Chapter 22: The Consort Who Walked Into a Den of Vipers

“Are you really planning to go dressed like that?”

Puffing out her cheeks, Judith came to another halt behind Fria. Hearing her stop after only a few steps, Fria clicked his tongue and turned back toward her.

“It’s only a tea gathering. Do I really need to dress up so extravagantly?”

“But all the other young ladies will come dressed beautifully. If you show up looking like that, everyone’s going to whisper about you behind your back.”

“I already came prepared to hear a few comments. If you’re worried, Judith, you don’t have to come with me.”

“I can’t do that. Attending to you is both my duty and my right. I won’t make you wear a wig, but couldn’t you at least change your clothes?”

“No.”

Answering firmly, Fria strode down the palace stairs on his long legs. The master of the Swallow Palace was wearing men’s outdoor attire. The dark jacket and trousers suited his lean figure well, but no matter how one looked at it, it did not resemble the clothing of a royal consort.

Yet the fabric was too plain and the design too modest to even seem like the outfit of a nobleman trying to look fashionable; there was every chance he might be mistaken for a low-ranking official.

“If you go looking like that, they might think you’re a servant and make you work.”

“Well, it’s a gathering of distinguished people. I can pour a cup of tea or two. Judith, you won’t get jealous, right?”

At Fria’s shameless teasing, something he looked entirely capable of actually doing, Judith shook her head vigorously.

“I really can’t survive because of you, Lord Fria!”

Holding up the parasol, Judith hurried after him.

****

Located at the center of the harem grounds, this detached palace known as the Central Palace had been built early in the previous emperor’s reign to encourage interaction among the consorts.

Contrary to its intended purpose, it had gradually transformed into a coliseum where wealth, power, beauty, and imperial favor were constantly compared and contested.

Considering that every consort living in the harem was both companion and rival to the others, such an outcome was inevitable.

With not only the nine consorts sent from each duchy but also beauties selected from across the empire gathering there, the Central Palace was always crowded.

Having arrived slightly later than the scheduled start of the tea gathering due to arguing with Judith, Fria paused atop the stairs leading to the salon and steadied his breathing.

From this point onward, he was about to throw himself, well, himself and Judith alone, into a gathering of more than twenty women once the consorts and their maids were counted together.

The consorts gathered in the salon were representatives and spies of their respective duchies, while simultaneously comrades and rivals to one another.

Unlike the other consorts, who had barely even seen the emperor’s face, Fria was rumored to receive the emperor’s favor every night. To them, he had already become both a public enemy and an object of curiosity.

‘Whatever. Let’s just face it.’

Didn’t people say that even if you were dragged into a tiger’s den, you could survive as long as you kept your wits about you? They were refined noble ladies. No matter how much they disliked him, at worst they would simply refuse to include him in conversation.

Having strengthened his resolve, Fria boldly flung open the salon doors.

At the sound from the entrance, everyone’s gaze turned in unison. Dozens of eyes landed on Fria, only to drift back to their previous activities moments later.

The sound of tea being poured into cups and pastries crunching between teeth echoed throughout the room. Light laughter drifted from girls absorbed in card games.

“Wow! I just got completely ignored. Judith, did you see that?”

Judith shook her head at her hopeless master, whose eyes sparkled as though he found the situation fascinating.

“Well, if you want to call it being ignored, sure. But honestly, that was just the normal reaction people give to a servant delivering a message. The salon’s so large that from where they’re sitting, they probably only saw your clothes, not your face. I’d stake my mother’s honor that none of the young ladies recognized you.”

Sure enough, Maude, the head maid who managed the Central Palace, approached with slow steps and adjusted the spectacles perched on the bridge of her nose.

“What is it? This is an esteemed gathering attended by noble ladies. If it wasn’t urgent, you could have informed the maids downstairs.”

‘What an uncommon beauty. Such a face is wasted on an errand boy.’

Having spent twenty-five years walking the singular path of evaluating royal consorts, the head maid narrowed her sharp eyes.

