Rihannan’s words fell and the two were immediately kicked out of the house.
Of course, Rihannan knew this was not the end. Her father would try to gain back the estate by mobilizing all his powers, but eventually, he’ll learn that all means of resistance would be useless.
“Mary, let’s get you treated. Did it hurt?”
After giving Mary a warm hug, Rihannan looked at Jeffrey.
“Jeffrey, I would like to speak to you after Mary’s treatment.”
“Yes, My Lady.”
Rihannan used her small hand and dragged Mary into her room. It looked very much like a child dragging a huge, cuddly bear.
“Mary, why did you do that?”
Rihannan asked, her small hands tapping Mary’s cheeks with a cold towel.
“What do you mean?”
“Why did you allow yourself to be hurt? Like a fool…”
“You’re a little girl, Miss. You’re small. If the Count really did hit you, you’ll die and he’ll go to… I’d rather take the chance and be sick for a few days.”
Rihannan looked at Mary fondly with hints of anguish. Mary was pure and kind-hearted, giving all her goodness to others unconditionally. To Rihannan, she was special.
“Mary, will you go with me to Crichton?”
Mary’s eyes widened at her sudden suggestion.
“What? Why all so suddenly?”
“I’m going to Crichton as soon as possible. Will you come with me?”
Mary had been a maid most of her life. She was an orphan, originally, and was offered a chance to work at the mansion. Later on, she was placed in charge of Rihannan and over time grew fond of her.
“It’s okay to refuse my offer. You can stay here and continue working in the mansion, if you’d like, or I can write you a letter of reccomendation.”
Mary was an Arundell native, not Crichton. Rihanna knew it’d not be easy to ask her to leave her native land, so she didn’t have much expectations. In fact, Rihannan believed Mary’d more likely to stay in the mansion. But much to her surprise, Mary answered Rihannan’s cautious suggestion right away.
“What nonsense are you speaking, Miss? Wherever you go, of course I’ll follow you.”
“….Really?”
Mary nodded relentlessly.
“Yes. I don’t have a family here anyway. Thanks to your late mother, I was able to serve you. I would like to follow you, if you don’t mind.”
Little by little, a bright and carefree smile was plastered on Rihannan’s face — it was that kind of smile Mary hadn’t seen for a long time. Mary smiled back and then suddenly spouted something worrisome.
“But shouldn’t you inform the Queen first?”
Hertia Cesca, Queen of Arundell.
Arundell’s very own Queen and princess, a cousin to her mother, and godmother to Rihannan.
“Yes… I should…”
“So when we leave, we should let the Queen know first.”
Rihannan had followed her mother to the royal palace several times before. At that time, she found the Queen a scary person — her being the woman known to have jumped directly into a battlefield filled with corpses and blood to regain the throne… she also suppressed the aristocratic forces that revolted against her after she became Queen.
Arundell was traditionally known to the region as an exceptionally strong and powerful country with a somewhat backward system.
The Council of Nobility, with each noble representing a region, had more power than the King.
So Arundell remained at a standstill using the former system while surrounding nations transformed into a powerful, centralized state.
One person who wanted to change Arundell’s doom and fate was the Queen’s father, Edgar II. Because of his view, he suffered numerous conflicts with the nobles throughout his reign, of which continued until his death.
At that time, the nobles tried to downplay her ruling and attempted to crown her cousin over Hertia Cesca, the rightful heir to the throne. Though the partial reason was that she was a woman and the nobles were worried that she would fulfill her father’s vision.
After Hertia handed over the throne herself to her cousin on the condition that her son succeed the throne, the reduced aristocracy seemed to expand again, but much to their dismay, the King passed away early on.
And her son, who was pronounced King at the time, was young an inexperienced and so Hertia regained her power through the convergence cleanup. It was done so naturally too.
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But right after, the nobles struck again.
The nobles who sided with the previous King, Hertia’s cousin, abandoned the treaty and decided to establish one of his sons as the next King. The nobles schemed in secret and it looked like it would have been successful but…