/
-Clap!
When the sound of a slap came from beyond the door, Anastasia, who was about to open the door and enter, was surprised and hardened on the spot.
It was obvious now. That was Melina’s slap to Selene.
Anastasia opened the door and tried to go inside. But the following words stopped her.
“Miss Lutent, what are you doing?”
She couldn’t stand up for her forever. Anastasia waited for a moment to hear Selene’s voice, which was not quivering like the last time.
But as the conversation continued, she realized. If she didn’t show up now, things would never end.
“I haven’t liked you since I first saw you. You don’t know the basics. I’m going to make you regret it.
!”
As soon as she heard it, her unbearable anger moved her. Without hesitation, she opened the door and slapped Melina.
Once for Selene being beaten, once for the fact that she was insulted. The other time, it was a slap in the face for her maid.
“I should have taught you.”
No one complained about Anastasia’s decision to appoint Selene as her lady-in-waiting. That was the case even when Selene did not reveal that she knew the new language and Rosenberg characters.
It was natural. How dare anyone rebel against her decision as an empress?
“Well, usually, there’s no one big enough to insult the empress’s maid. That’s why Mrs. Rochester wouldn’t have taught that way.”
Anastasia muttered as if the situation was absurd.
She came there just in case, but she never dreamed that the same thing as last time would happen again.
“But you have to do this, Selene. Remember that insulting you is insulting me for choosing you.”
“Yes, yes
 Her Majesty the empress.”
“Follow me with the flowers. It’s a waste to give it to a traitor.”
A traitor.
That one word flew like an arrow into Melina’s heart, who was sitting down.
“Have you heard that Miss Lutent will be the maid of the emperor?”
“She pretended to be so close to ger majesty, but how could she hit her like that. She’s a traitor!”
“I didn’t expect to see people like that, but it’s scary.”
At a tea party recently, Melina chose to persevere quietly instead of reacting.
She had already prepared herself that there would be people who would disapprove of her being the emperor’s maid.
After all, the public’s reputation depended on one’s position.
In the eyes of the emperor, if she became a princess, if she gives birth to his son, they will flatter her as if they had already done so.
However, no matter how rationalized it was, she could not hide her own inner conscience.
“If insulting the Empress’s maid is insulting her,”
Anastasia, who was about to go out on Melina’s angry words, turned around and looked at Melina.
“How will you explain that you insulted me, his lady-in-waiting?”
It was unfamiliar to see the appearance of being overwhelmed by evil.
Is she really the woman who she had been closest to in her past life?
Anastasia became complicated, but she was also brief.
She approached Melina, who was sitting down on the floor, met her eye level, and whispered in a quiet voice.
“You can go to the emperor and tell him. ‘The empress has beaten me, the emperor’s lady-in-waiting, so please go and scold her.’ “
“
”
“Try to say that.”
Anastasia, who finished speaking with a sneer, took the maids of the empress without hesitation and went out of Melina’s room.
“Argh!”
Beyond the closed door came Melina’s screaming.
Anastasia tried to return to the Imperial Palace with Selene, with a half-annoyed face.
“
Your Majesty the Emperor.”
It was really unexpected to bump into Wilhelm then.
Anastasia was taken aback for the first time in a few days. But she soon greeted him casually and she said hello.
“Greetings to the imperial sun. May the blessings of the goddess reach His Majesty.”
“I heard something bad.”
“Ah.”
Anastasia casually conveyed the previous situation as it was.
“I’m on my way out of Miss Lutent’s after the punishment.”
“
”
“If you take this as an insult to Your Majesty
”
“You had a good reason.”
Words that seemed to defend her cut off Anastasia.
Anastasia looked at Wilhelm, but his face was not as soft as it sounded. It was a strangely similar look to the last time she saw it.
Anastasia lapped her lips.
“Then I’ll head back.”
“The bouquet of roses.”
She was about to turn around, but Wilhelm’s words caught Anastasia.
“Didn’t you come to give it to the miss?”
“I did, but I changed my mind.”
“Why?”
“I’m not generous enough to give welcome to a traitor.”
Anastasia said with a sneer.
“I’m going to take it and throw it away.”
“That’s a bit of a waste.”
The strange words flowed out of his mouth.
Anastasia looked at him in wonder.
“It’s going to be heavy.”
“
what?”
“Give it to me.”
“Your Majesty.”
Anastasia was so embarrassed that she showed her true feelings.
