Lady To Queen Chapter 52 - Really Did Seem Crazy

Chapter 52 – Really Did Seem Crazy

It was a common psychotic episode, though adding the adjective “common” did not make him feel any less insane. Of course, the cause of the psychosis wasn't himself—or no, perhaps it was.

When did these episodes start? He calculated it roughly in his head…a month after “that thing”? No, two months? He thought it was about that time. His brain would have needed time to accept the shock. And to keep the cruelty alive, he needed some defense to keep it going.

He had heard that God gave man only as much suffering as they could bear. It wasn't until that time that he realized that the words weren't wrong. God gave him just enough suffering. If there was a problem, then the suffering would be experienced exactly before death.

It was clever too. When an episode began, no one could stop it. Ah, except for one person? No, there were two. The only problem was, they were already dead. So now only those two ghosts could calm him, except they only appeared in his dreams and drove him crazy.

For the most part, he would come to his senses by dawn. An episode was similar to taking a drug. A person didn't know what was happening in the midst of it, but once they woke up, they suffered a great sense of shame. Especially in his case, the destructive feeling was even worse, as his episodes weren't even caused by an illness.

Lucio opened his eyes, and he saw the faint light of dawn shining through the window. He realized he had an episode in the queen's palace for the second time—

But what was even more embarrassing was that the Queen was sleeping by his side. His face paled in shock, and he hurriedly called out to the maid.

“You called, Your Majesty?” the maid answered after entering the room.

“Why is the Queen here?”

The maid opened her lips, but no answer came out. Lucio urged her to speak, and she finally revealed to him the events of last night.

As soon as Lucio heard it, a great sense of humiliation he had never felt before crashed over him. Damn it. He had hoped that the Queen would have never seen this scene in her lifetime.

“All the maids were ordered to stay silent, Your Majesty. As well as the queen's knight and her lady-in-waiting. So you don't have to worry about that—”

“What use is it if the queen already saw it?” he said helplessly. He was not angry, but ashamed. Ashamed for the loss of his pride. He couldn't believe he was discovered.

Lucio let out a dry laugh. He was pathetic, ugly, and disgusting.

“Take the queen to her bedroom,” he ordered afterwards. “And don't let the people around her talk about what happened last night.”

“Yes, Your Majesty.”

“Haaah…” Lucio gave a long sigh. The visit to the queen's palace was not enough, and he was even caught by Patrizia. What should he do in the aftermath?

He sighed again, then unsteadily rose to his feet. The maid tried to help him up, but he waved away her hand as if he didn't need it.

“I'll return to the central palace right away. Take care of things as usual. As if nothing happened.”

“Yes, Your Majesty. Do not worry,” the maid answered loyally.

Lucio walked towards the door, and tried to leave the room without looking back. But in the end, he couldn't help but turn around. He turned back forwards again, his expression twisted.

*

“Ah…”

Patrizia gave a faint groan and opened her eyes. She stared blankly at the ceiling for a moment, then blinked and turned her head sideways. She still felt so tired.

“…”

The room didn't remain still for long. She turned her head back to the front and pushed her upper body up from the bed.

There was no one around. Warm sunlight was filtering through the curtains, so it must be morning now.

“Mirya,” she called out, her voice whispery from the lack of recent use.

The lady-in-waiting quickly entered the room. “Yes, Your Majesty.”

Patrizia felt a strange sense of alienation from her surroundings. This was a normal, everyday interaction, yet something didn't quite feel right.

“Mirya,” Patrizia said again.

“Yes, please speak if you need anything—”

“Isn't it strange?”

“What? What do you mean?”

“It's strange.” Patrizia lowered her head for a moment, and then lifted it back up again. She could feel Mirya staring at her with a tense look, and it only confirmed her suspicions. What happened last night wasn't a dream.

“Mirya,” Patrizia repeated.

“Yes, Your Majesty.”

“You and I are strange today.”

“…”

“Yes, everything was strange yesterday.”

