The Queen Who Deserves To Be Tainted - Chapter 19.2
And not just to anyone, but to Elfreda? Should this Serina beg for forgiveness from her, a woman scraping by for even a speck of her mother’s affection?
“Princess.”
At that moment, Ejnar called her with a neat tone.
Serina felt a strong urge to simply obliterate this small country, as she looked at his eyes, which seemed to get irritated by the delay. She wanted to gouge out Elfreda’s worried eyes.
Regrettably, Serina didn’t yet realize that her father wasn’t the capable ruler who could succeed in the expedition where even her grandfather had failed. However, she wasn’t foolish enough to blatantly disregard her father’s orders.
She decided that it was right to yield, at least for now. Once she returned home, she would argue strongly with her father to crush them with force.
Still, the situation was so humiliating and demeaning that her knees shook. For the first time in her life, Serina had to muster all her strength to stand firmly, and slowly, she bowed her head in front of Ejnar and Elfreda.
“…I regret the incident where my guard killed a civilian of Machi.”
Serina clenched her teeth as she finished speaking.
“As the Princess of Makaeri, I apologize to the King.”
After saying this, her eyes stung with anger. The shame was so intense she felt tears could fall at any moment. The thought of how the king of this insignificant country and his illegitimate-born queen must be looking at her made her feel nauseous.
Serina clenched her fists so hard that her well-manicured nails almost drew blood, and she lifted her head with difficulty.
Ejnar looked pleased, while Elfreda appeared stunned. It was Elfreda’s hateful face that truly ignited a fire in Serina’s heart.
“Your apology is accepted, but you’ve omitted something.”
“…What do you mean?”
“You haven’t apologized to my queen.”
Serina couldn’t hide her surprise. Was he really asking her to apologize directly to this woman, who was no better than a bug?
She retorted through gritted teeth.
“Isn’t the Queen present beside His Majesty and thus included in the apology?”
“It’s a different matter. This incident has complicated the Queen’s position.”
Ejnar concluded with an expressionless face.
“So, it would be appropriate to apologize for that.”
“If I apologize to the Queen, will that restore Your Majesty’s good standing?”
“Let’s ensure such incidents don’t happen again, for the sake of the Queen.”
Ejnar replied in a dry tone.
“Well, I can accept that much.”
“…This seems a bit excessive, Your Majesty.”
“Your Majesty, I…”
Seeing Serina’s expression about to explode, Elfreda, fearing the situation might escalate further, tried to interject. However, before she could speak, Ejnar turned to her with a cold look, signaling her not to interrupt.
It was then did she realized that this situation was more about Ejnar’s intention to firmly control Makaeri than out of concern for her. She was merely a pretext.
Ejnar turned back to Serina and opened his mouth again.
“A simple apology should suffice. Isn’t it the least you can do for your sister, who has been put in a difficult position because of you?”
“Then, privately…!”
“You’ll be lucky you wouldn’t be slapped again.”
The atmosphere in the audience chamber turned icy with those words. Ignoring the shocked looks of the three, Ejnar added indifferently.
“I wasn’t going to mention it.”
The Makaeri envoy’s face went pale as if he was about to faint. The situation was worsening instead of improving.
‘After all the effort the Princess has made to apologize!’
The envoy couldn’t let that effort go to waste. With a desperate look, he pleaded with Serina in a voice meant only for her to hear.
“Even a simple apology would suffice, Princess. Please…”
“Whose servant are you? Why do you keep siding with that man?!”
“It’s better than letting your effort to apologize go to waste.”
For Serina, it was infuriating to the point she was going crazy.
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