Episode 101. The Idle Maid
“...”
“Hey, I know that Her Highness Milliora relies on you much more than on me.”
“Ahem.”
“Please tell me, yes?”
I turned to Lord Rond, feeling like I was going to have fun since I was already having fun.
He looked at the distant mountains, and when I became too aggressive, he finally opened his mouth.
However, his words were very abbreviated.
“Not long after I was assigned to the Princess’s palace, there was a picnic for the royal family. On the way back from there, there was an accident.”
“Oh my gosh!”
“His Highness loosened the axle of Her Highness’s carriage, causing the wheel to come off, and the carriage crashed into the road.”
“Huh..?”
Lord Rond spoke so calmly that I couldn’t immediately understand the content. No matter how much of a hateful little sister she is, how can you call such a thing a joke? Is Lord Rond in his right mind?
Even after time passed, Tagar could not understand.
“No one would come forward, so I pushed the carriage to save her. If Her Highness does not hate me, that is probably why.”
“Huh! Wasn’t it when you could barely move due to Amata’s injuries?”
Lord Rond muttered, slightly frowning as if remembering the pain of that time.
“The injuries got worse then. The infirmary said there was nothing I could do, so I had no choice but to grow and endure.”
A knight who ruins his body even more in the palace, where everyone believes he is safe, not on the battlefield...
“You didn’t tell anyone about that?”
“The maid gave me medicine.”
Lord Rond remained indifferent, and I felt solemn.
That is loyalty.
Now that I think about it, I have never been unfaithful to her, but Lord Rond’s attitude was different. Such devotion beyond promises and responsibilities had a special name.
I thought I finally understood why Prince Grayon had criticized me.
I asked in vain.
“Why did His Highness do that?”
“I heard that Her Highness Milliora accidentally ate the cookies prepared for Her Majesty.”
“...”
I exhaled slowly, astonished.
Lord Rond muttered heavily.
“The royal family is different from ordinary families in many ways, maid.”
I can definitely see that it is different from ordinary families. It just makes me angry.
***
In the clear chirping of birds in the distance, Orl drank some medicinal tea that was good for his condition and opened the newspaper.
Soon, he put down the teacup that was shaking with his fingers.
“...The truth about the self-destruction of the high seas pirates that had been infamous for decades has been revealed. The trash of the sea was dealt with by the heroic descendants of the great Tagar royal family.
The hero of the Amata War still lives on as a hero of the empire, and the people of the empire are delighted and delighted.”
“Your Majesty, oh!”
When the maid reported urgently, the Empress had already entered with angry steps.
She looked at Orl’s trembling hands and the newspaper and spoke fearfully.
“Are you okay, Orl? Has your condition worsened?”
“Ahem...”
The Empress called someone to bring a sedative and tried to calm down her only beloved son in the world.
“It seems Prince Kydel couldn’t stand to see his father in debt. But Orl, the throne is not obtained through the popularity of the people. This is nothing, so don’t lose your composure.”
“Isn’t this all because of that woman? It’s because a lowly person has come out of nowhere and attacked the Kydel family, and that’s how things turned out!”
The Empress stared at Orl, who was trembling, and then spoke as if she was concluding.
“Don’t worry. The Ankart family will take responsibility for this.”
Orl asked in an excited voice.
The doubt floating in his eyes was uneasy and dangerous.
“Your Majesty, is this true? Did Grayon and Locard go out to the high seas alone and destroy a pirate group? No navy has ever succeeded in doing that.”
“Orl. What Grayon did was treason. It was an illegal military action on the high seas.”
But Orl threw the newspaper down.
“Your Majesty, the people call him the hero of the empire! Who else has been called that before, Your Majesty?”
The tea from the teacup that had been caught on the newspaper was dripping down the table, making a sloshing sound.
Unable to control her excitement, the Empress got up and left.
In the meantime, the servant who had come inside was too scared to open his mouth when he saw Orl.
“What!”
“The Lady of Kalin Ankart has requested permission to enter the palace. Your Highness, Prince Orl!”
Orl shouted.
“Let Ankart rot on her pile of money!”
***
In the waiting area for the carriage of the Third Palace, Kalin was waiting anxiously for permission to enter the palace.
And Locard and Grayon were looking down at Kalin from the balcony of the Third Palace.
