#50

Fortunately, the poison Brie gave her was fake and cheap. Gloria survived after vomiting a couple of times. Of course, the incident jeopardized the female lead and almost shook the entire plot of the novel. This brought a huge flood in one of the villages in the southern part of the Morris Empire. This was something I just realized a few hours later, not now.

“Why don’t you believe me? Huh!”

When I got excited and started arguing, my mother forced me to leave the room. I was temporarily forbidden from entering Gloria’s room. The reason was that the patient needed stability.

I walked into one of the empty rooms. I washed my messy face and prepared to go outside. I still hated my friend because she didn’t trust me and made such a choice. Although at the same time I was worried.

However, I couldn’t be sad about it forever. Today was an important day for me.

Today was the day of the announcement of the imperial princess’s engagement, and the imperial family called reporters to the Imperial Palace as if they were going to show off. I was also one of the invited reporters.

I chose the best dress I owned. The lower cream-colored garment adorned with lace, which was a popular material to be used these days. This was a ready-made item bought together when they ordered Gloria’s wedding dress at the P&P boutique. Thanks to this, ordinary people have to pay more than a year’s salary easily, but they have no regrets. I bought it impulsively in this romance-fantasy world because I thought I would wear this luxurious dress someday. 

Knock, knock.

“Who are you? Come in.”

The Baron’s servant showed a surprisingly sincere attitude towards me and my mother.  I understood. I wondered who was knocking politely on the door. Perhaps, someone came to help me get ready and put on a dress? I think no one deserves to do that to me.

I whined, buttoned up, and tried to hang a thin chain necklace around my neck. The person who came into the room helped with this. The hand that touched the neck was very warm.

“Oh, thank you.”

When I turned my head, the familiar blue-haired male flashed a smile at me.

“Philip, what are you doing here?”

“Haley, you’re going to enter the palace later. I thought you’d need an escort.”

It’s open for ordinary reporters who lived within the empire, so it was not a place where I really needed an escort. Nonetheless, I was very grateful for Philip’s consideration.

“Would you come with me today?”

“Of course. How can I send you to the palace on your own? It’s making me anxious.”

“Hmm? What’s bothering you?”

“Since you turns into such a beautiful girl, what if another man approach you with an impure intention? I need to be by your side to watch you.”

She laughed out loud while saying this. Boy, she speaks beautifully. So cute.

I replied by pinching Philip’s cheeks which were chewy.

“Uh, beautiful? Philip, you must not become cunning later on.”

It would be sad if Philip grew older and became like that blonde-haired pervert or turned into a bad man like Claude. Of course, he was still very tall now. Strangely, I look like a child who needed to be taken care of a lot of things.

‘However, how could such a cute kid grow up to be a dark boss of underground world later on?’

There was probably an error because this was supposed to be a failed novel.

*  *  *

Chaos broke out inside the palace. The Great Hall, which is usually used for grand banquets, was opened to ordinary reporters in the morning because the announcement of the Princess’ engagement ceremony.

The banquet hall was huge. The statue of the goddess of love, which was painted on the ceiling, also looked very beautiful, but the chandelier above it added thousands of sparkling gems and splendor to the room. Moreover, there were human-shaped shiny marble pillars all placed everywhere in the room, making me think that I had come to a major European art museum in a previous life.

On one side of the hall was food served for guests. There were two or three kinds of hot meals, salads, a few sorts of cakes, fresh fruits and tarts laid out beautifully. The colors were bright, probably because it was the food served in the imperial palace. An inscription celebrating the union between the princess and her fiancé was in gold on top of a butter cake.

‘I want to take her home.’

From colored macaroons, bite-sized mini sandwiches to various meat dishes made from finger food. I wanted to take everything and feed them to my family or newspaper employees. However, seeing from the perspective of people around me, it seemed like I was the only one who thought about that. The other male reporters were more interested in the red wine, champagne, and whiskey provided by the palace servants from the morning than the food itself.

“It tastes good, probably because it’s the drink enjoyed by the noble.”

“You have to give one gold coin for that.”

“Hah, you don’t need to come to work and get drunk. One glass. Oh, no, just five glasses.”

I, who belonged to the gluttonous group, occupied myself by moving around and took pictures of the room. I was also treated very well by other ordinary reporters, and it was obvious that the imperial family attending the banquet to commemorate the princess’s engagement ceremony tonight would also receive even more luxurious and abundant treatments.

It was only when I was genuinely surprised that there were other banquet halls that were more colorful than here. I heard a voice reproaching me from behind.

“Hah! You’re dealing with cheap gossip. Look at how he dressed up to come to the imperial palace. Where did you get this guy?”

“Yes. What kind of woman would pretend to be a reporter? Did you read the article? You’re writing a novel. You should write a novel rather than newspaper. Tsk tsk tsk.”

