When You Don’t Get Along With Your Husband - Chapter 9

So when the owner of the throne changes, even if it’s the most peaceful succession, there’s a reshuffle in the top ranks.

Tatiana had not even a speck of hobby for being high-handed with maids or servants. However, she was a bit worried about ‘how far these people would be able to accept me?’

The maids, who hadn’t received any instructions for days, were also pondering.

‘Does she dislike us that much?’

But when asked if they had made any big mistakes, that wasn’t the case either. Nothing that could be called an incident had occurred.

Ah. Is it just that she doesn’t like how we look? It was unpleasant, but somehow seemed possible.

Unable to figure out the cause at all, the maids just kept an eye on Tatiana, and naturally glanced at her neck.

‘……That loud mark isn’t disappearing either.’

The bruise Gideon made was exuding its presence day by day.

When they first witnessed that blue-black mark, the maids all thought the same thing.

‘The two of them…… had an incredible night?!’

Although they hadn’t directly observed that night’s events, that kiss mark was sufficient material to stimulate the maids’ imagination.

But was it because the more they looked at it, it seemed more fierce than beautiful? Or was it because it was hard to readily imagine the prince being gentle with a woman?

As the maids gradually regained their senses, that bruise started to look like this to them at some point. As the prince’s warning that he was this crazy about his consort, so they should behave accordingly.

Anyway, to cover up that scary thing, they had to thickly apply powder to the princess’s neck again today.

It was just when the maids had barely found something to do that Tatiana finally opened her mouth towards them after a long time.

The maids were filled with a sense of ‘at last’, but the words that flowed from the princess’s mouth were somewhat out of the blue.

“Can I exercise a bit?”

Mrs. Muller had something she urged Tatiana to do when marrying into the royal family. She hoped she would behave modestly in the palace.

Does exercising make one a tomboy? Then the female knights of the royal family must be terrible rebels? Mother, that is prejudice.

Tatiana thought inwardly, but didn’t pick at the tail end of the words.

She didn’t really want to do so either, but the moment she argued point by point, it would only result in contributing to Mrs. Muller’s prejudice.

Moreover, Mrs. Muller had been quite good to Tatiana in her own way. Although it was an uncomfortable relationship, she gave her adopted daughter experiences at parties and subtly showed desire to dress her in pretty clothes when available.

So even such old-fashioned nagging must have been a kind of worry and concern for Mrs. Muller.

Tatiana just nodded her head, and in the end, she couldn’t even bring a single sword when she married into the palace.

But…… a dog still poops.

Isn’t that right? Even adults who have worked all their lives, when they retire, suddenly resting makes their bodies hurt more, they say.

The reason Tatiana had been looking out the window for days was not for any other reason, but because of a sense of powerlessness.

She was currently suffering from severe exercise withdrawal symptoms.

“Where shall we take you? There’s the garden and His Highness Gideon’s private training ground, but the training ground requires His Highness’s permission.”

“Ah, I’ll do it in this room. Just going to do some stretching.”

“……”

“They say it’s a common habit of successful people.”

The maids, who had been responding formally to the princess’s first conversation, suddenly became interested. The desire to succeed was the same for all people.

“Your Highness, is that really true?”

But Tatiana, who had spoken up, betrayed their expectations and answered indifferently.

“Well. I don’t know either.”

Born with a great background from birth, Tatiana had now risen to the position of princess. Her husband would become the next king unless something major happened.

To others, her life seemed smooth sailing, but Tatiana didn’t think so at all. Rather, she thought she had only experienced countless failures.

The magic stone she couldn’t let go of for a long time even after her mother passed away.

What else could those mornings spent staring at that unresponsive stone be called if not failure?

In fact, she wasn’t satisfied with her swordsmanship achievements so far either.

‘By the way, they say failure is the mother of success.’

If I ever achieve what everyone acknowledges as success, how many mothers would I have then? I already have two now?

Pouting her lips, Tatiana got up from the sofa and started to warm up in earnest.

At first, she cracked her neck left and right, rolled her hands in circles to loosen her wrist joints, then her waist, shins, and ankles……

The maids watched the scene of Sir Bloom’s daughter, who shone with all sorts of amazing records, warming up. However, contrary to expectations, it looked so ordinary.

Eh, it’s nothing special. As their expectations cooled, an insipid smile appeared on their faces.

But why are masters called masters? It’s because they don’t become arrogant and consistently stick to the basics.

Properly warming up can reduce the risk of injury.

This was a universal truth for everyone.

After about 20 minutes of warm-up exercises, Tatiana threw off her thin robe.

In her short undershorts, she loosened her wrists once more and suddenly stood on her hands in the middle of the room. Then she crawled on her palms to the wall, folded her arms, and closed her eyes. As if preparing to sleep in that position.

“Ah, that feels good.”

“……Really?”

“Yeah. It feels like the blood is rushing in reverse.”

“……”

Does she mean she feels uncomfortable? The maids smiled awkwardly, but Tatiana truly looked comfortable.

The Muller family maids had said to think of the princess just like a knight.

But to the maids’ eyes, Tatiana didn’t look like a knight, but rather someone from a circus troupe.

And of course, Tatiana hadn’t even started yet.

While leisurely contemplating what routine to go with today while in a handstand, she soon made up her mind.

For bodyweight exercises, push-ups were essential.

‘For my small and precious…… triceps.’

Tatiana swiftly lowered her legs to the floor and immediately moved on to the next course.

Among the maids, there were some who could do handstands. Many could even do a few push-ups without much difficulty.

However, Tatiana’s form was as perfect as if it came from a textbook. She didn’t seem particularly strained either.

‘She’s…… much stronger than she looks.’

The maids watched with a mix of admiration and bewilderment.

Then they fell into confusion. There wasn’t much they could do besides just staring blankly.

Should we count for her?

If the princess wanted, they were ready to wave flowers and cheer, but somehow that didn’t seem right.

Tatiana glanced at such maids and chuckled.

To be honest, Tatiana didn’t like holding a sword or exercising in front of others.

Of course, no one likes becoming a spectacle, but having grown up as the daughter of parents who were no different from great figures, she had developed a few sore spots.

She didn’t appreciate being evaluated with folded arms saying ‘Let’s see how good you are’ or ‘As expected’.

But Tatiana and the maids were now having a face-to-face meeting after days of mutual exploration.

This unique first meeting was a process that even the Muller family maids had gone through, and they needed to show each other a little bit of who they were.

There might be people who would subtly avoid Tatiana for being too honest, but that was fine too.

Then I can exercise quietly without any disturbance from now on, right?

Tatiana asked the maids.

“Want to join?”

“……Pardon?”

They didn’t know what it was, but they felt a strong urge to decline. However, Tatiana carefully examined the maids’ faces while keeping her palms on the ground.

The first person she excluded was the chief maid Isabelle. Because in Valter, there was a beautiful custom of respecting the elderly.

Tatiana also had a principle of not raising a sword against the elderly and infirm.

Excluding Isabelle, the remaining people all looked similar in age and build.

Tatiana pointed with her chin at the maid standing in the front row. This is why you don’t sit in the front row at school.

“Hey you……”

“Are you referring to me?”

“Yeah, would you mind sitting on my back for a moment?”

For a moment, the maid thought she had misheard and almost asked ‘What?’

Everyone was intensely shocked, but Tatiana seemed much more concerned with maintaining her right-angled shoulders. After adjusting her posture several times, she even calmly urged.

“Is this difficult?”

“……”

Physically, it was easy. It was just that etiquette and the class system emotionally didn’t allow it.

But Tatiana had a schedule today, and in her own way, she was in a hurry.