Chapter 61
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61.
"What brings you here, Hanella?"
I answered her with the most innocent expression I could muster.
"I think there's been a misunderstanding, and I really wanted to clear it up."
She invited me to her Powder Room, deliberately leading me into her private quarters.
"A misunderstanding? If it's about the lace gun, I thought you might not have known about it."
She hesitated for a moment, but soon managed to compose her expression into something pleasant.
"That's not all I meant to say. The tea and desserts I prepared today—I really did put thought into them."
She clasped her hands together and exhaled a short, bitter sigh.
"As you know, the Duchess Lopez has been surrounded by all manner of fine and precious things since childhood, whereas I have not."
"Ah...."
"So it happens that what I consider finest often fails to meet the Duchess Lopez's standards. You understand such feelings, don't you?"
With that, she seized my hand.
The touch was slick and unpleasant—I wanted to pull away immediately.
"I know your struggles well. When I first served beside Prince Cassian Artez, I too struggled because there was so much I didn't know."
I remembered clearly how Countess Hanela's Daughter had criticized me several times back then.
'Are you blind? How can you wear such cheap, ill-fitting clothes all the time?'
Though it seemed the person who said it had already forgotten.
"I'm in the same position, Your Highness. I simply didn't know better—it was never my intention to disrespect you. I gave the same thing to everyone else, after all."
Now she was even making an effort to squeeze out tears, as though deeply wronged.
As someone being held captive by this conversation, I decided to steer toward the main point before she could list more grievances, eager to move things along.
"Of course I don't misunderstand. So you were only speaking out of consideration for me, Hanella? And the dress Cassian Artez sent—you were simply warning me in case I might embarrass myself, weren't you?"
"Exactly! I'm so grateful you understand."
She seemed pleased by my clear summary.
The sorrowful expression from moments before vanished entirely.
I carefully pretended to pat her hand while subtly withdrawing my own.
"Don't worry. My eyes for observing my surroundings aren't quite so dull."
"Ah, but I didn't call you here just for that. Since we were rushing to get ahead of the state marriage, we skipped several procedures despite the Imperial betrothal, didn't we? So there's something I wanted to tell you about."
"Something you wanted to tell me?"
Naturally, there was nothing I didn't know.
Though she seemed to have forgotten, her betrothal ceremony was only last year—and I had to endure every meticulous demand alongside Cassian Artez.
I naturally had memorized everything the Imperial Family required for betrothals and marriages.
But Countess Hanela's Daughter lacked such subtlety, so she carefully handed me a blue envelope.
It even bore a forged Imperial seal.
'She really has nerve, handing this to someone who works in the Imperial Palace every day.'
The melted wax was a different quality, and the seal's shape differed subtly enough to be easily noticed.
"There's an Imperial Ladies' Circle that meets with the First Empress and the other imperial concubines. Since you haven't been attending, I thought perhaps you didn't know about it."
Countess Hanela's Daughter's expression subtly hoped I'd be wounded by her words.
The implication being: you're not their level, so no one invited you.
So I deliberately showed sad eyes to lower her guard.
"This is...."
"I asked the First Empress herself and brought your invitation. When you get home, please do open it and attend. That's actually why I sent you this tea party invitation!"
Now her eyes gleamed with self-satisfaction, as if to say: see how much I care about you?
"They say imperial ladies must learn certain things at these gatherings. I couldn't let you be left out, could I?"
"...I'm so grateful. If it weren't for you, Hanella, something terrible might have happened."
At my response, she looked satisfied and reached for my hand again.
"Don't feel hurt toward Cassian Artez. This gathering is traditionally kept secret from men, after all."
She even made a point of telling me absolutely not to mention it to him.
So I smiled and nodded to her.
"I understand. I won't tell anyone about this deep blue envelope with the white snowflake pattern and what looks like the Imperial seal used by the Palace."
With a very detailed reminder included.
*
That day arrived far sooner than I had anticipated.
"This is absurd! Advisor Roselita Salice would never do such a thing!"
The Winter Palace knights blocked the Sun Palace knights attempting to enter the office, trying to dissuade them.
"Please reconsider—what will you do if you're wrong?"
"Exactly! Our Advisor is not someone to be trifled with."
Though it seemed their misunderstanding of me had taken on rather peculiar proportions.
As I heard the commotion outside the door and glanced at Cassian Artez, he asked me without a trace of concern on his face.
"Will you stand beside me?"
"Watching from the sidelines is enough."
"It's only natural that I witness your performance, Rose."
