Chapter 103 – Onto the South

“Oh.” Levisia said, too stunned to formulate a real sentence. How could her mother be missing? Or, was it that the others did not know the full extent of the truth? Rather than leave her only daughter alone when she entered the palace full of unknown and strange people, her mother had come with her.

Levisia had heard that a considerable number of commoners had been hired by the palace due to the increased number of royal family members. Even if these new members were blessed, and thus not of royal blood, very few people had wanted to serve the commoners who’d become royalty overnight. Her mother and Pel had entered the palace like that, disguised as the few people who were willing to be employed within the palace.

Levisia realized how amazing her mother was. Somehow, she had been able to hide her identity by living with her daughter and getting a job as a maid. What she wouldn’t give to be able to see her mother again, and tell her what an incredible job she had done.

While she was wondering if it would be okay to tell the full truth about her mother’s so-called ‘disappearance’, Elizabeth’s gaze was becoming a bit of a burden.

“To be honest, my mother isn’t missing.” Levisia eventually said, after Elizabeth’s intense glare got too much to bear. “She entered the palace with me and became my exclusive maid.”

“Then this means…” Elizabeth mumbled, glancing at the carriage behind them. Inside it were her maids, along with Pel and Sheila.

“No, no. She isn’t Sheila.” She said, urgently shook her head after catching the meaning of her glare. “She passed away when I was young, not long after I had entered the palace.”

Originally, Levisia had entered the palace with her mother, Shiela, and Pel. After her mother’s death, Sheila had been taking care of her, acting as her much-needed maternal figure.

When Levisia had finished explaining everything, Elizabeth frowned deeply enough that wrinkles appeared in her forehead. “My apologies,” she said, turning her face away. “I had no idea.”

Levisia, shocked that Elizabeth was actually apologising, blinked and shook her head. It wasn’t something Elizabeth did often, but just because she apologized, it didn’t mean that she meant it.

“No, it is okay. It happened a long time ago.” She said, looking down at her hands. “Why did you so suddenly bring up my past? I’m just curious, is all. It seems to have come out of nowhere.”

Elizabeth rolled her eyes.

“I looked into it, and it was a little weird.” She replied, folding her arms and staring straight ahead. Figuring that she must be talking about the part where her mother had gone missing, Levisia let the conversation drop and looked out the window. The convoy had long since left the palace, and were now rolling towards the outskirts of the city. Levisia knew that she was heading South, but did not know the reason why.

“So, now we’re going to the South?” She asked as casually as she could. “Any particular reason why. I assume this is not just a routine inspection.”

“That’s right. Reports suggest that some strange occurrences are going on within the southern regions, which have not been seen anywhere else within the Empire.” Elizabeth replied, pulling out a document. “We’ll be travelling for some time, so figure a way to entertain yourself.”

Not satisfied with Elizabeth’s answer, but sensing that she was not going to spill any more details, Levisia pulled out a book from her hand luggage. As she settled down to read, her eyes briefly caught Elizabeth’s. A light flush appeared across Elizabeth’s cheeks and turned to her papers again, “You don’t have to bother me.” She snapped; her head buried in the documents.

Levisia flinched slightly at Elizabeth’s words, and began reading her book. But she could not focus on the writing in front of her, the words all blurring together. Her mind was elsewhere, namely on what Elizabeth had meant.

She liked to think that, because she has been around Elizabeth for some time, she could understand the true meaning behind her words. What Elizabeth was saying, or what Levisia thought she was saying, was that she wanted to be bothered. She wanted a distraction from the presumably mind-numbing documents she had to slog through.

Levisia rested the book on her lap and gazed at Elizabeth. Maybe she was wrong for thinking this about the princess, the one who was domineering and controlling, the one who liked to get her way no matter what, but there was a certain cuteness about her.

Heat rapidly rose to her cheeks and she hid her face behind the book. She prayed that the journey wouldn’t take long, because the tension in the carriage could be cut with a hot butter knife.

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