ITIF Chapter 53

Tailed

If what happened on the terrace during the imperial ball reached the Empress’s ears, someone would surely have to take responsibility.

Therefore, the ladies-in-waiting had agreed to make whoever first informed the Empress that the Crown Prince was a homosexual the target of the Empress’s wrath.

They would offer a sacrifice to the Empress first, and then accept their own punishment afterward.

Who could have known?

That the Crown Prince was a homosexual, and moreover, that he had feelings for Duke Cardia…

Even thinking about it again, it was an utterly absurd situation.

Marchioness Latse shook her head repeatedly as she walked quickly.

****

News quickly spread that several maids in the imperial palace had been brutally killed for speaking carelessly.

“The imperial palace is truly a terrifying place. If I had worked there, I think nine lives wouldn’t have been enough for me.”

Lindsey criticized the Empress, calling her a heartless person.

The imperial palace had always been a place where even minor mistakes resulted in severe punishment.

But this time was definitely excessive.

‘It’s a warning from the Empress.’

Giselle Grante was certain.

It was a kind of threatening example, warning that anyone who carelessly gossiped about what happened on the terrace would meet the same fate.

And any noble with some sense would have understood.

The empire’s newspapers, which until yesterday had been eagerly churning out articles related to the Crown Prince, were today filled with different stories.

Giselle Grante folded the newspaper she had been reading and placed it on the table, saying:

“Lindsey, you’re doing well enough.”

“…I’m doing well?”

Lindsey blinked, looking surprised to hear such encouragement, and asked back.

Giselle Grante nodded and added:

“Of course. So you can have plenty of confidence in yourself.”

“Thank you, Miss. I’ll work even harder from now on!”

Passing by the brightly smiling Lindsey, Giselle Grante’s gaze turned toward the window.

Watching this, Lindsey asked:

“You’ve been staring out the window for a while now. Is someone coming to the mansion today?”

“I ordered something and I’m eager to receive it.”

“Ah… Then shall I go to the Radcliffe Trading Company to pick up the item?”

Perhaps due to the praise from earlier, Lindsey was burning with loyalty.

Giselle Grante chuckled softly and slowly shook her head.

“It’s fine. You don’t need to do that.”

There were many other nobles besides her who had begun dealing with the Radcliffe Trading Company. So even if Lindsey visited the trading company, it wouldn’t be much of a problem.

But she wanted to be as careful as possible.

She had been lucky to get a second chance at life, but she couldn’t guarantee there would be a third.

That’s why, even after the Empress realized someone was trying to oppose her, she had set up a proxy company head to make it difficult to find the connection between the Radcliffe Trading Company and Giselle Grante.

‘I hope she gets to feel it. What it’s like to throw punches at an invisible opponent.’

Just as she had felt in the past, she wanted the Empress to experience the same feeling.

And on the day her life ended, she hoped the Empress would finally realize that the invisible hand that had been slowly strangling her was hers.

That was what everything Giselle Grante was doing now was for.

Both drawing in Count Frederick and sharing information with other nobles through the Radcliffe Trading Company.

“Miss, someone from the Radcliffe Trading Company has arrived.”

Just then, a servant who entered the reception room handed her a parchment.

After checking the contents, Giselle Grante’s brow furrowed slightly.

“What’s wrong, Miss? Is there an error in the item list?”

Lindsey, who had been keenly observing her expression, asked.

“It’s not that… there’s just an item that concerns me a little.”

Giselle Grante immediately stood up.

“Tell them I need to revise the product list, so please wait a moment.”

After giving the servant this message, Giselle Grante headed straight to the study.

‘…Nothing’s gone wrong, has it?’

She had that thought for a moment, but figured it was probably unfounded worry.

‘Why is he suddenly asking to meet and talk in person…’

Trying to guess Count Frederick’s intentions from his coded message, Giselle Grante quickened her pace.

Count Frederick had recently approached Baron Cypress. His pretext was that he wanted to invest in Baron Cypress’s business.

Baron Cypress, who knew that Count Frederick had made large profits recently from Semper bulbs, was delighted by this. He would have had no reason to refuse.

When a high-ranking noble like Count Frederick was willing to associate with him.

Baron Cypress was originally a man who had wandered the back alleys of the imperial capital.

The fact that he, though only a baron, could become a noble was compensation for taking care of all the dirty work for the Empress and her family, the Antares.

Baron Cypress had not integrated well into noble society, and other nobles subtly mocked him.

It wasn’t because they knew he had risen from commoner to noble by choosing the right side.

It was simply because it showed. Those who had been nobles to their very bones had a knack for distinguishing those who were different from themselves.

