Chapter 161
Selina grumbled when she saw the plate in front of her.
“I’ll prepare lemons right away!”
“Ah, aahh. Then for me, too.”
The sound was so small that it was barely audible, but the attendant responded immediately. There was even someone who offered to copy her as a bonus. When she was a ‘commoner Selina,’ people would have laughed at her and said, ‘Even her tastes are cheap.’
This pattern was repeated throughout the meal.
She felt like she could understand why Kalcion couldn’t speak. Whenever she did something, there was a fuss.
Eventually, Selina stopped and just continued her meal in silence.
‘This tastes better when you eat it with fruit on top.’
She thought about it, but she was afraid that if she opened her mouth again, people would follow suit, so she just held back.
“Is there any fruit?”
At that time, Kalcion’s heavy voice stopped everyone from eating.
“Yes? Yes! Of course, there is!”
As Kalcion, who had been quiet the entire time, opened his mouth, the attendant tensed again and bowed his head.
“Please bring it out now.”
“Which… I’ll give you everything I have!”
The attendant was quick to notice and didn’t let him speak twice. Immediately, all kinds of fruits were laid out in front of him so quickly that she wondered which tree would even produce peeled and cut fruits.
“Here. You like eating like this, right? My Queen.”
Kalcion was even kind enough to choose and put them all on Selina’s plate. The fruit he chose happened to be a combination that she always enjoyed eating.
She didn’t know he even remembered this. She couldn’t manage her facial expressions like this in a situation where she had to show off her dignity. To hide her embarrassment, Selina deliberately pressed her lips harder and ate solemnly.
People started whispering again when they saw that.
“Duke Renbird has completely become the underdog.”
The fruit that had entered almost jumped out of her nose due to people’s brilliant imaginations.
“Kuhp!”
“Are you okay? Here. Drink some water.”
Kalcion took care of her again.
‘It’s because of you, YOU.’
Selina scolded him with her eyes instead of words, but Kalcion didn’t understand at all. She whispered, poking his side.
“They say Kalcion is an underdog.”
“Isn’t that true?”
“They didn’t even say ‘subject’…”
“I stay the closest, serve first, and move like your hands and feet. Isn’t that true?”
For the first time today, she was left speechless by his explanation, which strongly claimed that he was an underdog.
She felt strange.
After coming to this world, Kalcion was always a high figure sitting up in the distant sky.
It seemed like a joke for him to call himself a subject and humble himself, so there was nothing unpleasant about it. However, when she felt that her rank had been reversed when another person pointed it out, her mood was not at all refreshed.
She didn’t like things like rank or hierarchy in the first place. She hated being divided into so-called ‘classes’ among her colleagues, though she hated being divided into ‘classes’ with her loved ones even more.
“When is the trial scheduled to take place?”
Selina tried to distract the subject and got to the point.
“There is no need to waste time, so it will be held tomorrow.”
“What about witnesses or evidence needed for trial?”
“The preparations were finished a long time ago.”
She raised one eyebrow at Jerryel’s leisurely answer.
“When?”
“You said we should always be prepared in advance.”
How did the princess who cried after being beaten grow up like this? Since when did she start crouching down and hiding her claws?
Selina looked at Jerryel with curious eyes. Children grew up really quickly.
“The trial will be held early tomorrow morning.”
“That fast?”
“Everything is ready, is there any reason to waste time?”
Jerryel seemed to want to get rid of the crown prince quickly. Selina also wanted to end things quickly and return to Renbird. She was now sick of the complicated and gloomy things like the Crown Prince and Mion’s social circle.
“No. I will look forward to tomorrow.”
Now, the real end was waiting.
* * *
Instead of returning to the Crown Prince’s palace, Selina chose the Renbird mansion. No matter how accustomed she was to camping, she didn’t necessarily want to sleep in ruins.
“I also have to check to see if there are any documents left.”
In her haste to run away from Mion, it was safe to assume that anything that was not sent through the advance party was as good as lost.
As the sun set, the surroundings became dark. Lights were turned on in every house along the street, but the Renbird Mansion was immersed in darkness. The guards picked up wood lying on the ground and made torches.
“Hey, those disgusting things. Every drop of oil has been taken out of the lamp.”
The owner was accused of treason and ran away. The servants’ course of action became unified—take as much as they could and run away. They thought it must have been stolen, but seeing that even the decoration on the doorknob was gone made them laugh out loud.
Even the doorknob decorations have disappeared, so there was no way any of the high-end furniture would have remained. There wasn’t even a single piece of blanket, let alone a bed.
