Sister I am the Queen in This Life [Novel] Chapter 132

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Translator: Harry Potta
Chapter: 132
Chapter Title: Bloody Fury
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After finishing her second waltz with Prince Alfonso, Lariesa felt like she was going to die from breathlessness. It was hard to tell if it was hyperventilation brought on by stress, or simply from dancing two fast-paced San Carlo waltzes in a row.

“Oh my, Grand Duchess de Valois. You seem to be out of breath, don’t you?”

Queen Marguerite acknowledged her as she returned to her seat.

“That son of mine… If the dance tempo is too fast, he should have escorted the lady back to her seat. Why did he insist on dancing?”

Prince Alfonso had led Lariesa back to the royal box where the royals and esteemed guests were seated, then departed immediately with an indifferent expression. He must have hated even the thought of sitting with her.

“No, not at all. It was I who asked to dance. Thank you for your consideration, Your Majesty…”

After Alfonso’s cold dismissal, Lariesa was so grateful for a kind word that she felt tears welling up. She wanted to crawl into the Queen’s arms right then and there. Beside her, Lady Carla, also a fellow countrywoman, spoke to her gently.

“Grand Duchess, you looked like such an adorable couple, dancing two waltzes in a row.”

Lady Carla was Lariesa’s greatest ally within Palazzo Carlo. She was the one who would discreetly inform the Grand Duchess of Prince Alfonso’s schedule or small details like his favorite desserts and the style of his handkerchiefs. Lariesa smiled faintly. It was a relief to know that’s how it appeared to others, but it was all meaningless now.

“Thank you for seeing us in such a lovely light…”

“By the way, Grand Duchess, you don’t yet know what the Prince has prepared for his ‘Signora Offerta,’ do you?”

The ‘Signora Offerta’ was a small gift a gentleman gave his partner at the beginning or end of a royal ball. For casual acquaintances, it was usually a small card, some sweets, or a single flower, but couples in a deeper relationship might exchange splendid jewels or precious metals. Lariesa replied with a weak smile.

“I wonder, will there be such a thing?”

“Goodness, Grand Duchess.”

Lady Carla answered with a serious expression.

“Our Prince Alfonso is a perfectly educated, unparalleled gentleman. He would never neglect to give a lady a ‘Signora Offerta.’”

Lariesa thought to herself.

‘A gentleman, he is. So much of a gentleman that he gave me absolutely no room for hope. But… but…’

She wasn't ready to face the truth yet. And Lady Carla added fuel to the fire.

“Did you receive the welcome gift for tonight’s opening?”

At royal balls, a welcome gift was prepared and given to all female guests upon entry to appease the gentlemen’s complaints—the rather crude complaint that it was too difficult to find a gift that suited the tastes of young ladies and noblewomen. It was a way for them to make an excuse when their wives demanded, ‘Where is *my* Signora Offerta?’ by retorting, ‘You already got one from the palace.’

“Ah, no.”

Grand Duchess Lariesa had entered the ballroom through the VIP entrance and thus had not received the welcome gift that all the other young ladies had.

“I told them to set one aside for you. I’ll call a servant to bring it.”

“Thank you…”

Lariesa had little interest in it. A welcome gift at a ball was usually a single flower, some light pastries, or an artisanal card. It wasn’t something the Grand Duchess of Valois would lose her head over, though a young lady from a lower noble family with few chances to attend a royal ball might.

“Did you know that Prince Alfonso personally chose this welcome gift?”

“Pardon?”

This was the first Lariesa had heard of it. With the surprised Grand Duchess sitting before her, Lady Carla began to sing the praises of the golden prince she had watched grow up, her voice filled with pride.

“His Highness suggested to Her Majesty Queen Marguerite that the welcome gift be daffodils. Her Majesty had originally been considering lilies, as the ball is being held in the ‘Hall of Lilies.’”

She gestured for a servant and had them bring the welcome gift. It was a single, healthy green daffodil with lush, double yellow petals, accompanied by a few cookies.

“A daffodil…”

“His Highness mentioned that day that it was a flower that reminded him of a ‘promise.’”

“A promise…?”

“Perhaps there’s a meaning to the daffodil that I’m unaware of?”

The language of daffodils signified ‘self-love,’ ‘loneliness,’ and ‘nobility’; there was nothing related to a ‘promise.’ In truth, Alfonso had been thinking of his promise to meet Ariadne at the daffodil altar in Pietro Plaza on the first day of the Spring Festival. According to his original plan, he wouldn't have been able to acknowledge Ariadne at the royal ball, but he had felt so sorry for leaving her alone that he wanted to give her at least a single flower. That was why he had suggested to his mother, who was considering lilies, that they change the welcome gift to daffodils. However, to Lariesa’s ears, the words ‘daffodil’ and ‘promise’ took on a meaning entirely different from the speaker’s intent.

‘The promise we made to stroll through the daffodil garden, just the two of us, when we returned to San Carlo…!’

It was a promise made with Sir Bernardino, who had been ghostwriting letters while Prince Alfonso was away in Taranto for Arabella’s funeral. After the day Lariesa had angrily told Alfonso in the corridor of the Taranto villa to ‘treat me, the representative of the Kingdom of Gallico, better,’ their relationship had deteriorated rapidly. Since returning to San Carlo, Lariesa had rarely even had a private audience with Prince Alfonso. Naturally, she hadn't dared to bring up the ‘promise of the daffodil garden’ and ask him to keep it.

‘Prince Alfonso… despite what he said, he must have felt sorry for me…!’

Once it started, her hopeful delusion spun out of control.

