Chapter 64: Live To Sienna Pt.64
“There are many stories about the dance you performed with your First Prince yesterday. I heard that the both of you dancing in black side by side looked like a pair of black swans floating in the middle of a white blister. Oh, I wanted to see you in person.”
Hain stopped the movements of her hands and said.
“Oh! And I heard yesterday’s war of nerves with the Empress was great?”
“Uh? Ugh. There’s no such thing as a war of nerves, but it happened.”
Sienna was at a loss for words, wondering why Hain said such a reckless thing.
“There haven’t been a lot of people who have been proud of her. They were all acting like they were tongue-in-cheek. But yesterday, Your Highness, the Princess, was not defeated by the Empress, so you are revered as a new symbol of society among young ladies.”
‘What symbol, this news hasn’t even been more than a day old. Where the hell did Hain hear this? She’s been right beside me all day?’
“The kids who went out to help with their hands at the banquet hall yesterday said it. Working at the banquet hall, you hear the nobles talking. You can hear all kinds of stories when you go to the posted laundromat areas in the morning. Well, there’s a lot of dirty talk, but…”
Sienna nodded. She thought it was the pleasure of the ladies working in the imperial palace. Hain went on and on.
“In fact, older wives and nobles who were close to the Empress had a lot of bad things to say. They said a lot of bad things about that black dress, too. But all the young girls wondered about the origin of the dress. No one could find any white cloth after your wedding to the Crown Prince, so I’m sure this time, like last time, all the black cloth in the capital will run out again. I can assure you.”
“Really? If I knew ahead of time, I should’ve bought some black cloth? It would be too late to put in an order right now, right?”
“Your Highness?”
In Sienna’s response, Hain tilted her head.
“No, I’m kidding. Oh, did you pass on the message to the empress’ cook? Did you tell him to prepare the food without any red meat like beef or pork?”
Sienna was simply unable to eat red meat because of the treachery Arya caused, the terrible memory of the day. As a result, she naturally ate vegetables and seafood-oriented foods. Her maids and chefs knew about it and prepared her meals as so, but Arya’s chef didn’t know about it, so he needed a notice in advance.
“Yes, of course!”
“Yes. That’s enough.”
“Ah! The most interesting story is left.”
“What is it?”
“I don’t know if I can talk to you about it.”
“If you didn’t want to tell me, you wouldn’t have said that. You’re going to tell me anyway. Don’t try to melt my baby’s ass and tell me.”
“The hottest concern among the ladies and gentlemen of yesterday’s banquet was the incident in which the First and Second Prince fought over milady in the middle.”
“Who’s fighting with who? What about that?”
Sienna shrieked at such an absurd story.
“Of course, I’m not saying that they really hit and fought with each other. It’s just that when His Second Prince offered you to a dance, His Majesty, the First Prince suddenly entered the banquet hall with a ‘ta-da!’ and apparently, he said that one shouldn’t recklessly ask his woman for a dance. I heard their glaring contest was so intense that if you take a piece of paper in between them, it would have burned up right away.”
‘Would a paper really burn up because of Sir Carl and Valore who aren’t actual fire?’ Sienna thought while thinking as she continued to listen to Hain with a dazed face.
“I heard you finally danced with the First Prince. His Royal Highness, the Second Prince turned his back away lonely when you couldn’t be with him. Then he stood in the corner of the banquet hall, staring with jealousy at the sight of the First Prince and the Crown Princess, and it is said that he had been drinking a lot.”
“I don’t know where to begin to tell you no, actually because the subject is so unspeakable and sensitive.”
“Isn’t everything I told you true? Gloria told me so vividly. She was carrying drinks right next to him, so he saw it clearly with her eyes and heard it clearly with her ears. Minty was next to her as well. She saw it, too. She also told me that the emperor was persecuted by the empress, and that the prince appeared like a real prince and asked you to dance.”
Sometimes, she wondered if Hain might have mistaken the prince status as higher ranking in terms to king status. It is a compliment to say that the prince of the empire is higher than the king of the kingdom, and that he is like a prince to the prince.
“Hah. Minty or Gloria, it’s absolutely not like that. Valore knew Carl wouldn’t be able to attend the banquet, and since the Phoenix Knights didn’t attend either, he showed generosity in asking me to dance. Carl came and he gave up because he didn’t have any reason to dance with me anymore. Don’t go around saying any weird things now. You know how scary the Empress is. If this story goes into her ears for nothing, I’m going to get hit by her.”
At Sienna’s words, Hain opened her eyes wide as if surprised. She still ached in her back when she remembered how Arya’s whip fell down onto her back. She didn’t want to be whipped again.
“Don’t say anything strange about that incident either, Hain. If the Empress shows up with a whip again, I can’t stop her either. Honestly, the Empress’ hands are so hot. I don’t want to be slapped again.”
At her words, Hain began to hiccup with astonishment. Sienna looked at her with a suspicious face.
“What is it? What have you been going around doing? What are you so surprised at for?”
“Hiccup!- I didn’t say anything, hiccup!- I didn’t! Hiccup!- And at the laundry posts, Your Majesty, Hiccup! The maids don’t come very often. They, hiccup!- go somewhere else. Hiccup!”
“Just be honest with me. What in the world have you been you been going around talking about?”
Hain managed to stop the hiccups and say.
“I just said what a beautiful and expensive gift Prince Valore gave you. That’s really all I’ve said!”
As Sienna looked at her, she still seemed suspicious and she added an excuse.
“It’s true. I’m not the one who started the talk that the First Prince had loved you even before you got married. Besides, it was a bit too much of a novel about what Jessie thought and said about the second Prince.”
Sienna was astounded. How many people in the laundromat are chatting like this…
“What did Jessie say?”
It was only then that Hain looked at whether she thought she had talked too much. Sienna was also of the royal family, though she was comfortable with her. It was no wonder that she and all of those she was talking about were thirsty for details when she was charged with desecrating the royal family.
“I’m not trying reprimand you or punish you, so don’t worry and tell me. I need to know what kind of rumors are going around about me.”
“I heard that the Second Prince and Your Royal Highness, the Princess have joined together.”
“There’s only been that one time at my adult banquet.”
“Since then, apparently, you two have been secretly in love and secretly growing more affectionate of one another, and the Empress has learned of this so that is why she married you to the First Prince in order to separate you two, well that’s what is being said. A relationship where both have grown feelings of love for each other, but cannot be close to each other…”
At this point, Hain looked the other way, regarding her in a careful way.
“His Majesty the Second Prince asked you to abandon all of your things and run away with him together, but His Majesty the Second Prince was deeply wounded in the heart because you said you could not betray your First Prince… but he still couldn’t keep his mind clear off of you, so Prince Valore has been hovering around the First Prince for this reason. So, I said this is absolutely not the case.”
“Yes, well done. It’s absolutely never like that. To talk such nonsense.”