Chapter 138
Chapter 138
Translation: godsn
"So please...! Don't be insolent. I was the one who begged to stay by Her Highness's side. The Princess merely indulged my stubbornness."
Saya shook off her brother's hand. Her gleaming eyes were resolute.
"Her Highness is the one who protected me. Back then, and now. If you insult her even once more, I won't hold back—not even for you."
Theo swallowed hard.
He couldn't fathom how his sister's blind loyalty could transcend even the bond of shared blood.
"Just like you abandoned me for the revolution, I've chosen Her Highness."
"Saya...!"
"Don't get angry. You know you've lost the right to."
As Saya turned to leave, her steps faltered for a moment.
"If you're going to the capital, take care of yourself. Goodbye, Theo."
"......"
There were no promises to meet again, no vows for the future.
Theo couldn't bring himself to stop his departing sister.
As he resentfully watched her retreating back, free of hesitation, it suddenly struck him.
When he had left Saya behind all those years ago, he hadn't even given her the chance to show him her back.
Saya quickened her pace.
"......"
Only when she had passed the place where she'd met Theo and reached a secluded area did her feet finally stop.
Saya clenched her eyes shut and bit her lip.
"Huuu... Haa!"
She drew a deep breath.
She repeated the motion until her chest felt ready to burst.
After what felt like an eternity, Saya opened her eyes again.
"Time to go home!"
As if wiping away the darkness from moments ago, she flashed a lively smile, pumped her fist, and headed straight for the Princess's palace.
There, she encountered a maid from the Princess's quarters carrying a large basket of laundry.
"Sister April! Let me take those! I'll deliver them for you!"
"No, it's fine. These aren't even that heavy. You should hurry back—Her Highness has returned and was asking for you."
"Her Highness? Yes!"
Nodding vigorously, Saya broke into a sprint.
The closer she got to the palace, the more her earlier courage evaporated, her heart pounding as if it might leap out of her chest.
When Theo had come looking for his sister, Medeia had prepared a private chamber in the outer palace for them.
It was so the siblings could speak freely, away from prying eyes.
At the time, Saya had thought it was simply the Princess's kindness, but now, she felt a twinge of fear.
'Will Her Highness still accept me? What if she tells me to leave with Theo because I'm his sister? What do I do then?'
Soon, Saya spotted the Princess.
Medeia was sipping tea on the terrace overlooking a beautiful garden.
The sight, so unchanged from usual, inexplicably filled Saya's heart to bursting.
"Your Highness!"
Before she knew it, she had forgotten all decorum and called out to the Princess.
Her voice was so loud that Neril, who had been picking up a sugar cube for the tea across from Medeia, dropped the entire sugar bowl.
"Saya, you—!"
"Eek, I'm sorry, Your Highness! Did I startle you?"
Even Neril's glare seemed endearing today.
"Neril, I'm fine. Saya, did you have a good trip?"
Medeia turned her head toward Saya. Their eyes met.
A silent exchange passed between them, carrying volumes of unspoken words.
Saya clenched her teeth to hold back the tears threatening to fall and nodded vigorously.
"Yes! I'm back!"
The Princess's side—this was where she belonged.
"...I'm glad. Fetch some more sugar, would you?"
Medeia gestured calmly toward the overturned sugar bowl.
"Yes! Leave it! To me!"
Nodding fervently like a hero summoned to save the world, Saya scurried off again.
"...Did that girl eat something strange?"
Neril was baffled by the uncharacteristically exuberant display from someone usually so quick-witted and composed.
"I heard Theo entered the palace. It seems Saya has made her choice."
"Ah..."
Neril nodded with an understanding expression. Then, she voiced one last concern.
"Can we really trust Saya? Trust her to the end?"
"If I didn't trust her, I wouldn't have kept her by my side from the beginning."
Medeia bent down to touch a sunflower blooming in the garden as she spoke.
Meanwhile, in the palace kitchen.
