The Queen Who Deserves To Be Tainted - Chapter 19.1

Elfreda was flustered as she headed to the audience chamber, just one day after being summoned in the same manner. It was the palace servant Robert who had come to tell her that she had to go to the audience chamber again.

‘What’s going on this time?’

As she asked with concern, Robert looked at her with a somewhat surprised face before responding.

‘Princess Serina requests an audience with His Majesty the King and Her Majesty the Queen.’

His tone suggested that they were all in this together, so why would she pretend not to know. However, Elfreda was too shocked to notice this.

So by Robert’s words, did this mean Serina was actually going to apologize?

‘Apologize? Serina…?’

It seemed like an unlikely pairing. Elfreda followed Robert somewhat dazedly, but even upon arriving at the audience chamber, she couldn’t quite believe the situation.

She entered the audience chamber, trying to hide her expression. It was the same place where she had an affair with him in bright daylight just the day before. The memory made her cheeks flush slightly.

At that moment, Ejnar, who was seated on the throne, turned his head. Elfreda’s face turned even redder as their eyes met, but he spoke indifferently.

“The Queen has arrived.”

“…Machi’s noble lord Master.”

Elfreda quickly bowed her head. She heard Ejnar chuckle softly; she knew her face must be very obvious. She bit her lip to calm her racing heart then took her place beside him.

From there, she could see everything below clearly.

After being buried by Ejnar’s presence, which had first caught her eye upon entering, she could now see Serina.

Serina sat with a demeanor befitting a princess of Makaeri, in a place where no one could truly be at ease. Her expression looked highly displeased, and the Makaeri envoy standing beside her seemed anxious.

‘Could it really be…?’

Just as she began to think of the absurd possibility that her hypothesis might become reality, Ejnar spoke in an unusually gentle voice.

“I hear the Princess wishes to meet with us both.”

“….”

Instead of responding immediately, Serina bit her lip hard before replying.

“Yes, Your Majesty.”

“I clearly remember what the envoy from Makaeri told me yesterday.”

Ejnar said with a faint smile.

“Is it safe to assume that my expectations are correct?”

“….”

There was a longer silence this time. However, Ejnar waited for Serina’s next move without any sign of impatience, his face relaxed.

Elfreda watched Serina nervously. She was worried about what she might do.

Indeed, Serina’s face was rigid with humiliation, and she bit her lip so fiercely it seemed like it might bleed. It was during this tense silence that even breathing felt awkward.

—Kiik.

The sound of a chair being dragged back was heard, and all eyes turned to Serina as she stood up. Even standing, her expression was one of indecision, and it seemed to worsen after she glanced at Elfreda.

‘…I.’

Serina felt her heart pounding with anger and shame. Her fists clenched tightly.

‘How did I end up in such a situation!’

“Don’t escalate things, just bend once. To achieve great things, one must learn to endure temporarily.”

Yesterday, those two lines had left Serina stunned.

The firm handwriting was unmistakably her father’s, but she couldn’t believe it. She knew about her father’s plan to take over Machi without shedding a drop of blood using Elfreda. She understood that it was important not to worsen relations between the two countries because of this.

Still, was this plan really worth protecting to the extent that she had to kneel before Elfreda? Such servility did not suit the great Makaeri, who roamed the continent as if it were their own.

Couldn’t they just take what they wanted with force, even if it meant a little bloodshed?

‘How could he be so cruel to his only hard-earned daughter!’