“You hate red roses
.”
But the impulsive words didn’t end.
It was because it was a secret that he hated red roses, the symbol of the goddess.
As Anastasia unnaturally blurted the end of the sentence, Wilhelm looked at her with a slight narrowing of the brow.
“
I can carry it.”
“You’re so stubborn. Don’t tell me it’s a waste to give it to me?”
“It’s not that
”
“I guess it’s a waste. I knew the queen hated me, but to think she was so strict with a bouquet of flowers
”
“Hey, I’ll give it to you.”
Anastasia hurriedly interrupted Wilhelm with an embarrassed face.
At that moment, a slight smile crossed Wilhelm’s lips, but Anastasia didn’t notice it because it happened so quickly.
Not even Wilhelm noticed.
“Well, I didn’t mean to give it to Your Majesty in the first place, so I hesitated because I thought it was rude.”
“That’s an uncharacteristically delicate concern.”
He smiled, and Anastasia hesitated and held out the bouquet of flowers to him.
It was awkward and bizarre to see him lift the bouquet without hesitation.
“Then really
 I’ll head back.”
Anastasia lowered her head and turned, and Wilhelm watched her back for a long time.
And Colton, who was watching Wilhelm behind him, hurried to get the bouquet of flowers from him.
“Shall I throw it away?””
“Then there’s no point in receiving it.”
“Oh, then I’ll bring it to my room.”
“The empress gave it to me. Why would you put it in your room?”
Wilhelm asked and ordered in an incomprehensible voice.
“Put it in my room. On the desk.”
“What? Are you serious?”
“Don’t make me say it twice.”
While Colton stood stunned by the remark, Wilhelm made his way back to the government meeting as scheduled.
~~~~
A few hours later, Marquis Lutent visited to Melina.
“You look terrible.”
Tsk tsk, the sound of tongue-clicking became a dagger and stabbed Melina in the chest.
She involuntarily bit her lips and immediately felt pain and frowned.
The Marquis Lutent, who saw it, clicked his tongue even louder.
“It’s pathetic. From the first day, disgraceful rumors have spread throughout the palace. Why the hell are you so thoughtless?”
“
I’m sorry.”
“It was a great deal for me to lose the Barantes family. I don’t even want to imagine how far our family will fall if you fail.”
“It won’t happen.”
Melina said in a grim voice.
“I will definitely catch His Majesty’s eyes. Maybe this wound will attract His Majesty’s attention.”
Marquis Lutent, who heard Melina, laughed as if exasperated .
“In that way, seeing how well your mind works, you look exactly like your mother.”
“
”
“Well, that’s better for now.”
Marquis Lutent asked Melina in a stern voice.
“Remember. The future of our family depends on you.”
“Don’t worry.”
Melina smiled, illuminating her eyes.
“Because I didn’t come this far with foolish determination.”
Then Melina remembered something unforgettable that happened not too long ago.
~~~~
Not long after running out of Anastasia’s bedroom crying, Melina attended a social gathering.
“Welcome, Miss Lutent.”
“Hello, Miss Yousfe. Thank you for inviting me.”
She greeted her cheerfully as usual, but inside she was very nervous.
‘What if everyone knows what happened at the Imperial Palace last time?’
She ran out crying stupidly, so she gave the impression that something had happened.
Although Anastasia had changed recently, she could never guarantee that she didn’t gossip about her to the court ladies, so Melina was more wary of the attendees than ever.
“Please have a seat. It must be hot, you’re sweating.”
“Ah, Thank you.”
Fortunately, however, none of the attendees showed the nuances of ignoring her.
At least so far, she was safe. Melina breathed a sigh of relief in her heart, then took a sip of the tea cup.
She casually looked around, and she noticed a foreign appearance.
“But
 There’s someone I haven’t seen.”
“Oh, she’s a new member of our tea club from today.”
“She was adopted by the Hazel family a while ago.”
“Adoption?”
“She is a distant relative of Count Hazel. But she suddenly lost her parents in a carriage accident and was adopted.”
“I see
 Oh, no. I’m sorry.”
“Say hello, Miss Hazel. This is Miss Melina Lutent.”
“Nice to meet you, Miss Lutent.”
A sweet voice came in. Melina turned to the new member of the tea party in earnest.
Her lovely pink hair and her soft olive eyes made her an impressive beauty.
“My name is Avelin. I look forward to spending time with you.”