Chapter 25
Isabel and Sylvia immediately understood why Lottie had suddenly brought up a Trie language tutor.
While their faces gradually turned ashen, Delinda’s expression remained as innocent as ever.
Lottie spoke with a face that was eerily beaming.
“A teacher who doesn’t even teach how to properly pronounce my name, Charlotte… I can see their skills are quite poor, at least when it comes to Trie. Our fief is close to Trie, so many people there speak the language fluently. I’m sure I can find a tutor who is a perfect fit for you, Young Lady.”
The phonetic structure of Trie was significantly different from Matilan. Unless one learned it from a very young age, it was difficult to master the pronunciation perfectly even as an adult.
Matila’s upper class taught their children Trie as a mark of refinement from a very early age.
Of course, this did not apply to an illegitimate child who had lived in the slums with her biological mother until the age of eleven before suddenly entering her father’s noble house.
“……!”
A crack finally appeared in Delinda’s consistently innocent facade.
As if biting into that crack, a curve traced itself along Lottie’s lips.
That smile seemed to say:
No matter how much elite education you receive or how many noble genealogies you memorize, the blood flowing through your veins remains only half-noble.
Just like your pronunciation, which will always be clumsy.
‘I am never going back to those days.’
So now, I won’t lose anything.
I won’t choose the abyss with my own hands again because of pressure from a husband and a mother-in-law.
‘So, my ex-husband.’
You take him this time, Delinda Frostis.
<Yesterday, I visited the Hilts Art Museum with my great-aunt and had tea at a lovely tea house in front of it. Between the beautiful ancient sculptures and the bittersweet black tea, it was a day of delight for both my eyes and my palate.>
Lottie sat at her desk, continuing the letter she was writing to her father.
Instead of mentioning how the shop owner had recognized her at the tea house and refused her entry, she wrote that every day since arriving in the Capital had been like a dream.
<Whenever I spend such happy moments, my heart aches thinking of you, Father, working hard back home. Has the matter with Mr. Britt been resolved? I heard that it was something he did during a mental breakdown; I wondered if a madness so severe might have been inherited, passed down steadily from distant ancestors. I truly hope you can escape those frightening matters as soon as possible.>
Finishing the letter, Lottie sealed it firmly with love.
Her father was a wise man; he would be able to recognize the real message hidden subtly within his daughter’s seemingly ordinary letter.
Lottie, who had been hunched over the desk as if pressing her nose into the paper, lifted her head and stretched her stiff neck from side to side.
The sunlight pouring through the window beside the desk warmed the crown of her head.
“My Lady. Um… another one of these arrived for you.”
Just as she was realizing that spring was coming to an end, a maid entered.
A square box wrapped in high-quality paper was held carefully in the maid’s hands.
Judging by the maid’s troubled expression, Lottie didn’t need to be told where it had come from.
“Just set it down anywhere. The box isn’t ignorantly large this time, so you can probably just toss it.”
“And… this as well.”
Lottie, who had been haphazardly tearing open the box on the desk, wrinkled her brows when she saw the blue envelope the maid held out.
She blinked a few times to confirm, but the seal of the Danger Palace was clearly stamped upon it.
“…….”
Lottie stared down at the envelope with a look of distaste.
Ever since Lottie’s visit to the Royal Palace, Padrick had been sending her gifts from time to time.
Once, he sent a hinged vanity from the East in a box larger than the maid herself.
Another time, he sent dozens of dresses and hats in succession until Blue Brick was overflowing with gift boxes.
To think he’s flattering me like this even after I insulted him about his inferiority complex… he must have no pride at all.
Lottie, feeling all the more annoyed, had shoved all the gifts into storage. Since they likely weren’t items Padrick had personally chosen anyway, she didn’t feel even a speck of guilt.
But a letter this time.
The reason she couldn’t easily tear up a simple thin paper envelope was likely because, in her past life, it was the one thing she had never received from him, no matter how desperately she had begged.
Even though her head told her to stop, her hands moved of their own accord. After fidgeting with the edges of the envelope, she eventually broke the seal.
As Lottie scanned through the two pages of the letter, she let out a sharp laugh.
‘It’s written by a ghostwriter.’
She knew Padrick’s handwriting all too well. She also knew he was ashamed of his script and loathed writing letters himself.
It was all useless now, so why had she hesitated for that brief moment?
