides, she felt strangely displeased when she was rejected even though she didn’t really love him.

It was even worse when combined with his elated expression as he turned up the bridge of his nose as if pretending to measure up.

“I thought you were good at hiding your inner emotions…but now your expression is really a spectacle.” Frederick laughed.

“…and of all the many lies, why did you choose to say you love me?” 

He didn’t believe her at all. Of course, he wouldn’t be that stupid, given he was the famous king. Millicent was both relieved and not relieved.

“I thought Your Majesty would enjoy it.”

She twisted his suspicion once more in the other direction. Either way, it was good to have drawn him into the intended realm.

“A servant’s game, perhaps?”

Frederick’s gray eyes looked down at Millicent. As if watching a word puzzle to be interpreted and conquered piece by piece.

“Do you want to entertain me?”

It was just a look, a question, but strangely sensational.

“How much of what you say is true and how much is a lie, Millicent?”

“That is something Your Majesty must figure out yourself.”

Still she did not avert her gaze. Just as Millicent’s face was reflected in his gray eyes, so was Frederick’s from her blue ones.

“You said you would find out more about me.”

“Fine.”

Frederick said, their eyes holding each other hostage.

“Millicent, who loves your king so much.”

Instead of questioning the truth as a king who could take it all, he accepted Millicent’s game as Frederick, the man with the gray eyes.

This game could be interpreted in any way.

The bold seduction of the maid to her master? It was a cliché, but it was a story that men love to hear.

Someone’s clandestine spy who was spying on the king under the mask of a maid? It was embarrassing, but she could take advantage of the situation.

A man and a woman who forgot their identities and genuinely feel a strange current of mutual attraction? It was not even funny, but it was believable for those who pursued fantasy romance.

Regardless of what Frederick thought, Millicent hoped that only her intentions would go unnoticed.

A power struggle between a predator who might be stronger and another who tried to avoid it. That was the essence of this game she presented herself.

Still, fortunately, the outcome would be the same if both sides played different games but worked by one set of rules.

No, would it be correct to call it a blessing? Millicent hoped that she would not dig her own grave by trying to get out of the situation.

Because if Frederick’s interest got too hot, she would be charred to death like meat.