A Noble Lady

The long silence engulfing Lady Amara and Silla was deafening. They could only hear the blowing of the wind and the dancing of the flowers around them. Silla could not move from where she was standing as if she lost her rationality. She could not believe what she just heard and what she found out. What’s more haunting her is the fact that she got involved in an unexpected death of a person she was serving. She could not accept the fact that she is serving the Crown Prince until now. She could not accept that the current Emperor was…

Silla looked at Lady Amara’s eyes. No wonder… No wonder Lady Amara changed. No wonder… she can feel an extreme feeling of loyalty to the lady. It is because… she… she is…

Shush! Amara heard a sound from the bushes. She immediately took the knife she hid from her sleeve and threw it to the flowers.

“Acckhh!” A man groaned as he went out the bush with a sword on his hand. His right shoulder was bleeding where the knife got pierced.

“My lady, it’s an assassin!” Silla was supposed to grip her lady’s hand to run away but then before she could even do that, Amara attacked the assassin bare-handed. 

Amara dodged the sword attacks before she could steal the assassin’s sword and pierce it through his chest. Blood was splashed to her dress before she let go of the sword’s hilt and the body of the assassin fell on the ground.

“M-My lady!” Silla panicked upon seeing the blood stain on her dress. 

There then a group of Imperial knights came. They were attended and brought to a safe place upon finding out that an assassin had attacked a noble lady.

Upon hearing the report, the captain of the knights arrived at the garden to check the matter. When he arrived, his subordinates went out of the way so he could check.

“You said that a noble lady fought this assassin?” he asked.

“Yes, Captain Theobarlt.”

He nodded and looked around and saw that the bushes were ruined. Seeing that the said noble lady was standing five meter away from the bushes, he could only shake his head.

“Was the noble lady a swordsman?”

“There was never a noble lady trained with a sword, Captain. She is the only daughter of Count Sebastian and the fiancé of Crown Prince Lorenzo.”

Captain Theobartl nodded while humming. “Seems like someone wanted to get the Crown Prince’s weakness.” He said that but for show.

He stood up and left the scene. He watched his subordinates fix the body while he was processing an unbelievable situation. Judging by the report and his personal observation, this noble lady must have sensed that there is an assassin around. This lady sensed the assassin from the bushes four meters away from her. She had an emergency knife from her sleeve to attack the assassin from a far, causing an injury to the enemy. She had a one on one fight with a well-trained assassin and even killed it after piercing the assassin’s sword straight to its heart.

“How should I report this?” he asked himself as it will not make sense if he tells this to the higher ups, especially the Crown Prince himself. How should he tell that a young noble lady has bare-handedly defended herself from an assassin?

‘Who was the noble lady again? Lady Amara? I should meet her soon.’

“You must have been shocked, my lad—your majesty.” Silla attended her in the bath and took care of her after that. She also served food and made sure that the place they were in was silent.

Silla is also shocked on how her lady just attacked the assassin and defeated it within a minute but she is sure now that this lady is really not Lady Amara but he Late Emperor, Darya. She almost could not look into her lady’s eyes as she was afraid to disrespect one of the Greatest Emperors she had ever idolized. Silla still could remember how she was thankful that Princess Darya was crowned as the Emperor. She still could remember the best feeling she had when Emperor Darya provided a fair price in the market and how she raised the salaries of the farmers. She could not bear to just ignore the fact that Emperor Darya was the saviour of her family.

Feeling like she wanted to be alone, Amara just let Silla serve her. It is good that Silla believed her and she even made sure that she was in a silent environment. She was just looking outside the window while Silla was drying and doing her hair. Her mind was blank while she was looking at the sky.

‘Why can’t I feel it anymore?’ She was thinking why she could not feel anything while she was looking at the blue sky. Is it because she is feeling gloomy because Esteban did awful things to her, as his wife? Just why did he do that? If he wants the throne, he could have poisoned her before five years of their marriage. 

Perhaps, is it because… of that woman…?

“Can you tell me the name of the current Empress?” She suddenly asked Silla.

Silla stopped combing her hair and thought of what good answer she could say. But then, she knows that her lady, no, Emperor Darya likes to hear a direct answer.

“It is her highness, Empress Kathika. She was an adopted daughter of Viscount Morata.”

Again, Amara was silenced as she realized that it was a plan from the beginning. It was the anti-imperial faction that included the former Duke Garrett, Viscount Morata, and other nobles. It was their plan to use her feelings towards Esteban so they could get into the throne. From the beginning, Esteban’s purpose was not because he likes her but because of… the throne.

‘How foolish I am.’ How foolish she was when she had always known that Esteban did not love her but still kept him by her side. How foolish of her to still accept and understand him despite his many excuses to not spend his time with her. Now come to think of it, has he ever invited her voluntarily? 

A small painful laugh came out her mouth after an even more realization of how foolish she had become. It would be alright if she had given birth before she was killed but… 

After a few hours, the Crown Prince came to the room where she was treated. She just sat there in the bed and did not say anything while the Crown Prince talked about the incident that happened in the garden. She made herself appear that she was listening but her eyes were lost to the colour of the Crown Prince’s eyes. The more she looks at it, the more she thinks that it was the same with Esteban.

“She was still shocked, your highness.” Silla reported to the Crown Prince after he came out of Lady Amara’s room.

“Make sure that she does not remember everything, Silla.” The Crown Prince mumbled with his brows furrowed. He tapped her shoulder so hard that she bit her tongue to not groan from pain.

“Yes, your highness.”

When the Crown Prince finally left, she stretched her arms to relieve the pain on her shoulder. She had a dissatisfied look on her face as if disgusted to the existence of the Crown Prince. She is now regretting the fact that she once recognized him as her friend.

It was long ago, in that specific town. The Crown Prince was living a commoner life just like everyone else. They were friends and the other kids but then later, he got adopted by a noble and he never came back. After three years, he came back to the town as the Crown Prince and he took her as a maid in the palace, as his spy and informant. Now, she wonders if she is a ‘friend’ in his eyes.

“Silla.” Lady Amara called for her so she immediately came inside to hear her lady’s concern.

“Let’s leave this place.”

“Yes, your majesty.”