16. The King's Mother (1)
16. The King's Mother (1)
[Chapter 16] - The King's Mother (1)
The Princess and I, having received an invitation from the Queen Dowager, decided to walk slowly to the Detached Palace where she lived, which was not far from the lake. It helped that there was still time before the dinner banquet the Queen Dowager had invited us to.
The main purpose was to show the Queen Dowager's ladies-in-waiting and maids that I was attached to the Princess. To show them this sight of me lifting her up and carrying her, supporting her bottom.
The Princess, sitting with my arms as her chair, wiggled her hands, which were clutching her skirt, as if she were embarrassed to be seen by others like this. Still, I had no intention of putting her down until we reached the Detached Palace where the Queen Dowager lived.
At the very least, for now, I had to appeal to others as much as possible that I was close to the Princess. Only then would the story reach the Queen Dowager's ears. The story that the Princess and I seemed close.
"U-um, over there... Your Majesty the Queen..."
"Yes?"
While I was walking hard, carrying the Princess, the Princess, who had been fidgeting with her skirt, hesitated and then gathered her two hands near my ear and whispered softly.
"I, I have a question..."
"Go ahead."
The sound of her lips parting as if she were shy echoed in my ear. The Princess groaned and agonized for a moment, then, as if she had gathered her courage, whispered into my ear in a very small voice.
"Ainsel is... a 'Mirror Fairy', right...?"
"That's right."
"Th, then..."
Kkul-kkeok. I heard the sound of saliva going down the Princess's throat.
"By any chance... is there a Cake Fairy, too...?"
"Pu-heup."
For a moment, I couldn't give any answer to the Princess's curiosity because I was holding back the laughter that was bursting out. The Princess, held in my arms, seemed to like sweet food, fitting for her age.
Seeing Ainsel, who was on the opposite side of the Princess, hear that and say, 'U-uh, what do I do...? There shouldn't be a fairy like that...?' I'm afraid there is no Cake Fairy.
I turned my head slightly to look at the Princess's eyes, which were sparkling with anticipation. What on earth did she want to do after meeting the Cake Fairy? My curiosity was endless.
"Peu-heu-heu, well? I'll have to ask later."
"Really?"
"Or you can ask yourself later. I'll lend you my earrings later."
At the mention of lending her earrings, Ainsel, who was standing beside us, was shocked in a small voice. She said that I was dumping the cruel task of having to tell the truth to the innocent Princess onto her.
...I got caught.
Just as Ainsel said, I didn't have the confidence to lie to the Princess, who was full of anticipation. The moment I said there was no Cake Fairy, those sparkling eyes would lose their vitality and become shaded.
As we walked while sharing various stories with the Princess, we were able to arrive at the Detached Palace where the Queen Dowager was said to live before we knew it. Although it was smaller than the Main Palace where the King and the Princess lived, the beauty of the castle was no less than the Main Palace.
Unlike the large landscaping of the Main Palace, the garden of the Detached Palace was decorated with small, cute trees and flowers that were easy to grow and handle. The inside of the castle also looked different from the Main Palace.
The Main Palace was so excessive with gold that it could be said to have been painted with money, but the Detached Palace seemed to be decorated with a small amount of gold and finished with white tiles on all sides. I couldn't ignore the clean feeling given by the combination of white and gold.
"Your Majesty the Queen, Princess. First, I will help you with your grooming again."
First, the lady-in-waiting moved us to the dressing room, saying that we absolutely had to groom ourselves again before meeting the Queen Dowager. The maid who groomed me at the Main Palace was at most two people, which was a lot.
However, it was different here at the Detached Palace. Five or six maids flocked to do my makeup, finishing the work in an instant. It felt like I had become the doll in a game of playing house.
Having finished the grooming so quickly, the Princess and I were able to change into appropriate dresses. I thought I would finally be able to meet the Queen Dowager with such an exhausted body, but...
"Since there is still time left until the dinner banquet, how about looking around the Detached Palace? I will guide you."
The Queen Dowager's lady-in-waiting came and said that there was still time until the dinner banquet, and that she would show us around the Detached Palace. The moment I rested my chin on my hand, wondering what to do, the Princess sitting next to me caught my eye.
The Princess's eyes sparkled at the lady-in-waiting's words to introduce the Detached Palace. I felt like I would just fall asleep if I waited still anyway, and since the Princess's eyes were sparkling like that, I felt a sense of curiosity before I knew it.
"Let's do that. There's nothing to do anyway..."
I got up from the chair, took the Princess's hand, and followed behind the lady-in-waiting. The Princess moved her feet as if she were leading me one step ahead of me, as if she knew the way here.
"This place was built 150 years ago, for the Queen of the time..."
As I was walking while listening to the boring story like a museum guide's explanation, the Princess shook off my hand and scurried into a room.
The lady-in-waiting did not stop the Princess's sudden action, and rather, as if she had expected this to happen, she stopped her explanation and slowly followed into the room the Princess had headed to.
