Chapter 92
Translator: wuttisyun
As I slowly turned my head, I could see gazes coming from all over the hall. I felt like a zoo animal. After doing some tricks, I would receive a round of applause and some food thrown at me. My audience were either lying on or leaning against soft couches covered with a white silk cloth.
Numerous snakes were crawling all over me. As the heat of my gaze fluttered from face to face, I could tell their eyes were all directed towards my cheek.
‘Is this how it’s going to be?’
The Empress had trapped me in a cage deliberately. And those who automatically became the audience were enjoying the show.
At that moment, I recalled how I screamed and died in front of Castor.
I felt dirty.
This was extremely annoying.
I could understand their vigilance and their reluctance to see me here. I also understood how their taunts were only used to measure me up and judge me.
Penne had told me once before.
“In symposiums, unless it’s something truly blasphemous, anything goes.”
My value and their evaluation of me would only improve depending on how I deal with this ridicule.
My competence would be judged based on how I managed this unpleasant situation.
“Aventa. Isn’t that too cheap?”
Rebecca was definitely a strong ally but there was a line she could not cross.
“Right. We also want to talk to the princess.”
Rebecca was only one person, And all the women were surrounding me with a strange curiosity.
“We were just wondering what kind of person the mistress you’ve chosen is.”
There was a limit to how long she could hold out against the rain of arrows. Though they looked afraid of Rebecca, they did not back down.
“Could it be that this is all the mistress whom the noble rose has chosen has to offer?”
Like a lion being driven to a pack of wolves to be devoured.
“I don’t think I’ve chosen someone undeserving.”
It was very difficult to protect me from all these people.
“We were just curious. She has been hidden from us nobles for 17 years.”
Especially if the opponents had already mastered the art of ridicule and insults.
“So please tell us. About this cute little lady.”
The way her tongue moves and her flattery. I knew the sharp intentions behind her honey-like sweet words.
“Why did you place such a big bandage on your cheek?”
On my right, a woman with vermillion hair stretched her hand languidly towards me and patted my cheek.
Another person then approached me to pat my cheek condescendingly. What?
“Well, this…”
I tried to push their hands away from me with a smile but their strength was no joke.
‘What’s this? I’m stuck.’
I could not resist them with arms as thin as mine. Just then, I recalled Granius’ face. Was she a templar of strength?
“There should be a limit to your pranks, Ione!”
The vermillion haired lady next to me turned her head before yelping nervously. Rebecca murmured so quietly only I could hear what she was saying as she shifted her gaze. She stared coldly at the woman who had been chattering this whole time.
“You’ve always had an inferior complex towards me.”
I was overwhelmed by Rebecca’s elegance which made me feel as if I was in a tea party.
“Your feelings have always been this lame and childish which is why I’ve let it pass till now. But I can no longer tolerate your behaviour that is well crossing the boundaries of what’s considered pleasure in a symposium.”
Frowning, Ione gritted her teeth as if she was chewing on something to say.
“What are you talking about? I’m only asking out of curiosity. I have nothing to be guilty about.”
Ione paused for a moment before turning to me.”
“Princess, you have to be honest here. Did you get that scar after shaking your hips around foolishly and falling onto the floor? “
She whispered grimly.
“If not, is that ugly scar the result of something you could not avoid during the plague?”
I could smell a terribly strong scent of wine from her.
“Hahaha. Either way, your one answer will solve everybody’s questions.”
Rebecca’s face turned pale in an instant.
“There was a rumour about how you were so ugly that even your mother abandoned you at birth once she saw your face. Is that true? Is that bandage hiding your ugly flaw? Ah. Is that how you brought the Dame of Aventa over to your side? By using your shameless mother who has obscene affairs with numerous other men since she was good friends with the duchess? Don’t tell me you’ve built that kind of ‘affection’ with the princes as well?”
Ione’s spiteful remarks made even those on her side suck in a breath.
She must have a lot of resentment towards Rebecca. Only then did I understand her words and her behaviour which remained particularly persistent.
But trying to understand and accept what she had just said and done was a completely different matter. There should at least be a line that should not be crossed. I smiled brightly as I faced the volcano that was about to erupt.
“Rebecca, are you higher than these people?”
“… What? Yes. That’s correct.”
