By Zephyria 
“Grace.” There was no way she was fooled.
Melatia Floyd saw through Kate Antines Sieron’s true identity at first glance.
Melatia Floyd was royalty born without a middle name.
Her mother was originally a maid who helped with the palace’s trivial tasks, but she caught King Floyd’s eye, received the Baron Single Ascent Title, and became his concubine. A life where she didn’t have to rush from dawn till deep night, rinsing her hands in cold water, was as miserable as it was luxurious.
The greed of one who could never shed the title of second-best on this continent was all too clear.
King Floyd desperately wished for someone with even a drop of his blood to become the Emperor of Sieron. It was a desire born of inferiority complex.
The day the first princess was born in Sieron, King Floyd immediately took in several concubines. Since then, as five princes and princesses were born in Sieron, he reached out in various ways, fathering a total of eight children, including the two children of his main wife.
Melatia was the third princess. The third daughter, born with no middle name, with a gap in age from her older siblings who would inherit Floyd, she was a princess born to be sold.
Her life was extraordinary from the very beginning.
She learned Sieron’s etiquette and mastered Sieron’s speech to be chosen by Sieron. The Floyd people around her always mocked her, but whispered that she should just be pretty, as she would one day be a precious lady.
Melatia, regardless of her own will, bathed in milk every day to maintain her white, smooth skin. Maidservants would brush her hair, which reached down to her calves, with a comb generously coated in holy oil, four or five times a day.
And after a few coincidences, she achieved the purpose for which she was born.
Her husband was a man with cold, sharp eyes. It was said he had killed his half-brother and taken his place. For the timid her, who grew up amidst mockery and contempt, living with a man who killed his brother was unimaginably terrifying.
It wasn’t just her husband who was frightening.
Standing like a scarecrow in the main hall, three to four times larger than Floyd’s, with a tiara on her head that felt heavy enough to break her neck, and enduring the gazes of many people whispering about her, was unbearably frightening. At that time, she trembled every day with the fear that she might one day be murdered by her husband.
It was Lady Kate Antines who pulled her out of that deep darkness.
“…Grace. There’s no way she’d be fooled.”
“…Excuse me?”
“No one, truly no one… wanted to talk to me. I thought it would be better to bloom as a wallflower, and I felt pathetic standing rigidly in the middle of that vast main hall four or five times a month for three to four hours… Then, she came…”
“…”
“She asked if I wasn’t thirsty, and if I’d like to share some precious champagne…”
Melatia gritted her teeth. She swallowed a deep breath and let out a sob.
“After that, for a while, I followed her around like a puppy. Foolishly… not knowing that the reason no one spoke to me was because I stole the man who would become her husband… I was so happy to have a cup of tea or a drink with her…”
“…”
Poplar and I both listened to her confession, stunned.
Once Melatia learned that Kate Antines was originally a woman considered for the position of Empress, she could no longer follow her around. Every day, she pondered and pondered why things had become this way.
Then, at one point, she decided to die.
But Melatia was very timid. She lacked the courage to end her own life with her own hands.
So, she decided to use her body, a body cultivated since childhood to be touched by many men. Thus, she reached out to the man closest to her. She entered the Emperor’s chambers to insult him. She believed that the Emperor would naturally kill her then.
And gradually, she realized.
She didn’t truly want to die; she just didn’t want to live like that anymore.
In the end, she succeeded in escaping that life, but the place she fled to was not exactly happy either.
“I had never done laundry, cleaning, or dishes. To bathe in 58th Street, I had to carry water twelve times from the public well, but I could only manage to move one water bucket with my own strength.”
“…”
“I had never even washed my face with my own hands. What use would a woman be, who at that age, only knew how to embroider handkerchiefs to give as gifts to her future husband?”
“…Ha…”
“After my escort knight, who had always served me, ran away, I thought I would just starve to death. I thought it wouldn’t matter. But then, a stranger suddenly came and asked me to do embroidery. I couldn’t believe it. Who in this Empire would know me? Why would they insist on giving money to someone who knew nothing, why would they try to keep me alive…”
“…”
“Who could it be? I pondered for a long time. My infant son couldn’t possibly know me yet. My lover who ran away to become a mercenary? We didn’t have that kind of loyalty. We didn’t love each other that much. Then I realized.”
“…”
“There is only one person who can save me from this hell, sob… only one.”
Tears continuously welled from her red-hot eyes. She wondered if her eyes would melt away from crying so much. Seeing Melatia’s tears, Poplar, unable to bear it, grabbed my sleeve.
Do something.
But what could I say? That the Emperor was the one who saved you? That you were always being watched? That Kate only noticed your existence recently?
