Chapter 55
55
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To, to run away……!
But when Chelsea thought about it, what she was trying to do was indeed running away.
Chelsea blankly stared at the man who called himself Your Excellency, whom she was meeting for the first time.
‘There’s another ‘Your Excellency’ in Ruelle that I don’t know about?’
Chelsea was flustered and couldn't say anything, when another soldier spoke up.
“There’s a silver coin pouch! It’s a large sum of money that one would only receive after working as a royal palace maid for ten years!”
Chelsea finally shouted.
“Th, that’s money I actually earned as a maid! His Majesty the King gave it to me, so what does it matter how much he gives me? Who are you people anyway?”
“The King gave it to you?”
The man asked oppressively, his heavy fur cloak swaying behind him.
Even with her hands and feet tied, Chelsea was afraid of him and tried to move her body backward.
The emerald eyes of the approaching man shone with an eerie light.
“I, it’s true! Go to the castle and ask His Highness… ask His Highness.”
At that moment, the King’s voice suddenly came to mind.
“I’m sorry, but I can’t protect you from that.”
Ah…….
Perhaps the King would abandon her.
Chelsea was frustrated, but she had never lied, so she was still confident.
“W, who are you people!”
When the man smiled, his meticulously groomed blonde hair swayed.
He smirked and replied.
“Ah, I am Hadid Cheziel Norbon of Nigel.”
He was Marquess Norbon, the Minister of State of Nigel, known as the Grand Duke’s right-hand man.
* * *
Morning came and night came again.
As if proving that he was a man of the High priest, Marquess Norbon interrogated Chelsea all day long without harming or starving her.
However, after not getting the answer he wanted for a whole day, he seemed to be getting impatient.
“Hey, Chelsea Morello of Milov.”
Chelsea was horrified by the Marquess's casual mention of her hometown.
Her younger sibling's family, living ordinary lives, still lived there.
“I don’t know, no, you can’t get out of this situation with those words. You’re not stupid if you’ve worked as a maid, right? Huh?”
Chelsea was now in tears.
“What I told you is everything. I heard that one day, Nigel Grand Duke sent a gift through Celestial Steed. But I only heard about it, and I didn’t see the gift box because it wasn’t my work day.”
“So you’re saying that Princess, who is four years old, was hiding a fake bracelet and only wore the fake on the days you worked? Why, and why? To trap a maid?”
Chelsea was so angry and wronged that she wanted to insist it was true.
She almost shouted that Princess had the kind of personality to play tricks on a maid like that.
Before she could, the Marquess continued.
“Since you won’t speak, let me tell you what I think. You fearlessly stole Princess's bracelet and lent it to someone privately, receiving money in return. In other words, it’s a crime of infringing on royal property, but since it happens to be a Sacred object, it also falls under the category of blasphemy.”
Chelsea’s eyes widened at the enormity of the charges.
“Wh, what did you say?”
“In doing so, you gave a fake bracelet to Princess, deceiving the entire royal family, which corresponds to the crime of insulting the royal family. If this were my territory, you would have been summarily executed, but the generous Nigel Grand Duke wants to hear your excuses, you see? Is the situation that incomprehensible to you now?”
Chelsea wanted to turn into dust and disappear from this world.
‘My charges are royal property infringement, blasphemy, and insulting the royal family?’
No, anyone who committed such crimes should disappear from this world.
“Huuu……. Please let me see His Majesty the King. There’s no such law in the world. Huuu…….”
At that moment, the door opened with a thud.
Chelsea cried even louder as she saw the man who had finally appeared through her tearful eyes.
“Your Highness, I am truly innocent. Princess never takes off the Sacred Bracelet even when she sleeps, so the only time I touched it was when I bathed her…….”
Nigel Grand Duke sighed and approached, blaming the Marquess.
“I told you not to treat her carelessly. To tie up a woman who doesn’t even seem to have the strength to run away, Marquess, you need to tone down that temper of yours.”
“Whether it’s a woman or a man, they only open their mouths when they’re scared.”
The Marquess grumbled.
“That’s why there hasn’t been a single criminal who has opened their mouth in front of Your Highness. That’s why you brought someone as busy as me all the way to Ruelle, right?”
