“Please sit down.”
“My mother, whom you want to see, will be a little late because she has to see His Majesty the Emperor first.”
“Thank you.”
Malek, in the guise of Abel, gently and affectionately offered the young girl a seat to win her favor, and Elaine did as he suggested and sat down on the soft sofa.
The palace was decorated with sparkling crystal chandeliers, ornately patterned wallpaper and heavy velvet curtains, furniture with gilded ornaments and handles that looked like sculptures, and exotic-patterned carpets that dazzled the eye at every turn.
‘I didn’t think I would get bored even if I waited for some time.’
However, since it was not the time to pay attention to the splendor she was seeing for the first time in her life, Elaine focused her eyes on the teacup that the maid placed in front of her. She didn’t know where else to look.
“Did you hear anything from Sir Lark?”
“Lark? I’m not contacting him personally.”
“Really…?”
Malek added a playful twist to his words, but Elaine couldn’t tell what he meant.
“I have known Sir Lark for a long time, but in fact, I don’t think I have ever heard of Miss Elaine from him. No matter how much I try to remember, nothing comes to mind.”
“I suppose you’re right. My position in Count Newt’s family is not something he can talk about.”
“I thought so too at first. But from what I heard recently,…I heard Sir Lark takes great care of his cousin.”
“I suppose it depends on how you interpret the word ‘caring’.”
Malek looked at Elaine with interest, showing slight discomfort.
‘It’s really different from what I heard. Were the reports so far wrong? Or did this girl change her attitude when she entered the temple?’
Even before meeting Elaine today, Malek had thoroughly reviewed the report on Elaine.
Sasha’s informants weren’t bought by Newt, nor were they incompetent.
There was no reason for them to distort Elaine’s attitude.
‘Is the change in Elaine Newt’s attitude related to the change in Lark Newt’s attitude? Or vice versa?’
The report also contained detailed information about Lark.
Unlike the rest of the family, who had an intense dislike for Elaine, Lark was neither close nor distant to her.
Although he seemed to despise Elaine at first glance, it was always Lark who offered a helping hand when Elaine was in trouble.
Still, he didn’t care about Elaine outwardly, but something had changed since the end of last year.
The most surprising thing was that Lark took Elaine to a shopping district and did some luxurious shopping.
‘Lark is trying to capture Elaine Newt. Why would that fox-like bastard tie up his cousin, who has been letting loose all along?’
Malek thought it might be due to a perverse lust like Lark’s father, Count Newt or some yet unknown utility.
‘For example, the dragon magic stone that this girl is likely to have hidden.…’
While He was observing Elaine with that thought in mind, a servant came in.
“The Marquise of Sasha Hebron is here.”
“Oh, your mother is here!”
Elaine was startled by the sound and stood up.
Soon the door to the drawing room opened again and a charming woman in a gorgeous dress walked in.
Even though there was a carpet on the floor, there was no sound of footsteps at all, and she didn’t seem to feel the slightest burden from her intricate braids or fluffy skirt.
This made Elaine wonder if she was floating in the air.
“May Bara’s blessing be with you. Meet the Marquise of Hebron. My name is Elaine Newt.”
“Oh my god, is this lovely girl Miss Elaine who wanted to meet me?”
Sasha smiled brightly and came up to Elaine, hugging the embarrassed girl lightly.
“Oh, you’re so cute. How can you be so fresh? You look like a little raspberry with the morning dew on it.”
“Oh that…thank you.”
Elaine wasn’t sure if the “little raspberry” was a compliment, but she thanked her anyway.
And when she looked up, Rabes, who had been sitting on Elaine’s shoulder, had already moved over to Sasha’s shoulder.
“Now, don’t be hard on yourself, sit down, I’m not a child-eating witch like the rumors have it, nor am I some kind of mythical goddess, I’m just a regular old lady who likes pretty things.”
