Winter Bud - Chapter 30

“But Orestes….”

“It’s good to have many imperial heirs, but letting this situation continue isn’t good for you and her.”

“Mother.”

“It’s hard to watch my son and daughter-in-law unhappy. And that girl has no reason to be unhappy either.”

By that girl, she meant Nanna. Thea thought of the woman who had once been her maid. Nanna was a good girl. Kind and gentle….

She had known that Nanna loved Orestes. After all, who could miss it, seeing that flushed face? Even so, Thea had kept her close. If she had decided to send her far away, she could have. But Thea liked Nanna. She cherished her.

Truly like a sister….

“You’re right. That girl has no reason to be unhappy.”

That girl’s face was still unhappy even now. Even after bearing her husband’s children, it didn’t seem like they had a particularly good relationship. That must have been so. There was a time when Orestes had disliked even dancing with other women, finding it unpleasant to touch anyone who wasn’t her.

So sleeping with Nanna couldn’t have been very enjoyable either. You could tell just by looking at his face. And Nanna’s broken face—the face dried up from years of humiliation and abuse—never again flushed red as it once had.

Thea pitied the girl somewhat. Strange, since she wasn’t someone who often felt sympathy for others. But perhaps because she knew Nanna’s past and circumstances, she could feel her misfortune. A girl who had to wait around to be disposed of at her masters’ will.

‘Yes. She has no reason to be unhappy.’

Thea lowered her gaze. After all, Nanna had helped her. Rationally speaking, that was the truth. Thanks to Nanna serving as her womb, Thea no longer had to bear such burdens. Slan was a clever child. Stella as well. Since she had given birth to such intelligent children, it was only right that Thea treat her generously.

“She should marry properly, and leave the palace properly.”

“You mean to marry her off?”

“Shouldn’t she also know the happiness of a proper family?”

“…Yes.”

Thea lifted her head. The Empress Dowager’s words about Nanna’s marriage surprised her somewhat, but she soon nodded. Yes. Nanna needed to marry. What she had with Orestes wasn’t a proper marriage. It couldn’t even be called remarriage. Even so, she wouldn’t be able to find a good match. Her original status aside, she was a woman who had already been touched by a man.

Neither a maiden nor the daughter of a noble house. Still, there was no reason why Nanna had to marry as well as the daughters of noble families. There was no reason to refuse a marriage that wasn’t a bad bargain. As long as the man had a mild disposition and enough wealth and ability to keep his family from starving, wouldn’t that be enough? Nanna would want that as well.

“Then it wouldn’t be bad to look for a groom.”

“I already have someone in mind.”

“Oh my. Already?”

Thea smiled faintly. Theodora nodded. Thea might not have expected it, but the Emperor probably wouldn’t agree. That was to say, Nanna’s marriage. If he heard talk of marrying her off and sending her out of the palace, he might even grow angry.

After all, she was a woman who had borne his children, a woman he had slept with. Even in the Old Empire, concubines were rarely married off in such a way. If they left the palace, it was usually because they had been demoted to commoner status and dismissed.

But Nanna’s case was highly unusual. For the sake of her son and daughter-in-law, Theodora had to make this decision. Marrying Nanna off was the cleanest solution. Because….

“Who is it?”

“…Well.”

It’s a little too soon to say.

***

There were said to be little vegetable patches here and there in the Western Palace. Since the palace had once been used by monks for spiritual cultivation, they had tended these plots to live self-sufficiently. Even if the soil now grew nothing, if seeds were planted and watered, wouldn’t sprouts soon break through? Nanna thought that as she looked at the small patch near her chambers.

There wasn’t much to do in the Western Palace. Now that it had fallen to being a palace for the disgraced, what entertainments could there be? Still, killing the long hours alone was difficult and wearying. Then she discovered the garden plot.

In this palace even the maids shunned, there were a few servants who commuted from the main palace to tend to Nanna until five in the evening, and beyond that, only a couple of nuns remained. They were said to be women cast out of their dioceses.

In short, the Western Palace was a home for the abandoned. Nanna felt a flicker of sadness, but soon shook it off. Hadn’t it always been that way? Even when she had lived in the imperial palace under the name of “Empress,” Nanna had always been plagued by loneliness. She had thought it would change after giving birth, but after bearing Slan, the Emperor’s neglect only deepened, and she suffered severe stress.

But in the Western Palace, there was no Emperor. No Thea, no Empress Dowager. In a space without those she had to fear, she was free.

“Huh?”

That day too, after copying out a poem, she had taken a small hoe and watering can from the nuns and was heading toward the garden when she saw a man standing tall in the distance. Nanna stopped walking for a moment. The man staring at the plot slowly turned his gaze.

Nanna flinched. Drawing her shoulders in, she stared at him, then slowly began to move. The man who had been watching her hesitated briefly, then started toward her. Nanna stopped again.

“…Is this your garden, madam?”

“What?”

“Oh, pardon me. I was dispatched here to guard you.”

“Guard me?”

Guarding? What need was there for guarding? More than that, she hadn’t been told anything…. Nanna’s lips parted in confusion as she raised her gaze. The man wasn’t especially tall. At least compared to the Emperor.

But wasn’t the Emperor abnormally tall? He stood well over 190cm. Compared to that, this man might be considered of average height. Nanna looked at him in the dim light and pressed her lips shut, unsure what to say. Why would she need a guard now?

“Aren’t you Lady Petunie?”

Petunie…. It was a name she hadn’t heard in a long time. It was the surname Nanna had inherited from her father. But after being entered into Duke Everhardt’s family register, she could no longer use it. Even so, she was still “Nanna Petunie.” Yet Lady Petunie?

It was a little funny. Nanna hadn’t married a man of the Petunie line, so she wasn’t “Miss Petunie,” much less “Lady Petunie.” But what else could they call a woman in such a vague state as hers? Even though she had been the Emperor’s concubine, she hadn’t received any title, not even undergone a formal ceremony of investiture….

In the Old Empire, there had been ranks like “Imperial Consort” or “Noble Consort.” But the Emperor had granted Nanna no such rank or honor. He had only said she was no longer empress. So it was understandable that her name be ambiguous. Nanna stared at him for a moment, then answered, “That’s right.”

“Ah. What a relief. I’ve come to the right place.”

“Do you have business with me?”

“Yes? No, I mean, I was sent to guard you.”

“But no one told me anything….”

Nanna lowered her gaze for a moment. Neither the Emperor nor the Empress Dowager had told her anything. And besides, she no longer needed such things. Who would want to kill her now, or harm her?

“Then you’re a knight?”

“Pardon? Ah, yes. That’s right. I belong to the Imperial Guard.”

“How should I address you, sir?”

Nanna looked straight at him. Their eyes met, and the man’s face suddenly flushed as he scratched his head. He said his introduction was late. He apologized for his rudeness, coughed a few times, and finally opened his mouth.