Just because his name was listed in the imperial nobility register didn’t mean his rough speech habits and behavior from his back-alley origins could be changed overnight.

Baron Cypress was a noble, but a half-noble who couldn’t mix among nobles, and he wouldn’t have been able to refuse the hand of Count Frederick, who came from a prestigious family for generations.

‘I’ll find out what’s so urgent that he wants to meet in person when I see him.’

Arriving at the study, Giselle Grante wrote a message to be delivered to Count Frederick on parchment.

****

The square designated as the meeting place for the two was bustling with people.

People hurrying through, children at play, elderly people leisurely sitting on benches soaking up the sun, and merchants laying out goods on the ground and calling out loudly in their booming voices—all mixed together in confusion, but one could feel the vitality of it all.

Count Frederick wore slightly faded brown pants and a white shirt with suspenders over it, an outfit that blended perfectly with the square.

The clothes he was wearing had been bought from a blacksmith at Count Frederick’s estate who had a similar build.

[Sell me those clothes you’re wearing, just as they are.]

[…Pardon? You mean these?]

At Count Frederick’s words, the blacksmith Smith looked bewildered.

To him, they were as good as new, but the master wanted to buy clothes that would look like rags in his eyes.

Instead of adding an explanation, Count Frederick paid Smith for the clothes.

Smith, as if he had received a bonus, was greatly pleased and repeatedly bowed to Count Frederick.

The reason Count Frederick went through the trouble of disguising himself was because of Giselle Grante’s advice that direct meetings should be avoided if possible.

Count Frederick recalled Princess Trinity and pursed his lips bitterly.

In the past, when there was occasion to meet her outside the imperial palace, he had used this same method of contact. Of course, this time he had chosen a more wholesome meeting place than before.

Just then, he saw a woman slowly looking around and walking toward him.

She wore a solid-colored, plain dress that reached her ankles, with a headscarf and a cloth bag slung over her shoulder. Wild flowers were sticking out from between the cloth bags.

But her proper posture and gait, and her chin held slightly high with dignity, revealed that she was not a commoner.

“Your disguise is still clumsy.”

When Count Frederick approached and spoke to her, Giselle Grante bristled slightly and said:

“I was told I looked just like a young lady selling flowers on the street.”

“Who said that?”

When Count Frederick chuckled and asked, Giselle Grante pressed her lips together and frowned.

“…….”

Seeing her primly turn her gaze to the opposite side from him, Count Frederick once again saw Giselle Grante and Princess Trinity overlap.

Count Frederick, who had been staring intently at Giselle Grante, soon nodded to himself inwardly.

‘Well…’

Young ladies used to look up to Princess Trinity’s confident and dignified appearance.

After she appeared at the Empress’s tea party wearing form-fitting fencing practice clothes, riding attires sold like hotcakes at dress shops.

For young ladies who didn’t learn swordsmanship, wearing riding attires was the only way to wear pants.

Like that example, the clothes and accessories Princess Trinity wore led the fashion trends of the imperial capital’s social circles, and there were quite a few young ladies who imitated her attitude and way of speaking.

‘Lady Amaterasu must have greatly admired Princess Trinity too.’

Whether intentionally or not, behaviors that mimicked Princess Trinity must have emerged unconsciously.

Dismissing it as such, Count Frederick opened his mouth.

“Let’s walk and talk.”

“Very well.”

The two moved carefully to avoid bumping shoulders with the people in the square.

“Have you heard the news about the Crown Prince?”

“The good kind, or the bad kind?”

“It would be bad news for the Crown Prince’s side.”

Giselle Grante nodded.

“I know about it.”

She didn’t want to know, but she couldn’t help knowing. She had been there, and unlike the rumors, she had been the victim that day.

If Kavelaseth hadn’t readily stepped forward that day, she might now be desperately longing to freely step on the ground with her own two feet outside like this.

“It was the most unexpected news I’ve heard recently. The Empress seemed to have assigned several chamber maids to the Crown Prince, but who would have thought he was homosexual…”

Count Frederick stroked his chin with a worried expression. Giselle Grante stared at him and said:

“You don’t need to worry about that part, Count.”

Blinking and mulling over the meaning of her words, Count Frederick soon gave her a pointed look.

“Do you mean I shouldn’t worry because I’m not the Crown Prince’s type?”

Giselle Grante couldn’t understand Count Frederick’s startled reaction.

“Yes. Wouldn’t that be a good thing?”

Since she herself had twice not wanted to catch the Crown Prince’s eye, Giselle Grante spoke seriously.

“Well, that’s true, but…..However, Miss.”

Suddenly, Count Frederick’s eyes gleamed sharply.

“…?”

“It seems we’re being tailed.”