Your Majesty, Please Don’t Kill Me Again - Chapter 3

Terms:

아르델 황후가: Empress Ardelle

크리시 어스틴: Crissy Austen

아른바흐 공작: Duke Arnbah

루이제 바덴: Louis Baden

“Daughter?”

I grimaced. What the heck is this nonsense?

Was it a daughter?

“Indeed, Princess Lapertte is thirteen years of age this year. Although I’ve never met her Highness, there are whispers that she is an extremely attractive young lady.”

“So… are you saying her Majesty only gave birth to one child, and that is the princess?”

“Yes. As far as I’m aware, that is the case.”

I suddenly recalled the reason I had never met the Emperor before taking the throne as crown prince.

Oh, that’s right. Before being the crown prince, Prince Rupert, who would become Raspereich I, lived as a princess.

Empress Ardelle may have created this trickery to protect her son, who had little in the way of allies and was nearly an outsider inside the palace.

I bemoaned my own stupidity for forgetting that unusual incident that day in which everyone was caught off guard, especially Prince Arnulf. He had no doubt that he would be named Crown Prince and had grabbed his neck and fainted in shock. It was such a huge incident!

I hit my own head in frustration.

My nanny was surprised and grabbed my wrist as I blamed my lousy memory.

“Oh, dear! Oh my! Why are you suddenly hitting your head?!”

“I’m angry at my brain for being unable to recall the members of the royal family correctly.”

“It’s natural. Count Bellua has never been close with the Imperial family, and it hasn’t been long since you began taking lessons from Madam Crissy, my lady.”

Ah, Madam Crissy.

The unwanted moniker causes a frown on my forehead.

Crissy Austen. She was a strict tutor who took over my studies while my kind nanny looked after me.

She can be considered a model of Bellua’s ideal female aristocrat.

Weakness should be eliminated, and total submission to the husband should be implemented as if this could save the world from chaos. And oh boy, her loyalty to the royal family… I don’t even want to talk about it. 1

Nanny placed the last decoration on my hair and urged me to look in the mirror.

“Oh, my little girl is so adorable.”

“Am I beautiful?”

“Of course! That’s a given. You’re the most beautiful girl in the entire world, my lady. Princess Lapertte, who is reputed to be the most attractive person in the Empire, can’t even be compared to you.”

My nanny’s voice could barely contain her laughter.

After losing her tiny baby, less than a year old, to an infectious sickness, she started working as my nanny.

She treated me like a daughter; in other words, in the eyes of my nanny, I would appear to be the cutest and most adorable girl in the world, just as a hedgehog claims that its young is lovely.

When I was a child, I believed what she said, but I was well aware of my lack of attractiveness.

It’s probably one of the reasons I never married in the first place. 2

“That’s a lie.”

“No, it’s not! You’re so pretty, my lady. Go ahead and look in the mirror.”

Although I am not attractive, who am I to not appreciate her words?

I instantly caught a glimpse of myself in the mirror and grinned at her almost admiring expression.

It was a lot better today than when I was an adult.

My light brown eyes were full of the glistening liveliness of a kid, and my slightly fuller cheeks rose to a peach tint, adding to my girlish charm.

I wasn’t very attractive, but I was cute all the same, and the pretty dress with the ribbons went perfectly with me.

To say it out loud is a little humiliating, but I do look a little bit like a doll.

I grinned and touched my braided hair.

“What do you think? Even you can see that you are pretty, right?”

“Hmm, well… I guess I look alright.”

Once I reached adulthood, I was skinny as a stick. I was a woman who was not attractive as a child, with my temperamental character showing on my face and a strict impression of my tiny body.

Because of my father’s thriftiness, I had never experienced any luxury.

I was plain and unmemorable.

When I was younger, I would obstinately wear ribbons, flower decorations, and girly accessories.

However, once my hair had gotten relatively thick, I felt I should set an example as an aristocrat, so I would only wear a plain brown dress without embellishments. 3

My standard, fuzzy features, brown eyes, and dull brown hair were all I had when I started to dress simply, so it’s understandable why anyone wasn’t attracted to me.

Nevertheless, since I was a woman, and a noble, at that… Due to that reason alone, I was charged with the crime of “extravagance.”

I’m not a woman shaken by glitters and ribbons; I lived simply. I lived a life that was so simple that I could pass off as a commoner.

Even without seeing it, it was evident.

He instantly shattered the pride I had been defending and the reputation of Bellua by suppressing the natural greed that I would have as a human.

My life was brought to an end by the hands of that rotten heartless bastard.

I snort and swallow the expletives that come to me when I imagine his unfortunate visage.

Extravagance? Luxury? I’ll demonstrate the true meaning of extravagance as I use all of my charms to win him over and get extremely close to him.

Except for the Emperor, Empress, and him, who is the party in question, no one else is aware that Princess Lapertte is actually Prince Rupert and will shortly take the throne as Crown Prince.

I considered leaking the information I knew to Prince Arnulf to get rid of him beforehand, but the royal Queen consort, the well-known daughter of Duke Arnbah, would not believe me because I was a child. 4

In addition, they must not have entertained the idea that Princess Lapertte might have been a man in their eyes.

Apparently, the ambitious Queen wasn’t being overly cautious.

The silent imperial war was raging, and she and Prince Arnulf had lost.

Death is the price of failure.

Despite the apparent cause of death being a straightforward fire accident, I am aware that the consorts’ death was not a straightforward accident since I have personally witnessed the Emperor’s brutality.

