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“Your Majesty, it is already approaching midnight. It’s been quite a while.”
“Oh, I see. Lastly, it is the turn of the Marquise of Baluk. Come to think of it, what kind of relationship did you have with Cavill Young Lady?”
Only then, did the Empress pay attention to the Marquise and asked the question.
Others communicated with each other by exchanging greetings and words, but the Marquise rarely spoke.
Since Penelope, who had come with her, opened her mouth first, it was the same this time.
“The Marquise had become acquainted with our family, and when I said that I wanted to go to the Literature Salon, she was happy to bring me, Her Majesty the Empress.”
“Well, is that so?”
“Yes, Your Majesty. How are you so beautiful? I heard that you are older than my mother, but there’s not one wrinkle……maybe plastic surgery……!”
Although plastic surgery was often performed for medical purposes, it was very expensive and there were many places that illegally performed it for beauty purposes, so it was not well known.
Penelope had uttered words to the Empress that would have been terribly rude even to ordinary nobles. Everyone who watched it looked at Penelope with a shocked face and could guess the level of education of Marquis Cavill.
‘Penelope, you haven’t come to your senses yet. It’s very consistent…….’
Luciel shook her head when she saw Penelope, who had chosen only the most pitiful and foolish topic to speak of.
The Empress’s complexion was already stained with displeasure. Because of that, Penelope was already in the negative even before she showed something.
She was originally a child of a family that was forbidden from entering the Imperial Palace, but since Baluk brought her, the Empress was patient and accepted it. But instead of staying calm, she had an accident like that.
However, if the Empress was angry here, it could have been seen as a funny way of acknowledging plastic surgery.
In addition, what happens in this literary salon is been transmitted to all places that had video spheres throughout the Empire as well as in the Imperial Capital.
The Empress did not lose her smile and rebuked Penelope, but she could not hide the cold gaze that pierced the child.
“It seems that Young Lady Cavill has not learned any etiquette at all. I’d rather you refrain from talking. Marquise Baluk, it is your turn next.”
“I apologize for the child’s rudeness.”
When the Marquise stared at her, Penelope was startled and flinched.
“I was only praising Her Majesty’s beauty in my own way, please forgive me for the rudeness.”
“Well…….”
The Empress looked uncomfortable, but seeing the little child bowing her head straight away weakened her heart.
Then Reynold came in.
“It seems that the Young Lady was nervous in front of her Majesty. Please, abate your anger.”
If it had been said by another nobleman, she would have accepted it with good intentions, but it was true that it was not pure considerations when the Prince choose to speak.
However, in order to keep the pleasant mood even Claudia and other nobles spoke.
“It must have been that Her Majesty’s was so beautiful that the child’s judgment was clouded. Please forgive her.”
The Empress also nodded her head. She has seen many hypocritical humans who pour praise in front of and gossip behind them, so Penelope’s mistakes could be said to be rather cute.
But the stigma that she is a thoughtless child will last a long time.
“I see. I shall forgive you.”
When the Empress grudgingly forgave, Penelope’s face brightened and she raised her head. Although Penelope hated the Empress, she felt very happy that the Prince had sided with her a little while ago.
Then she shrugged her shoulders and for no reason looked down at Luciel, but she lowered her gaze to the overbearing eyes of the three members of the Bellstein family she met.
From the Duke to the Duchess, and Prince Bellstein, they all looked at Penelope with a glaring look.
‘Wh-what? They are looking at me like they want to kill.’
Dang-dang-dang-!
In the midst of the chaos.
At that moment, the bell from the bell tower rang from afar, signaling twelve o’clock. As the Empress was still holding her glass artifact, the Marquis Garsol coughed.
Marquise. Baluk stood up and as she looked around, she said.
“I want you to turn off all the lights for a moment.”
At her request, all the lights that had created the dreamy atmosphere of the outdoor garden were turned off. Suddenly, the atmosphere changed completely. Even though it was summer, cold air seemed to circle around.
‘What are you trying to show? It’s kind of cold.’
Luciel shrank slightly and trembled, and a large jacket hung over her shoulders. It was Kizef’s.
“Oh, thank you. I’m grateful for the <Fly> spell you used earlier.”
“……You are welcome.”
Kizef turned his head away, feeling embarrassed when Luciel’s bright smile made his cheeks red.
Actually, that wasn’t the intention. He was improvising, it was a spontaneous act without other meaning.
