The Queen's New Roommate
I headed straight for the palace's inner chambers the moment I received the servant's message. As soon as I opened the door and stepped inside, Pehart's voice greeted me. "Ah, you have arrived, Sera. Sit." His tone was laced with an awkward attempt at solemn dignity. What is he up to?
There was someone else in the room besides Pehart and me. Carmel. Seated beside the King, she wore an expression I had never seen on her face before—the picture-perfect face of a tragic victim, as if she had been subjected to the harshest persecution and coldest neglect. Upon closer inspection, she had even managed to leave faint tear tracks near the corners of her eyes. I see what she's playing at.
The ultimate authority who could punish me for the scandalous, unfilial act of slapping my stepmother's face was none other than King Pehart. It seemed Carmel had chosen to appeal to his emotions. Pehart still remained blissfully ignorant of Carmel's wicked nature. To him, she was nothing but a wise and beautiful queen—largely because I had been quietly thwarting every single one of her schemes behind the scenes.
Once I took my seat, Pehart spoke, clearing his throat to maintain his dignified facade. "Answer me honestly, Sera. I have heard that this afternoon, in the Queen's Chamber, you struck your mother across the cheek. Is this true?"
"Yes, it is entirely true, Father." There was no point in denying it. There were too many witnesses. Denying an undeniable truth would only work against me.
"Good heavens..." Pehart pressed a hand to his forehead, looking utterly bewildered. Carmel remained deeply committed to her role as the helpless victim, but the gleam in her eyes betrayed her sheer delight at seeing me interrogated.
"Why did you do such a thing?"
"Mother was inflicting an excessively cruel punishment on one of the maids. In my haste to stop her... my hand slipped."
Pehart turned his gaze to Carmel to verify the claim. Carmel nodded slowly, her head bowing heavily as if the entire affair were an unspeakable tragedy.
"Sera, I know you possess a gentle and kind heart... but she is merely a lowly maid. That is absolutely no excuse to lay hands on the noble person of the Queen. Furthermore, even if you are her stepdaughter, you two share the bond of mother and child. Since you have committed such an unfilial act, the blame must ultimately fall on you, my daughter."
If my stepmother weren't a wicked villainess plotting to tear this kingdom apart, Pehart's reasoning would have been perfectly sound. There was virtually no room for rebuttal. Seeing me remain silent, Carmel was probably laughing triumphantly inside.
Pehart declared solemnly, "Do not let this happen again."
"Yes, Father."
"What?!" Carmel bolted upright from her seat. This was clearly not the outcome she had anticipated. She didn't know the exact details of how the previous poisoning incident involving Pehart had been resolved. Pehart already knew that I was the one who had administered the poison to him. Compared to that, a mere slap on the cheek was practically nothing.
The reason Pehart had forgiven me back then wasn't just because of his soft spot for his family. I had a righteous justification—waking my father up for the sake of the kingdom. Pehart was a man capable of accepting that.
"This is absurd! Sera struck my face! My beautiful face, which is practically a treasure of this kingdom!" Who even says that about themselves? Is this the persona she always maintains in front of Pehart? Well, of course, neither of the other two people in this room would object to that statement.
"Calm yourself, my Queen. Sera must be deeply reflecting on her actions, so why not forgive her this once?"
"Yes, Mother. I am deeply reflecting on my actions. I am truly sorry for striking you."
"Grrr...!" Even after receiving my polite apology, Carmel's rage didn't seem to subside. Well, provoking her was exactly my intention.
Carmel seemed to regain some of her composure and sat back down. With a face still flushed with anger, she spoke. "I cannot accept this, Your Majesty. As you said, the sin of an unfilial act is by no means light. Whether by common sense or royal law, I must insist that this is not an issue that can be swept away with a simple scolding."
It seemed she had abandoned her emotional appeal. Carmel pointed out my transgressions with remarkable eloquence. "Mmm, well..." Pehart looked incredibly uncomfortable. For a man who dreaded being disliked by those he loved, this was a classic catch-22. He couldn't bring himself to press me, yet he couldn't refute Carmel's words either. A tense, indecisive silence stretched between us.
In the end, Pehart turned back to Carmel. "Then... what level of punishment does the Queen deem appropriate?"
Carmel looked as if she wanted to scream, "Strip her of her succession rights!" right then and there. Though, she surely knew that was impossible. "Three weeks of confinement in an isolated room. Naturally, she must be barred from all state affairs. I believe that would be a fitting punishment."
