The Story Is Not Over Yet

She couldn’t even remember how the party ended.

Although Zagnac’s problem itself had bothered her, adding Daniel to the mix seemed to make her throbbing headaches worse so Azela decided to call the carriage and returns to the mansion first.

“…What about Daniel?”

When she arrived at the mansion, Sylvia stepped out with a disappointed look, thinking it was Daniel.
Getting off the carriage, Azela glanced at her before turning her head.
She then saw Lina who had waited for her at the entrance to the mansion.

Lina’s head was bowed and her shoulders stiffened, conscious of Sylvia’s presence.

“Daniel is still enjoying the party… There are a lot of beautiful women there, but unlike you, there are many women who have power.”

“….!”

With her provocation, Sylvia looked at the carriage with an anxious expression.

Since she was an uninvited mistress, there was nothing she could do, unable to attend parties hosted by the nobles.
All she could do was quietly wait in the mansion for Daniel to come back.

As Azela passed her and entered the mansion, Sylvia stood there waiting for Daniel to return.
When she peered back and looked behind her, Sylvia’s white feet seemed to be telling her that she had been waiting for a long time though she didn’t care.

“Would, would you like me to prepare bath water?”

Lina asked, awkwardly standing next to her.
It looked like she was trying her best by imitating the confident tone of the other maids.
It was so funny that she adjusted to her tune, too, and nodded her head.

Azela answered, taking off the jeweled gloves and the shawl around her shoulders as she handed it to Lina.

“Okay.”

“Dinner…”

Following her up her stairs, Lina held Azalea’s shawl and the gloves full in her arms.
The way she whimpered and followed her was like a cute pet, so she slowed down and walked slowly, smiling at her.

“Of course, I ate to my full stomach.
I drank alcohol after a while and my head hurts, so if you have any medicine, please bring it to me.”

“Last time the doctor gave Madam a medicine to break the hangover, so it will still be there.
I’ll find it… Oh, if you have a headache from drinking, good honey just came in as a gift, would you like some honey tea?”

“Yes, that would be nice as well.”

When she reached her bedroom on the third floor, Lina, who quickly organized the gloves and shawl in her arms, left the room to prepare the bath water, hangover medicine, and honey tea.
As she sat in front of the dressing table, the other handmaids in the bedroom cleaned up the many ornaments in her hair and took off her stuffy party dress.

“…Madam, did something happen at the party by any chance?”

“No.
Why?”

“A lot of the ornaments you had on your head were messed up… Also, the laces on the dress are loose.”

The handmaid, who was untying the laces of the dress, tilted her head and pulled her dress off her.
When the maid said that, Azela closed her eyes tightly as she suddenly remembered the dizzying situation that had taken place on the terrace.

Thinking back, she really was crazy.
She wasn’t even drunk.
She was drunk on that sweet smell and did something too daring that she normally wouldn’t have been able to.

Azela cleared her trembling neck and replied.

“…The dress laces were tied loosely.
It started to unravel in the middle of the party, and by the time I came back, it was almost all unraveled.
Please, be more careful next time.”

With her brief remark, the handmaid who was taking the dress was startled, covering her mouth and hastily bowing her head, repeating ’Sorry!’ over and over again.
Azela soon beckoned the handmaid to leave as she got stabbed in the chest after seeing the handmaid was worried that she would be cut off like this.

After a while, whether Lina had asked them to, the other handmaids took her to the wooden bathtub.
Of course, she could go and wash herself, but Azela was tired and refused it today, so she decided to wash in the bedroom.

As she undressed and stepped into the hot tub, it seemed to relieve her fatigue.

“Madam, your skin is getting better these days… It is like it’s shining.”

“I felt it, too.
Although the perfume oil hasn’t changed much, lately, your skin seems to be getting softer and more radiant.”

“Furthermore…”

The handmaid who had been massaging her shoulder closely sniffed her nose and walked closer to Azela.

The next moment, she spoke with an ecstatic expression.

“It seems that from time to time, the Madam has a sweet scent similar to that of a flower.”

