Chapter 18
“… He is as usual. He takes her horseback riding lessons and dines with her, but he takes no personal interest in her.”
“Are you sure, then why does His Majesty spend so much time with her?!”
Marie’s jaw twitched, as if in response to the angry voice in her ear.
“Well, I don’t know about that, but the wolf has been following the Princess well, so I suppose His Majesty is intrigued.”
“Are you sure there’s nothing else?”
“Ugh.”
A sudden tug on the back of her head made Marie’s head snap up. Marie’s face paled, her scarlet eyes glittering.
“Nothing, really, that’s all! As you said, the Princess is cheerful, but she doesn’t talk much, and if anything, she’s afraid of the Emperor and tries to avoid him.”
“Then you are to stir the pot, I told you, to make a nuisance of her, to arouse the curiosity of that unruly Princess; and if she is so disagreeable to His Majesty that she deserves to be in trouble, why have we heard nothing of her?”
“I’ve told her about the wolf and the maid, just as you told me to! But she’s too cowardly to do anything about it.”
Marie delivered the truth with a clever twist.
She had passed on the rumor, but she hadn’t been able to get Alicia to do anything. The back of her head hurt so much and this situation scared her so much that she wanted to frame Alicia and run away from this reality, but she couldn’t.
“Take care of her.”
Marie liked Alicia at first sight; she was like a beautiful Princess from a fairy tale.
Her smiling face seemed to be bathed in all the light in the world, and there was not a trace of darkness in her eyes, which were as clear as a sparkling emerald sea.
I was intrigued.
Because of Alicia’s sunny disposition and her lack of words, their time together was mostly filled with silence, but strangely enough, the silence was not stifling. On the contrary, Marie enjoyed the warmth of the Princess’s company.
The quiet time spent attending to her was a breath of fresh air, and some days she briefly wished she could be the Princess’s handmaiden for a very long time.
“Foolish thing. The Mistress didn’t give a lowly girl like you the position for nothing, did she? If you’re kicked out of here, where will you go but back to that stinking corner of the countryside where you’re so well suited to be, tying fields and being lowly?”
A muffled slap resounded across her cheek as her head came free. She staggered back, clutching at her battered cheek, and her hair was once again caught without protest.
“Sera, take care of yourself.”
A calm voice came from the handmaiden, Countess Anthe, who stood beside the two of them, her expression grim and impassive.
“Mistress, but I’m not sure she’s doing her job properly-”
“The appearance of the maids is important, don’t let them dishonor themselves with something so trivial.”
At Countess Anthe’s words, Sera’s face changed, and her grip on Marie’s hand loosened.
“You are a good handmaiden. You always bring up things I haven’t thought of, hehe.”
Sera’s face was wickedly sweet, her eyes densely packed and cute, as she swept back her usually pampered dark yellow hair.
Her scarlet eyes sparkled as she walked with light steps to the front of the cabinet, and Marie’s face fluttered as if she were about to collapse at any moment as she stared at her anxiously.
“Oh- I wonder how the Princess is getting more time with the Emperor if she’s not doing much of anything, isn’t that a curious thing?”
Sera approached Marie, her tone of voice a stark contrast to her earlier, fierce one, and her tone of affection. Her hands, clad in thick pink gloves that seemed out of place in the passing season of spring, held a bunch of ash that she had just taken from the cabinet.
“You’re the only one who’s close, why don’t you realize it, huh? You’re a useless slut anyway.”
“Three, Sera.”
“What are you going to do when you hurt my delicate hands? Ugh, you’re such a pain in the ass.”
“Hmph- I’m sorry, please forgive me just this once. Hu, please…”
“Marie, she’ll be gone soon, either to her homeland or up there in the sky. You’ll watch her for a while, and then you’ll get the money you so desperately need, a letter of recommendation, and leave for a better place.”
The smile slowly faded from Sera’s face as she finished.
“Lift your skirt.”
“Huhu… Wrong.”
“Aren’t you excited for the hunting festival tomorrow, it’s been so long I’m already itching for blood, but I won’t go that far because you have work to do tomorrow.”
Marie stood up in the familiar worn chair and lifted her skirt, exposing her shapely legs.
“All you have to do is lure her into the Maze Forest tomorrow. They say it’s a bad place to go, but it’s not.”
