Celebrity Lady - Chapter 177

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This chapter was translated by Lunox Novels. To support us and help keep this series going, visit our website: LunoxScans.com
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Celebrity Lady
Side Story, Episode 19
“W-well… Father? Father, so what I mean is…”
Biego hesitated. The fact that Leonard had gone so far as to board a ship to find strawberries was supposed to be a secret from Rubetria. He knew her well enough—with so many eyes watching, she’d be mortified and refuse to let him go to such lengths.
Of course, the other officials had welcomed Leonard’s strawberry expedition readily enough.
But Rubetria herself would be different. Since becoming Empress, she’d grown quite conscious of appearances.
Lark, knowing as much, had apparently chosen his silence. So Biego decided to keep the secret a little while longer.
“Father’s gone on a business trip abroad.”
“What? Where? Without telling me? But with the New Year Festival keeping everyone busy, what could possibly require him to suddenly go overseas?”
“I… I don’t know. Just… something urgent came up, I suppose.”
Rubetria, bewildered, furrowed her brow. Biego simply remained silent.
* * *
As the first month of the new year drew to a close.
I was a super-pregnant woman carrying out my duties with admirable diligence—Prenatal Care, basic court affairs, and business management all at once.
The two retired Emperors who came to the Imperial Court got along well with me, and I managed the New Year Festival congratulatory address without incident. I slept well, ate well, exercised, and attempted to eat… but couldn’t manage it.
“Haah…”
I covered my mouth with both hands.
Rebecca, who had brought breakfast personally and watched me with an anxious expression, startled and quickly cleared the plate away.
“Oh, miss…”
Ever since I’d brought her to the Imperial Palace, I’d told her to call me as she had before. Yet Rebecca stubbornly kept calling me “Your Majesty,” and now she was so flustered she was practically pulling her hair out, repeating “What shall we do with our young lady…”
Her large eyes glistened with unshed tears.
“What should I do?”
“Your husband doesn’t know, does he? Make sure to leave the plate completely empty…”
It was the second day that the soup I usually ate had suddenly become unpalatable.
The physician’s warning that morning sickness might intensify as time passed proved true.

Knowing what Wishit was about to say, I immediately refused and burrowed into my blanket, hiding.

Wishit swept back his hair, sat beside me, clicked his tongue, and looked down at me.
“I’ll discreetly inform your physician and fetch medicine if it’s available. And you must tell me immediately if you think of any food you could stomach.”
“Mm, thank you. Please, Rebecca…”
Rebecca, her face full of worry, cleared the plate and left the room. Peeking out from under the blanket with only my eyes showing, I could see Wishit’s handsome face creased with concern.
‘Come on, bear with it! Hold on, Rubetria!’
Seeing that face made me feel a sudden urge to make a wish.
What kind of wish, you ask?
Make this sudden, worsening morning sickness go away?
No.
‘S-strawberries….’
I craved strawberries so desperately it was maddening.
Everything else made me nauseous, but strawberries… only strawberries felt so…

