TMME 03

Chapter – 03.

“So it was today.”

She remembered. Today, she had asked them to prepare a welcoming tea party for when Henrias returned from the detached palace.

All so he could arrive with his mistress, Elisabeth, in tow.

“Your Majesty, while we would do anything for the Emperor, there is no need for Your Majesty to prepare a welcoming event for that vulgar woman.”

As soon as Haber finished speaking, Arwen, who had been snickering, spoke up again.

“We were only worried about that. Please consider the dignity of the mistress of the Empress’s Palace as well.”

The other maids behind her were of the same mind.

“Alright. Fine.”

Right then and there, Josephine became convinced.

She realized who these people serving her were truly worried about at this moment, and whose side they were really on.

“I had no idea you all had been thinking of me so terribly all this time.”

“We have always done our utmost for the Empress’s Palace with all our hearts.”

Arwen replied arrogantly.

‘Right. It was you.’

Josephine looked at each of them in turn, starting with Haber, then Arwen, and the other maids behind her.

‘It was you who deliberately blinded me. To make me give up on finding out the truth.’

To think they had been disregarding and looking down on her to this extent.

Why had she been forcing herself to tolerate and overlook their rudeness all this time?

Josephine’s last vestiges of mercy vanished right then.

She slowly picked up the marble comb on the vanity and walked towards Arwen.

SMACK!

“Ah!”

And in front of everyone, she struck Arwen’s cheek hard with the comb.

Arwen let out a short scream and tumbled to the floor.

The cheek struck by the comb was already swollen and bright red.

Arwen, who couldn’t comprehend what had just happened for a moment, immediately glared at Josephine.

“What is th—”

“This?”

Before Arwen could lunge, Josephine grabbed a fistful of her hair tightly.

“Aah! It h-hurts!”

“Say that again. This?”

There was one thing Josephine had over these maids born from high nobility.

“Am I a ‘this’?”

“N-No, I didn’t mean it…!”

“You’d better answer correctly. The woman you so despise is the Empress of this nation. If I wished, burying you would be nothing.”

Thanks to a rough childhood and a fierce struggle for survival, she was several times stronger than these skinny girls.

“That’s right, Arwen. You should have shown this side sooner. The one you serve isn’t me, but this grand Empress’s Palace itself. Isn’t that right?”

“L-Let go! Please, let go!”

“To dare send away the Empress’s guests on your own authority?”

Hearing Josephine’s angry roar for the first time, everyone present froze in place.

‘Why is Her Majesty, who usually shows no interest in how the palace runs, suddenly acting like this?’

Even Haber, Josephine’s sole closest confidante, was just as bewildered.

“Y-Your Majesty, this is unjust. It wasn’t just me… Aah!”

Josephine then flung Arwen’s hair away as if discarding her.

“You’re asking for forgiveness when you don’t even seem to know what you did wrong yet.”

Brushing off the clump of Arwen’s hair she had pulled out, Josephine commanded the guards outside the door.

“Arwen is dismissed from the Empress’s Palace effective today. Not only her, but ensure her family can never enter the Empress’s Palace from now on.”

Finally seeming to come to her senses, Arwen begged for forgiveness in a servile posture, her earlier bravado embarrassingly gone.

“I-I was wrong, Your Majesty…! P-Please forgive me just this once. I beg you…!”

“No one who dares defy the Empress and arbitrarily wields authority without permission may remain in my palace.”

Josephine looked down heartlessly at Arwen, who was clinging to her feet.

“Take the criminal to the dungeons. If she resists, she will face greater charges.”

“Your Majesty! Please forgive me just once! Your Majesty!”

In the end, Arwen was dragged out miserably, her arms held by the guards.

A single shoe, torn off during her violent struggle while being dragged away, lay rolling in the corridor.

“Tell me the truth.”

Josephine spoke while looking towards the door Arwen had been dragged through.

“How many have you driven out like this until now?”

