Chapter 8: 8

After the obstructions of her side disappeared, Philomel’s daily life went smoothly. The tight schedule, the eyes of others following her everywhere, and the fear of not knowing when she would die sometimes took her breath away, but she was able to endure it. Fortunately for her, the absence of her nanny and her old maids made her feel more at ease, and the Countess Deles and her new maids did their duty. But…

“This alone is not enough.”, muttered Philomel.

Before breakfast, she was alone in her room, turning over her bookshelves. It was good that the nanny and her crew were gone and she’s slowly gaining recognition from others but it was too early for her to feel relieved, though.

At least until she was old enough to escape alone, she should do all she could to survive. She was 9 years old now and couldn’t do anything with her child’s body, so the next few years would be difficult, but she had to be able to make a living when she left the imperial palace.

‘I’m splitting up my pocket money and collecting the escape funds step by step… What else can I do?’

How to get away? She had thought of that in her own way, but there was a big difficulty in keeping that plan alive. That’s just scoring points from the emperor.

There was an item that was perfect for escaping, but the problem was that it was the treasure of the imperial family. A treasure that could only be used by the emperor or a successor recognized by him.

“But how to get points…”

Although the Emperor has recently seen Philomel again,  did not become dramatically close to her. She was occasionally invited to eat with him, but the relationship did not progress beyond that.

‘Um… what should I do?’

However, there was no item that was worth giving up the imperial treasure.

She habitually re-read <Princess Elencia> and doing so she lit up her eyes.

“Yes, this is it!”

Philomel immediately pulled the rope and summoned the Countess Deles, asking her to bring something. After a while, the countess brought a vial of green powder.

“It’s a powder made by grinding the mountain vinegar you mentioned.”

“Thank you!”

“But… But may I ask why you need the powdered mountain vinegar? It’s usually used as a medicinal ingredient.”

“I will brew tea with this and give it to His Majesty.”

“…His Majesty?”

“Yeah! His Majesty enjoys drinking often. I read in a book that water boiled with mountain vinegar is good for relieving a hangover!”

Philomel deliberately spoke innocently like a naive child. From her experience, the countess was a good adult who wanted to protect her child’s innocence.

“Um… that’s right. His Majesty will surely be pleased with the princess’ filial love.”

As expected, the Countess blurred her expression for a moment, but she soon smiled and cheered Philomel.

“Then shall we prepare the teapot and cups as well?”

“I want filter paper too!”

“Huh, I’ll bring it to you right away.”

As soon as Countess Delles had left her room, Philomel opened the lid of her apothecary and put her nose close to it.

“Aww, this smell!”

Her pungent sour smell made her vibrate. That was the reason why the Countess reacted ambiguously to Philomel’s statement that she would give that in tea to the emperor. It was widely known that vinegar was good for hangovers, but few people enjoyed drinking vinegar tea the day after heavy drinking. It was because of the terrible smell and the taste that was twice as terrible as the smell.

‘But with this, it’s okay.’

Philomel went to the safe in the back of the room, opened it, and pulled out a glass bottle the size of his forearm. The pale golden liquid that filled the bottle rippled. It was the juice of the fruit of the World Tree. It was said that if you add world tree juice to mountain vinegar herb tea, it surprisingly neutralizes the bitterness and makes it edible. In her book, it was a fact that Ellensia accidentally discovered while adding the juice of the World Tree fruit she received from her father to the mountain herb tea.

Such an amazing coincidence came from the simple idea of ‘mixing good things with good things will make you more healthy.’

‘As expected, the real princess is a different entity no matter what.’

Philomel smiled bitterly. Anyway, that’s how Ellencia created a so-called ‘special vinegar tea’ that was more excellent at relieving hangovers than just vinegar tea and helps to recover. Until then, no one had even dared to put the juice of the precious World Tree fruit into a terrible tea. In other words, Ellencia was the first inventor of the ‘special vinegar tea’. Of course, Philomel would intercept it.

‘Sorry! Ellencia. You’ll eat well and live well without it anyway, so give it to me.’

After asking for some kind of understanding inwardly, the countess returned. Philomel brewed her herb tea with the filter paper she had brought, then scooped out the golden liquid with her teaspoon. Proportion was important for best taste.

Philomel added two sips with a teaspoon as per her book. Sweat formed on the back of her nose as she carefully stirred her teaspoon to mix the tea. “done!” she tasted it, and it tasted strangely sweet.

