ITIF Chapter 52

The Full Story

The inner garden of the imperial palace was filled with flowers in full bloom.

A bee that had burrowed between the lusciously bloomed deep pink petals collected nectar and immediately flew up into the sky with a buzz.

Next to it, a walking path was prepared so that one could fully appreciate the most beautiful moments of the flowers.

The Empress, who had just finished lunch a little while ago, was walking along the path with her ladies-in-waiting before returning to her office.

Their chattering appearance was ordinary and the same as always.

But somehow today, it was difficult to shake off the sense of unease.

‘Something is strange…’

This didn’t apply only to the ladies-in-waiting and Count Court Anwarz.

Wherever she went, being followed by gazes was part of the Empress’s life.

However, she felt gazes that were different in nature from the usual reverence, respect, and admiration that always followed her.

The ladies-in-waiting, who already prioritized the Empress’s mood and health above all else, showed a particularly cautious tendency today.

It was when the Empress was staring intently at the faces of the ladies-in-waiting she was conversing with.

She felt a gaze from somewhere. She quickly turned her head.

“……!”

It seemed she had caught someone peeping.

When the Empress looked, a maid who had been staring at her until just moments ago hastily averted her gaze.

Usually, the Empress would have resolved matters with the help of her ladies-in-waiting, but today her legs moved first.

When the Empress approached her, the maid, who had been unable to do anything but roll her eyes around, soon bowed her head deeply.

“You seemed to be having an enjoyable conversation. Could you tell me that story as well?”

“…….”

“What were you talking about just now?”

“Th, that is…….”

The maid, terrified, glanced sideways at Marchioness Latse.

Seeing her checking Marchioness Latse’s reaction, the Empress’s mood became a little more uncomfortable.

The highest person in this imperial palace was her. Not Marchioness Latse.

The Empress glared at Marchioness Latse with sharp eyes.

Marchioness Latse, who had flinched and trembled at those eyes, soon spoke with a resigned expression.

“Tell Her Majesty the Empress the truth.”

The maid, who had been moving her lips for a moment, soon stammered out her words.

“We… were talking about His Highness the Crown Prince’s dependable and manly appearance. Of course, we know that lowly ones like us shouldn’t dare speak of such a person, but our admiration runs so deep…….”

The maid’s explanation continued at length.

Since it was mostly praise toward the Crown Prince, the Empress could nod and listen reasonably well.

However, several words repeatedly mentioned by the maid upset the Empress.

“While praising His Highness the Crown Prince’s powerful masculinity, we discovered Your Majesty the Empress’s figure from behind and were so delighted…….”

While the maid continued to recite words of praise for Joshua, the Empress fell into thought.

‘Masculine and rough?’

The reason the Empress focused particularly on those words was that they didn’t match at all with the image of Joshua she had tried to instill in the public.

The public already looked up to Joshua simply because he was royalty.

However, there were quite a few nobles who harbored dissatisfaction with the current Emperor and were biding their time, and it was impossible to completely eliminate the critical gazes that condemned him as an emperor who ascended to the throne after patricide.

For this reason, the Empress had tried to overlay Joshua with an image as opposite as possible to what the Emperor possessed.

Since Joshua was also a young man, there would be nothing wrong with giving him a masculine image of being robust or such.

However, Joshua must not leave the impression of being a tyrant.

The Empress, who read from the maid’s continued words that there was a firmly embedded perception that Joshua was self-indulgent, cut off the maid’s words.

“Wait.”

“……Yes, Your Majesty the Empress.”

“How long have you worked in the imperial palace?”

“It’s been about 2 years and 3 months now.”

“Then what kind of work have you done in the imperial palace during that time?”

The maid said she had been in charge of miscellaneous tasks such as the laundry room and cleaning the imperial palace, and during this imperial palace ball, she had served guests in the banquet hall.

The Empress looked at the maid with narrowed eyes.

‘It doesn’t seem like she’s just repeating rumors she heard……’

The Empress couldn’t shake the feeling that this maid had directly observed Joshua up close and then conveyed her impressions.

‘But where……?’

The Empress immediately voiced her rising question.

“Which area were you in charge of on the day of the imperial palace ball?”

“The terrace…… Your Majesty.”

“The terrace…….”

The Empress rolled the word around as if savoring it.

On the day of the imperial palace ball, she had handed Joshua a list of Crown Princess candidates.

She told him to spend some time with the young ladies on the list and observe them.

The banquet hall was too noisy for deep conversations, and it was somewhat dangerous for an unmarried man and woman to be alone together. Strange rumors might spread.

