CH 11

“Lift your head.”

Your low voice sounded so sweet.

No, it might’ve actually been cold.

But to me, I only heard gentleness and sweetness.

Since no matter how much time passed, this silver color belonged to you.

Holding in the tears that were on the verge of falling, I slowly raised my head.

In my memories, your pink eyes never had a focus.

However, they still had a bright and sparkly light to them.

I’d always thought that your pink eyes shone just as prettily as the legendary gem that was picked from the petals.

But seeing you after ten years had passed, your eyes were no longer those with no focus.

And… your pink eyes that were staring into mine no longer shone like they once did.

It’s too sad.

Seeing you like that, my heart ached so much.

I felt another wave of tears forming, but I managed to hold it in.

I didn’t want to have the reunion with my husband wearing a depressed and teary face.

Using all of my might, I made a smile by lifting the corners of my lips.

And just as I had practiced, I slowly moved my finger.

Originally, this was something I’d do while holding Hadel’s hand, but because that wasn’t realistic at the moment, I started tapping my fingers on the back of my own hand.

First, tapping twice with my index finger.

Today,

Next, tapping with my pinky finger.

did you,

Lastly, tapping three times with my thumb.

sleep well?

There was a period when Hadel often couldn’t sleep well due to nightmares.

That’s why I occasionally read him fairy tales.

However, I couldn’t do that when I had a sore throat after I’d caught a cold.

That’s why I created this signal so that I could ask how Hadel had slept, and whether he had any nightmares during the night.

I’d thought about what I should tell him first.

When we were young, there were a lot of things we told each other using signals we made with our hands.

So I decided to ask what I was the most worried about.

Did you sleep well while I was gone?

Seeing my fingers, Hadel’s eyes widened largely as if they were going to pop out of his head.

Seeing how even his lips slightly parted, it seemed he was very surprised.

Blinking slowly, I took Hadel’s face in with my eyes.

When I’d last seen him ten years ago, he’d still had a boyish charm to him.

Now, he was a complete adult.

A face that I’d missed,

and yearned for so much.

As I wondered if the person in front of me was really Hadel, I found that tears were welling up in my eyes again.

“T-Then we’ll begin the presentation of the tiara.”

At the Grand Chamberlain’s announcement, Hadel and I were brought back to reality.

Abruptly dropping my head, I hid the tears that were about to fall.

Pausing for a moment, Hadel lowered the heavy tiara onto my head, and the weight of the tiara caused my head to slightly dip.

It felt like I could feel Hadel’s trembling fingers through the tiara, but I couldn’t see what expression he was making.

* * *

Along with the Lily Palace, I received the title of ‘Silver Lily.’

It seemed that it was influenced by my silver hair.

“Madame Chunet. I said we’d meet again, didn’t I?”

Anyway, I was finally, truly, the Queen of the Emperor.

Although I didn’t receive a title of nobility, it was the unspoken rule that the Queen who received a title from the Emperor himself would be treated as a rank greater than a count, and less than a duke.

That’s why I could speak informally to the Countess, Madame Chunet.

“Miss Silver Lily. I congratulate you.”

And Madame Chunet also very naturally changed her manner of speech and the way she addressed me.

However, she must’ve been unable to hide the thorns behind her words, because her greeting sounded sharp somewhere.

Well, as the Countess, of course she wouldn’t want to serve me, a commoner, as her master.

“Now, I’ll help you wash and tidy up.”

“It’s still daytime, so why are we washing so early?”

“Since we don’t know when His Majesty will come looking for you.”

Her actions on the outside were definitely polite.

However, I had a subtle feeling that she was looking down at me.

Should I let this go or find fault with it?

“…I don’t think he will.”

It looked like Hadel was truly surprised. Did he really recognize me?

By my judgment, the answer was ‘no’.

Hadel thinks I’m dead.

It won’t be easy for him to instantly deny my death just from a simple hand signal and believe that I was ‘Ashella’.

He’s probably deep in confusion and floundering around right now.

Since he’s so timid, it might take him a long time until he even comes to find me and ask.

Perhaps Madame Chunet was displeased at the words I said while thinking of Hadel’s personality, because she took a step forward and started to speak.

“Miss Silver Lily, I understand that you might not know very well. However, generally, the Queen must be prepared for His Majesty to come at any time, and prepare…”

“Madame Chunet.”

She was speaking with the tone of a lecture that wouldn’t end.

