Millicent followed Charlotte into a dark study cluttered with instruments and books.
“I truly cannot stand that damned Jane Grant!”
The moment they were alone and silence fell, she erupted like a volcano.
“If I take the role of the God of Beauty, I’ll have the chance to dance with His Majesty the King in the final scene….”
Charlotte stomped her feet.
“That beanpole Adriana Beasley is the God of Beauty? Has the Queen lost her mind too?”
Her complaints stretched on.
“Hmph, of course! What would a woman from the tacky Bodegas Empire know?”
She didn’t hesitate to slander even the Queen. Millicent, utterly inept at playing along with others’ emotions, simply listened.
“At times like this, my maids usually comfort me…. Why are you standing there blankly?”
Before long, Charlotte pouted at the expressionless Millicent.
So that’s how she became such a spoiled brat. Millicent clicked her tongue inwardly. But it was a thought she couldn’t utter aloud.
“I haven’t been employed at the palace for very long.”
Millicent offered a suitable excuse.
“I’m not sure which ladies the names Jane Grant or Adriana Beasley refer to.”
“Hmph, they both look exactly the part.”
Charlotte grumbled.
“Adriana Beasley is tall. She always looks down on everyone as if she’s better than them.”
“I’m jealous.”
Millicent replied without thinking. It was the wrong answer. Charlotte’s eyes flew wide open.
“What’s there to be jealous of! Men don’t like those beanpoles.”
Charlotte snapped fiercely and crossed her arms.
“Why? Tall people look good at a glance.”
The tactless Millicent said.
“Besides, being tall is advantageous in a fight, and people don’t look down on you….”
“What good is that? Men hate beanpoles, I said!”
Charlotte wasn’t even listening anyway.
“If you want to marry well, it’s better to have a small frame like mine.”
Watching her, it seemed she took pride in her frail, dainty figure.
“Still, a beanpole is better than a fatso, I suppose.”
Charlotte added arrogantly.
“Look at Jane Grant, she’s so plump. A lump of lard. That woman is even less of a lady than Adriana Beasley.”
“She didn’t look fat at all.”
Once again, Millicent replied without thinking.
“She’s fair and plump, so rather….”
“Are you doing this on purpose?”
Charlotte’s eyes widened.
“Why do you keep nitpicking my words?”
Only then did Millicent realize that Charlotte didn’t want conversation.
She simply wanted someone to indulge her complaints and offer comfort. It was only natural for ill-bred ladies to demand such things from their maids.
“What about the other maids?”
She decided to give Charlotte free rein to slander the other women to her heart’s content.
“The Queen has two more maids, doesn’t she?”
“That’s right. Ophelia Till. Elizabeth Dulby.”
Charlotte counted on her fingers.
“Ophelia Till has no presence whatsoever. She never had anything exceptional about her since she was young.”
She assessed coldly.
“Women like that always snatch men away like ghosts. Meaning they marry well.”
Charlotte muttered as though marriage were the ultimate purpose in life.
“Oh, if worthless Ophelia Till gets a better husband than me…. I’ll just drop dead.”
“…From what I’ve seen, the men who married for love were all nothing special.”
“What did you say?”
“Ah, nothing. But didn’t My Lady wish to become the Royal Mistress?”
Millicent asked distantly.
“That’s right.”
Charlotte nodded.
“I will become the greatest woman in the kingdom.”
She even puffed out her small shoulders proudly.
“I am the woman whom future generations will call the Rose of Kintland.”
“…The Rose of Kintland?”
Something pierced through the girl’s useless chatter. Millicent flinched slightly.
“Yes. In history, only one woman has ever borne that title.”
Charlotte spoke, oblivious to the ill omen.
“Looking back now, she was a woman unworthy of such a title.”
Millicent did not reply. Opening her mouth carried too high a risk of a mistake.
“A title like the greatest woman in the kingdom suits someone like me.”
Knowing nothing, Charlotte smiled brightly.
Then she showed off a dance move she had been practicing earlier. Her slender limbs swayed like flower branches. Even that small demonstration radiated the air of one quite skilled at dance.
“What about Lady Elizabeth Dulby?”
Millicent decided to steer safely back to the original topic.
“That woman….”
Charlotte frowned.
“To be honest, she gives me the creeps.”
“Why?”
“I don’t like her vibe. Besides, the Dulby family is rather famously… you know.”
Perhaps feeling anxious anew, Charlotte looked around.
“I don’t want to talk about that family.”
Charlotte shuddered.
“Lady Elizabeth… sometimes she stares at people like this. Exactly like a boarding school matron monitoring whether you’re breaking the rules of the Creator Mother.”
“A boarding school matron?”
“Devoutly religious, you could say.”
Charlotte sneered.
“Forget it. I don’t want to talk about Elizabeth Dulby either.”
She flicked the silk fan in her hand and shut her mouth.
