***
It was late afternoon when she was enjoying her lazy tea time.
“No, I went out and found it wasn’t there. Where did it go?”
The little woman spoke as she dipped a well-baked biscuit into her tea.
It was a disaster that happened overnight when she closed her eyes and the carriage was stolen.
(*It was the first chapter when Lily ran out of the palace and took the carriage. That’s why they called her ‘carriage thief’)
“Why did you do that?”
The big woman sitting across from her listened to what the little woman had to say with a serious expression on her face.
Don’t give money to the horseman, don’t sneak out at night, and one day you will be heavily punished for doing so. She was the one who had been telling the story until her mouth was watering.
“Listen to me. Wait a minute, it was really just a moment.”
“I was away for a while due to an urgent need, but when I went back, the carriage, which had been waiting for me, disappeared.”
“It’s all because of the horseman.”
“Why is it because of the horseman?”
“No matter how blind he was at night, couldn’t he even tell the difference between people?”
“What security do you have around you? Who was it that made you unable to see out of the corner of your eye?”
“….”
“Isn’t it too childish to blame the horseman now?”
“Then it’s all her fault. The thief who stole my carriage!”
The cookie, which had missed its chance to come out of the teacup, sank plumply to the bottom.
‘’The woman of the fallen noble family threw filth at the emperor and escaped.’’
The only thing at the center of the rumors in the Imperial Palace was Lily Paulman.
The starting point of all incidents and the main topic of conversation.
His Majesty had personally gone out to get her. That was why the little woman balked at Lily.
“I’m sure Leo will be back soon…”
She became depressed at the thought of being punished.
“What should I do? If I don’t, they’ll take the carriage away from me. It’s really not good!”
The little woman scratched her otherwise crumpled head again, she seemed to be losing the only pleasure in her life.
Unable to watch, the larger woman threw in a few words.
“They said she’s the same age as you.”
“Really? Then, she’s my friend.”
The little woman smiled when she heard the word ‘same age’.
“Suddenly, I got two idiots.”
At the words of the big woman, the little woman pondered why there were two idiots. Then, she became angry.
“Who’s the idiot?”
The silver teaspoon that was diligently stirring the tea to find the cookies that had already disappeared without a trace was also enraged by this.
The older woman pretended not to hear and flicked her nails.
“I heard that he is coming to the annex. If you are curious, check it out.”
“Are you crazy? Why am I going there? It doesn’t bother me at all.”
But as soon as the large woman left the table, the small woman immediately ran westward.
Six times over the course of six days, she was captured by the guard.
It was the seventh and last to successfully break through the door.
“Ta-da!”
So the little woman came in.
She spread her short arms out on both sides as if she were holding a victory flag.
The attendant who hurriedly followed her looked pale.
“Miss Shasha, His Majesty has told me not to let anyone enter……”
“Oh! Don’t I know Leo?”
Despite the servant’s reluctance, the little woman firmly opened her tent-like handbag.
“Uh, where is it?”
She rummaged in her pockets.
“Ah, here it is!”
She pulled out a small tube of ointment.
“See, this stuff works really well. I don’t even have a scar.”
“…”
“By the way, did you really steal my carriage? Why? Why did you steal it? If you don’t want to tell me right away, we can do it later. But you did this, didn’t you? No, it must hurt a lot!”
She bombarded Lily with questions without a break.
“You’re totally different from how you look. Does it hurt? Does it hurt a lot? Can I try to touch it once? That’s enough!”
She spoke alone and she answered alone. Then she quickly sat down beside Lily and held out her hand.
“You’re lucky. He is very cruel! You may call me Shasha. As you can see, it’s not your day!”
Shasha lifted her lush hair to show it to Lily. It was a noticeable pink color and she was very proud of it.
“I am Lily….”
“I know. You’re Lily Paulman! Where is the one person in the Imperial Palace who doesn’t know your name?”
“…?”
“See, you were captured by that b*st*rd too. Me and Roxanne are the same.”
She felt a rush of joy at the mention of having been captured. It was a strange sameness.
Lily frowned and pushed her face away.
“Yes! His Majesty …”
“No, what are you saying? Why is Leo coming after you?”
Shasha, who had been picking at her nostrils, flicked her fingertips.
“Do you think Leo has nothing to do?”
“But Shasha has been captured too…”
“I’ve been caught by this tall and big guy. He brought you here, too. Didn’t he?”
Shasha stood on her tiptoes and raised her hands as high as she could. Her fingertips wouldn’t even reach Lily’s eyebrows.
‘’Don’t you know? He looks very scary.”
The form of the frown that creased her brow seemed to refer to the man with black hair from that time.
Could it be?
“Yes, he’s Leo’s half-brother.”
“I didn’t know the emperor had a half brother.”
“He’s the one who’s been holed up on the north side of the city, and now he’s come down again and again because the wall is broken. You didn’t know that, did you?”
Lily just stared at her, knowing that she didn’t give her time to talk.
The dumb look on her face made Sasha smile inwardly, as if she had just made another dumb person besides herself without Roxanne.
“His name is Piederan. Where are you from, by the way?”
“The Eastern Ossud region……”
“What? You’re an Imperial? No wonder you have the accent! By the way, what happened to your hair color? All the Imperials had brown hair.”
“Um…….”
“Dark brown, light brown. By the way, why do you have white hair? Are you a year younger? Is it a mutation?”
“Excuse me, Shasha.”
“Have you been adopted? Who adopts a stranger? Anyway, you’re pretty. I’m saying you’re pretty. Why are you alone? What about your family?”
