"Indeed. Does an illegitimate child born in shame not know shame? I don't think I can eat any more macarons."
That's because you've already had your fill of sweets. Then, someone across from me muttered loudly enough to be heard.
"Filthy."
That b*tch is so...
I almost bit my lip, but I calmly maintained my composure.
However, as I didn't react, their angry conversation continued.
"A maid should definitely honor her master, but really... I can't bring myself to say this in front of Her Highness the Princess!"
"How much a maid could hurt Her Highness's prestige... My heart is racing...!"
That's it.
That's where I shouldn't hold back.
They thought they were attacking me, but they were actually helping me.
I suppressed the smile spreading across my lips and approached them.
And then I spoke quite solemnly and resolutely.
“Yes. As you said, I am the maid of Her Highness Princess Miliora. I entered the palace to serve Her Highness Princess Miliora upon the recommendation of one of the small suns of Tagar. However, you all openly insult me in front of my master.”
“Oh my! How can you be so shameless?”
“Who do you think you are, that you dare to open your mouth in front of Her Highness Princess?”
I ignored their words and stood up straight, lifting my chin and looking down at them. I never thought I would have the chance to copy the head maid’s chin gesture so quickly.
“Let me ask you something. Don’t you ladies know that insulting a maid is an insult to your master?”
“What, what?”
“If you don’t know, then you don’t know, and if you do, then you know.”
“That is...!”
When Keryl couldn’t control her excitement and got up from her seat, the lady next to her grabbed her arm and made her sit down.
They realized their mistake too late. They were the ones who had given me authority by first acknowledging me as Her Highness Princess’s maid.
The face of Her Highness Milliora, who was sitting between, was cold and looked like iron. Her silver hair, which had a soft sheen, always made the Tagar royal family look cold and distant from ordinary people.
One of the young ladies spoke quickly as if trying to control the situation.
“We have no such intentions...”
Her Highness’s order was short and soft.
“Everyone, get out.”
The sound of the hems of her dresses swaying and the sound of her shoes crushing against the carpet faded away in an instant. I laughed as I watched one of them quickly grab a macaron from the table and leave.
When everyone left and the door closed, Her Highness finally turned her head to me. Judging from the way her lips were trembling, she seemed very excited.
Even in that excitement, she bit her lips tightly, not wanting to talk to someone like me, so I could tell how much she hated me.
What was contained in her gaze was a sharper and more sensitive hatred than what I was used to. I was honestly a little hurt.
Her Highness Princess Milliora’s voice was small and sharp, befitting her size.
“What are you doing now? Loire.”
I bowed my head politely and answered.
“I passed the two tests given by the head maid. Since you called me after that, I thought my duties had begun.”
“Who? You as a maid?”
Milliora seemed to be unable to bear me. It was time to step aside.
“The tea party is over, so shall we step aside now?”
“Ha!”
I left the reception room just like that.
In the anteroom, Eria was standing there looking at me with fearful eyes.
I headed straight to my room. Then I collapsed on the bed and stared at the ceiling. The manners and behavior of a noble lady were as tiring as the insult of being an illegitimate child.
I felt bad.
I knew why she didn’t curse at me or throw things at me. And why didn’t she actively insult me?
It was because I was an illegitimate child. Someone too dirty to talk to or touch.
Hatred and anger presuppose the recognition of the other person's existence. But I wasn't even that good to her.
I decided to abandon my perspective that I was only taking care of Misha, who was of a higher status.
At least Misha hit me, plotted against me, and tried to fight me. She didn't despise me to this extent.
When I think about it, this Lorisha Loire often pretended to be strong, but in the end, she always lost to reality. She lost her mother, gave up the academy, and couldn't even keep her job as a clerk at the herbal medicine store.
Considering that this self-destructive sense of inferiority was simply due to the silence of the Princess, she was indeed Tagar.
“Handmaiden, may I come in for a moment?”
It was Eria.
“Yes. Come in.”
She smiled awkwardly, watching my reaction. I wondered what that smile meant.