I did not want to make a scene when my brothers were watching. So I tried doing what Rebecca suggested. I smiled as if I did not know anything. I could not figure out what I could do in a foreign place. But they continued to hurl insults and curses at me.
Why did I have to put up with it?
As I suffered through the pains of my life, I had fallen apart and laid broken. But I would be a fool to not be angry after what they said. I was not the type to standby like an idiot and watch as my lady-in-waiting got bullied for serving me and my beloved brothers being accused of something obscene.
I am someone who had been invited by the most powerful person here herself and I’m currently at the spot that person has saved for me. There were also gazes of enjoyment from bystanders from all the way there. Everyone was watching this Empire’s nightlife with rapt interest. (1)
‘So doesn’t that mean I should show them something?’
To have a face like a flower, eloquence and actions as gentle as the spring breeze, lips like water and a dagger never to be revealed at the tip of her tongue, a girl would learn and grow to become a woman.
So that she would become a perfect woman after putting in the hard work.
No matter how educated I was, I did not have the most eloquence and excellence needed to handle them.
Still, what else could I do?
No matter how hard I try, if my actions looked awkward, unnatural and crude to them, they would jump on me with a sharpness I can only imagine.
Like the first flower to bloom in dawn, I smiled brightly
‘You still have something you can do for me, Rebecca.’
“Kneel , Rebecca.”
The banquet hall turned solemn as if an opera performance was about to begin. The air froze in silence.
“Yes.”
The noble dame slowly knelt on her knees and lowered her back. People began whispering to those closest to them.
“My apologies, princess. I’ve made a mistake.”
Everyone was astonished to see the powerful Dame of Aventa on her knees. No one was more shocked to see this than the 10 pairs of eyes in front of me. I was sick of these wishy-washy strangers. Staring at them, I spoke to Rebecca softly.
“Well, Rebecca. I wasn’t really sure but you made a mistake, right?”
“Yes, I made quite a few.”
Despite kneeling, her humiliating position could not erode her pride. This villainess was really direct which made me happy. But unlike what I was feeling on the inside, I blinked as if I did not know what she meant. Under the strong glare of the afternoon sun that had yet to subside, the atelier glowed in a yellowish hue with shadows casted by the arches above us creating a net of shade.
Fleon had tried to walk towards us elegantly yet impatiently, pushing past people who were enjoying this party of pleasure while hiding their feelings behind a mask.
‘I’m sorry for showing you this side of me.’
But I turned away from my brother who was getting closer to me and maintained my expression under the guise of innocence.
“Right, I am quite quick-witted. But what did you do wrong, Rebecca?”
“I did not take care of my mistress properly.”
“That’s a serious mistake.”
I shifted my gaze with my chin resting in my hands. The conversation between the smiling princess and the lady-in-waiting kneeling on the ground sounded comedic.
“Then why aren’t all of you kneeling?”
“Huh? What?”
Even after witnessing such a situation, it seemed like they had yet to notice anything. Kneeling, Rebecca turned her gaze to face the women.
“That’s strange. I’m sure I told you to kneel.”
After dying, seeing people I loved die and witnessing my beautiful palace stained with blood, I had sworn to myself I would never let something like that happen again.
So, I had told myself to be patient after getting my diary back.
Endure. Endure it and endure it some more.
I could not allow myself to breathe loudly. Castor might come for me at the sound. I stood firm in my ideology and that was how I sustained myself after experiencing 40 deaths.
They were not Castor. I could push them as I please as easily as flour in a mortar without even having to take off their idiotc masks. Fleon, Amor and even Castor, though horribly, had taught me as such.
How to act and achieve undaunted obedience. I thread between the lines of obedience and arrogance. It was not something I could achieve without difficulty.
They were smiling.
Who did they think they were?
From my etiquette teacher to Rebecca, there was one thing they had always emphasised to me since long ago.
“No matter what the circumstances are, don’t forget you’re part of the Imperial family.”
The river of power flowed from the top to the bottom. Even if I was a powerless princess, I was not in a point in time where the Imperial family’s authority was at rock bottom.
“I was told you all are even lower Rebecca, right?”
T/N:
(1): I’m not sure if it’s really nightlife but this was the only one I could think off T.T
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