I also naturally moved my footsteps there.
As I entered the room the Princess had entered,
I couldn't say anything.
A painting, so large it was indescribable, was contained in a frame that was two stories high. I was surprised by the large painting, but what surprised me was the paintings that filled this large room.
Paintings of a beautiful woman with hair as black as ebony and eyes as red as rubies were spread out everywhere. There were dozens, no, what looked like over a hundred paintings.
Every single one of them depicted only one woman.
It was as if the Princess had grown up.
The Princess, as if she were used to it, approached the largest painting with chong-chong steps and looked up at it. Then, with a tearful voice, she called the name of the woman drawn inside the frame.
"Eomamama..."
*
I felt like I was going to lose my mind at the portraits of 'Aurora Snow White' spread out everywhere. The portraits didn't all have the same face; there were smiling faces, and angry expressions were drawn as well.
As if her time had been cut up and stuffed into frames.
"What... is this...?"
"...It is no wonder that Your Majesty the Queen is surprised. The fact that such a place exists in the Detached Palace, not just the Main Palace, is a fact that only we who serve the Queen Dowager and the Princess know."
There was a place like this in the Main Palace, too?
As soon as I heard that, the hair on my body stood on end, and I got goosebumps. Who on earth drew so many paintings of the First Queen, and with what intention?
I walked slowly and observed the numerous paintings hanging on the wall. Under every painting, there was no title or the artist's name written. Just, a face smiling while taking a walk, a face chatting with a maid.
There were only paintings that looked like her time had been cut up like photographs. As I walked around the room like that, I reached the large-sized painting that the Princess was looking at before I knew it.
Only under this painting, a title was written.
Naturally, the title of the painting was just written as 'Aurora Snow White.' There was no other content, no artist's name, nothing written. Just as I was wondering who on earth did such a crazy thing.
"There is no more room to put the paintings that His Majesty sends... To be honest, there are too many, so it is a headache. I wish he would stop sending them now, but..."
"His Majesty?"
"..? Yes, His Majesty 'paints' one picture every week and sends it to us. I heard that the Prime Minister sends 'paints' to His Majesty every single day? Really, I wish the Prime Minister would stop now too—"
Paints?
If so, did the 'King' paint all these paintings while living in seclusion?
...Is this what it feels like to be so dumbfounded that you are speechless? I wanted to say something to the lady-in-waiting's words, but my lips only parted, and no words came out of my mouth.
However, contrary to those thoughts, the emotion I felt while looking at the paintings was just the thought that they were truly 'beautiful.' Does the King have a talent for painting, or were the paintings hanging in the frames all like art?
'...If he weren't the King, he would have made a name for himself with his paintings, wouldn't he?'
However, no matter how much the King in the game was a 'devoted husband' who loved the First Queen, this seemed to have gone way, way too far.
He's been living in seclusion for two years, painting only the First Queen all day long?
'...Something is wrong.'
It's wrong, very wrong.
No matter how much the King, who was a 'player' in the game, was a devoted husband, he wasn't such a crazy person. He was a character who, even in the sorrow of losing his Queen, did not give up on being a 'father' for his daughter.
'That is the character of the King that I know...'
As I was staring blankly at the large painting with the Princess, someone tapped my shoulder. The moment I turned my head to see who had tapped me, my heart sank in surprise.
"You'll get a fly in your mouth. Queen."
"I, I greet the Queen Dowager..."
As soon as I saw the old woman standing next to me and chuckling, I bowed my waist and greeted her. The old woman raised her hand as if to say it was fine, but I couldn't straighten my waist.
Her hair, which had turned completely white because it couldn't overcome the passage of time, and her sharp eyes and mouth. And her eyes, which were a deep blue like the sea, stared straight at me.
The mother of the King in the corner, and the Queen of the late former King.
The Queen Dowager of this country was standing next to me before I knew it.
"...Yes, it's been a while. You may rise."
Only then did I straighten my waist and look at the Queen Dowager. I definitely thought I would only see her at the dinner banquet, but she had already dragged her cane and was standing by my side, appreciating the paintings together.
"Thank you for accepting my sudden invitation. I thought you would make various excuses like last time and refuse, but I misjudged you."
"Ha, ha..."
Did the original Vivian just refuse the Queen Dowager's invitations without a care?
She really went too far...
When I glanced at the Princess standing next to me, the Princess was also standing stiffly like a wooden block, as if she were nervous.
Following my gaze, the Queen Dowager also looked at the Princess. As the Queen Dowager's and my gazes focused on her at once, the Princess seemed to have forgotten to breathe because she was nervous, and her face turned red like a well-ripened apple.
The Queen Dowager, who had been staring at the Princess for a long time, tapped the cane she was holding on the ground once, then turned her back and took the lead.
"Follow me, as the dinner banquet has been prepared."