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Chapter : 10
Countess Dominique Cromba arrived brimming with ambition, but left without achieving most of what she wanted.
The reason it was almost was because, with a face that looked ready to burst into tears at any moment, she begged so pitifully that Marianne granted her one request.
“Ah, how do you do? My name is Lusana Biarritz. I may be lacking, but I will serve Princess Marianne with all my heart.”
“It is an honor to meet the beautiful flower blooming within the sacred imperial family, Princess Marianne.”
The request was that Marianne accept Marquess Biarritz’s daughter, Lusana Biarritz, as her maid.
It seemed Dominique had explained everything in the carriage, because Lusana and the maids who followed her greeted Marianne with extremely stiff expressions.
‘A flower, really… Why are the greetings around here like this?’
Goosebumps rippled up her back. Still, Marianne showed no sign of it and calmly nodded.
“Welcome, Lady Biarritz.”
Lusana was someone Louis had planted to keep watch on Marianne. Marianne vaguely recalled from the novel that the Marquess of Biarritz had been an ardent supporter of the First Prince’s faction.
‘Even if everything else fails, an order directly from the prince can’t fail. Heads would roll.’
She hadn’t granted the request out of pity for Dominique.
“As you likely know, the ducal residence is short on servants, so there are many shortcomings. I hope you and your maids will fill those gaps well.”
An opportunity to use highly trained labor for free was precious.
The ducal estate was severely understaffed. The mansion was so large that there were many places Amelie and the others couldn’t even touch. This was the perfect chance to make them do a thorough cleaning.
‘Besides, if I send Lusana back, Louis will just get even more troublesome.’
He might even send an assassin to get rid of her.
Better a maid than an assassin.
Marianne winked at Amelie, who was standing a short distance away waiting.
“Amelie will show you to the place you’ll be staying.”
“This way, please.”
“Then I shall unpack and come greet you again, Your Highness.”
“Mm. See you.”
Marianne waved her hand.
She had already told Amelie to guide Lusana to the room farthest from Cedric’s, and the most rundown one at that. If Lusana and her maids were to clean both her bedroom and the maids’ quarters, they wouldn’t have time to poke around elsewhere for at least the rest of the day.
‘After that, Amelie will take care of things.’
Listening to the retreating footsteps fade away behind the tightly closed door, Marianne let her body slump.
“…Whew. That was exhausting.”
Putting on a brave face in front of the soldiers and dealing with Countess Cromba had left her whole body aching. She’d been tense the entire time.
If only she could sit in a massage chair for just one hour. Muttering such a futile wish to herself, Marianne stretched deeply and rose from the sofa.
Still, she could finally breathe.
Countess Cromba had her weakness exposed, so she would behave herself for a while. As for Lusana, keeping her close and feeding her some useless information now and then would be enough.
Now, time to go heal.
Suppressing the smile that kept creeping up at the corners of her mouth, Marianne returned to Cedric’s room.
“U!”
“You’re back, Your Highness. Did the conversation go well?”
Cedric and Chloe welcomed her. Seeing the two of them smiling brightly made both her weary body and heart melt away.
“Yeah. It ended well. Cedric, were you okay?”
“U, u!”
Cedric cried softly. He probably wasn’t truly greeting her, but hearing his cheerful sounds whenever she spoke to him still made her feel good.
“The young duke kept glancing at the door while looking at his picture book. Perhaps he was waiting for you to return, Your Highness?”
Chloe whispered as she pulled out a chair for Marianne. If that’s really the case, I’d be happy. Marianne sat beside Cedric, stealing a glance at him as he seriously examined the pictures in the book.
“All right. Shall we really read the storybook now?”
“U!”
“I’ll bring some more firewood.”
“Thank you, Chloe. As always.”
“It’s nothing.”
Chloe set a fragrant cup of black tea on the table, then left the room with a beaming smile that belied her modest words.
Moistening her mouth with tea, Marianne reached for the book.
“I’ll read from the beginning, Cedric. Is that okay?”
“Uu.”
Cedric nodded. Marianne lowered her hand to gently stroke his hair, then turned the book back to the first page.
Crackle, crackle—the sound of firewood burning softly in the fireplace filled the room, mingling with Marianne’s voice.
“Once upon a time, a very, very long time ago, there lived a brother and sister who were very close.”
“U?”
Cedric, who had only been looking at the pictures and not the large text written beside them, widened his eyes. His puzzlement didn’t last long, though. As Marianne pointed to the illustration of two children smiling brightly and continued reading, his gaze soon sparkled as he focused on the book.
Does he understand?
She couldn’t tell, but somehow it felt as though Cedric was absorbing every word she spoke.
