The Forgotten Field - Chapter 12

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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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Chapter 12
She rose from her bed and stood before the mirror, studying her gaunt reflection for a long moment.
I looked like a sewer rat that had fallen into my stew.
As I let out a hollow laugh at the thought, the Handmaiden who came each morning to dress me entered the room.
“You’re awake early, Your Highness. Come here. Let me help you wash.”
“I don’t need it.”
My cold reply made the Handmaiden’s sharp eyes narrow slightly.
She looked down at me with an imperious gaze and began to lecture.
“Your Highness has a duty to maintain perfect decorum at all times and places, in accordance with Imperial Family law. Such childish tantrums are—”
“Nursemaid!”
My sharp cry made the Handmaiden flinch and fall silent. I brushed past her and frantically rang the bell attached to my bedside.
“Nursemaid! Nursemaid!”
The Nursemaid, who had been sleeping late in the Adjacent Room, burst through the door in a flurry.
I pointed at the Nursemaid and spoke with arrogant authority.
“From now on, the Nursemaid will be solely responsible for my grooming. Mother said yesterday that this arrangement was acceptable. So you may leave.”
“But—”
“Are you refusing the Empress’s command right now?”
My sharp retort sent the Handmaiden, who had been looking down at me with uncertainty, out of the room. She seemed to have no desire to help dress me if it meant dealing with conflict.
I turned sharply to the Nursemaid, whose face was still drowsy and whose eyes were puffy with sleep.
“Did you hear that? From now on, bathing me and dressing me is entirely your responsibility. Pay attention and do your job properly.”
“Yes, Miss—”
The Nursemaid answered halfheartedly, stifling a yawn.
I raised my arm and struck her soft cheek without mercy. The Nursemaid stared at me in shock, her eyes wide.
I mimicked the expression Mother often wore when her anger reached its peak.
“How many times must I tell you to call me ‘Your Highness’?”
The Nursemaid’s brown eyes widened in surprise.
I stared directly into those eyes and emphasized each word as if spitting them out.
“From now on, if you call me ‘Miss,’ you’ll get slapped.”
Then I urged the bewildered Nursemaid to begin my grooming.
The Nursemaid’s movements were so slow that several hours had passed by the time my dressing was complete. Though I felt as though I might collapse at any moment from having eaten nothing properly for weeks, I left the room with my back held rigidly straight.
In the Corridor stood a man in black clothes with a gloomy expression. Startled to find a stranger guarding my door, I froze—but then I recalled what Mother had said. This ghostly man must be the “capable Guard” she had mentioned.
I gestured to the man with a jerk of my chin to follow me, then made my way toward the Dining Hall. Several servants sent me disapproving looks, as if they had been waiting for me to arrive for quite some time.
I ignored their gazes and took a seat at the far end of the long table. Then I made an imperious gesture with my chin.
“Bring me food.”
The servants, who had been dawdling with indifferent expressions at my command, soon brought plates filled with various dishes.
A Senior Handmaiden oversaw all of this. Following her instructions, the servants placed silver plates in order, and finally a bowl of soup was set before me.
I stared into the bowl. The pale broth was filled with beans and meat. It appeared intact on the surface, but the contents were clearly otherwise.
I picked up a spoon and stirred the thick liquid covered with white cream. When I scraped the bottom of the bowl, a sparrow with a broken neck came into view.
It had been dead for quite some time, and from the eye sockets of the decaying bird, I could see a few thin maggots writhing like threads.
My insides twisted as though I might retch at any moment. But I desperately suppressed any sign of distress and cried out sharply at the Handmaiden who had brought the soup.
“You there! Come sit down.”
The woman, who had been wearing a bewildered expression at the sudden command, soon cast a wary glance in my direction.
After a brief pause, she spoke in a clipped tone.
“My apologies, Your Highness, but I have much work to attend to.”
With that, she turned to leave the Dining Hall.
This was the same Handmaiden who always lingered nearby after serving food, as if savoring my reaction. The fact that she was now hurrying to leave suggested she sensed something unpleasant was about to unfold.
I leaped from my seat and seized the brass pitcher resting on the table. With all my strength, I brought it down upon the insolent Handmaiden’s head—she who dared ignore a princess’s command and turn her back without permission.
Even the meager strength of a gaunt child would deliver a considerable blow when the object striking was made of metal.
The Handmaiden let out a piercing shriek and crumpled onto the carpet.
Not only the Handmaiden who had suffered the blow, but all the dozen or so servants in the Dining Hall froze as if paralyzed. Several maids gasped in alarm, their hands flying to their mouths.
Yet I paid no heed to their shocked stares. I turned toward the man standing like a shadow in the corner of the Dining Hall and gestured to him with an imperious nod.
“Seat this woman beside me at once.”
The man, who had been standing silently with his gaze fixed upon my face, slowly approached and hauled the woman—half her wits scattered—to her feet.
The woman, belatedly regaining her senses, resisted desperately, but she was no match for the trained man’s strength. She was dragged forward and forcibly seated at the table.
I returned to my seat and stared intently at the woman now sitting beside me. Where the pitcher’s spout had scraped her, her scalp had split open, and dark blood trickled down her temple, leaving two long crimson streaks across her ashen cheeks.
Unmoved by her pitiful state, I pushed forward the bowl of soup containing the dead bird. Her confused eyes dropped to the bowl before her, then rose again to meet mine.
I forced a spoon into her trembling, sweat-dampened hand.
“In recognition of your diligent service in preparing meals each day, I have decided to share my own dinner with you today. Out of consideration for your efforts, I trust you will finish every last drop.”
“I, Your Highness, I….”
“Eat.”
I pulled her hand toward the bowl and spoke with coercive force.
“You brought this to me to eat, did you not? What reason could there possibly be for you not to eat it?”
“I, I merely….”
The woman’s lips trembled as she cast pleading glances around the room, seeking aid. But everyone remained frozen in shock, at a loss for what to do.
I spoke with menacing intensity.
“Eat it now!”
The Handmaiden flinched violently and shoved my hand away roughly. She attempted to rise and flee, but the man behind her held her firmly in place—she could not move an inch.
Her face twisted with terror as she looked back and forth between the man’s grim visage and mine, and soon she began to whimper and plead.
“I, I have… I have… made a mistake…. Never again… will such a thing… happen. Please, just forgive me once….”
“If you do not empty this bowl completely, you will not be able to walk out of this place on your own two feet.”
The woman’s face drained of all color. Her eyes dropped to the man’s waist, where she clearly saw the sword hanging there.
She gasped roughly, her voice rising in desperate appeal.
“Please, please… have mercy…!”
“I am showing you mercy right now.”
I spoke with cold indifference.
“I could kill you this very instant. Yet I am giving you a chance to live. Is that not so?”
The woman’s body trembled violently.
I pushed the bowl of soup containing the rotting bird’s corpse toward her.
“If you understand, then shove it all into your mouth.”

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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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