Did You Forget I Was a Mage?
“...Then I’ll have the things the Empress’s Palace needs purchased and sent over myself.”
“Oh, thank you. There’s really no need for that... Though they were such poor-quality goods that even commoners wouldn’t use them, I’m more than willing to make the sacrifice to save the imperial budget.”
“No, I said I’ll send them myself.”
“If you insist, then I’ll obey. Thank you for your grace, Your Imperial Majesty.”
And so Chloe and Regina’s first battle of wills came to an end.
Having won so magnificently, Regina took the seat the chamberlain had indicated and endured the sharp glare of the sun.
Hmm. It is a little hot.
Ferman was cooler than Fredericks. It was a region with relatively low temperatures, and even the Monster Zone she had recently come from rarely saw much direct sunlight.
Having lived in dim, shadowed places, Regina was rather sensitive to heat. The warmth gathering over her skin was mildly irritating.
“The tea is ready.”
Just then, as tea and refreshments were brought out, Regina lowered a hand beneath the table and formed a mudra.
A breeze swept through, stirring her hair. When a cool curtain of wind wrapped around her body, her expression softened at once.
“This tea tastes best when it’s brewed hot.”
It seemed they had deliberately prepared boiling water. With the cool wind lingering by her side, Regina didn’t mind it at all.
Chloe, who had no idea that Regina was using magic, narrowed her eyes at her calm demeanor.
As if trying to decide whether she was merely enduring the heat, or whether she truly wasn’t bothered by it at all.
This is ridiculous.
Still, this was almost cute. By Regina’s standards, it was a rather childish form of bullying, and that made her tension ease little by little.
How much time had passed?
As Chloe sipped her tea, irritation gradually began to rise at Regina’s unfazed expression.
She was the one sitting out here in the heat, after all, and yet Regina, seated beneath the sun with no screen for cover, looked far too composed. Chloe couldn’t even demand that they leave first.
Regina glanced at her sidelong.
At this point, she should’ve suggested we end the meeting...
When she saw the beads of sweat gathering on Chloe’s forehead, Regina lifted her teacup. Steam curled up from the cup, but she drank from it with obvious pleasure.
That was because the wind surrounding her had grown cooler and cooler, so the hot tea now felt pleasantly warming.
“What do you intend to do about the maids and servants in the Empress’s Palace?”
“His Majesty said he would send capable people.”
Chloe’s eyes narrowed at the implied, That’s none of your concern.
“The maids standing behind the Empress in the imperial palace don’t seem all that competent either.”
Was she trying to strike at the maids because she couldn’t get to Regina herself? Regina’s lips curved faintly.
So that’s how you want to play this?
She hadn’t expected Chloe to let her off easily, but to drag the maids into it...
Those girls were already suffering enough under the blazing sun. If they were just a little closer, she would have included them in the range of her magic and helped them, but...
With no way of knowing what else might happen, she couldn’t afford to spend any more mana than she already had.
“You there.”
Chloe pointed her fan at one of the maids. The petite maid with brown hair stepped forward cautiously.
“Yes, Your Imperial Majesty.”
“My cup is empty. Pour me some tea.”
“Yes, ma’am.”
Among the maids, only a very small number were allowed to handle tea service for the imperial family, and those who could were considered elite.
They had to master the proper etiquette for pouring tea, and they also needed the dexterity to perform it without a single mistake.
It was no easy thing to lift a boiling teapot with one hand and pour smoothly without so much as a tremor.
...
Regina glanced at the approaching maid. She was the one who had arranged her hair earlier.
Was her name Rijen?
She was a girl with almost no expression at all. Yet that very blankness made her stand out more sharply in Regina’s eyes.
Rijen came up and lifted the teapot. Sunlight struck the hand holding it, making it gleam white.
Watching her pour tea with perfect observance of court etiquette, Regina felt a flicker of admiration.
Impressive.
