“I shall report to Your Majesty and accept the punishment.”
Eva only delivered the couple rings to the representative bishop’s assistant in advance on the wedding day. She had no memory of putting the necklace in the dressing room’s jewelry box.
She guessed that she must have left the necklace there after taking the ring from the reception room table. Eva said it was her oversight and then explained in detail about the suspicious disappearance of the Viser sisters.
“Your Majesty, I have committed a grave sin. If I must forfeit my life, I shall do so.”
“Eva, we can’t exchange your life for one necklace. Don’t even say such things. I’ll explain to His Majesty myself.”
“I apologize, Your Majesty.”
“Strictly speaking, it’s the fault of the rest room maid who didn’t properly store the necklace. Let’s go to the White Palace for now.”
“I have moved my quarters to Notos Palace by Your Majesty’s order. Annie will also go there. Your Majesty, I earnestly request that if you have any schedule to go outside the palace, please let me know anytime and I will accompany you.”
“I was going to ask about that. Why did you stay instead of returning after the royal wedding?”
Eva explained how Patricia had asked the emperor and how the emperor came to allow it. Patricia realized that her impression of the emperor as arrogant and willful might have been her own prejudice.
“I see. Well then, let’s each go to our respective palaces.”
As soon as Patricia arrived at the White Palace, she sent a maid to Princess Carolina’s quarters. She sent a message saying she had a letter to deliver and would like to meet, and if the princess allowed, Patricia would come herself.
After looking around various parts of the White Palace, she went to the office and told Anna to bring all documents related to the royal wedding.
Dozens of documents bore the signatures of both Harchen and Patricia. Patricia wrote her name on a blank paper. It was the same handwriting.
How could this be?
The handwriting was the same as what she just wrote, but she couldn’t remember a single second of the situation when she signed these documents.
As the head maid had said, there was a record of entrusting the internal affairs management of the White Palace to the administrator, with Patricia’s signature below it.
What on earth was I thinking?
She examined the books on the bookshelf that filled one wall of the office. She took out books she needed to read urgently, such as Karsic Imperial Politics, Imperial Chronicle, Imperial Etiquette, Internal Affairs Management, and placed them on the desk to read.
If I read slowly, as if copying, I’ll eventually understand.
She wondered if perhaps she lacked education in culture, academics, and knowledge. If she had grown up as the Shadow Princess of the West Tower, she would have been cut off from the outside world.
So she might have been dejected, with low self-esteem, and preemptively entrusted internal affairs management to the administrator out of fear.
Knock knock knock.
The head maid entered and announced that Princess Carolina had come in person.
“Now… she came in person?”
“Yes, where shall I guide her?”
Patricia thought briefly. Since it wasn’t urgent business or work-related, the office wasn’t appropriate, and the audience chamber was for entertaining noble ladies, so the library, tea room, reception room…
“Guide her to the reception room.”
“Yes, Your Majesty.”
She stood up and tilted her head. It felt like the head maid had asked not to inquire about her intentions, but to test Patricia. If so, it was disrespectful.
‘Am I being too sensitive?’
Patricia left the office and went to the reception room. Princess Carolina was standing at the entrance of the reception room with her maid.
“The rising morning sun, Princess Carolina greets Her Majesty the Empress.”
“You’ve come in person. I could have gone to see you, Princess. Please sit.”
Patricia ordered the head maid to bring tea.
“Ah, wait. Anna.”
“Yes, Your Majesty.”
“What was my preference when drinking tea originally? Did I add sugar?”
“Your Majesty used to drink it with warm milk and sugar cubes.”
“I see, prepare it that way.”
“Yes, Your Majesty.”
The suspicion she had felt towards the head maid grew larger.
If she knew her tea preference so accurately, why didn’t she prepare milk when having tea with the emperor after breakfast?
If she hadn’t prepared it, Anna, who was standing nearby when the emperor asked Patricia if she added sugar, should have explained.
At least her expression should have changed. At that time, Patricia had looked up while thinking about her tea preference and met the head maid’s eyes.
“Your Majesty the Empress, this is a wedding gift. I made it myself with my clumsy hands after you left for your honeymoon.”
Carolina gestured to the maid beside her, and the maid held out what she was carrying.
Patricia received it. It was heavy. She untied the ribbon tied with cream-colored lace string and unwrapped the blue silk covering.
It was a thin, dark green notebook. It was clearly handmade just by looking at it. The cover was elegantly engraved in cursive:
‘Sonnets of Love – For the Eternal Love of Patricia and Harchen’
“I like adventure or fantasy novels. This time, I searched for books about love and transcribed them. Of course, these aren’t my own thoughts, they’re all quotes.”
Patricia turned a page of the notebook.
After transcribing poetic sentences about love, she had decorated the margins with pressed flowers and embroidery with colored threads. It must have taken several days of effort.
“Lady Carolina. Ah, may I call you by name?”
“Of course.”
“It’s so touching. I’ll cherish it.”
Carolina was a bit taken aback.
She had expected Patricia to just skim through it, but Patricia read the sentences on the first page and carefully examined the pressed flowers and decorative embroidery. She turned another page.
She read each sentence carefully with her eyes and even touched the pressed flowers with her fingertip.
There were twenty sonnets transcribed in total. Carolina had worked late into the night for five full days, starting from the afternoon she heard the news that Patricia had been hit by a poisoned arrow from the Huns hunters.
Defying Carolina’s expectation that she would close the notebook around now, Patricia was deeply absorbed in reading until the maid brought the tea.
Carolina was satisfied with this sight.
