The Readymade Queen

chapter 8

Moreover, no matter how much she flew and crawled, she was successful in her career as a Baroness.

‘So this woman is one of the most successful in her career and she is also one of the main characters that made my life so twisted. The one who put me in Violetta’s palace. ’

Abigail let out a shallow sigh of discouragement. Abigail got out of bed, gesturing to the table facing two single chairs instead of the sofa where Rakiel was sitting.

Agnes followed politely and sat across from Abigail in graceful movements. “It might be the first time for Your Highness, but I have seen Your Highness from a distance. Your face looked even worse than then.”

‘I think it’s all thanks to your excellent choice.’

A nervous smile surfaced without her knowledge, but now that she actually held hands with her, it wasn’t a big deal anymore. Abigail tried to pull her lips up and responded politely with a smile.

“It’s okay.”

“It can’t be okay. How surprised Your Highness must have been in that mess! You need to restore your body’s strength with a balanced diet. Sir Thornton, I have prepared a simple meal for Her Highness, so please inform the head chef of the Duke.”

The notebook that Agnes gave to Kyle, which was said to be simple, seemed to be 300 pages long. Anyway, the standards of speech in this neighbourhood was unreasonable, as like the simple things in the world, could be overwhelming.

When Kyle politely received the notebook and stood still again, Agnes stood there stupidly and glanced as if he were doing something. “Sir Thornton?”

Kyle looked polite, but he asked back with a look that conveys the message ‘Do I have to move now?’

“Do you mean now, Countess?”

“From lunch today, Her Highness should have the best meal. Oh, Your Highness, did you have breakfast?”

‘As soon as I opened my eyes, Her Majesty the Empress was sitting by my bedside, and this is now. What kind of breakfast early in the morning?’

“I haven’t eaten yet…”

Even before Abigail’s words were over, Agnes looked reproachfully at Rakiel. “In Grantonia, there is no law that even a passerby doesn’t serve meals. Isn’t that the true nature of our imperial people? Confucius, no, Your Excellency, how could you…”
[T/N: Confucius = Normally just used to sarcastically refer to someone who is using big words or difficult expressions to show off or to try to make people believe one is smarter than one really is.]

“Kyle?”

As Agnes’s nagging began, Rakiel frowned, spouting Kyle’s short name as if pressuring him, implying a lot of words. ‘Take that notebook right now and bring it to the chef. If you just go out with that notebook, is there any reason for me to hear that damn nagging for even half a second? If you run down five floors of the stairs right now and say you’re bringing an appropriate mix of today’s breakfast and lunch menus with both hands, I’m sure I won’t hear anymore the grantonian convention speeches from my 12-year-old aunt’s maid.’

She expected those words to be said.

For a moment, the eyes of the two met in the air and Abigail witnessed that unequal eye contact. Somehow…

“…I will be back.”

With Abigail’s sympathetic gaze on his back, Kyle disappeared.

“Your Highness, your sitting posture is not good.”

“What?”

“Straighten your spine.”

“Like this?”

“Many ladies are mistaken, but straightening your waist and straightening your hips are very, very different. With the feeling of supporting your body under your back… Lean your shoulders back a little more and relax. No, it’s a bit stretched out. It’s too stretched out. Stick out your chest moderately there, and the neck is that part, no, that’s not it. Do not bend your neck and pull your chin as much as possible. No. Make sure that part is in a straight line. There…”

After being pointed out 15 times in a row and adjusting her body around, Agnes stopped talking. She felt like she was freed from winding around on a rope. But immediately Agnes took out a notebook and began to rummage. Not long after, the ominousness that had been seen in the past spread all over her body.

“Shall we correct our posture first before etiquette?”

Abigail ground her teeth. ‘Those notebooks, I’m really gonna burn them all.’

“Your Highness, stand up.”

“Yes.”

“Your Highness, walk up to the couch over there.”

“Yes.”

“Your Highness, sit down on that couch.”

“Yes.”

“Your Highness, everything is messed up.”

“Yes.”