She had thought she was just a child good at fixing hair, but she actually possessed the training of a senior maid.
And then, just as Rijen finished pouring without a single error and was about to turn away, it happened.
Thud.
Her foot caught on something, and she staggered. She barely managed to keep hold of the teapot, but a little tea splashed from the spout onto the table.
“How could an imperial maid make such a mistake...! Kneel at once!”
As though she had been waiting for it, Chloe’s sharp rebuke rang out.
Still holding the teapot, Rijen dropped to her knees beside Chloe.
“I deserve death, Your Imperial Majesty.”
It was only a few tiny drops on the table, but the problem was that the tea was hot.
“How dare you try to pour hot water on me.”
“I wasn’t trying to! I simply lost my footing...!”
“Enough.”
Strictly speaking, it hadn’t been a mistake—it had been her foot getting caught by someone else. The other maids had seen it, and so had Chloe, but she pretended otherwise.
Frowning faintly, Regina spoke.
“My maid must have been nervous in front of Your Imperial Majesty, whom she so respects. She’s still young, so...”
“How insolent, Empress!”
But Chloe, once she had sunk her teeth into her prey, did not stop. Her face hardened with frightening coldness as she raised her voice.
“Keeping an unworthy attendant at your side is itself improper for royalty. I’m trying to uphold the dignity of the imperial house in place of the still-immature Empress, so how dare you speak out of turn?”
When Regina didn’t answer, Chloe gave a cold order.
“Bring me a whip.”
Regina’s blue eyes widened.
She had assumed at worst it would be a deduction in wages, or perhaps the loss of the maid’s position as an attendant—never a whipping.
That level of punishment was not handed down lightly in the imperial palace. It was reserved for crimes that injured a royal body, or for truly irredeemable offenses. It surely couldn’t be much different in the Fredericks imperial palace.
“That’s too much, Your Imperial Majesty.”
“Too much, is it?”
Without missing a beat, Chloe cut off Regina’s protest and gestured to the maid beside her. When the maid returned, a whip was in her hand.
At the sight of it, Regina’s brows drew together briefly before settling back into place. Chloe, who had caught that fleeting reaction, smiled with satisfaction and issued the order.
“Strike her ten times.”
The moment Chloe’s words fell, the maid of the Grand Empress’s quarters brought the whip down on Rijen.
Whiiish— Crack!
The sound of the whip slicing through the air rang through the garden so loudly it was almost frightening. Rijen squeezed her eyes shut.
The maid realized something was wrong only after the fifth strike.
She could hear the sound of the lash hitting something, but no blood was flowing from Rijen’s back.
Pressing her lips together, the maid continued to whip down with all her strength. And yet still, no mark appeared on Rijen’s back.
“That’s ten strikes.”
The maid’s final swing ended, and Regina spoke as if she had been waiting for that very moment. Chloe’s eyes widened when she saw Rijen’s back—completely unscathed.
“You...!”
At Chloe’s razor-sharp glare, the maid holding the whip dropped to her knees.
“I-it’s strange, Your Imperial Majesty! I definitely struck with all my strength! But th-there are no wounds!”
The others who had watched the whipping were equally stunned. Chloe ground her teeth and snapped,
“This can only happen through some evil power!”
“How narrow-minded of Your Imperial Majesty.”
Regina loosened the hand she had formed beneath the table, then pretended to inspect her nails as she blew softly on them.
“To blindly dismiss an unknown power as a spirit or sorcery is the mark of someone poorly educated.”
At the openly mocking words, Chloe’s eyes flew wide. With all her prepared tricks rendered useless, she could no longer hide her irritation.
Yet Regina didn’t care in the slightest, even in the face of that vicious expression. She went on,
“Your Imperial Majesty seems to have forgotten that I’m a mage.”
Regina’s hand traced an elegant curve through the air. A small burst of light flashed from her fingertips, and Rijen’s kneeling body was lifted upward.