Julia Helena's face darkened in an instant. Naturally, her father's letter didn't contain the information she'd expected.
From where Viscountess Panamere stood, she could not see the entire contents of the letter, but the one line he could see was this.
“Even if dirt gets into my eyes...”
'No, that won't work.'
Even though she couldn't read it, she could clearly see what it was about.
However, while the letters Marquis Synadenos sent to his vassals were mainly about matters that needed to be taken care of, the letters he sent to his daughter seemed to be mainly about taking care of the family's prestige.
"The Etruscan Kingdom's proposal can only belittle the Manchike Empire... It must never be accepted... The descendants of the Emperor of the Ratan Empire have the pride to protect..."
However, the words that could be glimpsed here and there were a bit stronger and stiffer than the usual vocabulary of Marquis Synadenos.
'He may be being strict only with his daughter, but... if it were the Marquis I know, this could be a deliberate ploy to provoke his daughter's pride and make her return home quickly.'
The Synadenos couple was confident that they knew each other very well, and the daughter was trying to manipulate her father by scratching him, and the father was trying to manipulate his daughter by scratching her.
The daughter's attempt to manipulate her father into remaining in Etruscan lands proved unsuccessful with this return order.
But even her father's attempts didn't seem to be very successful. That was evident from Julia Helena's face.
As she read the letter, the Princess's complexion gradually turned pale, then bluish, and finally, in the lower part, as blue as cobalt blue paint.
"The reason I accepted the marriage proposal of the Etruscan Kingdom and sent you to the Central Continent was largely because the person you were marrying, Prince Alfonso, was a man of integrity and faithfulness throughout the Jesak War.
Even leaving aside the fact that Cesare, the Grand Duke of Pisano, was the illegitimate son of Leo III, he had yet to prove anything...
Something bothered her. Her eyes felt dry. Julia Helena blinked and read the part that bothered her again.
...Cesare, Grand Duke of Pisano, was the illegitimate son of Leo III...
She cursed under her breath.
Shit.
Her father found out. He found out that Grand Duke Cesare was the King's illegitimate son.
There's no way her father will approve of this marriage now.
She dropped her hands without even reading the letter.
“...Your Highness.”
Irene affectionately called Julia Helena. While the marriage negotiations with the Etruscan kingdom had fallen through, Irene considered the repatriation order a blessing. While the marriage negotiations with Prince Alfonso had fallen through, the Grand Duke Cesare was no exception.
“Your Highness, as the Marquis said, it is not simply the Etruscan kingdom that has made this offer because they despise us.”
The Viscountess of Panamere, with his lofty pride in the Manchike, believed that Julia Helena's current disappointment was due to her belated realization of how ridiculously she had been treated by the Etruscan authorities.
Is there any reason to be so sad that the descendants of the Ratan Empire did not become part of the Etruscan royal court?
“There’s no need to feel embarrassed. Would they have known that Prince Alfonso was already married?”
A marriage proposal is just a marriage proposal. Once it's concluded and you're married, you're the same person from then on, but the fact that a marriage proposal was even discussed can be considered normal.
"Indeed, the Grand Duke Cesare they offered in your stead isn't quite on the same level as yours, Princess, but there's no need to feel hurt. It wasn't even a deal breaker. We just need to return to our home country quickly."
Of course, there was money to be returned, and for that reason, Irene herself couldn't return with him, but the Viscountess first tried to appease the princess. Right now, his most important priority was to get Julia Helena to follow him.
“Your Majesty, if we inquire about a ship right now, we can leave the Etruscan kingdom within two weeks at the latest...”
“Irene.”
Julia Helena called her in a thin voice. Her expression was somewhat unsettling.
“Yes, Your Highness?”
“That means...”
The Viscountess's only mistake was that she believed that Princess Julia Helena, as a worthy successor to the Manchike, was on her side.
"Yes?"
“So you’re saying that a ship to return home hasn’t been booked yet?”
“Yes. We have just received orders from our home country.”
She should have known how terrifying the hormones of a teenage girl can be. But a good student can never understand a bad girl.
Viscountess Panamere explained the Princess's plans for the coming days. From Julia Helena's perspective, this was tantamount to the Viscountess revealing her true intentions.
“We will keep this order secret for now, and first secure a ship to safely transport the Princess out of the Etruscan kingdom, and then report to His Majesty Leo III...”
The Princess's eyes lit up.
At that moment, Princess Julia Helena pushed aside Viscountess Irene of Panamere, ran into the hallway, and started running at full speed.
“Your Highness?! Your Highness?!”
Irene called her urgently from behind, but Julia Helena didn't turn around.
The direction the Princess was running towards was the Queen's quarters in Palazzo Carlo, from which she had just left.
It was only after watching the Princess's back as she walked away that the Viscountess Panamere realized what she was planning to do.