“This is it…”
No matter where she went, she had to sleep on the bare floor.
“I will search every nook and cranny. There must be something left.”
The guards’ members dispersed to their respective locations, leaving behind a few. It wasn’t long before…
“Kyyaak!”
A shrill scream sounded from afar.
“What is it?”
“Now that it is known that the house is empty, it is not surprising that homeless people are hiding out one by one.”
A moment later, a guard member dragged a woman. Aside from how horrible she looked, she smelled so bad that Selina held her nose and backed away.
“Ugh. Why bother dragging her in? Just let her go.”
“Ah, about that… because she appears to be the maid you ordered to track down.”
The guards who had been tracking Juna came to the war. There was a limit to using valuable manpower just because of Irell’s will.
“Hmm?”
The guards held the torch close to the woman’s face. When the light illuminated her face, only then did they see her familiar features. It was Juna. She looked so rough that they couldn’t recognize her unless they looked closely.
“Lady, Lady Selina!”
As soon as Juna recognized Selina, she was happy and tried to get up. However, the guards roughly pressed her shoulder and forced her to get back down.
They could not possibly be kind to Juna, who had already escaped twice.
“I, I, I, have it! I found it! I have the will!”
“Alright.”
Now, the will did not matter much. It was, but the outcome of the crown prince’s trial was decided. It was just a matter of whether to relieve Irell’s resentment or not.
Selina answered indifferently.
“It’s true, for real!”
“Yes, just in words.”
“Look! This is it!”
Juna searched her arms, took out the paper, and shook it.
A piece of paper that was dirty.
“How much are you going to sell it for?”
Selina stared at the will instead of reaching for it.
“Se, sell it, me?”
“You stuttered.”
“This is because I haven’t been able to eat or sleep lately… Here, this is my loyalty. How could I do that? I brought it here to give it directly to Lady Selina!”
“Yes, you really came a long way. If that’s the case, just follow along comfortably with the guard. Why did you run like that?”
“I had no choice but to do this because the guard took away the will and tried to prevent me from meeting Lady Selina!”
Whenever she opens her mouth, she just lies.
There was no reason for the guards to go to such lengths. The reason why she came here after running away was obvious.
Since Selina doesn’t seem to be willing to pay the full price, she must have been looking for someone to sell it at a high price to. However, Juna’s information was limited, so as a maid, she could not easily meet nobles or royal families.
After going around here and there, perhaps she ended up finding a place to sleep and ended up in the empty mansion.
Selina smiled coldly and took the will from Juna’s hand.
“But what to do? This is of no use now.”
“Uh…?”
It was before Juna reached out her hand to hastily snatch the will back. Selina threw it into a nearby torch.
Flash. The thin piece of paper burned in an instant and turned to ashes.
“Ah? Uh? Uuhh? OOHHH?”
Juna, who could not believe what she saw with her own eyes, made a dazed sound for a long time.
“Oh, oohh! No! What’s this—! No! This is everything to me! How precious this is! Aaaahhh! You bad b*tch!”
Juna, who slowly realized the reality, rushed towards Selina, screaming. However, she was blocked by the guards and ended up lying flat on the floor.
“What a shame. So, when people give you a chance, do it well.”
“D*mn b*tch! What chance?! It’s called opportunity! You should have paid my debt and even given me a prestigious position like the head maid!”
Selina was impressed.
“You’re really such a dreamer?”
Her abilities were not outstanding and the cards she held in her hands were not grand, yet she dreamed that far. It was just amazing.
“Your ability is to run away, so how could I give you such a position? I will let you go, so please use that ability and live well in the future.”
Selina looked at the guards.
A member of the guards grabbed Juna’s arms and dragged her away.
“Aacckk! Do you think I’ll just leave you alone? I can’t go like this! Let go!”
The shrill cries gradually became distant. Eventually, as Juna was dragged outside the mansion and out of her ears, Selina shrugged her shoulders.
“Because it wasn’t worth a crime to kill.”
Nonetheless, it was not difficult to predict that the life left for June would be terrible. She no longer has anywhere to receive letters of introduction anymore, so she wouldn’t be able to become a maid, and even if she tried to rejoin Lirell, she would have no cards to carry.
The debtors didn’t know how to give up. They would follow her until she died. It was obvious how twisted the rest of her life would be.
“And I, too, had paid off the debt by giving her a slap in the back.”
Selina took out the intact will from her sleeve, with only the end slightly burnt.