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(3rd Person POV)
“I see…”
It wasn’t surprising to hear but rather, it was expected.
It was because Melina’s expression didn’t look good when Anastasia initially offered her the position.
‘But I wonder why?’
Of course, there was no law that required her to accept being her handmaid.
But now that Anastasia’s reputation had improved, she was very curious as to why Melina was so reluctant to accept.
Isn’t the position of the Empress’s handmaiden the highest honor for an unmarried lady?
‘Oh, maybe….?’
“Is there anyone that you’re thinking of getting married with?”
“Pardon…?”
“I just thought that might be the reason why you’re reluctant?”
Usually, a young lady would wish to become a handmaiden for them to have better marriage prospects.
Please do not repost our translation. Read only at Pink Muffin Translations.
There were many cases of young ladies getting married and quitting their jobs. Anastasia wondered if that would be the same case for Melina.
“Oh, no! No…I’m not that popular with men.”
Anastasia was startled by her strangely subdued voice and quickly refuted it.
“What are you talking about? Melina is so pretty and charming.”
[pr/n: YEAH. TELL HER. SHE IS A GRAND LADY.]
“It’s because…”
She replied back with a distressed face.
“It’s because of where I came from.”
“From where you came from?”
Melina was the only daughter of the Marquis of Lutent.
‘Just what did she mean by that?’
It was at that moment where Anastasia couldn’t understand or speak on this topic.
“Yes, there are people who know that I’m not actually the daughter of the Marquis.”
“What?”
“Even if they had registered me in the family’s registry when I was young, I was still very reluctant because I was born from a maid’s body.”
Melina shrugged and continued speaking.
“Of course, there were also a lot of men who had approached me because of the Lutent family’s halo. There were also those who were reluctant to approach me because of my background.”
“Ah…”
Upon hearing Melina’s confession, Anastasia couldn’t help but panic.
‘…Wait, why am I hearing all of this for the first time.’
It was definitely something that she wasn’t aware of before her regression. That was why Anastasia was a little bit embarrassed.
Please do not repost our translation. Read only at Pink Muffin Translations.
‘Melina never mentioned this before, but why?’
After all, it would have been difficult for anyone to dare talk about Melina’s backstory in front of the Empress herself.
‘I didn’t even attempt to ask or to know more about her…’
Anastasia was contemplating on what to say towards Melina’s confession, who had finished speaking with a dampened mood.
“The food you had ordered has arrived.”
An employee came at that moment, bringing with them a food cart with the food that the two had ordered, and the topic ended there naturally.
-ˏˋ ━━━━━━ ʚɞ ━━━━━━ ˊˎ-
(3rd Person POV)
After they were done with their food, Melina went back to the previous store and bought the rainbow-flavored candy.
“How is it? Is it what you thought it would be?”
“Uhm..no, unfortunately it didn’t live up to my expectations. It just tasted normal.”
“Oh…so it was like that.”
After exchanging a small word or two, they started to head back towards their carriage.
Someone then ran into them at the speed of light.That person and Anastasia collided intensely with each other.
“Ugh!”
Anastasia groaned and staggered heavily.
Melina was beside her and saw what happened, immediately scolded the other person.
“Hey, you have to be careful!”
“S-sorry, I’m so sorry.”
A young girl’s voice was heard trembling as she apologized. Anastasia looked at the child that bumped into her.
“Ah…!”
Anastasia immediately asked the child, with a concerned expression.
[pr/n: okay, heads up for your blood pressure levels…get ready your pitchforks readers.]
“Hey…are you okay?”
The girl did not look so good and was so rattled from the collision that she stuttered quite heavily.
Her face looked a bit younger than Anastasia and showed a variety of large and small scars.
Please do not repost our translation. Read only at Pink Muffin Translations.
No matter how you look at it, they weren’t the type of wounds you get from day to day activities…
It was a clear sign that she was being abused. She even had a scar on her neck that looked strongly like she was whipped.
Her cheeks were even swollen as if she was beaten repeatedly with a fist.
The child looked as if she hadn’t bathed in a long time and Melina unconsciously pinched her nose and took a step back.
“Where did that rat run away to?!”
“Go over there!”
At that moment, they heard some men’s harsh shoutings not too far away from where they were. The girl who crashed into Anastasia began to quiver violently when she heard the shouts.
“H-help. Please help….”
The girl begged Anastasia desperately, as she clasped her hands together in desperation.
“Please. If I get caught, I will die! Please….”
“I think we need to get back to our carriage now. Before we get caught up in something.”
Melina drew a sharp line and immediately grabbed onto Anastasia’s arm.
However, Anastasia gently held Melina’s hand and lowered it.
While Melina was perplexed, Anastasia faced the girl and told her what to do next.
“Hide behind me.”
“What! Anastasia!”
Melina was so surprised at that moment that she forgot to call Anastasia ‘Your Majesty’.
“We will also be in danger!”
Please do not repost our translation. Read only at Pink Muffin Translations.
“Who would dare harm me?”
Her confidence was unbounded, as if she was completely carefree in a stressful situation.