When I turned around, they were people I had met once. They were reporters from the Morris Daily. People who had once refused me in front of the door of office when I went there to get job. I felt so dirty at that time when I saw the faces of the people who laughed at me.

I walked up to them with a smile.

“Oh, you must be my fans. Do you want an autograph of me?”

The men’s expressions momentarily changed. When they got caught gossiping as if they purposely wanted me to hear it. When I approached, they took half a step back in surprise.

“You would be the cause of our deaths, huh?!”

The one among them with the blue beard started arguing with me with his eyes high.

“Do you know that lately you’ve been embarrassing all the newspapers?”

Yes, I know. And I know you guys were scolded by the president of the newspaper for missing the exclusive news because of me.” 

However, I shrugged and blinked innocently as if I didn’t know anything about their dispute.

“What? You? What did you just say?”

“Was it that photo or something more nasty than that? You attach such a vulgar item in the newspaper. Do you realize that dozens of artists might lose their jobs because of you?”

“Why me? Technology has already developed. We will all die if we are wiped out. As a reporter who can drink water because of me, you probably don’t have a clear idea about it.”

Don’t they know that because they would be annihilated, too?

I meant it. Whether or not my intention was successful, the blue mustache man was flushed.

In my past life, the expression “drinking water” was often used when exclusive news was picked up by other reporters. I didn’t know how to say it with the language in this world, but my intention definitely worked. The blue mustache man seemed angry.

“Hey, you brat!”

Afterall. If the parents have nothing to say, they would say profanities and mean words. It turned out that this world and my past life had something in common. I was often got pranked by them, too. They would ask my age. Starting with seniors who plead guilty unconditionally through no fault of their own. Haha. The things that happened to the seniors in the previous life began to come up to my mind one by one.

“You’re an as*h*le.”

I subconsciously said this to the blue mustache man. That man looked briefly like my senior in the past life. The one who made a mistake and dumped it on me. That time cleverly made up words in hindsight that didn’t match reality and pulled me into trouble.

“What? Did you just curse at me?”

“No.”

“Just now!”

“I mean, that puppy statue carved by the window is really pretty.”

The Blue mustached man clenched his fists. I thought it would be great fun if a violent incident broke out in the imperial palace, so I gripped the camera mounted beside me tightly. There was a servant stood by the golden door and blew a trumpet, announcing the arrival of the imperial family.

“Oh? The imperial family is coming. I have to go, I’m occupied.”

I ignored the angry-looking blue mustached man and quickly ran to the front row with the camera in my hand. It was not the right time to face the stunned reporters. When could I take photos of high-ranking officials? The maids and servants working in the royal palace frowned at my apparent lack of dignity, but no one stop me.

“Fall silent! His Majesty are going to give the main message.”

The front of the hall was equipped with a high podium. The height preferance of the imperial court people who liked to be honored anytime and anywhere.

‘Photos taken from the bottom up wouldn’t appear great.’

After taking the photo, I tilted my head because I was worried that I wouldn’t like the photo. I felt like I was just wasting my glasses. I would rather go to the back and think for a moment whether I should climb up on something and take a picture from there. However, when I walked to the back, I hesitated to pass through the tight gaps between the male reporters. Especially the blue-mustached man who was glaring at me from a distance.

In an instant, the large banquet hall became eerily quiet. The empress who came up to the podium while covering more than half of her face with a fan came forward and opened her mouth with an elegant expression.

“To the reporters who came today to announce the engagement of Violet and George Abe. Thank you for giving your precious time to come here. Our imperial family sincerely blesses the union of Count Abe and the Princess. I hope that glorious honors will come in the future of this young man and woman. Also….”

A long speech followed. In short, this was the engagement between the Count and the Princess. Therefore, they should write an article well and publish it tomorrow.  The Princess who came to the podium didn’t show an ounce of expression the whole time. Only her fiancé, Count George Abe, was smiling brightly.

‘How unfortunate.’

George Abe. Speaking of him, he was someone who’s well-known for falling in love with everyone. He was a man full of love for even the household servants. He had so much love that he even went into the maid’s room willingly every night. Frankly speaking, the eldest lady of Count Abe’s family recommended the servant jobs in their residence only for light-skinned women who were in desperate need of money. Although I don’t know much, he must already have some hidden illegitimate children somewhere as an unmarried man.

I unconsciously clicked my tongue when thinking about George Abe. What a fate the princess would go through. She got engaged to a fool like him. Regardless of the fact that the princess was the daughter of the late Empress Diane, this has already crossed the line. If I knew that my daughter got engaged to such a low-class man, I’d jump up from the grave with my eyes bulging so much.

Click, click.

The camera was repeatedly clicking the photo of the podium, but strangely, at the right time each time, the empress covered her entire face with a fan.

‘Is it just my guts?’

Oh. She did say that she wasn’t fond of cameras.