“Do you have to do that?”
Rosetin asked, taking a sip of her tea. Her orange eyes devoid of any life, as if her soul had disappeared.
“That’s because you don’t know what you’re talking about. Last I heard, you were struck down by a beast kept by the Empress. Why didn’t you tell me when such a big thing happened?”
Mrs. Bedos had heard of Rosetin’s collapse from a maid she had bribed. There were no significant injuries, just a great deal of surprise, but Mrs. Bedos clenched her fists and gritted her teeth.
She wondered if the Empress had gone out of her way to torment Rosetin.
“It was no big deal. His Majesty the Emperor wanted it to be quiet.”
At the mention of the Emperor, Mrs. Bedos could find nothing more to say. Time had already passed, and Rosetin’s own unwillingness to speak made it difficult to argue with the Empress.
Even the Emperor, who was supposed to be on Rosetin’s side, tried to sweep it under the rug. But Mrs. Bedos wanted to use the incident as an opportunity to make a point to the Empress.
“That will not do. I don’t know what His Majesty is thinking. The more significant the incident, the more thoroughly it should be dealt with.”
“His Majesty has a lot of things to worry about, and I don’t think he’d be interested in such a trivial matter.”
“Well, it’s for the best anyway. She’s the Empress, after all, and she’s got a Marquis as her paramour, and she’s got a lot of scandalous rumors going around…… about her behavior.”
“…….”
“If we can add one more crucial piece to the puzzle here, the Emperor’s deputies will be able to push Bledel even harder. If we’re lucky, we’ll even be able to put a dent in the Claflin family. You just have to count on us.”
“……Claflin?”
Rosetin’s complexion darkened a little at Mrs. Bedos’ mention of the Marquis. But Mrs. Bedos didn’t notice the subtle difference.
She was simply pleased to see her daughter’s interest in her story, so she spoke in a slightly reminiscent tone.
“Why? Haven’t you seen him a few times at the banquet, too? He’s a fine-looking fellow, sticking close to the Empress. How a family as noble as the Claflin’s could have such a nasty bastard as their heir is beyond me……. Tsk tsk. Now that family is going to be ruined.”
“What are you talking about?”
“I mean that the Marquis of Claflin has been bedridden for years. When he was younger, Claflin was a great family beyond comparison with Bledel. But that was a long time ago.”
There was a faint sneer in Mrs. Bedes’ tone as she spoke of the Claflin family, and she snorted softly before she spoke again.
“The only child is an illegitimate bastard of lowly blood and is not trusted by the Emperor. He has no use for politics, and his behavior is so frivolous that no nobleman would want to associate with him. Who would have thought that the pompous Claflin would end up like this.
Mrs. Bedos said sourly, with mockery tugging at the corners of her mouth. Rosetin’s vacant eyes flashed with interest.
“But the Claflin family has sworn allegiance to the Emperor…….”
Rosetin opened her mouth as if to retort, but Mrs Bedos set down her teacup, interrupting her daughter.
“My dear, does it look like Lord Claflin is loyal to the Emperor right now? The way he’s acting, he’d rather interfere with our work than help us. Even the nobles at the emperor’s faction will eventually turn against the Claflin family.”
Mrs. Bedos put on a stern face and decided to give her naive daughter a lesson.
“Rosetin, if the Empress loses her position, your father will stand where the Duke of Bledel stands now. When that happens, we won’t have to share power with the Claflin family, will we?”
“…….”
“There are also rumors that the Marquis’ mother was a Xenosian, though everyone pretends not to know it. I’ve always found it distasteful to have such lowly blood among the nobility, and it would be nice to see that impure seed tied to Bledel and nipped in the bud.”
Mrs. Bedos smiled deeply as she thought of the dreamy future she had long envisioned. Her daughter would soon be an Empress, and Bledel would be crushed.
The Claflin family, which has been going downhill thanks to their wretched heir, will be cleaned up and Asha will be hers.
Rosetin’s grip on the handle of the teacup loosened slightly, and the tea inside tipped precariously, threatening to fall to the floor.
Mrs. Bedos, intoxicated with strange satisfaction, did not notice.
* * * * * * * * * * * * * * *
“Do you think there’s some sort of fateful connection between you and Casey?”
Stella’s eyes were full of conviction, as if she had discovered a crucial clue.