“Your Majesty…”

“I fell asleep. It was late at night, and I was so tired,” Patrizia said quietly, and she looked back at Mirya. Patrizia may have fallen asleep, but not Mirya. She had told them to wait, and her two loyal friends would have obeyed. But after that, the story changed.

“What happened after I fell asleep?”

“…”

Mirya was in an awkward position. She had worried when Patrizia didn't show up for a long time, until the maids approached her and Raphaella and brought them to the room. All she saw last night was her master, asleep, and the emperor slumped next to her as if he were dead. They didn't witness Lucio's mental breakdown, but they guessed that something had happened.

The maids looked quite serious when they told Mirya and Raphaella not to say a word of this, and neither knight nor lady-in-waiting had any intentions of spreading rumors anyway.

However, Mirya was at a loss at what to do in this particular situation. After a moment, she finally spoke.

“After you fell asleep, the Emperor ordered you to be returned to your chambers.”

“…Is that it?”

“Yes.”

There was nothing else to say, and, even better, it was true. There was, of course, a gap between “You fell asleep” and “The Emperor ordered you to be returned to your chambers”, but Mirya said nothing of it.

“…”

“Very well,” Patrizia said finally, then dismissed the lady-in-waiting.

After Mirya left the room, Patrizia simply sat in her bed to think. It was incredible to her that last night wasn't a dream. Yesterday, Lucio really did seem crazy as he wailed like a beast.

Where did the pain come from? How could a person become that insane?

Patrizia bit her lip on confusion. Was it right for her to acknowledge what had happened? She didn't meet the Emperor often, so it wouldn't be a problem to pretend otherwise. Perhaps that was best. She didn't want to step on his weakness…so it was better to not say anything about it at all.

Patrizia grabbed the hem of her white nightdress. She was grateful that sleep took her last night; if she remained awake, she didn't know what would happen next. Whatever the case, it was evident that this was beyond her control. She would just think of it as a dream. That would be a good thing. There was nothing for her to worry about, or for Lucio to be offended on. He wasn't special enough for her to have any interest in in the first place. She would just bury it away.

Having made up her mind, she got up from bed. What happened last night was a passing dream, nothing more.

*

“Your Majesty, here's the final payment form.”

Patrizia accepted the papers without revealing a hint of tiredness. Mirya and Raphaella said nothing about what happened a few days ago, either, and Patrizia didn't bother to bring it up.

“There's no payment documents for the decorations at the venue. What happened?” Patrizia asked.

“Countess Valen sent a message a few days earlier, saying that she was still working on the final selection, Your Majesty. You don't have to worry about it.”

“Very well. I expect to hear from her soon,” Patrizia responded casually, then shuffled her papers to look at the last document. It was only a few weeks until the National Founding Day, and she was speeding up her work.

Finally, Patrizia said, “You may leave,” and Mirya bowed her head and left the office. The lady-in-waiting had a complicated expression on her face as she walked through the hall.

“I didn't bring up the whole story,” she murmured to herself.

“You mean from a few days ago?”

Mirya turned around, and was startled when she saw Raphaella behind her. Raphaella looked apologetic as she walked towards Mirya.

“Sorry, I didn't mean to surprise you. Are you alright?”

“Yes, Dame. More importantly, where's Lady Petronilla? I haven't seen her.”

“The chef said he developed a new tart, and she said she wanted to try it,” Raphaella explained, and Mirya smiled. Petronilla did have a child-like side to her.

Raphaella paused, then ventured forward carefully. “By the way…Her Majesty did not comment on what happened.”

Upon returning to the subject, Mirya thought for a moment before speaking. “…Well, maybe she just decided to forget it.”

“What on earth happened there?” Raphaella wondered as she scratched the back of her head. If she knew that she would be this curious, she would have tried sneaking in. “The central palace maids' behavior was a bit strange…though we didn't see or hear much. Something must have happened.”

“Well, I suppose it's their duty as maids to not be curious about things like you are, Dame Raphaella,” Mirya teased.

“What are you talking about?” an innocent voice said, and Mirya and Raphaella turned around.

Chapter end