Roxana's expression, previously pulsing with anger, froze at Linel's single word.
"Do you really... remember...?"
Roxana's voice trembled slightly.
"It's not clear, but I think I vaguely remember the situation back then."
"!"
"I think I'll remember everything soon,"
He replied with a hopeful voice.
"Oh, that's... fortunately."
Contrary to her words, Roxana's expression resembled someone who had heard desperate news.
After my lips became his dessert, coincidentally, everyone else began eating dessert, and the servants, even taking the time to bring out warm tea, brought out warm tea.
The temperature in the banquet hall was as polarized as Linel and me.
Roxana and the three concubines of the Principality of Aklatto blushed and blushed, as if they had witnessed an affair, but the other concubines looked as if they were observing someone else's love life.
Even in their gazes, there was barely any hint of envy or jealousy.
I tried to guess the reason.
Catherine was enjoying occasional trysts with Count Ethan, Rosie was in love with Prince Norton, and Melanie seemed to have given up on the Emperor's love.
And Pecilini, well... was constantly preoccupied with food.
Their reasons might have been different, but in any case, the existing concubines seemed to be taking this situation lightly.
Or perhaps they had already witnessed it before and were indifferent.
Suddenly, a retching sound was heard throughout the banquet hall.
“Ugh... Ugh!”
Pecilini choked on her food as she ate too quickly, pounding her chest with her fist, coughing and gagging repeatedly.
“Tsk, slow down. There’s no one to steal it from you.”
Melanie patted Pecilini on the back and clicked her tongue, and Rosie quickly handed her a glass of water.
“Pecilini, did you eat something bad?”
Linel asked, sounding worried.
Pecilini shook her head, covering her mouth with her hand, looking at perplexed expression.
“Oh, no, Your Majesty.”
“Your Majesty is here. What kind of rudeness is this?”
Roxana’s sharp tone instantly chilled the atmosphere.
“Empress. Pecilini didn’t do it on purpose. He seemed to have just enjoyed the food you prepared, so please don’t scold her too much.”
“Yes, Your Majesty.”
He spoke reassuringly, and Roxana lowered her gaze slightly and closed her mouth.
I watched Roxana’s eyes roll secretly toward Pecilini.
He began to eat a piece of cake right in front of him.
His knees brushed against mine several times under the table.
Then he placed a hand on my thigh.
I felt like the heat in my stomach wouldn’t build up until I went to bed tonight.
“I guess I should get up now.”
He said the last state council meeting remained and stood up.
Everyone stood up with regretful expressions to see him off.
The concubines saw Linel off in the lobby and then said goodbye to Roxana.
“Pesilini, please take a moment to see me.”
Just as they were about to disperse towards the carriage they had come in, Roxana called out to Pecilini.
She looked back at Roxana with a bewildered expression.
“Um, you mean me?”
“Yes.”
Roxana looked Pecilini up and down with a displeased look.
“What is it...”
Pecilini asked Roxana with a frightened face.
“I saw you had a cold earlier. My personal doctor has been stationed at the Empress’s Palace recently. Please go see him and then go.”
“Yes?! Oh, no, Your Majesty! I just ate too quickly and got a little upset... It’s not like I had diarrhea!”
Pecilini took a step back in surprise.
Something... is wrong with both of them?
It was strange that Roxana was showing excessive kindness without answering, and Pecilini, who seemed to be just accepting the favor but jumped up and waved his hand as if he was being dragged to the guillotine, was also strange.
“As the Empress, isn’t it my job to look after the health of the concubines? Don’t refuse and follow me. I’ll do the examination in the drawing room.”
Roxana ordered her, then turned around and went up the stairs first.
“Don’t be so nervous. I’m just getting a checkup, isn’t it?”
Rosie reassured Pecilini, whose face had turned pale, as she rubbed her back.
“Yeah, is there anything wrong?”