I shrugged it off, but I couldn’t help but feel a little strange.
It wasn’t until about a week later that my physical condition finally improved.
Oddly enough, as soon as I got up and left my bed, Casey’s symptoms improved.
He wasn’t running around as energetically as before, but he was eating well and not making pitiful whining noises.
That alone was a relief, but the bulge in his shoulder was still unnerving. There was no denying that Casey was different from other wolves.
I decided to continue my quest to learn more about him, because I didn’t know what the future held.
“They say a new route to the Popus Peninsula has been developed, shortening the travel distance considerably. We’ve sent someone, so they might be able to find some clues. If they worship wolves as gods, they must know more than we do.”
Sensing my distress over Casey, Stella soothed me with hopeful words. Now that I had rested for a while, I had work to do.
I still hadn’t gotten over the visions of Bonneflower, but I couldn’t just lie around doing nothing either; that luxury hadn’t always been mine.
In my life as Kim Sejin I had to worry about paying bills even in the midst of despair, and I had to go to work even when I felt like she was going to die.
Today, I was going to visit Brilland Farm again. Even though I had been lying down for a few days, I had heard news about how things were being managed by sending people to oversee the situation.
It seemed that Caibon’s humiliation and expulsion in front of the Xenos slaves had turned his former subordinates against the imperial manager.
They were in cahoots with Caibon, so it was not hard to see how they would have treated the Xenos slaves. To them, I was like a virus that cracked a stable, solid system.
They began to resist in their own way to protect their own comfortable world.
As the attendants of the Empress kept a close watch, they couldn’t openly rebel; instead, they subtly neglected their duties. They also subtly challenged the palace attendants, claiming to know better about farm work than anyone else.
Furthermore, they had discreetly insinuated their superiority in farm matters to the palace attendants. Today, I got into the carriage to verify the situation at the Brillang Farm with my own eyes.
* * * * * * * * * * * * * * *
“Sister!”
When Noah saw the imperial carriage, he ran to me. There was a little girl following closely behind him. She must be Noah’s sister, Julie.
Like Noah, she was small and skinny, but she was a cute little girl with bright golden eyes. But as soon as Julie made eye contact with me, she ducked behind Noah.
I ruffled Noah’s hair lightly and smiled.
“So, Noah, how have you been? And has anyone been bothering you?”
“No, not really. Those guys are nothing without Stephan. Honestly, I kind of let them bother me on purpose.”
Noah spoke with a pout, but there was mischief in his eyes. There hadn’t been much harassment since the Caibons had disappeared, and Noah seemed much calmer.
Noah looked at me and began to chat nonstop about his work. It seemed that the caretakers were too preoccupied with the palace attendants to torture or harass the Xenosians.
His Grandpa Jake’s leg was still recovering, but after proper treatment, he was doing much better. As Noah chatted excitedly, I noticed Julie standing next to him, watching me warily.
“You must be Julie. Nice to meet you, I’m…….”
As I introduced myself, Julie immediately hid her head behind her brother again. It seemed like she was quite shy.
But after a few seconds of innocent curiosity, she poked her head out again.
“Julie’s afraid of nobles.”
Noah sighed softly and glanced at Julie. Even though I was deliberately dressed in simple clothes and spoke softly, I seemed to be just another noblewoman in her eyes.
For a child so young as a kindergartener to be afraid of nobles, I couldn’t help but feel a pang of sympathy for her, thinking that she might have experienced unfair treatment like Noah did.
“It’s heaven here without Caibon, and though they don’t show it, they’re probably glad to have someone like you as the new caretaker-except for Arthur, who’s always complaining.”
Arthur, who was said to have taught Noah a lot, also warned that as someone who served the Emperor, I was no different than a minion in the eyes of the Xenosians, so he should always be cautious.
He wasn’t exactly wrong, but it was a very dangerous thing to say. I turned to Noah and said in a very serious voice
“Noah, you should never say that to anyone but me. Do you understand?”
Noah seemed to realize the gravity of his words and nodded with a slightly flustered expression. I listened to a little more of Noah’s pleasant chatter before I was led away by an attendant.
As I walked, I could feel the eyes of the Xenos slaves in the wheat field glancing my way. When I turned my head in their direction, they pretended not to see me and continued with their work.
I felt a twinge of bitterness as I realized how similar they looked to Julie, who was wary of nobles.
