Chapter 3

[Reunion Without Warmth]

When Judith had just finished dressing up, the King’s royal attendant came to visit her.

He was an old man full of both deep and shallow wrinkles on his face, who had assisted the King and stayed by his side since the reign of the previous king. The pride of being the King’s royal attendant for a long time turned into a groundless arrogance over the years, and the arrogance soon turned into a ferocious egotism, turning him into an evil-minded old man.

Even though he did not hesitate to pretend to prostrate himself flat in front of Eland, he treated Princess Judith, who was of the same bloodline as Eland, as if she were a lowly thing. He did it knowing that she was a good person to do such a thing.

“How long are you going to make His Majesty wait?”

Marianne, who opened the door, told him to wait for a moment and couldn’t even turn around when an unpleasant sound suddenly came out of the royal attendant’s mouth. Judith, who was arranging her hair ornaments, stopped at the husky voice that was no different from what she had remembered.

“The Princess is in the process of grooming herself, Royal Attendant. Can’t you see it? She will come out soon, so please wait a moment.”

Before Judith could say anything, Marianne spoke in a dissatisfied voice. Then, the royal attendant’s wrinkled face trembled with anger.

“To whom are you looking with your eyes opened like that, when you’re a maid of insignificant status!”

At that moment, the royal attendant’s voice rose impatiently. Judith, who had been sitting still in front of the mirror, sprung up and walked towards him.

The royal attendant looked at Judith for a moment with a blank expression, and then opened his wrinkled lips.

It was a reasonable reaction. Although it was only light makeup, Judith’s pale face had disappeared and she seemed a different person. She didn’t stop there; her hair, which had always been half loose, was meticulously pulled up, showing that she was somehow dignified despite her small stature.

However, it was not her face or her adorned hair that made the royal attendant most bewildered. He was bewildered by Judith’s eyes, looking straight at him. They were not the eyes of the insignificant princess who always looked at the ground and trembled.

“If you compare your position with Marianne’s, it is clear that Marianne’s attitude towards you was wrong. But Marianne is my maid, not yours.”

The royal attendant’s lips, which had been opened, like a fool, trembled in embarrassment. He had never heard this tone of voice coming from Judith before.

This cowardly and weak princess feared her brother Eland above all else. Because of that fear, she was even scared of the royal attendant, who assisted Eland closely. Judith could not say a word in return, even when the royal attendant treated her recklessly and scolded her, bringing tears to her eyes.

But what did just happen? The royal attendant had a bewildered expression on his face at Judith’s demeanor, looking straight at his face and speaking clearly. Then, soon after, he felt displeasure creeping in.

“A maid’s education is also the job of the Princess. If His Majesty knew about this, he would surely scold the Princess harshly…”
“If it’s my fault that my maid was rude to you, then is it Brother’s fault that you were rude to me?”
“… Wh-what did you say?”
“If you dare to forget your position and be rude to me as a member of the royal family, would it prove that Brother has neglected your education? Is it alright if I meet Brother right now and tell him those words?”

Three or four lines of deeper wrinkles were added to the wrinkled royal attendant’s forehead. Did something happen during the night, or did she eat something bad for breakfast?

It was difficult to comprehend that she, who was like a young chick who used to cry without being able to rebel whenever she was kicked, had suddenly changed in a ridiculous way.

“Why aren’t you answering?”

Judith’s eyes glaring at the royal attendant were now terrifying. As she had never raised her voice all year round, when a commotion broke out in this little princess’ palace, the people passing by began to gather, chattering about what was going on.

The royal attendant, who was red up to his forehead as if he had suffered an unexpected humiliation, was unable to deal with Judith as he usually did. Not only because of Judith’s expression, which seemed to be saying that if he did, something bad would happen, but also because he was anxious about the princess’ change, which he couldn’t understand at all.

“I… I apologize, Princess. If this old man has offended the Princess, I apolog…”
“I’m not the person you should apologize to. Apologize to Marianne.”
“What?”
“Although Marianne was just defending me as her master, you can’t say that it’s not your fault that you treated such a child as an ‘insignificant maid’. Apologize to Marianne. Marianne, apologize first.”
“I apologize, Royal Attendant.”

When Marianne pouted and apologized half-heartedly, the royal attendant’s face grew even redder. He stared at Judith with an expression of holding back his anger, and eventually gave a half-hearted bow, as if he had realized that there was nothing he could do.

“… I apologize for being rude to you, Miss Marianne.”

