Chapter 14: CH 14

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(Wilhelm’s 3rd Person POV)

‘Is it possible that you’ve been acting like an idiot for the past two years? Was this the real you all along?’

‘If so…why have you been pretending to be a different person? What’s your purpose for doing all of this?’

‘But what if the Duchess of Rochester betrayed me and cooperated in this play? No…no, that’s impossible. That kind of situation would never happen.’

‘Does this mean that it was all planned by the Empress?’

‘But why…’

‘Why after 2 years? Why would she hide it from me?’

‘Why did she stop now?’

Wilhelm, who had been silent at the thought of someone betraying him, opened his mouth again and said.

“Are there any movements from the Duke of Barantes?”

For now, nothing came to his mind but politically impure thoughts.

As he asked questions, he felt the limits of his imagination.

At the same time, it bothered him how much this situation affected him.

“We are checking everyone who enters and exits the Duchy, but we found no one was particularly suspicious.”

Fortunately, nothing had happened to make him more anxious than what he was already.

“Keep watching… Watch Braunschweig Island as well.”

“All right.”

“And I want you to find out details about the tea party and report back to me on the event.”

“That would be difficult.”

Wilhelm immediately looked up. His forehead furrowed as he looked at Colton, with the question of why on his face.

“Only the person who has received the invitation can attend this tea party.”

“…….”

“I can’t pretend to be my mother and go to a tea party, right?”

“Who asked you to attend? What I meant is for you to ask a favor from the Marquess of Nervion.”

“Hah…I can’t believe that my mother, who is about to turn sixty, still has to do things for her son. I  really don’t have any filial piety left in this world.”

Wilhelm stared unphased at Colton who pretended to lament exaggeratedly. Colton groaned and said.

“Okay, I’ll ask my mom how the party was.”

‘You should have said that in the first place.’ Only then did Wilhelm look away from Colton.

-ˏˋ ━━━━━━ ʚɞ ━━━━━━ ˊˎ-

(3rd PERSON POV)

A few days later, it was finally the day of the tea party.

Anastasia only sent invitations to 10 people who were known to have been close to her.

“The party should be decorated to create the most beautiful, glamorous, and elegant atmosphere possible.”

Even though the number of attendees was small, Anastasia still took the party seriously.

‘How come there were this many party decorations piled up in the Empress’s Palace? How many times a week have they held parties for the past two years?’

There were a ton of party decorations that the original Anastasia purchased to be dedicated for entertainment only, without any profit at all.

There’s just too much that she didn’t need to spend any money. At least until the time that she was dethroned.

“Your Majesty.”

While checking the sponsorship of the Empress Palace, where the party will be held, Madame Rochester approached Anastasia and asked:

“Do you like the party venue?”

“Yes, everything looks perfect.”

Anastasia gave a glowing answer with a smile.

“I look forward to when it will all be completed. It will be worth witnessing.”

“Then let’s go and get you dressed. You have the most important position, so we should pay more attention to your appearance.”

“Okay.”

Anastasia nodded.

‘Okay this will be the day! I have to look as pretty as possible.’

‘I went to bed early last night for fear that my skin had become flaky due to lack of sleep.’

‘It was very unusual considering that I often stayed up late due to a lot of work lately.’

Anastasia wore a gorgeous dress and accessories that was preselected last night.

Among the things she had, these were the things that would highlight the splendor of the party as much as possible.

Fixing and dressing her up took quite a long time to finish.

Three hours later and the process was completed.

“It’s all done now, Your Majesty.”

Finally the grooming was over.

“Ah…”

Seeing Anastasia’s final look, Madame Rochester admired her with an ecstatic face.

“You are so beautiful, Your Majesty.”

“Really?”

“Yes, it’s true. Take a look in the mirror.”

Anastasia went to the mirror and checked her appearance.

‘Wow…’

The figure of Anastasia, who was adorned with glittering things from head to toe, was truly breathtaking.

Madame Rochester’s words were by no means empty.

“Pretty…”

After saying that, Anastasia smiled bashfully for a moment. Ashamed that she was praising herself with her own mouth. Then she added belatedly after her initial embarrassment.

“It’s all thanks to all of you. Thank you.”

She said those words according to her original personality without any icing on top. But the praise that she gave to the maids for their hard work was enough to make their hearts warm.

‘To hear such praise from Her Majesty….’

‘I was very lucky that I didn’t hear any criticism about how I decorated her beauty so badly….’