The Grand Duke sighed and had the ropes binding Chelsea’s ankles untied, then knelt on one knee in front of her.
“Y, Your Highness……?”
“I believe in your innocence. I apologize for making you go through much greater hardship than I intended.”
“No, what hardship did I go through…….”
The Marquess, who was grumbling, shut his mouth at the Grand Duke’s gaze.
Chelsea said, not knowing what to do.
“W, well, anyway, I’m glad the misunderstanding is resolved. I’m glad, really.”
With that, she quickly got up and helped the Grand Duke to his feet.
Suddenly, her two feet, which had been on the ground, creaked, but she didn’t seem to have time to take care of her body.
“Th, then can I leave now according to His Majesty the King’s orders?”
The Grand Duke looked at Chelsea, who was barely standing, and asked back.
“……Did His Highness tell you where to go?”
Chelsea hesitated for a moment.
The Grand Duke’s man came and grabbed her on the road that the King had told her to leave immediately.
‘His Majesty the King and Grand Duke have different intentions…….’
Then, Chelsea’s eyes caught sight of the messy state of the house.
If the Grand Duke had been any later, if he had ignored her.
‘I don’t know what else might have happened to me here…….’
In the end, Chelsea confessed the truth.
“He, he told me to go to Bikrin and take a ship. I, I swear I don’t know anything. He didn’t tell me a single reason, he just told me to leave.”
Haha, the Grand Duke laughed lowly.
It wasn’t a happy laugh.
The sound of his laughter was so hollow that Chelsea only knew that she had encountered another difficulty.
But the Grand Duke only asked with serious eyes.
“Tell me. Do you want to leave?”
“Yes?”
Did she want to leave?
If she was given a choice, she wouldn’t leave Ruelle alone.
‘Bikrin is a port. If I take a ship from there, I’ll obviously be going abroad…….’
No matter how much money she received, what could she do alone in a place where she didn’t know anyone?
The Grand Duke spoke as if he had read Chelsea’s expression.
“Chelsea, would you like to stay in Nigel for a while?”
* * *
The next day at dawn, I placed the real Sacred object on my bedside instead of the fake bracelet that Rosa had left behind.
‘I hope nothing happens in just one day because of this?’
This was also my mother’s request, so I couldn’t help it, even if it was precious.
‘If Rosa wears the fake bracelet again, Father won’t just suspect the maid.’
Rosa, who appeared soon after, had a swollen face from crying so much.
I looked at Rosa with pity for a moment.
‘She’s just four years old…….’
Of course, it would be difficult if the maid suddenly changed.
‘Well, it’s not like I’m in a position to worry about Rosa.’
I would lose my life if I got caught up in Rosa’s tricks.
That’s how it was when I arrived at the Separate Palace.
Icarus followed me into the room and suddenly knelt down.
“I am Songu, Your Highness. I couldn’t keep my promise.”
I looked at Icarus with slightly surprised eyes.
Icarus had been guarding us every day for years without a break, but that didn’t mean his affiliation had changed.
‘The King’s First Royal guard.’
That was Icarus’s position, which was even higher than the captain of the royal guard.
‘Therefore, Icarus was only loyal to his lord.’
Even if I always prepared flowers for him.
I smiled awkwardly and reached out to Icarus’s hair.
“Genta, Icarus. Mommy said it’s okay too.”
“……Is that so?”
Icarus seemed surprised by my words that it was okay, but he soon added with a faint smile.
“Then I’m relieved, Your Highness.”
I asked with a sorry face.
“Did you get scolded by Mommy because of me? Did you get scolded a lot?”
Icarus shook his head with a serious expression.
“No, Your Highness. Nothing like that happened.”
Was that true?
As I subtly doubted his answer, Yan went into the next room and started banging on the window and crying loudly.
“Aish.”
I took Icarus’s hand and helped him up.
“Yan wants to go outside. I’m going to go see Yan.”
“Yes, Your Highness.”
It seemed that my mother hadn’t revealed my Divinity to anyone yet.
Without asking any other questions, Icarus immediately stepped back and returned to the Main Palace.