Chapter 47 (2/2)

“Hmm~ So this is the evidence that girl hit you then.”

“Exactly right.”

No sooner had he agreed did Princess Fii raise the statue, and then smash it into his head with all her might.

“GUAHH!”

Apparently it had been quite a serious. .h.i.t. Blood danced through the air, and the Count grasped at his wound as he sat on the ground.

Lynette simply watched with wide eyes.

After writhing around for a while, the Count stood up and glared at both Princess Fii and Lynette.

“What on earth are you doing! Do you think I’ll let this slide!? Leaving you aside, that Lynette over there will definitely be fired!”

“Oh?”

Princess Fii simply laughed.

“You have evidence that you were hit, but where’s the evidence that it was this girl who hit you?”

Jalousie froze.

A new wound seemed to overlap with the wound from earlier. And now, Princess Fii’s hand was soaked in blood.

Any observers would immediately come to the same conclusion.

“If that’s not enough, then I’ll hit you until it is!”

Princess Fii raised the statue again and struck down once more.

The merciless strikes caused the grown man to curl up in fear.

“HII! STOP! GYAAAAAAAAAHHHH!”

Lynette could only watch on in shock.

Before long, the Count’s screams caused both maids and guards to come rus.h.i.+ng in. What they saw was a princess beating the c.r.a.p out of a count.

“How terrible!”

“Please stop at once!”

In a panic, the guards dragged the count and princess apart.

The Count was holding his b.l.o.o.d.y head as he muttered curses.

“I won’t forgive you… I won’t forgive you…!”

But Princess Fii stared back and spat coldly,

“You won’t forgive me? I am a Princess.”

Princess Fii’s position was quite odd in this palace.

She was as good as ignored by the royal family and great n.o.bles, not treated as royalty at all. She had no favour with the King or Queen, and had no supporters at all.

At the same time though, she was certainly a princess of this country.

If you asked if she was normally treated as a princess, the answer would be a resounding no.

The maids took the bare minimum care of her. Her dresses were old and out of fas.h.i.+on. She had never even been invited to any events.

Even so, she was a legitimate descendant of the royal family and was undeniably a princess.

If she played the card that was her position, the retainers had no choice but to accept.

And Lynette realised something while she watched this.

If this girl really wanted people to treat her like a princess, she could make it happen.

It was a simple matter.

All she had to do was be selfish.

If she did, leaving the most powerful n.o.bles aside, the maids and the other retainers would have no choice but to listen.

If she wanted to be treated better, she could have been. If she wanted beautiful dresses, she could probably secure a number of them as long as she ordered. But she, Princess Fii, never did so.

It was surely because she didn’t want to trouble the people around her. No matter how badly they treated her, and no matter what.

But just now she used her position to force them to listen.

(For my sake…)

“Hey. You lot know what the difference between a count and a princess is. Just looking at this man displeases me. Throw him out for me! And never let this man into the palace again! As Princess, I command you!” spoke Fii, just like a haughty princess.

The position of a princess was undeniably higher. Just like the difference between count and baron that had been used to threaten her…

But it wasn’t something that would end so simply. If it was only a matter of their hierarchy, then it would end right here. But if you forced things using your position without the corresponding trust, it was inevitable that you would pay for it yourself. In the form of distrust, that is.

Although the guards did as she ordered, their gazes were cold.

“What on earth is she doing by causing a fuss like this…?”

“Because His Majesty doesn’t love her, she’s grown twisted hasn’t she… How scary…”

“An arrogant princess like this is… She’s too different to Fiiru-sama…”

They were badmouthing her even in front of her.

(You’re wrong…)

Of course Lynette understood.

She knew that Princess Fii knew this would happen. That if she abused her power, her image would grow even worse.

And even knowing that, she did so to protect Lynette.

“And move it already. You’re blocking my way!”

Paying no heed to their back-biting, Princess Fii’s arrogant expression remained unfaltering as she cleared the area of the people.

Eventually, it was only Princess Fii and Lynette.

The Princess squatted down before Lynette, and then with a kind, terribly kind smile, she spoke.

“I’m sorry that you had to go through something like that at the castle. Shall I bring you back to Fiiru?”

