Chapter 130: All Halved
I lifted my foot, ready to head for the door to see what was happening outside, but as soon as I took a step, Victoria called out.
“Sit down.”
Her tone was commanding, as if she was issuing a royal decree, and it blocked my heart a little. I turned back with a glare of discontent.
There sat Victoria on the couch, poised and graceful, her breathtakingly beautiful face betraying not a hint of panic. She looked as calm and collected as if she were sipping tea on a sunny day. Noticing my frown, she casually lifted her gaze.
“Just eat your donut.”
She tucked a strand of her golden hair behind her ear and asked, “Do you have any black tea?”
“…No.”
I rolled my eyes in irritation.
This woman… She’s clearly hiding out at my place to dodge someone, so how can she still act so at ease? And now that she’s been discovered, it’s obvious the visitor isn’t here for tea and cookies. From the sounds I heard, I bet that the big iron gate outside needs repairs.
Here she is, causing trouble for everyone, and yet maintains this haughty demeanor… I know she’s Her Majesty the Queen, but it’s just so frustrating.
And here I was, about to share some of Captain Gray’s food with her…
With a mental barrage of complaints directed at her, I realized I had somehow ended up back on the couch.
…Why did I sit back down so obediently!?
Feeling the surge of anger, I instinctively stood again, but then I turned to see Victoria’s teasing smile, her light golden eyes fixed on me like she was saying, “I know what you’re thinking, and I’m just going to sit here in silence and enjoy the show.”
My annoyance flared up again, and I plopped back down, angling my head away in a feigned show of nonchalance, quickly devouring the remaining half of my Captain Gray donut.
Hmph! Try to make me stand? Not a chance! I’m sitting right here.
The noise outside was growing louder. Soon after, Rect the Forgiveness Head entered with a few servants, gesturing for them to take the trays of food to the dining room next door.
Victoria pointed to the tea table and told Rect, “Just put it here.”
“Your Majesty, I instructed the kitchen to prepare some vegetarian dishes to your usual tastes, and I also had them bring out two bottles of 1954 Smaranka from the wine cellar. Please enjoy, along with Miss Silvya,” Rect said.
Victoria nodded. “Mm.”
As the servants set down beautifully arranged trays in front of us, my earlier displeasure faded away, and excitement bubbled to the surface. I couldn’t help but feel a bit giddy.
This was Her Majesty’s dinner!
People living in the Royal City typically know how to enjoy life; even the more refined commoners eat quite well. So, what could their queen possibly have? Surely, it must be a feast for the senses!
But when the servants lifted the lids, my mood crashed faster than a roller coaster—in an instant, I felt deflated.
A few soggy vegetable leaves floating in clear broth, a vibrant green plate of peas, and some wrapped vegetable patties… Ugh. Everything was green, like the grass on that man’s head over there.
So bland. It was the epitome of plain and tasteless, leaving me utterly unenthused… What a letdown.
But I was still curious enough to try.
The servants finally set down two bottles of wine, and one of the male servants expertly opened one before stepping back.
“Your Majesty…”
Rect’s head was lowered as he hesitated, but Victoria had already grabbed her utensils, expertly spearing a leaf of greens and shoving it into her mouth, completely ignoring him.
After a moment, Rect had to force himself to continue, “Prince Bart is sitting in the courtyard with the Iron Guard… He claims that if you don’t see him today, he won’t leave…”
Then, with a sidelong glance at me, he added, “I’m sorry, Miss Silvya; the lock on the outer gate was broken by him. I’ll have someone—”
“Who will you have?”
Victoria spoke after finishing her mouthful of leafy greens.
She looked at him, her lovely brows furrowing slightly as she poured wine into her goblet, gently swirling it before raising it to her lips, all while giving Rect a cold stare.
He bowed his head even lower, practically wishing he could sink into the ground.
“You didn’t break the gate,” Victoria said lightly, taking a sip of her wine and gazing out the window. “Why should the warriors of the Royal City be held responsible for someone else’s mistakes?”
“…Yes,” Rect murmured.
“But that’s my front door!” I interjected angrily at Victoria, “If it weren’t for you, he wouldn’t be smashing my door!”
Victoria turned her indifferent gaze towards me, and I, of course, wasn’t one to back down easily.
Ignoring Rect, who was trying to signal me with his eyes, I locked eyes with her for a few seconds before feeling my resolve wavering.
This woman is different from Carlos. No matter how much I glare or play silly games with Carlos, I know he won’t truly be mad at me. In fact, he’d probably bribe me with treats.
