Your Majesty, I’m Not that Man - Chapter 7: The First Outing (1)

“They asked me to deliver this to you.”

The letter Paula received from the priest contained a small clay figurine. The old woman broke the figurine open, revealing its contents—five large diamonds hidden inside.

“My goodness, such valuable things…”

The old woman greedily examined the diamonds before unfolding the letter. Its contents appeared mundane at first.

It mentioned how Lady Yanis had grown increasingly irritable, how the sender was doing well, and how they wished to buy more of the tea that helped with sleep during their next outing.

After reading the letter, the old woman brought it to the fire in the hearth. A brief exposure to the heat revealed hidden writing on the back.

“Stage it as a robbery and kill Lavinia Wendell. Her first outing will be this Saturday.”

“Of course,” the old woman thought. It wasn’t like Yanis to hesitate when it came to handling things herself, but this time, she must have realized the dangers involved.

The old woman pocketed one of the diamonds for herself and secured the remaining four. Killing the emperor’s favored concubine would require hiring assassins with impeccable skills to avoid any loose ends.

＊ ＊ ＊

When Lavinia returned to the Hyacinth Palace, several letters and invitations awaited her. Just as she had been waiting for this one-month mark, it seemed many others had also been watching for an opportunity.

When Lavinia was demoted to a concubine after nearly marrying the emperor, many had mocked her. But now, the situation had completely changed. People were clamoring to invite her.

Having won the emperor’s favor, the once-scorned concubine was now seen as someone on the verge of becoming empress. And not just a mere empress in name, but one cherished and loved by the emperor.

The number of invitations had tripled compared to when her marriage to the emperor was first announced. The fickleness of the nobles was no surprise to Lavinia. She instructed her maids to politely decline most of the invitations and began sorting through the letters.

There were a few from friends, a couple from former maids she had been close to… and one each from Maxim and Zelenka.

Lavinia set aside the letters from her friends and former maids, planning to read them after addressing the ones from the duke and duchess. She doubted the latter would contain anything pleasant.

“…I’d like to be alone. Could everyone leave the room?”

“Yes, Lady Lavinia.”

The maids quickly vacated the drawing room. Lavinia picked up a letter opener and opened the first letter, Maxim’s. She already had an idea of its tone, which made it easier to prepare herself as she began to read.

…Even after I begged you so desperately, you still couldn’t persuade His Majesty? Do you even think of me as your father? I raised you with all my efforts! If you understood the grace I’ve shown you…

The following complaints became unbearable to read. Lavinia abruptly stood up and threw the letter into the fireplace. Without hesitation, she opened the second letter, Zelenka’s.

…Rumors have reached me that you’ve captured His Majesty’s heart. Surely you didn’t disgrace the Wendell family name by resorting to manipulation to win his favor? A woman’s beauty is fleeting, no more than a passing bloom. Once that time is over, any man will turn his gaze elsewhere. Don’t let your current favoritism make you arrogant…

The letter was filled with patronizing lectures thinly veiled as concern, accompanied by spiteful jabs at her current circumstances. Lavinia rubbed her temples as she skipped through several lines, trying to find anything worth reading.

Finally, near the bottom, Zelenka got to the point.

…You know my favorite café, don’t you? Let’s meet at “Scent of the Afternoon” at 2 o’clock. There are matters I wish to discuss with you, and we can catch up as mother and daughter.

“Scent of the Afternoon?”

Lavinia hated that café. Its heavily perfumed atmosphere was suffocating, and it was known to be a place where some high-ranking nobles discreetly purchased opium. She had told Zelenka this numerous times, yet Zelenka always pretended to forget.

Angered, Lavinia threw this letter into the fireplace as well. Her plans for her first outing, which was to take place the following day, would likely be her last. Any thoughts of keeping the letters from Maxim and Zelenka disappeared as she watched the flames consume them.

“Matters to discuss? More like something she needs from me!”

She tossed the envelopes into the fire as well, watching them burn while an unforgettable memory surfaced in her mind.

“Madam! Lady Lavinia has just gone to bed after staying up all night!”

“Move aside!”

Half-asleep, Lavinia thought she heard someone shouting. At sixteen, Lavinia’s workload had suddenly increased. Not only was she handling tasks as a duchess-in-training, but she also had to keep up with her heir lessons to compete with Albert. It left her with barely any time to breathe.