The warmth in her smile was no different to Fiiru-sama’s.

Warm hands embraced her own and pulled her to her feet.

Without letting go, Princess Fii pulled her all the way to the party where Fiiru-sama was waiting.

“It looks like Fiiru is tired as well, so please support her as her maid. Fiiru would be happier that way too.”

With that, she pressed her hands against Lynette’s back to urge her towards the party.

And without entering herself, Princess Fii began to walk away.

In panic, Lynette quickly bowed to Fii.

“Umm, thank you very much, Fii-sama…!”

After staring blankly for a while, she gave the same smile again and nodded,

“Yeah. You’re welcome.”

At the party hall, the King and Queen were snuggling against Fiiru in the centre of attention.

They were surrounded by many n.o.bles and were illuminated by light.

None of them even noticed Princess Fii.

And neither did Princess Fii try to gain their attention.

After bringing Lynette here, she quietly turned around and departed.

After that, perhaps afraid of Princess Fii, Count Jalousie never showed his face in the palace again.

A year later he tried to repeat the same thing, but this time it was brought to light, and he finally lost his peerage as a n.o.ble. As it turned out, his connection with the Queen was a much smaller deal than he had bragged.

As for the maids that entrapped Lynette, to begin with, they were the useless ones, so they simply ruined themselves and disappeared as well.

But more importantly, what pained Lynette’s heart most was that Fii’s bad impression spread to every corner.

Lynette desperately wanted to defend her, but Fii told her that she didn’t care and stopped her.

Fortunately, perhaps you could say, because Fii had little presence to begin with, the bad rumours quickly ran out of steam and people stopped mentioning them.

On the other hand, it also meant that when the Count’s misdeeds were finally brought to light, Princess Fii’s name was never cleared. This was something that Lynette found unbearable.

As one other consequence of this event, ever since that night, Lynette had a wish.

(I want to serve Fii-sama.)

Soon after the incident, Lynette told this to her mother, but what she received as a furious reply.

“What on earth are you thinking! Who would allow you to serve a princess like that! You’re the hope of our ‘distinguished maid family’. Fiiru-sama is the ultimate master. She will definitely marry in as the Queen of a large nation, and at that time, you can even become her first attendant! We’ve raised you all this time for this one chance! Don’t say stupid things, and protect your current position with your all!”

(Fii-sama doesn’t deserve to be called ‘a princess like that’…)

For the first time, Lynette felt a little defiance towards her mother.

(To begin with, what value is there in a distinguished maid family?)

A ‘distinguished maid family’ wasn’t a ‘distinguished family’.

If they were a real ‘distinguished family’, to begin with there would be no need to become maids. There would be no need to be raised from childhood, spending hours each day doing nothing except learning the etiquette of servants, or repeating the method of brewing tea. There would be no need for antiquated practices such as poison testing.

There would be no need to be threatened by a man like that count… or to follow his irrational orders…

Her ‘distinguished maid family’ was just a Baron’s family. That was the reality.

Simply a low-ranking bunch whose entire family trained in the ways of a servant and was used by royalty and higher n.o.bility.

Still, if it was somebody she could serve with pride, Lynette could still see the value in doing so.

Fiiru-sama was certainly a wonderful personage.

But Lynette was sure that even without herself, Fiiru-sama would still s.h.i.+ne just like she did now. No matter what dress she wore, she would look beautiful, and there were plenty of others who would protect her.

And to Lynette, Fii-sama was a no less wonderful personage.

But not a single person around her wanted to support her. Neither the people who did the laundry properly nor the people who managed the clothing properly ever bothered to support her so that she could s.h.i.+ne.

Lynette was certain that the skills she had learnt would be of greater use to Fii-sama.

Although Lynette wanted to serve as Fii’s maid, in the end her wish was never granted.

Had the King and Queen finally realised Lynette’s worth? They showed no signs of allowing her to stop serving Fiiru. And each time Lynette asked for permission to do so, her mother would fly into a rage. Lynette couldn’t become strong enough to oppose the mother who had raised her…

Still, Lynette never stopped wis.h.i.+ng.

(One day I want to become a maid who can serve Fii-sama.)

It had been her dream since that day, and it was her dream even now.

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