“Oh my god...!”
The Viscountess shouted.
“Everyone gather together!!”
She shouted at the assembled Manchike members until her throat was torn.
“Catch the Princess!! We must catch her before she enters the Etruscan Kingdom, especially the Queen’s Palace!”
- Boom, bang, bang! Boom, bang, bang!
A loud knock rang out on the door to the reception room where Rubina was staying. It was a tone completely out of place in the refined court life.
“What does that mean?”
Rubina, who was already upset because of the tea party that had just happened, was getting irritated.
"Don't our children manage strange people? Do we really need to hear such things from my quarters in the palace?"
“I’m sorry, Your Grace...”
Among the maids of honor to the late Grand Duchess Rubina, the Marchioness Cepinelli, who was in charge of conversation, simply stared blankly. Instead, Deborah, the junior maid in charge of everything else, simply nodded like an apologetic machine.
But even that apologetic apology only infuriated Rubina. Deborah seemed to be the type to cover up her incompetence with repeated apologies.
“Stop just bowing and go out there and take care of this! I’m going to die from the noise!”
Only then did Deborah rush out.
"Ugh. I'm telling you, no one does their job in a way they really enjoy."
The Marquise of Cepinelli, who herself did not lift a finger, nodded in agreement to the late Grand Duchess' words as if they were nothing.
“It is truly a kind thing that Lady Rubina, the former Grand Duchess, has such a kind maid.”
“If it were just her, I wouldn’t say anything. Seriously, I can’t live my life because of that old Isabella.”
Rubina swung a peacock feather fan at her face, blowing a gentle breeze. As the angle changed, the fan shimmered with a mysterious light. The Marchioness of Cepinelli was captivated by its beauty.
But Rubina didn't have time to show off their possessions. Even in winter, their heads were so hot they felt like fanning themselves.
“Hey, honey, do you know what he said?”
Rubina was about to tell the Marchioness de Cepinelli the details of her day's events when Deborah, already back, interrupted the conversation between the two ladies.
“I... The Princess... Your Grace...”
Rubina exploded in anger at seeing a maid who was so oblivious that she would kill herself to hear her words being interrupted.
“Hey! You! What are you trying to do with me right now...!”
But then, behind Deborah, who was still cowering, a young woman appeared. Rubina, upon seeing this, instantly shut her mouth. Only later did Deborah finally explain why she had interrupted the conversation between her superiors.
“Your Grace, we have a guest here...”
The person who appeared behind Deborah was the real "guest." Princess Julia Helena, her hair disheveled and breathing heavily, placed her hand on her chest and bowed.
It had only been a few minutes since they'd broken up, and what was happening all of a sudden? But Rubina's demeanor suddenly shifted, becoming warm and gentle.
"Princess, what's wrong? Are you hurt? What's going on here all of a sudden..."
Julia Helena interrupted Rubina and asked what she wanted to say.
"Your Excellency, Grand Duchess. When will His Majesty Leo III's court depart for the Taranto villa?"
Julia Helena's sudden question was the same as when Deborah had interrupted the former Grand Duchess, but this time, Rubina was not at all angry.
It wasn't a situation where she could get angry or anything.
Rubina had a feeling something big was happening.
“We have been waiting for your preparations, Your Highness.”
She answered with a welcoming smile.
“We can depart at any time as long as the Princess has decided.”
“Tomorrow too?”
“Tomorrow too.”
Rubina, who was perceptive, immediately knew that Julia Helena wasn't pressuring her to go sightseeing in Taranto.
'She got a call from home telling me to return home.'
Julia Helena, oblivious to the snake in front of her, spoke indirectly, trying to hide her true feelings.
"Then I think we can leave right away. I've been apologizing for delaying the Etruscan royal family's trip to Taranto because of me."
Nowhere in the Princess's words did she say, 'I have received my father's permission.'
'This little Princess has decided to disobey her father. What a pretty thing.'
Rubina smiled kindly, pretending not to know anything. "Yes?" Even if she had a clue what was going on, there was no need to pretend she knew everything about the world.
"Oh my, Taranto in early winter is so beautiful. I was worried Your Highness would miss it. I'm so glad you were able to witness this dazzling season."
She chattered about the scenery. Rubina, watching Julia Helena's reaction, talked about useless things like pearls, a Taranto specialty, grapes, and the dessert bread baba, a local specialty of the lower region.
The young Princess's gaze was unsteady, her body trembled, and she kept looking back. She was clearly worried.
"At this point, we must kidnap her and take her away," Rubina declared.
“Then I will issue a general mobilization order to the entire palace so that we can depart tomorrow evening.”
Normally, it would have taken about a week, even if they were to hurry, but if that's not possible, they can make it happen. Even if it's just conscripting donkeys and taking them all, they can somehow get it done.
At that moment, Julia Helena asked hesitantly.
