Chapter 6

A beautiful but foolish princess. One must be understanding even if she’s often forgetful and sometimes slow to respond. Rhea inwardly looked down on the person she served, and audaciously, often showed it.

『Honestly. What would you do without this Rhea?』

Thinking the foolish princess wouldn’t notice even if she were insulted openly.

Rhea draped one side of Daphne’s hair over her chest with a gentle touch, adding in a playful voice,

『You wouldn’t be able to do anything without me, would you?』

Cool air touched a part of Daphne’s nape. The corners of her lips stiffened momentarily with tension, but Rhea, oblivious, continued.

『That your hair is like silk, your skin softer than delicate flower petals, that a sweet, honey-like fragrance emanates from every pore…』

Rhea suddenly scanned Daphne’s entire body. As a member of the Thessarian royal family, she was dazzlingly beautiful today as well. From head to toe. As if she would enchant everyone, regardless of gender.

『…That you have such a perfect figure. Isn’t it all thanks to this Rhea?』

But what good is a goddess’s shell?

『Oh, you’re absolutely right, Rhea.』

She’s so foolish that she can’t even read or write.

『What would I have done without you? I’m always grateful to you.』

In the end, destined to be sent to a man who spends his life on horseback, wandering the desert, and dying young. Just then, Daphne suddenly turned to Rhea. Her face was filled with a gentle smile.

『There’s no one as easy as you.』

Rhea paused.

『…Excuse me?』

『Oh, my mind. Not ‘easy,’ but ‘comfortable.’ I’m so lacking.』

『…Oh, how could that be a flaw? You are a Thessarian.』

『Mmm, thank you.』

Daphne smiled innocently and turned back around.

…Incarnation of a goddess, my foot. How could there be such a wretched life?

Rhea often ruminated on Daphne’s flaws and misfortunes, deriving a strange satisfaction from them.

‘My foolish princess knows nothing, and today, too, she will place the most precious of her jewels in my hands.’

『There’s nothing else I can give to you, my kind Rhea, who works so hard for me every day.』

See? So, just now… the way the princess’s smile seemed somehow ferocious must have been a misunderstanding.

『Oh, it’s so beautiful. I’ll cherish it forever, Princess.』

Rhea whispered with a delighted expression, as if deeply moved.

Stupid girl. Inwardly, Daphne scoffed at Rhea.

『I’m glad you like it.』

Daphne smiled along with Rhea.

Stupid girl. Inwardly, she scoffed at Rhea.

‘She seems completely clueless as usual.’

Daphne had been avoiding exposing her nape for a while, making various excuses. This was because the handprint of the enemy soldier she had encountered in the forest remained on her nape where he had grabbed her.

Fortunately, the mark was on the back of her neck and could be hidden by her long hair, but there had been a few awkward moments. This morning, even though Thisbene had finally told her that no marks were visible, she couldn’t help but tense up the moment Rhea lifted her hair.

And thankfully, her foolish maid seemed to have noticed nothing.

In the first place, it was thanks to Rhea that Daphne could go outside the castle with relative freedom.

Every night, after confirming that Daphne and Thisbene were asleep, Rhea was busy going to meet her lovers all over the royal palace. Like any Bellares aristocrat, she was open-minded, not discriminating between princes, guests of the palace, soldiers, or servants. Thanks to this, Daphne’s nights were free, and her days began late.

Before Rhea arrived, there had been several maids in the detached palace, and they changed frequently. This was because Sione would deliberately find fault with and dismiss any maid who was too perceptive or clever. Sione, greedy, jealous, and foolish, liked Rhea very much. Thus, Rhea became the only maid in the detached palace.

『After you meet with our brother, will you read to me?』

『Again?』

Rhea replied as if annoyed. Daphne just spoke brightly.

『I can’t read without your help, can I?』

In Bellares, princesses were not educated. The only things princesses learned were singing and simple instruments, and the only hobby offered was weaving. Since there were maids to read books and write letters for them, they weren’t taught to read or write. The princesses of Bellares existed to be foolish and beautiful.

However, Sione secretly acquired knowledge and taught Daphne. Therefore, both Daphne and Thisbene could read and write. They understood and spoke the common tongue of Inacos.

But others shouldn’t know this. Especially now that the princess’s marriage had become a war strategy. It was more convenient for the princess to be foolish.

‘So, Rhea. What would I have done without you?’

Daphne smiled even more brightly at Rhea.

‘You think I’m a fool. Please continue to think so and let your guard down.’

Daphne hadn’t learned much, but she remembered everything Sione had taught her. At least she was confident that she was smarter than Rhea.

『Huh? I have nothing to do if you don’t read to me.』

Rhea, letting out a short sigh, replied with a resigned expression.

『Then just a little bit.』

Daphne smiled softly in gratitude. It was a pleasant sound.

『Princess. I’m done.』

A moment later, Rhea held a mirror in front of Daphne’s face. As her slender neckline was reflected in the smooth glass surface, Daphne unconsciously touched her nape.

『Is something uncomfortable?』

『…Not at all. It’s nothing.』

The moment she had locked eyes with the man in the forest occasionally came to mind. The overly vivid man, and the short conversation she had with him. It felt so unreal that at first, she wondered if she had dreamt it, but Thisbene’s scream upon seeing her nape had confirmed that it wasn’t a dream.

‘The reason he didn’t kill me was probably… just a whim.’

The fact that she had returned that day without incident could only be explained by divine intervention. If it hadn’t been that man, who seemed to have a screw loose, she shuddered to think what might have happened. Daphne closed and opened her eyes for a moment, feeling dizzy.

‘Looking like this, it’s as if nothing happened.’

Her nape, where the man’s mark had been, was now clear. So, she could just pretend it never happened. However.

‘The problem is…’

In her haste to escape the forest, she hadn’t properly gathered her herbs.

If she went back to the forest and met that man again, would he let her go again? She couldn’t be sure.

‘…What about the herbs from now on?’

Just then, Rhea’s tiresome line broke her train of thought.

『You are beautiful again today, Princess.』

『…That’s a relief.』

Daphne murmured so, and smiled ferociously. Rhea, once again, missed seeing that expression.

💎

Joffrey was very interested in Daphne, who was “next in line.”

Recently, he seemed quite anxious, calling Rhea every day to inquire about Daphne’s condition. Thanks to this, Rhea’s daily routine began with checking Daphne’s bed. Finding that insufficient, Joffrey summoned Daphne regularly once a week.

Joffrey’s room was the one used by King Bation when he was a prince, and Joffrey was quite fond of the long rectangular garden visible from the room. It had been modeled after the “sun never sets” archipelago where the Thessarian royal family often spent their summer vacations before the war. When the weather was nice, Joffrey received guests in the garden and enjoyed secret feasts there every night.

It was just as Daphne stepped into the garden.

『…….』

In the distance, she saw a woman, accompanied by only one maid like herself, passing through the courtyard like a ghost. She disappeared into the building quickly so Daphne couldn’t get a good look, but judging by her blond hair, she was probably Joffrey’s wife, Merina of Serenho. As Daphne recalled, Merina was around the same age as her.

To maintain the silver hair, purple eyes, and white skin considered to be of the goddess Enna, Bellares often practiced marriage between close relatives. However, the war had changed many things. Bellares no longer had the luxury of worrying about bloodlines.

In Merina’s case, she had been sent to Bellares with Serenho’s army right before the war began, at the very young age of ten. Thus, she became Joffrey’s wife, but unfortunately, Joffrey had no interest in his young bride. And this remained the case even when Merina became a full-fledged adult.