Chapter 14
Alice quickly approached Elaine when she found her trudging along the hallways.
“Princess! Where have you been? Oh my, why are your clothes so wrinkled? Why did your hair get so messy?”
“Uh, it’s nothing…”
“Princess?”
Alice looked at Elaine’s eyes, which were somehow empty, tilting her head.
What happened to the princess who was running so fast just now?
“Princess. Did something happen?”
At Alice’s question, Elaine shook her head.
Maybe it’s not just that, and maybe it’s a big deal that’s going to threaten someone’s life.
Elaine recalled what happened earlier with a paled, tired face.
‘How dare you bump into the Empress Dowager!’
That’s right.
The charismatic woman Elaine met earlier.
She was none other than the Emperor’s mother.
She was the Empress Dowager.
She mentioned Elaine as a “child adopted by my son,” so she must’ve been the real Empress Dowager.
But there was something else.
Her unique, cold eyes and similar atmosphere to the emperor also pointed out clearly that she was the Empress dowager.
Elaine had left a bad impression on the female version of the emperor.
‘Ugh, stupid Elaine. Why the hell did you do that?’
Elaine settled her tottering body onto a fluffy sofa.
Alice said that she would play with her with a worried face, but Elaine just nodded her head with a blank face.
As she tried to pull at her hair, Elaine thought with a few strands of hair in her hand.
‘But why didn’t I get in trouble?’
Elaine jumped up like a loose bolt.
In addition,the queen’s expensive clothes were stained and Elaine even smacked into her.
If it were anyone else, there would be no last words and they would immediately be punished.
But, the Empress dowager only lightly told Elaine off, and later let her walk away.
The cold air around the queen scared Elaine.
She thought the queen said something on the way, but she couldn’t remember exactly because she felt sick.
‘…What did she say?’
She had been racking her brain, but she was still in the same place from where she started.
Elaine spent such an uneasy day trying to remember what the empress had said.
***
The next day.
Elaine, who had completely forgotten what happened the day before, was having a usual morning.
Oh, of course, even though it didn’t look normal to others to see the assistant chef being caught and listening to Alice’s nagging.
While Elaine was wasting her time listening to Alice’s nagging in one ear and spilling it out on the other.
Cathay, who appeared like a ghost, brought up the words that would send her leisure daily life plummeting to the ground.
“The Empress Dowager is here.”
“What?”
Tea spitted out of Elaine’s mouth.
Cathy’s clothes became soaking wet, but she didn’t seem to care at all.
“I’m fine. Then shall I bring the Empress Dowager inside?”
“Uh-huh.”
To be honest, Elaine felt like refusing, but a normal girl can’t possibly stop the Empress Dowager from stepping into her room.
‘Did she come here to make a fuss about what happened yesterday?’
Elaine, who remembered what she had forgotten only until now, stiffened her body.
Soon after that, the door opened and the Empress Dowager appeared. Alice was on the left and the other two maids on the right.
Her room seemed occupied today, and Elaine, who complained in her head, gulped and bowed her head.
“Nice to meet you. I’m not late for my appointment, am I?”
Elaine avoided her gaze.
“Oh? You don’t look so good.”
Elaien tilted her head.
‘What do you mean, appointment time?’
When did they set a time for an appointment?
Elaine, who was looking up at her, belatedly remembered something.
Oh! Did she mean that she was going to come see Elaine today?
‘Oh my gosh, I can’t believe I forgot such an important thing!’
Why on earth did she nod her head back then? If you hadn’t heard it, you should have told the Queen!
Elaine trembled inwardly, recalling her mistake.
Of course, even if she was sober at the time, she would have just accepted it immediately because she was scared, but anyway, she needs to prepare her mind!
At that time, the Empress Dowager, who was looking around, frowned as if she was dissatisfied.
“Hmm, is this her room? It’s pretty small.”
“The foreign minister says it’s the best room in the main palace.”
“Is it? But it doesn’t look like it to me.”
When the Empress said that, not only Elaine but also Alice became speechless.
‘No, I think the only better room is the emperor’s room.’
Did someone perhaps hear Elaine’s intense heart beat?
Suddenly, the Empress looked straight at the child and held out something.
“Is this…?”
It was candy.
It was a lemon-flavored candy with a light yellow color.
The Empress Dowager showed the candy in her hands and slowly extended her hand out towards Elaine.
“I heard you like sweets.”
“Huh?”
“Go ahead and try it.”
The Empress Dowager extended her hands again.
With a look that seemed to show that she would not put it away until Elaine took it, she eventually grabbed a lemon-flavored candy and put it in her mouth.
‘This is a sweet and sour delicacy, isn’t it.’
Elaine carefully rolled the candy around in her mouth and glanced at the Empress Dowager.
She thought she would bet on what happened yesterday, but surprisingly, she gave her a present instead of scolding her.
What do you mean, ‘I heard you like sweets’? Maybe she’s been researching what she likes?
‘Oh, no. My sweet tooth is already a rumor being spread in the palace. There’s a good chance you’ll hear it when you pass by!’
But the question remains; What on earth is the Empress Dowager doing by giving her candy?
Just wondering if her son adopted a pawn?
Or does she want to be close to Elaine?
Well…
Elaine shook her head after swallowing her saliva. No matter how hard she thought about it, the latter seemed to be an absolute wrong answer.