It was such a perfectly made beautiful glass craft. That’s why he floated it with a <Fly> spell so that everyone could see it better.
Still, Kizef thought to himself.
‘I wanted to make it shine more.’
Of course, even if it wasn’t for his own magic, Luciel shone by herself. But he also knew just how much Luciel had prepared.
Even in the darkness, Luciel’s face was clearly outlined.
Her small, round, oval face, her small nose tightly nestled under her large, big eyes, and sweet strawberry syrup-like lips.
No, maybe it was only in Kizef’s eyes that she could be seen this clearly. He would always draw her face in his mind when he was about to go to bed.
Squeak.
The strange noise that came at that time broke Kizef’s cozy thoughts, and Luciel leaned instinctively toward him, raising her ears in the dark.
Squeak.
It sounded like an old tree moving. Madam Baluk took out the brown wooden box she had brought and placed it on the central table.
It was like a big suitcase, even in the dark, she was doing something with it. Rustling around and moving things.
“……Madam? It’s dark, so we can’t see well.”
Regardless of the Empress’s words, the Marquise continued to make sounds similar to rubbing wood, and she said:
“It’s almost done.”
Soon she pounded the flint to make embers, which she attached to a branch soaked in sulfur.
Plak. Plak.
The flames moved to the branches and vibrated red, they were transferred back to the silver candlesticks placed on both ends of the table.
‘I feel like she’s something…….’
The flickering yellow light began to brighten the surroundings a little more closely. What the Marquise had created was a puppet theater stage with all sorts of miscellaneous objects.
As a cog was spinning, the merry-go-round rattled and a melody of the music box played.
There were colorful tents and balls reminiscent of a circus, and wooden dolls and marionettes connected by thin strings.
But the mood they created was a little more creepy and more terrifying.
“Oh my, it’s a marionette puppet show.”
When Lariet, who had been thinking a street performance would come out, said that it would be interesting, the Marquise quietly reached for her lips.
“…….”
A thick and heavy silence came down in an atmosphere where no one could speak.
Duke Bellstein’s eyes narrowed.
‘The more I look at her, the more bizarre she is. What the hell is she up to?’
More than anything else, the unpleasant, turbid, strong scent of perfume sticking to her skin seemed to give a headache to those who stayed near her.
The Marquise soon returned to her seat. Instead, Penelope grabbed the hem of her dress and stood up.
“I’ll give you the presentation.”
Penelope’s movement on the puppet stage was very unnatural, and her voice was very calm, unlike her usual behavior. Her eyes were empty without light.
‘Penelope, suddenly become a little strange…….’
As the Marquise induced them to clap their hands first, the crowd soon followed and started clapping one by one.
Standing in front of the wooden puppet theater stage, Penelope climbed onto an empty chair and picked up the marionette and puppet’s rod.
The girl doll was wearing the same green dress Penelope was wearing.
Penelope controlled her doll and began to speak. Unlike the previous emptiness, this time she had a humorous expression and voice.
“My name is Penelope. Let me tell you a curious and interesting story.”
As Penelope began the story, with skillful craftsmanship, she picked up other dolls, one of a blond-haired woman and a man wearing a crown.
“Once upon a time, a long time ago, there lived a beautiful woman in the kingdom. The king saw her, falling in love at first sight he proposed. They were both happy and soon they had a baby.”
The beginning was quite interesting. It was a mystery how Penelope learned this skill but,……from the middle, the story seemed to get a little weird.
“Oh, but unfortunately the beautiful queen gave birth to a baby and died. She couldn’t leave her baby behind even after death. Eventually, deep resentment took hold of her heart and gave her strength. The Queen stayed next to her baby and had a new dream. She had something very special and in order to complete the object, she needed twelve…people of her own.”
Penelope glanced at the people, picked up a bunch of girl marionettes, and continued the story. The marionettes in colorful clothes looked delicate, but they all had their lips painted red.
Just like the current Penelope, who seems to imitate the Marquise.
“And she gathered disciples one after another. One, two, three…she gathered twelve and killed them.”
While Penelope was speaking creepy things, she cut the doll’s strings with scissors, and the dolls fell onto the table and the floor.
“What would happen next?”
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“…….”
Even Young Master Karhan, who likes mystery and thrillers, had a face that did not seem to like this.
How can a ten-year-old girl, no matter how evil, perform such a terrifying puppet show?
At that moment, Penelope seemed to have become a real marionette.
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