Chapter 7
“…Pardon?”
Anesa’s expression remained calm as she said she had bitten her own tongue.
“I hope you can understand. If I hadn’t done this, there would’ve been no way for me to inform His Majesty about the unfair treatment I’ve been enduring.”
“Unfair treatment? What do you mean?”
Unlike Jeff’s puzzled expression, Sophie’s face behind him turned pale.
“It’s more certain to show it once than to explain it a hundred times.”
As she spoke, Anesa gestured toward the table with her eyes.
“Would you taste my meal over there? It’s the food the maid brought for me earlier.”
At those words, Sophie’s face turned so pale it was almost sheet white.
“……”
Jeff didn’t understand why the princess suddenly told him to check the meal, but an uneasy feeling made him walk over to the table.
Then he dipped his finger into the soup, which had already gone cold, and tasted it.
“Ptoo!”
The moment Jeff tasted the soup, he spat everything in his mouth out. The nauseating fishy taste made it impossible to swallow.
His face twisted as he shouted at Sophie.
“What in the world is this taste? Did you serve this to the Princess without even checking if the food had gone bad?”
“I-It’s just… I mean…”
Even if Anesa was a neglected princess who received no attention from the king, she was still a princess. If it became known that she had been treated like this, Sophie’s head would no longer remain on her shoulders.
Flustered, Sophie stammered without offering a proper explanation.
“Why can’t you answer?”
“Because she can’t.”
Anesa answered in Sophie’s place when the maid could say nothing.
“Serving that kind of food wasn’t a mistake.”
At Anesa’s calm tone, Jeff’s brows drew together.
“The maids who looked down on me have been tampering with my food for quite some time.”
“What do you mean…”
“Th-That’s a lie! The Princess is lying right now!”
Sophie, who had finally regained her senses, screamed desperately.
“A lie? Then how do you explain that food?”
Jeff asked sharply.
“Th-That’s something I don’t know either! Maybe other maids held a grudge against Her Highness and played a trick. Her Highness is known for being merciless and cruel, so many people resent her!”
Sophie was saying whatever came out of her mouth. It was a desperate move born from selfishness, willing to sacrifice others just to survive.
Jeff, who had been staring coldly at the maid, replied.
“Even if the Princess had a harsh temperament, she isn’t someone the likes of you could dare to meddle with.”
Besides, if she truly were a tyrannical princess, that maid would never dare to act so arrogantly. She would already be too terrified to even lift her head.
Jeff also knew well that Anesa didn’t have the backing to behave that way.
“N-No, it’s just…!”
At Jeff’s stern threat, Sophie’s words caught in her throat. Only then did she realize she had made a mistake. But it was already too late to fix it.
Soon, Jeff looked back at Anesa.
Only then did the princess’s condition fully come into view. Her body was so thin it looked like it had nothing but skin left, no different from a child begging on the street.
Moreover, unlike Elodie or other noble ladies whose hair was always carefully maintained and glossy, Anesa’s hair hadn’t even been properly brushed.
And that wasn’t all. The princess of a nation was wearing a worn dress that even a fallen noble lady would hesitate to wear.
Understanding the situation at once, Jeff swallowed a groan.
“Why… did you never tell anyone?”
From the maid’s excuses, he didn’t even need to ask what kind of treatment she had endured all this time.
He knew his liege, the king, was indifferent toward Anesa, his illegitimate daughter. But if he learned that his own daughter had grown up suffering such abuse, he would certainly have been furious.
Because this was also a matter of the king’s dignity.
