Your Majesty, Please Don’t Kill Me Again - Chapter 5
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Chapter 5
Terms/Names:
토리 파스벤더: Tori Fassbender
나이젤 황녀: Princess Nigelle
“Lady Lariette! You are being rude!”
“I apologize for offending you, but… Urghh…!”
Richie grinned and rubbed my back when I lost my breath and felt queasy.
Marian Vincent jumped up while glaring at Richie and me. She received a stern look from Richie before walking away from us.
Of course, I did not see her snub me and go without saying goodbye.
“Oh my, now I feel like I can breathe again!”
I chuckled gently, and the girls laughed awkwardly since they had no idea what the heck was happening.
“Here, let us commence with our meal. I’m starving.”
In front of me, I swiftly cut a piece of steak and popped it into my mouth.
The girl across me was close to crying and couldn’t even look since she believed Marianne Vincent had been expelled because of her.
After devouring it, I gulped the delicious beef and talked to the girl.
“My word… What was your name again?”
“It’s Tori Fassbender, my lady.”
I raised an eyebrow at the girl’s unusual name and the fact that she used honorifics. Why is she so nervous?
“It’s fine to talk a little more casually.” 1
The girl’s eyes widen.
I looked away from the embarrassed girl and pondered how I had first heard of her well-known last name.
Even commoners owning a mansion is uncommon.
Fassbender….Fassbender.
“Ah!”
I sighed as I remembered it.
She’s the Tori Fassbender…
I was familiar with Tori Fassbender… Vellelum.
When she held the most prestigious last name in the empire—Vellelum—she was far from the young girl she is today.
She was a woman who was crowned as Empress against the wishes of the nobility… but was killed a day after marrying the lunatic.
I closed my eyes.
This girl is very different…
She’s a thin little girl who looks like she can’t eat well enough and is wearing a crude-looking dress made of inferior fabric roughly thrown over her body.
She even tightened a string made of cheap satin to her hair, which is significantly different from her attire, out of concern that she wouldn’t fit well and would be a nuisance.
Was the fear of becoming Empress written on this timid, reserved girl’s face?
I found it hard to believe. Then again, I didn’t even know her face.
On the day of the Emperor’s Holy Wedding, all I did was watch her from a distance as she and her scumbag husband rode through Champagne in a carriage.
All I knew about the Empress was her name and a few hazy characteristics of her face that I only recall from that brief encounter.
So… this is what she looks like.
I observed Tori shrugging while hunching over like a deer and devouring the sliced meat without chewing.
With her stiff platinum blonde hair, identical to the Emperor’s beautiful blonde but much more textured and tied back, she appeared younger than the twelve-year-old me.
Is she about eight or nine years old? The Emperor married at the age of eighteen. She must have been much younger than him when she died.
From a commoner to an Empress… it sounds just like a fairytale. However, she passed away without ever employing the weighty and regal title of Empress.
The populace, who had not yet learned of the Emperor’s insanity, muttered that she must have committed adultery when it was claimed that she died at the hands of the Emperor after a day of their marriage.
The central nobility who despised her made the false tales into truths that she was actually a spy for Willetan, an ex-girlfriend of Prince Arnulf and a crazy person who dared to plan the murder of His Majesty the Emperor.
Empress Tori was branded as a criminal and disappeared from history.
I, too, only partially believed the incoherent rumors about her.
Although I believe the Emperor had mistreated her, I didn’t think he would have killed his wife without a good reason.
However, was Tori genuinely guilty of a crime?
The Emperor insisted on taking her in one day and elevating her to the position of an Empress, and she died akin to falling from the heavens.
The most traditional central aristocrats didn’t support it, even though most nobles treated commoners like beasts.
As a result, there must have been a significant conflict between the Emperor and the aristocracy.
My father, who had never involved himself with the royal family’s affairs, opposed it.
Instead of questioning her identification, he focused on her questionable background.
At the time, the Fassbender family owned a sizable business, but nothing is known about the family’s founder, Fassbender, or their daughter Tori.
Tori’s father had doubts about her ability to lead and take care of the nation.
She was killed by her husband, the Emperor, before she had a chance to act as a mother of the nation.
I was unaware of her friendship with the Emperor.
The Mad Emperor and the Mayfly Empress didn’t really intrigue me either, and there was little solid information about them due to hearsay.
The Empress was allegedly a poor businesswoman acting as Willetan’s spy and had a romantic relationship with Prince Arnulf, who was also killed by the Emperor.
Every tale featured the Emperor. He used her, loved her, but was indifferent to her in the end.
I was tempted to imply that he exploited her.
Because the Emperor I am familiar with is incapable of loving anyone.
Although it is unknown how she met the Emperor, I may infer that things between the Emperor and my father started to deteriorate after that.
Initially, my father wasn’t all that interested in the Emperor.
