Chapter 03
Nadia had no idea whatsoever how the wedding preparations were progressing.
But she didn’t dare ask, so she lived as if dead, just as she had promised Olga at the beginning.
It wasn’t a difficult thing to do. After all, now that she had been designated as queen, she was terribly busy all day long receiving lessons on how to be one.
For Nadia, who had grown up without proper education due to her mother’s neglect, it was a very grueling schedule, but she did not complain.
One day, when she had been practically confined to her quarters due to the murderous schedule, someone came to see her.
“Countess Velevin requests an audience with the lady.”
Nadia knew well who Countess Velevin was. She had heard the maids gossiping not long ago.
“His Majesty brought in a mistress even before the royal marriage, I hear?”
“Yes, he even granted Lady Albina the County of Velevin.”
“He must treasure her greatly. So why did he choose Agnes’s daughter as queen when he has a woman like that?”
Nadia recalled the silver-haired beauty who had glared at her at the execution grounds.
“Why do you think? It’s revenge for the late Queen Anna. He’s telling her to become equally miserable.”
But Nadia thought she didn’t even have the right to feel miserable. From the very beginning, she had never considered the position of queen to be truly hers.
“Do I have to go myself?”
“You don’t wish to meet her?”
“I’d like to go myself for a change of air if possible, but I’m too busy these days receiving lessons on being queen.”
Just thinking about the schedule remaining today, a sigh escaped her without her meaning it to.
“I simply can’t find the time to go out. If it’s alright, I’d like the Countess to come to me instead.”
Albina’s maid, who had expected Nadia to become angry, wore a blank expression. Nadia, meanwhile, continued calmly.
“If she comes, I’ll somehow make time.”
Ha, she really is Agnes’s daughter through and throughānothing ordinary about her.
‘Just look at that brazen attitude, answering without even batting an eye. In the end, she’s saying that she’s the one who will become queen.’
Nadia had no such subtle intention, but that was how Albina’s maid interpreted it.
Albina, upon hearing the report, thought the same as her maid.
“She’s trying to establish the hierarchy.”
No matter how much she herself was the king’s favored concubine, in the end the legitimate wife was Nadia herselfāso she was saying, don’t dare summon me hither and thither.
Of course, it wasn’t wrong, but the other party was Agnes’s daughter. Albina felt indignant and dumbfounded, wondering if the woman didn’t know her place.
“Are you really going to go?”
The maid who had been to the Queen’s Palace asked with a displeased face. Albina shot back as if asking why she would ask such an obvious question.
“Of course I’m going. She’s picking a fight with meāshould I ignore it? That’s something I cannot tolerate as a knight.”
Albina was also one of the elite forces who had marched on the capital with Lev. Would she, who had succeeded even in that dangerous and reckless endeavor, fear something as trivial as putting Agnes’s daughter in her place?
“I’ll properly crush her arrogance.”
Of course, it would be difficult with her own strength alone. Albina whispered something to her maid. The maid nodded with a brightened face.
“As expected of Lady Albina. That wicked woman won’t stand a chance.”
Albina curled up the corners of her mouth in agreement.
***
A few days later, Albina went to the Queen’s Palace wearing a silver dress that clung tightly to her body.
It was a merciless dress that revealed the silhouette of her body as it was, but precisely because of that, it emphasized Albina’s voluptuous figure all the more.
Albina looked around the Queen’s Palace, which she was visiting for the first time in a long while, with a wistful expression, but soon her face turned cold.
The words Lev had said to her on the day Agnes died suddenly came to mind.
“Torment her well, Albina. She’s the daughter of the woman who drove your mother to her death.”
Of course, I’ll torment her well. Albina’s expression, which had been sharply honed, however, quickly changed to delight upon seeing who had come out to greet her.
“Lady Ryabova.”
Albina approached her mother’s old friend with quick steps and embraced her.
“It’s been so long. You must be going through a lot.”
