They wanted to protect the princess’s beautiful skin forever. But…….

“Ugh, it won’t open. You try it.”

Connie struggled with the bottle cap then went ‘Oh? This isn’t easy?’ and passed the bottle to her colleague.

“It won’t open?”

“Yeah. Such a small thing is making me lose my temper.”

When the ladies-in-waiting started whispering and making a fuss, Isabelle rolled her eyes. Though they say youth finds joy even in falling leaves, this was the prince’s palace. There was a need to maintain some quiet.

“Don’t be so noisy.”

After giving this warning, Isabelle felt sorry for the young friends who couldn’t use their heads. So she passed on her know-how.

“Use a spoon to create a gap, or with a rough cloth……”

But in this world, there are also people who find it easier to use strength than their head. Tatiana was like that.

She was just about to deliver a decisive punch to her imaginary opponent. But as the surrounding noise kept pushing back her attack timing, she had to sigh.

Tatiana gestured to the ladies-in-waiting to bring that over here first. And without seeming to use much strength, she went ‘pop’ and opened the cap.

She handed the bottle back to the ladies-in-waiting and waved her hand as if telling them to go do their work.

Now that she had roughly sorted out the situation around her, it was time to start fighting again. 

 Tatiana swung hard at her mental opponent with the fist she had held back earlier. But…….

‘Ah, a futile attack.’

Contestant Gideon was expecting contestant Tatiana’s left hand attack. 

 Seems like he knew she was ambidextrous? This is why you shouldn’t carelessly expose your secret techniques.

Though Tatiana propped her forehead with an anguished expression, the ladies-in-waiting were going ‘Ooh’ with their lips in perfect circles. 

 They exchanged sparkling glances over the glass bottle the princess had opened for them. And lowering their voices, they started whispering among themselves.

“That was kind of cool just now, right?”

“The point is how she casually opened it, handed it over, and didn’t even look this way.”

“Right. The point is being cool without knowing you’re being cool.”

The ladies-in-waiting giggled while Tatiana, immersed in bitter defeat, rolled her eyes. She couldn’t understand why they were so excited today.

But at that moment, Tatiana’s eyes grew even narrower.

She stared at the doorway intently and listened to sounds no one else could hear.

“Someone’s coming.”

Hurried footsteps. The stride wider than a child’s but narrower than an adult male’s.

“One woman.”

“……”

“Our guards are following behind.”

“……Ah, yes.”

The ladies-in-waiting had experienced this several times already since serving the princess. Sometimes she not only predicted the gender but even accurately identified whose footsteps they were.

The ladies-in-waiting first learned that it was possible to distinguish people’s footsteps with human hearing, not just a dog’s.

Before long, the ladies-in-waiting’s ears also started hearing the thud, thud, thud sounds striking the floor.

They approached the doorway to greet the guest, but this time the guest suddenly started banging on the wooden door — bang, bang — as if to break it.

Ah ah, and they had just replaced that door not long ago…….

But the ladies-in-waiting’s eyes soon grew wide.

“Oh, sister-in-law! Hi-hide me!”

The owner of this urgent voice was Princess Scarlet. 

 Sensing something wasn’t right, Tatiana jumped up from her seat with a signal, and Isabelle hurriedly started unlocking the door.

Tatiana grabbed a sword and sharpened it while telling the other ladies-in-waiting,

 “The rest of you, stay away from the door.”

Though only one guard was following, this was preparation for any situation. And through the quietly opened door gap, Scarlet threw herself in like a squirrel.

“Huff, huff……”

“Princess Scarlet? What on earth is going on?”

Tatiana bent down to meet the princess’s eyes and asked. And when the princess couldn’t answer because she was panting, she had Isabelle bring a glass of water.

After gulping down the glass, Scarlet still seemed out of breath as she made a very pained expression before finally answering.

“Huff, gasp, Robert might come looking for me here.”

“Lord Browning?”

“Yes, could you tell him I’m not here?”

Lord Browning was the princess’s husband. But why would being chased by her husband make her this terrified?

The princess was still making an anxious expression while glancing at the doorway.

At that moment, this thought crossed Tatiana’s mind:

‘……Huh? Could that man be a domestic abuser?’ 

 He seemed well-mannered at the party. They say you can’t tell just by looks.

“Sister-in-law, can you do that?”