“The Maze Forest?”
“Yes. If you think she’ll be waiting for you, you can slip in that it’s one of his favorite places, and if not, you can tell her that it’s a place where no one comes and she can relax alone. It’s so easy, isn’t it?”
“It’s not like it’s a managed hunting ground, there are a lot of wild beasts there, and it could be dangerous. If the princess gets hurt…”
“It’s better if she gets hurt. If she dies, it’s easier for us.”
Sera’s eyes hardened as she stared at Marie, who hesitated despite her fearful expression.
“There’s a beast here, too. I guess it takes a beating to wake it up.”
The slender arms of the spear began to make cruel sounds, and gradually a mournful scream filled the room.
***
The morning of the hunt finally dawned.
I glanced down at Marie, who was pulling my boots on, dressed in a form-fitting brown hunting outfit and black cloak.
“Marie, are you okay?”
“What?”
Marie, who had consciously avoided my eyes earlier, looked up at me in surprise.
Her face was white, sweat beaded on her forehead, and her lips were chapped. I could tell she was in bad shape.
“You look sick.”
I gingerly reached out and ran a hand through her disheveled hair, then casually wiped the sweat from her forehead.
Her fluttering ginger eyelashes looked pitiful.
“You should see the doctor, I’m all set up anyway, you can go on your own from now on, I think I’ll take it easy today.”
“Oh, no, I’m just a little tired, not that I need to rest.”
“You’re just tired?”
I glanced at her one cheek, which was slightly swollen from yesterday. Unless she had a toothache, that one was swollen from being hit.
But when Marie’s shoulders hunched like she was trying to hide something, I looked away, pretending not to see it.
“If you’re tired, you might as well go back to bed, and you don’t have to come with me, because I’m going with Sir Oscar now.”
“Princess, I’m really fine.”
“… I’m sorry, but even if you’re fine, I don’t want you to feel uncomfortable watching me, so go get some rest.”
“I’ll just watch you leave, and then I’ll go to rest like you said, I promise.”
This is weird. It’s so different from her usual behavior.
I’ve seen her glare at me from time to time, but I’ve never seen her look as anxious and scared as she does now.
I knew she’d hang on to my leg if I tried to force her, so I figured it was better to let her do what she wanted and go to rest rather than push her.
“Huh-okay. Are you sure you’re going to rest after you see me off?”
“Uh, … I’m sorry.”
“Why are you apologizing to me? It’s Marie who can’t take a break. Are we done?”
“Yep. Uh-huh.”
Marie staggered to her feet. Her legs flailed like a newborn fawn, and I caught her in my arms.
She wobbled for a moment, but all that riding had paid off in lower body strength.
‘Smell blood?’
The air carried by the rustling of her skirt was somehow fishy. Even I, who usually couldn’t put my finger on the scent of blood, could identify it.
“Hmph, I’m sorry. Princess, are you okay?”
“Marie… Are you hurt?”
Marie, who had jumped back in surprise and anxiously examined me to see if I was hurt, stiffened at my words.
“Marie?”
“Uh, I got a little cut yesterday with a knife.”
“A knife?”
“Yes, a knife.”
As if she had nothing more to say, Marie clamped her mouth shut and took a step back.
“… Yes, make sure you get it taken care of later.”
Feeling like I was picking on a needy person, I turned to leave the room, gritting my teeth.
“I… Princess.”
“What?”
“…”
“Marie?”
“Uhh… near the hunting grounds, there’s a path to the Maze Forest.”
What Maze Forest?
I looked at Marie strangely, her voice strained as if she were about to collapse at any moment.
“If you go in the direction of the East Palace where you were staying before, you’ll find the entrance to the Maze Forest. The forest looks a bit complicated at first, but it’s not, so just walk straight ahead and you’ll find a villa.”
“Aha…”
“I heard that the cottage is very beautiful, and that no one comes there, so you can relax alone, if you’re looking for a place to do that… There…”
I wondered why she was telling me about this when she had told me not to go there, and she was speaking with such a suspicious look and trembling that I wondered if she had been threatened.
“Does Marie want me to go there?”
Marie’s eyes snapped to me, staring at the ground like a sinner, her tear-stained yellow-green pupils clouding over.