Being unable to listen to it until the end, I cut her off with a stern voice.

The maids who were assigned to me stood in a line behind Madame Chunet with their heads bowed.

If I let this go, there would be talk about how I acted like a commoner despite being the Queen, and the authority of the Lily Palace would be given to Madame Chunet.

I couldn’t let that happen.

“I think you’re really elegant and refined, Madame. That must be why the Duke recommended you as the Head Maid.”

“…You flatter me.”

“But still, you have years of age on you. I think you’ve forgotten that I’ve already learned and know all of this.”

During the short period of time I stayed at the Valkirino Duchy, I learned many things about imperial etiquette at a rapid pace.

Although it was all due to cramming, the results were quite amazing.

Not to mention, I was originally born as a duchy’s young lady and had lived that way for more than ten years.

All the basic things were ingrained in my body, despite living as a commoner for ten years and having a fuzzy memory of the past.

Even though she didn’t know that I was originally the daughter of a duke, even Madame Chunet knew I spent time at the Valkirinos to learn.

“Madame, you’re the lady of the renowned Chunet County, and now the head maid of the Queen. But your speech just now…”

Pausing, I slightly tilted my head as if I was truly confused.

“…seemed like someone who never learned that speaking in a patronizing tone to their master is a violation of the lese-majeste law.”

Tl/n: Lèse-majesté (a French term meaning “to do wrong to majesty”) is a crime that encompasses defamation, insults, and threats to a member of the Imperial family.

“I…”

“Ahhh, I know there’s no way Madame Chunet didn’t learn about this. That’s why I’m so worried.”

“…”

“It seems like due to your age, you’ve forgotten a few things.”

Now that it came to this, Madame Chunet could only make one of two choices.

Become a pathetic noble who didn’t even receive proper education from her household, or acknowledge that she did learn properly, but forgot and made a mistake due to her failing memory at her old age.

Madame Chunet narrowed her eyes.

It seemed like she had a strong sense of caution towards me.

But her emotions only leaked for a brief second, as she quickly bowed her head and lowered her posture.

“I apologize. As I’ve been raising two children, my memory is not as good as before.”

Seeing her deeply bowing towards me, I nodded.

“Yeah, it’s fine. That can happen. Anyway, I understand you only said that because you were excessively worried about me.”

“…Thank you, Miss Silver Lily.”

“It’s fine as long as you are careful not to do this in the future. Right?”

Making eye contact with Madame Chunet, who had lifted her head, I smiled.

At my question that was inducing an answer, the woman slowly answered.

“…Yes, I’ll be careful.”

Mm. Did I start off too strongly?

But since I had to see her every day from now on, I couldn’t just let her continue to talk to me in such a rude manner.

If they started to disrespect me one by one, they might even try to outsmart me.

“Good. Then as you advised, I’ll wash right away. Lead the way.”

Since I gave her the stick, I should give a bit of the carrot as well, now.

Although in this situation, even a carrot felt like nothing.

* * *

“Wow… Is this really a palace?”

I’d decided to visit the Lily Palace, which had been granted to me, only to be rendered speechless from how dumbfounded I was.

There was not a single flower in the garden, and the outer walls were in such shambles that you could see the interior.

It seemed that the paint had completely peeled off a long time ago.

“It looks like it hasn’t been occupied for quite a time. Should we clean it first?”

“Today is the Queen’s appointment ceremony, and nobody cleaned this place?”

“…I apologize. We didn’t know which palace would be granted to Miss Silver Lily.”

“I already know that it was decided beforehand. Don’t try to make excuses.”

At my sharp comment, Madame Chunet shut her mouth.

Although I wanted to say more, I decided to let it go this time, since I’d already rebuked her earlier.

“Wow. Will I even be able to take a bath like this?”

“…I’ll prepare it right away.”

Responding with a cold voice, Madame Chunet quickly disappeared towards the bathroom.

It’s probably just not prepared at all.

It seemed that thinking I would die, nobody had organized this place.

“At this point, it’s nothing but disrespect to my face.”

Grumbling to myself as I waited, Madame Chunet came back, probably done with the preparations.

“Come this way, Miss Silver Lily.”

Upon arrival, I realized that although the bathroom was a mess, it was enough to wash in.

…Other than the fact that there was a musty smell coming from who knows where.

“I’ll prepare the bedroom. These maids will aid you, Miss Silver Lily.”

Two maids stepped closer to me and started to undress me.