"Isn't... isn't that a bit too harsh?" "It is not excessive at all, Your Majesty. In fact, I am being incredibly generous." "Mmm, well..."
Tie my hands for three weeks and make her move in the meantime? It was exactly the kind of move Carmel would make. She must be confident that with that much time, she could manipulate the political landscape to her advantage. But I had absolutely no intention of playing along with her schemes. In fact, I would turn this to my advantage.
"I understand, Mother. I will accept this punishment in the spirit of reflection. However, I have one small request..."
Seeing my submissive attitude, Carmel immediately grew triumphant. "Do you truly understand your position right now, Princess Sera? You are being punished for a grave offense. To attach conditions to your punishment makes me doubt whether you are genuinely reflecting at all."
She was riding high. Her voice was dripping with ease, as if she had already uncorked the sweet wine of victory. "Of course I am reflecting, Mother. That is precisely why I ask. For the place of my three-week confinement... could it be the Queen's Chamber?"
"...You want to stay in my room? With me?"
"Yes. I wish to stay with you, Mother, to mend our somewhat strained relationship and learn many things from you. And if I may be so bold, I believe there are things you could learn from me as well."
The look on Carmel's face upon hearing those words was priceless. She was caught completely off guard, but more than that, she seemed to be subconsciously imagining what would happen to her if we were locked in the same room together. Just as the stunned Carmel opened her mouth to object, Pehart's booming voice beat her to the punch.
"What a splendid idea! Let us do exactly that!"
"...Eh?"
"I have always worried because the two of you never seemed to get along. Yes, but if you live together, you will naturally grow closer. The Queen will surely be influenced by Sera's gentle nature. Ah, what a brilliant idea, Sera."
"Thank you, Father."
Carmel hurriedly leaned forward, speaking in a rush. Not a speck of her previous composure remained. "W-who decided this?! I-I never said I would agree to this!"
"But why? Is this not a wonderful opportunity?"
"Th-that is..." Carmel stole a glance at me before quickly looking away. She couldn't possibly tell Pehart the real reason she dreaded sharing a room with me. 'That angelic-looking Princess Sera is actually after my body, her stepmother's. In a highly sexual way, of course.' If she said something like that, she would only receive pitying looks. They might even think she was possessed by a demon and summon a priest.
"Ugh..." Carmel seemed to be racking her brain, desperately searching for a plausible excuse to reject me. But of course, no such excuse existed. What possible justification could there be to reject a sweet, filial daughter who simply wanted to grow closer to her mother?
Having stared blankly at the desk for a while, Carmel finally looked up at my face. Wearing a humble, innocent smile, I pleaded with her once more. "Please give me just one chance, Mother. I beg of you."
Another jab to provoke her. Carmel looked as if she wanted to spit out a furious retort, but she barely managed to hold it back. She gave a stiff, reluctant nod.
"Fine... However, you must not forget that you are under confinement. You are absolutely not to leave, nor are you to interfere in any affairs. Understood?"
"Yes, Mother. Of course. I look forward to your care starting tonight." With me smiling brightly and Carmel glaring at me with sheer resentment, it was hard to tell which of us was actually the one being punished.
"...What are you planning?" The moment we stepped into Carmel's room—no, what was now our room—Carmel asked in a voice completely different from before.
"What do you mean, what am I planning? It is exactly as I said earlier, Mother. I simply wanted to get closer to you."
Carmel glared at me with an intense gaze, as if she wanted to seize the fleeting thoughts passing through my mind with her eyes alone.
"You... did you actually foresee all of this in the split second you stepped in to protect that maid?"
Honestly, I hadn't. In that moment, I had simply acted on impulse. In fact, the same was true now. My primary reason for choosing to spend my confinement here was to satisfy my own private desires. But there was no need to be honest about that.
"And what if I did?"
Carmel's expression grew even more uneasy. From her perspective, I had willingly accepted a three-week penalty that stripped me of my political influence, all just to invade her personal space. She must be feeling incredibly frustrated, unable to grasp my true intentions.
"Well, we can talk about it later. It is already quite late... why don't we head to bed?"
"Go to bed? Wait, don't tell me..." There was only one bed in Carmel's room. That meant, inevitably, we would have to share it. Unless Carmel had the resolve to sleep on the floor, of course. Carmel's face paled rapidly.