Beneath the Surviving Princess's Joyful Facade - Chapter 19

“Uh, yes, of course…”

His right-hand man, Cullen, hurriedly left the room. Once the door was closed, Eirik asked directly, “I’ve heard that the first night can be very painful for women. Is there a way to make it less painful and quick?”

“Well, actually…”

Bahrain, who was a symbol of fertility within the order, scratched his head awkwardly.

“Uh, rushing it might actually make it more painful.”

“What do you mean?”

“I mean, in the beginning, a woman’s body… well, certain parts of her body need…”

Bahrain struggled, sweating, to explain without using any inappropriate words. It was a difficult topic, especially concerning the wife of his commander.

The conversation, which started awkwardly, gradually became more detailed. Eirik wasn’t unfamiliar with the content. He remembered the crude jokes from the mercenaries when he was a squire.

He listened calmly, as he usually did, imagining the topic was about someone else.

“…if you take your time and do various things, at some point, her body will respond. Young madam’s body, I mean.”

“Oh.”

Eirik’s face darkened at the mention of his wife, Miesa, as the subject of such acts. It felt wrong to even consider doing such things to someone who didn’t even understand what a voice change was.

He rubbed his forehead, noticing Bahrain’s nervous look.

Bahrain quickly added, “I don’t mean you have to do all of this in one night—”

“I understand.”

“Even just preparing her lower part well with your hands can prevent any injury.”

“Got it. You can leave now.”

Eirik rubbed his temples as Bahrain, looking apologetic, stood up to leave.

Rumor has it that Young Madam behaves oddly due to her unclear mind. A normal man wouldn’t have any desire for such a woman.

At that moment, Miesa was enduring an unpleasant time.

“Nothing happened last night, either.”

“The bed sheets are only wrinkled at the very edges. Looks like they didn’t even touch each other.”

“Well, anyway, these days… no, never mind.”

The Pointy hesitated mid-sentence and absentmindedly touched her hair, remembering how Miesa had grabbed it two days ago. If she quickly denied whatever thought crossed her mind just now, what had she been about to say?

‘Well, anyway, these days… no, <since she grabbed my hair a few days ago> never mind.’

It wasn’t hard to guess the omitted words. Pretending to stare into space, Miesa’s mind raced. The obsessive tendencies built up over ten years were sounding an alarm. Today, she had to do something, or she might draw suspicion.

The Big lifted her up to dress her. Miesa stood quietly, observing their expressions.

“Are you meeting them today?”

The Big asked the Pointy as she roughly dressed Miesa.

“No, tomorrow.”

“What are they bringing me this time? I mean, what’s with the three pillars of the kingdom?”

“……”

“The people here have no backbone. We dress her up like this, and they still treat her so well. That other family is too cautious to the point of…”

The Big grumbled, but the Pointy didn’t respond, seemingly deep in thought.

Miesa chuckled to herself as she processed their conversation. One pillar is this house, the other pillars are elsewhere, and what exactly are they supposed to fetch?

“How long do we have to stay here? I thought this would be over quickly.”

The ‘overly cautious’ family would ‘bring’ something, and then the thing that was supposed to be ‘over quickly’ would be completed, and these maids would leave.

I don’t feel good.

Unfortunately, their conversation ended there. They seemed wary of someone passing by outside.

If there was nothing more to learn, it was time for the next step. Miesa suddenly twisted her body and started to stagger, prompting the Big to grab her arm and shake her.

“Can’t even stand properly, you worthless…”

She swore, and her grip hurt. But the Big was useful, and Miesa didn’t miss her chance.

“Ahhhhh!”

She screamed loudly, breaking free from her grip and ran out of the room, her clothes half-hanging off her shoulder.

Miesa bolted down the hallway without hesitation.

“Oh my, what’s happening?”

A quick glance showed two maids witnessing the scene. Perfect. Now, the stairs—

Uh-oh. Someone was coming up the stairs. An unexpected obstacle. She kept running without slowing down.