Perhaps because Pecilini looked so pitiful, Catherine, who was usually cold, spoke up.
“Excuse me, Your Highness Pecilini. Have you really never served His Majesty?”
Yulina demanded, almost as if to question Pecilini, who had barely mustered the courage to take a step forward.
“What do you mean?”
Pecilini paused and turned to Yulina.
“Didn’t you just throw up at the banquet? You were eating perfectly fine the entire time, and then suddenly, when His Majesty arrived?”
“What are you talking about? Are you afraid that Your Highness Pecilini is pregnant? Hahaha!”
Melanie stared at Yulina’s face with a dumbfounded expression, then burst into sarcasm,
“You don’t even know Our Majesty~”
She hummed, as if singing.
“My, my feet won’t move,”
Pecilini said, her voice trembling and her breathing heavy.
“Then I’ll go with you!”
Melanie said, supporting her arm. Pecilini nodded with a grateful look in her eyes.
“No. I have orders to serve only Your Highness Pecilini.”
Roxana's knight, Hetor, stepped forward to stop Melanie. As the large Hetor blocked Melanie's path, Melanie jerked her head back and shouted at him,
"Get out of the way!"
"Your Highness Melanie, please return to your quarters."
"Hah, is being handsome enough?"
... What was he suddenly saying?
Hetor, startled by Melanie's words, looked around.
But there were no handsome men around.
Hetor wasn't particularly handsome, so he couldn't figure out what Melanie was talking about.
Observing the expressions of the other concubines, it seemed they all shared his thoughts. Seeing Melanie's gaze fixed on him, Hetor finally opened his tightly closed lips and asked very cautiously,
"Are you talking about me?"
"Then who else is there besides you? You know, but you pretend not to know, how arrogant!"
Melanie's words sent everyone in the lobby into a deeper and deeper confusion.
“Look, Melanie seems a bit strange... Couldn’t you let Melanie and Pecilini meet with Her Majesty’s personal doctor?”
I earnestly pleaded with Hetor.
Hetor looked briefly hesitant, but shook his head in refusal.
“I’m sorry, but I was ordered to attend to Her Highness Pecilini alone. As Your Highness Zelda said, Her Highness Melanie’s condition seems to be serious, so please go to the residence and call a palace doctor.”
Hetor looked at me, then turned to Melanie and finished.
“Come to think of it, I think I’ve had a cold too. My stomach hurts too much to go to the residence. I think I should get examined with Her Highness Pecilini, so get out of the way.”
Melanie began to stubbornly insist, her expression growing increasingly irritated.
She linked arms with Pecilini and pushed Hetor’s arm, which stood firmly in front of her, aside.
But the sturdy Hetor was unlikely to budge.
“This will be embarrassing!”
Hetor blocked Melanie’s path again as she passed him and headed for the stairs.
“I will speak to the Empress myself. Is that alright?”
“Your Highness, I apologize in advance, I will be rude for a moment.”
“W-what? What do you mean by rude... Gyaaaaah!”
Oh my god.
Hetor lifted Melanie into his arms and trudged towards the entrance of the Empress’s palace.
“My goodness, how could this be! That savage not throw Her Highness Melanie down the stairs, would he?”
Rosie ran out in surprise, and the other concubines and I hurried after her.
“How dare you touch my body, which even His Majesty has never touched?!”
Oh, Melanie. There was no need to say something like that...
Melanie struggled in Hetor’s arms, pounding his shoulders and chest with her small fists.
It was a weak protest, hard to tell if it was a slap or a massage.
“Just because you’re strong and fit, does that mean you can just lift someone up like this?”
Melanie’s body almost turned once in Hetor’s arms.
“I’m going to put you down now, so stay still. If you keep doing this, you’ll cause an accident.”
Hetor couldn’t figure out the right moment to put her down because the weak-bodied girl was moving around so much.
Melanie should have been standing on her own, but for some reason, even if he lowered her, she wouldn’t even think of doing so.