Her first impression of being meticulous wasn’t wrong either. She went back and forth in the room more than ten times, but all she heard was words starting with ‘again’ and ‘no, that’s not it, there’.

Agnes concluded with “Your Highness, let’s sit down” because she realized that it wasn’t something that could be fixed in a day or two. Then she sighed and wrote something in her notebook. As Abigail shifted her eyes from Agnes to Rakiel with gloomy eyes, she saw him sipping the tea.

‘I’d rather that man get out of here. It’s disgusting.’

“I will try to correct your posture little by little from tomorrow. Can you show me how you greet now?”

When Abigail got up again, as if giving up, Agnes also got up and stood politely in front of her. Agnes stepped aside a bit as she tried to give an example of the royal family. No matter how much they were educating and practicing, it was a deception of the imperial family if a person who was not from the imperial family stood on the side of receiving the courtesy of the imperial family.

Abigail raised her left hand slightly above her right chest, and politely bowed, spreading the hem of her dress with her right hand. Next, it’s a greeting commonly used among nobles, she lowered her head a little and raised her knees.

It was such an impeccable move to her own eyes, but with a serious face, Agnes wrote something down in her notebook again.

“We have a lot to do from tomorrow. I should come at least five times a week.”

Abigail took a deep breath that was invisible to Agnes. Rakiel smirked as he watched the scene with his chin closed.

The story flowed and flowed as Agnes enthusiastically lectured Abigail about the most elegant angle of holding her head, Kyle screamed at the office door from afar.

The smell of fragrant food flowed all the way to Elderdium. She thought he managed to bring two large trays with both hands. The smell of food, whether Kyle was struggling or not, Abigail felt the peace in her mind, and Kyle was skeptical about life.

Only a few employees of the Duke have official access to the fifth floor. There were only three of them: the head butler and head maid, who assisted the Duke since childhood, and the secondary butler. But unfortunately, the head butler was sent by Duke’s orders, the secondary butler was working outside, the head maid said, ‘I want to go to the fifth floor only once a day because my back hurts so much these days, and unfortunately, I can’t go there because I’ve already been there once in the morning.’

However, it wasn’t possible to dare to call the commander of the Knights, so what could a weak civilian do? It was entirely Kyle’s responsibility to carry these enormous dishes. With the maids, he went up to the fourth floor with dignity, but from the moment the two trays were placed on his hands, each step was a series of crises. Then he suddenly realized that he had forgotten his pride as an elite and focused his whole body on transporting food, and the feeling of skepticism started right there.

Agnes got up and said, setting the plates elegantly in front of Abigail. “Chicken stew, fresh blueberries and raspberries, tomatoes and cheese, cake made with rye, lettuce salad…. The chef has made a great mix of breakfast and lunch menus.”

It was an ordinary and simple food than she thought, but the quality of the ingredients was different from what Abigail had seen in her whole life. Plus, blueberries… Before her father died, she had a high-quality fruit that she had eaten only three times.

She wasn’t particularly hungry, but seeing the food made her hungry.

“Your Highness skipped breakfast, so you should eat it so that it doesn’t get irritated inside. It’s a little early to eat the middle part of the meal, so have a light dessert in two and a half hours. That way, your stomach won’t be empty until dinner.”

Abigail looked a little tired of specifying the exact time.

‘I shouldn’t eat it after 2 or 3 hours, but after 2 and a half hours? Can’t I eat it whenever I’m hungry?’

“Take the stew three times first, and let it warm inside.”

Following the words, she gently scooped the stew three times, and as she said, It felt warm inside, and she felt better without knowing it. However, she felt strange because she felt timid that she couldn’t scoop it four times. Fortunately, Agnes, who perfectly set other foods on the seat she was sitting on, didn’t sit there and gestured politely to Rakiel. It was her food, not Agnes’ food.

Agnes seemed to be going. Abigail’s eyes twinkled because Rakiel was happy.

‘Yeah, they don’t even touch their dogs when they eat, but how can I eat a meal if five or six manners pop out in one fork?’

No matter how unlucky she was, she would be better than that etiquette teacher at least when she was eating.