“…Lady Kate… was… protecting me… I know best what I did to her… I…”
“…”
“…I haven’t even… said… I was wrong…”
…At least I knew that this woman wasn’t intentionally tormenting Kate. But how was this situation to be resolved? Was it even possible? The years of accumulated resentment were so heavy and deep that I dared not touch them.
I took a deep breath.
“…For now, the Empress Dowager…”
“Hoo, hoo, hoo, hoooong…”
“May… return again.”
“Hooong… …Hic, sob… Eh…?”
“Of course, she might not.”
The woman, who had been crying her eyes out, looked at Ikyun with eyes as round as marbles. Poplar’s hand, which had been gripping my sleeve, couldn’t bring itself to pinch me, so it just twisted my sleeve incessantly.
I let out a big sigh and wiped my face with my dry hand.
“We didn’t tell Her Highness that we were coming here. She doesn’t know we are here now.”
“…Hic.”
“Now that I have decided to become the Crown Prince, I was worried that your mother might hold resentment towards her mother-in-law and cause trouble, so I came to visit.”
“…What? Hic. Eh, me?”
“Yes. On the surface… it’s understandable, isn’t it?”
Deeply troubled and complexly minded, I couldn’t lift my head.
“I thought you… would resent not only the Empress Dowager, but also the current Emperor, and me.”
“…Me?”
“Yes. You didn’t go to Floyd and save the First Prince, did you?”
Not only did she not save him. Ruben would have killed her son…
Her jaw dropped so wide a fist could fit in it, the woman stared at me. Poplar, no longer just twisting my sleeve but starting to gnaw at it, removed her hand from her face and sat up straight.
Melatia Floyd whispered in a dazed voice.
“…I don’t… deserve to pretend to be… his mother.”
“I heard that First Prince Richard sent a letter as soon as he turned twenty.”
“That’s…! That’s…”
“That’s?”
Melatia bit at the hem of her skirt. Her fingertips, showing extreme nervousness, were so delicate and dull that they couldn’t even tear off a piece of lace. Her voice sank further and further into herself.
“…Because it appeared… in magazines… he was curious if the person he liked was getting married…”
“…Curious. What did you plan to do if you found out?”
“I wasn’t planning to do anything. If the wedding was to be held in a temple, even someone like me could see it once… I just wanted to offer a prayer for their happiness…”
Poplar Kiadris, who had appeared in the same magazine, let out a deep sigh and looked at the ceiling.
Then, in a clear voice, he said,
“Thank you for sharing your precious story today. I cannot possibly repay the value of your words, but the aroma of the tea we shared was so pleasant that I wish to offer something in return.”
“…That is, then.”
“I will not entrust you with embroidery. However, you can find someone to fetch water for you for a while.”
Poplar Kiadris rummaged through his pocket, took out four gold coins, and placed them on the table.
His expression was calm, as if this was nothing, but to me, who remembered how ashamed she was when she asked me to help her retrieve these gold coins, it was astonishing.
She was worried I, with my poor speaking skills, might insult Melatia.
Indeed, it was a good thing I brought Poplar. As she stood up first, I also rose.
“I apologize for the intrusion today. And…”
Melatia could not stand to see us off. Her limbs seemed to have lost strength, and she remained seated, staring blankly at the gold coins on the table and then at us.
I mustered all the politeness I could and acted courteously.
“I would appreciate it if you would keep our meeting a secret. We shall take our leave now.”
With a bow, I paid my respects and immediately opened the front door. I was so flustered that Poplar did not refuse my escort this time. After running halfway down the alley as if in a race, she finally pushed me away in surprise, and I let myself be pushed.
Poplar’s beautiful face was contorted like a wild beast’s.
“I see why you brought me along.”
“…Yes?”
“Did you see her hands shaking the whole time she was talking?”
“Yes? Yes.”
“She was like this the whole time.”
The gesture of Poplar’s hand holding a fan depicted a scene familiar to my eyes. I hadn’t recognized it because Melatia wasn’t holding a fan. She was incessantly tapping the table, pleading, “It’s true, it’s really true…”
“It seems like a habit, but if this is a lie, she could be called an actress of the century.”
“…”
“4 gold. Hand it over.”
“Yes. I will give it to you… at the next lesson.”
In the meantime, what now?
It would have been better if Melatia was deliberately provoking her mother-in-law. Then, I could have threatened her into keeping a certain distance from her mother-in-law. But based on what I knew of my mother-in-law’s temperament, things would clearly go awry, so I couldn’t intervene.
My mind was in turmoil with various thoughts.