“I can’t help it. Please forgive my rudeness again.”
“Oh my? Where are you going now, you savage!”
“Open the door of the carriage that Her Highness Melanie came in!”
Hetor descended the stairs and shouted toward the lined carriages.
At his booming voice, the driver of our carriage quickly opened the carriage door.
Rosie and I hurried down the stairs.
Meanwhile, Hetor, holding Melanie in his arms, entered the carriage and seemed to place her on the carriage seat.
“Hetor! I will never forgive you!”
“The Empress will not forgive you if she finds out about your turmoil. So think carefully before you act.”
Hetor’s weary voice, tinged with frustration, leaked out of the carriage.
Melanie continued to lash out at him, undiminished.
“Ahhh! You will pay for this disgrace with your family’s honor... gasp!”
Melanie’s voice suddenly stopped.
And Hetor’s voice also stopped.
Why are they acting like this all of a sudden?
Rosie and I quickly approached the carriage.
Hetor’s body, half-buried inside, slowly slipped out.
“Hey, you didn’t... strangle Melanie, did you?”
I asked cautiously, nodding inside the carriage.
Hetor didn’t respond, just nodded with a stern expression and darted up the stairs.
“Oh, what should I do? He must have really killed her because she was acting up so much!”
Rosie hurried into the carriage.
Fortunately, Melanie was lying on the carriage seat with her eyes open, looking up at the ceiling.
“Melanie, are you okay?”
I asked, gently shaking her shoulder.
“Maybe...”
Melanie replied with a blank expression.
“Your Highness, did that Hetor hit you?”
“Maybe...”
She gave the same answer to Rosie’s question.
“What? Really? Where! Where did he hit you?”
I forcibly pulled Melanie up and sat her down.
“Here.”
She pointed to her lips with her hand.
“...Your lips?”
The location was so odd that I asked again.
Then Melanie nodded, as if she had come to her senses, and began to sob.
“E-even if it was an accident... a kiss is a kiss, right?”
Melanie kept playing with her lips.
Then Rosie sighed so hard that the ground sank and asked,
“How wonderful... isn’t that Your Highness Melanie’s first kiss in her life?!”
“...and the other person is Roxana’s faithful dog!”
I pressed my temples and looked at Melanie with a pitiful gaze.
“It was an accident, so forget it. It’s better to forget bad luck quickly.”
I offered my sincere condolences.
Looking at Melanie’s face again... what was it?
It looked like two pomegranates were growing on each cheek.
“Melanie, did he hit you in the face, did he?”
“She's definitely pregnant, Your Majesty!”
It was the fifth time the same examination result had been given.
Roxana’s jaw clenched.
Although she had suspected it from the banquet hall, she found it difficult to control her emotions when she heard Pecilini's pregnancy from the attending doctor.
"Are you sure?"
"Yes, Your Majesty. It wouldn't have been certain if it had been early, but I think Madame Pecilini has been pregnant for well over three months."
There seemed to be no need for Pecilini to confirm it out loud.
Her expression already spoke the truth.
"Go ahead."
Roxana glared at Pecilini, and Pecilini, thinking she was talking to her, rose from the sofa, her legs trembling.
"Doctor, I meant you!"
Roxana shouted, and Pecilini flinched and sank back onto the sofa.
"Yes, yes, Your Majesty. I will be leaving now."
The drawing room fell into a dead silence with Roxana's attending doctor gone.
"Hiccup, hiccup!"
Pecilini began to hiccup in fear.
"What should I do? If it's revealed that he's Prince Tesla's child, he'll be sentenced to death for attempting to murder Her Highness Zelda! And on top of that, both I and the child will be in danger...!"
Pecilini began to rack her brain.
"First, I have to get out of the Empress's Palace safely!"
The thought didn't last long.
Pecilini raised her head, placing both hands on her stomach.
"H-Her Majesty... Ah, I haven't told His Majesty yet..."
