Chapter 88

Translator: HH Editor: HH

I put Jannette’s letter back down. This time, I wasn’t going to write a reply right away and write it later in the evening.

In our letters, we didn’t talk about anything important, just about our daily lives. And because we couldn’t leave our residences, her at the Duke’s, and me in the Emerald Palace, there wasn’t much to talk about.

I didn’t plan on exchanging letters with her for this long, but this was more fun than I expected.

It was like when I saw her face to face. She broke through my walls of doubt that I had for her.

The emotions I felt towards her changed. If I used to pity her before, now I probably….

“Having nothing to do is making me think all kinds of thoughts.”

I lightly slapped my two cheeks and popped up from my spot.

In our letters, we were writing about our daily lives, but Jannette sometimes discussed her aunt in them.

Jannette’s aunt should’ve been dead, according to . She was the one who placed her at the Duke’s residence.

Jannette was using Margarita as her last name, so when she was discussing her aunt, she said she was ‘someone like her family.’ But I could tell she was talking about Countess Rosaria in her letter.

Jannette said she was coming up to the capital soon, and couldn’t hide her excitement. Of course she was happy, because she was finally getting to meet her only blood related family.

However, I couldn’t be happy for her. Because the moment I read that in the letter, I couldn’t help but suspect why she was coming up. Was she planning something? In the book, she had arrived at the capital during this time for Jannette, too.

But it was different in that in the story, Jannette had already successfully finished her debutante ball and entered the palace.

Whatever it was, it wasn’t as fun reading Jannette’s letters anymore.

“Ah, the weather’s nice.”

As soon as I left the palace I covered my eyes with my hands from the Sun. Obelia was a land with only summer and spring, so it was warm all year long, although it was unnaturally hot and rained a lot.

“You’ve arrived, Princess.”

The familiar garden filled with white roses entered my vision.

Whenever I moved, I was always by myself because Felix wasn’t by my side and I only stayed in the Emerald Palace.

I quickly got used to it, and although the maids were surprised at first, they got used to it too.

“If there’s anything you need, please call for me.”

“Thank you, Ces.”

I thankfully smiled and she left, making the same face Lili made earlier. But she probably wasn’t that far off, ready for whenever I called her.

I bitterly licked my lips as I passed through the roses bushes.

Sigh. Everyone was making those faces whenever they saw me these days.

I couldn’t help but become anxious seeing that face. But I probably would’ve made the same reaction if I saw someone in the same situation as me.

I sighed and looked at the table in front of me filled with desserts I enjoyed. It was filled with more chocolate desserts than normal, so they probably took some extra care this time.

Ces was a cold person but always warm to me, hehe.

I spent a moment being touched, and raised the cup of tea to my lips.

Lili and the other maids seemed concerned that I spent too much time alone.

But in this world, you had to live by yourself. Eat by yourself, drink by yourself. It was totally nice, not having to worry about others, especially since I could eat all these cookies by myself!

And wasn’t the view of the garden too nice to stop coming here because of Claude? To stop coming here would be so unfair!

Also, the Emerald Palace was the only property I owned in the entire Palace. And even he acknowledged that it was mine since he confined me here. Look at this. I happily gobbled up the desserts on the table. All I was doing was eating and sleeping these days, but they were still worried that I was becoming thin.

Swish.

The wind blew and the tree’s shadows shook.

I poured the tea for myself.

Claude never let me do anything myself and made the maids do it, but I wasn’t like that. What was the point of having hands and feet if I didn’t use them.

The Imperial Family did have their reputation to keep, but what did that matter to a backroom princess?

Putting those thoughts aside, I put my elbows on the table and crouched.

Ah, this is nice. Not having to care about what others think.

Nobles had to learn manners, but they required more from the ladies than from the gentlemen.

Sit prettily, say nice things, and stand properly. Why did this world or the other world always require more of ladies? Ew, disgusting, ugh.

I became more annoyed thinking of that and gulped the tea down. After drinking tea with Claude often, I found myself drinking Lipe tea even without him.

I put the empty cup back down and looked around.

The scent garden overflowing with flowers was wafting around my nose. The bright rays of the sun shined on the green leaves.

And on the pure green grass was a small tea table and two chairs. The table filled with desserts was like how it always was. The only thing out of place was the empty cup across from mine.

I quietly looked at it and poured tea into it. My arm was too short to reach, so I had to lift my butt to get to it.

A moment later, the cup was filled to the brink. There wasn’t anyone to drink it, but I still felt better looking at it.

I blankly looked at the cup and turned my face away.

“Oh, a sparrow.”

I looked at the bird soaring up to the sky. It was a quiet and calm teatime.

It was after the tea in my cup had cooled down.

***

“Today is the Emperor’s birthday.”

Lili said while brushing my hair.

I stopped yawning and glanced at her face. But she was looking carefully at me.n/o/vel/b//in dot c//om

“Yeah. Everyone might be busy.”

I guess. It was Claude’s birthday.

But I reacted like it was completely separate news from me.

“I heard there will be a ball in the Garnet Palace.”

I heard that there was going to be a ball in Garnet Palace for Claude from Felix some time ago.

I was originally going to participate, but with Claude losing his memory, that was a long gone plan.

You were supposed to participate at events like the Emperor’s birthday ball after your debutante ball but….since the inviter of the birthday didn’t want me here, there was nothing I could do.

“It’s not like I’m going there anywhere.”

“His Majesty will be healed soon.”

Lili spoke like she was comforting me and I just smiled at her.

It was sunny outside today too, and Bluie was calmly perched in his cage.

I sometimes let him go because I thought he would be uncomfortable stuck in the cage all day, but it was always hard putting him back inside.