‘It didn’t seem right for someone with smooth skin without a single wrinkle, beautiful features, and a flawless body to call herself ‘Ahjumma’.’
TL : ‘Ahjumma’ in English is an old lady or aunty.
‘If I took care of myself as hard as she did, I think I would never think of myself as an ajumma.’
Then Elaine realized that she was now a girl who had not even had a coming-of-age ceremony.
‘Well, to an eighteen-year-old, she’s an ahjumma.’
That’s what she thought, but the imperial palace is the kind of place where you get your head blown off if you say what you think.
“It’s an honor to meet you. You are more beautiful than anyone I have ever seen. If the prince hadn’t introduced you as his mother, I wouldn’t have recognized you as the marquise, you look so young.”
“Oh my god! I guess I’m really getting older. I’m so happy to be complimented on how young I look! Thank you, Miss Elaine.”
Sasha laughed happily.
But Elaine couldn’t laugh along with her. This is because bluish light was flowing from the eyes of Rabes, who was sitting on Sasha’s shoulder, and his expression was so serious that it was scary.
‘Is it okay to use magical power in the imperial palace? Won’t we get caught?’
Elaine’s stomach churned, but she decided to trust Rabes; he was stronger than anything else on the earth.
Fortunately, Sasha and Abel seemed to take Elaine’s awkward reaction for granted.
Well, there is no way that a girl who came to the imperial palace for the first time and sat across from the royal family would be good at it.
“Anyway, I heard about it. It was Miss Elaine who suggested the ritual of blessing the holy relics of the Temple.”
“It just happened to be something I said. Many people below the high priest worked hard, so I didn’t do anything that great.”
“Just as I heard, you are so humble. Hahah!”
Sasha and Malek, who naturally talked about everything from how Elaine came here from the temple and Elaine’s current situation, exchanged glances with each other and slowly began to ask questions about what they were curious about.
“I personally have a deep connection with the Newt family. Actually, I know a little bit about Miss Elaine’s mother. It’s too late, but I’m sorry about what happened to your mother.”
When Sasha suddenly brought up the story about her mother, Elaine’s eyes widened.
“You know my mother?”
“Even before Mariel was officially enrolled into the Newt family, I was friendly with the former Count Newt. Once upon a time he introduced Mariel to me, as he was about to debut her in the social circle, and so we exchanged letters from time to time.”
Sasha put on a faintly benevolent expression, trying to convince Elaine that she was harmless.
“But around the time Count Newt passed away, I was also preoccupied with various problems. Otherwise, I would have stopped Rubaine.…By the time I found out about Count Newt’s family situation, everything was too late.”
Elaine barely took a breath as her mother’s painful life came back to her mind.
“I wanted to meet Miss Elaine in person several times, but Count Newt has always refused, saying you’re not an official member of the Newt family.”
“It’s not wrong.”
Sasha came and sat down next to Elaine, who answered with a trembling voice, and held Elaine’s small hands tightly.
“You had a hard time, right? I felt sorry for not being able to help Miss Elaine. But when I heard that Miss Elaine wanted to see me, I thought that perhaps Mariel was giving me a chance.”
“Well, my mother would never have dared to think such a thing; she would have been glad just to know that you were thinking of her.”
Elaine tried to pull her hand away, but Sasha gripped it tighter and smiled as if she understood everything.
“Actually…. there were some things I wanted to ask you, Miss Elaine.”
“yes? me?”
Sasha nodded to the maid next to her. Then the maid put the tray she was carrying on her table.
There were a couple of old-looking letters on a silver tray.
“This is a letter I received from Mariel. You can read it.”
Elaine took a deep breath.
Her heart pounded so hard in her chest that her hands trembled at the thought of a letter from her mother, who hadn’t even left a will or a diary.
But if she missed this opportunity, she would never see it again.
Glancing at Rabes, he too was nodding, so Elaine gathered her courage and carefully picked up the letter.
* * *
THEY ARE ACTING SO SUS WHAT