That day, she had only managed to fall asleep at 3 a.m. The Wendell family staff knew this and made an effort to move quietly in the mornings.

There were only two people who could storm into her room like this.

Slap!

The sudden sting on her cheek jolted Lavinia awake. But more shocking than the pain was the sight of Zelenka standing over her like a vengeful spirit, glaring with venomous eyes.

“Mother?”

“You knew, didn’t you?”

With a murderous glare, Zelenka began to lash out violently, striking Lavinia indiscriminately. While sixteen was considered somewhat of an adult in the empire, she was still a child. Lavinia, too young to grasp what was happening, endured Zelenka’s one-sided assault.

Maids screamed as they rushed to restrain Zelenka.

“Madam! Please stop this!!”
“You wretched girl! You’re worse than your father! You’ll burn in hell for this!! There’s no way you didn’t know while you were managing the finances! Bring Daniel back to me!!”

Zelenka screamed and raged, demanding the return of Daniel, the young lover she had been lavishing attention on at the time.

“Did something happen to him? Is that why she’s blaming me?”

Even with maids and servants desperately trying to pull her back, Zelenka’s fury could not be contained. It was only when Albert arrived, drawn by the commotion, that he managed to stop her. But even Albert couldn’t escape unscathed, as Zelenka struck him across the face as well.

“How dare you! Someone like you lay a hand on me…!”

Zelenka, enraged as she struck Albert, wore a fleeting expression of regret even in the heat of the moment. Even in that chaotic situation, Lavinia noticed it and found herself dumbfounded.

At the time, Albert was already receiving knightly training and had developed a rather solid physique. Moreover, he was being praised for having the potential to become a Swordmaster, which greatly pleased Maxim.

The flash of fear in Zelenka’s eyes stemmed from that realization: What if he gets angry and hits me back? It was a fear Maxim would likely ignore and pretend not to notice.

The contempt Lavinia felt toward Zelenka in that moment remained with her to this day. It wasn’t simply because she was her mother. Lavinia couldn’t shake the thought that Zelenka had vented her frustrations on someone weaker than herself—someone who screamed in pain when struck.

From that point on, Lavinia never allowed Zelenka to hit her again. She made her stance clear to the household staff as well, instructing them never to let the duchess into her room.

Though Zelenka later caused a commotion in an attempt to reclaim the authority she had over Lavinia, the truth was that a duchess’s power ultimately came from the duke. And Maxim, finding Zelenka unhelpful, sided with Lavinia.

Of course, this was because Lavinia had declared that she wouldn’t handle the duke’s affairs if Zelenka regained her authority.

“I’m so sick of all this.”

Even after becoming the emperor’s concubine, these circumstances persisted, leaving Lavinia disillusioned. She had sent away all the people she cared about from the Wendell household. Now, the only person remaining was the butler, Robert.

Entering the study, Lavinia wrote a letter requesting a meeting. The location was a café situated on the opposite side of the city from “Scent of the Afternoon.”

After pulling the bell cord, the maids returned. Lavinia handed them the letter addressed to the butler and spoke.

“…Send this to the butler. But can it be arranged so that it doesn’t appear to have come from the palace? Father might scold him otherwise.”

“That’s simple. We’ll hire a messenger to deliver it.”

“All right.”

Relieved, Lavinia dismissed the maids. Cassion had gone to attend a council meeting, leaving her with free time for now.

“Tomorrow. Tomorrow, I can leave this palace.”

Since it was just her first outing, no one would suspect that Lavinia planned to escape. She informed the staff that she intended to take a short nap and then retreated to her bedroom.

＊ ＊ ＊

Cassion had confessed his love to Lavinia and told her he intended to make her empress, but he had yet to announce this to anyone. The preparations for dissolving the harem had not even begun. He was still waiting for Lavinia’s answer.

While he didn’t plan to pressure her for love, he wanted her consent to make her his empress. If she didn’t desire it, he thought it would be wrong to place her in that position. As Lavinia remained silent, the day marking her first month in the palace approached.

In truth, except for a few concubines, it wasn’t particularly difficult for concubines to leave the palace. They were free to attend balls and tea parties. Even Yanis frequently left the harem to socialize with the city’s nobles. The first month was simply a probationary period during which external outings were prohibited, to allow them to adjust to palace life.

