Chapter 100 – Greetings (1)
In a carriage going up to the capital where the palace was located, a lady with pitch-black hair was slling red roses handed over to her by a maid.
“The prince’s wife huh….”
“Does it bother you after all?”
“?”
“Yes. You’ve been ntioning the princes’ wife constantly.”
“Do you really think I’m bothered by so naive daughter of an aristocrat?”
“Then why…” The maid trailed off, puzzled by the lady’s show of distress.
“I guess I’m bothered by the fact that the Prince is married.”
The maid nodded. The cold, unyielding man of the empire. The man who only cared about money and power had married less than a month after his engagent. The whole empire was stunned. It wasn’t just the empire that was astonished.
There were the mbers of the Skad family as well. The collateral relatives consisted of Count Citri, Count of Glacia, Count of Onslow, Count of Renove, Baroness Houres, Baron Piamon, and Baron Zephyr were very baffled.
It took them about a month to arrange things to get to the capital. However, Alexcent, less than a month after the engagent, had gone through with the marriage and it had made the nobles reel.
They weren’t invited personally to the Duke’s wedding, which left a bitter taste in their mouths. So, naturally, everyone looked forward to the annual festival to see his bride.
Among them, there was a specific individual who had awaited more than anyone else.
“What in nine hells was the Duke thinking?” The lady’s brows were furrowed in disbelief.
“The empire is abuzz and is full of rumors that he is quite the lover.” Her maid piped in.
“Ha, do you really believe that? You can manipulate newspapers as much as you want when you are rich.”
“I guess you are right. That amount of manipulation is probably sothing easy for the Duke to do.”
“I wonder what he is up to.”
“That’s…we don’t know. He is always unpredictable. No one knows what he might be thinking.”
“Which is why I’m looking forward to this festival more than ever.”
“Yes. I wonder how the Prince’s wife would have prepared it.”
“Then, we must get there on ti.”
“Yes.”
Then breaking the stalk of the rose, she muttered.
“If the flower isn’t to my liking, I suppose I can just break it like this?”
“….Yes.”
The state of the broken flower stalk must have been satisfactory, for she smiled before throwing it out through the carriage window.
The red petals blew away and scattered on the floor as the carriage rolled by.
***
“Madam, I, Roman and three other maids will be assisting you for today,” declared Roman.
“What? I don’t need assistance. Also, why Roman?” asked Athyst. “What about her work?”
“Madam, soon the relatives will be arriving at the Duke’s mansion. We can’t have soone of high standing as yourself to greet them without a single maid at your service. Other noble ladies will have at least three of them trailing them so you should also make the necessary adjustnts.”
Lunia was right. Noble ladies usually had two or three maids at their sides at all tis. “Alright. But will Roman be okay? I’m sure her hands are already full.”
“She’s taking care of it as we speak. She has learnt from you, so she will be efficient. She will make it so that a few days of absence from her work won’t hamper the flow of work,” said Lunia, “Besides, there is no one as trustworthy as Roman to assist you.”
“Trustworthy?”
“Yes. Previously, the annual festival was held without the presence of the lady of the house. This ti it’s different. If any unexpected situation occurs, we need trustworthy maids at your side to deal with it efficiently.”
“It sounds like a Chinese drama where there is always so sort of plot twist.”
“Sorry?”
“Nothing. Alright. I appreciate your help.”
“Of course, Madam,” said Lunia, “I will serve you wholeheartedly.”
Athyst thought nothing of the sort was necessary. But she could feel the pressure of it, as well. She had simply thought the annual festival to be a reunion of sorts but seeing Lunia all aflutter, Athyst couldn’t help but feel nervous.
“Also this is the agenda for the festival. There are still so adjustnts being made to minor details, but it is not much different from last year so it would be good for you to refer to it.”
Athyst took the docunt that Lunia handed to her. I suppose it will be good to know a bit about it, she thought.
“We’re having the feast on the second day and not the first?” asked Athyst.
“Yes. Since the guests will be tired from the long ride here. The first day normally ends off with a quiet greeting,” explained Lunia.
“Ah, I see. And their etings run for two weeks? So long…”
“That’s the estimated ti. Sotis it may take shorter or longer. Usually, it takes longer as we are discussing the whole business of next year and the taxes we’re going to collect from the citizens of the country.”
Athyst nodded and listened to Lunia patiently explaining the whole thing to her.
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