At the Queen's words, the expressions of Judith and the others who were standing around with anxious expressions turned pale.
"Your Majesty! I didn't lie. How can you be like this when I just faithfully followed the orders given by Your Majesty?”
“You can’t shut up! I took away something that was rolling around like a weed in a remote country, and now you have dared to mock me under my eyes.”
Judith's shoulders trembled as she meditated. As Helen stood there hesitatingly, the Queen stomped her foot with such force that she was about to kick her, screaming her words.
“What are you doing! Can’t you go and get her right away?”
“Oh, I understand.”
As Helen disappeared at a brisk pace, the Queen called out to the maids who could not bear to raise their heads. As the maids approached her and bowed their heads as if asking her to kill them, Queen Gilsis gestured to Judith and said,
“Hold on tight to that girl. If you don’t do it right, I will cut off your heads first.”
The maids, unable to disobey the Queen's words, looked at each other with embarrassed expressions and then approached Judith as if they had no choice. When they grabbed Judith's arms and shoulders from both sides and pressed them, which looked like they would break with just a little bit of force, Judith twisted her whole body as if she were screaming.
“Your Majesty, it’s really a misunderstanding. Where is the evidence that I mocked Your Majesty?”
“You still can’t come to your senses. evidence? The fact that you recited it so cutely without even blinking is proof of that.”
It was a completely unreasonable statement, but no one could point out that fact to Queen Gilsis.
Finally, Helen brought out a long stick made of hard leather. It was as thick as two or three fingers put together, and was curved beautifully, and even had a small knot at the end. It was used by Queen Gilsis to whip her misbehaving maids.
Judith tried to move her body somehow but was unable to withstand the strength of the maids clinging to her from both sides. When the Queen gave a wink, Helen roughly grabbed Judith's body, turned her around, and ripped off the buttons on the back of her top.
"Your Majesty!"
The cloth that was tied opened, revealing a small back that looked as if it had not grown well. The moment Helen's angry fingers grabbed her head and pushed her down, Judith closed her eyes tightly and clenched her molars. The sound of a tightly stretched leather tearing rang through the uneasy air.
Slap!
With a sharp sound, red blood immediately formed on Judith's dry back. Not only that, Queen Gilsis struck Judith with two, then three, swings of the stick without even having time to breathe. There was no emotion in her hand as she wielded the stick as if she had no consciousness of being a member of the royal family or of being a Lady.
It was at that time that the entrance to the Queen's Palace became noisy.
Someone came inside, pushing the closed door. It was only for a moment that Franz's image suddenly appeared before the eyes of Queen Gilsis, who was wielding the fourth-generation stick without any heed.
"Your Majesty!"
At the same time as the sharp sound of leather tearing flesh, the Queen heard Helen, who had lost her mind, scream. Her body was so round. Queen Gilsis's hand, which had been swinging the stick, stopped, and then she began to tremble.
Queen Gilsis' eyes were red and bloodshot. When she saw the long blood stain on one side of Franz's face, where he had been beaten while protecting Judith, she couldn't even speak and her lips trembled.
“Yes, you, how dare you...”
“...If the Princess has done something wrong to Your Majesty, it is natural that she should be punished.”
Franz's eyes, looking up at the Queen, flashed brightly. It was the first time in her life that Franz, who had been cruelly abused by her since his childhood, saw the Queen with those eyes. Helen, who had been pushed to the floor by Franz, ran up with her beak and supported the Queen, who was frozen with her teeth chattering.
“But is this a deserved punishment? How can you be so harsh? Even if she has committed a mortal sin, she cannot be punished like this.”
“How dare you say something like that to me? You! Someone told you to come in here! Someone like you! How dare you do this right in front of me!”
“If I don’t cover my wife’s flaws, who will? If you have done this much, please calm down your anger. If you are still not sincere, then just hit me. As you know, the Princess is weak.”
Franz furious, pushed away the startled maids and picked up the unconscious Judith. The weight of being held in his arms was so light and fleeting that he felt sick to his stomach.
“Couldn’t you put her down in front of me right now! Argh! Put her down! Do you think I can stay quiet even after being humiliated like this?”
Queen Gilsis screamed in a fit of rage beyond the closing door of the Queen's Palace. Without even feeling the warm blood flowing down the side of his cheek, Franz quickly started running, holding Judith in his arms.
***
Perhaps because of the fever, her mind was fuzzy and she couldn't see clearly. Judith tried to straighten her blurred vision by straining her eyes.
The first thing she saw was a dark blue ceiling decorated at every corner with gold and green silk. It seemed like dark, ecstatic darkness, like the desert night sky she once saw in a picture book.