Was it a sense of solidarity as a weakling who was being persecuted by the Princess like me, or was it because I was an illegitimate child who was no different from the rest of us who were not nobles?
I was always an in-between person who didn’t fit in here or there, so I didn’t feel offended or anything because she didn’t treat me like a Loire.
Eria asked, watching my reaction.
“Are you okay, handmaiden?”
Handmaiden?
That's because you've already had your fill of sweets. Then, someone across from me muttered loudly enough to be heard.
"Filthy."
That b*tch is so...
I almost bit my lip, but I calmly maintained my composure.
However, as I didn't react, their angry conversation continued.
"A maid should definitely honor her master, but really... I can't bring myself to say this in front of Her Highness the Princess!"
"How much a maid could hurt Her Highness's prestige... My heart is racing...!"
That's it.
That's where I shouldn't hold back.
They thought they were attacking me, but they were actually helping me.
I suppressed the smile spreading across my lips and approached them.
And then I spoke quite solemnly and resolutely.
“Yes. As you said, I am the maid of Her Highness Princess Miliora. I entered the palace to serve Her Highness Princess Miliora upon the recommendation of one of the small suns of Tagar. However, you all openly insult me in front of my master.”
“Oh my! How can you be so shameless?”
“Who do you think you are, that you dare to open your mouth in front of Her Highness Princess?”
I ignored their words and stood up straight, lifting my chin and looking down at them. I never thought I would have the chance to copy the head maid’s chin gesture so quickly.
“Let me ask you something. Don’t you ladies know that insulting a maid is an insult to your master?”
“What, what?”
“If you don’t know, then you don’t know, and if you do, then you know.”
“That is...!”
When Keryl couldn’t control her excitement and got up from her seat, the lady next to her grabbed her arm and made her sit down.
They realized their mistake too late. They were the ones who had given me authority by first acknowledging me as Her Highness Princess’s maid.
The face of Her Highness Milliora, who was sitting between, was cold and looked like iron. Her silver hair, which had a soft sheen, always made the Tagar royal family look cold and distant from ordinary people.
One of the young ladies spoke quickly as if trying to control the situation.
“We have no such intentions...”
Her Highness’s order was short and soft.
“Everyone, get out.”
The sound of the hems of her dresses swaying and the sound of her shoes crushing against the carpet faded away in an instant. I laughed as I watched one of them quickly grab a macaron from the table and leave.
When everyone left and the door closed, Her Highness finally turned her head to me. Judging from the way her lips were trembling, she seemed very excited.
Even in that excitement, she bit her lips tightly, not wanting to talk to someone like me, so I could tell how much she hated me.
What was contained in her gaze was a sharper and more sensitive hatred than what I was used to. I was honestly a little hurt.
Her Highness Princess Milliora’s voice was small and sharp, befitting her size.
“What are you doing now? Loire.”
I bowed my head politely and answered.
“I passed the two tests given by the head maid. Since you called me after that, I thought my duties had begun.”
“Who? You as a maid?”
Milliora seemed to be unable to bear me. It was time to step aside.
“The tea party is over, so shall we step aside now?”
“Ha!”
I left the reception room just like that.
In the anteroom, Eria was standing there looking at me with fearful eyes.
I headed straight to my room. Then I collapsed on the bed and stared at the ceiling. The manners and behavior of a noble lady were as tiring as the insult of being an illegitimate child.
I felt bad.
I knew why she didn’t curse at me or throw things at me. And why didn’t she actively insult me?
It was because I was an illegitimate child. Someone too dirty to talk to or touch.
Hatred and anger presuppose the recognition of the other person's existence. But I wasn't even that good to her.
I decided to abandon my perspective that I was only taking care of Misha, who was of a higher status.
At least Misha hit me, plotted against me, and tried to fight me. She didn't despise me to this extent.
When I think about it, this Lorisha Loire often pretended to be strong, but in the end, she always lost to reality. She lost her mother, gave up the academy, and couldn't even keep her job as a clerk at the herbal medicine store.
Considering that this self-destructive sense of inferiority was simply due to the silence of the Princess, she was indeed Tagar.