‘Ellencia, you may have given this precious tea to a knight suffering from a hangover because you have a kind heart, but I am different’

Good things should be given to those in power! Philomel followed the worldly logic she had awakened earlier and headed for the emperor’s bedchamber. She said that her tea tray was dangerous because it was hot, and Countess Deles took it instead and followed her.

Yesterday, she heard that the emperor had dinner with high-ranking nobles after a long time. The meal was said to have lasted until late at night, so there was a good chance he was suffering from a hangover that morning. But on her way to her bedroom, Philomel ran into Count Pollan.

Count Pollan brought tears to his eyes as he listened to Philomel’s explanation.

“Finally, the spirit of spring between the two of you…! It’s about time for His Majesty to wake up. Let’s go.”

‘As expected, he hasn’t woken up yet due to a hangover.’

Philomel rejoiced inwardly as she moved her steps toward the emperor’s bedchamber. The bedroom door opened and the Count entered first.

“Your Majesty, look who’s here!”

A voice drowned in agony came from somewhere on the bed.

“…It’s ringing, so don’t shout.”

Eustis, who was lying down, awoke from his booth sleep.

‘This is the time!’

Philomel took her tea tray from the countess and moved closer to the bed.

“Your Majesty, how are you?”

Philomel greeted him with the polite attitude she had practiced hard. Eustis jumped up in surprise at the unexpected female voice.

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“Philomel? Why are you here?”

“I brought some hot tea to help your Majesty’s health. Mountain vinegar tea, if you don’t mind, have a drink.”

Count Pollan helped from behind.

“It is said that Her Highness the Princess came to us herself. Isn’t Her Highness’ filial piety admirable?”

Eustis looked down at the steaming cup with a sullen face. Perhaps because of the musty smell, his pale complexion became even worse. World tree fruit juice can control the taste of vinegar, but not the smell.

‘I don’t think that’s why you don’t drink, right?’

Worried about him, Philomel took it a step further.

“Although…”

Philomel’s impression was momentarily frowned by the strong smell.

‘He smells of alcohol!’

The emperor smelled of alcohol that could not be masked by the smell of wild grass. Philomel’s eyes caught the table full of empty bottles. There’s no way the attendants didn’t clean up what they drank before, so those must be the bottles they drank last night.

‘Even after dinner, did you drink that much?”

Suddenly, her eyes widened.

“Get away from me.”

Perhaps reading Philomel’s thoughts, Eustis hid the bottles behind him.

“But…”

Philomel’s hand holding the tray trembled.

‘I can’t do it anymore because it’s heavy!’

The small child had held a tray with teapots and teacups for a long time.

“…Give it to me.”

Eustis sighed and took the tray and put it on the bed. As if having a snowball fight, he aimed for the tea water for a long time and then poured the tea cup at once.

“…?”

The brow, which had been heavily cracked, soon became smooth.

“The taste… not bad.”

At the result, Philomel smiled brightly as she had rehearsed.

“Yes? The bitter taste disappeared when I tried the World Tree fruit juice!”

“The World Tree fruit juice?”

“Yeah! It was given to me by His Majesty.”

“…I gave it to you to eat it.”

“I am no longer ill. But since His Majesty suffers from intoxication this often…”

Count Pollan agreed.

“Now, for the sake of Her Highness, please cut down on your drinking. No matter how strong your Majesty is, drinking alcohol for ten years is bound to cause health problems.”

“Noisy.”

“Your Highness is still young…”

“Because it’s noisy.”

Listening to the conversation between the two, Philomel learned something new.

‘You’ve been drinking a lot in the meantime.’

She didn’t know because she didn’t usually meet him.

‘Besides, ten years ago…’

It was around the time Philomel was born. It was also the year that Empress Isabella died… He must have lived drinking excessively after the empress died, drowning in her disappointment. It looked like he was fine on the outside, but on the inside he was a young man.

Somehow she felt strange.

‘It turned out that even her daughter was a fake when her wife died.’

Of course, Rommel shook her head vigorously.

‘No, who do you sympathize with?’

He was the one who would kill her someday. So she shouldn’t be weak-minded until she ran away.

“Philomel.”

At that moment, Eustis, who had put the cup on the tray, said in a low voice.

“Thanks for clearing my head a bit. Please tell me if there is anything you want.”

‘Done!’

It was as Philomel expected. The emperor was a man with certain rewards and punishments, but she did a wonderful job that time too. She did, and he thought it would be a small item as a reward.

What should she do?

‘It’s too early to ask for that item with just teeth…’

Then. After thinking for a while, Philomel said what she wanted.

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