The maids, who hadn’t been able to breathe due to the sudden situation, all flinched at once.

Unable to bear it, Josephine shouted again.

“I asked if you’ve driven away any other guests like this, besides Marquis Dallan!”

The maids, who had only been exchanging glances, stepped forward one by one to speak.

“W-We truly knew nothing, Your Majesty. Arwen always received guests as the representative instead of the busy Lady Haber, so…”

“Please believe us. We didn’t even know Marquis Dallan had visited the palace, nor that he was being turned away like this every day.”

Only then did Josephine slowly turn to look at them.
The memory of Arwen, still having her hair grabbed, crying and shouting, ‘It wasn’t just me!’ was vivid.

“Is that so?”

Josephine asked, the corner of her mouth twitching upward unbidden.

“So, all of this was decided by Arwen alone on a whim, and you all knew nothing about it. Is that what you’re saying?”

“Yes, that’s right. Truly.”

As if that could be true. Looking at the maids nodding their heads repeatedly, Josephine was sure their words were false.

“Of course. It’s impossible that all of you were that disloyal to me.”

She suppressed the hollow laugh that kept bubbling up and continued in a calm tone.

“Unless your aim was to deliberately drive away nobles visiting me, tarnish my reputation, make me an arrogant Empress despite my lowly origins, and turn me into a public enemy in high society.”

Now, everything seemed to make sense.

Why she had made so many enemies in her two previous lives.

Why so many nobles had condemned and denounced her.

“Your Majesty, why are you suddenly so agitated…?”

At Haber’s worried words, Josephine turned her gaze.

“Are you saying I’m getting worked up over nothing now?”

She was simply angry about something she should rightfully be angry about.

Until now, she had endured everything, understanding the feelings of those who had to reluctantly serve an Empress who was only nominally of noble birth.

For noble young ladies, serving an Empress of lower birth than themselves was a great insult.

But now she saw there was no need for that at all.

If her consideration and goodwill were only going to be met with contempt, there was no longer any reason to show them mercy.

“Arwen is a young lady from a prominent family in the southern region… If you expel her from the imperial palace so arbitrarily…”

“Haber.”

Josephine cut Haber off mid-sentence.

“Did you really know nothing about this?”

“Huh?”

“I know you’ve been busy managing the Empress’s Palace inside and out all this time. But how could you, the head maid, be completely unaware when such things happened multiple times?”

“Your Majesty… Are you doubting me now?”

Unlike the other maids, Haber’s face instantly fell into shock.

“Surely you don’t think I deliberately neglected Arwen and the maids to put Your Majesty in a difficult position?”

“……”

“I… I even drank poison on Your Majesty’s behalf and collapsed at the banquet for Your Majesty’s first birthday celebration after becoming Empress. If you think someone like me would betray you and deliberately act disloyally…”

“I never said you were disloyal, Haber.”

Josephine said, staring piercingly at Haber. She merely wanted to ask for a reason.

But here Haber was, jumping to conclusions with grand words like betrayal and disloyalty.

To anyone watching, it was the attitude of someone with a guilty conscience.

“I’m someone who has always lived only for Your Majesty. So even if you doubt others, you must believe me, Your Majesty.”

But what could be done now? Even if she investigated belatedly whether the Haber she had trusted so much was truly a betrayer or not, all that remained was hurt.

“Alright. I believe you.”

In the end, Josephine answered that way.

“So, I want to convey my apologies to Marquis Dallan. I want you to visit the Marquis tomorrow with my invitation.”

“V-Visit the Marquis?”

“Yes. To formally apologize and to find out directly what exactly has been happening all this time.”

Haber couldn’t bring herself to say she refused.

“Yes, I understand.”

“Well then, it’s getting late. Help me get ready now.”

At Josephine’s command, Haber asked with a puzzled face.

“Where are you going so early in the morning?”

“Where else? Henrias will return by noon, so I must go and prepare the tea party.”