It didn't matter if there were no misunderstandings. He had to be torn to pieces just for having Else. Not just once, but several times... The fact that he had taken her for granted as if she were his was unbearable.
His hands, trembling with anger, searched for the drawer. Then he put the dried leaves in the pipe and put them to his lips. As the leaves burned, the smoke that became thicker calmed his head. He felt the air with a lazy face. The servant of Count Loper attached to Lugdun closely watched Else’s movements.
What Else does? What she eats. How much she sleeps... He reported everything. It was the same when Else was being held by Milium. He suppressed the urge to rush over and beat Millium alive, and vowed to cut Roate out with the traitors who were tracing Philip’s bloodline. But...
He didn't know Else would react this way. He didn't know that the woman who had given birth to his children would push him away like this. He told her that he wouldn't let her remain in the position of a concubine like he had when he first scared her. He would make her shine by his side. And yet...
He bit his lip. A thin stream of blood came out.
"Your Majesty."
It wasiena's voice.
“Come in.”
The door opened. Sybil stared at her with narrowed eyebrows. Liena also narrowed her eyebrows in the smoke-filled office.
“They say that Count Grancel has not been seen at the Privy Council for two days.”
“You do all sorts of things.”
Sibyl laughed softly. Liena looked at her sullen face.
"Your Majesty."
There was no answer. A sharp shadow appeared on his handsome face. The man, who had been lost in thought with his chin resting on his hand, looked up at Liena. Liena clasped her hands together with a nervous expression.
“So what about national marriage?”
"Yes?"
“Didn’t you say that he was going to throw a tantrum to force his daughter into the position of the Queen?”
“Yes.”
“Get ready.”
"What..."
“He who shuts himself in his house and refuses to come out because the judgment was wrong is the Chairman of the Privy Council. We have to appease him a little until his term ends.”
“But what Your Majesty said this afternoon...”
“So, that means you have to appease them appropriately.”
Liena closed her lips. Sibyl pulled his lips with a lazy face. Liena stared at him blankly and opened her mouth with calm eyes.
“Does that mean you won’t take Lady Grancel as your Queen?”
The lips that had been slowly pulled back bit the pipe. The face that had lost its smile was frighteningly emotionless. The nobles said that the King had not changed for 13 years. Liena thought so too. No matter how much he was being escorted by his close associates, he had been treated as a slave for 13 years.
Especially Lady Roate. No, the years of being forced to serve and listen to the whining of that woman whose family lineage is now extinct were long and boring to the point that it could not be ignored. However, the restored King was as calm and peaceful as if he had spent the night before at the palace of Siena. His work was the same.
He stopped the deficit-making businesses he had been running and only carried out decent urban projects, turning the national finances into a surplus in just one year. It was not that he had no sense for politics and economics, but the relatives he had brought in for the sake of poor bloodlines and backgrounds were a problem. However, the King was the eldest son of the previous King and Queen. There was no flaw in his bloodline.
The King truly seemed to be born to live as a king. So, no matter how humble his life may be, his noble spirit never fades. He said that nothing had changed, but rather that he had become more mature. That is not wrong. However...
“What are you using Lady Grancel for?”
The King was mad. Fierce, ferocious. He was obsessed with one thing. He was burning with one thing. It seemed that only she existed in the world, valuable and meaningful. Even the throne seemed unimportant to him. It seemed that he had reclaimed the throne to have her all to himself. It was a blind desire. An unrefined desire. And so it knew no restraint, no limits.
Liena tried not to bite her lips. The King was smoking his pipe. His calm eyes were calm and serene. It was a face that contrasted with the objects rolling around on the floor. For the first time, Liena felt sorry for Else.
The Prince's name was Abelard. The Princess's name was Hermi. It was the first time since Maximan III, 130 years ago, that babies born to non-queen mothers had been granted the title of Prince and Princess. However, in Maximan III's case, he had never had a child from a Queen and had only had children from the wombs of three or four concubines, so it was inevitable that the most capable child among the concubines' children would inherit the throne. Therefore, he made the adult illegitimate children who had been given the title of Duke into Princes.
Moreover, his enemies were transferred to the Queen's enemies, and in reality, he was no different from the Queen's son. He also decided to use the Queen for political reasons, so he married the Queen's niece and gave his first daughter to her to be raised in the palace.
However, the twins' mother was the daughter of a family that had been destroyed by the King, and her husband was locked up in a prison under investigation. The family was originally so poor and impoverished that she could not ascend to the position of Queen, and even if she were the government, the child born from her would only be able to survive on the father's cheap sympathy, which was a pitiful situation.
The prince who succeeded to the throne after Maximian III also had a very noble mother. However, the mother of the twins who used the King's bedroom as a delivery room and who are still resting in the King's bedroom was the daughter and wife of a traitor who committed the unforgivable sin of treason. Yes. She was already someone's wife. However, the King...
“You said it was invalid.”
The ladies of the court, each covering their mouths with their luxurious fans, were muttering a few words. The most popular topic of conversation among them lately was the woman who had become the King's mistress. Even before she became the King's mistress, she had made known the name of a country estate that no one knew of anywhere in the kingdom by her beauty alone.