The chatter grew louder as the royal attendant bowed his head in front of Marianne, who is a maid. He suddenly turned his head, with an expression of being unable to overcome his anger, and let go of his grip with a groan.

“Let’s go, Marianne.”
“Yes, Miss Judith.”

Judith swung past the still trembling royal attendant. She could see that the people around them were looking at her with wide-open eyes, but unlike before, she wasn’t afraid at all.

“What is this?”
“She’s Princess Judith, right? Isn’t she like a different person?”
“Someone who couldn’t even raise her head properly even if there were only three or four people…”

The servants and maids, who had been gathering in groups, were then dispersed by the vigor of the royal attendant, who was flailing his arms around. That day, rumors spread in the Tien Palace that Princess Judith had completely changed overnight.

*** 

Eland was sitting droopingly on the sparkling throne, waiting for Judith. There were documents piled up on the table for him to read, but it was obvious that he hadn’t touched most of them.

He was not worthy of being a king in the first place. He was lazy, negligent, and knew nothing but himself. He was filled with greed and always complained about how Tien’s territory was small and the mines were empty.

Judith, who had been watching him from afar, sighed at her brother’s appearance, who was pathetic as ever whether it was in her memories or right in front of her.

Eland and Judith’s mother was wise, but unfortunately, Eland never inherited her wisdom. He inherited only their father’s stupidity, recklessness, and self-indulgence.

After the death of their mother, Judith, who had lost the only person she could rely on, quickly became depressed. Eland was displeased with Judith for being like that, so he was violent and harassed her for every single thing. Because of that fear, Judith could not even breathe properly when standing in front of Eland. She even stuttered.

It was a thing of the past. Judith, who had closed and opened her eyes once, walked up to Eland before the royal attendant could even announce her.

“Brother, I heard you called me.”

Eland, who had been preoccupied with fiddling with the gold coins in his hands regardless of who approached him or not, lifted his head. Then, suddenly, he started looking around like he was out of his mind.

“Did you just say that?”
“Who else but I would dare to call you Brother?”
“Huh?”

Eland’s eyes fluttered with mean interest. Judith’s change overnight was also surprising to him.

“Did you eat something bad?”
“… No, Brother. I just came because you seem to have something important to tell me.”
“This little girl, she’s suddenly rolling her eyes, cheekily. Is your brother less than a neighborhood dog? Are you being like this because you don’t know what kind of position this is?”

‘It’s not worth fighting anymore’, Judith thought as she looked at Eland, who suddenly began to get nervous.

“Your Majesty.”

Eland, who was panting, opened his eyes wide as unexpected words came out of Judith’s mouth. It was the first time she had addressed Eland that way.

“I know there have been envoys from the Roteia Kingdom coming and going.”
“What? Who told you that?”
“I have ears too. I have come to realize that there is no way to hide words that come and go.”

Eland was at a loss. It was clear that Judith’s attitude was offensive, but, like the royal attendant, he too was perplexed, not knowing the exact reason why.

Also, it was surprising that Judith brought up the conversation about Roteia first. According to the original plan, he was going to put the promissory note issued by Roteia in front of her and tell her that she was going to marry a prince called Franz or something. He was sure she would cry, but what did he know? Even if she did, if he could make up for the loss by selling his sister, it was something he would welcome with open arms.
Eland, who had been thinking like that, could not understand Judith’s calm attitude at all.

“Since you have heard the rumors, it won’t take too long. You are well aware that Tien’s situation has rapidly deteriorated in the aftermath of this war.”
“…”
“Who should you be grateful to for being able to live a comfortable life as a royal princess for the past 17 years? Wasn’t it all thanks to the people’s taxes? Therefore, it is the duty of the royal family to pay off the debt.”

Judith quietly clenched her teeth, thinking that if she had a knife in her hand, she would have stabbed Eland right then. Hearing those nonsensical words coming out of no one else but her own brother’s mouth made her feel disgusted.

“Thankfully, Queen Gilsis of Roteia said that she would rescue Tien from the problem of indemnity. In return, she wants you to be Prince Franz’s consort, but… To tell you the truth, I’m a bit ashamed.”
“Brother is ashamed?”

Eland snorted.

“Isn’t it natural for me to feel ashamed for giving them something as worthless as you as the princess consort? If you have eyes too, do you not know what you look like? Well, you’re soft-hearted like a little girl, you’re quick-witted… At least you’re even slutty.”