CH 16

She looked familiar. Yulia remembered seeing her a few times at the Academy. She must have been the daughter of some professor. Throughout her time at the Academy, Yulia had seen that professor get intimidated by Kristin, who was only a student.

“Yulia.”

Kristin, who had been standing there with her mouth tightly shut, spoke again.

Yulia obediently looked at Kristin, as if telling her to say what she wanted to say.

"You should leave. I'm saying this for your sake. This is not a place for you to be. I don't know what Prince Lewicia was thinking by bringing you here..."

As expected, useless words came out of her mouth. Yulia firmly cut off Kristin's words, as if she had nothing more to listen to.

“I don't know with what authority Lady Marjoram is giving me orders.”

"What?"

“I am not Lady Marjoram's maid, but Prince Lewicia's maid of honor." 

Kristin was almost glaring at Yulia. She seemed to be either angry or hurt.

Actually, it didn't matter which one it was. Yulia thought that her ill-fated relationship with Kristin was quite tough.

The nobles at Kristin's side expressed their anger towards Yulia on her behalf.

"Hey! You seem to be thinking that being a royal maid of honor is some sort of great title, but do you know why it is a honorary title? They call it like that because there is nothing behind it.”

“Is it because you’re a commoner? Stepping foot once in the royal palace and spending one night at the Prince's palace... Is that what you were after? How pathetic.”

"Whatever. Quit it. Only us will become laughable at this rate."

They too must be aware of how ridiculous they were. That's what Yulia was casually thinking at that moment.

But as if her reaction was bothering him, the young noble man who had mentioned they should stop came right in front of Yulia and poked her forehead with his finger, a smirk on his face.

“Since you have succeeded in seducing Lord Vasily, is your new target His Highness Lewicia this time? Girls like you are all the same. They attach themselves like parasites to men of high status and suck their blood...”

At first, it was at the level of just nudging her, but as it got stronger and stronger, it reached the point where Yulia's body was swaying.

Still, Yulia's face remained expressionless. Even at that moment, she was thinking about how to drag this man into the gutter.

Should she frame him, or deceive him? Should she make him go bankrupt and sell him to a fishing boat?

As the quarrel lengthened, eyes from here and there started to gather, and the atmosphere became chaotic. Upon receiving attention, the man's vigorous hand movements became rougher than before.

It was when Yulia was wondering whether she should wait outside of the contest venue.

“Take that hand off.”

Coco appeared.

“Before I rip your fingers off.”

A bloody aura poured out of the scarlet eyes that shone clearly under the light.

The young man who had tapped Yulia's forehead immediately flinched. As if the fact that he was scared of Coco hurt his pride, he lowered his hands while clenching his fists.

"Coco?"

Yulia called out to Coco with a surprised face. However, Coco did not answer Yulia, and spoke fiercely while looking at the man.

“You dare to insult the maid of honor of His Highness's, the second Prince Lewicia? Didn't you learn that by messing with a royal maid, you're also insulting the honor of the royal family? Or are you not old enough to know that much? How old are you, seven?”

“What... Lady Cordelia Hinch, be mindful of your words."

"You, be careful with your words. How dare Marjoram's petty foot-scrubber speak roughly to the Prince's maid of honor? Should I sew that mouth, or tear it off?"

The color was slowly sucked out of Kristin and her gang's faces. Yulia thought that she should stop Coco. Although Coco usually just looked like a cold person, she had the tendency to bite until her opponent's soul shrunk when she was angry.

"Coco, stop it."

"Lady Marjoram, why are you standing still and doing nothing? You have to rectify that it wasn't Yulia, but your brother who hung onto her. Is it because it hurts your pride? Vasily Marjoram ignored the procedure and stormed into the royal palace the other day. Does his sister only know how to single out one person and bully her as a group?"

Coco's voice was loud. Now, almost everyone in the hall was looking this way.

It wasn't good to fight in this manner. It wouldn't be of help to anyone. With that thought in mind, Yulia gently pulled Coco's arm.

"Coco, I am fine, so..."

"I apologize."

Kristin spoke.

"I admit that we spoke roughly. I said that because I was worried about Yulia... but it led to a misunderstanding. I am sorry."