Plump, ruby-red strawberries. Perfectly ripe, they’d burst with juice the moment I bit into one. Bright, sweet…
I deliberately turned away from the strawberries shimmering before me like a mirage and squeezed my eyes shut.
* * *
That afternoon, in the Imperial Palace Dining Hall.
I took the morning sickness medication my physician had covertly delivered through Rebecca and headed into battle (?)
Today’s lunch was a meal with the two retired Emperors who’d come to the Imperial Court—my in-laws.
‘Please, please. Work well, medicine.’
I prayed fervently as I waited for the food to arrive. My mother-in-law gazed at me adoringly for the longest time before speaking.
“I’m so grateful your morning sickness isn’t too severe. I couldn’t even drink water. How dreadful that was.”
“It’s not entirely absent. I can’t even touch meat.”
“Well, that’s a shame.”
As Lark sighed and spoke, my mother-in-law looked concerned. My father-in-law, watching, quietly instructed one of the dining hall attendants.
“Anything that disagrees with the Empress’s palate—don’t serve it at all. You’ve been told what to do in the Kitchen, haven’t you?”
“Of course, Your Majesty.”
Soon the attendants appeared, wheeling out trays laden entirely with foods I could eat. Every dish was the chef’s careful attempt to cater to my needs while accommodating the tastes of such distinguished guests…
Clean noodle dishes, plainly boiled vegetables, marinated tomatoes, bean soup, and more…
As I watched the plates filling the broad table one by one, I felt a sense of foreboding.
‘Wow.’
What on earth…?
The bean soup before me was the same as what I’d eaten days earlier. Yet impossibly, I could smell the beans’ entire life story from birth to death through my nostrils.
The earthy scent from when they were first planted in the soil, mingled with a diligent farmer’s sweat! The raw green smell when they weren’t fully ripe! The soft, mushy smell from the moment they were harvested, brought to the Imperial Palace Kitchen, and crushed!
I gasped in shock. Unable to cover my nose with my hands, I simply opened my mouth and quietly wheezed, and I felt a gaze on me.
It was Lark. He was watching me with sharp eyes.
“What’s wrong?”
“Oh, well…”
The moment I tried to answer, the essence of beans rushed back into my nostrils. I saw my in-laws watching me with bewildered expressions.
…I couldn’t hold on.
“Uuuuuurgh!”
* * *
My room.
I sat quietly on the bed, gazing at the gathering of everyone assembled at a distance in the reception room beyond, consumed by guilt.
“If the morning sickness is this severe, you should have given the dining hall advance warning.”
As my mother-in-law reproached me, Innocent Party Number One—the physician—lowered his head.
“My apologies. I delivered the medicine before the meal, but it seems to have had minimal effect. I will urgently prepare new medicinal ingredients better suited to the Empress’s constitution.”
“Even if it’s severe, how could she vomit from just the smell? However was the cooking prepared?”
As my father-in-law spoke, Innocent Party Number Two—the Imperial House Chef—lowered his head.
“It appears I failed to remove the fishy smell from the beans. I am deeply ashamed.”
“And you—didn’t you record the Empress’s meals every day while also communicating with the chef?”
As my mother-in-law expressed her exasperation, Innocent Parties Number Three, Four, and Five—the Kitchen maids—all lowered their heads in unison.
“We sincerely apologize. There were no issues until this morning, so we failed to anticipate this.”
“Our apologies.”
“Our apologies.”
Watching the servants being scolded for simply doing their jobs faithfully, my guilt became unbearable.
If anyone should apologize, it’s me…
It was my fault for hiding the fact that my morning sickness had worsened over the past two days. I’d thought that perhaps it would improve with time, and I was concerned about worrying my husband if he knew I couldn’t even touch the foods I’d been eating…
‘Look what happened!’
Lark, perched on the edge of the bed, seemed too shocked to even think of stopping his parents from scolding the innocent servants. He just sighed heavily.
Soon my mother-in-law and father-in-law approached me. My mother-in-law pushed Lark aside, sat beside me, and took my hand.
“What shall we do about this?”
“I… Mother-in-law. I’m fine. Please don’t worry about me—go back and finish your meal.”
“No, never mind. Seeing you suffer like this has made me lose my appetite too.”
“Is there anything at all that you think you could eat? You must eat something to have the strength to endure this.”
As my father-in-law expressed his concern, my mother-in-law squeezed my hand tighter and nodded.
“That’s right—is there anything you can think of?”
“No, I…”
I hesitated in the middle of answering thoughtlessly.
My mother-in-law’s face had transformed into a strawberry. What…?
I turned around and my father-in-law’s face was a strawberry too. As I faltered in my response, even my husband’s face—tilted with confusion—transformed into a strawberry.
‘I’m losing it…’
I really must want them badly. Even knowing I couldn’t get strawberries right now, I eventually murmured it.
“Strawberries…”
How pathetic am I!
“I want strawberries…”
“S-strawberries?”
My mother-in-law looked shocked, seeing me nearly in tears. She exchanged a sorrowful glance with my father-in-law.
“D-do whatever you can to find some.”
My father-in-law spoke frantically. Hearing this, Lark sprang to his feet.
“That’s right, darling. Strawberries… I’ll get them right away, I’ll find them somehow—strawberries…”
Then the reception room beyond the firmly closed door grew chaotic. Urgent footsteps and murmuring voices could be heard.
“What? It’s gotten worse?”
“The Duke—!”
“Your Majesties—”
“Ah, wait—!”
Then, suddenly—
The door swung open without a knock.
The one who appeared out of nowhere was…
“Dad?”
My father, whom I hadn’t seen in two months. Breathing hard as if he’d run all the way, he stood there holding a large box and said:
“Dad’s here.”

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This chapter was translated by Lunox Novels. To support us and help keep this series going, visit our website: LunoxScans.com
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