"...W, what?!"
"Do you really... remember...?"
Roxana's voice trembled slightly.
"It's not clear, but I think I vaguely remember the situation back then."
"!"
"I think I'll remember everything soon,"
He replied with a hopeful voice.
"Oh, that's... fortunately."
Contrary to her words, Roxana's expression resembled someone who had heard desperate news.
After my lips became his dessert, coincidentally, everyone else began eating dessert, and the servants, even taking the time to bring out warm tea, brought out warm tea.
The temperature in the banquet hall was as polarized as Linel and me.
Roxana and the three concubines of the Principality of Aklatto blushed and blushed, as if they had witnessed an affair, but the other concubines looked as if they were observing someone else's love life.
Even in their gazes, there was barely any hint of envy or jealousy.
I tried to guess the reason.
Catherine was enjoying occasional trysts with Count Ethan, Rosie was in love with Prince Norton, and Melanie seemed to have given up on the Emperor's love.
And Pecilini, well... was constantly preoccupied with food.
Their reasons might have been different, but in any case, the existing concubines seemed to be taking this situation lightly.
Or perhaps they had already witnessed it before and were indifferent.
Suddenly, a retching sound was heard throughout the banquet hall.
“Ugh... Ugh!”
Pecilini choked on her food as she ate too quickly, pounding her chest with her fist, coughing and gagging repeatedly.
“Tsk, slow down. There’s no one to steal it from you.”
Melanie patted Pecilini on the back and clicked her tongue, and Rosie quickly handed her a glass of water.
“Pecilini, did you eat something bad?”
Linel asked, sounding worried.
Pecilini shook her head, covering her mouth with her hand, looking at perplexed expression.
“Oh, no, Your Majesty.”
“Your Majesty is here. What kind of rudeness is this?”
Roxana’s sharp tone instantly chilled the atmosphere.
“Empress. Pecilini didn’t do it on purpose. He seemed to have just enjoyed the food you prepared, so please don’t scold her too much.”
“Yes, Your Majesty.”
He spoke reassuringly, and Roxana lowered her gaze slightly and closed her mouth.
I watched Roxana’s eyes roll secretly toward Pecilini.
He began to eat a piece of cake right in front of him.
His knees brushed against mine several times under the table.
Then he placed a hand on my thigh.
I felt like the heat in my stomach wouldn’t build up until I went to bed tonight.
“I guess I should get up now.”
He said the last state council meeting remained and stood up.
Everyone stood up with regretful expressions to see him off.
***
The concubines saw Linel off in the lobby and then said goodbye to Roxana.
“Pesilini, please take a moment to see me.”
Just as they were about to disperse towards the carriage they had come in, Roxana called out to Pecilini.
She looked back at Roxana with a bewildered expression.
“Um, you mean me?”
“Yes.”
Roxana looked Pecilini up and down with a displeased look.
“What is it...”
Pecilini asked Roxana with a frightened face.
“I saw you had a cold earlier. My personal doctor has been stationed at the Empress’s Palace recently. Please go see him and then go.”
“Yes?! Oh, no, Your Majesty! I just ate too quickly and got a little upset... It’s not like I had diarrhea!”
Pecilini took a step back in surprise.
Something... is wrong with both of them?
It was strange that Roxana was showing excessive kindness without answering, and Pecilini, who seemed to be just accepting the favor but jumped up and waved his hand as if he was being dragged to the guillotine, was also strange.
“As the Empress, isn’t it my job to look after the health of the concubines? Don’t refuse and follow me. I’ll do the examination in the drawing room.”
Roxana ordered her, then turned around and went up the stairs first.
“Don’t be so nervous. I’m just getting a checkup, isn’t it?”
Rosie reassured Pecilini, whose face had turned pale, as she rubbed her back.
“Yeah, is there anything wrong?”
Perhaps because Pecilini looked so pitiful, Catherine, who was usually cold, spoke up.
