Chap 6

"Your Majesty, are you alright?"

The maid who had stood in front of Ermedillin earlier was shedding tears, using her apron to wrap Ermedillin's neck.

"The cleric will be here soon. Please bear with me. It's my fault that there's a wound on your neck..."

"Why is it your fault?"

At Ermedillin's question, the maid's eyes poured out even more tears.

"You protected me. The maids who were taken to the Count earlier became carriers, and some even died."

'Heavens. This man, dare he take the Empress's maid and even kill them?'

A man who would unhesitatingly brandish a knife at his daughter, the Empress, wouldn't treat the maids kindly, either.

'What has he done with these young girls in their late teens who haven't even lost their milk teeth yet? A perverted wretch.'

The more she thought, the angrier she became, to the point where she almost couldn't feel the pain in her neck.

Ermedillin raised her hand to wipe the maid's tears.

"Don't blame yourself for something that's not your fault. In life, there will be times when things go wrong because of your real mistakes, but you don't need to blame yourself for things you haven't done."

Soon, the footsteps of the cleric were heard.

A goodlooking middleaged woman, who seemed quite old.

The cleric, forcibly brought by another maid, saw the bloodcovered Ermedillin and screamed.

"Hiieek!! What is this??"

She immediately ran over and began to carefully examine Ermedillin's neck.

"Could it be a knife…"

"Yes."

The cleric didn't question further and healed Ermedillin's neck.

From the warmfaced cleric's body, a warm and brilliant light erupted, and Ermedillin's pain stopped.

"Your Majesty, the Empress."

The cleric called Ermedillin with a serious voice.

"??"

"You know that I do not like the fact that you, Your Majesty, the Empress, use dark magic, don't you?"

'Ah, that's right. In the novel, the Empress and the altar were openly hostile.'

Nodding.

"Even if I dislike Her Majesty the Empress, this is not it. How can a father handle his daughter's body so recklessly?"

Seeing the upset expression on the face of the clergyman, who was on bad terms, as if he himself had suffered the misfortune, it seems that this was not the first time this had happened.

'Even though he's the family of a villain, did I know it would be this outrageous?'

"Is there any way to legally punish this?"

'This damned pervert. I won't let him be!'

"How can you call that speech? He dared to put a knife to the body of the royalty. He should have gone to court earlier, but wasn't Her Majesty the Empress the one who kept fighting until now?"

"I did?"

The words that should have been thought to oneself slipped out without knowing it.

"Yes. Her Majesty the Empress. But what is the reason you are suddenly considering punishment?"

The clergyman's honeycolored eyes were full of distrust and vigilance.

"The reason, if there is one, is that I can't bear it any longer, isn't it?"

A subtle expression crossed the clergyman's face at Ermedillin's answer.

That expression seemed worried, and also appeared to be mocking.

"If Your Majesty plans to officially make this an issue, I will testify personally in court."

"Really?"

"Yes. Of course, it's not out of sympathy for Her Majesty the Empress. The royalty must be at the center and peak of the Trivebian Empire. Whoever it is, if they have wounded the body of the royalty, they must be punished according to the stringent national laws."

"It's reassuring to hear you say that. Thank you for the treatment as well… Thank you."

The clergyman's face started to fluctuate sharply at what was simply a courteous remark that any human should make.

"You just said thank you??"

"Indeed?"

The clergyman furrowed his brows for a moment and then tilted his head.

"I understand for now. But I am a disciple of the deity and only did what is natural. There is no need to thank me."

How bad must one's character be to be surprised by a simple greeting? Ermedillin's head began to ache, wondering how much common sense she must maintain not to arouse suspicion.

"Your Majesty. Are you okay?"

After the clergyman left, the maids rushed to check on Ermedillin's condition.

"Yeah. Uhhuh. I'm fine now. It doesn't hurt."

When Ermedillin slightly lifted her chin to show her clean neck, the maids heaved a huge sigh of relief.

"Have I ever asked your names?"

They were, after all, the closest attendants.

The damned Empress had not had a single maid visit her chamber.

'It won't be bad to know their names at least.'

The blondehaired, browneyed, pretty girl Ermedillin had blocked answered.

"No, Your Majesty. You never asked for our names."

"Really? I didn't even ask for your names? Can you tell me?"

At Ermedillin's request, the maids happily revealed their names in turn.

The pretty girl with blonde hair and brown eyes was named Loony.

The chubby girl with dark brown hair and green eyes was named Mago.

The very skinny freckled girl with red hair and wall eyes standing shivering in the back was named Helen.

"How long have you all been serving me? I want to remember exactly."

19yearold Loony had been serving for 6 months, 18yearold Mago for 4 months, and 17yearold Helen for just 2 weeks.

For the Empress's maids, they were unusually young and had short periods of service.

'Is it a blessing that they have spent a short time enduring a malicious Empress? I need to win them over to my side, starting with these girls.'