Chapter 07
Nadia’s eyes wavered rapidly at the unexpected encounter.
Her body had frozen like a plaster statue, and then, seeing Lev approaching, she hurriedly bowed her head.
Even as she stood staring at the ground, her heart pounded as if she had been running.
“Lady Ryavova.”
Lev, who had come to stand before Nadia before she knew it, looked at Olga with a displeased expression.
“You should have stopped the queen.”
“I apologize, Your Majesty the King. Had I known you were here, I would have done so.”
At Olga’s quiet answer, Nadia unconsciously swallowed dryly.
Only then did she realize that this was a place she should never have set foot in.
“Ah……”
Just then, her chin was lifted. Nadia found herself looking straight at Lev.
He was glaring at her with sharp eyes. Nadia felt breathless under his fierce gaze.
“I won’t interfere with wherever you go as the mistress of this palace.”
“……”
“But not here, Nadia Turik.”
Even after the wedding, to the king, she was still “Turik.” Nadia swallowed dryly.
“Understood?”
At Lev’s warning, Nadia’s lips moved faintly before she slowly nodded.
“……I apologize. I didn’t know.”
She truly hadn’t known. The king seemed very angry that she was here. In a place precious to him, a woman he hated had set footāof course he would be.
Foolish, Nadia. If this place was so well maintained, it couldn’t be unimportant to him. I should have just thought it was pretty and walked past. Why didn’t I?
“I will make sure this never happens again.”
As she quickly lowered her stinging eyes, the hand gripping her chin lost its strength. A brief silence fell. Nadia had the intuition that she should hurry out.
Having fled the rear garden as if escaping, Nadia trudged along. She wore a dazed expression like someone who had lost her wits from the unexpected situation, then suddenly asked Olga.
“What is that place?”
“It is the rear garden that the late queen consort cherished.”
The moment she heard the answer, a small hollow laugh escaped her. It was a moment when his reaction made perfect sense.
“After the queen consort passed, it came under the jurisdiction of Countess Turik. The countess covetously desired that place during her lifetime.”
At the following explanation, Nadia squeezed her eyes shut. Yes, it was a miracle I got out safely.
“Of course, it has now returned to His Majesty the King’s ownership.”
“……Please tell me about things like this in the future.”
Nadia asked in a feeble voice.
“You may wish to see me in difficulty, but situations like this are not particularly good for His Majesty the King either.”
“Yes, my thoughts were short. I never imagined His Majesty would be there from the morning after the wedding.”
“……”
Nadia said no more. Blaming Lady Ryavova here and trying to establish the queen’s authority would gain her nothing. The only person she could rely on here was Olga.
‘Mother, why did you covet even a place like that.’
The king’s eyes, glaring at her as if in contempt, would not leave her mind. Asking someone now dead was meaningless, but Nadia found herself resenting her mother’s greed anew.
***
The king, who had gone out for some air, returned in an even worse mood.
Anton watched Lev, seated at his desk in the office with an expressionless face, with concern.
‘Well, no one would feel fine after learning they have a terminal illness.’
Dr. Chekhov from the Kenan border province, who had first discovered Lev’s illness, had visited during the morning. Because of the nature of the matter, only three peopleāthe king, Dr. Chekhov, and himselfāknew of the king’s terminal condition.
‘I will do my utmost to find a method, but to my knowledge, there is no special treatment.’
Dr. Chekhov had given a realistic diagnosis while expressing regret.
Lev’s expression upon hearing this had seemed calm, but seeing him return in low spirits, it seemed he had only been managing his face.
Anton entered Lev’s office carrying a cup of lavender tea, said to be good for calming the mind and body. Lev looked up with an expression asking what this was.
“To cheer you up, Your Majesty. Dr. Chekhov said he would look for a method as well.”
“Yes, well.”
Lev’s reaction was quite indifferent. Oh dear, Your Majesty. So shy.