“Young madam! Young madam!!”

The shouts of the maids grew distant as Miesa reached the fourth-to-last room. Luckily, it was open and empty, just as she had noted during her earlier explorations.

Unhindered, she headed straight for the balcony. Standing on the railing, she saw a flowerbed below that could cushion her fall.

The Hirais flowers were sturdy enough for plants, not as hard as wood, making them ideal for her plan.

“Hahaha!”

She laughed loudly so everyone could hear and jumped without hesitation.

By the time Eirik arrived at the bedroom with the doctor, the scene was utter chaos.

“Is it so hard to take care of her without getting her hurt in such a short time?”

The Margravine Cladnier’s constant berating had left the royal maids, who were usually haughty, looking ashen.

“All day they laze around, insisting on dressing and washing her themselves.”

As Eirik walked briskly toward her, his mother continued without noticing him.

“If they came to watch over her, they should just watch, not pretend to take care of her—”

“Mother.”

Only then did the Margravine Cladnier realize Eirik had arrived. She turned to face him and momentarily forgot what she was about to say, taken aback by the fierce look on his face.

The barely suppressed anger in his eyes brought her to her senses.

“You’re here.”

The royal maids, who had already been scolded by the Margravine, had desperately awaited the more rational heir. But upon seeing his expression, they realized how mistaken they were.

He didn’t frown or raise his voice. He simply looked down at them, and the air itself seemed to freeze.

“Well, what happened was…”

Mrs. Dialle began to stammer an explanation, and Mrs. Maleca stood anxiously, but Eirik didn’t give them much time.

He walked straight to the bed and examined Miesa, who lay there with her eyes closed. The room fell silent as if time itself had stopped.

Once Eirik confirmed that Miesa’s condition wasn’t severe, he turned his gaze to the others in the room. Though he said nothing, the royal maids felt a chill run down their spines.

“Prepare to examine her,” he ordered the doctor from the knight order. The doctor quickly unpacked his kit.

Eirik turned his head and spoke in a calm, even tone, “It seems prudent to assign one of our maids to attend to her from now on.”

The faces of the two royal maids twisted in displeasure, but they had no choice but to nod.

“Edil, go to the palace with Mrs. Maleca. An incident occurred within the household, so we must report it to His Majesty.”

With precise orders, Eirik pointed to the door. “Everyone else, leave now.”

At his command, everyone hastily filed out, like a receding tide, except for the Margravine Cladnier.

She approached her son, shaking her head, and whispered in a low voice, “Who knew it would be so difficult to accommodate the incompetence of others?”

Eirik didn’t respond. However, he noticed a sly smile slowly forming on his mother’s face.

“They need to be torn apart to learn their lesson, don’t you think?”

With that single sentence, Eirik realized that something was seriously wrong with his mother. In fact, he had sensed it when she began to lash out uncharacteristically at the royal maids.

The spring before the war took him away from the estate, it was the eve of his younger sister Rosier’s tenth birthday.

On that fateful day, the little girl had ventured into the forest alone to pick flowers, without her nanny. A drunken knight, not paying attention to his surroundings, rode his horse recklessly.

Rosier was gravely injured and did not survive the night.

The knight who caused the incident, and the stablehand who provided the horse, also did not survive the night. The problem was that the executions did not end with them. Margravine Cladnier extended the same punishment to their entire families, including elderly parents and young children.

When the Margrave returned from a brief absence and criticized his wife’s excessive actions, it drove a permanent wedge between them.

And today, his mother was on the verge of losing her reason just like back then.

His mother’s projection of her deceased daughter onto Miesa was crossing the line. He couldn’t understand why. If it was merely a matter of having similar eye colors, his cousin Emmerich also has blue eyes. But his mother never treated Emmerich specially. She had never lost her reason over anyone, not even her own son, Eirik.

Nonetheless, now he felt it was right to exclude his mother from this matter. If his mother learned of Miesa’s mistreatment at the palace, her wrath might turn toward the king.