To put it in a nutshell, it was a country where the weather was gloomy 360 out of 365 days a year, and the only people there were shepherds and flocks of sheep. The woman who made the small estate on the edge of the border, which was not even known where it was attached to the kingdom, known even to the snobbish nobles of Siena, was the King's mistress.
How pretty must she have been for such a small-town noblewoman to have made Siena buzz once? However, the ladies of the court who had secretly laughed at her, thinking that she was just a country bumpkin, had come to an end yesterday morning. They were all frozen when they saw the woman who had appeared in the small garden holding the King's illegitimate children.
That woman is really...
'I never knew such beauty could exist in the world.'
This was the thought that Jules had when he first saw Else. Even though Jules was only fifteen years old, it was the same. The girl's green eyes, looking at the voluminous hem of the dress and the rose corsage as if they were amazed, came to mind. Else smiled shyly, saying that Jules' dress was gorgeous and beautiful. Jules was so amazed by the girl's beauty that he didn't even notice the simple dress she was wearing for the evening. Later, her pride was hurt, so she pretended that such a dress was nothing in the royal road, but her hurt pride never recovered.
“Come to think of it, Madame d’Opere is also a beauty. You said she was related to ‘that person’.”
The woman holding the golden silk fan glanced at Jules and spoke. Jules hesitated, not knowing what to say. Normally, she would have quickly retorted to such an obvious question, but Jules had been absent-minded lately.
“We are related on my mother’s side, but we are not close. We are also distant relatives.”
After the Roate were thus annihilated, Jules' mother was bedridden for a while. Even if the Baron Gerwen family was not affected by the chaos, wasn't Roate, a family close to treason, the most terrible crime in the kingdom, involved?
"Your Majesty."
It wasiena's voice.
“Come in.”
The door opened. Sybil stared at her with narrowed eyebrows. Liena also narrowed her eyebrows in the smoke-filled office.
“They say that Count Grancel has not been seen at the Privy Council for two days.”
“You do all sorts of things.”
Sibyl laughed softly. Liena looked at her sullen face.
"Your Majesty."
There was no answer. A sharp shadow appeared on his handsome face. The man, who had been lost in thought with his chin resting on his hand, looked up at Liena. Liena clasped her hands together with a nervous expression.
“So what about national marriage?”
"Yes?"
“Didn’t you say that he was going to throw a tantrum to force his daughter into the position of the Queen?”
“Yes.”
“Get ready.”
"What..."
“He who shuts himself in his house and refuses to come out because the judgment was wrong is the Chairman of the Privy Council. We have to appease him a little until his term ends.”
“But what Your Majesty said this afternoon...”
“So, that means you have to appease them appropriately.”
Liena closed her lips. Sibyl pulled his lips with a lazy face. Liena stared at him blankly and opened her mouth with calm eyes.
“Does that mean you won’t take Lady Grancel as your Queen?”
The lips that had been slowly pulled back bit the pipe. The face that had lost its smile was frighteningly emotionless. The nobles said that the King had not changed for 13 years. Liena thought so too. No matter how much he was being escorted by his close associates, he had been treated as a slave for 13 years.
Especially Lady Roate. No, the years of being forced to serve and listen to the whining of that woman whose family lineage is now extinct were long and boring to the point that it could not be ignored. However, the restored King was as calm and peaceful as if he had spent the night before at the palace of Siena. His work was the same.
He stopped the deficit-making businesses he had been running and only carried out decent urban projects, turning the national finances into a surplus in just one year. It was not that he had no sense for politics and economics, but the relatives he had brought in for the sake of poor bloodlines and backgrounds were a problem. However, the King was the eldest son of the previous King and Queen. There was no flaw in his bloodline.
The King truly seemed to be born to live as a king. So, no matter how humble his life may be, his noble spirit never fades. He said that nothing had changed, but rather that he had become more mature. That is not wrong. However...
“What are you using Lady Grancel for?”
The King was mad. Fierce, ferocious. He was obsessed with one thing. He was burning with one thing. It seemed that only she existed in the world, valuable and meaningful. Even the throne seemed unimportant to him. It seemed that he had reclaimed the throne to have her all to himself. It was a blind desire. An unrefined desire. And so it knew no restraint, no limits.
Liena tried not to bite her lips. The King was smoking his pipe. His calm eyes were calm and serene. It was a face that contrasted with the objects rolling around on the floor. For the first time, Liena felt sorry for Else.
***
The Prince's name was Abelard. The Princess's name was Hermi. It was the first time since Maximan III, 130 years ago, that babies born to non-queen mothers had been granted the title of Prince and Princess. However, in Maximan III's case, he had never had a child from a Queen and had only had children from the wombs of three or four concubines, so it was inevitable that the most capable child among the concubines' children would inherit the throne. Therefore, he made the adult illegitimate children who had been given the title of Duke into Princes.
