Winter Bud - Chapter 15

“You’re truly beautiful.”

“As if you’re not.”

“…Why do you say that?”

Nanna, who was arranging Stateira’s hair, lowered her gaze and moved her lips. Unlike the wavy curls of other noble ladies, her bright blonde hair hung straight and limp. Still, once rose oil was applied and it was tightly braided, adorned with gold and emerald accessories imitating laurel leaves, it looked somewhat presentable.

Though it likely wouldn’t please Stateira. Nanna thought she needed to improve her hairstyling skills a bit more and gave a cheerful smile.

“I’m not lying. You’re truly beautiful.”

“…All right.”

Stateira smiled back. But it wasn’t the usual fresh and radiant smile she wore. It must have been a forced smile to lift her mood. Nanna knew why her heart was heavy. Recently, Duke Everhardt and her fiancé, the Emperor, had been quarreling.

Nanna had heard it was for some reason, but she was a woman ignorant of politics and the affairs of the world. Even when she heard, she soon forgot. The only thing she remembered was that Stateira had not been in good spirits lately.

Bad enough that she couldn’t sleep through the night. After all, even their wedding was being delayed.

“The coronation might even be canceled.”

The maid who said that wore a rather serious face. She thought their betrothal might truly be broken. There were countless things more important to the new Emperor than a fiancée.

But Nanna didn’t agree. That maid didn’t know the way Stateira’s fiancé looked at her. She had never once been able to meet his gaze properly. In truth, Nanna was the same. Because of her lowly birth, even as a maid, she was far different from maids of noble standing.

When her mistress’s fiancé came to her quarters, Nanna, unlike the other maids, always stepped back a pace and folded her hands neatly. Then she kept her gaze fixed on the floor. A commoner had no right to lift her head without permission. Whether or not Stateira cherished her had nothing to do with it.

“Father said he’d return tomorrow, didn’t he?”

Rising from her seat, Stateira asked Nanna. Nanna recalled Duke Everhardt, who had gone to inspect his lands, and nodded. It had already been four nights since she’d lain in his arms, and still the place between her legs ached.

“Yes.”

She answered while folding her hands neatly, swallowing the pain. Just then, as she studied herself in the mirror, Stateira turned to Nanna and said, ‘Thank you, Nanna.’ Keeping her gaze on the floor, Nanna raised her head. She was smiling at her sincerely.

Her heart pricked. Like being poked with needles. What kind of face would Stateira make if she learned that Nanna was Duke Everhardt’s bedmaid? If she found out that the maid she called a sister had been sharing her father’s bed?

She often said to Nanna, ‘You’re like a sister and a friend to me.’ But Nanna never thought she was truly her sister. Sometimes people said a maid might care for her mistress like that, but rarely did a mistress care for a maid so much. Besides, Nanna’s status was far lower than that of her other maids. Without Stateira’s help, her fate would’ve rotted away in a brothel. So….

“If not for you, I wouldn’t be who I am today.”

“Pardon?”

“You always call me beautiful. The truth is, I know. That I’m not enough to stand beside Karl.”

“That’s not true.”

Nanna shook her head. Stateira was plenty beautiful. Even compared to the picture-like women of the court, she wasn’t lacking. It was only that Stateira’s skill at adorning herself was a bit poor.

She had less interest in decoration than most people thought. Frail since childhood, she had steadily engaged in outdoor activity once her health recovered during her growing years. Unlike most fathers, Duke Everhardt had taken pride in such a daughter’s unique side, never once scolding her.

Thanks to that, Stateira, though a noble maiden, rode horses, went hunting, and spent hardly a moment apart from her fiancé. Her fiancé loved her unique side as well. After all, he had gazed at her with adoration even when she appeared on the battlefield in armor.

Hadn’t she herself drawn her sword and thrust it at the Old Empire’s Emperor to cut him down? Nanna, who couldn’t even look properly at the Emperor’s severed head when it was displayed, always fixed her gaze on the ground and walked past, suppressing her nausea. But Stateira had stared straight at the severed head and said it had to be hung on the wall herself.

She was a woman with the heart of a lion. A lady so valiant it was pitiful that her body was so small. Truly, it wouldn’t be strange at all for her to become empress. If Stateira didn’t become empress, then who in the world could?

“My lady.”

“People are saying the only daughter of House Velarde will be Karl’s wife.”

House Velarde was one of the noble houses that had allied with Duke Everhardt during the Battle of Alataia three years ago. The Everhardt family, as well as the new imperial house of Cadis, were among the oldest and strongest in the entire Old Empire. With recent rumors of discord between the Emperor and the Duke, people whispered that it might truly happen. That the only daughter of House Velarde might become empress instead….

“That’s not true.”

“How can you be so sure?”

Stateira asked. Nanna’s dry lips parted faintly. Even though a fool like her had no answer to give, Stateira seemed to be waiting for one. Was she waiting for Nanna to speak logically, with some kind of reasoning? Or did she just want to hear even the obvious words? Nanna didn’t know. She thought of the Emperor.

Stateira’s fiancé had become emperor the year before last. The Old Empire—corrupt Gulan—had fallen to the hands of the new Emperor. He himself had executed the Old Emperor. With his own hands, he had beheaded him and hung the head on the wall, just as his fiancée had said. The Empress, the Emperor’s favored concubines, and princes had all been beheaded and hung alongside him.

Those who had clung to him to the very end were all executed without exception. Countless died from the people’s stones even before they could be executed. Nanna couldn’t forget that dreadful scene. Stateira had said they had been so corrupt that they deserved such an end. But to a woman like Nanna, those nobles and Duke Everhardt were all the same—terrifying, unapproachable lords.

She couldn’t tell what was corruption and what was their rightful claim. When they wore their jewels, Stateira and her fiancé did the same. Didn’t they adorn their heads and chests with dazzling gold, pearls, and sapphires, so bright they were painful to look at? Still, perhaps there was a difference. Nanna blinked rapidly, struggling to erase the memory.

Suddenly, she recalled the Emperor. The way he looked at Stateira. A man endlessly cold and harsh, yet when he gazed at her, he was tender. Endlessly warm and kind. So the one who would be empress was Stateira.

“…Because His Majesty loves you, my lady.”

Nanna knew nothing of politics. There was much she didn’t know. They said some servants even learned to read over others’ shoulders, but Nanna had been illiterate until Stateira herself taught her. So calling her dull was right. But at least she knew this much, that the Emperor loved Stateira.

It was something she couldn’t not know, just by looking at his eyes. So the two of them would marry and truly love each other as husband and wife. What greater happiness could there be? Nanna couldn’t understand why Stateira felt uneasy.

“And so?”

“The only one His Majesty loves is you. So you don’t need to feel uneasy.”

“…All right.”

Stateira let out a short laugh. It was a smile tinged with bitterness. Nanna quietly watched that smile. Just then, outside the door, a resounding voice announced the Emperor’s arrival.