Chapter 6
A shabby wooden cart rolled along. The creaking never stopped, but it wasn’t a problem at all. A cool breeze blew through the wide-open window. It gently washed over my face and made me feel good. I gathered my blowing hair, leaned against the window, and stared blankly outside.
The clatter of hooves and the rows of trees planted neatly along the road. Brick houses lined up, and when we passed a bakery the smell of bread was pleasantly warm. Merchants had spread cloths on platforms and sold colorful goods; people hurried up and down the street. It looked as if this had always been the scene — as if someone had deliberately arranged everything just so.
“What are you staring at like that?”
“Just because it’s pretty.”
Chloë, squinting to see what I found beautiful, cocked her head at the all-too-familiar, almost boring street view.
“This is the place you looked at every day. You look like someone who’s gone outside for the first time in her life.”
“……”
Chloë added briskly.
“Don’t be surprised by something this small. You’ll be truly amazed when we get to Chellenica.”
As Chloë promised, Chellenica was something else.
“Wow…”
“Today I’ll be the one to guide you.”
Even while walking where Chloë led, I kept looking around everywhere. Elegantly dressed people and distinctively styled buildings. The lively street even had performers, now and then, wandering in makeup for shows. A statue in the middle of the square — as if by magic — kept changing its pose, striking different postures.
“Wow…”
I couldn’t close my mouth, and Chloë, delighted, hurried me here and there. I was craning my neck from looking around so much. As we passed a charming cake shop, whispering voices halted us.
“Isn’t that the maid who always used to accompany Lady Derman?”
“I think so, yeah.”
“After that incident, the lady disappeared — I was so worried. Should we go ask?”
Ladies with fresh lace parasols giggled among themselves.
‘I thought only I’d be singled out.’
I almost wanted to ask what incident they meant, but I took Chloë’s hunched little hand and walked the other way. It wouldn’t be a good thing. Even if I asked, I couldn’t trust everything spiteful people would say. I intended to pass by, but words at my ear caught my step. The ladies seemed to find Chloë’s shrunken figure highly amusing.
“What do you suppose Lady Derman is doing now?”
“I heard a rumor she killed herself out of shame.”
“No way — the Derman family wouldn’t let things be so quiet. That must be a baseless rumor.”
“Could that lady whose whole body’s covered be the princess?”
“No, no way.”
A few light chuckles burst out around them.
“She could be. She must be so ashamed.”
“If it had been me, I’d have killed myself long ago rather than bear that shame.”
Chloë’s face, as if ready to burst into tears, seemed to blame everything on herself. But even if people recognized Chloë, so what? Since I’d snuck out, we might attract the Derman household’s attention if we were found, but those people had nothing to lose.
‘Those jabs don’t even tickle.’
Rather than feeling angry, I was more curious. How had Roselita — adored across the empire — ended up like this?
‘Pulgor and the like.’
I was about to give them the worst insult I had, when a different, deeper voice cut in among the girlish ones.
“Actually, the princess asked for all of this herself — she was that thoughtless.”
“Oh my.”
“Isn’t this all because the Marquis of Derman didn’t manage his daughter properly?”
A voice full of clear malice.
“How could a princess whom many in the empire admire stoop to such behavior? I worry what impression young ladies might take from it.”
The man’s voice was loud enough to make even the mocking ladies fall silent and attempt to defend themselves. As the raised voices began to draw glances one by one, the ladies, flustered, began to speak.
“The princess is the victim here — how could it be only her fault?”
“Oh? Why wouldn’t it be her fault?”
“Well, the princess was deceived by that man.”
“Being deceived is a fault! How could she… ugh.”
The man shook his head as if the thought disgusted him.
“That bastard pup…”
Oops. My choice of words made the guard beside me flinch. A rough tongue doesn’t smooth out just because you come down to Rodea.
“The more I think about it, the more sick I feel.”
I hate being insulted unfairly more than anything. To say being deceived is a fault — what kind of blaming-the-victim logic is that? Even Chloë, who had been in tears, looked ready to spring at them if I let go of her hand. The guard’s eyes burned as if he’d leap out at a signal from me; his hand lay heavy on the hilt of his sword.
“Such rumors…”
The man piled on one more remark.
“They stick together — who knows if the princess didn’t enjoy it herself.”
“Stop; your voice is too loud.”
