Whose Child Belongs to the Emperor - Chapter 10 - Part 4

Chspter 10 – Part 4

It was morning when Tenere opened her eyes. She turned her head, startled by the feel of the soft sheets.
 
“This is…….”
 
“Are you awake, Your Majesty? ”
 
The maid smiled cheerfully. Tenere suddenly realized she was in a bedroom at the Rose Palace.
 
‘It must have been yesterday…….’
 
She remembered closing her eyes while taking a bath, but she couldn’t remember anything after that.
 
Seeing her confused face, the maid said.
 
“His Majesty came to fetch you, but when I told him you had fallen asleep, he said to let you sleep. You seem very tired.”
 
“Who carried me here? I must have been heavy.”
 
“His Majesty carried you himself.”
 
“……what?”
 
Tenere jumped to her feet in surprise at the maid’s answer.
 
‘He moved me himself? Did I fall asleep while taking a bath?  ’
 
Her face flushed bright red as she took in the sight of her dry body and the soft chemise that covered it.
 
“Did he also… dress me?”
 
“No, she entrusted that task to us.”
 
At the words, Tenere’s heart barely swept across her chest. Then, as his eyes locked with the maid’s, she spoke apologetically.
 
“I have a lot of scars on my body; I’m embarrassed to show them to His Majesty.”
 
“Don’t say that, Your Majesty. You gave birth to the crown prince.”
 
“Yes, and besides, he only came into the bathroom after we were done covering your body with a towel, afraid you’d be embarrassed later.”
 
Tenere nodded at the maids’ reassurances. But that didn’t mean she wasn’t embarrassed to be seen.
 
Tenere resisted the urge to cover her face and spoke.
 
“I was supposed to dine with His Majesty yesterday, but I suppose that was a waste of time.”
 
 “You can have your meal today.”
 
“You will stay in the palace for a while anyway.”
 
At the affectionate words, Tenere nodded slowly. Her gaze fell to the basket on the shelf.
 
“What are those?”
 
“Invitations and requests to visit. There are so many that came overnight.”
 
The maid quickly brought her a basket. It was filled with envelopes from all sorts of noble families.
 
Tenere tore open each letter and read them, still barely awake.
 
Regardless of the Emperor’s current controversy, she was the one who bore the Crown Prince.
 
Soon, there would be a grand wedding, and she would return to her position as Empress. This was probably an attempt to leave a mark as quickly as possible.
 
As if trying to be noticeable, the invitations were adorned with various scents, gold powder, and dried flowers, causing them to become a mishmash.
 
Thanks to this, it wasn’t even sunny yet, but after opening the letter a few times, she had to give it some air.
 
“I will write a reply, so please sort it and keep it. Is the prince up? “
 
“Not yet. Shall I ask the nanny to wake His Highness?”
 
“No, you can let him sleep a little longer.”
 
Tenere washed her face in warm, soapy water and changed her clothes.
 
After finishing her grooming, she sat at the desk and wrote responses.
 
Of course, since Marquis Salvatore was still alive and the wedding had not taken place, she included a polite refusal.
 
‘Should I accept some of the visit requests? ‘
 
Since she’d been away from the palace for so long, it would be helpful to meet a few people before the ceremony to get a feel for the social scene.
 
Tenere set aside a few visitation requests and wrote the rest of her reply.
 
When declining invitations, some people used their servants to write the same phrases, but she always wrote her own. It was a habit she’d learned from Beatrice.
 
Despite using similar phrases, Beatrice always preferred to write responses by hand.
 
As this is where the Empress Dowager stayed when she was alive, traces of her still remain throughout the palace.
 
It felt surreal to be sitting at her old desk.
 
‘We used to read here together…….’
 
Tenere thought of the dead empress intermittently, perhaps because she was staying in the Rose Palace.
 
Even while lying in bed, taking a bath, and even now while sitting in front of my desk.
 
“Your Majesty, they say the prince is awake.”
 
Tenere had just finished her twenty-second reply when the maid announced the prince was waking up.
 
Tenere folded the scented card neatly and slipped it into the envelope.
 
“And the nanny?”
 
“The nanny is assisting the Crown Prince with his bath.”
 
At the maid’s words, Tenere sealed the opening of the envelope and pushed herself up.
 
