Chapter 134
Chapter 134: Vicky (Middle Part)
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Maybe all the mansions on Londor Street shared a similar layout, because Victoria seemed very familiar with the place, she walked straight toward the second-floor balcony without a moment's hesitation.
After she left, I immediately ran to the kitchen to grab a clean plate, then came back and picked up Captain Greys from the floor, the ones that hadn't been splattered with sauce or vegetable bits, and were far enough from Bart's spot, blew on them, and set them back on the plate.
Then I counted... only 6.
6 it is, then. The others were dirty so they were a lost cause, but these ones were still clean, and clean ones shouldn't go to waste, though they definitely wouldn't be enough to eat.
So what now...
There weren't any food stalls near Londor Street. If you wanted to buy ready-made food you'd have to walk to a street much farther away. There were still ingredients in the kitchen, but to make something again... I really couldn't be bothered.
Just as I was starting to stress over it, Lecter came in from the outer courtyard.
He spotted me standing in the living room and gave an apologetic smile: "Her Majesty the Queen?"
I raised a hand and pointed upstairs.
"Up there."
He nodded at that, then continued: "Miss Sylvia, I'm truly sorry for the trouble today... The servants from mansion No. 2 will be over shortly, they'll clean everything up here. Some parts of the courtyard lawn got trampled, but don't worry, someone will come take care of it."
"Mm." I replied softly.
Lecter considered his words for a moment, then spoke to me again: "I'm truly sorry. Her Majesty and I... neither of us anticipated something like this would happen. Today's events were an accident, I'll find a way to make it up to you. Please forgive us, and don't take it to heart."
The way he said those lines was so stuffed with formal pleasantries that I couldn't help but purse my lips.
...Didn't anticipate it?
Didn't anticipate what exactly your Queen came here to do?
Those people saw that I had black hair and black eyes, and that I was sitting together with the Queen, who knows what they'll think when they get back!
I completely understood why the green-haired guy would defend his own Queen, but I still felt that the version of him I'd met on the rooftop for the first time was a little easier on the eyes than this one.
Seeing me go quiet, he clearly picked up on something and quickly added: "Miss Sylvia, I know you might have some grievances right now... and I completely understand that. If it were me, I'd be thinking the same unpleasant thoughts too... but there's still something I'd like to tell you. Maybe it'll change how you see Her Majesty."
Oh?
Now that he put it that way, I was actually a little curious, so I tilted my head and looked at him.
"What is it?"
Seeing me ask, the green-haired guy smiled again.
"Let me think, where to start... Let's talk about mansion No. 3 here. A very long time ago, this place used to be the residence of a royal consort, though that really was a very, very long time ago. The mansion had sat empty for nearly a hundred years. The weeds in the courtyard had grown taller than people, and the vines had almost crept all the way up to the street outside the wall... Up until a few years ago, when Her Majesty had the courtyard renovated. That was after she moved out of the royal palace."
The green-haired guy's tone was gentle and calm, like he was telling a bedtime story.
"Every blade of grass, every flower bed you see here now, the fountain, that honey fruit tree... everything in this place was built to mirror the courtyard of the royal palace where Her Majesty grew up. Almost identical. When it was finished, even I was taken aback. I never expected that someone like her would have such a sentimental side. I had assumed she would naturally move in here... but as you know, she ended up moving next door instead."
"Mansion No. 3 has stayed empty ever since, yet the courtyard has always been tended to on her behalf. Meanwhile, her own courtyard next door, Her Majesty hasn't shown the slightest interest in keeping it up."
Hearing him say that, I thought back carefully, and realized it really was like he said.
It seemed like the courtyard of the neighboring mansion... while it wasn't exactly a mess, the lawn had always given me the impression of being unkempt, without any decorative trees or flower beds, all I could remember was a gazebo, and the scenery was nowhere near as lovely as over here.
I had originally just assumed Victoria didn't care about that sort of thing.
"But why?" I asked.
"That you'd have to ask Her Majesty herself, how would I know what she's thinking?" The green-haired guy gave a wry smile and shrugged. "Her Majesty never lets her emotions show on her face. It's just that she'll come over here from time to time... sometimes during the day, sometimes late at night. She'll stand there staring at that honey fruit tree in a daze, and when she gets tired of standing she'll have someone bring a chair so she can sit under the tree and drink. Slowly, as it happened more and more, I came to understand, this is what she does when she's in a bad mood."
"Today... is probably one of those times. You might have noticed it yourself, Her Majesty and her mother... don't have a very good relationship. It's been a very long time since the two of them last saw each other. When the new decree came down, her mother was the one who reacted most fiercely, yet neither of them wanted to see the other... So today's scene played out the way it did. We just didn't expect you to come back so suddenly..."
The green-haired guy paused for a moment.
"Ha, sounds like I've said a bit too much, got off track. I don't mean anything else by it, really. I just wanted you to understand that Her Majesty wouldn't resort to any means necessary just because she's facing hardship. She's not that kind of person."
He looked at me, still smiling on the surface, but his eyes carried an unusual sincerity.
"Mm."
I gave him a nod to show I understood.
What I was actually thinking was, aren't you still just making excuses for your own Queen... but that kind of thought was just a joke I couldn't say out loud.
Because I understood very clearly, whatever kind of person Victoria was, what she had done today was a resolute, decisive stand against every vested interest group, against her own family, against her own mother. And the subjects she was protecting wouldn't necessarily choose to stand by her side just because they understood her.
With her sharp mind, every problem I could see through, she would naturally see through even more clearly, and yet she still held firm to her principles and her bottom line.
That kind of resolve wasn't something every ruler possessed.
She was a Queen worthy of respect.
"Her Majesty right now... she must be feeling really awful inside."
The green-haired guy took 2 steps forward and stopped in front of me, extending his right hand toward me... only then did I notice he was holding a bottle of wine.
"The wine might not be enough, but could I trouble you to bring it up to her?" he said with a smile.
I reached out and took the bottle, looking at him with some puzzlement: "You're not... going yourself?"
I watched as he gently shook his head.
"I am a warrior of the kingdom. I can kill for her, take a blade for her. Anything beyond that... is truly beyond my power."
The green-haired guy finished speaking, turned around, and left.
I stood in the dimly lit living room, one hand holding the plate with Captain Grey on it, the other gripping an unopened bottle of wine, lingering there for a moment.
The image of that breathtakingly beautiful yet utterly expressionless face drifted through my mind, and I gave my head a little shake.
"Third bottle... might as well drink herself to death..."
Muttering quietly under my breath, I took small steps forward and made my way toward the second-floor balcony.
The mansion's balcony was shaped like a semicircle, roughly 40 square meters, enclosed by iron railings about half a person's height, with vines and green leaves crawling all over the wooden framework overhead, and the round table and chairs set beneath it all dusted with a thin layer of fine gray.
Victoria's figure was nowhere on the reclining chair, she wasn't sitting there.
I spotted her not far outside the railings, floating in the air.