Why Are You So Obsessed With Rejecting Affection? - Chapter 69

In the original novel, the maid in charge of Shuelina when she revealed that she was also a member of the royal family was Thalia. I never knew there was such a beautiful princess as you, I will take good care of you in the future. She was instantly enamored with her words.

You might not have a friendly impression of me, but I will try my best to serve you with a sincere heart until you open your heart to me willingly. Thanks to that, she thought that Thalia was one of the few people she could trust in her new harsh palace life.

『“Thalia is not that kind of person! Please believe me!” 』

To think of an example, didn’t Shuelina try to run and rescue Thalia when she was in a crisis, saying that she was set up? However, Thalia’s crisis was planned, because she’s one of the Empress’ people.

In the end, she was just a person whom Shuelina naively entrusted with her every move. Shuelina’s position in the Imperial Palace was greatly reduced because she said she would save that precious person by her side.

‘The Empress has great influence this time too.’

I watched as Thalia smiled softly, my lips twitched. Should I use this opportunity to get rid of Thalia? It’s only been a day in the Imperial Palace and this is a decision that I have to make on my own. Because I can’t explain to the Grand Duke that I actually possessed this body.

“Princess, would you like to change clothes first?”

(T/N: The title ‘Princess’ here doesn’t refer to the Imperial Princess but to Shuelina’s identity as the Grand Princess, the adopted daughter of the Grand Duke Vaillot. I hope that doesn’t add to your confusion. )

Thalia asked politely as I contemplated what to do. Then I thought, ‘Oh,’ thinking of the situation in the dressing room.

The things in the dressing room were not suitable for a Grand Princess like me that would only stay here for a day. If Thalia saw that and reported it to the Empress….

‘The Empress may be convinced that the Emperor knows about me.’

Then it was clear that I shouldn’t leave Thalia alone. Uhm, what excuse should I use? I can’t just throw Thalia out without any reason. I quickly scanned her from head to toe to see if I could find any faults.

“Good idea, let’s change clothes. But I came right after traveling and my legs hurt. Please give me a hug and carry me.”

“Yes, Princess. I will help you.”

Thalia approached me after I deliberately said something stupid. As she was about to hug me, I purposely tripped over her feet and pretended to fall to the floor.

“Kyaah, Princess!”

Seeing me on the floor, Thalia came up towards me immediately while hesitating and tried to pick me up. I shook off her hand, pouted my lips and pretended to hold back my tears….

“Uwahh! It hurts!”

I purposely burst out crying loudly. Surprised, Thalia fell flat on the floor and trembled. Though it felt terrible to lie on my stomach on the floor, the crime of making the Grand Princess cry is great.

“P-princess, I made a mistake! It was a mistake, please forgive me!”

“Uwaah…! I do not like you! Where is the maid who guided me?”

“That child was only in charge of guidance, Princess. I will serve you with more sincerity.”

Thalia begged and fell even flatter on the floor. If I say that she just didn’t like me and that she tried to hurt me, then she would be accused of plotting a crime against a member of the royal family. This was because the Grand Duke, and the family of the Grand Duchy, are also recognized as a branch of royalty.

Since we were outside of the Grand Duchy, he wouldn’t be able to execute her outside, but Thalia’s life will definitely become difficult.

Besides….

“Why is my daughter crying?”

“Shushu, what the hell is going on!”

The Grand Duke and Wyndert opened the door and ran inside with great timing after a loud cry. They alternately looked at me, who was lying on the floor while crying, and to Thalia who was lying flat in embarrassment.

“What the hell happened?”

The Grand Duke approached me with big strides, hugged me softly, and asked the maid. As I dramatically moved and fell into his arms.

“She’s one of the Empress’ eyes.”

I whispered very softly in his ear. The Grand Duke, who heard my words and understood the situation, blinked at the servants who were standing in front of the door with a bewildered face.

“Get her out right now and put her in the dungeon – ”

“Dad, I wasn’t hurt too much… I was just a little surprised…”

It’s alright to moderately kick her out, but don’t deliberately force her to be punished. There’s no need to make too much noise as soon as we come to see the Emperor, and we can’t clash with the Empress already.

After all, Thalia was also a maid servant that was one of the Empress’ limbs, so there was no way the Empress would abandon her for something like this.

I slightly smirked and looked at Thalia.

“It would be disgraceful for a maid to change their masters so that would be enough punishment. Just change to another maid.”

“You’re too generous.”

“Thalia probably didn’t step on me on purpose. But I was upset…”

When I lowered my head like withered grass, the Grand Duke gave me a hug, then he beckoned his servants to pull Thalia outside.

“Please, please, Princess!”

Thalia called out in a desperate voice, but I did not look back on purpose, only my shoulders trembled intermittently. After a while, Thalia disappeared from the door and the room became quiet in an instant.

Did she go? She went away already, right? I sighed and lifted my head as I looked at the closed door.

“Now, tell me what’s going on.”

Wyndert asked, watching the Grand Duke put me down on the wide bed. I nodded, then took out the card from my pocket which the Emperor had written, and showed it to them.

“His Majesty the Emperor wrote this.”

“This….”

