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Withered bouquet by Schwarz Vogel |
Matilda tilted her head, looking at
the flowers.
The time they were together was short,
but a person who seemed to be rather thoughtful and careful only sends withered
flowers, without a note?
It seemed odd.
It was not that Matilda thought he
truly liked her, but she felt that Leandroth is not the one to behave this say.
So…
Was he unwell?
Had something happened in his duties?
Matilda felt anxious, so decided to go
and visit Leandroth.
She turned to her maid to ask her to request a visit.
Matilda did not bring her own maids with her from home, so when she was assigned maids, she had been a little nervous. She was always a bit reluctant to ask them to do anything, but the maid was delighted and said, ‘I
will go and tell the Emperor’s aide immediately.’ And she rushed off.
Matilda gave an astonished smile at
the maid’s behaviour. She looked at the other maids who remained in the room
quietly waiting for her requests.
She realised when she arrived in
Barenshiaga, the attitude towards her was rather mild. There had been no
incident of her being ridiculed or being harassed.
Although, this was a
marriage that Bareshiaga wanted, Icecoreta could only accept. If someone wanted
to be derogatory to her, they had plenty of ammunition; Icecoreta was sometimes looked upon as Barenshiaga’s slave,
based on their size, position and ratio of the export volume, but no one had
said anything unkind to her in the castle.
Everyone seemed rather welcoming. It
was surprising. (Zuben: So you've finally pulled your head out of your arse,
huh)
Before leaving her home and all she’d
known, her father had nothing to say about the Barenshiaga Empire or its
Emperor Leandroth.
‘Be happy,’ was all he said. It was
strange to think of now.
The princess of another country is
usually treated like a diplomat of their country.
Although she was living in her
husband’s house, life here was similar to that of her childhood home.
She was in Barenshiaga as a
representative of the Icecoreta Kingdom. However, Matilda was treated well and
with care. Thankfully.
From what Leandroth told her, it
seemed that she had been selected for the position of Empress by a few vassals of the
Empire. The idea made her feel honoured.
But what about the other vassals and
lords? There must be other high ranking citizens that would like their daughter
to be Empress.
And also the princesses of other neighbouring countries would
see “Empress Barenshiaga” as an attractive position.
Thinking objectively, this marriage might be a little out of her league.
First of all, age: it would be nice to
have children at a younger age than she was, and therefore look youthful and
well for longer.
Secondly, her intelligence and social
skills; while she was sure that she was somewhat intelligent, she wasn't as
confident in her social skills. She would have liked to befriend her mother-in-law, it would have made blending into the family easier.
Matilda sighed and rested her chin on
her hand on the armrest of the wisteria chair.
‘Princess Matilda, are you well?’
One of the maids attending to her
looked at her expression worriedly. Matilda smiled at her,
‘I am fine, nothing is wrong.’ She did
not know if her smile looked right.
Her thought returned to the random things; she had began to study books that
showcased the local produce and crafts of Barenshiaga and a guide of tourist
attractions. She had been thinking of going out to play by herself. From the
tourist attractions, you can know the distinctive features of an area. From the
environment, with animals and plants that grow, and well-known products. In
Barenshiaga’s climate, crops grow easily.
While thinking of this and that (Zuben:
and other random nonsense that wasn't cohesive¬.¬), the maid she had sent to
request an appointment with Leandroth returned. She looked rather worried,
‘What’s the matter?’ Matilda asked.
Her maid’s face grew flushed as she
said quite quickly, ‘Princess, the Emperor would like your assistance at his
office.’
‘Eh?’ Matilda blinked twice.
But she was a Princess of another
country! Foreign royalty does not participate in the political affairs of the
country they are visiting. So why then?
She tilted her head (Zuben: Again…),
‘Our Emperor is in a spot of a bother; he has not slept for two days! Princess
Matilda, please help.’
It seemed strange to be excited about
the turn of events, but Matilda rose from her chair with excitement tickling
her belly.
‘Bring me my navy blue dress. I will
leave matching accessories to you. A light make up, as well. No strong perfumes
because it would be distracting in the office. Also, may I have an hourglass?’
She had started throwing instructions
about without thinking.
They were citizens of the Balenciaga empire; a Princess
from another country shouldn't order them about like a matter of course.
(Zuben: She must have been very sheltered.)
However, the attendants all together
gave a bright and cheerful, ‘Yes!’
Matilda blinked in surprise.
She changed into her navy blue dress,
it had a high collar and silver buttons down the back. Black lace peeked from
splits in the shoulders and lined the edges. She looked very smart. Once she
was dressed, she went straight to the Emperor’s office.
On entering the room, there was a
strange smell. Going through the receiving room and into the office, she found
Leandroth buried under mountains of files and paperwork.
‘Mattie,’ his voice was tired. His
expression looked like he had been drained of energy, he had dark circles under
his eyes. He raised his hand weakly at her,
‘Your Majesty,’
‘Leandroth,’ he replied, he seemed to
want to hear her call his name, but the office was not an appropriate place, so
she pushed, ‘I will refrain from calling you informally at the office.’ She
said primly. She really was not cute. But Leandroth laughed, though sleepily.
He was useless in this state. For now,
sleep was the best medicine.
Matilda begins to order the attendants
and secretaries in the office.
‘Please, shut all the curtains in the
private room. Your Majesty you need to go and have a nap. Someone get a blanket
so his Majesty doesn't catch a cold,’
She turned to Leandroth with a bit of
an imperious attitude,
‘Your Majesty, please have a nap for
now. We will wake you up in a little while.’
‘But…’
He seemed hesitant, but Matilda did not
budge,
‘It is useless, if you don’t sleep you
will only make more mistakes and it would only be more hassle to untangle.’
Without waiting for Leandroth’s reply,
she turned to the maids,
‘Send for two guards. When they
arrive, tell them to take the documents to the receiving room. When they are
done, we will divide the documents into categories and then go from there,’
‘Mattie?’ Leandroth called. He’d been
watching Matilda throw orders here and there
‘Your Majesty, if you don’t go to
sleep now, you will have even less time to rest.'
Leandro laughed and said, ‘Alright, good luck,
future wife,’ he chuckled as he went to his private room.
Outside the window, the sun had just
gone past noon.
‘Princess, I have brought the guards.’
Matilda nodded. The guards she
presented where a young guard and an older more experienced looking guard.
Just right, she thought. Matilda smiled
at them and said,
‘Gentlemen, I need your help to bring
the documents from the office to the receiving room. These documents as you
know are usually only handled by the Emperor and his aides, therefore, I would
like you to watch us for any restless movements.’
‘Restless?’ The elder palace guard
asked.
‘If a document goes missing, you can
be witness that none of us took anything from these rooms.’
With that said, they began to move the
documents to the receiving room.
Zuben:
The
next two to three chapters are about Matilda learning about the power climate in Barenshiaga.
Leandroth gets his hanky-panky, but the chapters are mostly about Matilda being
boss; which is cool.
It seems that the time she spent observing her father have paid off.She can manage important affairs
ReplyDeleteOw....se isso não é uma imperatriz.... não compreendo o título então
ReplyDelete