I rose from my seat, making full use of the time the Winter Palace knights had bought me by organizing the documents I had prepared into a binder.
Cassian opened the office door for me with deliberate courtesy beforehand, as though mocking the Sun Palace knights who had come to drag me away.
The moment I saw the Sun Palace knights, his face—which had been warm as spring sunlight—turned glacial in an instant.
"E-even if you look at it that way, this is an order from His Majesty the Emperor!"
"I said nothing."
At Cassian Artez's words, the knight cleared his throat with a long "ahem" before beginning to speak.
"Roselita Salice, First Advisor of the Winter Palace! You are charged with forgery of the Imperial Seal and treason—"
"Are everyone gathered in the Audience Chamber? Don't waste time; let's go."
Of course, his words were rendered economical and free of unnecessary elaboration thanks to me, who had already begun striding purposefully toward the Sun Palace.
Behind me, I heard the Sun Palace knights murmuring in distress, "W-wait, the shackles..."
There was someone else meant to wear those shackles.
*
When I entered the Audience Chamber of the Sun Palace without any restraints, the First Empress's face twisted in disbelief.
"...I must say, Advisor Roselita Salice, this is most regrettable."
The Emperor, at least, maintained his composure and addressed me.
"Thanks to Your Majesty's gracious orders, I was able to enjoy a pleasant vacation."
I replied with such natural ease that the Emperor's lips twitched briefly before he let out a hollow laugh.
It seemed he'd grown accustomed to such antics from Cassian Artez and me—he'd already sensed something was amiss.
Or perhaps... was this cunning sovereign the one who orchestrated my summons precisely for this reason?
"Do you dare speak with such boldness in this place!"
Marquis Hanela seized the moment to bellow indignantly.
If I were the type to be intimidated by such words, I would have wept long ago and returned to Salice Territory, wouldn't I?
I gazed around the Audience Chamber with a gentle smile.
'As expected, this concerns treason. Every spectator who could attend is here.'
I offered Marquis Hanela a smile that was particularly more deliberate than usual.
Despite my carefully crafted expression of goodwill, his face went pale as if he'd seen a ghost.
How discourteous, standing before a person like that.
"Your Majesty's decision not to restrain me forcefully suggests the evidence remains insufficient, does it not?"
I turned sharply toward the Emperor and spoke.
The Emperor, recognizing my working style and pleased by my astute observation, nodded lightly in agreement.
"Therefore, I wish to repay Your Majesty's trust. First, I would like to ask the person who brought me here for their reasons."
My bold declaration caused Countess Hanela's Daughter, standing beside the First Empress, to collapse onto the floor.
"Roselita Salice! Confess now—wasn't deceiving me enough? Are you now attempting to deceive His Majesty as well?"
Hmm, I'd give her performance a score of thirty out of one hundred.
The timing of her collapse was far too contrived, and while she did mix in some crying sounds, the acting tone was far too thick.
If you're going to deceive someone, at least make it convincing.
'Of course, the original Roselita Salice had no choice but to fall for this performance.'
But no matter how poor the acting was.
"Deceive? That's an unpleasant word to use, Hanela."
When a high-ranking noble fabricates evidence and pushes it forward, how could a baron's daughter—merely somewhat popular among the people and moderately successful in business—possibly resist?
"I am one who repays Your Majesty's benevolence with such conduct! I brought evidence precisely because I anticipated this—evidence that cannot be denied!"
In response to my words about his daughter, Marquis Hanela stepped forward without bothering to hide his displeasure and made his declaration.
Upon hearing this, the Emperor gestured with interest for the evidence to be brought forth.
With a swoosh—!
Blue envelopes scattered before me in an instant. They were all the same deep blue envelopes with white patterns that Countess Hanela's Daughter had presented to me earlier.
"All of these were discovered in Roselita Salice's bedchamber! She even deceived my daughter and nearly dragged her into ruin with these flawlessly forged Imperial seals!"
"That's right—she invited me to a tea party at the Winter Palace, saying I would soon become family, and I thought she was trying to befriend me, but...!"
Countess Hanela's Daughter covered her face with both hands.
"If I hadn't shown Father...! I nearly fell into a terrible conspiracy!"
Moved by his daughter's performance, the Marquis shouted at me with an agitated face as if threatening me.
"Do you have anything to say to this, Advisor Roselita Salice!"
Yes, quite a lot, actually.
I tucked the strands of hair that had fallen loose behind my ear, then slowly parted my lips to speak.
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