“Ah, over there... Your Grace.”
From where Viscountess Panamere stood, she could not see the entire contents of the letter, but the one line he could see was this.
“Even if dirt gets into my eyes...”
'No, that won't work.'
Even though she couldn't read it, she could clearly see what it was about.
However, while the letters Marquis Synadenos sent to his vassals were mainly about matters that needed to be taken care of, the letters he sent to his daughter seemed to be mainly about taking care of the family's prestige.
"The Etruscan Kingdom's proposal can only belittle the Manchike Empire... It must never be accepted... The descendants of the Emperor of the Ratan Empire have the pride to protect..."
However, the words that could be glimpsed here and there were a bit stronger and stiffer than the usual vocabulary of Marquis Synadenos.
'He may be being strict only with his daughter, but... if it were the Marquis I know, this could be a deliberate ploy to provoke his daughter's pride and make her return home quickly.'
The Synadenos couple was confident that they knew each other very well, and the daughter was trying to manipulate her father by scratching him, and the father was trying to manipulate his daughter by scratching her.
The daughter's attempt to manipulate her father into remaining in Etruscan lands proved unsuccessful with this return order.
But even her father's attempts didn't seem to be very successful. That was evident from Julia Helena's face.
As she read the letter, the Princess's complexion gradually turned pale, then bluish, and finally, in the lower part, as blue as cobalt blue paint.
"The reason I accepted the marriage proposal of the Etruscan Kingdom and sent you to the Central Continent was largely because the person you were marrying, Prince Alfonso, was a man of integrity and faithfulness throughout the Jesak War.
Even leaving aside the fact that Cesare, the Grand Duke of Pisano, was the illegitimate son of Leo III, he had yet to prove anything...
Something bothered her. Her eyes felt dry. Julia Helena blinked and read the part that bothered her again.
...Cesare, Grand Duke of Pisano, was the illegitimate son of Leo III...
She cursed under her breath.
Shit.
Her father found out. He found out that Grand Duke Cesare was the King's illegitimate son.
There's no way her father will approve of this marriage now.
She dropped her hands without even reading the letter.
“...Your Highness.”
Irene affectionately called Julia Helena. While the marriage negotiations with the Etruscan kingdom had fallen through, Irene considered the repatriation order a blessing. While the marriage negotiations with Prince Alfonso had fallen through, the Grand Duke Cesare was no exception.
“Your Highness, as the Marquis said, it is not simply the Etruscan kingdom that has made this offer because they despise us.”
The Viscountess of Panamere, with his lofty pride in the Manchike, believed that Julia Helena's current disappointment was due to her belated realization of how ridiculously she had been treated by the Etruscan authorities.
Is there any reason to be so sad that the descendants of the Ratan Empire did not become part of the Etruscan royal court?
“There’s no need to feel embarrassed. Would they have known that Prince Alfonso was already married?”
A marriage proposal is just a marriage proposal. Once it's concluded and you're married, you're the same person from then on, but the fact that a marriage proposal was even discussed can be considered normal.
"Indeed, the Grand Duke Cesare they offered in your stead isn't quite on the same level as yours, Princess, but there's no need to feel hurt. It wasn't even a deal breaker. We just need to return to our home country quickly."
Of course, there was money to be returned, and for that reason, Irene herself couldn't return with him, but the Viscountess first tried to appease the princess. Right now, his most important priority was to get Julia Helena to follow him.
“Your Majesty, if we inquire about a ship right now, we can leave the Etruscan kingdom within two weeks at the latest...”
“Irene.”
Julia Helena called her in a thin voice. Her expression was somewhat unsettling.
“Yes, Your Highness?”
“That means...”
The Viscountess's only mistake was that she believed that Princess Julia Helena, as a worthy successor to the Manchike, was on her side.
"Yes?"
“So you’re saying that a ship to return home hasn’t been booked yet?”
“Yes. We have just received orders from our home country.”
She should have known how terrifying the hormones of a teenage girl can be. But a good student can never understand a bad girl.
Viscountess Panamere explained the Princess's plans for the coming days. From Julia Helena's perspective, this was tantamount to the Viscountess revealing her true intentions.
“We will keep this order secret for now, and first secure a ship to safely transport the Princess out of the Etruscan kingdom, and then report to His Majesty Leo III...”
The Princess's eyes lit up.
At that moment, Princess Julia Helena pushed aside Viscountess Irene of Panamere, ran into the hallway, and started running at full speed.
“Your Highness?! Your Highness?!”
Irene called her urgently from behind, but Julia Helena didn't turn around.
The direction the Princess was running towards was the Queen's quarters in Palazzo Carlo, from which she had just left.
It was only after watching the Princess's back as she walked away that the Viscountess Panamere realized what she was planning to do.
“Oh my god...!”
The Viscountess shouted.