Thus, as soon as the date arrived, Lavinia hastily prepared for her outing. She deliberately avoided informing Cassion, who had left for a council meeting. She didn’t want to risk finding out how he might react if he knew she planned to leave that day.

After dismissing her maids temporarily, Lavinia retrieved an item she had prepared for this occasion:

A teleportation magic scroll.

It had been difficult to procure it discreetly, so she only managed to obtain a single scroll. She had smuggled it into the palace by hiding it behind one of her cherished paintings.

“I don’t know when I’ll need to use it, but… at least with this, I’ll have one chance to escape a dangerous situation.”

Lavinia wore light pants and a shirt underneath a luxurious-looking dress. The dress had been specifically tailored to conceal her layered outfit, making it impossible to tell she had additional clothing beneath it.

She also wore a bracelet gifted to her by the late duke. Outwardly, it appeared to be a simple silver bracelet set with an amethyst, but it was actually a magical artifact. The amethyst contained an extra-dimensional space capable of holding a considerable number of items.

It could store the equivalent of an entire carriage’s worth of goods, yet the bracelet’s weight remained unchanged regardless of its contents. Inside, Lavinia had stored two bags of gold coins and some unsold jewels.

“Hmm…”

After hesitating briefly, Lavinia opened her safe and added the jewels she had brought for “appearance’s sake” into the bracelet. These were jewels she had kept when moving into the palace to avoid arousing suspicion that a noblewoman of her status had arrived without any valuables.

The safe itself would remain locked until her escape was confirmed. Opening the safe’s door wouldn’t be easy in the first place.

While it would have been convenient to store the scroll in the bracelet as well, the bracelet was a well-known artifact of the Wendell family. She worried that someone might grow curious and investigate its contents, so she kept the scroll on her person instead. It was the most crucial item for her escape.

“And…”

She also packed scissors, a few changes of clothes, and hair dye disguised as medicine, intending to cut and dye her hair when she fled.

Additionally, she included a box containing mementos of her loved ones and items given to her by her grandfather during her childhood. She packed various supplies she thought might be necessary for a long journey.

After inspecting her dressing room and bedroom to ensure nothing was left behind, Lavinia calmed her pounding heart. The thought of finally leaving made her chest feel like it would burst.

“It’s fine. I can do this.”

When Lavinia stepped out of her room, ready for her outing, the maids appeared startled. They hadn’t expected her to dress on her own without saying anything.

“Lady Lavinia, where are you going?”

“…I’m going out. It’s been a month, so I’m allowed to leave today.”

Lavinia replied as she glanced lightly at the maids. Knowing that this outing would be her chance to escape the palace, she had intentionally kept only spiteful and mean-spirited maids around her.

“It’s best if you come with me. Be ready in ten minutes.”

The maid she addressed hesitated, but when Lavinia’s gaze turned cold, she hurried to prepare. While the maid got ready, Lavinia selected the guards who would accompany her. These were men rumored to have committed offenses, such as assaulting commoner soldiers or harassing maids and attendants.

During her month in the harem and Hyacinth Palace, Lavinia had taken the time to verify these rumors. The maid accompanying her today had previously blackmailed a fellow maid over an affair with a steward, driving the maid to suicide.

“Lady Lavinia, the carriage is ready.”

An attendant informed her. Lavinia headed for the carriage with the selected maid. One of the other maids looked at Lavinia hesitantly.

“Lady Lavinia, shouldn’t we inform His Majesty? If you’re not here when he returns, he may become very angry.”

“Why would His Majesty care about me? He’s a busy man with plenty of work. Even if I’m gone, it won’t matter to him. After all, I’m just one among many concubines.”

Lavinia replied curtly, lifting the hem of her dress as she exited the Hyacinth Palace. The maids exchanged bewildered glances behind her.

Lavinia might have been just another concubine to anyone else, but to the emperor, she was the favored one. He had even granted her her own palace, and it was obvious he would come looking for her the moment his meeting ended.

In front of the Hyacinth Palace, a royal carriage awaited. Lavinia accepted the knight’s hand and stepped into the carriage, followed by the maid, who seemed puzzled by the situation. Lavinia’s usual distance from her made the choice particularly strange.

“Shall we depart?”

“Yes.”

At Lavinia’s command, the maid signaled the coachman, and the carriage began moving briskly toward the palace’s grand gates.

＊ ＊ ＊