Chapter 15

I received the small fluffballs I requested yesterday after finishing my meal.

“Wow! They’re so cute!”

In front of me, yellow balls of fluff were chirping and waddling back and forth.

Their short legs went “step step step step step” as they ran, causing a smile to come naturally to my face.

“Thank you, Madame Chunet. This will make my life at the palace less boring.”

I was going to get them myself if I was annoyed by how long the maids were taking, but it all worked out.

It seemed they’d brought the chicks quickly because they were curious what I would do with them.

“Hm, what feed do I have to give them? I should give them water first…”

Although it felt like my hands would reach out to the chicks on their own, I restrained myself with all my might. I knew from experience that it was best for their health to let them just run around.

Since the more you touched the chicks, the sicker they got.

What else did I need to know…?

I wanted to raise them properly this time.

If possible, I wanted to happily raise them with Hadel, though I had no idea when he’d recognize me.

“Wow! Miss Silver Lily! How can they be this cute?”

Next to me, Mary tried to overreact as much as possible.

Just what did Madame Chunet promise her for her to change so much overnight?

Should I slowly start feeling her out?

“Madame Chunet, can you go to the palace library for me?”

Step step step step! Step step!

I spoke absentmindedly as I watched the chicks chirp and run around diligently, but it seemed it was important to Madame Chunet, since she quickly responded to my question.

“What business do you have with the palace library?”

I could feel Mary, who was pretending to be enthralled with the chicks, pricking her ears to listen.

“I want to read some books about raising chicks.”

While I shrugged my shoulders, questioning why she would ask something so obvious, Madame Chunet was briefly lost in thought at my response.

“It’s a bit annoying for me to go by myself… and I’m not familiar with the palace, you know?”

Dash!

One chick came to my foot and kept spinning around it, its ever-so-soft feathers tickling the top.

“Above all, I don’t want to part ways with them for a single moment!”

Those words were the truth—the chicks were so cute that I wanted to keep looking at them.

Plus, someone might harass them while I was gone, so I felt a bit reluctant to leave.

“Please take care of it, Madame Chunet.”

No matter how weak my power was, I was still the Queen on the outside, and Madame Chunet was the Head Maid here to assist me.

There was no way that she, as the Head Maid, could ignore my public request in front of all of these people.

Surely enough, Madame Chunet nodded her head with a polite yet blank expression.

“Understood. I’ll leave the attending to Mary while I’m gone. She’s a bright child, so she’ll behave herself.”

Madame Chunet’s gaze shifted to Mary.

“Yes, yes! Leave it to me!” Mary replied energetically, suddenly blazing with enthusiasm.

Hm. Did Madame Chunet truly think this girl was bright? Or was she just saying that as an afterthought?

Seeing Madame briefly develop a hardened expression, it seemed it was probably the latter.

“I’ll go quickly, then.”

“Yes, thank you.”

After confirming that Madame Chunet had left by watching her back as she walked through the garden and out of Lily Palace territory, I slowly turned to face Mary.

Mary felt my gaze and grinned widely while amiably pretending to be nice. “Miss Silver Lily! Are there any orders you have for me?”

Since I’d sent Madame Chunet away, I had the rare opportunity to fish for information. I didn’t know whether she’d get caught on the bait or not, but I was pretty sure I’d succeed.

This fish looked particularly stupid, after all.

“Mary.”

“Yes, Miss Silver Lily.”

“I want to take a bath. Can you prepare some water?”

“Pardon? Right now?”

Mary’s head tilted in confusion at my sudden request.

Glancing toward where Madame Chunet had disappeared, I replied hurriedly.

“Yes. Right now, immediately—and make the water as hot as possible.”

Of course, I didn’t forget to bite my bottom lip to show my anxiousness.

Mary watched me and debated it for a while before nodding her head.

“In that case, I’ll order those below me to do it.”

“No, Mary, I’d like it if you did it yourself. I don’t trust the others.”

“But… Then who will attend to you, Miss Silver Lily?”

“The bathroom is right next door. It’s fine. I just have to wait for you, so why would I need to be attended to?”

“…But…”

I could see Mary’s yellow-green eyes darting back and forth. She was probably racking her brain trying to find out what I was up to.

Seeing as she headed toward the bathroom, she must have reached a conclusion.

“…Understood. I’ll prepare it quickly.”

It was easy to tell what she was thinking by looking at her grim expression: she would probably go in and pretend she was preparing the water while secretly spying on me.

As expected, I couldn’t hear Mary moving around even though she went into the bathroom.

I heard her usual quiet voice, but I didn’t hear her heating the water or preparing the bathroom goods.

Things seemed to be working out way better than I’d expected.

I walked around the dressing table and looked around at my surroundings. I made sure to appear as suspicious as possible, biting my lips several times, as if anxious and worried.

I even glanced obviously toward the bathroom several times to show that I was being cautious of Mary.

