**Chapter 24: Deep in the Revelry (Part II)**
I just can’t accept it…
I can’t accept it…
This phrase felt like a curse, echoing repeatedly in my mind.
With wide eyes, I stared up at the intricately carved ceiling, expression blank. The massive crystal chandelier above had long extinguished its flickering flames, leaving the room dim and only the “tick-tock, tick-tock” of the clock’s hands turning mechanically filled the silence.
There was a dull heaviness in my chest.
Vaguely, I felt as if I couldn’t breathe.
“…Burp!”
Suddenly, lying in bed, I let out a drunken belch, the smell of alcohol flooding my nostrils, accompanied by a sudden wave of intense dizziness. I felt the urge to vomit again as my stomach churned.
Ugh…
Can alcohol really take down even a deity?
Ugh, this feels awful.~
Maybe even I don’t know why, in a moment like this, the first thought that pops into my head is about deities and alcohol.
“I guess saying this is a bit selfish…”
Outside the door, the corridor was quiet.
So quiet that I could hear the two of them breathing clearly.~
“I know that a few years ago, the Royal City abolished that law prohibiting… that kind of thing. Victoria, that was something you pushed for despite immense societal pressure, right?”
My mother’s tone was soft, but each word was deliberate: “When I first learned of this, I didn’t quite understand its significance. I hardly thought much of it at the time, assuming you were just too young and outnumbered, hoping to gain that meager and feeble support of a small group…”
“Ha.” She said, sounding a bit coldly amused, “But later on, I inadvertently heard from Skarlij that that group’s power was actually far greater than I had imagined. It turns out I was the one who was ‘too young.’ What an irony—”
We seem to be drifting off-topic…
Is my mother trying to soothe Viki’s feelings?
“In any case, it wasn’t until that night in Baihao City when you told me you liked… liked my daughter that I truly understood the meaning behind the repeal of that law…”
I felt dizzy…
My head was numb.
I closed my eyes again, immediately feeling as if the world were spinning wildly.
At that moment, the real punch of the alcohol began to rise up…
“Just—”
In the midst of Viki’s strange silence, my mother continued speaking.
After a brief pause, I heard her let out a long and hesitant sigh: “But Pepé is still a child of the Empire, born in the Northern Region, not the Royal City. Growing up in the icy stronghold, she’s a member of the Empire’s rightful royal family, the ‘Winter Moon.’ Soon, she’ll be crowned the national princess, becoming the Empire’s publicly declared ambassador of peace…”
“Victoria, you’re a very smart child; you know what I’m saying. However, what I’ve said isn’t the most important part. I just want you to consider this from another perspective: what if… I mean, what if.”
Her gentle yet firm voice paused momentarily.
“What if one day you become a mother, a very ordinary one who marries and has children, continuing the family line? You want your children to be happy, but one day, when you find yourself facing a situation similar to mine, would you be able to calmly accept that your child has fallen in love with someone of the same gender?”
“……”
An extended silence.
I lay on the bed, listening to my mother’s words, my thoughts becoming hazy again—I really didn’t want them to keep talking; this conversation didn’t need to go on, it was meaningless—I hadn’t even said anything yet as the person directly involved.
Mom must be drunk too…
So I struggled to prop myself up and get out of bed, but after a few tries, I just couldn’t, and instead, all that movement made me feel even queasier.
Why…
Why, at this point, does alcohol still affect me so much…
Ridiculous…
With my elbow propped up, I rolled over onto my stomach, trying to suppress the waves of intense dizziness. I gasped, carefully attempting to make some noise—maybe to roll off the bed to grab the attention of the two outside.
And then, I heard Viki, who had been silent for a while, suddenly speak up.
“Pepé… won’t like me.”
Her cold voice sounded a bit proud, like she was warding off intruders from a hundred miles away.
I blinked in surprise.
I lifted my head, staring blankly at the doorway.
“Victoria…”
“She will never love me.”
“I used to think there might still be a chance. But now, seeing her again, I probably won’t hold onto any more fantasies.”
She seemed to take a deep breath, and I heard her inhale heavily.
“Is this answer satisfactory to you, Lady?”
Tick-tock, tick-tock.
The clock’s hands turned mechanically.
A long pause.
“Forget it, forget it… sigh…”
I heard my mother’s sigh again.
I couldn’t tell if it was a lament or if she was relieved.
“I know tonight isn’t the time for such talk… I’m sorry, Victoria, I really shouldn’t have said that… I might have had a bit too much to drink!”
“I never thought I’d interfere in my daughter’s feelings…”
“Especially seeing her like she is now… I… sigh. Even if I can get past this in my heart, when it comes to Skarlij, he will never accept it…”
“The good relationship just established between the Empire and the Kingdom shouldn’t come to a disastrous end over this… so I took advantage of the alcohol to be honest with you…”
“If you can understand, that would be wonderful…”
…………
After that, my memories of the conversation became a bit hazy.
Not because I was sleepy, but my head was just too jumbled to take anything in.
I ultimately didn’t interrupt their conversation, and I wasn’t sure exactly when Viki left. My consciousness was blurry, and I only felt the sound of footsteps departing long after, while my mother seemed to stand alone at the corridor for quite a while.
When I finally came to, the nauseating feeling in my stomach erupted, and I leaned over the edge of the bed, retching noisily, just as the door creaked open again. In the darkness, I saw my mother’s somewhat panicked, troubled face. She rushed over to me with a bucket, placing it beneath me while gently patting my back.
“Good girl, good girl… just throw it all up, you’ll feel better…”
“Ugh…”
After spitting out the remnants of my stomach, I suddenly felt as if my body had been emptied out.
“Mom…”
I closed my eyes, resting my head on her leg, feeling the dizziness slowly dissipating. I weakly asked, “What about Viki…?”
“She’s already gone back to rest.”
My mother’s tone revealed nothing unusual: “What? You want Her Majesty to keep you company while you sleep? Little drunkard…”
In a daze, she wiped my mouth, then pinched my nose: “Still feeling bad?”
I nodded.
“Feeling really queasy?”
I shook my head.
“Then just lie down and sleep.”
My mother gently touched my forehead, and after determining my temperature was normal, she stood up to put the bucket beneath the bed: “I’ll go change my clothes and be right back…”
