CH 9

“This one might be hard for you to complete.”

Madame Rochester, who reappeared in front of Anastasia, said in a serious voice.

“It’s a bit more complex. So I’ll give you a week for it.”

At first, Madame Rochester was surprised by Her Majesty’s unexpected performance, but this time it will be different.

Because she chose a task that was three times more difficult than what she originally gave the Empress, since the initial outcome was different than what she expected.

‘The first task was just pure luck.’

This one was a very difficult task that even experienced ladies would have trouble getting used to for at least several months.

‘It’s hard to do it twice simply by luck.’

Even then, Madame Rochester did not fully trust Anastasia’s capabilities, even though she had high expectations with her sudden changes.

“Madame Rochester.”

“Yes, Your Majesty.”

Madame Rochester opened her mouth as if waiting.

“If it is too difficult and you need more time….”

“No. It’s okay, it won’t take too long.”

Unable to understand her words, Madame Rochester stared blankly at Anastasia.

“I think it could be done in one day.”

“Pardon? One day?”

“Okay, I will do it. It sounds like an urgent matter and since you really need it, I’ll give it to you by tonight.”

“…Your Majesty, are you making fun of me?”

Madame Rochester said in a perplexed voice.

“This is not something a beginner can do in one day.”

‘That’s because I’m not a beginner.’

Anastasia had been in charge of the housekeeping of the Imperial Palace for many years before her regression.

‘This beginner’s job is a piece of cake.’

But Madame Rochester did not know what was going on.

‘What is this? Why are you so confident?’

She became suspicious. It was a very strange situation no matter how she looked at it.

‘What could it be? I’m sure there’s something that she’s not telling me….’

Madame Rochester, who had been thinking for a long time, looked terribly surprised at some point.

‘…No way!’

‘Is that what I think it is?’ Madame Rochester looked like she just realized something.

“Are you getting help from the maids?”

“What.”

“Absolutely not, Madame Rochester!”

The maids shook their heads in denial with a perplexed look on their face.

Anastasia frowned, as if she was being judged unfairly but Madame Rochester didn’t believe her at all.

‘But under the current circumstances, that is the most natural thing to think of.’

Anastasia opened her mouth and spoke in a serious tone to clear up the misunderstanding.

“Madame Rochester, there is something I did not tell you honestly in the first place.”

“What is it?”

“That…..”

Anastasia lowered her voice and confessed.

“It’s the fact that I’ve been studying very hard for the past two years.”

“…..Your Majesty?”

“You heard it correctly. I just didn’t show nor reveal it to anyone.”

Anastasia coughed in embarrassment before continuing.

“My learning pace wasn’t that fast, so I was embarrassed to let other people know.”

The original Anastasia is a woman who valued her pride more than anything else so it was a pretty plausible story. 

“Since I can’t always entrust Madame Rochester with all the work inside the palace, I’ve been studying hard to catch up but of course avoiding the eyes of the other people.”

“I see….”

“I understand that it’s unbelievable. So to prove my point, I won’t allow any other maids to come into my room today.”

Anastasia suggested the best solution.

“I want only Madame Rochester to attend to all of my needs for today. Will that be okay with you?”

-ˏˋ ━━━━━━ ʚɞ ━━━━━━ ˊˎ-

Madame Rochester agreed. It was an opportunity to clearly assess Anastasia’s abilities.

She forbade all of the maids as well as the court ladies from approaching Anastasia for the whole day. This soon spread to everyone within the Empress’s palace.

“Did Her Majesty really do all those difficult tasks herself?”

“I don’t know. Perhaps one of the maids was ordered by Her Majesty to help her.”

“Well…first of all, it’s definitely not me. Especially since I know how difficult it is to participate in palace affairs because I saw how my mother had helped the previous Empress before.”

Of course Colton, who was keeping a close eye on the Empress’s palace, found out about this as well.

“…What?”

Upon hearing Colton’s report from the office, Wilhelm took off his glasses, looking a bit bewildered.

“…Did I hear you wrong?”

“You heard me right. It is said that the Empress is directly taking care of the affairs of the palace. It also sounds like she did a very difficult task for a beginner in just one day.”

“Is the palace’s inner workings a simple game for children? A woman who’s been playing for her entire life can immediately make a decision? Are you sure that this is not misinformation?”

“Are you doubting my intelligence, now?”

Colton was kind of upset but Wilhelm was very skeptical.

“Or someone might be helping her?”

