Beneath the Surviving Princess's Joyful Facade - Chapter 60

“By the way, young madam, have you ever had spots like this come up when you had a fever before?”

“No. Now that you mention it, I woke up in the middle of the night to get some water, and I saw red and blue spots on my arm.”

“Yes, the rash fortunately disappeared within two days, but has anything like this happened before?”

“I don’t know. I’ve had fevers a few times, but I don’t remember. No one ever told me about it.”

“That’s understandable.”

With a sigh, Gella resumed teaching Miesa the hand signals. Even she couldn’t remember all of them, so she had written them down.

“I secretly wrote this down, so make sure to look at it quickly and burn it. Hand signals shouldn’t be written down because of the risk of them being leaked.”

However, Miesa thought there was no risk since Gella’s handwriting was barely legible. Regardless, she nodded and learned the next signal.

“This means [Problem].”

Gella brought her hands together in a circle near her forehead.

“Think of it as a problem forming in your head that needs to be solved.”

Then she placed her crossed hands over her chest.

“This means [No Problem], as if your heart is at ease because there is no problem.”

As Miesa mimicked the actions, Gella quickly turned the pages of the paper she had brought.

“Now, let’s move on to injuries. Let’s see. If there are no injuries at all, use the [No Problem] signal from earlier. Then there are signals for [Minor], [Severe], and [Dead].”

The signal for ‘dead’ was a gesture of choking oneself. Miesa slowly followed along, prompting Gella to provide an example.

“Injuries are my expertise. For instance, if someone points to their arm and uses the [Severe] signal, I would ask, [Can use?] or [Can’t use?]. If the answer is [Can’t use], it means the arm is completely useless or severed.”

“What about this? What am I saying now?”

Miesa combined the [Problem] and [Severe] signals she had just learned, causing Gella to stifle her laughter.

“Actually, the signals for ‘problem’ and ‘severe’ can cause confusion if used incorrectly. Some knights prefer to stick to their exact meanings, to avoid miscommunication.”

“It means something, but it could lead to misunderstandings.”

“Exactly. Some people can be very particular and will find fault later if the signals are used incorrectly.”

At that moment, there was a knock on the door. Miesa quickly pulled the covers over herself and lay down, while Gella hastily shoved the paper with the hand signals into her clothes and grabbed a book from the nightstand before running to the door.

“Oh, madam, you’ve arrived.”

“Yes. Is Miesa asleep?”

Knowing the room was well soundproofed, Gella calmly replied.

“Yes. She falls asleep quickly when I read to her.”

“Good. I’ll stay for a couple of hours today, so you can go have a meal and rest.”

“Oh, I had breakfast in the next room while the young madam slept. I’m really fine…”

“Still, it’s hard without a break. Go on, I’ll call you when I need you.”

Reluctantly, Gella left, and the Margravine sat down next to Miesa and picked up a book.

“The Art of Conversation, I read this when I was young too.”

The Margravine found the first page and began reading in a clear voice.

The reading continued for quite some time. Occasionally, the Margravine interjected with her own thoughts, and by the time they had only read a tenth of the book, it was already lunchtime.

“―So, conversation is not done like this. The words in the book and reality are different. You have to read what the person in front of you wants and fears.”

With that, the Margravine closed the book and stood up. The maid who had come to inform them of lunch couldn’t understand the Margravine’s behavior.

The smell of alcohol lingering on his body had mostly dissipated by the afternoon. After a simple lunch, Eirik returned to the mansion.

After briefing his mother on the meeting with the head of the Salachez family, he ascended to the third floor, where Gella stood up to greet him.

“Young master, you’re back.”

Eirik had heard that Miesa was much better. He nodded and sat down beside the bed. Miesa also sat up to greet him.

“You’re back?”

“Are you feeling better?”

“Yes.”

During their brief exchange, Gella slowly backed away.

“Well, I’ll leave you two to talk—”

“Did you ask her about the spots?”

“Yes? Yes.”

“I don’t recall seeing them when I was in the palace. Maybe they appeared, and I just didn’t notice.”

Eirik nodded with a neutral expression at Miesa’s response.

“I see. Have you made any progress on that?”

Gella, who had been busy attending to Miesa and hadn’t made any progress, answered, “Unfortunately… no.”

“That’s fine. You didn’t have time.”

With that, Gella backed away further.

“Then, young master, young madam, call me if you need anything,” Gella said, signaling to Miesa with a hand gesture meaning “speak” before leaving the room.

Gathering her courage, Miesa began to speak. “If it’s alright with you, I’d like to explain what happened last time.”

“…Alright,” Eirik said, looking slightly surprised, then nodded calmly.

“Tilberg offered to take me away a few times, but I didn’t like it and found it burdensome,” Miesa said.

Following Gella’s advice, she made it clear she had no feelings for Tilberg.

“I never wanted to go with him. He was just someone who treated me well, so I was glad to see him,” she continued.

“I see,” Eirik said.

His face revealed no emotion, making it difficult to read his thoughts.

Miesa continued, “Since there were talks of marriage with him, I thought it would be disrespectful to tell you. That’s why I didn’t,” she explained.

“……”

“So, I didn’t want to tell you anything about him because he means nothing to me. That’s why I kept quiet when I first heard his name. A few days ago, I was scared because you seemed very angry. That’s all,” Miesa said.

After listening quietly for a long time, Eirik asked in a low voice, “Is that your answer?”

“…Yes,” Miesa replied.

“There are still some unclear points. For instance, the way you used the word ‘swindler,’ a term you didn’t seem to understand before. I remember you asking about its meaning a long time ago, as if you had been curious for a while,” he said, standing up with a bitter smile.

“Anyway, I understand. If that is your answer, then I will take it as such,” he said.

Then he rang the bell and summoned Gella, giving her a few instructions.

“Ventilate the room and open the curtains wide to let in more sunlight. Also, inform my mother to have some autumn clothes made for my wife.”

“Yes, I understand,” Gella replied.

“I will come again around this time tomorrow. Please rest well,” Eirik said before leaving the room.

As soon as the door closed, Gella eagerly asked, “Did you talk to him well?”

Miesa averted her gaze from Gella’s expectant eyes. She reluctantly nodded, but she could sense that Eirik’s reaction was not the same as before.

Despite having plenty of time before the planned visit from the Marquis of Crispin, Eirik did not want to stay in the bedroom any longer. He was naturally disappointed with his wife’s response.

It was obvious that she had pieced together a plausible story to placate him rather than telling the truth. The rehearsed nature of her response was clear, and rather than anger, he felt a strange sense of detachment.

However, despite his closed-off emotions, he still felt responsible for her care. Eirik decided to stop by the library. Knowing that his wife had likely already finished reading the books he previously brought, he selected a few more suitable titles and handed them to a servant.

His gaze fell upon a particular book. It was one used by the children of noble families during their succession training, detailing the administrative organization of a monarchical state and the responsibilities of each role. Such books were used to help them understand their future roles and the importance of maintaining good relationships with other noble houses.

Without much thought, Eirik picked up the book, considering its small font size a simple reason. For the same reason, he also chose a few books that provided an overview of the surrounding countries of the Kingdom of Esquillir.

“Young master, someone from the Marquis of Crispin’s household has arrived,” a servant informed him.

“I’ll go right away. You take these books to the third-floor bedroom,” Eirik instructed.

“Yes, I will,” the servant replied. Having heard that the young madam would sleep peacefully when read to, he took the books without question and hurried off.