Chapter 3.1

It was a maid who appeared shortly afterwards. She seems to be in her early twenties.

Seeing that there was a green band around the arm of the maid’s uniform, she will never be able to leave the palace until she died.

She is a maid for life who will live in the palace forever.

I think she’s here to repair my dress, considering that she brought in all kinds of sewing tools.

‘You didn’t knock properly, and you even opened the door before I gave you permission?’

She even slammed the basket down.

“Come on, stand up straight. You’ve lost so much weight that I have to adjust your waistline again.”

The maid beckoned to me, and was annoyed. She didn’t look at me properly, and she didn’t even greet me.

It’s such a rude attitude that I can’t help but laugh.

‘But she seems to be used to it.’

Does this mean you’ve been treating Peony like this, all this time?

How dare you, the princess is someone you’re supposed to take care of.

‘I’ll be leaving in three days anyway.’

Nevertheless, I don’t want to be treated rudely for days.

While the putting on the white dress, I thought for a moment about what to do, and then I smiled.

“Are you the one taking care of this dress, not the chamber maid?”

“Yes, what about it?”

“Where’s the chamber maid?”

“Oh, dear. What’s the matter with Princess today?  Where’s the chamber maid? I’m the one who does it all!”

“That’s too bad…”

“…What?”

The maid, who answered curtly as she bit the thread in her teeth, flinched and then looked back at me.

The moment our eyes met, the maid instinctively stepped back.

Smiling again at the maid, I stepped towards her more than the insolent step back that she did.

Then I whispered, clasping her shoulders tightly.

“You know, you’ll be dead in about an hour.”

“W-what do you mean?”

“How dare you replace the foyer pearls from the bride’s dress with fake pearls? You deserve to die.”

With an innocent face that had been made up to the fullest, I uttered a scary word, then I smiled again.

As if I had no idea what I had just said.

If Peony were known to be, in fact, sane, her brothers would never stand still.

It is the law of the first emperor that the right of succession to the throne is maintained even after marriage.

The only way to survive is to pretend to be an idiot until I leave the capital completely and enter the territory of the Forces of Night.

“I don’t know that it’s fake, Princess!”

“Well, but here it is. It’s all fake. I know. Because foyer pearls are bigger and shinier.”

The maid’s face turned dark as I rolled around the hem of my dress.

I guess she didn’t expect the idiotic princess to recognize the shine of pearls.

“Well, my lady. Have you told that to anyone else?”

“Well, I’m afraid I’ll tell the other maid. No! Should I go tell the prime minister? The foyer pearls disappeared like magic!”

I touched my cheek and tilted my head.

It was a little awkward at first, but as time went by, I got used to this act.

All I have to do is imitate the Peony from my memory.

This was really nothing compared to the manners, speech and foreign languages I had to learn and master in my life as Gabriella.

“Don’t do that!”

“Why?”

“I didn’t do it! It’s not me.”

“Then did the other maid steal it? Oh, my!”

Pretending to be surprised, even her shoulders moved and her eyes opened wide, and the maid could not say anything more.

Even if her tongue was pulled out, this maid wouldn’t have been able to do it alone.

‘I’m sure there’s an accomplice.’

No matter how much her liver comes out of her stomach, was she like that from the beginning?

It happens when the maid of honor who serves the princess turns a blind eye.

‘It’s common sense. In the families from the Forces of Day, pearls must be worn on the dress to pray for the future of the new bride.’

However, only the foyer pearl from the Kingdom of Shrak was valuable.

It costs a Perone per pearl (about 490,000 won), and I’m sure she wanted it because there’s a lot of it in this dress.

She might have thought I wouldn’t know that she was sneaking around.

‘The princess is insane, and she’s going to wear her bridal gown only once. Even if what she’s done is revealed, she might have thought, what are you going to do now that you have already left for Eques?’

They must have been assigned to the Imperial Palace because they had lost their rope in the first place.

The road to success was blocked, but now that the princess has left the palace, it was obvious that the remaining courtiers here were in a tight situation.

They will be assigned to the kitchen or laundry, which are the most difficult tasks in the palace.

‘In the case of this child, she would rather live a full life than live like this, even for a while.’

But you should have done it in moderation.

One or two people must have touched it, and now there was no real foyer pearl left at the hem of the dress.

‘How many people are involved in this embezzlement?’

I clicked my tongue inside, and I clapped my hands cheerfully to attract attention.

“Oh! That’s right. I should ask my eldest brother if I look pretty today! I’m sure I’m a pretty bride even without the foyer pearls, right?”

“P-Princess! Wait a minute!”

As soon as she approached the door, clutching her skirt as if she’s running out at once, the maid stopped her with a cold sweat.

I immediately changed my expression to a cold look.

“Get out of my way. Who are you to block my way right now?”

“I will! I’ll put it back. There’s still time. I’ll quickly replace it with the Foyer pearl.”

“How? Everything must have been sold.”

“Well, that’s… what I mean is…”

Her sneaky eyes moved back and forth.

Seeing that she didn’t even notice that my tone had changed drastically for a while now, she didn’t seem to be very good at responding to the situation or making judgments.

‘This kind of child is useless.’

Either way, I need a maid on the ship and on the way to the port.

I’d rather have a someone like this since I don’t intend trust anyone until I get to Eques anyway.

“I can get it. No, just write me a permit to go out and I’ll get it back!”

You’re going to run away after doing this?

After reading the rough calculation, I grinned and tilted my head.

“I don’t like it.”

“You don’t like it…?”

“Well, I don’t like it, because it’s old, isn’t it? Would you want to get married in old clothes?”

“Well, that’s…”

The maid’s head, who has received my gaze, was gradually lowering downwards.

But that’s not enough.

“Kneel.”

I kindly told her what to do.

“Help me, I’m begging you. Like this, don’t you like it?”

The maid’s eyes widened as if she had never expected me to come out like this.

But she still pouted and hesitated.

I whispered sweetly, acting with pure cruel eyes.

“As expected, I should tell my brother that I don’t need Foyer pearls. I left my maids to take it, aren’t I such a good person?”

“Oh, no! Help me, Princess. Please!”

Then I looked down at the maid lying at my feet and pointed out affectionately.

“Your head is still high.”

“I’m sorry. I was blinded by my greed for money for a while. Please show me mercy!”

Thud!