Chapter 37
Chapter 37
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Translator: MadScientist
Chapter: 37
Chapter Title: Horsemanship
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Rachel emerged from Aiden's room.
Her expression was twisted into something as ferocious as a wrathful ghost right now.
"Really... Isn't that bastard impotent? Even with a fiancée, treating me this coldly?"
Rachel bit at her nails.
Three maids with sturdy builds appeared behind her.
"Rachel, Head Maid Mitchell is looking for you."
"Huh? The Head Maid?"
The maids urged on the puzzled Rachel.
"Come on, hurry!"
Rachel followed them to the Head Maid's room.
-Knock, knock.
"Head Maid, I've brought Rachel."
The Head Maid opened the door and fixed Rachel with a piercing glare.
"Head Maid?"
And then...
-Slap!
"You bitch! How dare a lowly maid like you eye people of high status?"
The Head Maid, her face flushed red and purple with rage, grabbed Rachel's orange hair.
"Kyaaak! Why are you doing this?!"
"Why?! You bitch! Your head might roll any moment now!"
The Head Maid shoved Rachel to the floor like she was trash.
"Aaaah!"
Rachel glared at the Head Maid with venomous eyes.
But to the Head Maid, Rachel just looked pathetic.
"Rachel! Where were you last night? Tell me the truth. Your life depends on it."
Rachel felt bewildered by the Head Maid's stern expression.
"In Secretary Aiden's room. What's the big deal?"
"Why did you go there?"
"Well..."
Rachel hesitated to outright say she'd gone to snag a sucker.
But seeing her troubled expression, the Head Maid pressed her forehead in exasperation.
"Her Highness the Grand Duchess knows you were chased out of Secretary Aiden's room last night. She ordered me to investigate the matter."
At the sudden mention of the Grand Duchess, Rachel's face froze.
"What? H-Her Highness the Grand Duchess?"
The Head Maid met Rachel's visible terror head-on.
"Yes! She ordered me to confirm whether you were approaching Secretary Aiden on orders from an enemy faction."
"No! Enemy faction orders?! I... I just..."
All Rachel had wanted was to hook a capable young mark and marry him.
'Uh... How? How did it come to this?'
Her shoulders trembled.
Colluding with enemy factions was a grave crime.
Seeing Rachel shuddering, the Head Maid spoke in a gentle tone.
"So tell me the truth about why you went to Secretary Aiden's room last night. I'll report it to Her Highness in the best possible light."
She didn't want trouble for Rachel, whom she'd known for so long.
Sensing that, Rachel's lips quivered as if to speak, but she hesitated.
It was behavior that even she saw as utterly vulgar.
But she had to save her neck first.
Rachel squeezed her eyes shut and confessed her true intentions.
"I... I just tried to seduce Secretary Aiden. There's no collusion with enemy factions! I swear!"
She was on the verge of tears now.
A single tear streamed from her doe-like eyes.
Seducing a man to live an easy life wasn't a capital offense.
"Hoo, so no collusion with foreign powers, right?"
The Head Maid double-checked, wary of escalation, and Rachel nodded faintly.
"Really! I just... wanted to snag that man and live easy."
The Head Maid, who had witnessed Rachel's improper behavior several times before, nodded.
"I see... That's a relief, then."
"So I won't die, right? Her Highness won't have me killed, will she?"
But separately, knowing of Luna's brutal revenge on enemy factions in the past, Rachel trembled like an aspen leaf and asked in a voice thick with sobs.
"That's for Her Highness to decide... But if there's no collusion with outside forces... she won't order execution over a matter between man and woman. Her Highness is strict with herself above all."
Luna had established the rule of law for governance.
The Head Maid knew well that even if something displeased her personally, she respected and followed the law.
She let out a sigh as she spoke.
"Haa... For now, rest in your room... I'll report this to Her Highness."
Rachel wiped her tears with her sleeve at the Head Maid's words.
"Yes..."
Watching Rachel withdraw, the Head Maid felt troubled over how to report this.
'To think I'd have to tell Her Highness such a sordid tale...'
It was embarrassing for the Head Maid, who had cared for Luna since childhood, to relay such an unseemly incident.
"Haa... No helping it. It's an order."
She wrote up a report detailing Rachel's history and why she had gone to Aiden's room.
And then...
The Head Maid headed to Luna's room.
