CH 22

“If I were a spy, I would not give you this advice.” Millicent added nostalgically.

“Yes, you’d better not be a secret spy for either of them.”

Adriana, regaining her momentum, replied.

“I’m getting along well with His Majesty the King. Every day he takes me home, I can feel that we are getting closer.”

It was a claim that did not seem to have much objective basis, but Adriana stretched her shoulders proudly.

“I’m obviously ahead of the other maids.”

She was as tall as knights.

“So whatever you are, if you get in my way, I won’t leave you alone.”

Looking down was intimidating enough.

“Charlotte Brennan spilled so much liquor on you and slapped you on the cheek that day when you ruined her opportunity to dance and talk with His Majesty.” Adriana lowered her voice. “So of course I wouldn’t do anything more than that to you.”

“I can’t wait to see how the Lady surprises me.” Millicent, still feeling less than impressed, replied nonchalantly.

“…you’re a really strange girl.”

Then Adriana retreated.

“Lady Jane is right. I don’t know what you’re thinking. Maids are difficult to understand anyway.”

“I guess so. You have no idea.”

Millicent said, only half joking.

“And Lady, the problem is that you all think too much. You must be tired.”

“…I think I heard something similar from someone a long time ago.”

Suddenly Adriana’s eyes narrowed.

“When was that?”

It was an obvious mistake. Millicent lowered her head so that her hat hung long and concealed her face.

“Who was it?”

Adriana tilted her head at the memory on the tip of her tongue. Her brow seemed to crease at the lingering annoyance.

“Lady Adriana.”

Fortunately, someone appeared to draw her full attention away 

from her faded memory. It was Rubert.

“Your Highness the Cardinal.”

Adriana immediately greeted him with a wrinkled face and a graceful bow. She looked like a lady who had learned how to handle any situation well and discreetly.

“I don’t see the queen, do you?”

Rubert looked around.

“She is in the prayer room.”

“That would be difficult to have an audience with her.”

Rubert nodded, knowing Jadalin’s faithfulness to pray.

“Then, may I borrow this maid?”

Then he naturally pointed to Millicent.

“There are a few things I need to instruct you before the queen comes out.”

“Of course, Your Highness the Cardinal.”

Adriana replied politely.

It was always truly impressive to see the nobles in the background making various jokes about Rubert’s origin, but in the front they wore such perfect masks.

“I wouldn’t dare to thwart your will.” She added sweetly, like honey.

“I am glad to hear that.”

Though perhaps not fooled by the mask, Rubert replied with the same hypocritical courtesy as his opponent.

“Follow me.”

Soon Rubert nodded to Millicent and took the lead.

“…I interrupted because it looked like you were in trouble. Are you alright?” As they entered the quiet hallway, Rubert asked.

“How did you know?”

“We’ve been together many years, so I know exactly what each of your expressions is telling me.” Rubert shrugged.

“Why did you come to see the Queen?” (Millicent)

“I had something I wanted to discuss with her.” (Rubert)

“What?” (Millicent)

“You really want to know?” (Rubert)

From the look on his face, it must be a long and boring political-related talk. Millicent shook her head frantically.

“There are circumstances under which some secret letters were exchanged between the Bodegas Empire and the Duke of Arcadia, and the queen and I together with His Majesty the King…”

“You really don’t know what shaking heads means, Rubert.” 

If he was going to talk anyway, why bother asking?

Millicent clicked her tongue. Rubert stopped talking as if her sarcasm got through.

“Well, I don’t really care what you have to say about that.”

However, he suddenly brought up another subject.

“His Majesty the King has asked me something.”

“What?”

“He said that you fell completely in love with him and followed Lady Adriana all the way to her house. He asked me if it was true that I helped you out of pity.”

Millicent stopped in her tracks.

“That’s a little strange, isn’t it?”

“It is strange.”

Rubert nodded.

“If he wanted to know exactly what was going on, he would have interrogated me.”

His green eyes were confused.

“But he asked me openly, as if he would believe me no matter what, so I should just say yes.”

Millicent wondered the same thing.

“What did you say?”

“I said yes. Because it would look strange if I make excuses.”

Rubert said.

“Anyway, why did you make up something like that? You fell in love with His Majesty? Not even a passing dog would believe it.”

“It was on purpose.”

Millicent rolled her eyes and clicked her tongue.

“I was going to strike a blow so strong that it would divert His Majesty’s suspicions.”

“Was he suspicious of you?”

“He misunderstood the way I followed to kill Adriana Beasley.”

Rubert furrowed his brow.

“He didn’t figure out your real intentions, did he?”

“No. Who would suspect such a thing if they weren’t crazy?”

Millicent grumbled.

“As I’ve said before… nothing good about being involved with the king. He’s a very unpredictable man. He’s as dangerous as he is beautiful.”

Rubert was silent for a moment.

“…… you really didn’t fall in love with His Majesty, did you?”

His eyes shook slightly.

“I thought you said even a passing dog wouldn’t believe me.” Millicent shot back sullenly.

“But you never know. Even the odds of being struck by lightning from a dry sky can’t be ignored.”

“What do you think?”

Rubert stared into her blue eyes.

“I don’t think that’s possible.”

After a moment he whispered.

