The princess says that chewing on sweets is really a curse.
Elizabeth hesitated for a moment, then shook her head. Surely, she must be crazy.
“Are you listening?”
“Speak, my ears are open.”
Somehow, I felt my temperature rising and my nose started to breathe heavily.
‘I will endure it. I, a noble person, will endure it.’
“I realized that you were also a victim of the curse, so I thought I should withdraw what I said was terrorism. It wasn’t my will.”
“of course.”
“… … .”
‘Let me be patient. I, a highly educated person, will be patient… … .’
“If I just say one word, I can make it seem like Miss Hermia’s mistake never happened. How about that? It’s great, right?”
“Don’t beat around the bush, just tell me.”
“So that means I can forgive you specifically. But there is a condition… … .”
“Forgiveness, my ass. Shouldn’t I be the one who needs to apologize?”
“what?”
Hermia’s words caused her anger to explode beyond its limits.
“This is really unbearable!”
Elizabeth’s blood ran high up to her neck.
“I will take back what I said about arresting you, whether it was because of a curse or whatever, so just go home!”
“I don’t like it.”
“hey!”
“why!”
The two women both jumped up from their seats. At the same time, the door to the reception room opened wide and Walter stepped out.
“What happened… … .”
“Let’s go out!”
This time, both women shouted at the same time. Walter put his long legs back where they were and quietly closed the door.
Elizabeth glared at Hermia with burning eyes and grumbled.
“Are you really cursed?”
“I told you so!”
“You weren’t crazy to begin with?”
“No!”
No matter how I look at it, it seems like he’s completely crazy… … !
As I thought about what to say next with a pale face, tears welled up in my eyes. This was truly the first time in my life that I had been humiliated like this since I was born a princess.
Even His Majesty the King never raised his voice against me as I was growing up, so how could a lowly illegitimate child…?
“How could you say that to me… … ?”
“Who are you?”
Elizabeth looked up in shock, tears welling up in her eyes. This situation, which she had never experienced before, was almost terrifying to her.
What am I? Of course… … .
“I, I am Elisabeth Müller and I am the proud princess of the Müller kingdom.”
“What’s wrong with that? When I was born, I was just a princess.”
At that moment, it felt like all my common sense was crumbling down. Wasn’t it natural for me to be a princess? How could that be?
Hermia glanced at the princess, whose eyes were wide open, clicked her tongue in annoyance, and sat down with a thud.
“Do you think anyone would want to be born as an illegitimate child? If I could choose my bloodline, I would have been born as the emperor of the neighboring country.”
“That’s for God to decide, not for you… … ?”
“Whether it’s a god or something, it means that you were lucky enough to be born a princess.”
“You were lucky?”
Every time her long eyelashes blinked, tears fell. Even in the midst of the absurdity and bewilderment, Elizabeth was confused.
“That’s, that’s… … .”
“Sit down. Your neck hurts.”
Hermia, who had regained her senses first, nodded, and Elizabeth sat down on the sofa, wincing. There was no nanny here to wipe her runny nose.
Hermia looked at Elizabeth, who was covering her face with her sleeve, with a slightly pitiful expression, then took out a handkerchief and pushed it across the table. This isn’t some five-year-old.
“I guess you don’t even carry a handkerchief since someone wipes you every day.”
Because it was true, Elizabeth was unable to respond.
“In a messy way.”
“… … .”
He couldn’t figure out why he should feel ashamed, but he was overcome with the urge to get a handkerchief of the finest silk, much better than this, as soon as he returned to the palace.
The hand that picked up the handkerchief the illegitimate child had handed me was shaking terribly.
“I… I got excited for a moment. So what I was going to say was… what was it?”
“Forgiveness is this and that, conditions and such.”
“Ah. Right.”
Elizabeth answered a step late and then blew her nose. Hermia naturally pulled the plate of macaroons towards her.
“What is it?”
“I will forgive you for what you did to me, so marry the Duke… Miss Hermia, give up Sir Walter first.”
The hand that had been extended over the plate paused for a moment and then was withdrawn.
Hermia took a sip of tea instead of a cookie and continued talking.
“Hmm… … .”
“If you do that, I will quit Bansayo too.”
Did you join too?
Naturally, I frowned. No one knew that the royal family was trying to marry the duke. I just realized that it wasn’t just for political reasons.
To anyone who looked at Elizabeth, she had the face of a woman in love, not of a princess of a country.
‘You like peacocks.’
Hermia felt bitter again at the overly transparent request. Putting aside the question of whether to forgive or not, this kind of question should be answered seriously.
She was silent for a moment, then spoke in a lower voice than before.
“I’m sorry, but that won’t work. The princess would still be noble even if she can’t get married, but I’m not.”
“What does that mean?”
“If I don’t get married, it’ll be difficult, difficult… .”
Please listen to me, you damn curse.
“You could be sold to some rich old man. Damn it!”
Hermia finally confessed as if vomiting and slammed the table!
