Your Majesty, Please Don’t Kill Me Again - Chapter 11

Chapter 11

“What’s your name?”

“My name?”

“Yeah. Say it quickly.”

I smiled because of the girl’s words. I pushed the child away while holding the freshly steamed dumplings the mister handed me at the perfect time. I didn’t have time to deal with an aristocratic child with a bad temper, a foul mouth, and no manners. Before the sun goes down, I need to find Richie.

“Aren’t you gonna talk?”

It was difficult not to help the lost child, but I had many things to do. I left the child who looked at me like she was going to kill me as I hurried away. She was staring so intensely that it felt like it would make a hole in my head.

I prayed that I’d never see that girl again.

Yes, a spoiled child like that is a total headache, I muttered as I forgot that I was also a child right now.

Luckily for me, it looks like Richie still lived in the same mansion. I didn’t have enough money to ride a carriage, so I used a rickshaw. She was looking through her bag in front of a familiar brick house, and I jumped out of the rickshaw, surprising her.

“Richie!!”

She was startled when she looked up from the contents of her bag and even let out a small scream. Laughing at her surprise, I picked up her hat, which had fallen as she screamed in shock.

“Long time no see.”

Even though it hasn’t been that long since I saw her at my birthday party, I miss and enjoy all the people I used to know.

Richie opened her mouth when she heard the greeting, which became a habit. She was so startled that she couldn’t even speak, so she quietly pulled my arm. I was pulled up the stairs in front of the door instantly.

“What do you mean it’s been a long time?”

“Are you shocked?”

“Huh? How did you even get here?”

“That… that’s a long story.”

“You still have to explain! Why are you dressed like that?”

Richie opened my coat, which was unbuttoned, and spoke louder. I laughed at her gentle tenderness.

“I don’t have thick clothes because it’s not cold in Bellua… But in short… I came here to apply as a palace maid.”

“Did the Count agree to it? No… it doesn’t make sense if you’re looking like this right now.”

“Oh no, what’s wrong with it?”

I grunted at Richie’s cold words as she looked at me. Everything is fine except the dress is a little bit torn at the hem, and my shoes are worn. It was much better than my last moments when I climbed the guillotine after being locked up gutter-like prison like a gutter for several days without being able to wash.

But it seemed to Richie that she’s never seen me in a situation harsher than this before. She let out a groan and stuck her tongue out.

“You look like a beggar!! Geez, if I didn’t know it was you, I was about to shout ‘how dare a beggar call my name like that!’”

“Is there a beggar that would wear a velvet dress?”

“It doesn’t look like clothing anymore! Throw it out!”

“Why are you telling me to get rid of clothes that are still perfectly fine?”

It looks fine, so why should I throw it away? It’s one of my father’s habits, as he always reminds me. I shook my head without realizing it and spoke.

“Anyways… Marquis Gorten doesn’t know how to save.”

“Don’t talk like the Count. Seriously, why did you come here and willingly put yourself in danger?”

“You live alone.”

“Don’t you know how many staff work for me? There are four escort knights, yes, four! My father doesn’t even have that many in our estate… that’s how dangerous Champagne is!”

When I saw Richie telling me off and scolding me like a child, I couldn’t help but laugh intensely. To me, Richie was still a child and not a mother figure.

Richie grew up faster than everyone else, while I grew up a little slower than my peers, so she always acted like an older sister. But we were around the same age. Now, I just thought it was funny that Richie’s attitude is totally disrupted because of me.

“Haah, whatever… are you okay meeting me like this?”

Richie sighed in shock as I shrugged and smiled. While she was doing this, she walked up to the front door as if she had just found the key she had been looking for for a long time. As we walk through the marble entry hall, which looks expensive, I can see the inside of the small but luxurious home. She swiftly shooed the servants who came to greet her; that simple move made her look like an adult now.

“I think you’ve changed.”

At Richie’s sharp words, I opened my jaw slightly and made a stupid expression. I didn’t want her to think I was a dumb kid, but she was much smarter and more mature than I was anyways. It seemed like she couldn’t believe how much I had matured.

“Hmm?”

“The way you kicked Vincent out of your party just to save a commoner child.”

“Oh… that—”

I tried to act like it wasn’t a big deal, but I didn’t know what to say. So I resorted to not saying anything at all.

“Did you come here alone? So suddenly?”

“It’s not a sudden choice… I’ve been preparing for this.”

I swallowed my saliva and tried to explain.