Sure enough, I could see Mary’s shadow coming closer to the bathroom door.

Rattle.

Standing sideways, I opened the bottom drawer of the dressing table so it would be easy to see through the door.

I also looked at my surroundings one more time.

“Phew…”

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Letting out a loud sigh, I took out a large amethyst necklace that I’d prepared earlier from the drawer.

The amethyst was quite beautiful, reflecting light and shining even more brilliantly.

Mary must have been very curious right now.

I wondered what kind of guesses she was making with the little thinking power she had.

Holding back the urge to laugh, I took out a matchbox that I’d also prepared beforehand.

I slowly took out a single match and lit it on fire so she could tell it was a matchbox.

Strike.

Striiiiiiike.

She should be reacting to this soon.

“M-Miss Silver Lily!”

As expected, the bathroom door suddenly opened and Mary darted out.

I threw the necklace and matchbox back into the drawer, acting very surprised.

“U-Uh? W-W-W-What is… I mean, w-what about the bathwater?”

It seemed Mary was also taken aback, having come out in a rush without preparing an excuse.

“Um… I… I think you need to check the water temperature,” she stammered.

“T-The water temperature? Me?”

Why would I check that?

That’s something you, the maid, should be doing.

I normally would have scolded her. Right now, though, it was actually better that it turned out this way.

“Yes. I did run the water, but the temperature… Would you like to put your hand in and feel it?”

So she was planning on luring me to the bathroom.

Sure, you must have been very curious about what I was hiding, right?

“Uh… O-Okay.”

I pretended to hesitate by glancing at the drawer once more before slowly walking toward the bathroom.

It was necessary to make myself look hesitant.

“As you know, there’s not much fuel allocated to the Lily Palace, so we’re trying to save as much as possible… How is it?”

When I entered the bathroom, I saw that the tub was about half-filled with water. With an even friendlier voice, Mary took my hand and put it into the water.

“…It’s cold. Make it warmer.”

“Ah. We really don’t have fuel, Miss Silver Lily.”

“Haa… This won’t do. I just won’t take a bath today, then. It’s too cold.”

No matter how neglected I was by the Emperor, I was still the Queen in name.

That’s why you should be more generous with the fuel.

It truly made no sense that they didn’t have enough fuel to warm up the water just once.

I, who’d wanted to use this opportunity to properly relax my body in hot water, spoke coldly before turning away.

“Ah, Miss Silver Lily!”

Seeing how I was actually about to return to the bedroom, Mary quickly grabbed onto the hems of my clothes with panic.

“N-Now that I think about it, I think there’s some left!”

“…Really?”

“Yes, I’ll go confirm it. Wait just one moment!”

Mary had curiosity, excitement, and greed in her eyes when she said that.

It was clear to me that she was planning on leaving me here and confirming for herself what was inside the dressing table drawer.

To think she’d take the bait so willingly.

When Madame Chunet had said, “she’s bright,” she was truly just spewing empty words, right?

I wasted a bit more time by pretending to consider it before nodding with a reluctant expression.

“Okay. Hurry and come back. If it’s not hot afterward, I’ll leave the bathroom immediately.”

“Yes! Wait just a moment, Miss Silver Lily!” Replying quickly, Mary dashed outside.

Seeing how she felt rushed to the point of leaving without even closing the bathroom door properly, I couldn’t hold in my uncontrollable laughter.

I had no idea how Madame Chunet had planned on using such a shabby girl.

Well, Mary might have thought I was easy to deal with, thus causing her to be even more careless.

Regardless of the reason, it was a relief to me.

“Hm hm hm~ Should I have a hot bath for the first time in a while?”

I couldn’t stop humming under my breath.

From outside, I could hear Mary ordering the other maids around. She was probably making them handle my bath instead of doing it herself since she had the important task of checking inside my dressing table drawer.

She must have properly ordered the maids to heat up the water, for it seemed to be slowly becoming warmer.

“Ah, that’s nice.”

To think it was something that could happen so quickly.

It seemed Madame Chunet had resolutely made up her mind to block me from having a hot bath, so I was curious what expression she’d have on her face later.

“And this is how you kill two birds with one stone.”

Having the cake AND eating it!

Baiting Mary AND getting a hot bath!

“Hehehehe.”

I could feel my eyelashes getting heavier along with my body, which was relaxing languidly.

Although I wanted to sleep like this, there was still something I had to do.

Ahem. I cleared my throat before yelling loudly outside.

“Mary! Are you not finished yet?”

As soon as I said that, I could hear the sounds of someone hurriedly moving outside and then Mary’s response.

“I’m coming now, Miss Silver Lily!”

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Mhm, come quickly since I’ve prepared some tasty bait for you.

“Did the water temperature rise yet?”

Mary smiled brightly at me while opening the bathroom door and entering.

“Yup! I love it!”

At that moment, Mary looked like a freshly-caught fish flopping its body.