Is there any curse that makes a person more miserable than this?
It is unknown what kind of curse the other three are under, but it is truly the worst that they cannot even hide their miserable situation.
“… In Bansenga, they will try to compensate for the time and money they have invested in me by marrying me off to a rich old man. It can be money, connections, or some other means.”
“That’s ridiculous. How can you be so calculating with a child!”
Hermia laughed self-deprecatingly at the innocent princess who was jumping up and down.
“If the marriage with the Duke falls through, the Count will look for another wife. Then, there will be only so many men who would want to marry an illegitimate child who has been broken off twice and is known to be a wicked woman.”
Elizabeth’s face froze in shock. Hermia barely managed to control her emotions and continued speaking.
“This marriage is practically my last chance. So I’m sorry. I have to live, too.”
“… … .”
A heavy air filled the drawing room. Elizabeth, who had been staring at Hermia in silence for a while, took a sip of her tea in a hurry.
“I don’t understand. Even if she is an illegitimate child, how can you think of doing business with your daughter? That is just too… … .”
“Did all of the princess’s brothers marry people they loved?”
Elizabeth, who was about to say that it was a vulgar thing that could not be done as a nobleman, closed her mouth.
Did all the princesses and princes of the royal family marry the person they loved? I didn’t have to think about it for long, so I couldn’t answer.
Elizabeth was well aware that the royal family had been trying to arrange a marriage between Walter and her not because she liked him, but because he had the last name ‘Rockford’.
Hermia shrugged her shoulders, as if she had expected that.
“Well, that’s it.”
As silence fell again, the sound of the wind and rain outside the window grew louder. Hermia felt a sudden fatigue and pressed her palms to her eyes.
“or not!”
Elizabeth, who had been lost in thought, suddenly clapped her hands loudly as if a good idea had occurred to her.
“Or how about I find you another groom? Someone decent, not an old and ugly man. If I ask my mother, it shouldn’t be impossible!”
“It’s no use.”
Hermia, who had answered immediately, laughed as she recalled the countess’s eyes rolling back with ambition.
“You would have to be at least a princess to turn down a duchess. I was wondering who had more money between the prince and the duke.”
Elizabeth frowned as she asked, “Princess?” It seemed that she did not want to give her closest brother, Gerard, an illegitimate child.
In terms of money, power, and fame, there could not have been a better groom in the kingdom than Walter. Since foreign nobles had to change their nationality when they married, my mother would have said no… … .
Elizabeth, who had been biting her lips, muttered in resignation.
“Why don’t you just go abroad and live by yourself? I’ll give you the money.”
“What?”
“Of course you don’t like it. I just said it. Forget it.”
She laughed awkwardly, thinking that it was a ridiculous suggestion to leave not only her home but also the country.
“I didn’t hear that just now… … .”
“How much?”
“yes?”
For a moment, a flash of lightning struck Hermia’s blue eyes.
“How much can you give? Money?”
* * *
Elizabeth, sitting in a large carriage with the royal coat of arms hidden behind her, waved her hand sadly out the window.
Despite his hazy face, Walter saw her off without moving an inch and quickly entered the hallway.
He had walked a few steps ahead of the servant holding the umbrella, so his head and shoulders were soaked. Without even bothering to shake off the moisture, he turned toward the guest room where Hermia was.
“Did you get rained on?”
Hermia, who had welcomed him like that, was packing her luggage with Emily. Walter’s jaw muscles clenched as he looked at the suitcase filled with clothes.
“What did the princess say?”
Hermia rolled her eyes and smiled awkwardly as she watched Walter ask, his gaze fixed on the bag.
“I’ll pretend that what happened at the tea party never happened.”
‘Actually, I heard something more important than that.’
“They won’t hold me responsible for what I did.”
“Is that the answer?”
“… … .”
Hermia kept her mouth shut and nodded vigorously instead, as opening her mouth here would have been a major accident.
How can I confess that I said I would think about it when the princess said she would support me to settle down and live abroad? If that happens, the Duke’s inheritance will be lost.
‘sorry.’
This problem would be solved if Mel regained her identity and the two got married, but her whereabouts were currently unknown.
In order for Walter to safely receive his inheritance, he had no choice but to marry her. That was why Hermia could not readily accept his proposal on the spot.
‘I have a conscience, so I’ll hold off on making a decision until I find Mel. Then, when she comes back, I’ll pretend I didn’t see her, take the money from the princess, and quickly run away.’
The problem was that this disastrous mouth couldn’t lie, but the great blessing was that he wasn’t the only one cursed.
I don’t know what the curse is, but the duke and prince of a country are the victims. They are high-ranking officials, so they would catch a writer at any moment, so do they really need my help?
If we catch the writer, the curse will naturally be lifted.
She didn’t want to suffer any more from the fame she never wanted and all the gossip.
You guys figure out the complicated details of the will and such. The wicked Helen must leave this country.