He lived quietly and only went to the Imperial Palace when summoned because he didn’t want to be in a position of authority.
My father disapproved of the fact that Prince Arnulf, the Emperor’s half-brother, was murdered by the Emperor for treachery that he had not yet committed. The Empress who lived for one day was the one who made my father oppose him in earnest.
If she wasn’t placed on the throne like she was supposed to, she might still be alive and living happily like a butterfly right now.
He tinkered with a shotgun rather than a knight’s sword as a hobby. He went hunting, but the animal or something he killed was insufficient, so he killed the nation’s mother too.
And my father snapped.
My father, who had never met him, had his first conversation with the Emperor in the imperial palace. And so, through my father, who had the support of the people, the nobles scolded the Emperor for his madness. That was how my father earned the Emperor’s hatred. As a result, House Bellua had its property and domain seized, but my father continued to speak out while being degraded and humiliated.
In the end, he died.
Of course, I know it wasn’t Tori’s fault that my father was executed. Tori might’ve been taken advantage of as well. Still, I’m resentful.
Can I, for now, prevent this girl from meeting the Emperor?
The Emperor’s relationship with my father wouldn’t have declined so much even if the Emperor hadn’t used force to declare her the Empress.
I fervently hoped that she didn’t know of the Emperor… at least not yet.
There is no chance Tori has already interacted with the Emperor. The Fassbender Company either doesn’t exist yet or is still on the smaller side, based on her scruffy manner. It would be a near-miracle coincidence if she had previously met the Emperor, currently known as Princess Lapertte.
But wait… how did she get into my birthday celebration then?
Though I felt a tiny bit bad for disturbing the girl as she worked through a large piece of meat, I spoke up without thinking twice.
“Miss Fassbender.”
“Yes… Yes?!”
Startled, Tori turned her head to me. Her straightforward, calm-looking green eyes looked at me.
“How were you able to attend my birthday party?”
“So… I’m so sorry!”
“No. I’m not asking for forgiveness. Rather I’m quite interested.”
“Ah..! I am an attendant who serves Princess Lapertte, and she sent me in her stead….”
Tori’s last few words were muddled after pausing.
I laughed in disappointment.
You’ve already met him.
The Empress was the attendant of the Emperor when he was a child. Nobody could have foreseen this.
“Her Highness Princess Lapertte sent you to my birthday party….”
“Yes.”
Tori jumped up when I remained silent because she believed I was upset with her. The girls’ eyes, fixed on their food while eating quietly, are now directed towards me. Tori started to bite her thin fingertips as she grew weary of me.
“I’m… I’m sorry! I sat here despite knowing that there’s no place for me here even though the Princess sent me—”
I quickly extended my hand to block Tori from walking away.
“Please continue your meal, Miss Fassbender. I’m not attempting to chase you out. I was just slightly surprised to hear that Princess Lapertte, not Princess Nigelle, sent you. Please share this meal with me, Miss Fassbender.”
Invitations to the Imperial Family were sent as well, as it was the only and largest party that could be dedicated to me. Still, my mother, who planned the party, and I had a very tenuous connection with the Empress.
Bellua had no connection to the Emperor before our downfall.
Of course, we had a terrible relationship even before everyone passed away.
I was unaware that a servant of Princess Lapertte, Emperor Raspereich I, had been sent to my twelfth birthday celebration.
She was crouched down in the corner of the table, hanging out with the noble girls I knew, and as a twelve-year-old, I wouldn’t even pay attention to her.
In addition, the prince was in the middle of being a princess, and I had never met him.
I only learned about his existence by coming face-to-face with the Emperor when he was crowned as the crown prince.
Recalling our initial encounter…
I was sixteen when I received my first invitation to the imperial ball. 2
That day, the lone prince of Vellelum shone brighter than the dazzling light of the sun’s intense rays. Richie winced as she admired his stunning appearance, and I did the same while secretly observing him in my peripheral vision.
He naturally introduced himself as if he knew me and thanked me for coming to the ball.
The Emperor sent his maid to celebrate my twelfth birthday.
Thus, he was acquainted with me before Bellua’s downfall.
The Emperor… he knew me.
My hands started to sweat, and I felt a chill.
It wouldn’t be strange for him to tell me that he knew me if he was interested in stealing Bellua’s power and influence.
The issue is that he pretended he didn’t know who I was.
Why did the Emperor, who knew me at the age of twelve, behave as though we were complete strangers when I was sixteen?
Tori struggles to use polite, formal language when speaking to Lari, which she notices. She usually speaks casually/informally. ↩️
This was her Debutante event, a time when girls debuted into society once they reached the age of majority. Girls were to dress up and decorate beautifully to show off their family’s wealth and prestige and to network and connect with other families, especially their sons, for marriage. ↩️