Still, me, tending to my lord’s moodāI’m quite admirable. Anton wiped under his nose and left the office.
Lev stared quietly at the lavender tea Anton had left, then took a sip. But the lavender scent lingering at the tip of his nose reminded him once again of the incident in the rear garden.
‘Of all things, lavender tea.’
The place his mother had loved was also called the Lavender Garden because so many lavenders bloomed there.
For him, it was a place where he could recall brief memories with his mother, as much as the rear garden of the Queen’s Palace.
At this point, when Agnes’s daughter had taken over the Queen’s Palace, it was also the only place he could freely come and go.
People who knew this fact generally did not set foot in the Lavender Garden.
So how startled he had been to find a strange woman thereāand Agnes’s daughter at that.
Perhaps that was why his heart had dropped when he saw the woman smiling brightly among the flowers just beginning to bloom.
The displeasure of knowing that Agnes’s daughterāwho had dared to covet that placeāwas in his mother’s space.
She didn’t seem like a completely stupid woman, so she wouldn’t set foot there twice, but Lev thought he should station guards.
Because he didn’t want to see that woman there again.
***
Afterward, Nadia’s life flowed much the same as before the wedding. Except for the rear garden of the Queen’s Palace, she rarely went outside.
The king had said she was the “mistress” here and he wouldn’t interfere with wherever she went, but she didn’t want to wander about and run into him.
She didn’t want to receive that contemptuous gaze twice.
‘Besides, there’s nowhere in particular to go anyway.’
Above all, there was a great deal to do. From the very next day after becoming queen, work had poured in, and her first tea gathering was already approaching.
Fortunately, everyone to whom Lady Ryavova had sent invitations had expressed their intention to attend.
‘Is that fortunate?’
Actually, she felt a little uneasy. Things seemed to be going too smoothly. Honestly, she had even thought no one would come.
Hadn’t it been that way at the reception? Who would want to be close to a queen who had lost her thread of power?
Regardless, Nadia prepared for the first tea gathering with her utmost effort.
She sought Olga’s advice and composed the menu with desserts popular in the capital recently, and procured high-quality tea leaves as well. At this level, there should be no gossip.
The long-awaited day of the first tea gathering arrived. After much deliberation, Nadia chose a rose-pink sleeveless dress.
It was an elegant dress with petal-shaped embroidery from shoulder to waist, and rose-shaped lace at the hem.
Wearing a tiara decorated with rose gold as well, Nadia headed to the reception room where the tea gathering would be held.
But the closer she got to the reception room, the more she felt a deathly silence. Nadia grew increasingly anxious.
“……Ah.”
Her anxiety became reality. The reception room was completely empty. Nadia wore a dazed expression like someone who couldn’t grasp reality for a moment.
Behind her, she heard the maids snickering softly.
At that sound, Nadia returned to reality. She calmly turned her head and met Olga’s expressionless face.
“What happened?”
“I hear that those who received invitations from Her Highness are all at the Velevin Palace now.”
“……”
“It is news that just came in.”
Olga added, as if to say she should not be blamed.
Nadia was at a loss for words. So this was their schemeāagreeing to attend for this.
“What shall we do?”
The empty reception room without guests looked even more wretched because of the tea cups and plates of snacks piled abundantly on the large table.
What to doādid they want her to storm into the Velevin Palace and grab Countess Velevin by the collar?
She was the queen, so doing so wouldn’t cause a problem. But she knew well that she was not in a position to dare do such a thing.
Countess Velevin had used this tactic in the first place because she had something to rely on. Nadia let out a short sigh and opened her mouth.
“Clean everything up. Distribute all the desserts to the palace staff of the Queen’s Palace, and……”
“Your Highness the Queen.”
Just then, a woman entered the reception room. It was the maid who had come last time to deliver the message that Albina wished to see her.
“Countess Velevin has invited Her Highness to her tea gathering.”
