Chapter 46

Vellian, accepting Astelle’s apology, pulled out his handkerchief and wiped the damp clothes off.

“……no, it’s fine.”

He said so, but Vellian looked at Astelle with suspicious eyes.

Astelle avoided his gaze.

“I have to go back to the main palace and change clothes. Excuse me for a moment,” Vellian said so and went out of the room.

Hannah was busy picking up pieces of broken teapots and wiping away the spilled tea from the chair and floor.

Outside the window, the sun was still shining warmly.

Astelle suggested taking a look at the garden.

“The weather is really nice today. Shall we go out for a while until Sir Vellian comes back? There is an exhibition room in the nearby garden, if it’s okay, I would like to go see it.”

The word ‘exhibition room’ seemed to surprise the Marchioness.

Florin naively agreed.

“That’s a good idea. I saw it on the way here.”

The two looked back at Kaizen and waited for permission.

Kaizen, who was sitting there with a blank expression, also agreed to go to the exhibition room.

“Yeah, fine.”

To get from the tea room to the exhibition room, you had to walk along the garden path.

In the afternoon, the garden was full of warm sunlight.

A view of the garden was seen in the warm sunlight. Among the colorful flowers, the leaves of grass added a fresh scent of grass.

The exhibition room was clean and neatly organized.

“It’s a wonderful place. I didn’t know this place existed.”

Astelle came out to the terrace next to the pavilion.

It was a small but beautiful terrace.

White marble columns supported the roof and in front was a small staircase leading to the garden.

As if waiting, Florin followed Astelle to the terrace.

“Lady Astelle, uhm……my mother wanted to apologize for the last time.”

Florin blinked at her mother.

The Marchioness rubbed her mouth and reluctantly apologized, “Well, I was too excited back then.”

The Marchioness still did not hide her dislike for Astelle.

‘She’s a person who can’t hide her feelings,’ Astelle thought.

Or did she think there was nothing to hide?

Astelle nodded her head slightly as if she understood everything.

“Fine. It’s about your daughter, so you can get excited and lose your mind sometimes.”

The Marchioness was about to be furious at the ridicule mixed with words.

But Florin stopped her mother from moving forward and set her mood right.

“Thank you for your understanding, Lady Astelle. You are very generous.”

Astelle glanced towards the exhibition room.

Kaizen, who remained in the exhibition hall, was still listening and ready to immediately follow the conversation.

‘You can’t do that.’

It was a moment that could not be disturbed.

Astelle quietly closed the glass door on the terrace.

“Lady Florin did not resemble her mother.”

“Yes, everyone says I look like my father.”

“Isn’t Marquis of Croychen is the Minister of State?”

At that, the Marchioness who was standing there answered with a confident smile, “My husband is very proud to be the first of the Croychens to step out as a minister. He has repeatedly said that a noble should be forever loyal to His Majesty the Emperor who entrusted him with a heavy-duty.”

It was an innocent voice full of pride, but the meaning contained in it was never naive.

The Reston family became ministers and prime ministers for generations.

But now Astelle’s father, the Duke of Reston, was overthrown while fighting the emperor.

With a triumphant countenance, The Marchioness scoffed at the Reston, who was disloyal to the emperor.

Astelle picked up the teacup as she listened to the Marchioness’s words.

And she accepted her words with a gentle smile. As if she really admired it.

“The Croychen family is a new family, but I have heard that they are a loyal and noble family. After a long time devoted to territorial affairs, they suddenly took on such an important task, so you should be proud of it.”

It sounds like a compliment from beginning to end, but the truth is, the Croychen family is a low-ranking noble who lived only in the countryside.

It was sarcasm to say that she suddenly rose to a high position and became arrogant.

“I beg your pardon?”

The Marchioness shouted sharply.

“Why? I was just praising the Croychen family who is loyal to His Majesty the Emperor.”

Astelle’s gentle smile distorted the face of the Marchioness.

“Don’t pretend to be interested in His Majesty. How much do you think that interest will go to his ex-wife, whom he has divorced? If you gossip about the fact that you are in a favorable situation now, you will be seriously injured.”

“Mother!”

“That’s a good thing. I will engrave those words in my heart. I think the Marchioness will always have such a humble attitude.”

Isn’t it the same for you that you’re proud of your family now?

It was such a sarcastic joke.

“This……!”

“……”

Astelle observed Florin quietly.

She really looked like a doll made of sugar candy.

She was a girl who looked sweet, fragile, and soft from her head to toes.

But Astelle was feeling that this little girl wasn’t as cute and naive as she seemed.

“If it’s all right, shall we all go back to the room now?”

Right. That’s the point.

This cute little girl smiles softly even though her mother has just been insulted and left out in anger, and now she asked to go back to the tea room as if nothing happened.

Even though Astelle just insulted her family outright.

She could tell just by looking at her.

That this lady was by no means an ordinary girl.

“Lady Florin, are you okay?”

“Sorry?”

Florin blinked.

Black eyelashes fluttered over the pale purple shimmering purple eyes.

They are like marbled eyes embedded in a ceramic doll.

‘I had a doll like her when I was young.’

It was a pretty doll wearing a pink dress with layers of lace.

The eyes of the beaded dolls were large and moving. Each time the doll moved, the long eyelashes attached to her eyelids fluttered.

Astelle recalled the doll and said, “Because of me, Lady Florin’s older sister, Lady Marianne is in prison.”

“That was my sister’s own fault,” Florin answered with a gentle smile like a cute porcelain doll.

“It seemed that my older sister didn’t like the fact that His Majesty showed his concern for you. It was because she had always liked His Majesty, so please understand, Lady Astelle.”

‘I thought it was Florin rather than Marianne who should feel uncomfortable with Kaizen’s favor to me.’

She’s not yet officially engaged to Kaizen, but she’s the most likely candidate for the empress.

Florin rolled her eyes.

“Do you think that you will become the empress again, Lady Astelle?”

“I don’t think so.”

It was so ridiculous that it made Astelle bewildered.

“I don’t want to be the empress. Neither can I.”

It has already been 6 years since she divorced.

Now the Restons were not as powerful as they used to be.

You never know when your power will be destroyed, let alone disappear.

It was impossible for Astelle to become the empress again.

“I see.”

Florin smiled and agreed.

“If Lady Astelle has no intention of becoming the empress, and you cannot become the Empress, then there is absolutely no need for you to be hostile to me. Isn’t it?”

Florin innocently continued, “I rather like it that way. Unlike other young girls who could become my rivals, Lady Astelle was different.”

“In short, you are saying that you are comfortable because I have no chance of becoming the empress.”

“Of course. There is no other person I am more comfortable with than you. Lady Astelle has also experienced it, so you will understand, right?”

Astelle said with a slight smile, “Certainly, you are different from your older sister, Lady Florin. Somehow, Sir Vellian praised you a lot. You are a really nice lady.”

“Thank you!”

“Lady Florin doesn’t have to be this vigilant anymore if you were really thankful.”

As Astelle pointed it out quietly, the smile disappeared from her doll-like face for a moment.

‘This must be what this girl is like.’

Astelle guessed that this girl’s original personality would be very cold and cruel.

Florin’s eyes narrowed slightly.

“Lady Astelle doesn’t want to be the Empress, and you can’t be, but……there are always unforeseen circumstances in the world.”

Florin spoke to her in a low voice, “If it was six years ago, who would have guessed that I could become the future empress? It was something I couldn’t even imagine.”

‘I can see why every time I see this lady, I always think of a pretty doll.’

There was no emotion in Florin’s pretty purple eyes. She has doll eyes that show no emotion or sincerity.