So the terrace was perfectly suitable as an outdoor place where two people could quietly converse alone.

She had already advised Joshua to lead the young ladies on the list to the terrace, and coincidentally, this maid had been in charge of the terrace that day.

The Empress thought this maid might have seen something she shouldn’t have seen.

Providing chamber maids to young men before marriage was common in noble society.

This was to ensure they could treat their wives’ bodies preciously by experiencing a woman’s body in advance.

After the investiture ceremony, the Empress had provided Joshua with several chamber maids.

Joshua quickly became absorbed in nighttime activities with the chamber maids.

As the occasions repeated, he realized that intimate and secret contact with the opposite sex could sometimes give greater satisfaction to some people, and sometimes not.

So she was slightly suspicious.

On the day of the imperial palace ball, there would have been only Joshua and one of the young ladies from the list alone on the terrace. Natural physical contact would likely have occurred to some degree.

Especially since he was at an age full of vigor.

The fact that someone followed them to the terrace was also proof that the young lady in question had Joshua on her mind to some extent.

So the Empress thought Joshua had intimate physical contact with one of the young ladies, and the maid had seen it.

“Don’t tell me, were you peeping?”

“……Pardon?”

“I asked if you were peeping when the Crown Prince and the young lady were alone together.”

“……No, no I wasn’t.”

When the maid shook her head quickly, Marchioness Latse shouted.

“It would be better to tell the truth!”

“His Highness the Crown Prince…… I did see him removing Duke Cardia’s clothes…….”

“What? Duke?”

The Empress frowned and looked at the ladies-in-waiting with an expression asking what this was about.

They were hanging their heads low with their gazes downcast as if they were criminals.

“Marchioness Latse.”

The Empress spoke slowly.

Marchioness Latse stepped forward from among the ladies-in-waiting who were lined up in a row.

“Yes, Your Majesty the Empress.”

“Explain properly.”

Only then did Marchioness Latse reveal the truth about the night of the imperial palace ball that she had been hiding from the Empress.

That Joshua had forcibly torn Duke Cardia’s clothes on the terrace and tried to assault him.

Since there were quite a few people who witnessed that scene at the time, Count Court Anwarz, who learned of the situation, quickly moved to handle it, but the situation had grown beyond control.

The ladies-in-waiting knew well that this matter would soon reach the Empress’s ears. However, the reason they didn’t report the facts to the Empress first was simple.

“Your Majesty the Empress…… what shall we do?”

Marchioness Latse said while gesturing toward the maid with her eyes.

“I trust you’ll handle it well on your own.”

The Empress only said those words and turned toward the imperial palace.

The Empress’s words lacked a subject.

But the Empress’s ladies-in-waiting knew how to handle things well on their own.

Marchioness Latse, who was watching the Empress’s figure already distant, immediately signaled to the knights with her eyes.

Soon the knights, understanding Marchioness Latse’s intention, grabbed the maid’s arms from both sides.

“Why, why are you doing this! What did I do wrong……!”

The maid struggled and shouted toward Marchioness Latse.

“You were just unlucky.”

Marchioness Latse left those brief words and followed after the Empress who had already gone far.

Sobbing screams could be heard from behind, but Marchioness Latse paid no attention and walked while staring straight ahead.

The incident on the terrace during the imperial palace ball was like a bolt from the blue for Marchioness Latse and the other ladies-in-waiting of the Empress.

Count Court Anwarz, who had first received reports about the terrace situation that day, asked Joshua what had happened.

At that time, Joshua jumped up and down, saying it was all something Duke Cardia had orchestrated, and that he had done nothing wrong.

He even said there was one more person on that terrace besides Duke Cardia. Lady Amaterasu.

But the problem was that there were no witnesses to prove that fact.

The testimonies of the knights who had been guarding the front of the terrace that day were also inconsistent.

They said they saw Lady Amaterasu enter the terrace, but didn’t see her come out. They said they didn’t see Duke Cardia entering the terrace.

In addition, the two people’s opinions differed slightly in various ways.

Perhaps there might have been confusion in their memories due to the chaotic situation at the time.

Moreover, those knights reeked of alcohol so strongly that it couldn’t be hidden.

Marchioness Latse judged that they had been drinking during their duties, causing them to neglect the situation, and quick handling would have been difficult as well.

So she immediately stripped them of their knighthood.

And making the incident the Crown Prince had caused disappear without a trace was, as always, the ladies-in-waiting’s responsibility.

The Empress, unaware of all the running around they had done to clean up the mess, would only judge based on the results.