She felt disgusted with herself. Lottie folded the letter with a snap and spoke in a deliberately loud voice.
“Ah, first gifts and now letters. It’s getting quite tiresome.”
“But to send a handwritten letter… it’s so romantic. What did it say inside?”
“He says he’ll love me more than he loves himself.”
“Oh my!”
The maid let out a gasp that was almost a scream.
After today, that girl would likely grab everyone she met and chatter away about Prince Padrick’s sweet confession in exhaustive detail.
Rumors tend to grow like snowballs rolled through a field as they pass from mouth to mouth. If this reaches the ears of the Frostis family servants…
‘You’ll be so anxious you won’t be able to stand it, Delinda Frostis.’
Because you’re on the verge of losing the position of Queen that you love so much. Lottie thought with a cold smile.
Once the maid had left with an excited skip in her step, Padrick’s letter was torn to shreds.
“It really seems like the Crown Prince is the one who’ll win our Lady’s hand. Just look at that Calyx Valdea fellow. While the Crown Prince sends gifts and letters every other day, he’s been completely silent…”
Another maid must have been standing outside, as her excited voice drifted through the closing door.
The door shut completely on the sight of the two exchanging betting money.
Lottie stared at the closed door for a long time as if something were stuck to it, then slowly turned her head.
She gazed down at the scraps of the letter scattered messily across the desk.
“…….”
It had been nearly a month since the day the two princes had brawled.
While Padrick had been flaunting his presence to Lottie every now and then—even if only through ghostwritten letters—Calyx had not appeared before her even once.
A man who had appeared so frequently it felt like he was constantly circling her had now vanished as if he had been swallowed by the earth.
He must have heard the rumors of the “femme fatale” echoing throughout Ronvernon, yet he hadn’t said a single word. He simply left her be as if she were a total stranger, regardless of what happened to her.
— This heart that does not wish to lose you to another… if not a proposal, how else should I express it?
She thought about it for a long time. Why would that man, who had proposed with a gaze so sincere that if it were a lie, truth itself would not exist in the world—why?
— Even after hearing the answer to the riddle… is your heart still set on not marrying me?
The answer wasn’t that difficult. That man simply lacked the “sincerity” that every human ought to have. Even those words that felt hot enough to burn were nothing more than a well-crafted deception.
As for why he deceived her? She didn’t know. How could anyone know the mind of a madman?
— I loved this kingdom where I was born and raised, the father who sired me, and the fate given to me more than anyone.
Dammit. Lottie shook her head vigorously as those words surfaced, as if to argue against her own thoughts.
“If you were going to give up, you should have given up before things got this bad. Then I wouldn’t have had to deal with all this filth!”
That was why her heart felt hollow and her throat stung. Because she was frustrated at having been toyed with by that man, even for a moment.
Because she was angry at having suffered this much due to his malicious prank. That was why.
“My Lady. There’s a letter I missed giving you…”
“Is it from the Danger Palace again?! Take it back and burn it immediately!”
The maid from before, who had entered cautiously, flinched at Lottie’s fierce tone.
Ah. Realizing her mistake, Lottie narrowly managed to calm her turbulent emotions.
“I’m sorry, Anne. I shouldn’t have raised my voice at you… Leave the letter here.”
“Yes… But My Lady, this letter isn’t from the Danger Palace.”
“Huh?”
Lottie took a proper look at the letter the maid was holding out.
It was stamped with a family crest she had never seen before. Since it was addressed to both her great-aunt and herself, it appeared to be an invitation.
Lottie tilted her head and opened the envelope.
A moment later, Lottie’s eyes widened as she read the invitation.
<We request the honor of your presence at a banquet ball to be attended by Her Majesty Queen Catherine and His Highness Crown Prince Padrick, to grace the gathering with your presence…>
“The Young Lady of the Frostis family left the invitation herself. She was very insistent that you must attend… It might be overstepping, but honestly, in terms of status, for you to associate with that Young Lady…”
“…….”
“……? My Lady?”
Maid Anne, who had been speaking without hiding her disapproval, opened her eyes wide.
The Young Lady, who was reading the invitation, was smiling with a fierce light in her eyes.
“Anne.”
Lottie called the maid while keeping her gaze fixed on the invitation. Her voice was strangely elated.
“Bring me all the gifts the Crown Prince sent.”
