Just as maintaining the position was directly related to survival for Patrizia, it was also a matter of survival for her. So she could not give up. To take the place of that supreme Queen.
“Oh, I have been outside for too long. I have to go now. The noblewomen must be waiting for you.”
Patrizia pulled up slightly on one side of the mouth and smiled, then talked to her as if to comfort her.
“Stop getting angry, and come inside. The beef steak, as I saw earlier, you didn’t even eat a few bites, and it should be getting cold.”
It should have already gotten cold. Patrizia walked proudly past Rosemond, holding a smile to the end. As soon as her appearance disappeared from view, Rosemond shrieked.
“Aaaaghh!”
It was a common sound that Rosemond made when things didn’t work out the way she had wanted. She angrily stomped her feet, seemingly unable to control her anger.
“Dares, dares!”
It wasn’t enough to treat her as a prostitute, that rude child had dared to give a warning. The fact that Rosemond was being played by that younger Empress was so upsetting it was unbearable.
She bit her lips hard without feeling the pain from her reddened cheek. As she did this, Glara, who was at her side, watching all of this unfold with a pale face, asked Rosemond with a worried voice, “You have a bad wound, my Lady. It would be better for us to return to your quarters.”
SLAP! However, all that returned for Glara’s worried words was a sharp assault. Glara carefully wrapped her cheek with her hand and said stoically, “I am sorry, my Lady. It is all my fault.”
“Because of you…”
She growled in a voice that seemed to be unraveling further in anger. She seemed unable to believe the situation she was in.
To be precise, she could not believe Patrizia had attacked her. That was an enormous shame for Rosemond, a seasoned veteran who had been through many of these battles.
“There will be mercy only this time, and from now on, you’ll attack first? Ha! I sure am looking forward to that. How poisonous could a naive flower in a nice greenhouse be? That would be really scary.”
Rosemond turned silently towards her palace without hiding her cold eyes. With this feeling, she just couldn’t laugh with a “hoho and haha” in front of the ladies. And most of all, it was impossible to go back to after being in such a state. She walked back to her Vain Palace, intently wondering how to get revenge against Patrizia.
Meanwhile, at that same time, Lucio was busy with meeting with the envoys. Occasionally, a question popped in his head about whether Patrizia was doing well, but he soon eased his own worries by saying, ‘I am sure she will do well on her own.’
Anyway, it was the influence of the Marquis and the Empress of a country. The Duchess of Efreni would not have been training her poorly, so she must have been doing well.
When the supper ended, and all the envoys returned to the bedrooms they were allotted, Lucio finally found freedom. He finished a brief bath in the Central Palace and went straight to Rosemond. And he faced an unexpected sight that he would never have expected.
“This… What is going on?”
He asked Rosemond in a firm voice. Rosemond, like a woman who had been waiting for that question, ran to Lucio in tears.
“SOB, Your Majesty…”
“I asked what was going on. Did anyone hit you?”
“SOB…”
Naturally, it was Lucio who became frustrated as she released her tears silently. He asked her as if he was urging her, “Tell me, Rose. Who made you like this? Is it the Empress?”
“…”
It seemed correct as she just turned her head silently. Then, the tiredness increased, and a huge anger rose. Lucio could let everything go except for one thing, and that was someone putting a hand on her, it was unbearable.
Because it was the same as putting a hand on him. While holding down his boiling insides, he calmly asked Rosemond, “Why did the Empress smack you? Was there any other reason?”
“…”
Rosemond shut her mouth. No matter what the reason was, Lucio, who cared terribly for her, would find it difficult to forgive her. In this case, it was better to exercise the right to remain silent. Naturally, Lucio felt frustrated as he looked at Rosemond’s closed mouth, and eventually, his words came out.
“You don’t want me to visit the Empress and ask, Rose? Come on tell me.”
“I… I can’t say.
She acted as if she had been subjected to unfair situations. If she just provided a sneak peek like this, then it would be on Lucio, and not her.
When Rosemond looked down with her mouth closed as if she was a young child who lost all life, that image seemed to touch Lucio somewhere. He looked at Rosemond for a moment with a shaken expression and soon began to grasp for the truth.
“Tell me, Rose. You don’t think I would do anything that would affect you negatively.”
“I cannot say…”
Cannot say. If she said this, she would be advertising herself that everything was her own fault. So the answer was to remain silent until the end. Rosemond struggled to look away from him. Eventually, Lucio had one option left for him. He pulled himself away from Rosemond, and Rosemond called him back with a puzzled look.
“Your Majesty…?”
“If you don’t tell me, I have no choice but to find out myself.”
“…”
“Glara, make sure you take good care of your master. The wound is deep.”
“Yes, Your Majesty. Do not worry.”
Glara replied quietly, and Lucio glanced briefly towards Rosemond’s cheek, then turned back. Rosemond left alone with a nervous expression, sighed unconsciously.