Until she talked about her skin, she only thought it was flattery to make her feel good, but when they mentioned that she smelled sweet, Azela furrowed her eyebrows and raised her head.

“…A sweet scent similar to that of a flower?”

“Yes, the products we use don’t have this scent… It smells like alcohol, it smells like flowers, it smells like ripe fruit…”

“Right.
I’ve smelled it too… I thought Madam had put on special perfume.”

The smell of alcohol and flowers or ripe fruit… A sweet smell that can’t be explained in words — it was the scent that she also smelled today.
Even though Azela couldn’t smell the scent from herself, it was enough for the maids to explain.

Did her body start to smell like the devil… from Zagnac? Since when…?

She frowned without saying a word with a complicated feeling.

When Azela, the Madam, didn’t respond, despite the fact that they had praised her in the hope that she would feel better, all of the handmaids kept their mouths shut and looked at her.

“Madam, I have prepared the medicine to alleviate the hangover and honey tea.”

At that time, Lina had prepared a small bottle that looked like medicine to break the hangover and steaming honey tea.
Azela, reaching out her hand, glanced at the purple liquid in a small bottle.

The dazzling light reminded her of him.

‘…Did the conversation with Princess Livia go well?’

Holding the small bottle, she recalled Zagnac having a conversation with Princess Livia.
It must be about marriage.
She remembered Crown Prince Chises’ words that Princess Livia was actively accepting this marriage.

So, what about Zagnac? He burned the letter she sent him without regrets, and said he didn’t need it…

‘…She was beautiful and cute.’

Azela continued to tilt the small bottle of purple liquid, traced back to her memory.

Princess Livia was a cute little girl of small stature.
She had puppy-like eyes, but the eyes that held strength gave her an unforgettable look.
The thin pink lips kept attracting attention.
In addition, her clear voice, full of cuteness, made the listener feel good.

“…Bring a mirror.”

“Yes?”

“I need to see my face, so bring me a mirror.”

Lina, bewildered by her sudden low voice, put down the honey tea that she was mixing with a spoon and hurriedly brought a round mirror.

Azela, who was looking at her face in the mirror that Lina had brought, pulled her raised eyebrows down with her fingers.

Princess Livia and herself were very different.
Her own eyes were sharp and not gentle like hers.
She had been told quite a few times, ‘Are you mad?’ because of these eyes when holding the sword.

Azela then touched her own sunken cheek.
Unlike Princess Livia, who was cute, she had lost all her weight and had no fat on her face… Would she have been round and cute if she had gained a little more weight?

So were her lips.
Her red, thick lips were so different from Princess Livia’s.
Azela stared at the mirror for a while before waving her hand to put it away.

‘Why do I care about Princess Livia?’

Whatever she did with Zagnac, it was none of her business.

…And yet, strangely, Princess Livia kept popping into her eyes.
The handwriting made her heart flutter, and the voice cluttered her ears.
The image she saw today caught Azela’s eye, and it eventually gave her a headache.

Yes, all because she was drunk today.
Other than that, there was no way her head would hurt like this.
She had vowed not to hold on to those feelings any more.

“Give me the honey tea.”

Reaching out her hand, Lina hurriedly handed the honey tea to her.
As she took a sip of the sweet honey tea, her trembling heart, her dizzy ears, and her aching head felt a little better.
It was obviously because of the alcohol.

Azela, who was smelling the honey tea, frowned and opened her mouth to Lina.

“Did you use unsweetened honey?”

“Yes? Oh, no.
I used a very sweet honey.
Is it too sweet for your taste?”

“….”

There was nothing wrong with Lina’s words.

Undoubtedly, her mouth was so sweet that her tongue got bitter.
Still, it was weird.
The scent of the honey on the tip of her nose was not so sweet… rather, the scent from the Zagnac she smelled today was sweeter.

…Yes, that scent was much sweeter.

Azela, who had a smile as she thought of him again, unconsciously shook her head hastily.
She thought it would be better to get rid of this drunkenness as soon as possible, so she poured the honey tea into her mouth.

It was so sweet that it made her forehead frown, but thanks to that, she couldn’t think much of anything else.