“…Then one day, Hans and Henrietta decided to look for flowers. Flowers were hard to find in the northern lands, but they wanted to give one to their mother no matter what.”
So Marianne read very slowly—slowly enough for Cedric to fully take in the pictures, and, if possible, to understand the story connected to them.
“Uh…”
But when she reached the page Cedric pointed to, she couldn’t help but hesitate. She thought it was about the children finding flowers, but the text beside the illustration revealed that it had all been nothing more than a dream.
…This isn’t one of those stories where the kids freeze to death in their sleep, is it?
“U?”
“It’s nothing.”
Cedric tilted his head at her hesitation.
I should have read this beforehand.
As Marianne agonized over how to check the rest without Cedric noticing, Chloe returned just in time to help.
“Your Highness, here’s some water. And for you too, Lord Cedric—here, I brought a shawl, so please put on another layer. It’s quite chilly today.”
While Chloe added firewood to the fireplace and draped a thin fur shawl over Cedric’s shoulders, Marianne quickly checked the remaining pages of the book.
Although the children returned without finding flowers, the story ended with their mother hugging them tightly and saying they were the most beautiful flowers in the world.
A happy ending, if you could call it that… though somewhat disappointing.
Wanting to tell Cedric a brighter, more hopeful story, Marianne thought for a moment, then made up her mind and drank the water. It was cool without being cold—just the perfect temperature—and it refreshed her mind.
“U!”
“All right. I’ll keep reading.”
She brushed Cedric’s hair back as he urged her on, then pointed to the illustration.
Even if she couldn’t change the plot of the novel she had transmigrated into—too afraid of the butterfly effect—she could at least make a fairy tale more hopeful. Thinking that, she continued.
“Hans and Henrietta finally found a beautiful flower field. The siblings wove armfuls of pale blue flowers into a flower crown. Then they returned home with their precious gift.”
Marianne quickly turned the page after telling a story completely different from the sentence written beside the picture of the siblings making a crown in the flower field.
Fortunately, the scene of the children waking up in sadness was omitted, allowing her to continue her harmless lie without hesitation.
“Their mother was overjoyed when she received the gift and hugged the children tightly. Then she said to Hans and Henrietta: ‘The flowers are very beautiful, but your hearts are even more beautiful than that.’ And the three of them lived happily ever after. The end.”
“U, au!”
Marianne closed the book and clapped her hands lightly to signal that it was over. Clap, clap. Finding the motion fascinating, Cedric clumsily tried to copy her and grinned.
“Did you enjoy it?”
“U!”
“I’m glad.”
Marianne smiled back at him. Seeing how excited and sparkling his eyes still were made her feel proud.
“Auu.”
After opening the book again and quietly looking at the pictures from the beginning, Cedric let out a small yawn a moment later.
“Oh my, are you sleepy? Come to think of it, it’s already past nap time. You must have really enjoyed the story. Thank you, Your Highness.”
“No, thank you for listening so well.”
Chloe whispered with a contented smile as she checked the fireplace. Marianne lightly shook her head and stood up.
“Cedric, take a short nap and then we’ll eat dinner together, okay?”
“U…”
“This way, Lord Cedric. I’ll prepare fresh bedding for you.”
With slightly drowsy eyes, Cedric looked at Marianne for a moment, then obediently followed Chloe. Watching the round back of his head disappear into the bedroom, Marianne turned away.
Her pale blue eyes fell on the storybook resting on the old table.
…I’m glad Cedric liked it, but.
It had taken quite some effort to get that book. Laurent had to ride for an hour to reach the city.
—
- Sorry, Laurent. I didn’t realize the bookstore was that far away.
- N-not at all, Your Highness! I needed to go anyway to buy quality ingredients. Please don’t worry about it!
—
That morning, seeing the dark look on Laurent’s face, Marianne realized just how paralyzed the North had become since the grand ducal family—the lords of the region—had lost their power.
From the livelihoods of the people living in the territory to administration and commerce, there was probably nothing functioning properly.
Even if the border marquis was helping behind the scenes, there would surely be limits.
It’s all the emperor’s fault.
Marianne smiled bitterly.
The reason Countess Cromba could look down on the ducal family so thoroughly was, in the end, because of the emperor—Marianne’s own father.
So perhaps it would be fine if she changed the North into a place fit for people to live.
Even if Marianne had no special abilities, she had knowledge of the original work—that is, knowledge of the future.
And a few days later, just as Marianne had arranged, the first person to help with her plan to develop the North came to see her.
“…There is much I wish to say, but I, Helene Hill, must first beg forgiveness from Princess Marianne.”
With a loud thud, she dropped to her knees.
It was a rather intense reunion.
