63. The First Friend I Made (4)
63. The First Friend I Made (4)
[Chapter 63] - The First Friend I Made (4)
Just how much had I drunk?
Thanks to Countess Serina, who kept refilling the wine glass in my hand, it was a struggle just to stay conscious. The dark red wine would fill back up to the brim the moment I showed even a glimpse of the bottom.
I was gulping it down because I thought it would be rude not to empty the glass she filled for me, but I really had to restrain myself, or I felt like I'd black out if I drank even a little bit more.
As I drank and rambled on, not even knowing what kind of nonsense was coming out of my mouth, a cold night breeze drifted in from somewhere and cooled my burning face.
I squinted my eyes and scanned the room with a hazy gaze. A room flowing only with bluish moonlight. A gentle night breeze drifted in through the slightly opened window, causing the curtains to flutter.
Feeling the heat on my cheeks cool down a little thanks to that, I turned my head and stared blankly at the two people sitting in front of me. Countess Serina and Countess Yvette, who hadn't yet shed her youthful air.
The two of them must have been quite drunk, too, as they were blushing and continuing their conversation. It was just the two of them talking, but for some reason, the sight was so alluring that I swallowed my saliva without realizing it.
'Is it the alcohol? The heat in my head won't go away.'
The Countess and the young Countess were squirming on the bed, causing the hems of their negligees to ride up above their thighs, and a negligee that had slipped off one shoulder was precariously covering a dangerous area.
It was a sight that made me wonder if they were trying to seduce each other, no matter how I looked at it. Just telling myself it was the heat brought on by the alcohol, I was busy swirling my half-filled wine glass to look away.
'Why would I be seduced by another woman... They must just be loosened up from the drink.'
As I was lost in thought, hazy from the alcohol—
"Your Majesty the Queen? Are you alright?"
Countess Serina, who had crawled in front of me at some point, glanced up at me. I was so startled by her appearance that the wine glass in my hand sloshed, and red wine spilled out.
Drip, drip.
The wine splattered onto the white negligee I was wearing, making a sound. I let out a small sigh, thinking how fortunate it was that I wasn't wearing a dress.
I pushed the shoulder of Countess Serina, who was looking up at me with eyes soaked in alcohol, to create some distance, and then licked up the wine that had started to flow down my hand.
...For a moment, Countess Serina's eyes had looked sharp.
"I'm fine. I apologize for dirtying the borrowed clothes."
"...No, it's fine. It's clothes meant to be dirtied anyway."
Countess Serina smiled and returned to her spot. She leaned her head softly on Countess Yvette's shoulder and began to snatch the wine from the young Countess's hand to drink it.
The young Countess puffed out her cheeks and complained, asking why she was drinking her wine instead of her own. And Countess Serina, giggling and saying it didn't matter, rubbed her face against the young Countess's shoulder.
I had learned this while drinking, but the relationship between the Countess and the young Countess seemed infinitely close. It struck me as a bit unusual, to the point where I wondered if they were sisters.
According to what I had investigated, the Count, who was the Countess's husband, had 'passed away,' and I understood that the Countess had inherited all of the Count's assets. Every last bit of it.
However, the Countess didn't squander the wealth; she began to 'share' the inherited assets with the Count's younger sister, 'Yvette Serina,' at the same time she succeeded to the title of Countess.
When Vin Chaud, the Minister of Finance, heard this story, he opened his mouth, saying it was a rather unusual case. "In cases like this, eight times out of ten, the wife takes the assets and returns to her own family, so nothing remains in the husband's family," Vin Chaud had said, shaking his head.
Hearing the story of Countess Serina, who 'shared' the assets inherited from her husband's younger sister and still stood in that position while keeping the title of 'Countess,' Vin Chaud had shed tears of emotion, saying:
'Surely, the Countess must have truly loved the Count, who was her husband. If this isn't pure love, what is? Such pure love is rarely seen in aristocratic society...'
Even I had nodded along while listening to Vin Chaud's story back then. I had even debated the theory of pure love with Vin Chaud, saying that the love between the Count and the Countess was what ultimately allowed the family to continue.
