Chapter 015: Parasite of Life
Today is the day the tea party is held under the guise of a gathering of concubines to battle the nerves of the brain which is usually held once a month. Esther hadn't been on the show for a long time. The last time she was on the show was when Queen Caroline was still alive and to be honest, she was really tired of joining in on that shitty show again.
At first she wanted to be absent from the event, but unfortunately the bastard Averia sent him a servant to force himself to participate in the event. Of course, Esther refused. But the more she refused, the Averia sent more people to urge him. How annoying!
In the end, Esher was forced to attend a party which could be considered very bad. It was so bad it could even be on par with the nightmare she had so far. Esther, still in her black dress, walked limply towards the tea party she hated the most. Apparently, this time the tea party was held in Queen Averia's palace.
It seemed that Esther was the last guest who had just arrived. All the glares from the concubines and the queen were on him. Esther immediately sat down in a chair some distance away from all of them. The tea party begins. They were all busy chatting with each other and ignoring Esther's presence. It was actually a good thing for Esther. She didn't want to talk to any of them at all.
"Yesterday I heard a fairly unique rumor. Said you were summoned to the king's palace and spent the night there. Then you returned to your palace in a weak state in the early morning," said Concubine Lindsley, who seemed to want to provoke other concubines who were there.
Esther was quite surprised when she heard the words of the Lindsley concubine. Even she himself didn't know that such a rumor was starting to spread in the palace. It seems they all misunderstood. However, Esther didn't want to clear up the misunderstanding either.
"Yeah, that's how it is," replied Esther nonchalantly.
"It turns out that the rumors were true. It seems that now I can't call you Saintess Beatrice anymore," said Concubine Lindsley with a small laugh.
Esther simply replied to Concubine Lindsley with a small smile. The other concubines also joined in on the conversation.
"What are you doing with His Majesty the king?"
"How did the king treat you that night? Does he hug and kiss your lips greedily?"
Over time, the questions asked by the concubines became strange and could even be classified as very lewd and embarrassing. Esther's head could have exploded at those questions that kept hurling at her.
"I hope you don't feel happy just yet, Beatrice. His Majesty the King never loved you at all," said Queen Averia, which made the attention of the concubines that initially focused on Esther, now focus on her.
"What?" a word that unconsciously came out of the mouth of the confused-looking Esther.
"I know that nothing will happen to you and His Majesty the King. You were invited there to help his king settle the affairs of the kingdom," said Queen Averia while sipping rose tea.
"How do you know, Her Majesty the Queen?" asked concubine Lindsley.
"That's my business and you don't need to know, Lindsley."
"The point is you don't have to admit that you spent a hot night with His Majesty the King. So far, His Majesty the King has never loved you at all. That's why he never sleeps with you," Queen Averia sneered and then splashed Esther's face with tea.
All the other concubines just watched the exciting incident while chuckling. They seem very happy and enjoying it. Esther remained silent without saying a word. She immediately withdrew from the place. She didn't want to be humiliated any further. It feels so sad. This was the first time she was treated like that because during her time in the empire no one dared to humble himself like that.
Esther quickened her steps. She wanted to return to his palace immediately to clean himself. Arriving there, how surprised Anne was to see Esther soaking wet like that.
"What exactly happened to you, princess?" asked Anne, looking a little panicked. Esther just smiled a little.
"I am alright. But can you prepare a bath for me? I want to get rid of my body, which is already starting to feel sticky. "
"OK. I beg you to wait here," said Anne as she told Esther to sit on the sofa.
Esther could only obey Anne's words. She sat there while waiting for Anne, who was preparing the bath for him. Suddenly, Arthur and Helena came out of nowhere and sat right beside him.
"Why are you soaking wet like that, mother?" Arthur asked.
"It's only because of my carelessness," replied Esther curtly.
"Stop lying, princess. I've served you since you were only five years old and you're not at all the reckless type," interrupted Helena.
Esther looked at Helena sharply. Though she deliberately reasoned like that so as not to make Arthur feel worried about him.
"Let me guess it must be the concubines or the queen, right?" added Helena.
When Esther was about to reply to Helena's words, suddenly black blood came out of her mouth. Both Helena and Arthur were surprised to see this, in contrast to Esther who actually looked normal.
Helena immediately wiped the blood that came out of Esther's mouth with her handkerchief. "Oh my! What has happened to you, Princess? Why are you suddenly bleeding from your mouth?"
Esther just sat quietly letting Helena wipe the blood from her mouth. "Looks like the teacup I was using was poisoned by that bastard on purpose."
Anne, who had just finished preparing the bath, came over to Esther to tell her that she could clean her body now. But after seeing Helena who wiped Esther's blood, Anne immediately quickened her pace to approach Esther.
"What happened to you, Princess?" asked Anne who seemed very panicked.
"Oh, it looks like the poison that Averia gave me has started to react in my body," replied Esther casually.
Esther immediately got up from the sofa and walked towards the bathtub to quickly clean herself. But before leaving she said something to Helena.
"Could you prepare dinner for us now? I'm really hungry," said Esther.
"Okay, I'll prepare it immediately," replied Helena.
A few tens of minutes later after finishing cleaning her sticky body, Esther immediately walked towards the dining room. In the dining room there were Arthur and Helena with a plate of food on the table.
"Why is there only one serving of food?" Esther asked.
"When I went to the royal kitchen, they said that for the palace we only provided one serving of food. We were also told to save more in the use of the palace budget," said Helena.
Esther took a deep breath. She was really tired of living in that kingdom with some annoying distractions.
"Then you just eat the food, Tiny," said Esther, holding her forehead.
"But aren't you hungry right now?"
"No. My stomach suddenly fills up. The food is just for you. You need to eat a lot to grow quickly," replied Esther while rubbing Arthur's head.
"Are you sure, mother?" Arthur asked to confirm once more.
"Of course. I'm sleepy now. I'll go into the room to sleep first. See you later, Tiny."
Esther walked away from the dining room while holding Helena's hand. After walking a bit away from the dining room. Esther brought her face close to Helena's ear.
"Prepare a white dress and a small dagger for me," whispered Esther.
"For what, princess?"
"I want to give Lucius a small gift," Esther replied with a smirk on her face.