Chapter 32

Episode 32: Vesti’s Hide Out Place

“The reason why I let you know this is nothing else.”

Daria snatched my wrist. Then she looked at me with an unwavering gaze and said.

“It’s because I thought you could form a relationship with Raymond. And I’m hoping you won’t notice me in the process*.”

(* It means Chloe shouldn’t harm her in the way)

“That, Empress. I… I don’t dare to do that.”

“You know I’m not saying to deceive Raymond. Although Raymond doesn’t think so, I care about Raymond in my own way. He is a child who lost all his family members at a young age and became an orphan. Only because of the late Emperor’s provisions, he married me, who had no heart. In addition, he is a friendly and responsible man who tried to embrace another man’s child. Until now, no one appeared who could get his attention, but a woman with whom he showed interest for the first time appeared.”

A person who lost his family at a young age and became alone…….

In the past, I thought Raymond was a man with everything, that’s why he’s not pitiful. The poor one is Kailos, who has nothing behind him. Drunk with foolish feelings, I trusted only Kailos’ words so dimly.

I denied Daria’s words, suppressing my strangely trembling chest.

“No, His Majesty definitely said he didn’t love me.”

Then Daria smiled.

“Do you really think so?”

“…….”

“Aren’t you feeling it, too? That Raymond’s way of looking at you is not ordinary.”

The way he sees me is not normal? I didn’t know.

The behavior he showed me back in time was completely different. Although I could still feel the affectionate gaze he had shown me in the past.

……Still, I think it’s different. It had to be different. I couldn’t repeat the same mistake.

“You are a very stubborn child, Chloe.”

“…..I’m sorry, Empress.”

“I’ve said it before, but you don’t have to apologize to me.”

Daria let go of my hand with a sigh.

“I’m worried that you are uselessly weak-minded.

“I’m not weak-minded.”

“Yes.”

The hand rubbing the corner of my eyes gave me a very unfamiliar and nostalgic feeling, as I had no friends of the same gender. Thinking of my mother, whom I no longer remember, I looked up at Daria.

“As I said, my body is perfectly normal, so you don’t have to be sad.”

“But…”

Just because your body is normal, your mind can’t be normal. The sadness of losing a child cannot be passed so calmly as if it were nothing.

I am so sad, but the child who left without even seeing the light of the world…How can you not be sad?

I swallowed words I couldn’t bring myself to say.

I know that nothing can comfort a mother who has lost a child. Rather, it only breaks the heart that is trying to dig up old sadness and endure it.

“I’ll be rude for a moment, Empress.”

So I took her by the waist, following what Lord France had once said when he comforted me. Then I felt Daria lose her composure and pause for a moment.

“You were asked to seduce Raymond, but you’re seducing me.”

Daria laughed softly and brushed my hair.  I smiled a little, following Daria.

“I’m sorry, Empress. I can’t accept His Majesty’s heart.”

“It’s the same for me. I don’t want to compete with Ray over you.”

At the moment when the calm laughter rang in my ears, I could just laugh without any signs of pressure at her joke referring to Raymond.

* * *

Vesti, who was expected to run to Duke Caroline immediately and tell the story of what happened with Daria, unexpectedly remained steadfast in the Empress’ Palace.

When she proudly came to my room and glanced at me while sitting like an owner, Vesti pouted her lips.

“What are you looking at? You don’t like me being here?

“N, no.”

I hurriedly shook both hands.

“I thought you went to Duke Caroline.”

“So, you’re telling me to go to the duke’s castle right now?”

Vesti shouted sharply and turned her head away. I scratched my cheek with a disheartened look. The place where she was sitting was my bed, and it was time for me to go to sleep.

“I… Why did the princess leave her room, and come in my room…….”

“I made a fuss with sister Daria. How can I go to my room right away?”

Vesti’s face, who was sharply shouting, was red. Vesti, who I saw earlier, seemed like an arrogant noble lady who did not know shame, but she now somehow looked the opposite.

“So I’ll be hiding here for the next few days. You can’t tell anyone that I’m here! If you tell someone, I’ll kill you!”

It also seemed to be the family tradition of the Caroline’s to approach people without hesitation, reveal secrets, and then threaten to kill if they reveal it.

Of course, I was no longer scared of the words after being threatened by Daria several times.

“Wouldn’t it be better to apologize to the empress?”

“I hate that!”

Vesti put her knees together and buried her head above them.