“Princess!”
As soon as she could barely open her eyes, her ears started ringing. Mary Ann burst into tears, her face covered in tears. A long sigh escaped Judith's slightly parted lips. Her voice was next.
“...Mary Anne, where am I?”
“Ugh, uh, ah, it’s Astel Palace. Ugh, Your Highness, Princess...”
“Don’t cry, Mary Anne. If anyone hears this, they’ll think I’m dead.”
“I really thought you were dying! “He didn’t wake up for a while, so I almost swallowed my tongue!”
Judith frowned and laughed helplessly at the words of Mary Anne, who shouted with a face covered in tears and snot. It didn't feel good when something wet touched her back, but when she regained consciousness, she felt a terrible burning pain.
“Mary Ann, my back... My back feels weird.”
“It’s medicine. The therapist said you should lie still like this for the rest of the night. You had lost consciousness, but I couldn't let you lie down, so I had no choice but to put ground-up herbs on the sheet. Princess, what on earth is going on? How could something like this happen to you?”
Mary Anne's voice, which seemed to have stopped crying for a moment, became muffled again as if it had been blocked. Judith tried to caress Mary Anne, who had tears streaming down her puffy face. But her back was tingling and it was difficult to move her arms.
The sound of sharply polished leather tearing the air was still vivid in her ears. In the past, Judith had been beaten and fainted. She remembers having to wear only clothes that covered ber chin for a while because her shoulders, back, and forearms were red and swollen, and the ruptured spots became scars. Even in the sweltering summer, she was extremely distressed because she couldn't wear short, wide sleeves.
However, it was extremely miserable back then, but not now. It's not that the spot where she was hit didn't hurt, but it was because she clearly saw someone wrapping himself around her at the moment she lost consciousness due to the pain. A familiar scent came from that hard, ripening shoulder, and Judith somehow relaxed at the moment of losing her mind.
“You followed my instructions well. Mary Anne, you told him, right?”
Mary Anne, wiping her wet face with the back of her hand, hastily nodded.
“Princess was called to see the Queen Mother, but when I said that the signs were not good, he quickly rushed over. He doesn’t even hesitate.”
“Did he...”
Franz didn't hesitate. Judith closed her blurry eyes again and smiled faintly.
In fact, even though she asked Mary Anne to call Franz, she did not really believe that he would come. Although he was dubious, she thought that he couldn't pretend to know what Mary Anne said, considering how cruel the Queen had been to Franz.
Even though she was thinking that, the reason she bothered to tell Franz about it was that she wanted him to see how she had been treated harshly by the Queen. Judith wanted to make him feel some kind of revenge.
Rather than going crazy with fear and aimless anger, it seemed like it would be much more helpful for him to maintain his sanity to have a vengeful spirit that would pay back tens or hundreds of times even for damage as small as a grain of wheat.
However, breaking Judith's expectations, Franz ran to the Queen's palace in one single step. Not only that, he even brought her with him. He must have known that his hatred of the Queen would become even more acute, but she was surprised at his determination to make such a choice, and her eyes burned.
“Where is he?”
“After seeing the Princess being treated, he also went out to get treatment. And then a man named the Duke of Vergy came and got very angry and left.”
“Is he hurt?”
Judith was startled and tried to get up, but her shoulder was grabbed and she chewed the tip of her tongue because of the tearing pain. Mary Anne floundered and gently pressed her body to stop her.
“You can’t get up. The therapist told you not to move today.”
“Why is he receiving treatment? Where was he hurt?”
“Well, he hurt his face. Around here...”
Mary Anne, who was fidgeting with an embarrassed expression, touched from her temple to the side of her ear. As Judith's complexion turned pale, Mary Anne hastily added her words.
“Ha, but they said it’s a place that’s hard to see and the wound isn’t that deep. As long as he applies the medicine and treats it well, he will not have any scars or be seriously ill. So don’t worry too much.”
“I need to see him. Please help me up.”
“No, Princess! His Highness ordered me not to allow you to move even if you wake up! Even if it wasn't his order, you're absolutely not allowed to get up now. You can’t even put me in a dungeon for three hundred years.”
Judith pursed her lips and strained her eyes, but Mary Anne held on with determination. In the end, Judith could not insist any longer and raised the white flag first. She spoke in a weak voice, burying her sweaty cheek into the pillow.
“How can I possibly put you in prison, even if you commit a deadly crime?”
“So please rest a little longer, Princess.”
A lukewarmly damp cloth carefully wipes Judith's forehead. Her lips, which had been moving as if she were about to say something more, quietly closed, and Judith soon fell into a light sleep.
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