But Victoria? She’s an enigma of icy temperament and noble birth, brimming with an oppressive presence that’s hard to shake off. Even if she were in tattered rags with a face like a soot-covered pumpkin, you’d still know she was different—some aura of authority is carved into her very being.
So when this unfathomable woman fixes her cold gaze on me, I felt my heart racing within seconds.
But my pride wouldn’t let me back down. I kept my neck stiff, continuing to glare at her. Just as I was wondering if this jaw-droppingly gorgeous— No wait, just normally attractive woman—would suddenly explode out of jealousy that I was better looking and send a punch my way, Victoria suddenly looked away.
“Bring Bart in.”
“Understood.”
Rect seemed to breathe a sigh of relief and promptly turned to leave.
“Phew—”
With that tension released, I flopped back against the couch, suddenly missing Carlos.
That cheeky rascal must have already returned to the Empire…
Not long after, Rect returned, leading in a middle-aged swordsman clad in golden armor.
At first glance, my impression of him was terrible.
He was a bit on the hefty side, unsteady on his feet, swaying as if he’d had one too many drinks. The once imposing golden chainmail looked a bit stretched on him.
At this rate… I doubted he could even take on a regular soldier. How is this guy considered a swordsman?
“Your Majesty!”
The middle-aged swordsman boomed as he entered, hurrying to kneel before Victoria. In his eagerness, he wobbled and nearly toppled over, managing to regain his balance just in time, then urgently declared, “Your Majesty, you made me wait an entire afternoon! You say you’ve been busy with state affairs, but here you are with a—”
His gaze landed on me.
“Uh…”
In the next moment, his previously glassy eyes widened in shocked recognition, whether it was from the realization of who I was or the fact that I had black hair, or simply that I was seated alongside the queen.
The swordsman hesitated, suspicion creeping in his gaze, before he quickly asked, “Who is this young lady…?”
Wait… Do drunk people respond that quickly?
After a couple of seconds of silence, no one answered him.
Rect stood quietly to the side, while Victoria… was leisurely chewing her vegetables again.
She was clearly doing this on purpose.
I was tempted to ask the middle-aged swordsman, why he thought it was okay to smash my door in the first place… But considering Victoria surely had her own agenda, I decided to wait for her to speak first.
And wait I did, for what felt like an eternity.
Victoria was taking tiny bites from her dish, going so slow it was like she was savoring each morsel, swallowing greens before delicately chopping up a vegetable patty and slowly chewing it down. I worried she might just drive our kneeling guest mad with her snail-paced progress.
“Your Majesty, are you giving me the cold shoulder?” The middle-aged swordsman squinted at her in irritation.
Finally overcoming whatever restraint she had, Victoria set down her utensils.
She dabbed a napkin at her mouth lightly and then casually glanced at the middle-aged swordsman.
“Bart, what do you want?”
Her nonchalant voice made it perpetually hard to read her emotions.
“Your Majesty, that’s a question I should be asking you.”
The swordsman lowered his head, adopting a respectful posture, but the words that spilled from his mouth were clearly accusatory: “You’ve unilaterally cut the Iron Guard’s salaries in half without even informing me, the captain of the Iron Guard. And to top it off, the finance minister just found out! Not only that, but you’ve also appointed some inexplicable treasury manager who requires all expenses to be scrutinized by her first! Your Majesty, if I may be blunt, your actions are nothing but favoritism that undermines our regulations!”
The middle-aged swordsman was boiling over with indignation, spitting more than a few drops of saliva that landed on the carpet, which made me wrinkle my nose.
“Things are going haywire… What exactly do you plan to do? Do you think the finance minister doesn’t exist? His work is now utterly hampered! There’s no way to govern like this, Your Majesty! Are you deliberately making things difficult for us—?!”
As soon as he finished his sentence, the atmosphere turned heavy.
I stole a glance at Victoria… and saw her expression hadn’t changed at all—still flat and impassive.
“Are you done?” she asked.
“Uh…”
Victoria’s cold reaction was likely not what the swordsman was expecting; he couldn’t find words for a moment.
Seeing he was running out of steam, Victoria pressed on: “The finance minister’s affairs don’t concern you, do they?”
“Of course it concerns me! If the finance minister can’t provide the salaries, the Iron Guard…”
He was cut off by Victoria: “If you’re here to resolve the salary issue, I can tell you how.”
“…What method?”
“It’s simple.”
Victoria raised her goblet, casually swirling the liquid inside.
“Since the salaries are halved, let’s just halve the number of Iron Guards as well.”
