Secrets of the Villainous Empress

Chapter Thirteen: Hazing Is Natural For Newcomers

 Growing up, Fuscia’s nose had always been more sensitive than most, and in some cases, she could even smell illnesses.

One such case was her ailing mother’s. The physician at the time had praised her for catching the disease before it was irreversible, but that was before the physician had realized she and her mother did not have the proper funds to pay for the expensive treatment.

In any case, to Fuscia, the scent of blood resembled floating red mist. To her, the smell was so vivid that it took form, and that form was currently engulfing the glimmering central palace.

“I..” Fuscia’s voice trembled as she spoke.

Her noodle-like legs refused to take another step from the entrance.

“I c-can’t-”

“Yes?” the butler leaned in as though he had not caught what she had said.

Fuscia tried her best to school her reaction or to at least rationalize herself out of fear, but it was too late. The central attention from the knights and the butler was on her.

“Rest easy,” The butler responded to her expression. “The palace is only busy for tonight. By tomorrow, everything will be different.”

Rest? Where? Where could she rest when she could hardly even breathe?

Blood! There was blood everywhere, and most of it was pooling from-

The knights and the butler all turned towards the left side of the front gardens.

The area was not well lit by the streetlights, but Fuscia could see blood mist pooling from that direction despite that.

A soft crunching sound emanated from the direction that they were all facing, and Fuscia completely forgot herself.

With a soft whimper, she took a step back and hid behind Jelly, who, as naturally as possible, walked before her, as if promising to be her guardian angel who would protect her from the impending danger.  

Her chest heaved uncontrollably as the thoughts in her mind muddled to baseless mush.

-Three days? Three days? How, how will I last three days if…-

Her chest hurt, and somewhere along the lines of her overthinking, her breathing grew painful.

“Take a deep breath, slowly.” Jelly whispered, “It will be over soon.”

She soothed as she reached for her silver rapier.

“Slowly,” Jelly repeated more soothingly, as though she was accustomed to danger.

Fuscia understood mentally that knights fought, but other than the practice drills she had witnessed in Nissa, she had never actually seen a knight in action, had never witnessed death caused by two who truly tried to end each other.

A man dressed in pitch black with only the green of his eyes glimmering thanks to the streetlights came to view.

-Oh gods-

Fuscia gasped as she realized that the mist was emanating from him and the…knives he was holding in both his hands or were they daggers? She didn’t know.

“Oh, old man Mathews.” The man called joyfully, as though he forgot that he was from stealing what was most precious, “What are you doing out here? It’s pretty late to be running errands?”

“I am not a farmer but the Imperial butler. I would like it if you showed some respect while addressing me.” The butler replied calmly to the killer, whose eyes bypassed his to land on her frame. “As you can see, I am escorting her majesty’s guest.”

“Hey…hey, get serious. I can practically feel the ground quiver at her trembling. Did you seriously bring a rabbit to the lion's den?”

-A rabbit? He doesn’t even view me as human?-

“She is a guest of her imperial majesty. Show some respect,” the butler said harshly, and in the same breath, he sighed, “but that may be asking too much from a southern lackey.”

“Huh? You wanna go, old man?” the green-eyed man adjusted his posture as if ready to fight the butler, which caused both the knights to draw their swords.

“C-c-could y-you p-pleas n-not fight?” Fuscia’s voice trembled as she spoke, and from the bottom of her heart, she wished that she could run away.

 But someone had to say something, no, she, had to say something. If they fought at the palace's entrance, they would be tainting the most prestigious building on the continent!

However, the green-eyed murderer thought differently as all her righteous words did was turn his aggression from the butler to her frame. His hostile gaze stroked her body before Jelly blocked his view from her.

“It is effortless to be brave when you can hide behind someone stronger for safety, isn’t it?” he said, then withdrew his knives from view, “Whatever.”

 The man shrugged then turned back to the butler.

 “It’s a busy night, so before she attracts any more attention, get her out of here.”

A busy night? Why? Was he going to kill more people? To taint this place more?

What did he mean with his words? Hide behind someone stronger?

Wasn’t it brave to speak your mind! Everyone knows that bravery doesn’t always stem from swords!!

But before the opportunity to speak her mind had presented itself, the butler gave orders to Jelly.

“Escort Fuscia to her rooms in the Southern guest bedrooms.”

“Understood.” She answered.

They broke off from the three men, then proceeded down the beautifully decorated and well-lit path to the side gardens and finally to the simply majestic back gardens mainly due to the scandalous and flowery maze that welcomed them.

“You know, that maze holds a lot of secrets.” Jelly said, pointing, as though trying to get her mind off the earlier occurrence, “The day after tomorrow, there will be a ball celebrating the council meeting’s success. I mean to me, I feel like it’s a bit too early for it to be considered a success, but in any case, you may not have been invited to it, but we can sneak into the gardens?”

“Won't we get in trouble?” Fuscia asked.

“Possibly, but if we are lucky, we can gain a secret or two.” Jelly winked, “But don’t worry, drunk nobles aren’t as dangerous as they seem. Once you give them a good whack in the head, they forget your existence entirely the following day.”

“You are a knight and me, a maid. Surely our ‘whacks’ are different!” Fuscia protested joyfully.

She found herself smiling, the chill from earlier easily forgotten. She had been to balls and galas, of course, but as an extra pair of helping hands, and honestly, she despised them because of the amount of work they summoned.

But as a crasher or guest…she could even play pretend that she was a lost princess, hoping to find a rogue that would go through heaven and hell for her to reclaim her lost kingdom…

For some reason, the picture of Aleu floated in her head, but she quickly pressed another topic before she got too homesick.

“Umm, did- did you know that in the aristocrat section of the train, there are pools in each room?”

“Pfft…” Jelly’s shoulders shook in laughter at Fuscia’s statement causing her to flush.

“What? What did I say wrong?”

“No, no!” she tried to speak, but more laughter pooled out of her before she could explain herself.

“Well, out with it?” Fuscia smiled, waiting patiently for her knight’s explanation.

“Oh, dear me!” jelly exclaimed, wiping a stray tear from her eye, “That is cute, but please, never say that in public.”

“What?”

“The train utilizes spatial magic, rather the new train models created by baron Christoff do, that is why they are expensive. In the worker's section, there are only base provisions. A seat, payable meals or sources of entertainment and perhaps some access to a common area where you can play games to pass the time, but as you move higher, more things become available. There is the commoner section which is where the middle class fit in, then the upper commoner section, for merchants and businessmen, finally the aristocratic section, which of course is divided into two; the upper and the lower: the lower comprises of knights like me, barons and viscounts, then the upper,  counts, marquises, the dukes and dutchesses then the imperial family members, and sometimes, their guests or workers.”

“I know all this….” Fuscia prompted, but jelly raised her hand.

“Hold on, let me finish.” She said then continued, “By that, I mean, standards increase, and so do the quality of items craftsmanship.”

“So what I am trying to say is that that was a bathtub, not a pool.”

“Huh?” Fuscia frowned.

“Pools require cleaning and constant maintenance, so it's not really a-,”

Fuscia’s face reddened as she realised that there were no pumps nor filters as in the Duke’s residence, but a drain and…

Oh, gods, she swam in the bathtub!!

Jelly laughed even louder but goodnaturedly, and at that, Fuscia realized that she had saved her from the embarrassment that would have come from sharing her experience with someone else, especially if they were nobility.

And thus, her desire to learn etiquette grew.