“I’ve been thinking about it since you told me you worked as a maid in the Imperial Palace.”

“No matter what your opinion is, Bellua is a neutral family away from the Imperial Family… I never thought you’d do something your father wouldn’t like.”

Richie stared at me with suspicion while she said all that.

I needed to say something. Richie is smart and clever.

But she’s a child; thus, she’s emotionally malleable. I grabbed my shoulders dramatically and spoke up.

“I’m in adolescence now!”

“Huh?”

Richie’s eyes widened. I was her old friend, so I knew better than anyone that Richie went through rough and early puberty. I chose to repeat what she said at that time.

“I’ve been feeling sad and under the weather these past few months. I miss spring and the flowers—”

Richie made a face because of what I was saying.

“My heart hurts just by saying it… but really, Richie… I’m not happy in Bellua.”

“…”

“Is our future already set from the start? Is it my duty, as my parents have decided, to marry a good man from a good family, have kids, and pass on the family name? Is that all we have to do? People say it’s a promising future, but I’d rather be free.”

I told her the story that Richie, who was about thirteen years old at the time, had confided in me while crying. Richie looked at me with trembling eyes as I sat down and shed a few tears to make a dramatic point. Even though I felt bad about it, I didn’t shake Richie’s hand off when it reached toward me.

“You, you too?”

“What?”

“Do you think that? In fact, our Noble status are chains.”

I vaguely nodded when Richie said something so dramatic. To be honest, I never went through emotional puberty. I’ve never been unhappy as long as I listened to what my parents told me to do and lived a simple life, but Richie was correct when she said I was too passive.

I was born a Bellua, so I should act like one. I thought it was the right thing to do.

But Richie was different. She was Marquis Gorten’s eldest daughter, but she didn’t want to live for the family name only. After the Marquis made her work as a maid in the Imperial Palace, she looked for a way to leave Gorten.

In the end, though, it didn’t work.

I remembered that she was crying when she got engaged to Baron Morgan because Gorten needed Morgan for political reasons. She said she had a lover, but she didn’t say who it was.

Richie being Richie, this was a natural thing to do.

Richie got down on her knees and looked pityingly at me.

“You left Bellua, right? Won’t you tell the Count?”

“I left them a letter.”

They should’ve seen it by now.

As I added a bit more, Richie laughed as if she had never seen anything as funny before. The servants were surprised because she looked like she would fall over laughing. I placed my hand on Richie’s back and shook her a little bit because I was embarrassed.

“Why? Why?”

“HAHAHAHAHAHA.”

“Do you find me funny?”

“You’re awesome. You! I had no idea you were like this.”

Richie’s thumbs-up praise made me laugh a little. I didn’t know Richie could laugh so loudly, so I was surprised.

“Great. For now, I’m not going to tell the Count.”

With a loud voice, she stood up and helped me reposition myself. I raised my eyes slightly because I didn’t want her to see my careless expression.

“But even before you step into the Imperial Palace, you’ll be kicked out. Who would believe that you’re the Young Lady of Bellua.”

Perhaps it’s because she’s a noblewoman, but she covered her nose cleanly and took a step away from me.

“Did you bring some identification that could confirm you’re a Bellua? Like the Bellua insignia?”

“In my father’s office, there are necklaces that only Bellua’s direct descendants can wear, but they aren’t very well-known, so I don’t know if they can recognize it.”

“Can’t you see how much the Emperor cares about the Southern Nobles? Also, did you sneak in and look inside the Count’s office?”

Richie laughed and rolled her eyes.

“You’re terrible… wash up first and come down. You stink.”

I stood still when Richie grabbed me and pushed me into the bathroom. Two of the maids ran quickly to serve me. Normally, I would have refused, but I just smiled and got in the bath. It was easier that way, to wash my tired body without having to move a muscle. As I watched the sunset through the small window in the bathroom, I closed my eyes just a little.

Finally, I’m in Champagne. I’ve come to this place so that I could be close to Rupert.

The next day, Richie summoned her tutor to the Capital because she feared my etiquette and manners wouldn’t meet the Empire’s standards. Most of the time, the tutors who taught noble girls looked like Miss Crissy. This woman as well, who looked uncomfortably strict, raised her monocle elegantly with one hand and asked a few questions.

I answered all of them calmly and without hesitation.

I also showed the same attitude when I walked, drank tea, and spoke to people with higher authority than I, like those from the Imperial Family.