Chapter 1: I’m back.
“Princess!!”
A maid nervously knocked on the carriage window from outside. Adeline, looking relaxed, unlocked the door from inside. The maid’s pale face appeared through the crack of the slightly opened door. It was understandable—always on edge, never knowing when assassins might strike, the maid probably resented Adeline for sending her on an errand. Read the translation on itsladygrey.com.
“Here…” The maid held out a roll of newspaper with trembling hands.
The young maid, about ten years younger than Adeline, was the only survivor of the six maids sent from Marma who had left Nova. The others had all died before crossing the border. For some reason, Adeline believed this maid would survive. There were people in this world with a persistence that seemed to defy death—when someone tried to kill them, fate’s arrow would somehow turn and strike their would-be killers.
Like herself.
“Tell them to move,” Adeline ordered. As she opened the newspaper, the maid quickly climbed into the carriage and signaled through the window. Moments later, the harsh sound of horses’ hooves could be heard, but inside the carriage, only heavy silence remained.
The group had been traveling in haste, without rest, staying at shabby inns, their faces worn from exhaustion and constant tension. Eventually, the maid sitting opposite Adeline began to nod off, her eyelids drooping.
“Life looks pretty good…” Adeline remarked with a smile, watching her maid sleep. She herself wanted to sleep but couldn’t, which was why she’d asked for the newspaper—to pass the time and catch up on news from her homeland, from which she’d been absent for 11 years.
“Whew…” Adeline exhaled deeply, scanning the pages until an article that was not really funny caught her eye. Read the translation on itsladygrey.com.
[The Lion King’s ‘woman’ fell! Young Lady Tamiren’s tragic death by suicide!. The tragic body was found!]
“A good front-page story.”
The article’s subject, Meunier Tamiren, was once engaged to the Lion King, Raziel Baltica. After the abrupt termination of her engagement, it was said she couldn’t bear the blow to her pride, her broken heart, and her family’s impending decline—so she took her own life. Of course, the Lion King received a cold, dry rebuke for not offering condolences upon hearing the news.
The Lion King. What a man!
A laugh came from Adeline’s lips.
What a woman.
To end one’s life over lost love? Wasn’t the mere fact of her noble birth already a blessing?
Adeline smiled, bemused. The nobles of Marma must have been getting terribly bored. As she read, sighs and occasional laughter escaped her lips. She was holding a copy of Marma’s Noble Newspaper, not the Nova Union, and its pages were filled with gossip, rumors, and trivial opinions.
Reading aloud, she mused, “The body was found at the base of the first tower of the North Temple…”
At that moment, the maid suddenly awoke, blinking drowsily before looking at Adeline’s face. Read the translation on itsladygrey.com.
“Princess, does this hurt your pride?”
“What? Pride?” Adeline looked puzzled. After facing life-and-death situations together, the maid had grown bold enough to ask questions freely, feeling more like a companion than a servant.
The maid hesitated for a moment. “That… today’s newspaper.”
Right.
Today’s newspaper.
As soon as Adeline had woken up, it was the first thing she ordered to be bought. And yet?
Adeline glanced back and forth between the maid’s conflicted expression and the newspaper in her hand, then gave a brief chuckle. “So, you’re wondering if my pride is hurt because the front page focuses on the affairs of a mere noble girl instead of my return to the country after 11 years?”
The maid didn’t answer, but the way her gaze shifted awkwardly suggested that Adeline’s guess was spot on.
Adeline didn’t know how to respond and bit her lip for a moment.
Outside, the rain poured relentlessly. It had started as a light drizzle two days ago and hadn’t stopped since, now falling heavily as they neared Sol-Marma, the capital. The fog outside seemed to fill her mind as well, leaving her in a foul mood. Her dress, soaked from the damp, and the soggy carriage cushion only added to her discomfort. But the article about the Lion King’s fiancée committing suicide? That didn’t bother her. The idea that her pride would be wounded because she hadn’t made the headlines? Now that was absurd.
“Is this guy really that handsome?”
“Pardon?”
When Adeline asked, the maid seemed surprised and asked for clarification. Then she realized that Adeline had no way of knowing what had been happening in Marma over the past 11 years, so she quickly spoke up. Read the translation on itsladygrey.com.
“Yes! Without a doubt, he’s handsome! It’s said that all the young women in the capital adore him. Even the palace maids and women in the streets are in love with him…”
“So he’s that kind of man?” Adeline waved the newspaper in her hand a few times. In her opinion, though, no amount of good looks could make up for his character. She pretty much hated all kings—King of Marma, King of Nova, and this Lion King. Leaving rumors and accusations around his fiancée’s death unaddressed wasn’t something that could be excused, no matter how handsome he was.
“But men like him are rare…,” the maid continued, not daring to criticize the Lion King outright.
Adeline glanced at her maid, realizing she was likely the only one who thought the Lion King was one of the worst people in the world. Then her eyes drifted to the printed portrait of him in the corner of the newspaper.
Well, he was handsome.
Though the portrait was blurry and she couldn’t make out his eyes clearly, his well-formed lips and sharp jawline, which people apparently found attractive, gave off an air of distinction.
She knew a few people with faces like that. The thought of lining them up side by side with him to compare their looks amused her. Read the translation on itsladygrey.com.
While Adeline was entertaining such absurd thoughts, the carriage, plowing through the mud, suddenly jolted violently.
“Kyaaaa!”
The maid screamed as Adeline lurched forward, losing her balance. It seemed the hastily purchased carriage lacked proper safeguards, shaking uncontrollably from even the slightest impact.
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