As if in retaliation for his mother’s passing, Prince Arnulf decapitated himself after the Emperor mercilessly disarmed all their allies and executed them by guillotine.

Rupert knew that the throne was on the line, so he prostrated himself quietly without letting even the fiercest looks of suspicion catch him off guard.

He hid behind the demeaning shield of a woman’s disguise, but in the end, he emerged brandishing a sharp blade as icy as the imperial winter.

I was at a loss as to how to get rid of such a vicious and nasty beast before it turned into a lunatic ruler.

I had to stay away from the violent cleansing that would succeed if he managed to live.

But how?

He was deceiving everyone before him, and not even one caught his lies.

Rotten Bastard.

Although this was a 12-year-old child’s birthday, the expressions on the faces of those in attendance at the Count’s House were stunning.

Perhaps, my father’s subjects, who remained impartial until his passing, flocked to gain his favor.

When I was younger, I was unaware of this and was ecstatic that so many people had assembled to clap their hands to celebrate my birthday.

I was such a fool.

I hated how innocent I was when I was twelve.

Although twelve is a young age, I believe I could have been a little bit more fierce than that.

I should have known there was a good reason when the elderly aristocrats, who had never seen our faces before, arrived in Bellua with their children and gifts.

I would have realized immediately that the emperor was insane if I had even the slightest political interest.

Instead of taking pride in my father’s uprightness, I ought to have been worried about the response coming from my father’s brittle but unyielding straightness.

I never did.

I did not consider my father’s title or obligations, believing that the only responsibilities of the nobility were to look after the land and set a good example.

I was never aware that a noble’s job was not only to take care of the people but also to fight other nobles.

Although my father was a wonderful man, he was unaware that there were no flawless people in the world.

I was filled with blind faith in my father when he wasn’t even able to protect his family and had too many burdens to carry.

I lost sight of the fact that he was merely a human and was unable to imagine the burden my father was carrying.

In the crowd of people who filled the hall, I found my father.

He looks annoyed by the aristocrats who came to me with a stern face.

I forcibly held my tears, which were about to start streaming down my nostalgic face, to stay in my throat.

Lehan and our father both have dark brown hair.

It’s my favorite hue since it’s warm and rich.

Would Bellua be alright if my father had supported the ideal empress then?

At that pointless question, I shook my head.

The nobility had long been supported by Count Bellua, but the count maintained his impartiality as if it were his own life.

He was principled and upright from infancy and would not have readily changed his opinion.

I only went back to change that future.

The Emperor is a nasty beast and will remain how he is for all time, but my father will always be righteous because he was born righteous.

But I won’t carry out the insane orders of the Emperor for my own safety.

I’ll be the one who will change.

I’ll look out for Bellua.

I grabbed the hem of my dress and took off.

“Father!”

Sir Hermann, my father’s escort knight, was the first person I located.

He forced my father to turn to me after poking him in the back as he was conversing with an unidentified man.

I ignored the look on my father’s face, who appeared to be reprimanding me for joining in when the adults were talking, and instead nodded my head to Sir Hermann as I embraced my father.

“Lariette, it is common courtesy to say your greetings to adults when you see them.”

“Hehe. Yes, father!”

When I heard my father’s firm voice, I quickly greeted the aristocrat who had stopped moving and then showered my father with kisses.

“Father… Papa… I missed you so much. Are you alright? Do you feel fine? Are you healthy? You have dark circles under your eyes… It would be best for you to quit smoking huer—”5

Chu~

“I like it.”

While conversing, I kissed my father’s bushy beard.

He was a little confused by my brilliant display of adoration.

It made sense because I’m not naturally an affectionate person.

“You must be very excited since it is your birthday.”

My father gave me a light—no, very gentle touch on the head.

I brushed away the tears as I buried my face in his arms.

Even my father’s sour huer, whom I despise so much, smelled pleasant.

“Father, please live a long life.”

“You seem to be quite fond of Count Bellua, my lady.”

A man watched us closely and suddenly talked as if he were part of this.

But wait… he looks familiar.

Who is he?

“May I briefly introduce myself? Happy birthday, Young Lady Lariette. My name is Louis Baden.”

in TL1, Lari was instilled with very old-fashioned, patriarchal Bellua traditions: Be frugal, be conservative; the ideal lady should be quiet, perfect in etiquette, and she should obey her father first and then her husband once she’s married. She shouldn’t argue or speak her mind and let the men in her family dictate her actions. ↩️
More of Lari’s low self-esteem and low self-confidence is revealed: she thinks she’s unattractive, ugly even. Maybe average at best. She reasons that no men ever approached her because she was too plain. As someone who was the Ideal Noble Lady in the first timeline, being physically unattractive to others was a severe blow to her pride that she’s trying not to think about. ↩️
This is the traditional Bellua fashion: very conservative. Dark black or brown clothes, not showing any skin, fully covering the neckline, full-length dresses that reached the ankles. Because the Count was incredibly frugal, she was not interested in shiny jewels or decorations. Basically, she almost always dressed in dark clothes and never stood out. ↩️
In this empire, we have the Emperor, his Empress (of Ardelle) and their child, Prince Rupert, and a Queen Consort (part of Duke Arnbach’s faction) with her son, Prince Arnulf. ↩️
Huer — an intensely fragrant herb rolled up inside a paper wrapper and then smoked. It helps with relieving anxiety and stress and calms down the nerves. ↩️