“Am I saying something untrue? It’s what the ladies were saying, so why—”
“Oh my, oh my! When did we ever say such a thing? We were only worried about the princess.”
The ladies, terrified, glanced about and hurried away. Still, the man continued to wag his tongue as if he had no shame.
“Tsk tsk, with no decency. No wonder society’s getting more corrupt…”
I pressed down the guard’s hand that was ready to draw his sword and tightened my hat string a little more. I slowly turned to face him. The man was wrapped in what looked like expensive clothes and was patting his potbelly as he talked.
‘He looks like the kind to say that.’
I clicked my tongue. I usually don’t like making fun of appearances, but now—
He must be around his mid-forties. A man whose sour expression was written all over his face like warts gave his character away. I was glad there was still some sense left to speak for me — if I spoke, it might prove unmistakably that I was Roselita. I tapped the startled Chloë and whispered into her ear.
“Uh, uh…”
Hesitant, Chloë pointed at the man.
“I—I’m Roselita’s friend.”
Chloë announced in a loud, ringing voice to them.
“Who are you?”
“Isn’t it proper to state your family and name first?”
The man scolded me in a mock-severe tone. What a laugh — a man lecturing about manners while insulting a victim.
“Hallelujah, you bastard!”
“W-what did you just—?”
There was no trace of nobility on the man who frowned so deeply. What good is an expensive outfit if the person underneath is shabby?
“If you are truly Lady Derman, show your face; if not, you must apologize to me.”
The man warned in a firm voice, but it wasn’t threatening at all. His bravado had already deflated; he seemed to assume I was either Roselita herself or at least the child of some influential noble family. I took a long stride and stood in front of him. My fierce manner made him stagger back a step.
“You should apologize. How dare you insult the Derman family in the middle of the street.”
I didn’t know the true stature of Derman in the empire; I could only guess from Chloë’s explanations. Even if Chloë’s account held personal bias and exaggeration, nobody would casually call their family “one of the empire’s two pillars” without reason.
“I never insulted the Marquis of Derman.”
“Could you say that to the Marquis himself?”
“The scandal caused by Lady Derman would be such that even if the family expelled her, they would have no grounds to complain.”
“Are you the Marquis of Derman? Why are you meddling in other families’ business?”
When laughter broke out among the onlookers, the man — gritting his teeth — yelled.
“He already abandoned Lady Derman; the family isn’t acting on it.”
He said it with conviction, and a short sneer escaped him. A member of the trans Derman family, indeed. If he’s like this, the Marquis will be pleased.
“She’s keeping to herself because of that.”
“Keeping to herself?”
The man’s face went red as a beet at my mocking tone.
“Yes, who wouldn’t think like me? A woman who hasn’t even married— ugh, tsk.”
“If you humiliate the princess any further, we won’t stand idly by.”
I could see how much restraint the guard had by the way he spoke through clenched teeth. But the man scolded the guard loudly, his attitude different from how he’d treated me.
“Ha, that servant too! You don’t know how to fear nobles. You’re just a worthless thing pretending to be a knight — can you even wield a sword?”
The guard, dressed plainly, looked slender and rather young. The man seemed to take him for a mere apprentice, not a proper knight. The man glanced contemptuously at the guard’s sword and then annoyedly surveyed Chloë and the guard.
“Hmph. I’ll be generous and not make a fuss — now get out of here.”
Before he could back away like he’d intended, I grabbed his collar faster than he could move. Where did he think he was going? Onlookers’ eyes fell on my slender wrist clamping his throat. The man tried to laugh awkwardly and wriggle free, but when my small, delicate hand didn’t budge him, he finally shouted.
“Hey! Let go this instant! You have no respect for your elders…”
I can say with certainty that I am not violent. I have shining intelligence and reason, and I think rationally.
‘But you only talk with those worth talking to, didn’t you know.’
There were many gathered in the street, but no one stepped forward to stop me. Or rather, no one felt the need to. Roselita’s figure was even more fragile than the average woman’s. The man choking under my grip probably couldn’t understand. He might think I was letting him off because he was mocking me.
‘How should I break him so no one dares ever speak of Roselita again?’
Having snuck out of the mansion, I didn’t want to make a huge scene. But letting it pass made my insides twist. I curled my right hand into a fist while still gripping his collar. And then — crack!
“Argh!”
I tightened my hold on the man’s throat to pin his struggling shoulders.