“The information is clear. Additionally Madame Rochester, who had the same decision as her Majesty, had given all the maids a restraining order to not approach the Empress for the whole day.”

“…….”

“I heard that the Empress studied hard for two years. It was just that she was ashamed of how slow her progress was which was why she had studied away from other people’s eyes.”

“…But still.”

‘I still couldn’t believe it. No, in fact the most surprising thing about it all is that the Empress herself has decided to participate in the palace affairs.’

That careless woman.

“How…is she progressing?”

“Once the results are out, I’ll report them right away.”

Wilhelm instructed Colton while putting on his glasses again.

“Keep watching.”

‘Just what the hell is going on?’

She’s becoming an unpredictable woman.

-ˏˋ ━━━━━━ ʚɞ ━━━━━━ ˊˎ-

After the ban came into effect, Madame Rochester was the only one who could go near Anastasia for the rest of the day.

That means no one could provide assistance to the Empress in regards to her task.

It is not something that could be solved quickly by referring to a book, so she must be struggling now since it is much more difficult than before.

‘She must have felt a great sense of humiliation because of her strong personality. As this is only the beginning, I think it wouldn’t be a good idea to break her spirit that much.’

Late that night, Madame Rochester went to the Empress’s office to apologize for her rudeness today while at the same time, planning to encourage Anastasia.

Anastasia was reading a book when she came.

‘You seem to have given up on your work.’

‘She’s still reading! She’s really a proud woman. When I think of the Empress, who used to think that books are for useless people, I can say that miracles do happen.’

It was when she was about to greet Anastasia.

“Ah, Madame Rochester.”

Anastasia greeted Madame Rochester with a bright smile.

“You’re just in time. I have something to give to you.”

With the same words she spoke in the morning, Madame Rochester’s heart pounded for a moment.

“Yes?”

Madame Rochester replied in a daze and Anastasia motioned for her to come closer.

‘…No way.’

Madame Rochester drew closer to Anastasia with trembling steps.

‘No way….!’

And was faced with unbelievable results.

“Please check it out.”

The papers were neatly laid out on the desk, perfectly organized.

“…….”

For a long time Madame Rochester was silent.

All she could do was to pick up the documents on the desk and check the contents carefully.

As time went by… 

“… Madame Rochester.”

Anastasia encountered an embarrassing situation.

“What are you doing?”

Madame Rochester knelt before Anastasia.

Anastasia, who was shocked because the woman whom she considered as her mother, is kneeling right before her and she quickly speaks up.

“Come on, get up.”

“No, Your Majesty.”

But Madame Rochester stubbornly kept on kneeling.

“I must ask her Majesty for forgiveness.”

“What do you mean?”

“I dared to doubt you, Your Majesty.”

Madame Rochester now bowed her head and continued.

“I did not believe Your Majesty’s words, and I underestimated Your Majesty’s abilities. I must be punished for daring to destroy the Imperial Moon.”

“Please get up Madame Rochester. If you continue to do this, I would feel even more uncomfortable.”

“But your Majesty…”

“Come on now. Do you intend for a rumor to spread to the whole Imperial Palace that I have asked you to kneel in front of me?”

At those words Madame Rochester was forced to stand up quickly, but she still didn’t dare to raise her head.

Anastasia looked at her and sighed briefly.

“I understand all of your doubts about me and what you have done today. If I were you, I would have also done the same.”

“But your Majesty…”

“Today’s work was rather necessary. No one, let alone you, will ever doubt my abilities again.”

“Of course, Your Majesty.”

Madame Rochester replied with trepidation in her voice.

“How dare that I say to your Majesty…. I was really wrong, your Majesty.”

“Stop apologizing. I want to hear something else.”

Madame Rochester looked at Anastasia with a baffled face. Anastasia then asked her with a smile.

“I wanted to hear a compliment. Did I do well?”

“…..Of course, Your Majesty.”

Madame Rochester answered with a face that looked like she was about to cry.

“Your Majesty must be a genius. No matter how much you have studied alone for two years, how could you complete such a difficult task flawlessly in one day? No, if you have reached this level in just two years, you are not slow at all. Then…” 

After that, Madame Rochester’s praise continued for a long time and at some point Anastasia became very shy.

‘…I’m really glad there’s no one around.’

Not wanting to break the good mood, Anastasia decided to just keep quiet.

‘It’ll be over soon anyway, right?’

But what she didn’t know then, is that she had to keep listening until her ears bleed….