Then, instead of the beautiful young man merely blinking at her, she noticed the maid standing behind him and nodded in recognition.

“You’re from the Swallow Palace. Is your master still unwell today?”

“He attended personally today. This is the master of the Swallow Palace.”

As Judith respectfully gestured toward the handsome young man, the head maid’s brows drew together.

“What did you just say? The master of the Swallow Palace has…?”

‘Arrived? Then this servant boy, this beautiful man, no, this person, is Lord Fria himself?!’

The head maid’s eyes widened like lanterns, and she hurriedly lowered herself in apology.

“M-My deepest apologies. I failed to recognize you and committed a discourtesy. Please, come further inside. We shall vacate the seat of honor immediately.”

“Why didn’t you inform us beforehand? What sort of maid lets her master come dressed so carelessly? Is this not negligence of duty?”

Rapidly whispering into Judith’s ear while quickening her pace, the head maid scolded her sharply.

Originally a marchioness who had entered the palace to teach etiquette to imperial princesses, the head maid had earned recognition for her exceptional administrative ability and had mediated countless disputes within the harem since the reign of the previous emperor.

Her fame had spread not only throughout the empire but also to every duchy after she authored a guidebook on etiquette for noble ladies that became a bestseller.

“T-That is… Lord Fria insisted so strongly that there was nothing I could do.”

“Even so. Do you not understand what sort of gathering this is? Haven’t you learned after observing for so long? Especially when your master is already receiving so much attention. To let him become the target of gossip over mere clothing…”

“Shall I try persuading Lord Fria once more?”

“It can’t be helped now that it’s already happened. Stay close to your master.”

After finishing her reprimand, the head maid approached the young women seated in the center of the salon.

On a chair deliberately stripped of proper armrests so that the wide skirts of her gown could spread magnificently sat Larisa, the princess of Mosratia, a duchy famous for its abundance of mineral-rich mines and considered the wealthiest among all the duchies.

She was currently crushing the quivering flesh of a pudding dessert with visible irritation.

Next was Emmeline, the eighteen-year-old princess of Hilderin, a land possessing the second-largest territory after the empire itself thanks to its overwhelming military power.

Reclining arrogantly across a sofa spacious enough for three people, she lazily flipped through a leather-bound book.

Then there was Justina of Hraud, a duchy famed for its impregnable fortresses and treacherous mountain ranges, continuously tossing dice across a game board depicting the empire and its nine duchies.

Larisa and Justina, both seventeen, occupied the second-highest rank in the salon beneath Emmeline and regarded Rosetta of Asmund as a constant thorn in their sides.

A major reason for their resentment was the fact that the Asmund duchy had been rewarded for its contributions to the empire with the Rose Palace, the highest-ranking residence among the consorts’ quarters.

Lien, Rosetta’s cousin and head maid, also advised her to avoid associating with the other three duchies, calling them lowborn traitors who had once been Asmund’s vassals before rebelling and declaring independence.

The one Lien despised most, however, was the male consort who shamelessly entered the harem despite not even being a woman. Yet because he had never appeared in public, the unfortunate target of her sharp glares had instead been the maid from the Swallow Palace.

After staring indecisively at her chessboard for quite some time, Becca finally looked up toward the back of the room.

Becca, princess of Algento, the smallest duchy, had deliberately chosen a corner seat against the wall to avoid Larisa and the others. Frail and delicate due to poor health, she looked younger than her actual fifteen years and adored the mature, composed Rosetta like an older sister.

“Lady Rosetta, I think something’s happening.”

At Becca’s words, Rosetta also turned toward the center.

Larisa, buried beneath layers of excessively ornate dresses, was throwing a fit at the head maid. Emmeline, lounging arrogantly against the sofa, let the book in her hand drop to the floor.

Etiquette for Ladies. One of the head maid’s own books.

“Lord Fria has arrived, so you must vacate your seats. This is the seat of highest honor and should rightfully be given to him.”

“That prostitute actually came here?”

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