Chapter 10: Toward the Palace
“You are the daughter of the Miller Count House, descended from my great-aunt, are you not?”
“Y-Yes.”
“My name is Daisy Miller.”
Standing before Daisy was a real princess.
Princess Belinda of the Lind Kingdom was a woman with a bold, aggressive air about her.
Daisy felt a slight sense of disappointment inside.
She was certainly beautiful, and with the status of a princess, men would surely leave her alone.
But still, she felt somehow different from the nobles of the imperial capital.
Because of her frail health, Daisy did not go out much, but she had attended a few tea parties before.
The noblewomen of the Empire she had seen there possessed a far more refined kind of beauty.
“So then, have you arranged a way for me to meet His Majesty the Emperor?”
“My sister-in-law works at the palace, so I can enter the palace under the pretense of visiting her.”
“I see.”
“And is your sister-in-law a high-ranking lady-in-waiting?”
“Is she in a position where she can meet His Majesty?”
“My sister-in-law serves directly under Her Majesty the Empress, so I believe she should be able to meet His Majesty.”
“…She serves the Empress, you say…”
The image of Aurelia from that day surfaced in Belinda’s mind.
That composed expression she wore when their father ordered her to marry into the Empire.
If Belinda had known Aurelia would become Empress, she would have gone instead.
Well, it was not too late even now.
After all, the one once called the flower of the kingdom was Belinda herself.
“Very well.”
“Have your sister-in-law guide me to His Majesty.”
“Eh?”
“What?”
“Is that a problem?”
“I-It is not guaranteed that I can definitely meet my sister-in-law…”
“…How useless.”
“Fine then.”
“As long as we go to the palace, something will work out.”
Belinda felt irritated at how unexpectedly useless Daisy Miller was.
However, Belinda could not even enter the palace on her own.
As long as she could get inside, the means did not matter.
If a princess of a foreign country arrived, the Empire would surely respond in some fashion.
Annoying as it was, Belinda was still a princess of the Empress’s homeland.
Yet she and her husband had been pushed into lodgings far from the palace like this.
In truth, she was of a status that should have been accommodated within the palace itself.
From Belinda’s perspective, her current treatment was unfair.
In reality, it was perfectly standard treatment for a diplomat of an unimportant vassal state.
Belinda did not know this and mistakenly believed Lind to be an important country to the Empire.
“It will be impossible today.”
“Take me to the palace tomorrow.”
“Yes.”
Daisy felt a slight sense of panic inside.
But since the princess said things would work out once they went to the palace, Daisy lightly thought that taking her tomorrow would be fine.
She never imagined that this would incur the Emperor’s wrath.
“Dorothy-dono.”
“Oh, Noah-sama.”
As usual, Dorothy was on her way to the library when Noah called out to her.
Recently, she had grown used to this sort of thing.
At first, people had not known how to interact with Dorothy and were awkward around her.
But as Dorothy worked diligently, she gradually built connections.
Now, many people spoke to her casually.
Among them, Noah seemed to care about her the most.
It was likely because his sister Frederica had asked him to look after Dorothy.
“You are early today.”
Normally, at this hour, Noah and the others in the Chancellor’s Office were busy debating matters with Eugene.
Once, when Dorothy had gone there on Aurelia’s errand at this time, everyone in the room had been in the middle of a heated discussion centered around Eugene and the Chancellor.
She had been surprised that the Emperor himself went to the Chancellor’s Office to debate.
Apparently, since more detailed materials were kept there than in the Emperor’s office, it was more efficient.
“Ah, this morning His Majesty is meeting with a diplomat from the Kingdom of Frestol.”
“That is why there is no usual discussion today.”
“The great kingdom across the sea?”
“That is right.”
“If it is a diplomat from Frestol, His Majesty should meet them personally.”
“I learned that it is a rich country, rivaling even the empire ruled by Queen Clarice.”
“Have you ever been there, Noah-sama?”
“Once, when I was a student.”
“It was just as rich as I had heard.”
“Oh yes, that country is also famous for its tea.”
“We import it at my household.”
“Tea?”
“Since coming to the palace, I have had tea from many regions for the first time.”
“But I have never had tea from Frestol.”
“Within the palace, they mostly serve tea from the Empire or nearby countries.”
“If it is used in the palace, that alone becomes excellent publicity for the producers.”
“That is probably why they do not keep much tea from other countries.”
Indeed, that made sense.
If a tea were designated for use by the imperial palace, nobles and the wealthy would rush to buy it.
A good cycle was created within the Empire.
“Our household also mainly uses tea leaves from the Empire.”
“But tea from Frestol, being from a country ruled by a queen, tends to have a very elegant fragrance.”
“Some people insist on only Imperial products, so it ends up being mostly domestic tea.”
“That sounds fascinating.”
“I would like to try it someday.”
“Noah-sama, where could one obtain it?”
“If you like, I will give you some next time.”
“Ours is a bit special and not sold in ordinary shops.”
A noble Noah had met in Frestol owned land famous for tea production and supplied the Ferelemere Marquis House specially.
Both the Queen of Frestol and the Emperor were aware that they occasionally exchanged information within reasonable bounds.
“Lord Simon grows tea on his lands for the tea-loving Queen.”
“The finest quality is said to be her favorite.”
“For nobles, it is sold under the name ‘Flower Tea,’ but since he only sells it through direct negotiation, it is called the phantom tea even in Frestol.”
Since only a limited number of people could directly negotiate with Frestol’s Chancellor, even domestic nobles found it difficult to obtain.
When Noah visited Frestol, he met Simon through his father’s introduction.
After passionately discussing tea, he gained the right to purchase it.
“You really like tea, don’t you?”
“I like it enough to visit tea shops around the capital on my days off.”
When Noah met Dorothy’s eyes and said, “I like it,” her heart gave a small jump.
He was not saying that he liked Dorothy.
But she had never heard the word “like” spoken to her while meeting her eyes before.
Even knowing it referred to tea, that simple word resonated within her.
“And you, Dorothy-dono?”
“Do you like it?”
“…Yes, I do.”
She meant tea.
Not herself.
Yet Noah’s gentle gaze made her understand why young ladies competed so fiercely over him.
So this was what people meant by an unconscious charmer.
Even while talking about tea, his occasional words and kindness made it easy to misunderstand.
Anyone would answer “yes” if Noah asked “Do you like it?” while looking at them like that.
He should really include the previous noun.
Perhaps that was why strange rumors had spread, even if only a little.
As Dorothy thought this, Noah was, of course, doing it intentionally.
Though he felt slightly disappointed at her calm response, drawing the word “like” from her was satisfying in its own way.
Dorothy was still a countess by marriage.
He limited personal conversations to the area around the library and kept topics harmless.
That was why no one openly criticized him.
“Dorothy-dono…”
Just as Noah was about to say something, a junior lady-in-waiting hurried over after spotting Dorothy.
“Dorothy-sama, so you were here.”
“Did something happen?”
“Y-Yes.”
“We just received word from the gate guards.”
“They say someone claiming to be your relative has come requesting a meeting and asked for confirmation.”
“My relative?”
“But none of my relatives would come requesting a meeting…?”
The only possible person was her husband Cyrus, who had been acting strangely.
But since he also worked at the palace, he could simply catch her somewhere instead.
“…Dorothy-dono, I will come with you.”
“This feels strange.”
Seeing Noah’s serious expression, Dorothy felt the same unease.
“Please,” she said, lowering her head.
“I have a very bad feeling about this.”
“When you feel that way, it is better not to ignore it.”
Since both of them shared the same ominous premonition, something was surely amiss.
Without another word, Dorothy and Noah headed toward the reception room.