‘He said he would tell His Majesty Leo III that he would break off the marriage, but is it really that simple? This is a negotiation between nations! My father said Etruscan would never be able to refuse this proposal!’

Grand Duchess Lariesa clenched her fists.

‘And he told me he was ‘sorry he couldn’t reciprocate.’ That means he feels guilty. It’s not that he has no feelings for me. What is love, anyway? A feeling of sorrow becomes a feeling of gratitude, and then you start to notice them, and once you’re married, you’ll eventually fall in love!’

Just then, Lady Carla fanned the flames of Lariesa’s delusion.

“My, my, where could our Prince have gone, leaving the Grand Duchess here?”

She called a servant and inquired if anyone had seen His Highness.

“I did see him leave through the south exit.”

The south exit from the ‘Hall of Lilies,’ the ballroom, led down to a balcony connected to the daffodil garden.

“Perhaps he went for a short walk? The ‘daffodil garden’ doesn’t have much to see at night.”

“The daffodil garden?”

“Ho ho, surely His Highness wouldn’t really be in the daffodil garden at night, would he? The plants there are all low-growing, so there’s no fear of getting lost, but it’s not lit at night, so it’s not really a place to visit after dark. Grand Duchess, when the Prince returns, you should ask him to take you there during the day. The flowers are in full bloom, and it’s truly beautiful.”

Lariesa smiled and nodded.

“Yes, I will.”

Then, drawn by a strange conviction, she rose from her seat.

“Excuse me, I’m just going to the powder room for a moment.”

“Oh, Grand Duchess. Are you going alone? I’ll accompany you.”

She intended to go to the daffodil garden. Lariesa had an inexplicable, incomprehensible certainty that Prince Alfonso would be there now. She decided to stake her destiny on this feeling. If she went to the ‘daffodil garden’ and met Prince Alfonso, it was fate. She would not give up. But if the ‘daffodil garden’ was truly filled with nothing but flowers, she would obediently return to Gallico and await her fate.

“No, it’s alright. I wanted to catch my breath for a moment. I’ll be right back.”

Grand Duchess Lariesa replied sweetly, holding the stem of the daffodil she had just received.

***

And what Grand Duchess Lariesa came face to face with was this scene.

A young couple sharing a kiss under the moonlight. Prince Alfonso and a black-haired woman who was not her.

“Aaaaaaah!”

Lariesa screamed as she ran back toward the palace. It was too, too wretched.

“How could you do this to me! The brothers were in it together, they deceived me! And that filthy wench! I should have known then!”

Grand Duchess Lariesa’s fury doubled as she thought of Cardinal de Mare’s second daughter, the one who had been with Prince Alfonso at the masquerade ball.

“I must have looked like a complete idiot! They must have been laughing their heads off behind my back! That foolish woman is treating her man’s lover so well, thinking she’s his brother’s partner!”

Looking back now, the moment she had told Leo III that Cardinal de Mare’s second daughter was Count Cesare’s fiancée was unbearably humiliating. In this state of mind, with this expression and this attitude, she could not possibly return to the ballroom. Grand Duchess Lariesa did not go back to the ‘Hall of Lilies’ but instead went to her own quarters in Palazzo Carlo.

- *Thump!*

Seeing the Grand Duchess return from the ball without her partner’s escort, or even an attendant, her maid’s eyes widened in surprise as she rushed to her side. When the maid tried to take the wilted daffodil from her hand, Lariesa, only then realizing she was still holding it, threw it to the floor and stomped on it again and again with her heel.

“Grrrghh!!”

The thick, fresh stem crushed, and its white sap seeped into the red carpet imported from the Moorish Empire, staining it black. After grinding not only the green stem but also the yellow petals into an unrecognizable mess, Grand Duchess Lariesa, still not sated, yelled at her maid.

“Find Count Levien and bring him to me! Now!”

***

Count Levien, who had been in a good mood for finally being able to attend a ball after endless days stuck in negotiations, found his good mood shattered when the attendant sent by Grand Duchess Lariesa summoned him.

- “What? The Grand Duchess is causing a disturbance?”

He lowered his voice to a whisper, ensuring the attendant’s message didn’t reach the ears of the other guests in the royal box.

- “Do you know the reason?”

- “I don’t know that much… She returned from the ballroom in a great rage and just demanded that I bring you to her immediately, my lord.”

Such is the fate of a kept dog, to come when called. Count Levien sighed and rose from his seat.

“Excuse me for a moment. No, no. I’ll be right back. I’ll see you in a bit.”

Returning soon was merely his own wishful thinking, but he wanted to comfort himself by saying it. After excusing himself to his conversation partners, Count Levien hurried towards Grand Duchess Lariesa’s quarters. Through the long, flowing curtains and tapestries, he could see the shape of a woman with disheveled brown hair, wailing. Startled, Count Levien rushed inside.

“Grand Duchess! What is the meaning of this!”

In the time it had taken him to arrive, Lariesa had managed to destroy nearly every object in the room. Plates, candlesticks, books, and other small items were smashed to pieces, scattered across the floor. Small furniture like side tables and wingback chairs were overturned. The Grand Duchess’s eyes were bloodshot, and her fingernails were scratched and bleeding from her rampage.

“Levien!”

Seeing the count, Lariesa cried out, unable to hide her anguish.

“That wench, you can’t let her be!”

“Who in the world is ‘that wench’?”

“Cardinal de Mare’s second daughter! Ariadne de Mare!”

Lariesa stared at Count Levien, her eyes blazing with a fury that bordered on madness.

“Kill her.”