“… ”
“Rosemond Mary La Phelps is the Baroness of this Marvinus Empire, and the concubine of my husband, His Majesty. At the same time, you are the faithful servant of us as a couple, and so my servant. Do you know of this?”
“I do not know, Your Majesty.”
Patrizia’s hand moved once again at those words, but this time, Rosemond wasn’t an easy victim this time. One hand grasped Patrizia’s thin wrist, while the other hand still covered her cheek that was covered with blood. She laughed crookedly and said to Patrizia, “I don’t know, Your Majesty. That I am your servant, and that you are the woman who will become the mother of this empire.”
“It’s all right, Rosemond. If your head is bad, you may not comprehend it. I understand. But don’t worry too much. These are things that you will gradually learn while you live your life.”
Patrizia took her hand off her wrist with her other hand, and this time, she swept down her injured cheek without any more hitting. Naturally, Rosemond refused and swat away her hand with a furious expression, but Patrizia calmly told her with an unaffected face.
“Even if you don’t want to know, you will get to know, so you won’t have to say more.”
“You are too confident, Your Majesty. What do you believe in to be behaving like this? What power does an Empress in name only have, when she can’t even earn His Majesty’s intimate favor?”
Those words weren’t wrong, and Patricia smiled and spoke. But Rosemond saw the anger hidden in the laughter, so she laughed even brighter.
That was a fact that even Empress Patrizia could not deny. But Rosemond’s smile soon disappeared.
“The Empress is not a concubine, Rosemond. As I said last time, you can take power even if you don’t roll yourself around cheaply like you. If all power had been concentrated on the Emperor’s discretion, this country would have already been destroyed.
“…”
“You too know that very well. Right?”
Damn, it was true. This country was not such an easy nation. At least, the Marvinus Empire was able to preserve its dynasty and maintain the form of the Empire for a long time, because of the fact that the elites like herself did not grab hold and wreck the country.
There was a limit to what the mistress could intervene with. The Marvinus Empire took precautions in considering the Emperor’s unrighteousness and gave the Empress the same powers as the Emperor, so the result was how it was now. Rosemond, darn it all, knew this better than anyone else. That’s why she was trying to be the Empress at any cost.
It was miserable to be a mistress who did not become an Empress. That may not be the case when the Emperor you had served was alive, but if the Emperor died and the next great Emperor was ready and the Empress was alive, the story would be completely different. Common sense meant there would hardly be anybody that looked kindly at a mistress who had taken over all the love from a dead husband.
“That’s why you created this situation today. Really rude, spiteful, vulgar … ”
Patrizia muttered this in a voice full of anger. It had been exactly four days before the banquet was held that she had learned of exactly what was going on. She didn’t know it would end up being this helpful to instruct them to look into the happenings at the mistress’ quarters.
When Patrizia found out about Rosemond’s conspiracy, she instructed Rafaella to let the chef know about it. To make sure to keep the beef that will be used on the day of the dinner at a secret, unknown location.
When she first learned about Rosemond’s schemes, she was shocked to say the least. It had been unexpected. Of course, she was expecting one day a decisive plan would be constructed in the hope of bringing her down, but she didn’t know how it would be planned out this quickly, and this boldly.
At least because she thought it was something that would happen a little bit later than now, she had been at ease. And now, Patrizia blamed herself for her ease and casual outlook. Couldn’t it have been a big deal at the end? It wasn’t just a problem that would end up just affecting herself. It was a matter that could have spread on to diplomatic problems.
And if she hadn’t noticed it, something more horrible than she had imagined would have taken place. Perhaps the alliance between the two countries would have been compromised. Once again, realizing the seriousness of the matter, she became more resentful.
As much as Patrizia felt the shock, her anger toward Rosemond deepened. She continued to speak in a lower than low voice.
“The mistresses of this country have committed all sorts of tricks to gain the Emperor’s love, but at least they hadn’t done anything to harm the country like you did, Rosemond. What kind of guts did you have to do this? It was a matter that could have affected diplomatic issues between the two countries.”
“I’m not sure what you’re talking about, Your Majesty.”
She suddenly changed her position. She had judged that the situation was now not in her favor. At the quick turn of events, an empty laugh escaped from Patrizia, and soon she talked to Rosemond with a cold face.
“Don’t think about getting over this so easily, Rosemond. Did you want to bring me down like that so much? Enough to pull this irrational number? Very scary person, you are.”
“If you know, just hand over that position over to me, Your Majesty. Then I have no reason to mess with you.”
“That would not do. As you know, dethronement in this country means death.”
There weren’t any noble terms for a dethroned Empress in this country. The dethronement was death. This meant that if you hadn’t committed enough sins to die, it would be difficult to be dethroned.
So Patrizia could never solve this situation as well as she had said. In a way, it was a pity. If she could only live with the noble post of having been called Empress, accepting her offer would not have been bad.
“So Rosemond, you give up. That way, at least when His Majesty passes on, I can help you avoid the worst circumstances. This is the best I can bestow upon you … ”
“Shut your mouth, Patrizia.”