It may also be because they were surrounded by numerous hidden escorts that encircled them layer by layer.
[pr/n: I mean, I too would feel invincible if I had hidden guards watching my back.]
Nevertheless, Melina expressed reluctance to get caught up in any troublesome situation.
“But…”
“Come on, hide behind my dress quickly.”
“There she is!”
At that moment, the men who were searching for the girl found her with Anastasia and Melina.
The girl hid behind Anastasia with a face on the verge of tears, but they had already spotted her and approached Anastasia menacingly.
“Hey there lady. Hand over that rat hiding behind you and will go on our way.”
“What are you going to do with this child?”
“Oh, you don’t need to know that. If you are going to be saying nonsense, just shut your lips, and let us be on our way.”
“I can’t do that.”
Anastasia replied back with a cold expression.
“No matter how you look at it, there is something wrong with this situation.”
“You’re such a meddlesome woman!”
A large man approached Anastasia with an annoyed expression, with his fists clenched.
But Anastasia continued to ask the man without blinking an eye.
“Say it. What are you going to do with this child?”
“Hey, why are you being so cocky?”
The man approached Anastasia with a threatening expression.
“Do you want to be dragged along with that kid too…. What the?!”
At that moment, the knights that were escorting Anastasia quickly appeared and broke the man’s arms as they twisted his arm behind his back.
Please do not repost our translation. Read only at Pink Muffin Translations.
Surprised by the sudden appearance of knights, the men fell down to their knees as they were ruthlessly suppressed by the knights. One of the knights asked Anastasia.
“Shall we deal with them now, Your Majesty?”
“Before that, I have something to ask them.”
“Shit! Let me go! Don’t you have any idea who we are?”
[pr/n:…besides cockroaches that deserved to be squished? Can’t say that I do.]
“You guys have no idea what will happen to you if you dare touch us….Agh!”
“So…I wonder.”
Anastasia stared down at the men with an expressionless face.
“What would happen to me if I touched you all?”
“If you don’t release us right away, you’ll be in a tough situation!”
It was a ridiculous sight to behold the men screaming loudly while the knights suppressed them without batting an eyelash.
Anastasia frowned and focused on the man at the front.
“You’d better say it right now. Why were you chasing that child? What are you going to do with her?”
“Hah! Do you think I would tell you?!”
“Sir Martin, please take care of it.”
“Understood.”
“Come on…come on, wait! I-I will tell you!”
After the man realized that Anastasia was serious about killing them, the man hastily changed his stance.
Anastasia looked at the man with an expression indicating ‘I am sure you would tell me sooner or later’.
“We chased after that kid because she ran away through a dog hole. After all we do! We took care of them, fed them, and put them to sleep but they aren’t even grateful!”
[pr/n: Is it too late to utter a violence warning or can we just slap ‘em now…]
“Were you also planning to kill me if I took her with me?”
“Oh, nono. N-not like that…”
The man, who spoke so confidently up to this point, could barely manage to reply.
Anastasia subtly manipulated his backstory.
“Did you intend to sell this kid in a slave auction?”
The man looked at Anastasia in shock at her sudden question. Anastasia immediately hardened her expression.
Please do not repost our translation. Read only at Pink Muffin Translations.
‘….I didn’t expect it to be true.’
Slave auction.
Although slavery was abolished in Rosenberg 100 years ago, people still engaged in it. To meet the demand, illegal slave traders were very active in their pursuits.
‘In my last life, Mrs. Essential’s children were also sold into slavery by those gangsters we just jailed, who engaged in human trafficking.’
The problem was…that it was very difficult to catch them in the act.
Because slave traders were illegal, they never stayed long in one place in order to evade the central government’s scrutiny.
After the auction was over, they would immediately move on to another area. Making it difficult to pinpoint and eradicate the tracking.
Wilhelm, as well as the former Emperor Charles, was greatly troubled due to this problem.
In the end, it was a problem that could not be completely resolved. Even in Wilhelm’s reigning years he was not able to catch the human traffickers.
‘Maybe these guys will now give us a clue on how to eradicate the problem of the illegal slave trade.’
Anastasia promptly asked the man.
“Answer me immediately. When and where will the slave auction take place?”
“I can’t tell you that!”
“Then there is nothing we can do.”
As Anastasia glanced at the knights as if she had no regrets, and the man hurried to  open his mouth again.
“Ahhh! I’ll say it! I’ll say it! It will be tonight at 7pm tonight! It will be held in the underground pub called ‘Rottero 21’.”
‘If you were going to tell me in the end, why did you make me ask you twice?’
Anastasia couldn’t understand them at all.
After that, Anastasia continued interrogating the men to figure out more details from tonight’s auction.
The men had refused to speak at first, but after Anastasia motioned to the knights to wield the sword without any regrets, they had no choice but to tell them everything.
Please do not repost our translation. Read only at Pink Muffin Translations.
“Keep these guys locked up in the desert forest and monitor them carefully until the job is done.”
“Yes, Your Majesty.”
‘What?! Your Majesty…?’
The men’s faces turned pale with fear once they heard who Anastasia truly was.