Chapter Two Hundred and Thirty-Nine: In the Palm of Her Hand
“Do you see that rose garden?”
“Yes.”
She was led out to the royal palace gardens. The Ehlertt Earldom’s gardens had been magnificent too, but as expected of the royal palace, the gardens were vast, yet meticulously maintained. Within a flower field of brilliantly blooming crimson roses, there was a small palace buried as if hidden among them.
A wind carrying a rich, sweet fragrance drifted to where Karen stood.
“That is called the Rose Palace. Do you know about that garden?”
“I feel like I’ve heard of it… But I can’t remember.”
“That is the palace of a poisonous woman.”
At the ominous word "poisonous woman," Karen straightened her back but couldn’t help thinking of one particular person. The First Consort, Benedicta.
“The poisonous woman lives in the Rose Palace. That garden is a rose garden that the poisonous woman tends with great care.”
She recalled that when Isaac had tried to pin false charges on her, Benedicta—the consort behind it—had been placed under house arrest by the king. The Rose Palace had come up at that time.
With unreadable eyes, the queen looked at the small palace buried in roses and spoke:
“I don’t know how she’s raising them, but the fragrance grows richer and sweeter each year. Even from here, the scent is this sweet. If you entered the garden, it would be filled with such a suffocating rose fragrance that you couldn’t even breathe. However, His Majesty’s nose seems to have grown accustomed to it. Lately, he apparently no longer even feels it’s strange. What about you?”
“From here, I just think it’s a very sweet fragrance.”
It must have a high aromatic component content. Karen thought it could probably be used for various things like perfume and potpourri, but since the queen’s tone regarding the rose garden was clearly critical, she didn’t say it aloud.
“Then, let us go inside.”
Ordering her ladies-in-waiting and court ladies, the queen entered the garden. As Karen followed after her, she looked around.
“Um, the First Consort is here, correct?”
It was none other than Karen who had thwarted the scheme in the dungeon that probably involved Benedicta. If they met, it wouldn’t end with just snide remarks. The queen glanced down at the anxious Karen.
“Rest assured. Today, the poisonous woman is not here. She has apparently gone riding with His Majesty.”
The queen said this calmly. Even though her husband had gone on a date with a woman other than herself, Karen found it unbelievable that she could remain so calm. If this were the norm among nobles and royalty, Karen would definitely be unable to live in noble society.
“In the Royal Guard, children of nobles that poisonous woman has carefully corrupted have infiltrated with His Majesty’s permission. His Majesty said that, too, is a trial, but recently that poisonous woman has finally corrupted even my son. According to His Majesty, my son could not overcome the trial.”
Karen guessed this was about Boromias, but of course, she kept silent. The queen continued advancing toward the small palace at the center of the rose garden. Just as the queen had said beforehand, the rose fragrance grew increasingly concentrated. It was a sweet scent that clung thickly to the lungs.
Just from breathing, Karen choked and couldn’t help coughing.
“Cough, s-sorry.”
“It matters not. —And so, my children are now fighting over succession rights to the throne of the Kingdom of Earthfill.”
“I-I see.”
Karen gave a perfunctory response while suppressing her cough. She didn’t understand why she was being told such things, and honestly speaking, she wasn’t interested. Karen was a commoner, and to commoners, rulers were people who had changed before you knew it, and even when they changed, it had nothing to do with you. Their policies certainly affected your life, but since you didn’t even hear about those policies in the first place, there was no real sense of it.
Having memories of her past life, Karen had some interest in politics. However, at her core, she believed that if the country adopted policies too harmful to you, you could simply leave. This was probably less from her past life’s way of thinking and more from the adventurer teachings she had received from her father.
When they reached the front of the Rose Palace, not only Karen but the ladies-in-waiting also seemed to be breathing with difficulty, and the queen covered her mouth with a handkerchief.
“It smells like completely rotten fruit. What kind of cultivation could drive roses to such madness… do you not think so?”
