Please Don’t Remember Me - Chapter 1 Part 1 One Year Ago

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In the kingdom of Corafran, there was a beautiful princess with beautiful dark blue hair and black eyes. She was the daughter of the second queen and her name was Clara. She was the youngest princess with two half-sisters and two half-brothers. She was ill and didn’t come out to the public very often, and when she did participate in official events, she was shy and hid behind her sisters and brothers. She had a beautiful smile, like that of the little mermaid who was so pretty but disappeared like a bubble.

Her mother was once the Queen’s maid of honor, but when the King asked her to become his concubine, she could not refuse. Even after she became a King’s consort, she remained loyal to the Queen and rarely went out of the mansion she was given, living in seclusion with her daughter.

One fine afternoon, Clara was summoned to the Queen’s chamber in the Royal Palace. It had been a long time since she had left her place, so she wore a tight corset and a new dress. It was the dress that the Queen had given her for her eighteenth birthday.

A knight on guard escorted her into the Queen’s room, where the King and Queen were sitting side by side on a sofa, waiting for her. Clara bowed gracefully.

“Long time no see, Clara. You don’t have to be so formal. Sit down, please.”

“I’m sorry it’s been so long. Thank you for inviting me.”

“I see you wear the dress. It suits you very well.”

The Queen and the King looked at each other and smiled. That made Clara excited.

“Thank you for the beautiful dress.”

“Don’t worry, I love dressing up my little girl.

The maid put the tea on the table and quietly left the room. Only three people remained.

“I have something very important to tell you today.”

The Queen glanced at the King and saw that he was looking at her with sadness in his eyes. The King was reluctant to open his mouth.

“Your Majesty?”

When she tilted her head to encourage him to speak, the King finally spoke.

“Clara, you’re going to be married to Bajona.”

The daughter of a concubine, and the third princess, Clara was prepared to marry for the sake of her country. And she knew from the King’s appearance that it was not going to be a good match.

“Certainly, Your Majesty. Thank you very much.”

“You’re not going to ask who the other person is?”

“I am always ready to marry. I am ready to marry any man, if it will serve the country.”

The King and Queen squint their eyes in distress.

“This is Duke Remio Kiega of Bajona. He is the next Prime Minister of Bajona, and an excellent man.”

“A Duke? Certainly.”

“You’re so easy-going. He’s going to be your husband. Doesn’t it bother you?”

“I’m not bothered by any man, as long as he’s good for the country.”

The Queen put her hand to her cheek and pondered. The king glanced at her and asked.

“…… Is there something wrong with you, my dear?”

“I’m not sure. Just a little.”

The queen made a little pose with the thumb and forefinger of her right hand. The king cleared his throat and straightened his back.

“Duke Kiega has a reputation for being very warm and well-liked. He was a child prodigy from an early age, has served the king with distinction, and will be appointed as the next prime minister. I don’t think there’s any problem with his personality.”

“How’s about the people around him?”

“The Duke has mistresses.” The queen said simply.

“Oh, mistresses?”

“Three.”

“Three?”

“Of course, Clara is a princess, and if you were to marry, you would be a legitimate wife.”

As expected, she kept silent. She wished she hadn’t asked.

“The Duke loves them all equally, perhaps that’s why the three mistresses get along very well and always have tea parties in the garden. It sounds lovely.”

“Yes.”

“I heard the house is always full of laughter and peaceful.”

“Oh!”

The king shrugged his shoulders slightly, perhaps because he had two concubines himself. Clara put her fingers on her chin and thought for a moment. She was not sure if he was the right husband for a daughter of a concubine like her. In the first place, there were always some problems with political marriages.

“Certainly, Your Majesty. If it’s for the good of the country.”

This was the third time.

She wanted to go back to her place and learned more about Bajona. It’s a neighbouring country and she had some knowledge of it, but not enough to live there.

“It’s a political marriage, but isn’t it all?”

The Queen looked at Clara with a gentle smile.

“Clara follows Daniela’s serious teachings and hardly goes out, so you probably don’t have any friends of your age. Even if you were to marry into a different noble family, you would never have the chance to meet any friends because the nobles would always be probing each other and trying to outdo each other. We did our own investigations and found that the three mistresses were as good friends as they said they were. I thought it would be very reassuring to have a good friend of the same age at home.”

The queen exhaled at once after speaking. She was always concerned about Clara. Especially after the death of her mother.

“And you know what..”

The Queen, who had quenched her thirst with a sip of tea, said with a dignified expression.

“He is so handsome that you don’t care how many lovers he has.”

Clara froze. What on earth was the queen talking about?

“The Duke is very, very handsome.”

The Queen assured Clara clearly and drank her tea. The King was sitting next to her with a faraway look in his eyes.

“I understand very well what you are saying,” she said. “ If it is for the good of the country, I will be happy to marry him.”

This was the fourth time.
The queen’s story could be summed up as follows.

Last year there was a meeting in a certain country, and as it was not an important meeting, the King and Queen went there together as if they were on a trip. On this occasion, they met Duke Kiega, who served the King of Bajona as his aide. The King and Queen were so taken by his personality, his excellence and especially his face that they began to secretly investigate him as a potential partner for Clara. And it was not long before they discovered that he had mistresses. It was that easy, though, because the mistresses were not hidden at all.

But the fact that the three mistresses were living in peace and harmony with the Duke made her curious. The Queen was so curious, in fact, that she began to think that he would be perfect for Clara. If the Duke and Clara were together, they could expect a lovely grandchild. So she contacted the Duke and asked him unofficially about it, and he replied, “Yes, it would be a great idea!”

Back at the detached mansion, Clara changed into her usual comfortable outfit and sat down on the bed. She knew that one day she would marry politically. Her two older sisters had already married. Of course, they were also political marriages, but they were chosen by the King and Queen, and they were still living together very harmoniously. So she knew it was time for her turn. When she lost her mother to the epidemic last year, that was the first thing she thought.

Although the King and Queen and her sisters and brothers had taken good care of her, she was well aware of her own inadequacies after the loss of her mother, who had protected her even as a concubine.

‘I don’t have to be the best if I want to be valued. It’s too much of a wish for me to be the only one.’

Clara stared at the ceiling for a moment, then jumped out of bed and put on the apron that was hanging on the sofa.

‘It’s time to clean!’

She pulled her hair into a neat bun and ran down the corridor. As usual, she joined the circle of the palace maids, and began wiping the corridor windows with her familiar hands.

“I’ll go this way!”

Cleaning windows was one of her favourite chores. The view of the castles through the polished glass could be seen clearly. She wondered what kind of people were living under those roofs and what kind of life they had. If she crossed the walls, the castles were just around the corner, but it was far away by looking at it from the glass windows. As if she was in love, Clara gazed out in fascination.

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