It was Kristin's apology, who always believed that she was on the side of justice.

"However, I think that Lady Cordelia Hinch should also practice good manners. Such words worthy of the lowest class shouldn't come out of the mouth on an aristocrat, let alone the Prince's maid of honor."

"What did you say?"

Coco looked at Yulia in bewilderment. Yulia calmly shook her head with the intention to tell her to stop fighting.

Coco smiled, only raising one corner of her mouth, then grabbed Yulia's hand and dragged her.

"What the hell. You should apologize to her, why are you apologizing to me?"

She was talking to herself, but everyone could hear it.

Kristin's face stiffened. She tried to protect her dignity by apologizing first because Coco had hit the nail on the head.

"Let's go."

Coco stared scornfully at Kristin, who was standing still not knowing what to do, and left with Yulia.

"It's still as bad as before here. It's full of arrogant idiots who believe that their family's power is their own power."

"I thought you wouldn't come."

When Yulia spoke, Coco, who was about to burst into anger, frowned and clicked her tongue briefly.

"See? What did I tell you? I told you that if someone like you came here, you would be crushed to dust and return in tears."

Although she didn't think that she would have come back crying, Yulia kept her mouth shut and nodded.

Coco, whom she met in her previous life, described herself at this time as 'the most shameless brat in the world', but Yulia didn't quite agree to this.

Coco had always been weak to the weak. When she saw weak and pitiful children trying to overcome persecution, she had no other choice but to help. Her personality was like that to begin with.

Coco was always misunderstood because of her rough way of speaking, but to Yulia, she was truly a righteous person.

“Is the fight over?”

After he had finished greeting the nobles who were close to him, Prince Lewicia returned to Yulia's side. He looked at Coco who was standing next to Yulia with a coy face, and smiled, as if he already knew that she was going to come.

“It will be announced shortly. Let's see... what will be the first event of the contest his year?"

Lewicia smiled with his eyes. At the place he was pointing to, a middle-aged man was walking out into the center of the contest hall, which was the stage of the theater.

"He's one of the King's chief secretaries. And also the judge of the first event.”

The King's chief secretary in the center moved his eyes busily as if looking for someone.

He announced the subject of the first event only after confirming the presence of the Marjoram siblings next to the first Prince.

“This year marks the twentieth anniversary of the protective alliance between the Kingdom of Ortega and the Empire of Baikan. You will have to write a New Year's address dedicated to the Emperor of Baikan as a way of commemorating him."

"Huh."

Lewicia turned to Yulia with a surprised expression.

“It was real...?”

Yulia just smiled.

*****

After that, everyone scattered to their own spaces and wrote a New Year's address.

Vasily, who had followed the first Prince into the opposite room, looked at Yulia persistently, but she never returned his gaze.

As soon as Yulia entered the room that had been prepared, she asked for the Prince's understanding, sat down on a chair, and wrote her New Year's address without any hesitation.

At the confident and incredible speed of writing, Lewicia and Coco stood over Yulia's shoulders and looked down at the paper on the table.

"Ha... ha ha."

Lewicia let out a laugh along with a sigh as if he was stunned.

Yulia's New Year's address was formal and witty. While celebrating the victory of the Empire and reaffirming that the Emperor's heart was inclined towards peace, at the same time she never showed a servile attitude.

The choice of words was also ingenious. By cleverly choosing the right expressions, she implicitly expressed that although Ortega was an ally of the Empire of Baikan, it didn't mean that it was a master-servant relationship.

Dignified and confident, but not aggressive.

Lewicia asked Yulia, who had finished writing the last sentence perfectly and put down her pen.

"What about Kristin Marjoram?"

"Sorry?"

"I heard that you were constantly competing for the first place. Does that mean that your skills are similar?"

"No."

"Huh?"

"Kristin has never beat me once, Your Highness."

At Yulia's words, an expression of surprise spread on both Coco and Lewicia's faces. They were aware that Kristin had been first place for four years straight while attending Brewe Academy.

Yulia’s words meant that she had either taken the exams in Kristin’s stead, or that she had intentionally lost to her all along.