“Strange name you say?”
At Mirya’s words, Patrizia looked up and asked her. Then Mirya looked at Patrizia’s face with a disgusted look, raised the envelope in Patrizia’s line of sight as if she was going to argue, and said, “Why in the world is Baroness Phelps’s name here?”
“Ahah.”
Patrizia muttered, ‘I was wondering what,’ with an insignificant expression. Of course, with this situation, all Mirya could do was get upset to the point of explosion. She felt like she was the only one getting mad at this situation. Had Her Majesty perhaps gone crazy? She felt frustrated and asked, “Your Majesty, it’s a mistake, isn’t it?”
“No, not a mistake.”
“Your Majesty!”
It was pretty shocking to hear Mirya raising her voice, as she never did. Patrizia smiled as if she was calm and did or didn’t understand her feelings, and told Mirya, “You don’t need to be sensitive, Mirya. It’s not a mistake, it’s not being crazy.”
“…”
Mirya, looking as if she had been caught, gave an empty cough and Patrizia laughed as if nothing was wrong.
“Of course, I myself and noblewomen will be attending this gathering, and the Baroness Phelps attending does go against tradition. But … anyways, she is after all His Majesty’s mistress, and also… I have something to show you.”
She didn’t know what in the world she could be showing. She could surely show herself lending to her anger exploding.
The presence of Rosemond, the mere Baroness intruding, could not happen from Mirya’s point of view. She still gave Patrizia a voice of discontent with her unhappy face.
“I understand Your Majesty’s desire to show your authority and dignity to Baroness Phelps, this doesn’t fit formally. How can you invite a mere Baroness to a gathering only a Marquess level or above will attend? Not only that, as you said she is His Majesty’s mistress. What would the envoys’ wives think of you in this situation?”
“Well, I guess it wouldn’t hurt to ask then. What would happen in their country in cases such as this? It would be helpful to actually ask for advice.”
“Your Majesty!”
For a joke that didn’t sound like a joke, Mirya made a grouchy face and yelled. Normally she wasn’t like this, but she had suddenly changed her personality. Mirya asked her with a look that showed she really could not understand.
“And if things don’t go along as you think it will, what would you do?”
“That would also be my luck too. Isn’t that right?”
At Patrizia’s cool voice, Mirya was at a loss for words. She had always acted predictably before concerning the next move, but these days, she seemed a bit strange.
It was difficult for Mirya to understand Patrizia’s intentions even at the end, but Patrizia was surprisingly stubborn about this part, and so she decided to just shut her mouth closed. She sighed briefly internally and changed the topic.
“Oh yea, I didn’t see Knight Rafaella around today. She has always kept to Your Majesty’s side protecting you.”
“Ahah. There is nothing to worry about. I’ve been directing some things a little bit about this meeting that’s being planned. She’ll probably be back late in the evening. Don’t give it much mind.”
Patrizia replied calmly and soon changed the topic, “By the way, I’ve been thinking about this all day and I’m hungry. Mirya, could you bring over a snack before you leave to spread the invitations around?”
The invitation that Mirya surely said belonged to her was received with an expression that showed how unexpected it was. The maid that had delivered the invitation didn’t seem unpleasant, so it really must have been true.
“What is that, my Lady?”
Naturally, Glara showed an interest in the invitation, and Rosemond looked at the Empress’s seal for a while with an uncomfortable expression and answered, “An invitation has come from the Empress Palace.”
“An invitation? But the tea party was only some time ago.”
“We’ll know after reading it.”
Rosemond ripped open the letter with a rough hand and slowly read the words within it. Her mouth muscles soon began to tremble, as if it was the start of a spasm. Glara, who was watching all of this got nervous. She wasn’t going to become hysterical again this time, was she?
“Ah, ahahahahahahah.”
Glara stared at Rosemond laughing like a madwoman with an anxious look. Please let the contents in that letter not be intended to provoke her. Glara asked her master carefully.
“What… is it about that you are acting that way, my Lady?”
“Ahaha, Glara. Oh, my goodness, look at this.”
She gave Glara the invitation with an expression that showed nothing could be as funny as this. Glara, who received the invitation from her with a bewildered look, read it calmly. But she didn’t laugh like Rosemond had.
“My lady… is being invited to this dinner, it says.”
“That young thing sure is impudent. Don’t you think it’s her intention to remind me of my situation before everyone?”
She laughed eerily and snatched the invitation back from Glara. Then, without any hesitation whatsoever, she tore it apart while muttering, “I have to go. I must go.”
She had to go and see with her own eyes what would happen, and what suffering would arise. She smiled deeply as if she was amused just by the very thought. Glara also smiled and spoke up, “I have handled everything as you had ordered, my Lady.”
“Yeah. Good job.”
She scattered the pieces of finely torn paper on the floor. Even though these were tiny little pieces of paper that had almost nothing to tread on, she didn’t care and stepped on them as much as she could. As if the invitation could become Patrizia.