That Piece Of Trash Was Me - Chapter 281

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This chapter was translated by Lunox Team. To support us and help keep this series going, visit our website: LunoxScans.com
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Epilogue 4

“How is Royal Father’s condition?”

“Hmm. According to the Palace Physicians…”

The Palace Physicians had diagnosed that the King would not survive the day. Within a week, Benjamin Fluas would be crowned as the next King of Sorsen.

Benjamin had no say in the selection of a Crown Princess or the choosing of a Queen.

His will was originally firm, and rumors had already spread secretly that Benjamin had his heart set on Grand Duchess Frazier.

The Nobles would also refrain from pushing their daughters forward for the time being and quietly watch how things unfold.

Of course, since he was to inherit a country, that reprieve wouldn’t last long either…

“Chief Attendant.”

“Yes, Your Highness. Please command me.”

“I would like my coronation to be filled with national flowers.”

“Pardon?”

The Kingdom of Sorsen had no officially designated national flower. So it was natural for the Chief Attendant to be flustered and ask again.

“Your Highness, do you have a national flower in mind?”

Benjamin looked around his surroundings. In the old palace garden where he had spent his childhood, tulips were blooming in abundance. Only in that place did those fresh flowers flutter.

His first love that he didn’t want to show to anyone.

She wouldn’t know that this was his way of soothing his longing. She probably never would, for all eternity.

The tulips were swaying proudly as if wearing crowns.

Could there be any flower that suited her better than this?

“May all the glory given to the world be eternal like a crown worn upon the head.”

Benjamin picked up a single tulip with dewdrops and brought it to his nose.

“From today, the Kingdom of Sorsen declares tulips as our national flower.”

* * *

“Ahem. Your Highness the Crown Prince.”

The Imperial Knight cleared his throat.

“The Grand Duchess has refused to enter the palace again today.”

The reporting Imperial Knight’s expression was full of embarrassment. But the lord who heard the report answered indifferently.

Ferdinand tilted his chin slightly while holding a quill pen.

“A reply?”

“She did not give one.”

“A response?”

“Well…”

“Tell me exactly what you heard. Don’t leave out a single word.”

The knight, now familiar with this command, spoke at attention.

“I… no, I am too busy right now to go to the Imperial Palace, so please understand, Your Highness.”

Ferdinand let out a hollow laugh.

This was already the tenth time Tulia had refused his invitation. Imperial families generally practiced political marriages.

But even after engagement, it was customary to regularly enter the palace to cultivate intimacy with one’s fiancé.

When Ferdinand signed the documents he was reviewing and stood up from his seat, the knight immediately blocked him.

“What is it?”

“There’s one more thing I failed to tell you.”

“Hmm?”

“I am very busy, so if you come here, the only person you’ll be able to meet is Leon Frazier.”

The knight glanced around and quietly added:

“…is what she said.”

Yesterday it was Leon Frazier, the day before it was Leon Frazier, and the day before that it was also Leon Frazier.

As if Tulia recognized that the only idle person in that family was her twin brother.

Ferdinand looked up at the air once and sat back down in his office chair. After processing documents for a long time, he finally ate a late dinner when night had fallen.

The Crown Prince’s meal time was very quiet. But Ferdinand wasn’t uncomfortable with this silence.

Rather, it was the Palace Servants who were afraid to make even the smallest sound. Especially Empress Carmi’s confidants.

Ferdinand didn’t dismiss, punish, or kill them.

He just occasionally glanced at them, and at that indifferent gaze, the confidants trembled and bowed their heads deeply.

He quietly finished his meal and stood up.

While Ferdinand walked along the corridor of the Crown Prince’s palace, the Servants stood in a line and bowed their heads deeply.

No one dared to raise their head until he had completely passed by. More than half were so tense that cold sweat soaked their backs daily.

Why wouldn’t the Crown Prince punish them?

