“Your Majesty. It is true that I am Lord Lucien’s fiancé, but actually, he has never given me a single gift. This person always… buys various things only for Liliana.”
“Huh? Lucien, you are the worst.”
The Crown Prince said that in a cold voice with his feelings held back. With just those few words, the air in the place completely froze.
“Really, it is just as Alexis says. It is the worst, and it is disgusting. Anyway, Lucien is failing at everything. He lacks self-awareness as a close guard. We cannot keep him assigned to the Crown Prince like this. He needs to be retrained by the commander of the Imperial Guard.”
The Queen’s words were flat, and that made it feel all the more like there was no place to run.
“Hic… A-Are you telling the commander? That, only that… please, forgive me. No one can keep up with that commander’s grueling training… That person’s normal is abnormal no matter who looks at it.”
Lord Lucien wandered his eyes desperately as if looking for help, and before long, he turned a pleading gaze toward me.
“Cecilia, please. Put in a good word for me too. Aren’t you my fiancé? Since you are the favorite of the Queen and the Crown Prince, if Cecilia says something, it should definitely help, right?”
Pretending not to see that desperation, I quietly shook my head.
“However, I think what Her Majesty says is right. Before I am Lord Lucien’s fiancé, I am a noble who serves the royal family. Therefore, I believe we should indeed respect the judgment of Her Majesty and the Crown Prince.”
“Such… How cruel. The Cecilia of now can save me, can’t she…?”
(There is no way that I, who was left to die, would save you, is there? Since you gave such suspicious perfume to Liliana yourself, it is only your own fault. Compared to me who was made to drink poison, I think being put through the Imperial Guard commander’s training is much easier…)
I muttered those words quietly in my heart without speaking them out loud.
◆◇◆
A few days later, the weather was clear and sunny.
I was working outside again to dry medicinal herbs in the sun.
When I suddenly raised my gaze, a person running around the outer perimeter of the royal palace caught my eye.
It was Lord Lucien. It was obvious at a glance that he was drenched in sweat and running so much that it was impossible to tell how many laps he was already on. Right beside him, a man with a build one size—no, two sizes—larger was running along with him.
—That must be the commander of the Imperial Guard.
“Slow! Laziness in the mind leads straight to weakness in the legs and hips! Run faster! You still have fifteen laps left! When you are done, that is five hundred swings of the sword!”
A merciless roar echoed under the blue sky.
I could not help but let out a small laugh.
At that moment, the medicinal herbs drying in the sun all raised their voices at once.
“Lady Setsurin! I work well for muscle pain!”
“Me too! I have the property to relax tired bodies!”
I shook my head.
“No, I do not need you this time. Because I do not intend to save Lord Lucien.”
When I muttered that softly, the medicinal herbs fell completely silent.
Even though they went out of their way to tell me, I felt a little guilty.
“Still, thank you for telling me.”
It was right after I added that quietly.
The medicinal herbs raised their voices as if they had been waiting for it.
“Wah! I am so happy! She thanked me. We love you, Lady Setsurin!”
“Woohoo! Lady Setsurin, we adore you!”
“We will teach you many more things from now on! We want to be of use to Lady Setsurin!”
(Heh… It is just like a family. Having medicinal herbs as a family does not sound too bad.)