The Queen Who Deserves To Be Tainted - Chapter 4.1

When Elfreda opened her eyes again, the surroundings were quiet. It wasn’t candlelight but the dawn that illuminated the room.

She blinked a couple of times and slowly rose from her bed.

The back of her neck felt stiff, and her head throbbed. Then, she was instinctively startled as she heard the sound of footsteps.

However, she soon realized it was a different, lighter, and more graceful sound than the one at midnight. Moreover, it was getting brighter in the morning. In the midst of it, Marchioness Magnum appeared.

“You’re awake.”

Her voice sounded as if she knew nothing about the events of the previous night. Elfreda was momentarily bewildered.

A group of ladies-in-waiting appeared behind Marchioness Magnum.

“Starting today, you will receive lessons as the queen. Until the wedding, you will be busy, and you won’t have time to waste.”

Marchioness Magnum’s voice remained soft.

Elfreda was momentarily frozen, wondering if the events of the previous night were just a dream. However, it was too vivid to dismiss as a figment of her imagination…

Lowering her head, she found no trace of blood.

Ah, maybe she has gone mad. Maybe she hallucinated, though the bright sun she saw last night…

Elfreda muttered to herself, recalling the man from the previous night.

“…I almost died.”

“It seems you had a bad dream.”

After casually responding, Marchioness Magnum seemed to have been caught off guard.

“Perhaps the bedroom is still unfamiliar to you. You’ll get used to it gradually.”

“….”

“Now, what is everyone doing? Why aren’t you helping the Princess get ready for the morning?”

The ladies-in-waiting, following the instructions of the head lady-in-waiting, started to move busily. While the ladies-in-waiting went off to prepare, Elfreda had some time alone.

Absently wandering around, she suddenly cautiously touched the back of her head, hidden beneath her long hair. Rubbing a bit harder, she felt something. When she withdrew her hand, there were traces of black and red.

She mumbled absentmindedly.

“It’s not a dream.”

She wasn’t insane.

It was just that the people here seemed eager to portray her as such. The bright sun she saw last night must have had the same intention.

Elfreda felt an inexplicable ache in her chest.

It was undoubtedly a ludicrous situation.

* * *

Following Marchioness Magnum’s words, numerous tutors arrived at Thames Palace that morning. Machi language, etiquette, finance management, history, and more… It felt like an effort from Machi to package the ignorant and uncultured barbarian from Makaeri into a presentable queen of the civilized country.

Elfreda decided to comply with their efforts.

Despite it being a rigorous schedule for her, as all the lessons were conducted in the Machi language she had learned in just a few months, occasionally strolling around the large central pond during these late nights helped ease her troubled mind.

The vivid flowers and the tranquil sound of swimming fish gave her peace.

Her time here was suffocating and harsh, it felt distant, like a dream. Elfreda sacrificed almost all her eating and sleeping time to cope with an overwhelming amount of study. Amidst this, she kept silent about the near-death experience on her first day.

It was like that in Makaeri.

His father decided that Elfreda must become a true Machi and ordered all Makaeri ladies-in-waiting and guards to be brought back to their homeland. In reality, it was probably a precautionary measure in case they heard rumors about Makaeri and caused trouble, but it was wise nonetheless.

Given the circumstances, Elfreda, who had narrowly escaped an assassination attempt, didn’t expect Makeri to take appropriate action. Instead, she hoped they wouldn’t turn her into a madwoman, as Marchioness Magnum had hinted.

The bright sun on that night was still indifferent to the one who would become his wife.

This indifference became a reason for her to keep that night’s events to herself, perhaps a kind of test to determine if she truly deserved to be a Machi queen.

Nevertheless, his indifference might be a blessing for her. She pondered what kind of expression she should show when she met him again. She wasn’t planning to approach him with the delight of a real wife just because he married her out of fear or obligation.

That was why she hadn’t visited him, even using the excuse of expressing her gratitude for the events of the first night. She had her own sense of honor, even if what happened wasn’t her doing. Trying to console a man who lost his family due to her grandfather’s actions by making such a move would only be a bitter irony.