Chapter 84

“Your Majesty.”

“Yes?”

“Should I just follow you? I can be extra careful.”

Serwin shook his head slowly.

“It’s okay.”

“I don’t think it’s as dangerous as Your Majesty’s worried.”

Regardless of how dangerous the hunting competition was, even married women went. It didn’t make sense to her that someone who had been trying their best to not separate from each other for a second would simply walk away and put himself in so much danger.

“I don’t quite understand.”

Amelie wanted to hear his reason properly. Serwin’s overprotection didn’t last for a day or two, but his attitude now felt a bit uncomfortable and she couldn’t ignore it. She met Serwin’s eyes directly.

“Is there a reason why I can’t follow you?”

The brief moment of her waiting for his answer passed very slowly. His eyes shook with hesitation, and then stared at her again. He laughed helplessly. His mouth was smiling, but his cheeks were stiff.

‘Uh…’

It was the first time she had seen such a weak expression on his face, Amelie was speechless. She thought she just asked something she shouldn’t have asked.

“Amelie.”

Serwin stroked Amelie’s head.

“…Yes.”

“I won’t be able to come back today. Don’t wait, go to bed early.”

He spoke in a light voice as if playing a joke.

“Am I a kid?”

Amelie smiled.

‘I’m more curious about that, but—It’s kind of weird to ask if you don’t want to talk this much.’

Amelie decided to let it go. It’s okay to ask what happened just now after Hunting Day was over.

“Be careful.”

His hands slowly and carefully moved away as if they had lingering regrets. Amelie felt a little sorry for his hesitation because he didn’t want to be separated from her.

“Can I really not go?”

“Yeah, I’ll go and come back.”

He turned firmly. In contrast to his trembling hands, his steps were quick and cold. Amelie looked at his back and somehow felt that there was a wall between him and herself.

******

Serwin left for the hunting competition first, and Amelie prepared to meet Renia.

Since she had to leave the palace, today’s outfit was simple. She wore a wine-colored dress with a belt decoration and a standing collar shirt. It was made of stiff fabric like a suit, and the neatly falling lines were neat and beautiful. A lace-cut ribbon was attached to her neck to add some flair.

Her hair was carefully braided into a single braid, and she wore a beret-like hat.

She preferred to dress in simple outfits in order to be unnoticeable, but Mrs. Enard and the maids don’t think like that.

“If it’s the Manvers Young Lady, she would definitely come here in a flashy way—”

“It’s okay. I’m not even going to fight.”

“How about putting on some earrings—?”

Mrs. Enard couldn’t abandon her lingering feelings until the end. Eventually, Amelie yielded her ears to the eager maid.

“Enough right?”

“Um, one more ribbon—!”

“I told you it’s okay!”

Amelie had a strong feeling that she wouldn’t be able to leave forever.

“Please tie the ribbon to Butterfly. Oh? Where did Butterfly go?”

Amelie looked around for the black cat. Before getting ready to go out, she played with her, but the cat seemed to have disappeared somewhere.

“She must be taking a nap somewhere in the sun. Butterfly goes around here and there and comes back in the evening, and so on. She will come back today as well.”

“I see.”

“Let’s go! Milena, Sir Chad. Let’s go!”

“Yeah. Go.”

“Let’s go. The carriage is ready.”

Amelie hurried out of the room. Milena and Chad followed.

And while the people were busy seeing Amelie off, the black cat Lira got into the back of her carriage. She looked around with sharp eyes.

‘There are so many knights.’

The emperor’s knights gathered at Amelie’s palace at dawn, and before Serwin left, they already established a perfect security system. Chad was the only one that appeared outwardly, but attacking Amelie through the protection of dozens of knights was as difficult as squeezing through the eye of a needle.

‘Not yet.’

Anyway, the moment Lira was aiming for was not now. As a result of eavesdropping on the knights’ conversations, she found that many of them will move to the Grand Malt hunting ground by sunset.

‘Slowly. Let’s wait. Not yet.’

Lira held her breath. Anyway, the day was long.

******

The place Amelie promised to meet with Renia was a street where luxurious shops were gathered. Because it is a place where wealthy people flock, there are good tea houses and restaurants nearby.

Among them, a tea house with an impressive green brick exterior was Amelie’s meeting place. It was famous for pastry egg tarts and pastry desserts.

Amelie arrived a little earlier than their appointment time.

“We’ve arrived. I’ll get off first.”

Chad got off the carriage and looked around. The knights who arrived before them had already scouted around the tea house and were seated around them. He reached out to Amelie while quickly locating the knights.

“Please go down.”

“Thank you.”

Amelie was escorted by Chad and entered the store. It was a place where so many nobles came, so Amelie was able to naturally melt into the noisy atmosphere of the store.

“Welcome. Do you have a reservation?”

A waitress came and asked.

