Chapter 34
Are You Worried?
Regina, her face flushed, asked without taking her eyes off the box.
The small man, instead of explaining again, took out a golden envelope from his pocket. A wolf crest, the symbol of the royal family, was stamped on the purple wax. It didn't take long for the Count and Countess to widen their eyes in surprise.
Regina snatched the envelope and opened it.
The salutation of the short letter clearly began like this:
[To Miss Regina Pellieresse.]
"Good heavens! Dear, did I ever tell you? His Highness the First Prince kept looking at our Regina at that party!"
Priscilla shrieked with joy as soon as the small man delivered the letter and disappeared.
Regina's heart swelled as she read the letter over and over again. It was an invitation to Regina Pellieresse to an upcoming play for close associates.
Regina's eyes began to sparkle, as she had always been overshadowed by the daughters of great aristocratic families and had not been able to secure the best designs when having dresses made.
Her father, who had always poured generous support on Regina, had also tightly closed his wallet since the Crow had left the house.
What a timely gift! A handwritten letter from none other than the First Prince Bolonico!
What did this mean?
"This is no time for me to be like this. Our Regina might become the First Prince's partner!"
Priscilla, even more excited than Regina, rushed up to her office, which she only entered once or twice a month.
She was going to write a letter to her maiden family, the Felt family.
Her relationship with her family had been almost severed because of Count Pellieresse, who had ruined the business, but that was the only place where money could come from now.
Priscilla had already imagined Regina becoming the First Prince's consort and eventually the Empress with just one letter from the First Prince Bolonico.
Count Pellieresse stared at Regina, who was looking through an expensive jewelry catalog with a complicated expression.
It was not immediately clear whether the fickle First Prince Bolonico's favor would be a gain or a loss.
But…….
"So when will my heart medicine be made!"
"I bought as much as five years' worth! Do you know what I sold to pay for it, Count!"
"Now, now, everyone. The reason I've been so busy is that His Highness the First Prince..."
The only name that could handle the great aristocrats flocking to him right now was Bolonico Euphris. There was no other name as tremendous as his.
So, to get through the moment, Count Pellieresse willingly added a little exaggeration to the facts to get through the crisis.
'It'll be alright.'
For example.
"Haha, Empress Consort is out of the question. Just think of it as they are meeting each other with affection-. Isn't it a good age?"
Just a fresh and secret scandal that would stimulate the curiosity of the capital's great aristocrats.
Black Manor.
Butler Gustav was about to leave the bedroom because Klaud had called him in and hadn't said anything for a long time.
Recently, Klaud had often looked Gustav up and down as if he was about to say something, then turned away.
Even when he looked in the mirror, he looked the same as usual, and he always wore the same clothes, so it couldn't be because of his old appearance.
All he could guess was that his sensitive master was acting fickle, as always.
But today, as if he was going to say something, Klaud called Gustav back once more as he was about to take out the empty dishes.
"Butler."
"Yes, Your Highness."
"Why is breakfast like this today?"
Was he complaining about the meal? His master was always in pain and had no appetite, so it was all the same no matter what he made.
However, things had changed recently because the Madam had personally demonstrated her skills and made or helped with the meals almost every day.
It just so happened that someone else had made the food today, and it was the butler who had brought it up.
The butler pondered for a moment, then looked at Klaud, who was looking out the window with a "Ho-oh-" expression.
Klaud Euphris, who opened the curtains and stood by the window where the sunlight poured in every day.
He had lived long enough to see this.
"Doesn't it suit your taste? It seems that the Madam's skills have been a perfect match for Your Highness's taste. You notice it like a ghost."
That didn't seem to be the answer he wanted, as Klaud's neat brow furrowed slightly.
"Did I sleep with her yesterday too?"
"Yes? Yes."
The same question he asked every day. The same answer every day.
"How old is Yuan Pellieresse?"
And the question that came out after a long hesitation was absurd.
As if Klaud himself thought it was an absurd question, he asked again while still looking out the window.
"Exactly. How old is she?"
"I believe she is four years younger than Your Highness."
A deep sigh escaped.
Between the large hands that dropped his head and ruffled his hair, a sigh of relief resembling a hollow laugh continued to emerge.
She was of age.
It was just that her appearance was so youthful. But even so, nothing changed.
The problem was that she slept with him even though he was in a condition where he shouldn't be sleeping with anyone, and the woman didn't refuse and even said she liked it.
And the biggest problem was that he had no memory of that beastly night.