She tidied up what she hadn’t yet written to put in a drawer.
 
She had just opened an old drawer when something shiny caught her eye.
 
“Is this……?”
 
Inside the drawer was a small key, about the length of a finger.
 
The thin gold leaf was chipping away with age, but the ornate decoration on the head of the key made it look like it belonged to someone very valuable.
 
Tenere fiddled with it and asked.
 
“Did anyone stay at the Rose Palace before my return?”
 
“No. It has been empty ever since Her Majesty left for the Marquis’s residence.”
 
Tenere occasionally managed the palace after Beatrice left, but Tenere had never seen such an item during that time.
 
It meant it had been placed there after she left.
 
“Bring me the person who has been in charge of the Rose Palace.”
 
“Yes.”
 
The maid bowed politely and left the room.
 
Shortly afterward, she brought in a tall, healthy-looking middle-aged woman.
 
The woman was nervous, but she bowed politely.
 
“Your Majesty, I’m Emily Diego; I am the person who manages the palace.”
 
“I called because I was curious that there was a key in the drawer that I hadn’t seen before. Did you put it there? “
 
Emily slowly raised her head at the soft voice. Her eyes fell on the key in Tenere’s hand.
 
“Yes. It was found by a maid who was cleaning up in the private palace after the Empress left for the Marquis’ residence. It seems to have belonged to the Empress, but she couldn’t find anything to put the key in, so she instructed me to keep it in a drawer for now.”
 
“I see. If you find anything later, please bring it to me.”
 
“Yes.”
 
Emily bowed as politely as she had entered and left the room.
 
Tenere rose to her feet and headed for the nursery.
 
The room designated for the Crown Prince within the palace was right next to Tenere’s temporary room.
 
It was a temporary room before the ceremony, but it had colorful wallpaper and all sorts of dolls and toys.
 
Leonard had probably sent word to the palace in advance to have it ready.
 
“Don’t you feel good after your bath? You’re clean and smell good.”
 
Laura was drying Joshua’s freshly bathed body.
 
She seemed to know how to get his attention. She adjusted the pitch of her accent, added the occasional exaggerated gesture to get his attention, and smiled broadly when she made eye contact.
 
“Good morning, Laura.”
 
“Y-Your Majesty.”
 
Tenere greeted her, and Laura jumped to her feet.
 
He giggled at the sound of her mother’s voice.
 
“Mommy. Mommy.”
 
“Did you sleep well, Josie?”
 
Tenere kissed the child’s forehead. Laura, who had been watching her closely, spoke up.
 
“I just wanted him to know that baths feel good. When my younger siblings turn eight, they always run away because they don’t want to take a bath…”
 
The hurried and stuttering demeanor seemed as if she were justifying that she hadn’t done anything wrong.
 
Instead of comforting her, Tenere asked.
 
“Is that normal at his age?”
 
“My siblings did. Since we had few servants, it was difficult to arrange baths every time, so sometimes we had to do it ourselves. But they would make all sorts of excuses, run away, and then once they got into the bathroom, they’d play and fool around, not coming out for two hours.”
“That must have been adorable.”
 
“Yes, but they were so disrespectful that I wanted to slap them once in a while…… Oh, no, I only slapped them because they were my little brothers; I would never hit the Crown Prince.”
 
After blurting it out, Laura quickly threw up her hands and excused herself.
 
Though she appeared tense, her touch as she dried the child’s body and put on his diaper remained skilled.
 
“At what age did you start taking care of your siblings?”
 
“To be honest… I don’t remember. It was from a very young age.”
 
Laura opened her mouth, a little embarrassed.
 
She had helped take care of her siblings when there was a shortage of hands and even after they were born.
 
After debuting in the nobility, she helped in her hometown when the social season ended.
 
Tenere listened to her story in silence.
 
It was a little funny that someone who he thought was so obviously out of place should feel so close to the story of a rural manor because she had lived there for a short time.
 
After talking to Laura for a while, Tenere stood up.
 
“I’ll take Joshua to the nursery. You haven’t had a chance to rest properly with taking care of the child, even for a short while.”
 
“Ah…… yes. Goodbye, Your Majesty, Your Imperial Highness.”
 
Laura bowed quickly and politely to both of them. Tenere took the child’s hand and shifted her feet.