“Excuse me, Your Highness Pecilini. Have you really never served His Majesty?”
Yulina demanded, almost as if to question Pecilini, who had barely mustered the courage to take a step forward.
“What do you mean?”
Pecilini paused and turned to Yulina.
“Didn’t you just throw up at the banquet? You were eating perfectly fine the entire time, and then suddenly, when His Majesty arrived?”
“What are you talking about? Are you afraid that Your Highness Pecilini is pregnant? Hahaha!”
Melanie stared at Yulina’s face with a dumbfounded expression, then burst into sarcasm,
“You don’t even know Our Majesty~”
She hummed, as if singing.
“My, my feet won’t move,”
Pecilini said, her voice trembling and her breathing heavy.
“Then I’ll go with you!”
Melanie said, supporting her arm. Pecilini nodded with a grateful look in her eyes.
“No. I have orders to serve only Your Highness Pecilini.”
Roxana's knight, Hetor, stepped forward to stop Melanie. As the large Hetor blocked Melanie's path, Melanie jerked her head back and shouted at him,
"Get out of the way!"
"Your Highness Melanie, please return to your quarters."
"Hah, is being handsome enough?"
... What was he suddenly saying?
Hetor, startled by Melanie's words, looked around.
But there were no handsome men around.
Hetor wasn't particularly handsome, so he couldn't figure out what Melanie was talking about.
Observing the expressions of the other concubines, it seemed they all shared his thoughts. Seeing Melanie's gaze fixed on him, Hetor finally opened his tightly closed lips and asked very cautiously,
"Are you talking about me?"
"Then who else is there besides you? You know, but you pretend not to know, how arrogant!"
Melanie's words sent everyone in the lobby into a deeper and deeper confusion.
“Look, Melanie seems a bit strange... Couldn’t you let Melanie and Pecilini meet with Her Majesty’s personal doctor?”
I earnestly pleaded with Hetor.
Hetor looked briefly hesitant, but shook his head in refusal.
“I’m sorry, but I was ordered to attend to Her Highness Pecilini alone. As Your Highness Zelda said, Her Highness Melanie’s condition seems to be serious, so please go to the residence and call a palace doctor.”
Hetor looked at me, then turned to Melanie and finished.
“Come to think of it, I think I’ve had a cold too. My stomach hurts too much to go to the residence. I think I should get examined with Her Highness Pecilini, so get out of the way.”
Melanie began to stubbornly insist, her expression growing increasingly irritated.
She linked arms with Pecilini and pushed Hetor’s arm, which stood firmly in front of her, aside.
But the sturdy Hetor was unlikely to budge.
“This will be embarrassing!”
Hetor blocked Melanie’s path again as she passed him and headed for the stairs.
“I will speak to the Empress myself. Is that alright?”
“Your Highness, I apologize in advance, I will be rude for a moment.”
“W-what? What do you mean by rude... Gyaaaaah!”
Oh my god.
Hetor lifted Melanie into his arms and trudged towards the entrance of the Empress’s palace.
“My goodness, how could this be! That savage not throw Her Highness Melanie down the stairs, would he?”
Rosie ran out in surprise, and the other concubines and I hurried after her.
“How dare you touch my body, which even His Majesty has never touched?!”
Oh, Melanie. There was no need to say something like that...
Melanie struggled in Hetor’s arms, pounding his shoulders and chest with her small fists.
It was a weak protest, hard to tell if it was a slap or a massage.
“Just because you’re strong and fit, does that mean you can just lift someone up like this?”
Melanie’s body almost turned once in Hetor’s arms.
“I’m going to put you down now, so stay still. If you keep doing this, you’ll cause an accident.”
Hetor couldn’t figure out the right moment to put her down because the weak-bodied girl was moving around so much.
Melanie should have been standing on her own, but for some reason, even if he lowered her, she wouldn’t even think of doing so.
“I can’t help it. Please forgive my rudeness again.”