‘By the way…’
Elaine shook her hands, looking at the expressionless face of the Empress Dowager, as she did when she first met her.
She had noticed this for a while, but the Empress was staring at Elaine too closely. It was too burdensome that the candy almost got caught in her throat.
“Hm? Kek! Hack!”
“P-princess!?”
She was just thinking about it, but it really got stuck in her throat.
When Elaine was clutching her neck, Alice hurried over to see what it was.
What a ridiculous and embarrassing situation to be in that Cathy and Bailey, who heard the noise outside, flocked into the room!
‘Aren’t I eating candy while on a candy ban?’
Elaine thought useless things during an emergency.
Now, as she was gasping for air, the Empress gently pushed Alice, who was covering Elaine, out of the way. She widened her palms and put it on Elaine’s back.
SMACK-!
“Urk!”
Pock-!
A yellow candy rolled onto the carpet from Elaine’s mouth.
An awkward silence followed.
As Elaine shed a single tear at the budding sensation that was creeping up, the Empress narrowed her eyebrows as if she were embarrassed.
“I’ll be back tomorrow.”
***
The next day.
The Empress Dowager really came back.
At the same time as yesterday.
Elaine was still trembling slightly from what she thought would happen today, and the empress reached out her hands again.
She brought chocolate this time.
“It won’t get stuck in your throat.”
Oh, the Empress dowager, the benevolent Empress. Elaien thought she had a halo on her back.
‘Actually, the Empress Dowager is really kind.’
That was the reason why she didn’t cry.
…Elaine wondered what would happen if she did.
She hesitated in the same situation as yesterday, but eventually ate the chocolate the Empress gave her.
‘Phew. It doesn’t get stuck in my throat like yesterday.’
Perhaps because of the gaze from the Queen, Elaien felt the chocolate in her mouth melt faster.
She had been pouring all her attention into the sweet chocolate that she had not noticed the heated gaze up until now.
‘Wait a minute.’
“Well?”
Suddenly, the Empress dowager reached out and snatched Elaine’s hand.
Alice and Elaine, who had been in a state of tension ever since the Empress Dowager’s arrival, were surprised by the unexpected behavior.
However, the queen, who did not care about them, began to fiddle with Elaine’s hands for a while. Then she opened her mouth with great dissatisfaction.
“You’re skinny.”
“What?”
“Huh?”
Elaine’s head tilted to one side.
What do you mean ‘you’re skinny’ after looking at this body?
‘Objectively speaking, Elaine was a bit on the chubby spectrum.’
But the Empress Dowager didn’t see her granddaughter as chubby.
She had a serious look on her face and said as if she had decided, “Let’s have dinner with me from now on.”
A more frightening word than a grim reaper’s visit.
Elaine, who received the invitation, was about to say it was alright.
That’s because the eyes of the Empress Dowager seemed to say “I refuse to hear a no.’
***
That evening.
Elaine, who was invited to the queen’s dinner, dragged her shoes along the floor like a cow being dragged to the slaughterhouse.
Was it really that frightening?
Alice comforted her, but didn’t console her.
“The Empress Dowager, unlike her appearance, is a very kind-hearted woman.”
You don’t have to be too nervous.
“Yes, I see.”
In fact, despite Alice’s comfort, her mind was still uneasy.
Soon after, Elaine arrived at the royal family’s dinner table and gulped at the Empress Dowager, who was sitting at the end of the long table.
“Welcome.”
At the queen’s words, Elaine quickly bowed her head.
However, Elaine, who looked up again, had no choice but to despair.
“Why are there only two chairs on that long table?”
Even those two chairs are right next to each other.
In a desperate situation, Elaine sat with a haggard face.
She was placed right next to the Empress. Only two of them were left after Alice stepped down.
In an awkward silence, the Empress was wondering what to do, and she cut the steak gracefully and put it on an empty plate.
And she pushes it in front of Elaine.
“Oh, thank you.”
Like Alice said, the Empress is a warm-hearted person?
Elaine, who was briefly moved by the way she looked after her, lifted up her fork and stabbed into the meat on the plate.
She enjoyed it, and was going to say, “Well, this is going to be delicious.”
“Come on, eat it.”
“Eat everything here.”
And before she knew it, she was going to eat a whole bunch of dishes on the plate.
Elaine finished a tearful meal looking at the Empress Dowager, who kept eating.
That night.
“Ugh. My stomach!”
“Are you sick? Oh, my goodness…”
Alice squirmed her little hand as she watched Elaine burping in bed.
The result was that she ate until her stomach was full because she couldn’t overcome the hot gaze of the Empress.
Elaine eventually had an upset stomach.
“Oh, my princess… If you want to digest a little, make sure to take this medicine. Then you’ll feel sleepy. Okay?”
“Oh, yeah. Thank you.”
Elaine sighed as she looked at the medicine on the table.
She wanted to deal with this pain right now, but now she didn’t even have energy to have medicine and water.
Elaine’s face became dark, thinking of the future she wanted to lead.
If she kept going like this, her ship might explode and she might die.
‘I can’t believe my stomach’s going to burst.’
Elaine before regression may think it’s a blessing to be eating all this, but not now.
Elaine clenched her fists and decided.
‘I think it’s time to take out the strongest card that she has.’
~To be continued~