“Handmaiden, may I come in for a moment?”
It was Eria.
“Yes. Come in.”
She smiled awkwardly, watching my reaction. I wondered what that smile meant.
Was it a sense of solidarity as a weakling who was being persecuted by the Princess like me, or was it because I was an illegitimate child who was no different from the rest of us who were not nobles?
I was always an in-between person who didn’t fit in here or there, so I didn’t feel offended or anything because she didn’t treat me like a Loire.
Eria asked, watching my reaction.
“Are you okay, handmaiden?”
Handmaiden?
I smiled bitterly at the changed title. It seemed that my life-threatening behavior earlier had impressed at least one of the palace maids.
And strangely enough, that title made me feel better right away.
It didn’t completely cheer me up, but it did create the illusion that I hadn’t just screwed everything up earlier.
“Just... a little while ago...”
“It’s okay, of course. Hahaha.”
I laughed as if I had to deal with that kind of thing every morning before taking a shit, and Eria looked at me with a suspicious gaze before frowning even more.
“Maid, Her Highness the Princess is now in the First Prince’s Palace.”
“Huh?”
“I thought I should let you know. I will.”
Eria ran away as if she were running away.
The First Prince’s Palace? It seemed like Her Highness Milliora couldn’t hold it in any longer and exploded.
I lay back down on the bed and giggled.
“I guess I should sell herbs.”
***
Tagar lightly frowned at his sister, who was grumbling in front of him.
Even between his slightly thin bangs and his silver hair that slightly covered his eyes, his disgust for his sister was quite sharply revealed.
Maybe Tagar’s silver hair, reminiscent of cold metal, made anyone look like he despised her.
Lorisha Loire believed that the Princess’s extreme hatred and contempt for her stemmed from her birth, but that was not true.
Second Princess Miliora hated everyone, anyone, because she had been treated with such contempt by the most noble people in this land.
She simply did as she had been taught. Every time she practiced that learning, her soul was wounded from the point of no return.
She was still creating new scars for herself. Her eldest brother, Orl, did not even think of asking her what was wrong or why she was angry.
Instead, he simply frowned as if her presence before him was the problem.
However, like Orl, the pride and arrogance of Tagar flowed through Miliora’s veins.
She expressed her anger in the conviction that she was the most wronged and miserable person in the world.
“Brother, do you know how that bastard ruined my tea party today? If Brother had seen that, you would have dragged her out and hanged her! I was about to call the soldiers when and came to Brother. Please give her up.”
“Milliola. Your voice is loud.”
“I can’t believe that the third lion can insult me like this. He insulted Brother, too. No matter how much he was favored by His Majesty, how dare he think of putting his bastard in the palace? You have to be crazy...”
“Milliola.”
“Brother Orl!”
As Orl’s voice grew louder, Milliora also raised her voice. Her only weapon was to exploit her youngest daughter’s status.
Being a girl who would never grow up, crying and throwing tantrums was the only way she was allowed to exist.
She knew that if she tried to show off her dignity as a Princess or try to compete with her brothers, her safety would end that day.
“What did I do wrong to have an illegitimate child by my side? If she were here, no one would come to my tea party. Why does my eldest brother hate me so much?”
Orl opened his mouth, his face tired of just looking at her.
“You are the one who is humiliating me, Milliora.”
“Oh... Laverne!”
Orl’s single word frightened Milliora. The eldest son of Tagar was not someone she could touch.
He spoke slowly to Milliora, who was speechless.
“Even though she is an illegitimate child, he is the blood of the third lion. And she has already proven her ability.”
“What proof...”
“Did I hear wrong that she passed the very difficult test given by the head maid?”
But even she could not back down this time.
The tea party was precious to her. No matter how much she tried, she could not help but think that this was too much.
Milliora responded indignantly, snorting.
“If she passes the exam, will you hire even a street beggar as my maid?”
“Watch what you say.”
Orl’s voice was calm and composed. It was a voice that lacked spirit and had a sickly tone, but because of that, the threat hidden within it was more clearly revealed.
Support Novellate!
Comments
Post a Comment