The maid set down the brewed tea and tea snacks. Patricia added milk and sugar to her teacup and drank.
Ah, the fragrance mixed with smoothness. And it was sweet.
It suited her taste much better than the tea she had with the emperor. Patricia put down her teacup on the saucer and asked Carolina:
“Lady Carolina, the content of the sentences is good, but the pressed flowers and decorative embroidery that elegantly adorn each page are so beautiful. If it’s not rude, may I read it to the end?”
“Of course, I transcribed it myself. It’s not my own writing, but your deep interest, I’m rather grateful.”
*
Carolina cried in the Botanic Garden near Aster Palace on the day the imperial couple left for their honeymoon.
The earthy smell mixed with heat and humidity, and the flower fragrance was thick.
She was conflicted with unfamiliar tender feelings and jealousy she had never felt in her life.
Three carriages and the emperor on horseback with his knights slowly moved away. She hated Patricia.
After crying until she felt relieved, she regained her usual coldness and went to the library in Notos Palace. No matter how much she searched, there were no romance novels like the ones Isabella and Julia read in the library.
With no choice, she took out several books with thoughts on love and philosophical approaches, had a maid carry them, and came down the spiral staircase.
When passing by the Minerva statue in the garden, she met Eva who had come to clean the palace.
“I greet Your Highness the Karsic Princess, I am Eva, a maid from Tane.”
“Hmm, I came to find a book in the library. Can you give me a cup of tea?”
Carolina was surprised that the maid from Tane recognized her, but thinking about it, there was nothing to be surprised about.
Seeing how she had followed from Tane and endured until now, there must be a strong bond and inside story.
Such a maid must have closely examined the faces of the three sisters-in-law. She might even have heard rumors about His Highness Patrick.
Maybe it’s for the best.
Carolina briefly recalled her mother’s words to maintain a princess’s dignity while drinking tea with Eva, but she blurted out the questions that came up without filtering.
She somewhat satisfied her curiosity and questions.
She said the empress had been confined in the West Tower from birth because she was a female twin. If Patrick had been a healthy male child, she would have been mercilessly killed.
Moreover, when she heard that as a young girl, she learned swordsmanship and went to the battlefield in armor by the emperor’s order, Carolina was also choked up.
The jealousy and hatred that had been complicating her mind slowly subsided. When she left Notos Palace, she felt pity for Patricia’s harsh fate.
Then, upon hearing the news that she had lost her memory due to a poisoned arrow, she sincerely worried and came up with the idea of the transcribed love sonnets.
*
In the end, Patricia read all 20 sonnets. Patricia was also inwardly surprised that Carolina had maintained her straight posture without moving while drinking tea all this time.
“Lady Carolina. Thank you again. I’ll cherish it.”
“Yes, Your Majesty. But about His Highness Patrick’s letter…”
“Oh my, I was so captivated by the gift that I forgot. Just a moment.”
Patricia brought Patrick’s letter from the console.
“Patrick is planning something. That’s probably why he came all the way to Torun for my honeymoon.”
“Ah, is that… so?”
“Yes. According to my maid Annie, Patrick went somewhere else for two days in Torun to take care of some business.”
Carolina felt as if Patricia’s words, whether intentional or not, had touched the spot that was aching with jealousy.
‘This empress, somehow I like her.’
“Before parting at Pana Castle, he taught me how to exchange letters by eagle. This came by that eagle.
But while I sent my letter folded, Lady Carolina’s letter is sealed like this. Patrick seems to have a bit of a sly side.”
Patricia gave the rolled-up letter to Carolina. Carolina received the letter, placed it on her lap, and took off her lace gloves. Even then, she didn’t open the letter. She was clearly hesitating.
She wants to read it alone, I see.
“Lady Carolina. Please read comfortably. I’ll step out for a moment.”
“Ah, yes.”
Patricia left the reception room and walked down the corridor, thinking of taking a stroll in the garden. Just before turning the corner, she heard the giggling laughter of maids. She unknowingly stopped in her tracks.
“The foolish empress, indeed.”
“She has such thick hair. It was all messy. And she didn’t even button up her nightgown properly.”
“That’s right, she was hugging and touching that huge eagle.”
“I saw Lady Anna pinching her own waist, probably trying hard not to laugh.”
“Ah, so what happened? What was the eagle?”
“The skinny maid from Tane barely managed to lead her to the reception room.”
“Ah, what did that maid do wrong? Coming all this way just to clean up after the foolish empress.”
Patricia leaned against the corridor wall.
Just because she lost her memory doesn’t mean she’s really a fool. Doesn’t the head maid control the maids’ mouths? Or do they speak so carelessly?
Patricia peeled herself off the wall and walked towards the source of the voices.
When the male lead is punished by carrying the female lead’s child and having periods like a woman
“I’ve given birth to two children for you, yet you still think about him.
Was I nothing but his substitute to you from beginning to end?”
Synopsis:
Meng Huan, a scumbag who has dated countless girlfriends, transmigrates to a female-dominated country.
Day 1: Whether it’s female dominance or not doesn’t matter. The beauties here are passionate and amorous. Isn’t it easier to date them than in modern times?
Day 2: After a night, Meng Huan discovers the differences in the female-dominated world. Men here actually have chastity locks and menstrual cycles. This hinders his ability to perform, damn it!
Day 3: What’s wrong with sleeping around? I don’t want you to marry me. I’m meant to be a playboy. I don’t care about male virtues… What? You want to drown me in a pig cage? Marry, I’ll marry!
Day N: Meng Huan inexplicably vomits and receives the shocking news of his life… He’s pregnant.
_____
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