Princess Scarlet grabbed Tatiana’s arm as if this was her only hope for help.

Tatiana, sensing the situation was serious, led the princess to a corner of the room. It was to talk quietly just the two of them away from the ladies-in-waiting.

She spoke in a calm voice, trying to give trust as if saying trust me.

“Your Highness, I can help you, so please tell me everything honestly.”

“……”

“If you don’t want this matter discussed, I’ll keep it secret until you make a decision.”

The best solution would be consulting Gideon, but Tatiana was also confident she could secretly dispose of Lord Browning.

It would be noisy for a while, but even if discovered, Gideon said he’d overlook up to three, so he’d probably handle it.

Of course, she wasn’t really going to do such a thing, it meant she was prepared to help as if it were her own problem. 

 But Princess Scarlet had somewhat of an embarrassed expression. She seemed to be very ashamed of something.

Though Tatiana squeezed her hand as if saying it’s okay, the princess kept hesitating. And she kept wanting confirmation, asking ‘You’ll keep it secret, right?’

Only after Tatiana nodded several times saying not to worry did the princess finally reveal the incident.

“You see. Since last night my stomach hasn’t been feeling well?”

“……What? ……Ah, yes.”

“But even after sleeping and waking up, it still felt bloated.”

“……”

“This morning when I was lying in bed with Robert……”

Tatiana’s expression changed subtly.

What’s this? Seems it wasn’t the situation I thought? But I think I know what’s coming next. I don’t want to hear more.

She debated whether to cover her ears or leave, but Scarlet suddenly continued speaking while trembling as if being chased by something again.

“There was a sound.”

“……”

“You know? A sound that absolutely shouldn’t come out came from my body. While Robert was there!”

“……”

“Hey, sister-in-law. You said you’d listen to everything, why are you suddenly getting up! I said a sound came out!”

Excuse me, Princess? Did you think I would go ‘Oh my, this is an emergency……!’? Tatiana rolled her eyes at the princess while putting the sword back in its place.

The princess grabbed and pulled Tatiana’s arm saying don’t abandon me, don’t do this. Seeing those doe-like eyes made her heart soften. Tatiana sat down pretending to be reluctant and chuckled, and Scarlet followed with a ‘hee’ laugh before whispering.

“Are you very disappointed in me?”

“No. Not over something like this.”

She just felt let down because she had been expecting a much more serious situation. Come to think of it, she became curious belatedly.

“But where exactly did the sound come from……”

There are various types of sounds that come when your stomach feels bloated. It can go ‘kyuu’ up through the esophagus from the mouth, or ‘kyuuuu’ from the stomach. Of course, being human, it doesn’t come out this cutely. And lastly, where else can such sounds come from…… hmm.

Tatiana decided to stop thinking about it after all.

“I asked something unnecessary. You don’t have to answer.”

“Is that okay? Sister-in-law, you’re so kind.”

“Not at all. But Princess, haven’t you been married for quite a while?”

Tatiana vaguely remembered that time too. If talking about marriages that turned society upside down, Scarlet was the original and much more powerful than Gideon and Tatiana.

Princess Scarlet had married the eldest son of a high-ranking official from a neighboring country and had left Valter for a while.

The reason this became such a topic was because that neighboring country and Valter had fought a huge war about 20 years ago.

Tatiana’s birth father had achieved military merits there and became nobility.

Of course the war ended and it’s all ancient history now, but have you ever seen countries that crossed swords become true allies? As far as Tatiana knew, there wasn’t a single case in continental history.

But surprisingly, Scarlet and Robert’s marriage wasn’t a political arrangement pushed by national interests.

They truly fell in love with each other and married. Despite considerable controversy. Seems the siblings are alike in having to make such a fuss about marriage.

Scarlet counted on her fingers one by one at Tatiana’s question. After counting the years, she nodded.

“Yes, it’s been about 5 years?”

“But even after being married for 5 years…… are such sounds still embarrassing in front of your husband?”

Tatiana asked because she was really curious, truly wanted to know. This seemed like an issue where opinions would differ by person.

Some might think spouses should be like friends and open about everything, while others might think they should maintain rational tension and mystique until the end.

Of course, royal couples tend to be cold and businesslike but…… isn’t this just a bodily function? Meaning it’s an area that can’t be controlled.