She couldn’t breathe.
Miss Jeremie was now fully able to understand what prey felt like before a predator. Abigail, to her, looked like a judge that had come straight out of the depths of hell. This woman was the devil—there was no other way of explaining it. How else was Abigail capable of releasing an aura of such malevolence? Miss Jeremie couldn’t speak from the fear choking her. She couldn’t even think, let alone dare, to ask for another option from Abigail. It felt like she was about to die from the sheer pressure itself.
Abigail silently looked down at the petrified woman before delivering the coup de grace. “Now. What will you do?”
* * *
“Miss Abigail, have you heard? Miss Jeremie got put in jail.” Clara spoke almost as if she was imparting something of utmost secrecy. Though obviously, I knew about all this from the very beginning.
Miss Jeremie chose the first of the three options I gave her. After all, turning herself in would have given her a lighter punishment in theory. Despite all that, Sabelian still sentenced her to death. He did give her the choice of death by hanging or death by guillotine, though. Well, she didn’t end up dying at any rate. She just went to prison. All thanks to Blanche.
I tried to hide the truth so that Blanche wouldn’t be hit so hard by shock. But despite my best efforts, I couldn’t stop the rumors from spreading inside the palace and the child ended up learning about what happened. Blanche cried all day when she heard Miss Jeremie was going to die. She asked Millard to send a message to the king asking him to not kill Miss Jeremie for her crimes. After all, no matter how bad of a person Miss Jeremie was, she did raise Blanche for ten years.
Sabelian decided to simply punish the woman using normal means after receiving that message. It was honestly the first time I’ve ever heard of him doing anything like this. The fact that the request came from his daughter must’ve held more weight in his eyes. It looked like Sabelian, too, was beginning to change a little.
In any case, since Miss Jeremie was in prison now, there should be no way for her to hurt Blanche anymore. I’ve even recorded the scene where she ordered a maid to hide nutmeg in my room. It should still be of use in the future. If she tries to mess with Blanche again, then I really won’t stay still, “Speaking of which, did the chef ever get his job back?”
“Yes. He’s back in the kitchens now.”
“That’s good.” Phew, even the chef was able to make it back. We almost ended up killing someone completely innocent. Thank goodness Verite has my back like a champ.
“By the way, today’s the day you go out walking with Princess Blanche, isn’t it?” Clara’s timely reminder was a godsend. Oh, shoot! I completely forgot! I can’t believe myself! I quickly jumped up from my seat at the reminder, “Let’s get ready to go out. We can’t have Princess Blanche waiting.”
I quickly headed to the meeting spot. Thanks to my haste, we ended up arriving at the gardens thirty minutes earlier than planned. Despite being so early, I was as happy as could be. I could finally understand what people meant by a person being giddy with happiness almost an hour before meeting someone they loved.
Just then, I caught sight of something black on one side of the garden. Was it a cat? When I came close enough, I realized that I was staring at a small head. It was Blanche. She was crouching down in a corner of the garden, looking at something. Whatever it was she was doing, She seemed really absorbed in it. She wasn’t even looking at me. “Princess Blanche?”
The girl leaped up in surprise when I called her name. She quickly hid something behind her back. “M-Miss Abigail! You’re early…!”
“Well, yes. I am, somehow… What were you doing over there?”
“U-um…!” Blanche didn’t seem to know what to do. The flustered girl ended up squeezing her eyes shut and sticking her hands out to give me something, “Um, this…”
It was a small bouquet of flowers. I didn’t know what kind of flowers they were, but the white and purple flowers went pretty well together. “Is this for me?”
“Y-yes… I thought it’d look good on you, since they’re pretty like you…” Blanche had her head down, occasionally peeking up at me. Her fingers holding the flowers were fumbling about from nervousness. Oh good Lord, I totally would’ve just cried if I were by myself! Seriously, her cuteness is just out of this world! And she even got flowers for me!!
“Thank you, princess. They’re very pretty.” I carefully took the flowers from her hands. They were small and cute, just like the girl herself. Blanche smiled faintly in happiness as she watched me.
“Uhm, Miss Abigail, if you could…” The girl gestured for me to lower my head a little. Hm, what’s this now? I leaned down a little towards her. Blanche put her head next to mine and whispered something as if she was telling me a great big secret.
“When you said you liked me…I was really happy.” Her voice was light and full of joy, almost tickling my ears like the wind. Blanche lowered her voice even more, “I like you too, Miss Abigail. I want to become friends with you. Thank you for coming out today.”
The girl bowed down to express her thanks. As for me, I put my hands over my mouth. Oh my word. Oh my, oh my. This is a perfect life I’ve lived right here, isn’t it? I won’t have a single regret if I died here.
“M-Miss Abigail? Are you crying…?”
“I-it’s n-nothing… Just sweat coming out of my eyes…” Ahh, so this is happiness. This sweet and bright thing, this wonderfully gentle little child. I barely managed to prevent my tears from making their way out. “Now then, shall we walk? I’ve prepared some galettes for us to have as a snack later.”