“I am more at peace than you are worried.”
Olga replied in a composed voice. Albina seemed to take it as an empty pleasantry, but it was sincere.
Nadia had a better grasp of her position than expected and rarely made herself a bother. She simply shut herself in her room as if dead and only took lessons.
“I will escort you to the reception room.”
“Yes.”
Albina responded with a smile. The way to the reception room was familiar. Albina looked around and briefly wore a face steeped in nostalgia.
“Everything here is exactly the same.”
“There’s no reason to change it.”
“Trueāunless Agnes’s daughter dares to try to lay hands on it.”
Albina laughed as if it were a meaningless remark.
“His Majesty the King would not forgive that before we would.”
Olga agreed in silence. Before long they reached the reception room, and a wide white marble round table came into Albina’s view.
It had been a long time, but it was familiar. It was when Albina had sat down before it and was looking around the unchanged interior. Footsteps were heard.
“It’s a pleasure to meet you, Countess Velevin.”
A voice she was hearing for the first time came as well. Albina’s expression, which had been wistful as she chewed over memories, vanished in an instant.
When she turned her head, she saw a woman in a gold dress that fell in a straight line. Her hair, extending long below her waist, was as radiant as if made of gold thread and glossy.
Her eyes within her gentle eye shape shone brilliantly green like emeralds set in place, and her nose was high but drew a pleasing curve rather than being pointed.
With plump crimson lips arranged neatly and harmoniously within a small face, she gave the impression of a beauty even at a glance.
Her frame was slender and she was tall, with so little flesh on her body that she seemed like someone who hardly ate. Yet her breasts and hips were moderately full, and the contrast gave a sensual feeling.
She had thought her a beauty when she first saw her on the day of the execution as well. The only reason displeasure followed the appreciation was surely because the source of that beauty was Agnes.
Her impression seemed only slightly gentlerāNadia resembled Agnes a great deal.
‘Indeed, if this woman becomes queen, there’s no chance His Majesty would be weakened.’
A woman whose very existence brought back her mother’s death and the hardships of her boyhood. Albina rose from her seat and wore a smile she did not feel.
“It is an honor that one so busy would make time to meet me.”
Seeing her up close, her skin was truly white and smooth.
Albina, too, had heard endlessly wherever she went that her skin was fair, but Nadia seemed even whiter than her. She seemed carved from the white marble now beneath her.
“I am the one who should apologize for being so overwhelmed that my hospitality to a guest is lacking.”
Nadia sat down with a truly sorry expression. Albina sneered inwardly that she was putting on a false front.
“I suppose you’ve been through a great ordeal recently.”
“Pardon?”
“You’ve lost all your family.”
Albina smiled without hiding her hostility from the outset. Nadia was momentarily flustered but, after a brief silence, opened her mouth.
“His Majesty the King is here, so I am hardly worthy of displaying grief over losing family.”
At those words, the expression vanished from Albina’s lips. How dare Agnes’s daughter speak of Queen Anna’s death. Anger surged up from deep within her heart.
“That’s right. Considering why Queen Anna passed away, your words are correct.”
“……”
“I’m relieved to see you seem well aware of your position. I was worried what I’d do if you happened not to know.”
Nadia was silent like a sinner. At that docile attitude, Albina felt somewhat mollified, yet her displeasure did not fade.
She wanted to see that woman lose her composure and waver.
“In any case, since the two of us will be serving the same husband, I asked to meet so we could get along from here on.”
Albina smiled so her eyes curved into crescent moons and made a rather provocative remark.
“In terms of order, I come first, after all. If you’re curious about anything regarding His Majesty, feel free to ask me anytime.”
How would she react? Would that wicked Agnes’s daughter glare at her with a dumbfounded face? Or would she assert the queen’s authority, telling her to know her place?
Albina waited for Nadia to get excited and retort, whichever it wasābut the answer that followed was unexpected.