“I’d rather jump out of the window and die than apologize to Daria. In the first place I didn’t mean to say it…….”

“But what the princess said could have been hurtful to Her Majesty. So apologizing…….”

“She’ll get hurt?”

Vesti snorted at me.

“She is a strong woman who did not shed a single tear even when her parents suddenly died, the lover whom she wanted to die for disappeared, and even when she lost her unborn child.  A woman like that can’t be hurt by just a few words from me, right?”

I stared blankly at Vesti for a moment, in thought.  It was as if I had overheard some great backstory.  But rather than that, there was one word that I could never agree with.

“…..Even if she didn’t cry, how could that mean she is not sad?”

“What?”

Perhaps she didn’t think I’d refute her words, Vesti looked at me with a puzzled look.

“The princess has never experienced it.  There is no mother who does not grieve over the loss of her child.”

I remembered my little Estelle that I had lost. I remembered my mother, who left me first, but now I don’t even remember her.

Even the good breed of mare raised in Ludwig’s Castle stopped eating for three days after losing the foal.

Although my world was small, at least the ‘mother’ I remember was like that. Therefore, just because Daria didn’t shed tears, her mother’s motherhood cannot be taken lightly. And…

“If Her Majesty was really okay, she wouldn’t have been angry with the princess.”

“I- it could be because she was just trying to bully me! Sister Daria doesn’t really like me.….”

Vesti was stubborn but squinting her eyes at me, and blurring the ends of her words. It was strange to see the high-ranking daughter of the Caroline family staring at me, but I let out a sigh.

“Anyway, I’ll keep it a secret that you’re here.”

“Of course, you should do that!”

It was Vesti who occupied my room and sat down, but it seems like she was still waiting for my permission implicitly. Her face brightened in an instant, she moved slightly to the corner and tapped the place next to the bed.

“Come on up, Chloe! Let’s sleep together!”

She said in a slightly excited voice that showed she was not uncomfortable sleeping with me. I climbed up to the place next to her and asked carefully as I lay down.

“Aren’t you uncomfortable sleeping with me”?

“Not really, I like sleeping with other people. But Daria hates me, and even if I go to the palace, my brothers won’t sleep with me because they’re all grown up.”

Having always had a habit of sleeping alone for a long time, I couldn’t fully understand Vesti’s words. Raymond was the only one I shared a bed with.

Raymond…

Come to think of it, he had been involved in my life a lot in that short period of time.

“In addition, it’s a rare opportunity to sleep with a beautiful woman.”

“What?”

I was startled by Vesti’s remarks, which felt somehow dangerous, and I widened my distance with her, Vesit then giggled and teased me.

“I’m kidding. You don’t look like that, but you’re so cute. You have a personality that sister Daria likes.”

“What kind of personality does Her Majesty like?”

“A good person to tease around. Be careful, sister Daria has a bad personality, so she won’t let you go once she bites a person like you.”

Nasty or biting…… All of them were words that were not suitable to use for the empress of the Empire. It gave me chills when I heard that she would not let me go. Vesti told me to be careful, but I thought it was too late.

“By the way, how did you become her maid?”

“Oh, well, that’s…….”

It was a pretty awkward question, I know. I, who became the maid of Daria, with Raymond’s introduction, to avoid Kailos, would look so weird to others.

“You don’t have to tell me if you’re in trouble.”

When I couldn’t answer and hesitated, Vesti smiled and went under the blanket. Soon after, she fell asleep with a quiet breathing sound.

But I couldn’t sleep for a long time even after I turned off the light. It was because of my thoughts of Raymond.

Daria was really thinking Raymond was interested in me. According to her, I was the first person he expressed so much interest in.

I… I don’t know.

However, when Daria said that she had a child once. Just imagining her and Raymond’s child I had ambiguous feelings in the corner of my heart.

It was quite complex and subtle. Thinking of Raymond—with whom I can no longer be tied— and Daria, who is helping me, it was a feeling I shouldn’t have.

After tossing and turning several times, I eventually got up. I left Vesti, who was asleep and went outside.

Daria’s back garden was not dark because lights were lit everywhere, even at night. The cold night air woke me up. When I opened my lips, white breath poured out. It was fun to see the shape of it disappearing immediately, so I kept blowing my breath.

While laughing alone, I suddenly stiffened up at the gaze I felt.

“…….”

“…….”

I made eye contact with the man standing under the tree opposite me. It was not a close distance, but I could recognize him at once.