“Oh my? Where are you going now, you savage!”
“Open the door of the carriage that Her Highness Melanie came in!”
Hetor descended the stairs and shouted toward the lined carriages.
At his booming voice, the driver of our carriage quickly opened the carriage door.
Rosie and I hurried down the stairs.
Meanwhile, Hetor, holding Melanie in his arms, entered the carriage and seemed to place her on the carriage seat.
“Hetor! I will never forgive you!”
“The Empress will not forgive you if she finds out about your turmoil. So think carefully before you act.”
Hetor’s weary voice, tinged with frustration, leaked out of the carriage.
Melanie continued to lash out at him, undiminished.
“Ahhh! You will pay for this disgrace with your family’s honor... gasp!”
Melanie’s voice suddenly stopped.
And Hetor’s voice also stopped.
Why are they acting like this all of a sudden?
Rosie and I quickly approached the carriage.
Hetor’s body, half-buried inside, slowly slipped out.
“Hey, you didn’t... strangle Melanie, did you?”
I asked cautiously, nodding inside the carriage.
Hetor didn’t respond, just nodded with a stern expression and darted up the stairs.
“Oh, what should I do? He must have really killed her because she was acting up so much!”
Rosie hurried into the carriage.
Fortunately, Melanie was lying on the carriage seat with her eyes open, looking up at the ceiling.
“Melanie, are you okay?”
I asked, gently shaking her shoulder.
“Maybe...”
Melanie replied with a blank expression.
“Your Highness, did that Hetor hit you?”
“Maybe...”
She gave the same answer to Rosie’s question.
“What? Really? Where! Where did he hit you?”
I forcibly pulled Melanie up and sat her down.
“Here.”
She pointed to her lips with her hand.
“...Your lips?”
The location was so odd that I asked again.
Then Melanie nodded, as if she had come to her senses, and began to sob.
“E-even if it was an accident... a kiss is a kiss, right?”
Melanie kept playing with her lips.
Then Rosie sighed so hard that the ground sank and asked,
“How wonderful... isn’t that Your Highness Melanie’s first kiss in her life?!”
“...and the other person is Roxana’s faithful dog!”
I pressed my temples and looked at Melanie with a pitiful gaze.
“It was an accident, so forget it. It’s better to forget bad luck quickly.”
I offered my sincere condolences.
Looking at Melanie’s face again... what was it?
It looked like two pomegranates were growing on each cheek.
“Melanie, did he hit you in the face, did he?”
***
“She's definitely pregnant, Your Majesty!”
It was the fifth time the same examination result had been given.
Roxana’s jaw clenched.
Although she had suspected it from the banquet hall, she found it difficult to control her emotions when she heard Pecilini's pregnancy from the attending doctor.
"Are you sure?"
"Yes, Your Majesty. It wouldn't have been certain if it had been early, but I think Madame Pecilini has been pregnant for well over three months."
There seemed to be no need for Pecilini to confirm it out loud.
Her expression already spoke the truth.
"Go ahead."
Roxana glared at Pecilini, and Pecilini, thinking she was talking to her, rose from the sofa, her legs trembling.
"Doctor, I meant you!"
Roxana shouted, and Pecilini flinched and sank back onto the sofa.
"Yes, yes, Your Majesty. I will be leaving now."
The drawing room fell into a dead silence with Roxana's attending doctor gone.
"Hiccup, hiccup!"
Pecilini began to hiccup in fear.
"What should I do? If it's revealed that he's Prince Tesla's child, he'll be sentenced to death for attempting to murder Her Highness Zelda! And on top of that, both I and the child will be in danger...!"
Pecilini began to rack her brain.
"First, I have to get out of the Empress's Palace safely!"
The thought didn't last long.
Pecilini raised her head, placing both hands on her stomach.
"H-Her Majesty... Ah, I haven't told His Majesty yet..."
"...W, what?!"
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