“Because it cannot happen to you.”

Looking down at Millicent, Rubert’s eyes were tinged with an unfamiliar sadness.

“…The moment I understood that in my bones, I decided to become a priest who would give my all to Mother Creator.”

As always, Millicent was uncomfortable with his sentiment.

“I have something to tell you, Rub.”

So again, she chose the easy way out. It was evasion.

“He said it was a secret… but His Majesty is hiding his illegitimate son from the kingdom.”

“What?”

The effect was good. Rubert’s interest was quickly piqued.

“Look, a long time ago there was a lady whom His Majesty fell in love with in secret. That lady died giving birth to a son.”

After being dazed for a while, Rubert finally came to his senses.

“That’s really nonsense.”

Then he wrinkled his brow.

“Where did you pick up another nonsense story and then naively believed it?”

“I saw it myself!”

Millicent’s eyes widened as she was being treated like an idiot.

“The King told me in person and showed me.”

“His Majesty was playing with you.”

Rubert guessed stubbornly.

“Otherwise, it makes no sense at all.”

“It’s true.”

Millicent added angrily.

“Some kind of Duke.. I heard he was a caterpillar duke or something, blonde and petite. He didn’t look anything like His Majesty, but he was good at taking care of the kid.”

“Caterpillar Duke…”

Rubert mumbled, stunned.

“Perhaps you mean the Duke of Albury?”

“How did you know?”

Millicent’s mouth dropped open.

“It was a secret.”

“You sit there talking and think it’s a secret.”

Rubert clicked his tongue.

“Who at the court doesn’t know who the Duke of Albury is. You’re the only one who doesn’t know, Millie. You’re such an idiot.”

Millicent was at a loss for words.

“The Duke of Albury is Prince Phillip.”

Rubert showed patience in enlightening Millicent’s foolish subjects.

“He is the half-brother of His Majesty Frederick.”

“…brother?”

“Yes. Queen Margaret, who was His Majesty the King’s mother, was shocked by the sudden death of her eldest son, Prince Christopher. She suffered greatly and died soon after.”

He explained.

“Then King Frederick II took Olivia, a wealthy princess from the Duchy of Arcadia across the sea, as his new queen. When she came to the kingdom, she brought a full dowry. With it, she supported His Majesty Frederick III, a prince at the time, both materially and spiritually.”

Millicent listened in a daze.

“His Majesty grew into the powerful king he is today, thanks in large part to the contribution of his stepmother, Queen Olivia.”

“Where is she?”

Millicent wondered, having never seen her at the court.

“After king Frederick II passed away, she often spent half a year in the Duchy and half in the kingdom.”

“Why?”

“She must miss her homeland. And the children she left there.”

Rubert said.

“Queen Olivia also had a husband before King Frederick II. She became wealthy because she even inherited a huge inheritance from her first husband after he died.”

“Really?”

“At the time, she was the most coveted bride of every king on all five continents.”

“Still, there must be a reason why she chose the Holy Kingdom of Kintland of all places?”

“That much I don’t know.”

Rubert shook his head.

“Anyway, I don’t think it will be easy to meet Queen Olivia. Even if she was in the kingdom, she would be at the Albury estate, taking care of it on behalf of young Prince Phillip. She doesn’t have time to show her face at court.”

“That’s why the Duke of Albury complained that she didn’t let him have candy.”

For some reason, Millicent felt empty as she understood a step later.

“…It’s not that the palace is haunted.”

“Huh?”

Rubert didn’t understand and asked, but she just shook her head.

“Nothing.”

And the emptiness quickly turned to annoyance with Frederick.

“The king has made a fool of people with impunity, hasn’t he?” (Millicent)

“He doesn’t treat them like idiots.”

Rubert understood what Millicent said.

“You’re just an idiot, Millie.”

“Shut up.”

Millicent poked the pompous Rubert in the side.

“It’s true that His Majesty was teasing you, wasn’t he?”

He smiled as he held his mortally wounded ribs. Millicent didn’t want to admit it, so she mumbled something quietly.

“His Majesty will never forget what he owes Queen Olivia. Even though Prince Phillip is a troublesome half-brother, he really takes care of him like his own son.”

Rubert lowered his voice.

“But at the same time, I’m sure he’s also calculating the fortune Prince Phillip will inherit from Queen Olivia in the future.”

“Why?”

Because when Prince Phillip grows up, he will be the richest prince on the five continents, and the king will have to decide in advance whether that will be advantageous or detrimental to him.”

His green eyes quickly turned cold.

“His Majesty is such a man, Millie. You think that I, the Queen, and the rest of the court are exaggerating, but there is always an ulterior motive in His Majesty’s words and actions.”

Rubert said.

“I think the same is true of every word and things he does to you.”

“Do you really think so?”

Millicent mumbled absentmindedly.

The secrets he had told her the day they went to the market together came to her mind.

How much of it was a joke and how much of it was serious, how much of it was lies and how much of it was truth, how much of it was testing and how much of it was trust…Now she was really starting to get confused.

“You have to be careful, Millie.”

That made Rubert’s familiar advice even more deeply embedded in her mind.

(*Okay guys, the mystery is solved: the boy Phillip wasn’t Frederick and Millicent’s son.)