Another question was passed on to Gustav, who was standing awkwardly.
"Where is she now?"
"Who are you talking about?"
Klaud hesitated for a moment.
He couldn't bring himself to throw the word Crow, which came out like a habit, at Gustav.
The word that flowed out very slowly between his moving lips was eventually not a name or Crow, but instead...
"...The Deposed Empress."
It was the title of Deposed Empress. But Gustav's face brightened as soon as he heard those words.
"She went to the forest to find some herbs."
"Herbs?"
Klaud's eyebrows narrowed sharply.
"She went out of the Mansion without my permission?"
When did she ever say she was sorry for wandering around without permission and that she wouldn't do it again? She still hadn't come to her senses...
Gustav smiled suspiciously at the sudden change in expression.
"Are you worried?"
Klaud's intact half of his face flushed noticeably.
His languidly raised eyes immediately crumpled.
"Wor-ried-?"
"Aren't you?"
It wasn't meant to be anything significant.
Butler Gustav tilted his head and recalled the memory of when Yuan had left.
"It was a distance close enough to walk, and she said she had received permission from Your Highness in advance."
"I did?"
Ah.
'I'm thinking of going out with Henna in front of here tomorrow.'
'So.'
'…That's all.'
A short memory from last night quickly flashed through Klaud's mind.
He thought that the words "in front of here" meant a garden as vast as this huge Mansion.
'I should ask exactly next time.'
Klaud's face hardened as his thoughts reached that point.
'…Why do I have to ask exactly? Isn't it the person who is getting permission who should tell me exactly? So that I don't have to ask.'
Gustav, seeing that Klaud seemed to be in a rapidly bad mood, suggested just in case.
"If you're curious, would you like to go out and see? It's right in front of here."
"Curious."
Klaud, who let out a smirk, cast a subtly sensitive gaze out the window.
The sun was high in the sky.
Gustav nodded, thinking, "That's right."
Klaud leaving the bedroom and going outside the Mansion during the day when the few servants were busy doing all sorts of chores.
It was absolutely impossible.
"I will tell Hille to come for the morning treatment."
Klaud, who had been leaning against the wall with his arms crossed, began to pace around the large bedroom.
Gustav, not knowing why, pretended not to see his master, who had become inexplicably anxious, and closed the bedroom door and left.
Lunchtime had already passed.
Yuan smiled contentedly as she looked at the basket full of cleansing grass.
This herb, also known as green dandelion, was characterized by its much larger and darker green flower than ordinary dandelion flowers.
When the thick stem was cut in half, a white sap came out, and when the stem and flower were pounded together in a mortar to make juice, it could be used not only to disinfect wounds but also to clean.
It grew everywhere in the mountains and fields, but you had to look carefully because it was a similar color to weeds.
"Madam!"
"Hille."
"You could have gone with me for something like this!"
"Hille needs to take care of His Highness. And this is not something to share with Hille, but something I got because I have something else to use it for."
"Yes-? I'm sad?"
The attending physician, Hille, was one of the people in this Mansion who had the most affection for Yuan, along with Henna.
Hille, who had been like a spare wheel, found it easier to treat the Deposed Emperor Klaud Euphris, her original task, after Yuan came.
Of course, it was also because Yuan was from the famous 'Pellieresse' family, and every time they talked about medicine or pharmacy, she was excited as if she had met an old friend.
"What are you going to use it for?"
"Only Hille knows about this."
Yuan lowered her voice to the extreme, even though there was no one listening, and whispered in Hille's ear.
Yuan was planning to mix this cleansing grass with several herbs that were good for purification to make a special medicine.
A medicine that could clean even the small west Annex by herself, even if she couldn't clean every part of this magnificent and black Mansion.
"That's a really genius idea. You can really erase anything if you do that! Wait, how about adding lye? We can ask the stable keeper to make the brush."
"I've already asked Mazarin to make a brush a little bigger than a toothbrush."
"You're so fast."
Hille, who had pushed up her round glasses, was seen running excitedly to the medicine storage.
As her pigtail, bouncing like a spring, swung excitedly, Yuan couldn't help but laugh.
-Thud!
At that moment, she heard something colliding from above the garden where she was standing.
Yuan was startled and froze with the basket in her hand, then looked up.
-Rustle-!
Now, as if she had no intention of hiding it, the blackout curtains inside Klaud's bedroom window, which had been wide open, made a loud noise and covered the interior.