“Then, Your Highness, enjoy your meal.”

“Are you going?”

“I can’t stay away from Her Majesty’s side for a long time. I’ll be back tomorrow morning. Your Excellency, please make sure that you don’t skip breakfast tomorrow. And it is a message from Her Majesty to bring Her Highness to the fourth floor during the day. It is too much for me to keep going in and out of this ederdium as a guest, and the Duke’s bedroom, all day long, with a single lady…”

Rakiel smiled gently and cut off the words that seemed to lead to nagging in the message. “I think so.”

There was a saying that Elderdium didn’t accept any guests. No matter how unofficial the guest was, it was long enough for the Countess to step into the Elderdium today, but it was burdensome enough for the Countess.

On Rakiel’s face that he understood it well, Agnes smiled, greeted them gracefully, and quickly disappeared, escorted by Kyle.

She seemed to be busy. Well, she was one of the busiest women in the imperial palace. As Abigail looked at her disappearance, she felt a little sense of freedom. It was a relief that she was a busy person.

As soon as she saw the office door closed from afar, the blueberry scent she put in her mouth spread throughout her mouth. Abigail smiled with satisfaction.

Rakiel, who was looking down at her, sat down in front of her. There were only three dishes placed in front of Rakiel and even that was all meat. A weird meal with only three simple main dishes and all vegetables are placed next to meat like a garnish.

Even so, the knight seemed to be a knight. Abigail looked at him curiously. In fact, she once imagined that he would have a pretty good physique when he said he was a knight. That’s because all of the few knights and soldiers Abigail had seen in her life were like that. However, Abigail was very disappointed with his appearance that seemed to be far from his strong physique. He was tall, his shoulders were nicely open, his back was lined up, and the whole thing fell out very well. Perhaps because of his sharp and intelligent impression, he was more like a civil servant than a soldier. And that hand also played a part in that feeling. The hand that was cutting the meat with a white, neat, and elegant knife, like a fountain pen that was being held, suddenly stopped.

As Abigail vaguely lifted her gaze from his hand, she saw Rakiel staring at her, chewing meat with an expressionless face.

“What are you doing?”

“Ah.”

“I don’t like the time girls spend eating.”

Is that what the highest nobleman would say? The nobles of this country, as well as girls, all ate slowly like turtles.

Abigail snapped back inside. Of course, as he said, it was true that the children in Grantonia would eat slowly as if they lived at the table for a thousand years. It was her habit to eat busily while working anyway, so it was impossible even if she wanted to eat slowly.

Abigail, who was offended, smiled at him and chewed the lettuce in her mouth as slowly and tightly as possible. She was willing to eat as soon as she wanted. Like this…

However, the man was not a great man who would still watch the rebellion. Rakiel nervously put the fork and said, “It doesn’t matter if you chew for an hour after going to the Imperial Palace, but don’t do that here. Except in front of Mrs. Gilde. I hate wasting my time.”

“But no one can eat like being chased.”

“You have a lot of work to do as you breathe every day. If you want to catch your breath even for a moment a day, eat fast and sleep less.”

As if repeating his words, pushed by the silent rush of his eyes, Abigail eventually swallowed all the food without chewing it five times.

“Do you have an upset stomach? Don’t eat like you are undignified.”

Abigail sighed deeply. Then, she chewed it quickly. Like that, the meal ended without a word of conversation. It was a war-like meal. Of course, only in Abigail’s mind.

Rakiel wiped his mouth neatly with a handkerchief, then stood up. He looked down at Abigail.

“…why?”

“Stand up.”

“What?”

“How long are you going to lie in a man’s bedroom all day? You can’t live like that in the side room too. Follow me.” As soon as the talk was over, the man walked away without waiting for anyone.

‘You told me to stay. Am I here because I want to stay? And if you want to go, we can go together. Anyway, he was a man without leisure and consideration.’

Abigail wiped her mouth roughly with a handkerchief and with a coy look on her face, she hurried to get up from her seat and chased after him.