Saying this, the queen turned her back on the Rose Palace and began walking toward the garden exit. Karen felt she might vomit if she opened her mouth, and could not reply.
“Truly, this is not the time for siblings to be fighting. Our enemy to fight should always be monsters and the dungeon. Without that, we cannot maintain the territory of our kingdom.”
“You’re right.”
Karen answered while pinching her nose, but no one reproached her.
“And yet that poisonous woman uses the power given to her to rot and weaken this country from the inside for her own desires… As one raised by an adventurer, do you not find it detestable when those with power hinder others for their own selfish aims?”
“Yes… That’s right. It’s a way of doing things that adventurers hate. I don’t like it either.”
If you envied the strong, you should become stronger. If you envied those who surpassed the tenth dungeon floor, you should surpass the eleventh floor—that was the way of thinking. Someone who could only reach the ninth floor had no right to envy and harm someone who reached the tenth.
It was exactly the same method Isaac had used when he tried to frame Karen. Perhaps Benedicta had incited him to do it?
The queen left the rose garden, and Karen, with everyone, followed after. She immediately took a deep breath, but whether from the rose fragrance clinging to her body or from the nearby rose garden, Karen felt nauseous.
Even though when she had smelled it from outside, it had seemed like a pleasant fragrance.
“His Majesty overlooks that woman’s actions, deeming them trials. Because of this, you may continue to suffer in the future. I have no authority to stop it. However, even if it is His Majesty’s will, let me state clearly here that it differs from my will. If you are oppressed due to that woman’s power, rely on me. Though His Majesty has stripped me of authority, there may be ways I can help.”
“Th-Thank you very much.”
To the king, Benedicta was someone who gave trials to his children. Did he desire children who could overcome those trials? Or was it all just a pretext, and he was merely infatuated with the young and beautiful Benedicta?
The fact that the queen was making this offer might mean that Karen’s words hadn’t displeased her.
“Those who possess authority, magical power, and strength yet use them solely for their own pleasure, giving nothing back to the society that grants them everything—and those in power who indulge and protect such indolent people, granting them special treatment—commoners like you despise such people, do you not?”
“Well, yes.”
Karen smiled wryly as she thought of the royal guards. The royal guards who had been "corrupted" by Benedicta. And Boromias, who was being drawn into their ranks after his failure was exploited. Benedicta was a common enemy of both Karen and the queen.
Karen had thought that facing a shared enemy might make the queen overlook certain things—but that assumption was wrong.
“I believe Waltride is precisely such an indolent person.”
“Ah…”
Karen had thought they were talking about the royal guards, but apparently, the queen had been talking about Waltride. Waltride possessed both authority and magical power. It was not that she lacked the desire to work hard for those who supported her. However, she ran away because she was afraid and didn’t want to fight.
The king indulged and forgave such a Waltride. That might be the same structure as the royal guards being indulged by Benedicta.
If even the queen had permitted Waltride’s indulgence, what would the other people think—never mind Karen, but the commoners who weren’t allowed to live unless they had ability and exercised that ability? How should the queen conduct herself before such people?
Was the reason she criticized her daughter in front of Karen really…
“As a mother, I cannot help but feel a kind of admiration that a person of ability like you would call Waltride a friend and defend her.”
Karen gasped, and the queen looked down at her from about the same height as Waltride.
“However, if you wish for that foolish daughter Waltride to become the next monarch, as queen, I cannot help but oppose it.”
“I absolutely don’t wish for that at all, so please rest assured. I think Lady Waltride becoming a ruler would be absolutely impossible. I think she herself doesn’t want to become it at all either.”
The queen’s expression twisted ever so slightly at Karen’s words, which should have been what she wanted to hear. If Karen’s assessment wasn’t wrong, it looked like a bitter expression.
“…You truly do seem to be a friend who knows my daughter well.”
Karen couldn’t tell whether this was a mere performance for Karen, who had called Waltride her friend. It felt like words laden with complex emotions—both as a mother and as a queen—and in the end, Karen could not bring herself to dislike the queen.
No comments:
Post a Comment