As expected, Vin Chaud had not spared his praise, saying she was the Countess who had invited the Princess to a tea party, and after hearing that story, I had even thought that if she were such a person, she would be a good enough person to want to make friends with.
Once again, I engraved the sight of Countess Serina and the young Countess getting along so well into my eyes. It was a pleasant sight to see them so close that they were interlocking fingers, making eye contact, and smiling at each other.
Though they did look a bit too close...
I sipped my wine and looked at the two of them with a sly smile. The Countess, feeling my gaze, curved her eyes seductively and smiled, then suddenly crawled onto the bed and took a spot on both sides of me. Countess Serina on the left, and the young Countess, who was blushing shyly, on the right.
Huh? What's this all of a sudden?
"We felt like we were only talking among ourselves, so we wanted to include Your Majesty the Queen, too. Right? Yvette?"
"...Yes, just as Hailey-eonni said. I want to hear Your Majesty the Queen's stories, too..."
The Countess said that and refilled my glass with wine again.
Suddenly, with the two of them sandwiching me, the three of us were lying in a line, and I frowned in embarrassment without realizing it. It felt as if my brain was being paralyzed by strange information—the skin, heat, and scent suddenly clinging to me from both sides.
I adjusted my posture and gently pushed their shoulders away, telling them to move a little. Then, to cool the heat boiling in my head, I sipped only the cold wine, cooling the heat in my body.
"...I understand, so move away a little."
"Fufu, come to think of it, I was a little surprised when I first received the invitation. The words 'Princess's tea party hosted by Her Majesty the Queen'... felt a little awkward. Since there are rumors circulating in high society..."
At the mention of rumors, I gave a bitter smile.
No matter how hard I tried in the royal palace, the rumors in high society remained the same. Well, there wasn't really anywhere for stories to flow, and I hadn't shown my face in high society, so it couldn't be helped...
Was it because of the alcohol? For some reason, feeling a surge of emotion, I grabbed the chin of Countess Serina, who was looking at me. Then, telling her to look me straight in the face, I asked if I was the same person as 'that person' she had heard rumors about, and I smiled, curving my eyes as I met her gaze.
"So, how does it look to you, seeing it for yourself? Am I the same as the rumors you heard?"
"Ah, th-that..."
Countess Serina's pupils began to tremble.
Although they trembled slightly, Countess Serina's gaze did not leave my eyes. I had certainly thought that if I intimidated her like this, the scared Countess would back away from me and return to her place—
'...Why, does she look happy...?'
Countess Serina was smiling even more than before.
The sight of her smiling even while being grabbed by the chin made her look like she was excited for some reason, and I frowned without realizing it. The Countess, who let out a flushed breath while being held by the chin, answered in a trembling voice.
"The rumors spread in high society were certainly... there were only rumors speaking ill of Your Majesty the Queen. They said you were violent, that you looked at people like stones on the roadside, no different from the rumors of a 'villainess' that only appear in novels. With such rumors circulating, I was very worried when I received the invitation, but..."
"......"
"Seeing you in person, the rumors of high society really aren't to be trusted."
Countess Serina smiled brightly. Satisfied with the answer, I gently let go of the Countess's chin I had been gripping. Then, feeling a wave of shame for what I had just done, I gulped down the wine and held out the empty glass to the Countess.
"Fufu, Your Majesty the Queen is indeed forceful. I thought my heart was going to stop for a moment."
"I, I was surprised too..."
"...That's enough, just pour me a drink."
It seemed like they were just saying anything to keep me from being embarrassed on both sides, but that only made me more embarrassed. I kept gulping down the wine she poured, trying to quickly forget the embarrassing thing I had just done. What on earth was I thinking, grabbing the Countess's chin...
As I gulped down the wine, Countess Serina, who was wrapping her arms around my arm, looked at me with a seductive smile. The flushed breath escaping from her slightly parted lips seeped into my skin, feeling hot, and the soft skin touching my forearm stimulated my nerves.
Why have they been clinging to me like this since earlier...!
Just as I was about to get up, thinking I should change seats now—
Thump! Thump! Thump!
Someone knocked urgently on the firmly closed door.