Moreover, his enemies were transferred to the Queen's enemies, and in reality, he was no different from the Queen's son. He also decided to use the Queen for political reasons, so he married the Queen's niece and gave his first daughter to her to be raised in the palace.
However, the twins' mother was the daughter of a family that had been destroyed by the King, and her husband was locked up in a prison under investigation. The family was originally so poor and impoverished that she could not ascend to the position of Queen, and even if she were the government, the child born from her would only be able to survive on the father's cheap sympathy, which was a pitiful situation.
The prince who succeeded to the throne after Maximian III also had a very noble mother. However, the mother of the twins who used the King's bedroom as a delivery room and who are still resting in the King's bedroom was the daughter and wife of a traitor who committed the unforgivable sin of treason. Yes. She was already someone's wife. However, the King...
“You said it was invalid.”
The ladies of the court, each covering their mouths with their luxurious fans, were muttering a few words. The most popular topic of conversation among them lately was the woman who had become the King's mistress. Even before she became the King's mistress, she had made known the name of a country estate that no one knew of anywhere in the kingdom by her beauty alone.
To put it in a nutshell, it was a country where the weather was gloomy 360 out of 365 days a year, and the only people there were shepherds and flocks of sheep. The woman who made the small estate on the edge of the border, which was not even known where it was attached to the kingdom, known even to the snobbish nobles of Siena, was the King's mistress.
How pretty must she have been for such a small-town noblewoman to have made Siena buzz once? However, the ladies of the court who had secretly laughed at her, thinking that she was just a country bumpkin, had come to an end yesterday morning. They were all frozen when they saw the woman who had appeared in the small garden holding the King's illegitimate children.
That woman is really...
'I never knew such beauty could exist in the world.'
This was the thought that Jules had when he first saw Else. Even though Jules was only fifteen years old, it was the same. The girl's green eyes, looking at the voluminous hem of the dress and the rose corsage as if they were amazed, came to mind. Else smiled shyly, saying that Jules' dress was gorgeous and beautiful. Jules was so amazed by the girl's beauty that he didn't even notice the simple dress she was wearing for the evening. Later, her pride was hurt, so she pretended that such a dress was nothing in the royal road, but her hurt pride never recovered.
“Come to think of it, Madame d’Opere is also a beauty. You said she was related to ‘that person’.”
The woman holding the golden silk fan glanced at Jules and spoke. Jules hesitated, not knowing what to say. Normally, she would have quickly retorted to such an obvious question, but Jules had been absent-minded lately.
“We are related on my mother’s side, but we are not close. We are also distant relatives.”
After the Roate were thus annihilated, Jules' mother was bedridden for a while. Even if the Baron Gerwen family was not affected by the chaos, wasn't Roate, a family close to treason, the most terrible crime in the kingdom, involved?
Furthermore, her mother had been quite close to Rosaline, Else's mother, since they were young until the death of the previous Viscount Roate.
“I see. The Marchioness Orville said that she, Her Royal Highness the Duchess of Montana, and the Countess of Loper looked alike. Perhaps it was because they both belonged to the House of Guerre. They were truly beauties.”
The woman smiled and whispered quickly. Jules bit her lip. She tried not to glare at her. Unlike Else, Jules was used to such foolish fights. The moment she got angry at such a foolish trick, her reputation would hit rock bottom.
“I see. The Marchioness Orville said that she, Her Royal Highness the Duchess of Montana, and the Countess of Loper looked alike. Perhaps it was because they both belonged to the House of Guerre. They were truly beauties.”
The woman smiled and whispered quickly. Jules bit her lip. She tried not to glare at her. Unlike Else, Jules was used to such foolish fights. The moment she got angry at such a foolish trick, her reputation would hit rock bottom.
“It certainly seems that the Guerre family has good blood. Even the Countess of Loper here is said to be beautiful, just like her mother.”
A calm, polite voice penetrated the space between the woman and Jules. Jules calmed his breathing and flapped his fan lightly. The conversation turned to the story of Rosaline and Gretchen, the daughters of Baron Geronimo, and the courtship of the Marquis of Aperato.
Rosaline was also once a great beauty, and suitors flocked to the shabby castle of the Gerjon family. Among them was the Marquis of Aperato, the husband of Princess Gretchen. There was even a story that the Duchess of Montana, or Else, inherited her beauty and lured the most noble and high-ranking man in the kingdom, who happened to be His Majesty the King.
It was disgusting to see women born in noble families speaking dirty words with such a refined tone. Jules got up, making excuses that she had a headache. It wasn't a lie, because she had been getting headaches occasionally recently.
Perhaps it was because of the stupid conversations of those stupid women and the fights between the ladies who would burst out when bored, but the biggest reason was childbirth. Jules had recently given birth to a daughter. She was the first child with her husband, Count Loper, and she was so pretty and lovely that she would not mind putting a penny in her eyes. However, she suffered from postpartum pain for a while, and it was very difficult.
“Countess Loper?”
She was the head maid. She was the chief maid of honor to the previous Queen, and was also the King's distant cousin, and held the high office of Countess of Griswin. The woman looked Jules up and down, then opened her mouth.
“Follow me.”
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