Frightening to leave Elderdium, the bookshelf closed by itself, making a heavy sound. Abigail, who looked at the form for a few seconds with her mouth open, turned her head. He had already left the office. Abigail moved quickly. She barely caught up with him in the hallway, so she really wanted to say a few words about patience and consideration, but thinking that it wouldn’t help her, Abigail shut her mouth.

The sound of the two people’s shoes ringing cleanly on the marble floor that rang out up to the high ceiling as if they were crossing. There were two small people in that wide and long hallway with a round arch-shaped high ceiling.

She was overwhelmed again. This distant and noble luxury, which was not seen when she was dragged in by the wind of tears. After walking a little further past such a huge gateway, an antique staircase unfolded.

She only went down one floor to this fourth floor, but it felt like a different house. It was a little more glamorous, a little more like a normal mansion, but it felt a little strange because no one lived. Soon she followed Rakiel into a room. And at the same time, an exclamation burst out of her mouth.

It was a pure white room. Shiny white marble floors, ivory curtains embroidered with gold threads, blanket on the bed, a pure white grand piano, and white ornate furniture that filled the large room.

A colorful dress hung on the far side of the wall, and an ivory-colored lace canopy flowed down on the huge bed with columns connected to the ceiling.

“This is the Queen’s maiden room. Useless enough to hurt your eyes…”

“It’s really dazzling!”

Rakiel’s negative evaluation was instinctively cut by Abigail, who said admirable words. She stepped carefully into the room with an ecstatic look.

Rakiel glanced at it and closed the door behind him. Abigail, standing in the middle and looking through the room, grinning widely, turned towards Rakiel. To be precise, she was looking behind him rather than him.

The dark green eyes disappeared between the finely curved eyes, and then came back in a flash. As if wandering through the afterimage, Rakiel blinked several times. Suddenly, he realized it and stiffened his mouth. The reddish-brown hair on her gesture, along with the white Muslin dress, drew a low line in the air.

The pure ecstasy and admiration of seeing beautiful things, with no presumptuous excitement or greed for this room belonged to her. Rakiel had never seen such a noble lady before.

“Can I really use this room?”

“No one other than you can use it.”

“It’s the most beautiful room I’ve ever seen since I was born! Did Her Majesty the Empress decorate it herself? ”

“This isn’t Elderdium, so call her ‘mother’.”

“Oh,” and Abigail, who exclaimed quietly, asked carefully. “Isn’t it safe here?”

“There is no place as safe as the Duke’s room, but there are still maids coming in and out of the fourth floor. No, just be thorough outside of Elderdium.”

“I got it.”

“It seems that you like this room, I’ll tell the Empress to decorate your room in the Imperial Palace like this. Is it okay?”

Rakiel’s words made Abigail’s eyes sparkle.

“Yes, please!” Abigail fiddled with the canopy and smiled pleasantly.

Rakiel, who was staring at the innocent shape for a moment with a crooked posture, walked a few steps back and opened the door. It was Luderick.

“Who….”

Abigail, who turned around with a refreshing face and asked about Luderick’s identity, soon blurred the end of her words. At the same time as her words were blurred, his face was also blurred. Her eyes focused solely on what Luderick was holding, not Luderick’s face.

Luderick greeted Rakiel in a polite manner as if asking for his understanding, and put his luggage on the table.

There was no trace of Luderick’s identity in her mind.

Everyone in this room knew it, but a manner was a manner. He came and stood in front of Abigail. Abigail was so distracted by the things on the table that she had no interest in whether he was in front of her.
He grabbed the back of her hand, which was stiffly stopped in the air, and kissed naturally.

Abigail, who suddenly got distracted by the touch, made a funny scene where she was surprised and pulled her hand out, but Luderick raised himself with an innocent face.
A blunt face under neat gray hair.

“I am Luderick Thornton.”

“He’s the Duke’s knight. In the future, he will be escorting the Princess.”

“…are you, Sir Thornton?”

“Yes, I am his younger brother.”

‘I thought he was the older brother.’ Abigail swallowed her words into her mouth.