Saya burned with determination to serve as the perfect maid and support Medeia in every way.
"Head Chef! Please prepare the sugar jar, this, and that! Her Highness must be hungry!"
Saya didn't forget to pester the head chef—with whom she'd maintained friendly relations—into handing over not just the sugar jar but also various sweets and snacks.
"Ugh, fine. You little rascal, wait here. The cake needs to be brought from the ice cellar."
Grumbling yet obliging, the head chef rose at her persistent urging.
'...What's that?'
While waiting for him to retrieve the stored cake, Saya spotted a furtive shadow stirring in the distant pantry of the kitchen.
"Sister Mariyu? What's all that?"
"Eek!"
Saya poked the shadow as she approached.
Mariyu, who'd been sweeping food into a cloth bundle, startled and jumped back.
"Y-you scared me! Are you a ghost? Moving without a sound?"
Mariyu exploded in anger.
"Must be insane, no manners so just a loud voice like a cannon...?"
She kept rubbing her chest and stomach irritably.
But Saya paid no heed, thrusting her head forward instead.
"Fruits, bread, goodness—even jerky? What's this? Who gave you permission to steal food?"
Mariyu belatedly tried hiding the sack behind her back, but it was too late—Saya had already caught her.
"Steal? It's for me to eat!"
"All this just for you? It'll rot before you finish. Got ten beggars in your stomach or something?"
Saya sneered, her tone dripping with knowing sarcasm.
"Pilfering palace goods warrants ten lashes of the cane, you know? Think your backside can handle that?"
"What's it to y—can't you just drop this?"
Mariyu hastily tried leaving with the sack, but Saya's firm grip wouldn't relent.
"Ah! The head chef's coming! Over here! Here!"
Startled by Saya's sudden outburst, Mariyu dropped the sack and bolted.
Returning with the promised sugar jar, Saya appeared bearing a tray piled high with sweets.
"Your Highness, guess what I just witnessed?"
Her nostrils flared with indignant pride.
Neril, worried Saya's snorts might reach the cake, quickly took the tray and asked:
"What in the world happened to get you like this?"
"It's Sister Mariyu! She was stealing food from the kitchen again! Claims it's for herself—pfft, who'd believe such an obvious lie?"
She pointed toward the terrace below.
April had arrived with laundry, and Mariyu was seen approaching her, whispering something.
When April shook her head, Mariyu scowled and rubbed her stomach uncomfortably.
"The sisters say she's been swiping pillowcases and sheets from the laundry lately too. And know where she takes all that?"
Saya jutted out her lower lip.
"To that trash, Claudio the Lesser Duke! While serving as Your Highness's maid, she's running errands for that scum day after day!"
During Minister Etienne's recent imprisonment, Saya had forged good relations with the jailers.
Her bright, straightforward personality—combined with modest bribes delivered under the princess's orders—had melted even the sternest guards' hearts.
Thus, she'd learned of Mariyu's secret visits before anyone else.
To Saya, Mariyu's ingratitude was unforgivable.
Medeia had pardoned Mariyu's capital offenses—did the woman have no brain, or at the very least, no shame?
Before Saya's palace entry, she'd heard from other maids about how Mariyu and the former Head Maid had conspired to trap the princess.
'I should've pretended not to recognize her and punched that nose hard...'
As Saya smacked her trembling fist into her palm with belated regret,
"......"
Medeia gazed down at Mariyu below the terrace.
Her emerald eyes didn't miss the woman's slightly swollen silhouette and pronounced curves.
Though not glaringly obvious—her thickened waistline and the way she kept uncomfortably touching her stomach...
'Uncle's house has a celebration coming.'
Most palace attendants in the Princess's Palace were unmarried.
But Medeia, having borne two children in her past life, recognized Mariyu's changes.
"Your Highness, shall I wait by the prison and catch her red-handed?"
"No need to go looking."
Medeia shook her head.
Her emerald eyes held the leisure of a hunter awaiting prey.
"She'll return here eventually."