“Yes, I’d love to…!” I took a step out with Blanche, who was smiling like the sun itself. The garden’s path was lined with white flowers. As we strolled, I could feel a person’s gaze on me from somewhere. When I turned to see who it was, I could see someone looking at me from indoors. It was Sabelian. He was looking at the two of us curiously. When our eyes met, he turned away.
“Miss Abigail?” Blanche looked back at me when I came to a stop. I came back to my senses, and turned my gaze back to the front. “Ah, I’m sorry. Let’s continue, shall we?”
I wonder why he was looking at us? When I looked back again, all I could see was the curtain flapping about in the breeze.
3. A Summer Night’s Dance
The wind coming through the windows was saturated with heat. Tiny little clouds dotted sparsely across the bright summer sky, almost as if a painter had accidentally flicked a few drops of white paint on his canvas. Once the palace entered summer, the colors of just about everything became much more vibrant. The garden, too, became green and lush with life.
Phew, it’s unusually hot this summer. I was sketching a tree inside the garden. Clara, who was fanning me from behind, decided to strike up a little conversation, “Miss Abigail, you’ve been drawing a lot recently!”
“Yeah, I’ve taken a great liking to it.” I responded as I added a few more lines to the sketch. It was about time I started laying down my trap—my trap of making other people believe that I was starting to like art. Moreover, my relationship with Blanche was only getting better and better in every way; we eat together twice a week, and we sometimes go on walks together!
“That necklace looks beautiful on you.” Clara said, admiring the necklace around my neck.
“Doesn’t it?” I looked at it with pride. It was decorated with dried flowers. What flowers, you ask?! It’s the flowers Blanche gifted me from our first walk! Hahh~ To think I’d even get a gift like this—what an amazing feeling. I hope she will wear some clothing made by yours truly in the future… I kept drawing, trying not to hum in the process. Clara, in the meantime, continued our conversation, her excitement clear to hear. “Anyway, it’s almost the imperial festival. What kind of dress are you planning on wearing?”
The coming of the summer heat meant that the day of the festival was near. It was one of the biggest festivals in this country and was held to celebrate the day this country, Nergen, was founded.
It was technically the second time Abigail had ever attended this festival. On the first occasion, the original Abigail had worked really hard on her appearance.
During this festival, many famous people from all over make their visits to the palace and Abigail had wanted to let them know just how wonderful a life she led.
To that end, she spent a tremendous amount of money on having a dress made just for her. No doubt, Abigail was the prettiest woman in the entire festival last year. Unfortunately, it hadn’t really been a great event for her. After all, the last day of the festival had left her wallowing in embarrassment.
I wonder if the same thing will happen this year? Well, whatever. As I was wiping my hands clean after putting my pencil down, Norma approached the two of us, “Miss Abigail, there’s someone from Cronenberg here to visit you.”
“Ah, gotcha. I’ll be there soon.” I made my way over to the guest room. There, I saw a familiar man sitting on the sofa. He stood up, and bowed to me. “Have you been well, princess?”
“It’s been a while, Sir Moize. Are my parents doing well?” Sir Moize was a person from Abigail’s home country, Cronenberg. Being near someone from my hometown should have me feeling comfortable, but… “Yes. But they’re both worried sick for you.”
“I’m doing very well, so they shouldn’t have to worry.”
“You haven’t managed to conceive a child just yet, have you?” Sir Moize went straight in on the offensive without preamble. Oh God, I don’t feel so good anymore. It’s always about a child. This year, too. This feeling was strongly reminiscent of the times I’d been dragged off to a family gathering back in my previous life… I’m having traumatic flashbacks just thinking about it.
‘When are you going to lose weight… Why don’t you have a boyfriend… What happened to your job…’ I was always bombarded with questions like these alongside a cousin of mine back then. That cousin always smiled awkwardly whenever our relatives grilled her about having a baby. I think I can relate to her just a little now.
“Nope, nothing yet.” I informed him unrepentantly.
“The queen is curious if you just aren’t getting a child, or can’t get a child.” Dear God, he’s sounding exactly like my mother now. I wonder if mom’s doing well, come to think of it…?
“The queen has been getting increasingly worried, especially after the events of the previous festival.” Sir Moize looked at me with his wrinkly eyes. “Back then, the king refused to dance with you.”
That’s right. The event that had caused Abigail great shame. A normal couple would dance together at a dance ball. No matter how bad their relationship was. It was just the normal thing to do. But Sabelian wasn’t normal. Not at all. No way. He refused to dance to even a single song. No matter how much Abigail begged.
Well… He didn’t even grab her hand during the wedding, after all. So that’s no surprise. The problem was that literally everyone was witness to the scene of Sabelian’s refusal at the festival. Cronenberg had been absolutely enraged over the matter. They sent countless messages demanding an explanation for the king’s refusal to dance and even Sir Moize became furious.
“They weren’t aware that the king didn’t like to dance.” Thankfully (?), Sabelian didn’t dance with anyone else at the festival. Apparently he’d stopped doing it after the previous queen died.
“Yes. Her Majesty was understanding after learning of it, but she still worries about getting a grandchild.”
For the love of God, please stop it with the child talk already…