The Toy in the Summer Palace - Chapter 3.2

To overshadow the expectations that had been greatly inflated like the red clouds of summer, Senita could not see the Empress and her son at all. From the reception to the market, nothing was allowed to Senita, so it was reasonable.

“You are immature, who will give you the opportunity to meet high-ranking people?”

In the corner of an empty hall where a grand ball had once been held, Melissa’s reproaches mingled with the sound of a mop being dipped in a bucket of water. Melissa, who is four or five years older than Senita, loved to teach Senita by acting like an adult, and she did today.

“Is that so?” murmured Senita. That’s true. The virtue of a dirty and vulgar cleaning maid is to stay out of the eyes of her owners.

That’s a matter of course, but she dared to delude herself. Senita smiled awkwardly because she was ashamed of herself.

“I thought I could see them from afar.”

“Say something that makes sense. Well, why don’t you take a peek when you go?”

Melissa jabbed at Senita with her elbow. She, who had strong hands, took a mop out of the bucket and splashed the water. Senita lifted her shoulders without hesitation to dry them, and Melissa continued to chat, not caring whether she did or not.

“Julia says the prince is really very cool.”

“Really? Did she see them in person? I envy them.”

“It was amazing that there could be such a person in the world.”

Senita’s eyes dimmed like a dream.

What kind of person is the prince, who is amazed by his existence. Does he look like the angel I saw in the cathedral. She’s so curious, but she really wants to see him, but she guesses that’s not what she’s allowed to do.

With a faint sigh, Senita wiped the floor with a wet mop. The color of the wet pattern became darker.

* * *

It has already been 10 days since the Empress and the prince arrived.

With the heat of summer increasing day by day, the two were passing the time quietly.

There was no way that there would be a noisy banquet or concert because there were no nobles who could enjoy playing together. The management of farms and farms along the river built for rural life was still only a job for servants.

The prince, who brought his guards, went hunting several times in the wide forest behind the palace, but it was very difficult to see the prince at that moment.

Their lives were very monotonous. Still, the people of the summer palace always talked about what they ate, what they said, and what they did.

The maid seemed happy as the empress shared words that the garden looked good, and that the empress was worried about the prince because he stayed late at the hunting villa. This is because there is no more interesting topic for Martiera’s servants than the lives of their owners from the bustling islands.

The servants from the Imperial Palace despised the people of such summer palaces, and even looking down on them was an entertainment.

Thus preparing their owners’ tea and meals, chatting between the busy work of wandering around and around the palace, hanging out the laundry under the blue sky, trimming the trees and flowers in the garden…….

Anyway, it was a really peaceful day.

It was on such a safe day, one afternoon, that Senita went to the forest.

* * *

“You can go to the cabin next to the hunting villa and deliver it. Clean up there, and get the urgent laundry in the basket.”

Senita, who finished cleaning in the morning, was called by senior maid Isabella to the back of the palace. Senita was the only person who was free right now, and the basket she handed over contained beef jerky, jam, and dry bread. It was an object for a hunter who was very busy managing prey and grooming tools.

“He may be away, but he would have left the door open, so you can just go in. You can do it, right?”

“Yes!”

Isabella smiled and patted Senita on the head in response to a brave reply. Then, she took out a plum that she had put aside in the basket and handed it to the child.

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