Chapter 176: Returning to the Imperial Palace
Chapter 176: Returning to the Imperial Palace
"Robin-sama, I am all right now."The Queen raised her face and spoke to me. Was she truly all right? I thought so as well, but did she have some basis for declaring it so firmly? Her expression was filled with certainty, so I believed her.
"Thank goodness~~~"
I sank weakly to the ground right there. If something had happened to the Queen here, I would have had to take responsibility and die, right? We had not yet returned to the Rear Palace, so it was not time to relax completely, but I wanted to believe nothing like this would happen again.
"But it was more than I had imagined..."
the Queen murmured in a small voice. Huh? More than she had imagined? Did that mean she had known about today’s attack?
"Your Majesty, what did you mean just now?"
"Robin-sama, please do not ask. Even if you knew, I do not think it would lead to anything good."
"...Yes."
Pressed by the force of the Queen’s gaze, I fell silent.
At last I had some composure and looked around. Browning-sensei... where the arrows had struck, the color had turned purple. It was clearly an abnormal shade — the color of being invaded by poison, right? I seemed to recall seeing on television dramas that when someone drank potassium cyanide their body turned blue?
Other escorts who had fallen had probably been hit or grazed by arrows. There were hardly any visible external wounds. The attackers were also dressed as commoners, so perhaps the distinction between enemy and ally was that those with no external wounds but arrow wounds were allies, and those cut by swords were enemies? I didn’t know if that was accurate.
There was no point in me worrying about such things, so I took the Queen’s hand and helped her stand. The Queen was also dirty. The remaining maid approached and cast Purity. Even so, there were places where the Queen’s skirt was torn, and she had not remained completely clean. After all, she had been pressed against the ground.
I thought we would walk back to the gate like this, but a royal carriage arrived. It felt as if everything had been decided in advance. The Queen boarded and beckoned me to come as well. Then she said Lily and Stevie could also enter the passenger compartment. The maid would, as expected, sit beside the driver. Lily and Stevie were of knight-baronial family origin, so that was probably why they were called; or perhaps it was a deep calculation so that I would not get carried away and beg for rewards. Simply thinking, it meant that Lily, Stevie and I were to serve as escorts.