The Grand Duke took the card and, with an expressionless face, gave strength to his hand. Wow, the card was completely crushed in his hand.

“And over there. Look inside the dressing room.”

I got up and walked towards the dressing room, leading the two of them. The two people who saw the inside also had between their brows wrinkle as if they were surprised like me.

“That man His Majesty, is more senile even though he’s younger than me.”

“Dad!”

Someone may hear it! I grabbed the Grand Duke’s arm and shook it, surprised by his words. The crime of having contempt towards the royal family is a felony as much as the crime of murdering a member of the royal family. These words shouldn’t have come out of his mouth at all.

“These things, Daddy will buy you more.”

“We should show the world who our Shushu belongs to during the New Year’s Eve!”

But as if they weren’t scared at all, the Grand Duke and Wyndert whispered to me sarcastically.

… eh, I can’t stop you guys it seems. The Grand Duke then proceeded to call Cahill to clean the interior while Wyndert was hugging me.

“Why are you so puffy?”

“It’s nothing.”

I gently shook my head as Wyndert poked my cheeks and asked me. He then took me to the soft bed and settled me down there. I somehow felt strange that he was looking at me so intently.

“Why are you looking at me like that?”

“Are you okay?”

“What?”

Wyndert patted my back and looked down on the floor as I tilted my head in askance. He was looking down at the place where Thalia fell flat and banged her head with tears streaming down her face. I wondered if Wyndert was also worried about Thalia so I looked at him carefully, and then saw him looking carefully at my face again.

“Why are you looking at me like that?”

“It must have been very scary.”

“Yes?”

“The Empress’ influence is so great even though your father and brother were just in the next room.”

“Brother…….”

“You are calm and mature, but you are only seven years old. How scary it might have been for you.”

Wyndert hugged me tightly and said comforting words. I’m not really a child, but for a moment I thought that it’s okay… Wyndert comforted me so seriously that I burst into laughter.

‘Normally, people would think I am a sneaky child in times like this.’

But to Wyndert, I looked like a young and lovely person.

“I kicked her out on purpose, don’t you think it was scary?”

Wyndert smirked and pinched my soft cheeks as if enjoying it.

“Are you going to claim that you are dangerous now?”

He touched my soft cheeks, my forearms, and my tightly closed lips in turn. I shook my head and whispered, ‘No, you might feel bad.’

“Shushu, who was the one who tried to monitor you first?”

“The Empress.”

“Who was the one who approached you hiding their intentions under a kind appearance?”

“That maid.”

“Who made you feel uncomfortable?”

“That maid… But I am doing this on purpose so?”

Wyndert snorted as I looked up at him.

“You are the Grand Princess. It’s the maid’s fault for disobeying the Grand Princess for some reason.”

So I’ve never done anything insulting. It was an extremely biased judgment, but I was grateful for Wyndert’s heart and dove into his arms more.

Rubbing my cheeks on his chest, I felt Wyndert stroking my hair happily.

* * * 

After being kicked out by the attendant, Thalia lingered in front of the Diamond Palace for a long time. She had no idea how Shuelina fell on the floor. However, there was no reason for Shuelina to hate Thalia, so there was no way to explain it other than her having bad luck.

‘Now what?’

She even deliberately pushed out the maid assigned to Shuelina. She can’t go back to the Empress like this without any good results in hand. However, the reality is that a master can choose a maid but a maid can’t choose who will be her master.

She bit her lip when she finally saw the other maid walking in instead of her. It was a day she had to lie flat on the floor and beg.

She headed straight to the Empress’ palace, and asked for an audience in an extremely polite voice.

“Your Majesty, it is Thalia.”

“Come in.”

The Empress allowed her to enter the residence with a gentle voice. As soon as Thalia entered, she saw the back of the Empress sitting in front of a large mirror and getting her hair done. The empress’s hair, as vivid as a burning fire, felt ominous today.

“I’ll leave this to Thalia, so you can just leave.”

“Yes, Your Majesty.”

The maid who was combing the Empress’s hair was immediately expelled from the room. It was because it was time now to receive a secret report.

Taking care of beauty is of course important, but since the arrival of the Grand Duke’s carriage, the Empress’s attention has been directed to the VIP room. Why did Shuelina come to the Imperial Palace, do both the Emperor and Shuelina know about the secret of her birth, and how long will she stay inside the Imperial Palace?

It wasn’t the only thing she wanted to dig out. Because of that, she even had to exchange the maid prepared by the Grand Chamberlain with Thalia.

“How was it?”

“She has a quiet and gloomy impression, unlike what I know about that child. There was a little response from her no matter what I said.”

Thalia said in a stern tone, recalling Shuelina, who was consistent with her expressionless face no matter what kind of compliments she gave. At that, the Empress smiled brightly.

‘The Empress’s daughter no longer resembles the (former) Empress.’

It seems like just yesterday that Empress Herace’s angelic face and the smile that embraced the sunlight shining on her made her angry again and again. Shuelina didn’t seem to resemble Herace.

Of course, Shuelina was abused while having to switch orphanages often so it must’ve been difficult for her to properly grow up happily.

She nodded, smiling contentedly at the fact that she had effectively ruined Herace’s daughter.

“And?”