How many of them had tormented the young Crown Prince to death under the Empress’s orders?

They didn’t think the Crown Prince had forgotten them in his joy of victory.

Ferdinand’s red eyes were too cold as ice walls to think of such a merciful future.

But they couldn’t submit resignation letters to the Imperial Palace either. Several had tried, but they were rejected. The reason was that this was an extremely busy time with the imperial wedding and coronation coming up in succession.

Since it was the Imperial Palace and not anywhere else, they couldn’t leave on their own either. If they did, they could face immediate execution according to imperial law.

What exactly did the Crown Prince intend to do with them?

They could only hope that the Imperial Palace would remain busy forever so Ferdinand would continue to postpone their punishment.

Ferdinand suddenly stopped walking in front of a door.

“Chief Attendant.”

The newly appointed Chief Attendant quickly responded.

“Yes, Your Highness.”

“There are too many people in the Crown Prince’s palace.”

“…!”

Instantly, countless Servants’ spines stiffened.

Most of the people in the Crown Prince’s palace were Empress Carmi’s lackeys.

Were they finally going to be killed? Would punishment be inflicted? Or would they be demoted to palace maids doing laundry?

Some trembled imagining their pale, plump hands being ruined by lye water and hard labor.

When no one dared even raise their heads, Ferdinand spoke.

“Leave only two or three suitable ones and send everyone else to the Crown Princess’s palace. It’s empty, so it needs to be properly organized.”

“Understood, Your Highness.”

At the Chief Attendant’s signal, everyone except a few confidants quickly moved their quarters to the Crown Princess’s palace.

They were bewildered yet fearful of the future to come.

What did this mean? Why was he sending them to the Crown Princess’s palace?

Soon the Crown Princess’s palace would have its owner, so did he mean they should serve her properly beforehand?

Everyone knew that Grand Duchess Tulia Frazier had a formidable personality. Even Empress Carmi had once broken a vase in anger because of Tulia Frazier.

Was he planning to have them properly tormented? Was that it?

But…

“…He wouldn’t have told her, would he?”

Someone muttered. After pondering for a while, they all understood what those words meant.

“…”

Would the Crown Prince, who had never seemed human, have told that Grand Duchess about the shameful fact that he was abused as a child?

The authority of the Briyang Imperial Family had already crumbled halfway like a broken statue.

If Tulia Frazier hadn’t become Empress, as Empress Carmi had screamed, the owner of the Imperial Family might have ‘really’ changed to Frazier.

Moreover, hadn’t the Crown Prince constantly courted that Grand Duchess even before she became such a formidable person?

The Briyang Royal Family had always been proud. Ferdinand’s father, the dethroned Emperor Alessandro, had also felt love and hate toward an Empress superior to himself and committed adultery.

So perhaps Ferdinand too might never speak of such things.

Of course, Tulia Frazier wouldn’t favor them, who had been Empress Carmi’s confidants. She wouldn’t leave them alone either.

But at least she wouldn’t kill them or torture them.

Because there was no reason to do so.

So they just had to endure. They could easily bear the mockery and contempt of high-ranking Young Ladies. Later, when the right time came, they could simply quit their Imperial Palace duties.

“Maybe… it might be okay…”

Someone muttered quietly.

“…”

The servants, who had been at a loss like they were thrown into boiling molten iron, gradually found stability.

Come to think of it, the reason the Crown Prince couldn’t kill them was ultimately because he was short-handed.

Having served the Empress, there was no workforce better than them at flawlessly decorating the quarters of the Imperial Family’s mistress.

Now the fate of Briyang’s bloodline was decided by a single word from the Grand Duchess. This was the same for the Crown Prince.

Empress Carmi’s close associates, who belatedly realized this truth, all rushed to the Imperial Palace Storage without exception to curry favor with the new Empress and Crown Princess.

If they could win the Grand Duchess’s favor, they wouldn’t need to fear the Crown Prince either!

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