“I’m sure she made a reservation there. The name Renia Usher.”

“Usher. Yes, you’ve been confirmed. This way, please.”

The waitress guided them to the reserved table.

“Usher?”

Milena asked.

“This time she came secretly without Count Manvers knowing. So she uses her mother’s surname which is Usher.”

“Aha.”

“Let’s sit here.”

Amelie sat down in a chair pulled out by the waitress. Milena and Chad naturally stood on either side of Amelie.

“Oh? You two should sit too.”

Amelie looked back at Chad and Milena.

“There’s nothing to worry about.”

“I’ll stand around. It’s not right to sit with an employer.”

“Ah, I came with you, so how can you do that? Would you like to stand and eat the pie?”

“Are we eating too? It’s okay if we don’t.”

“I’m going to order everything I want to try, so both of you have to help me.”

Amelie dragged the two over and sat them on either side of her. She looked at the menu and ordered them one by one.

After waiting for a while, the pie and drink came out. There were three bite-sized pies on a large plate. The table filled up quickly because of the large plates.

“Wow, it smells so good.”

The smell of butter and baked flour vibrated. Milena tried to refuse, but when she smelled this, she couldn’t help but lift her fork.

‘This is a bit—’

Chad looked away awkwardly. He could feel his colleagues around him complaining, saying, ‘Are you the only one going to eat delicious food!’

‘It’s not my fault, but I’m sorry.’

He felt sorry in his heart, but he steadily raised his hand with a fork.

‘I haven’t had time to come here because I was just working.’

He was willing to enjoy the opportunity Amelie gave him.

“Thank you for the food.”

“Yes, eat it and order more if it’s not enough.”

Amelie was already on the verge of placing additional orders. All her nerves were focused on food, tables and forks.

‘Ha, it’s so good. Aroma is one thing, but look at that color.’

The yellowish egg tarts and colorful fruit tarts distracted her eyes. Amelie was the first to pick up the egg tart.

When egg tarts were bitten, soft custard cream spread throughout the mouth with a touching texture. The combination of the taste of dalgona and subtle eggs and crispy pies was perfect. Even after swallowing the pie, there was a sweet vanilla aftertaste.

‘Um, this is it!’

Amelie sipped bitter tea with happiness. The sweetness has been washed away and a new tart is ready to be eaten. This time, it was a tart topped with green grapes. The fresh juice bursts out into the mouth, and it has a different taste from the egg tart, especially combined with the greasy cream cheese filling.

‘There’s a reason this place is famous! I want to keep eating. What should I eat next?’

Eat, eat and eat again. Amelie’s fork moved nonstop on a wave of emotion.

“I like the luxurious and delicate desserts of the Imperial Palace, but don’t you like this simple taste?”

“Yes. It’s a little different because it’s a foreign food.”

Milena was admiring it, and Chad didn’t say it, but his hand movement with the fork was very fast. The plates were quickly emptied, and the waitress sneaked in the menu to receive additional orders.

Hiiing.

A horse’s cries were heard, and the door swung open. As the entrance became noisy, Chad got up quickly and looked around the first floor. A woman with short hair was coming inside. The commotion seemed to have happened outside the store.

“There’s a new customer, and she seems to be noisy because her words are out of control.”

“It’s nothing.”

Milena was relieved. She also heard of Lira’s attack on Amelie and was especially very careful because of Serwin’s request to protect Amelie well. Chad looked more carefully at the new woman.

She kept looking around to find someone.

Her hair was messy from riding on horseback, and her clothes were also horseback riding clothes. Her brown horseback riding suit was luxurious, but there were wrinkles on the folded part of her arm and waist. Nothing can be said to be the problem, but her attire didn’t match this luxurious street. But somehow the red hair and raised eyes felt familiar somewhere.

The employees seemed at a loss how to deal with her.

“That person, I think she’s Young Lady Manvers.’

“Is she Young Lady Manvers? With that person’s personality, there’s no way she would be loud in public like that.”

She would have slapped an employee in the face for not recognizing her, but she wasn’t the type to yell.

Milena stood up and looked out to the first floor. Amelie followed her and looked outside. Just in time, she made eye contact with a woman looking up at the second floor.

“Oh? It’s really Renia?”

Renia waved lightly and came up to the floor.

“I see you sooner than I thought. How have you been?”

Renia was surprisingly different. Her hair was shorter and her clothes were rougher. She looked bright and healthy even though she wasn’t like a refined noble. She was pretty before, but in a sharp and nervous way, but she looked relaxed and healthy now.

“I’m similar. Renia also has changed a lot. I almost didn’t recognize you.”

“Isn’t that right? I passed by Young Lady Serina earlier, but she didn’t recognize me.”

Renia shrugged.

“I had no choice but to dress up like this. I was coming out without my father knowing so I rode a horse from the estate and had no time to change.”