Chapter 461. So It Wasn’t Her (2)
Laura brought cookies for us to eat together, so we gathered around the table. I expected Mastas would return on time to eat the cookies with us, but she didn’t. She only showed up hours later, but her eyelids were puffy…
Even the perceptive Countess Jubel didn’t dare speculate about what caused Mastas’ eyelids to become so puffy.
I went into the bathroom to take a bath, and Rose helped me undress. Suddenly, she blurted out, “Huh?”
She held a light pink note in her hand.
“Your Majesty, I found this in your pocket.”
My eyes widened in amazement. Isn’t this the note Mastas asked me to deliver to my brother? But… how could it be? I had certainly handed Koshar the note from Mastas. He even sent a reply. So what is this other note in my pocket?
“Your Majesty?”
“Thank you.”
I told Rose to wait fifteen minutes before she came in to assist me, and she closed the door on her way out.
I sat in the corner of the bathtub and unfolded the note, revealing neat penmanship.
— Every time I see you I worry that you will get hurt, Lord Koshar. If you are ever afraid to go somewhere or need support, let me know and I will protect you. I’m also quite worried that you might fall down the stairs. I’ve had trouble sleeping.
“… Good heavens!”
I could not believe there was anyone who worried my brother would be hurt, when all his life, my family and I worried that he would hurt others.
No, that wasn’t important… What was important was that this was Mastas’ note to my brother!
So what about the note I gave him? What was in the note my brother read and replied to?
I thought about whether it was a note written by me, but I didn’t remember writing any note or keeping it in my pocket.
In any case, I made a mistake. I still had my bathrobe on, so I walked out of the bathroom directly.
“Your Majesty? Aren’t you going to take a bath?”
I asked the surprised Rose to fetch my brother while Countess Jubel helped me change into a comfortable dressing-gown.
Shortly after, my brother appeared looking puzzled.
“Did you send for me, Navier?”
I asked my ladies-in-waiting to leave, then handed my brother the ‘real’ note that Mastas had asked me to deliver to him.
“Here.”
“What is this?”
“I must have made a mistake. This is what Miss Mastas asked me to give you. The note I handed to you before was something else.”
My brother blinked a couple of times and his face became more pale. His mouth fell open. He stared at me in a daze. Then, he raised his hand to his forehead, as if he had suddenly come down with a bad headache.
“Koshar? What’s the matter?”
My brother mumbled incomprehensibly.
“That means you… patted…”
What is he talking about?
“You were the one who…”
I stared at him with a frown, and my brother hastily straightened up and shook his head. Although I was still confused, I held out the ‘real’ note.
“Take this note and write a new reply to Miss Mastas. For my part… I will apologize to her. It was my fault. Ah, and give me back the other note. I think it’s mine.”
However, my brother jumped up and said,
“I threw that note away, Navier.”
“You threw it away?”
“I lost… I lost it!”
What’s the matter with him? Why did he change his answer? That’s suspicious. What was the other note about?
“Then tell me what it said.”
“I forgot.”
“You forgot?”
My brother told an outrageous lie and then ran off, shouting that he would write another reply to Mastas and deliver it to him himself.
He was in such a hurry to leave that he jumped over the couch, as if it were an enemy’s barrier. He slammed the door on his way out.
What on earth did the note say?
***
After my parents left for the Eastern Empire, I felt a little dispirited and filled my stomach with tasty food to try to fill the emptiness I felt due to their absence.
“Your Majesty, Your Majesty. Did you hear that?”
Mastas skipped into my room and blurted out information brightly.
“The story of the priestess saying that the Emperor should thank the heavens three times a day for marrying Your Majesty has spread far and wide!”
“… The story seems to have been slightly distorted.”
“That’s how rumors are. In any case, everyone is talking about it. I wrote down what I heard on the way here. I’ll read the most impressive to you.”
Mastas took a note from her pocket and read,
“Someone with as spotless a reputation as Her Majesty Navier would never cause a bloodbath out of the blue! When someone seems to change so suddenly, the new environment must be the problem!”
She read with perfect diction like a child in front of an etiquette teacher, but I was embarrassed by the words.
“Just so you know, a guard keeping watch over the west wall said this. He was slacking off. I initially intended to report him, but I turned a blind eye because of what he said.”
When I met with the priestess, I never intended to cause these kinds of rumors. I did it because I thought people would be upset if I didn’t meet with her.
Still, I felt grateful due to the unexpectedly positive outcome. So long as it didn’t negatively impact Heinley’s image…
In an attempt to shake off my discomfort, I ate several cookies, but to no avail.
Just then, Mastas’ smile, shining like the sun itself, caught the keen eyes belonging to Countess Jubel.
“Miss Mastas. Are there any other rumors besides that one?”
“What?”
Mastas’ eyes widened. Countess Jubel placed her hand on her chin and looked at her mischievously.
“A simple rumor would not cause such a happy face. Am I right?”
“It is so, it is so.”
“Really?”
Countess Jubel insisted, but Mastas flatly denied it. However, after Countess Jubel left, Mastas immediately confessed.
“Uh, Your Majesty. Lord Koshar wrote a new letter in reply to mine.”
So that’s the reason her face is so bright. She must’ve liked what was written. Since I also had to confess something to her, I was relieved that she brought up the subject, and apologized,
“I owe you an apology, Miss Mastas. I realized too late that I handed Koshar a different note from what you gave to me.”
“That’s all right.”
Mastas scratched her ear and attempted to suppress her embarrassment, but her expression was somewhere between a smile and a frown.
“I like the new reply I received… Lord Koshar said his first reply was rather harsh due to … the shameful contents of the note he received originally. He said he was sorry and invited me to dinner.”
“I am glad to hear it.”
I kept an appropriate smile throughout, but as Mastas skipped out of the room, I slumped down on the couch and covered my face.
My legs faltered and my heart thumped.
It had not been easy to suppress the anxiety that shot up after seeing my brother’s reaction yesterday. Now it has resurfaced.
The original note was shameful? What on earth was it about? Who wrote it?
I was curious, but at the same time, I didn’t want to know the answer.
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