“Everyone gather together!!”
She shouted at the assembled Manchike members until her throat was torn.
“Catch the Princess!! We must catch her before she enters the Etruscan Kingdom, especially the Queen’s Palace!”
***
- Boom, bang, bang! Boom, bang, bang!
A loud knock rang out on the door to the reception room where Rubina was staying. It was a tone completely out of place in the refined court life.
“What does that mean?”
Rubina, who was already upset because of the tea party that had just happened, was getting irritated.
"Don't our children manage strange people? Do we really need to hear such things from my quarters in the palace?"
“I’m sorry, Your Grace...”
Among the maids of honor to the late Grand Duchess Rubina, the Marchioness Cepinelli, who was in charge of conversation, simply stared blankly. Instead, Deborah, the junior maid in charge of everything else, simply nodded like an apologetic machine.
But even that apologetic apology only infuriated Rubina. Deborah seemed to be the type to cover up her incompetence with repeated apologies.
“Stop just bowing and go out there and take care of this! I’m going to die from the noise!”
Only then did Deborah rush out.
"Ugh. I'm telling you, no one does their job in a way they really enjoy."
The Marquise of Cepinelli, who herself did not lift a finger, nodded in agreement to the late Grand Duchess' words as if they were nothing.
“It is truly a kind thing that Lady Rubina, the former Grand Duchess, has such a kind maid.”
“If it were just her, I wouldn’t say anything. Seriously, I can’t live my life because of that old Isabella.”
Rubina swung a peacock feather fan at her face, blowing a gentle breeze. As the angle changed, the fan shimmered with a mysterious light. The Marchioness of Cepinelli was captivated by its beauty.
But Rubina didn't have time to show off their possessions. Even in winter, their heads were so hot they felt like fanning themselves.
“Hey, honey, do you know what he said?”
Rubina was about to tell the Marchioness de Cepinelli the details of her day's events when Deborah, already back, interrupted the conversation between the two ladies.
“I... The Princess... Your Grace...”
Rubina exploded in anger at seeing a maid who was so oblivious that she would kill herself to hear her words being interrupted.
“Hey! You! What are you trying to do with me right now...!”
But then, behind Deborah, who was still cowering, a young woman appeared. Rubina, upon seeing this, instantly shut her mouth. Only later did Deborah finally explain why she had interrupted the conversation between her superiors.
“Your Grace, we have a guest here...”
The person who appeared behind Deborah was the real "guest." Princess Julia Helena, her hair disheveled and breathing heavily, placed her hand on her chest and bowed.
It had only been a few minutes since they'd broken up, and what was happening all of a sudden? But Rubina's demeanor suddenly shifted, becoming warm and gentle.
"Princess, what's wrong? Are you hurt? What's going on here all of a sudden..."
Julia Helena interrupted Rubina and asked what she wanted to say.
"Your Excellency, Grand Duchess. When will His Majesty Leo III's court depart for the Taranto villa?"
Julia Helena's sudden question was the same as when Deborah had interrupted the former Grand Duchess, but this time, Rubina was not at all angry.
It wasn't a situation where she could get angry or anything.
Rubina had a feeling something big was happening.
“We have been waiting for your preparations, Your Highness.”
She answered with a welcoming smile.
“We can depart at any time as long as the Princess has decided.”
“Tomorrow too?”
“Tomorrow too.”
Rubina, who was perceptive, immediately knew that Julia Helena wasn't pressuring her to go sightseeing in Taranto.
'She got a call from home telling me to return home.'
Julia Helena, oblivious to the snake in front of her, spoke indirectly, trying to hide her true feelings.
"Then I think we can leave right away. I've been apologizing for delaying the Etruscan royal family's trip to Taranto because of me."
Nowhere in the Princess's words did she say, 'I have received my father's permission.'
'This little Princess has decided to disobey her father. What a pretty thing.'
Rubina smiled kindly, pretending not to know anything. "Yes?" Even if she had a clue what was going on, there was no need to pretend she knew everything about the world.
"Oh my, Taranto in early winter is so beautiful. I was worried Your Highness would miss it. I'm so glad you were able to witness this dazzling season."
She chattered about the scenery. Rubina, watching Julia Helena's reaction, talked about useless things like pearls, a Taranto specialty, grapes, and the dessert bread baba, a local specialty of the lower region.
The young Princess's gaze was unsteady, her body trembled, and she kept looking back. She was clearly worried.
"At this point, we must kidnap her and take her away," Rubina declared.
“Then I will issue a general mobilization order to the entire palace so that we can depart tomorrow evening.”
Normally, it would have taken about a week, even if they were to hurry, but if that's not possible, they can make it happen. Even if it's just conscripting donkeys and taking them all, they can somehow get it done.
At that moment, Julia Helena asked hesitantly.
“Ah, over there... Your Grace.”
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