“Let me read your cards, quickly.”
Millicent changed the subject. She took out a deck of cards. She had obtained it long ago while helping women in the back alleys, half as a joke. She had left it stashed in a corner of her room for ages; she was glad it had proven useful.
Shuffling the cards, she thought.
Charlotte Brennan, Adriana Beasley, Jane Grant, Ophelia Till, and Elizabeth Dulby….
They were people she had to kill by the Queen’s request. At the same time, they were also people she absolutely had to kill, independent of the Queen’s request.
“Concentrate and draw three cards.”
Millicent forced herself to dismiss thoughts of the other four. Her prey for the moment was right before her eyes.
Charlotte did as she was told. She hesitated aggravatingly before finally choosing three cards.
Millicent flipped the cards over. In order: the Hermit, the Five of Wands, and the Page of Cups. Then, a plan for Charlotte Brennan came to her spontaneously.
“There was someone important in Lady Charlotte’s life.”
Millicent quietly began her reading.
“A lonely person. Perhaps a gloomy person. And it seems to be a woman. She is burning. Black flames blazing fiercely.”
She pointed to the Hermit card, which depicted a figure draped in a black cloak holding a lantern. Deliberately closing her eyes, she whispered dreamily.
“I see a name. The spelling… it’s AB.”
“AB? Adriana Beasley?”
Charlotte, having taken the bait, pulled her chair close.
“Our families have interacted since childhood. But Adriana is nothing more than a stupid fool, far from wise. And she’s not important at all….”
Suddenly, Charlotte’s face turned deathly pale.
“Wait, it’s not Adriana Beasley.”
Charlotte muttered.
“If it’s AB, could it be Ann Bell…?”
She quickly stopped speaking and covered her mouth with her small hand.
“I see five people.”
As Charlotte’s silence stretched, Millicent simply continued.
“I don’t know the reason, but five people must have joined forces. It greatly influenced My Lady’s life. And that bond has continued to this day. It looks solid. So solid that no one can intervene.”
Charlotte glanced around cautiously and swallowed hard.
“But the staves they crossed to pledge their resolve to one another have withered and rotted.”
Millicent thrust the reversed image before Charlotte’s eyes—five hands gripping five crossed staves.
“If you don’t strike the person beside you with that staff first, My Lady, you will be hit from behind.”
“Are you saying I might be betrayed?”
“If you don’t betray them first.”
Millicent shrugged.
“Fortunately, the God of Fortune is smiling upon Lady Charlotte.”
Next, she pointed to the Page of Cups card. Before the boy clad in garments embroidered with red roses lay a golden cup bearing a fish. And the boy gazed upon the cup with a reverent expression.
“It is a good card symbolizing a new beginning and a romantic invitation.”
Millicent whispered as if dangling a carrot before a horse.
“His Majesty the King will cast his gaze upon Lady Charlotte.”
“Really?”
Charlotte’s brown eyes sparkled.
“Sooner or later, he will approach you in some way.”
Millicent lowered her voice enticingly.
“If My Lady had taken the role of the God of Beauty, you would have danced with His Majesty the King, and one might have expected truly fine results, but….”
“What?”
“That opportunity is already lost, so it cannot be helped. Well, perhaps he will offer you wine at the banquet.”
Disappointment and longing showed in Charlotte’s eyes.
“You absolutely must not miss this opportunity.”
With this, Millicent stoked the fire once more.
“The God of Fortune is fickle. They say he punishes with misfortune any human who fails to accept his favor.”
Sure enough, Charlotte’s anxious gaze shifted sideways, toward the reversed Five of Wands.
“That is all.”
This was enough. Millicent gathered the cards.
Charlotte leaned her upper body forward anxiously for a moment, but soon appeared to sink into her own thoughts. Her eyes darted about.
“…Your skills are dreadful too.”
And at last, having finished her musings, Charlotte unleashed a reproach.
“Even without taking the role of the God of Beauty, I am more than capable enough.”
She declared.
“Of course you are.”
Millicent smiled sweetly, as if provoking her. Indeed, she had scratched Charlotte’s temper precisely.
“It’s true!”
Charlotte cried out, as if persuading no one but herself.
“And five people’s resolves, or the initials AB…. I don’t even know what that means. Nothing like that ever happened to me.”
Yet she could not completely erase the anxiety that habitually clung to her voice.
“I simply speak as the cards reveal, Lady Charlotte.”
Millicent replied quietly. That alone was sufficient.
“I shall take my leave.”
Charlotte tossed two gold coins as if bestowing charity. It seemed she did not go about without a purse after all. Then she turned sharply, her petticoat fluttering in the motion.
Once she disappeared, Millicent picked up the gold coins. She had spouted so much nonsense that she was hungry; this was a welcome turn. Nothing tasted better than a meal bought with free gold.
Besides, she had an appointment with Cardinal Rupert Mullery tonight.