‘Her Majesty has changed a lot. It wasn’t a lie when they said that she did change for the better.’

Anastasia had once again unintentionally achieved her usual goal.

“Your Majesty, the guests have finally arrived.”

It was perfect timing. Anastasia nodded with a solemn look.

“Let’s go.”

It’s time to go and meet today’s patrons.

-ˏˋ ━━━━━━ ʚɞ ━━━━━━ ˊˎ-

(3rd PERSON POV)

Anastasia found the venue for the event, which had been transformed beautifully. Just like what she had expected.

Flowers were all in full bloom and there were also a lot of pink flowers all over the table decorated with complimentary white tones.

Thanks to this, the elegant and beautiful atmosphere was well executed according to Anastasia’s vision. She didn’t miss the elegant effect that was coming from the numerous flowers.

“Here comes, Her Majesty the Empress.”

The people that were chatting with Madame Rochester quickly formed their respects.

Anastasia looked at them with a smile.

Those who were the closest to her would definitely make today’s tea party a success.

“May Goddess Rosenia be full of blessings. Greetings to Her Majesty the Empress.”

“Thank you all for coming.”

“It’s been a long time since Her Majesty the Empress held a party, so of course I wouldn’t miss it for the world*.”

(TN: (*) It’s a figurative speech that means to say that she really wants to go to the event.)

“I was really worried since you have not held any events for the past few weeks.”

“I feel the same. It also seems that there is something a bit different about Her Majesty lately….”

“Because Her Majesty the Empress has decided to change for the better.”

Melina intervened and spoke on Anastasia’s behalf.

“She said that she would now focus on taking care of the Imperial Palace’s internal affairs.”

“I’ve heard that as well. That from now on you’ll be handling all of the palace affairs. We were really surprised when we first heard of it!”

“I was surprised too. No…everyone in the society is definitely surprised, right?!”

“It is the hottest topic these days. Since everyone is doubting if the rumors were true or not?”

“It’s the first time that we’ve seen Her Majesty the Empress since the rumors had started, so I’ll say that it really was true. How surprised will everyone be then?”

“Someone even suspected that Her Majesty was just pretending. A lot of people even thought that it wouldn’t last very long…..”

“That is quite true. Quite a few of them are already betting on how long Her Majesty would maintain this kind of lifestyle.”

“Lady Marriott, didn’t you also bet with your friend about Her Majesty? The Marquis had said so.”

“Oh, no. Your Majesty!”

The young lady of Marriott, who was suddenly caught in the act, was embarrassed and looked at Anastasia. But Anastasia just smiled as if she didn’t care very much.

“I thought so. From what I can see, people have turned 180 degrees after seeing you, Your Majesty.”

Anastasia smiled casually and shook her head. The other young ladies noticed it and tried to change the topic.

“I heard that Your Majesty couldn’t sleep very well these days. You must be quite busy.”

“What will you do if your fair skin gets damaged? I’m quite worried for you.”

“That’s right. Her Majesty’s skin is so fair that it deserves to be designated as a national treasure.”

“I am still taking good care of it. Madame Rochester was also very worried about it.”

As Anastasia was busy answering all of their questions with a smile. It was then followed by continuous compliments from the guests.

“I heard that you have been studying alone for the past two years. It’s normally quite difficult for it to be put into practice right away, but you’re so amazing.”

“Nevertheless, it is more difficult to get the job done perfectly. It’s close to impossible even.”

“I even heard that you’ve accomplished one of the hardest tasks that was given to you. That Madame Rochester even praised you, right?”

Madame Rochester was known to be a very important figure in society.

“Her Majesty is very outstanding. In addition to that, she’s been improving day by day. I doubt that she’s been hiding her abilities on purpose.”

“Oh. Did you really hide it on purpose, Your Majesty?”

“What do you mean, hide it? It’s just that I’ve been watching closely and imitating all of  Madame Rochester’s actions for the past years. She’s just a really good mentor.”

“I know how strict Madame Rochester could be better than anyone else, Your Majesty.”

The Marquess of Nervion suddenly intervened.

“I’ve been watching her since I was little. And not only that, she’s very strict about the compliments she gives.”

“The Marquess too. When did I do that?”

“That means that the Empress is doing very well. Great fortune was belatedly bestowed upon the Empire.”

“Yes, it was planned from the time Your Majesty had received the oracle and became the Empress.”

The atmosphere was very friendly. Anastasia felt it was developing exactly how she had wanted it to.

Anastasia decided now to give a hint about the purpose of this party.