-Knock, knock.
Knocking on her office door brought Luna's voice.
-Who is it?
"It's Mitchell."
Luna replied to the Head Maid.
-Enter!
With the Grand Duchess's permission, the Head Maid opened the door.
-Creak.
Luna was frowning over documents, scribbling something.
"Wait a moment. I have urgent business right now."
The Head Maid patiently waited as the busy Grand Duchess worked.
About ten minutes passed like that?
"Sorry. Kept you waiting."
Luna offered the Head Maid a chair.
"So, is the investigation done?"
The Head Maid nodded as she sat.
"Yes, here... the report."
Luna took the paper the Head Maid handed over.
Her face twisted in disgust as she read it slowly.
As if she'd seen something repulsive.
The Head Maid grew anxious watching Luna flip through the pages with a deeply furrowed brow.
She'd written it as favorably as possible, worried something might happen to Rachel.
After reading for a long while, Luna spoke in a cold voice.
"So... she tried to seduce Secretary Aiden to marry him? All for her own easy life?"
The Head Maid's shoulders instinctively shrank under Luna's gaze filled with revulsion.
"Yes... that's correct. Though it seems there's no collusion with enemy factions."
Luna tapped the paper as she continued.
"Are there many maids mingling with high officials besides Rachel?"
"Most don't, but... I can't say none at all."
The Head Maid was overcome with shame for failing to manage properly.
Luna spoke in an icy tone.
"I cannot tolerate such things happening in my palace. From now on, any maid who seduces a married man will be dismissed. As for Rachel..."
She paused for a moment.
Luna fell into thought.
Considering an appropriate punishment for Rachel.
'Killing her is too much. But I can't just let it slide.'
She'd been angry seeing her alone with Aiden at night and ordered the probe...
But hearing the vulgar details left her in a foul mood.
There was no punishment prescribed in Grand Duchy law for such cases, so she had no choice but to deliberate.
And with her deliberations ended, Luna's calm voice echoed in the room.
"Rachel is banished from the Grand Palace and Vain."
A banishment from the Grand Duchy capital of Vain.
She could no longer stay in the city of Vain from now on.
"Your mercy is boundless, Your Highness."
***
◇◇◇◆◇◇◇ As usual, once the day's duties ended, I headed to the training grounds.
But today, I felt puzzled by the unusual sight on the training platform.
"Hm...? Your Highness, what's this?"
Luna was holding the reins of an enormous black demonic horse.
She turned to me and smiled brightly.
"Oh? You're here? I thought I'd teach you a bit of riding today."
"Riding?"
"Yeah. I could tell when you rode behind me last time. You don't know how to ride, do you?"
As someone from the modern world, I knew driving, but horses? No way.
"Yeah, that's true, but..."
I'd barely even seen horses in real life... This one's huge?
"This is one of the better horses from the stables. Want to give it a try?"
Overwhelmed by the horse's imposing size, I asked cautiously.
"Is it really okay to ride?"
"Pfft... Are you scared of the horse right now? Don't worry, hop on. It's the tamest one."
As she said, I cautiously gripped the horse's back...
But it's too high?
I was at a loss on how to mount such a tall horse when...
"Ah? Like this... I'll show you how I mount, so copy me."
She hooked one foot in the stirrup and smoothly climbed onto the horse.
"See? Put your foot in the stirrup, grab the back, and up."
With that, Luna removed her foot from the stirrup and dismounted gracefully.
-Neigh... Whinny...
"Now you try."
She giggled and pushed my back urging me on.
I cautiously put my foot in the stirrup and gripped the horse's back.
"Hngh!"
-Neigh! Whinny!
"Whoa!"
As I mounted, the horse turned its head slightly to look at me.
What? Is this beast mocking me right now?
It was some indescribable expression, like baring its teeth in a sneer.
Shocking that an animal could make such a face...
-Tap!
While I was in a staring contest with the horse, Luna suddenly mounted behind me.
"Alright, now I'll teach you how to handle the reins. Grab them."
"Like this?"
"No. Don't hold them like that. Watch closely..."
As I took the reins, Luna wrapped her hand around mine to adjust my grip.
Ugh... What is this?
The moment her hand touched mine, I felt a ticklish sensation.
"You hold them like this so there's no issue when you pull."
Her hair's scent teased my nose, and my little brother stood at attention.