*
Titania, who had read all the books recommended by Viola, was lying on the bed, busy talking about the books she had read with Viola. She had read all the books, but she asked Viola about scenes or words she didn't understand. Then, Viola would excitedly describe those scenes.
"So, this scene is—"
Lying together on the spacious bed, Titania pointed to a paragraph in the book with her finger and asked Viola. She knew by the feeling that it was a provocative sentence, but she didn't know what it meant.
["Are you going to wipe your lips and leave after stealing the purity of my lips here?" The young master said so, pressing the young lady against the wall. Because of the young master's large build, the young lady couldn't escape and was cornered against the wall. It was just an accidental kiss, yet he was talking about purity at this age.]
"Viola, what does it mean to 'steal the purity' of lips here?"
"Umm— so—"
Viola waved her hands, trying hard to explain something, but it wasn't easy. Even though she had read these kinds of books diligently, Viola was also ten years old, just like Titania.
It was safe to say she had absolutely no knowledge of such sexual things. Just as it was in the books, Viola waved her hands diligently and continued her explanation to Titania.
"I saw it in a book too... There were many scenes where the young master gave or had his purity stolen while kissing the young lady. So, surely..."
Viola shouted with a confident expression that this was it!
"Surely, kissing for the first time is called 'giving purity'! If you kiss forcibly, it must be called 'having your purity stolen'! There is such a thing as purity in a first kiss!"
"I see!"
Titania's eyes went wide as if she finally understood. Come to think of it, Omma didn't kiss her on the lips either. Sometimes she would do it on her cheek or forehead, but she had never tried kissing Omma like in the novels.
'I see! Omma knows this too, so she didn't give me a kiss on the lips!'
Titania, smiling brightly as if she had finally figured it out, turned the page again and pointed to a paragraph she didn't understand to Viola. Then, Viola would excitedly tell Titania various provocative stories she knew.
At first, she had argued about what was fun about a book full of such strange content, but Titania, who had fallen head over heels for it, was already having other books recommended to her by Viola. When Titania asked Viola to recommend a book, Viola rummaged through the bookshelf and pulled out hidden books, saying this was a must-read.
"This is... um... no, it was hidden in Omma's room. I haven't read it yet either... but since Omma hid it on the bookshelf, it must be a fun book! And—"
Viola pointed to the cover of the book. A book with a bright red cover. As Titania looked at it with fascination, Viola began to tell her the story she had heard from the young lady who had told her about these books.
"The young lady who told me about the novels said that the redder these books are, the more fun they are! She said they are really hard books to get, and she couldn't even take them out of her mansion. So the young lady recommended rummaging through our parents' bookshelves."
"I see... a red book..."
"Why don't you try looking for them when you return to the royal palace, Princess? Surely, if it's the royal library where all the books in the country gather, wouldn't there be plenty of these books hidden away?"
"Yes, I'll be sure to look for them when I go back."
Just like that, the moment she was about to open the cover of the red book with a pounding heart—
-Princess! Princess!! This is no time for that!! Vivian!! Vivian is!!!
"Eh?!"
Titania's eyes snapped open at the voice of Ainsel, who was screaming in the necklace that it was an emergency. When Titania looked down at the necklace, Ainsel, who was waving her hands as if flustered, called Titania in an urgent voice.
-Hurry and go to the Countess's room and call Vivian! That human is drunk and right now...! She doesn't even know what might happen to her...!
Hurry, hurry! At Ainsel's urging call, Titania jumped up from the bed, leaped off, threw open the door, and started running. Viola chased after Titania at her lightning-fast movement, but—
"P, Princess?!"
"Viola! I'll talk to you later!"
Viola, watching the back of Titania, who had disappeared while sprinting down the hallway in an instant, had a blank expression. 'That way is surely the path to Omma's room...' Viola tilted her head and, having no choice, went into the room and began to tidy up the books.
Just as Ainsel had taught her, Titania arrived at the Countess's room in an instant and, without even a moment to catch her breath, pounded on the door. Thump! Thump! Thump! And thump! thump! thump! again. Looking at the door that wouldn't open no matter how much she pounded, Titania finally screamed.
"Omma!!!!!!!"