“Oh, my father…”
“I want to see my father. By the way, my father is dead. My mother is dead, too. I was captured with my sisters, but they all died and I was the only one who lived. That’s what it’s like to be a princess in a defeated country…..” (Shasha)
As the engrossing chatter stopped, silence came.
Shasha, who had been fiddling with the light pink feather fan, chased away the somberness and continued speaking again.
“Touch Leo’s heart as little as possible. He’s usually kind, but sometimes his eyeballs spin like this. When that happens, you have to be quiet and hide.”
“Um…”
“It doesn’t happen very often, so don’t worry about it.”
“Um, excuse me.”
“Try to be as inconspicuous as possible. I can help you if you really want! I do, actually. Hidden throughout the Imperial Palace… Can I say this in our first meeting…?”
“Excuse me!”
Lily hurried to intervene so as not to be outdone.
“Piederan.”
Unlike Shasha, who shuddered at the mere mention of the name, Lily could picture the man’s ruby eyes. It was deep, profound eyes that looked down on her.
“Is that him, by any chance…?”
In hindsight, it would have been frustrating to untie and close his cloak the entire time, but the man didn’t grumble a word.
“So what if…what if ….”
‘’If what?”
“May Lord Piederan help me…”
“Oh, my God. You really are an idiot, aren’t you?”
Shasha cut Lily’s words with a serious face, waving her fan excitedly.
“You, if you mention that name here, you’ll be in big trouble!”
Shasha called him whatever she wanted and told Lily that she shouldn’t do it.
“Hey, I’m telling you this because you’re an idiot… Don’t tell anyone about it.”
Shasha always told the stories she heard from the big woman like her own.
“It was when Piederan was six or seven years old. His mother, therefore the Queen, no, not the Queen because she was deposed. What should I say then?”
“First Empress…”
“That’s right! The first Empress and her escort knight were in love and ran away at night.”
Clap. Shasha clapped her hands.
“It’s funny, isn’t it? But you know what’s even more amazing?”
“….”
“Yes, the affair wasn’t enough, they had to set up a life around here!”
After a moment of lasciviousness, Shasha was buoyed. Blinking, she exaggeratedly dragged her eyelids and turned up the heat.
“Naturally, they were soon discovered. Cack! The knight was killed on the spot. What do you think happened to the Empress?”
“What do you mean? She would have received the ultimate punishment.”
“Wrong! The previous emperor* saved her. Why? Because she had a baby in her belly. But look, I don’t know whose seed it was. So what do you think happened?”
(*Leo’s father)
“Um…”
“Wrong! Wrong!”
Lily didn’t say anything, but she got it wrong.
Shasha got up and clapped her hands.
“The previous emperor loved such an immoral woman too much that he couldn’t kill her. It’s so romantic, isn’t it?”
The truth of the matter was not important. It only mattered to Shasha was the recklessness that only blind love could give.
“But he didn’t forgive her completely. The Trogos bloodline is a dirty tempered one. So what happened? Don’t be surprised.”
“….”
“Right off the bat… he made her blind! For the price of betraying him, he took her eyes so she could never see again.”
Shasha swung her arms wide in an exaggerated gesture, as if she were the judge of love and the eradication of injustice.
“From what I hear, she gave birth to a son. He had dark hair, just like the previous Emperor. So it was his own son after all.”
(*Leo has white hair. Leo’s half brother has black hair.)
The sound reminded Lily of the white and black head that had tumbled down on her. She felt suffocated.
“Unfortunately, the previous emperor had already died. Why is the end of desperate love always a tragedy?”
“Miss Shasha, Miss Shasha.”
Lily’s breath caught in her throat like a fistful of rocks.
“Anyway, after that, Piederan was banished to the north. I don’t know why, either. Was it because the previous emperor hated him?”
“Well, um…”
“What happened next? What’s going on? Leo ascended to the throne. As soon as he ascended the throne, he wiped out the Trogos and changed the government… What? Hey! What’s wrong with you? Hey!”
Shasha finally found the fallen Lily and shook her shoulders urgently.
“Don’t worry! You don’t have to be scared. Leo is hot-tempered, but sometimes he’s quite romantic if he’s in a good mood..”
Thinking that Lily’s disappointment was because of Leo, Shasha offered an argument rather than a plea.
“Anyway, you can just live like me. I’m serious. Leo is fickle. Just say you’re sick. You’re a doll, you’re not a human. It’s easier this way.”
In terms of comfort and encouragement, the sophistry was not actually one of the two, but rather, it was like digging into the heart in surprise.
Lily gasped in agony.
“Isn’t there any way to escape?”
“Oh, please don’t pull. It’s a very expensive dress. …”
“I need your help!”
“So I’m helping you now. I talked so much that my mouth hurts, what have you heard so far?”
There was some tantrum mixed in with the way Shasha spoke. Pulling out the pink collar on the end of her fan, Shasha added a few words.
“I have learned from my sisters’ lives, so listen carefully. Oh, and if you’re bored later, come visit me at the southern palace.”
After saying that she was done with her business, Shasha shook off her dress and prepared to leave. Lily hurried to follow her.
“I want to go, too.”
“I don’t think so. It’s better to go to bed early today”.”
“Why?”
“Why? Leo will come.”
Ahn!
Shasha pretended to be startled like a child, and walked out, waving her dress.
Shasha’s words, which Lily thought were a laughing matter, were proven the next day.
The Emperor came without notice.
At midnight, it was when Lily finally fell asleep.