Grayon said with a sneer,
“Would you like to go? I’ll yield.”
“Willingly.”
Locard smiled faintly and went down.
He watched the servant of the First Prince’s Palace go to Kalin and deliberately overheard their conversation from outside the waiting area.
When the servant approached Kalin’s carriage, she was reading a newspaper that the coachman had bought for her inside the carriage.
Her face quickly turned pale.
‘How can this be...!’
The servant of the First Prince’s Palace knocked on the carriage door and said.
“Lady Kalin Ankart, you are not permitted to enter the palace. Please go back.”
Kalin’s lips twitched in shock. Then the servant added,
“His Highness Orl is in a bad mood right now. Well then.”
Unless Orl had ordered him to go and deliver it literally, the servant had no reason to say, ‘Go and rot on a pile of money.’
Kalin had turned Prince Grayon into an enemy to become Prince Orl’s ‘close friend,’ but now she found herself abandoned by both sides due to Locard’s counterattack.
After the servant left, Kalin clenched her trembling hands into fists. At that moment, Locard approached her with a smile.
Kalin felt miserable when she saw Locard’s relaxed face that had appeared just then.
“Lady Ankart. What are you doing here at this early hour?”
“...!”
Kalin was unable to utter a single word and just chewed the flesh in her mouth.
Locard was smiling charmingly as usual, but his purple eyes were emitting a blue light of anger.
Kalin would rather have him curse her than receive such a gaze.
But at the same time, anger was rising.
'No, I can't give up here.'
Kalin clenched her fists so tightly that her nails dug into her palms and changed her expression.
She spoke as if she were glad to see Locard.
"Now we are comrades known to the entire empire. Prince Kydel."
"..."
"Because our Ankarts lent 'Red Tears' to His Highness Grayon's great cause of defeating the pirates of the high seas."
She held up a newspaper as if it were proof.
"Miss Ankart."
"His Highness threatened me and then abandoned me. Please tell His Highness Grayon. Even if he doesn't trust me, I think my revenge will be useful."
Locard slowly savored Kalin's eager eyes, her stiff expression, and her trembling lips.
His voice was very deep and gentle. He knew how to spit out the cruelest words gently.
“I never lost my master’s trust even during my scandals, but your affair was too dangerous. Miss Kalin Ankart.”
“...”
“Then, I’ll meet you at the Academy.”
Kalin gnashed her teeth as she watched Locard leisurely walk away from the palace as if it were his home.
She slammed the carriage door and shouted.
“Run at full speed! We must meet my father immediately.”
***
When Kalin arrived at Ankart’s, the servants’ expressions were all sullen.
As she hurriedly entered the office, the Viscount, who was holding his head in his hands, shouted.
“The administrator suddenly stopped my investment rights purchase. He demanded that I submit all the documents proving my ability to pay! Don’t they fear His Highness Prince Orl?”
“...”
“These guys want bribes! They know I won’t be able to pay them by the deadline if they keep preparing all that. Kalin, go to the palace and see His Highness Prince Orl right now!”
“Enough!”
“Go and tell His Highness Prince Orl to scold those administrators!”
“Father, stop!”
At Kalin’s shouting, the Viscount finally met his gaze.
“That was His Highness’ order. I’m not asking for a bribe.”
“What... what? But you threw Prince Kydel into the abyss! Then His Highness Grayon lost his wings, too, so why are you treating us so badly?”
She chewed her lip and muttered,
“It’s because you made fun of Tagar.”
Kalin returned to her room and sat down in her chair, but the fury on her body stood on end.
The contemptuous gaze of Locard that she had seen earlier felt like it was cutting her over and over again.
“Tagar? Are you a royal family member? Those people are more greedy and mean than anyone else!”
The only card she had was stolen by Prince Orl. Furthermore, Prince Kydel’s immediate counterattack was so great that she had nothing more to say.
The shame was more terrifying than the crushing sense of defeat.
‘If only I had endured it a little longer, or at least discussed Prince Orl’s threats with Prince Grayon!’
Kalin eventually fell to her knees and burst into tears. The maids came running at the sound of her crying, but they knocked on the locked door and left.
After several hours, Kalin raised her head with a face that seemed dry and cracked and muttered,
“This is all because of Prince Kydel.”
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