The Camellia Tattoo - Chapter 11
‧₊˚ ☁️⋅♡𓂃 ࣪ ִֶָ☾.
this book is completely translated on luna kofi (advanced chapters for the website will follow)
Jean’s mother was a wandering dancer who, with the help of a criminal organization, approached the Viscount, pretending to be a noble lady, and had a child.
The Haleway family, well-known for their scholars, was easily deceived as they were naive and lacked worldly knowledge. So the plan to extort money using the child was initially successful. However, due to a twist of fate, her true identity was caught and she was imprisoned for fraud.
It was there that the dancer gave birth to Jean.
Whether it was Jean’s inherently antisocial nature or the cynicism inherited from his mother, he grew up extremely twisted. Perhaps learning various criminal methods from numerous prisoners played a significant role.
According to the law, a child born to an inmate can leave society when they turn fifteen. As soon as Jean left the common prison, he immediately swindled someone who seemed ‘fairly well-off.’ It happened to be Igmeyer, who had just founded the mercenary group.
Starting with that beating, Jean followed Igmeyer closely from that point on. Over time, the mercenary group grew, and they became like brothers.
Jean, who had grown up in such a close-knit group, found the princess who had lived a wealthy and happy life coming amidst them quite unwelcome.
It wasn’t a love marriage, and she wasn’t even a wife chosen willingly; the Emperor had forced her into the position. Jean couldn’t quite accept the princess as the Madam of this Niflheim.
He thought Igmeyer might share similar sentiments.
‘Did I make a mistake…’
With a deep sigh, Jean turned back towards the castle.
As Igmeyer and the knights left the castle, snow began to fall heavily from the night sky.
As if covering everyone, the next day the Lord’s Castle was blanketed in pure white snow.
Amber, who had been troubled by various dreams, opened her eyes at a time when the sun had already passed its zenith.
‘If I had my maids here, they would have awakened me.’
Amber liked waking up feeling the sunlight gently touching her cheeks. Starting the day like that made her feel extremely happy, and she had a positive feeling that everything would go well.
‘…Well, this isn’t bad either.’
When Amber opened her eyes alone, the world she saw through the curtains was completely covered in new snow.
For a while, Amber stared outside absentmindedly and then, holding her sore back, she pulled the cord. Then she heard a clattering sound in the corridor, and someone opened the door wide.
“Have you woken up! It’s an honor to serve the Princess! I’ve been waiting for your call!”
…A Golden Retriever?
For a moment, Amber remembered the puppy she received as a gift on her tenth birthday. It was so gentle and cute, but unfortunately, died early due to illness.
The maid in front of her right now looked so much like how that puppy might have turned out if it became a human.
But… the one who served her before her regression wasn’t this maid.
“Thank you for waking up late! The morning shift sisters have just finished, so I can attend to the Princess! I work from 6 PM to 6 AM!”
Ah, her waking time was different, so the maid who came in was different too.
By the way, the afternoon shift, huh.
“I wonder if there are no resident maids.”
“Resident maid? Ah! Are you talking about Grandma Greta? Huh, but could this be… Is it the Grand Duke’s cloak?!”
It was too noisy, so she just nodded, and then the maid screamed.
“Oh my goodness! He must have given it to protect the Princess! I heard that this cloak bears the blessing of the High Priest!”
“…The blessing of the High Priest?”
She murmured absentmindedly, and the Golden Retriever-like maid nodded vigorously.
“Yes! Only those who have been with the Knights since the early days of the Mercenary Corps have this cloak.”
Swoosh. Amber quietly grasped the cloak flowing down from her chest.
It looked like ordinary material on the outside. The emblem of the Frost Giant embroidered in the center was also old and frayed.
If she hadn’t heard the explanation, she wouldn’t have known that this was such an important memento.
‘I really had no interest in him.’
To think that she didn’t know about this. A bitter smile naturally came out.
“Would you like to have a meal first? Or would you like to take a bath first? Ah! Can I comb your hair?”
The maid, with her reddish-brown hair neatly braided in two, really behaved like a puppy. It felt like she was being pushed aside in her enthusiasm, but it wasn’t bad.
The Emperor of Asgarden declared that she couldn’t bring a single maid with her.
He said that bringing something from her hometown to Niflheim would make it even more difficult to adapt, but secretly investigated that it was also because of a divine command from a priestess.
[‘A child born between the noble lady from the land of plenty and the man ruling the land of frost, will exterminate the evil dragon!’]
Within the next 30 years, Nidhogg will rampage and Asgarden will fall.
That was the prophecy Asgarden’s priestess claimed to have received… Looking back now, it didn’t seem entirely wrong.
Nidhogg, who killed both Igmeyer and her, surely headed for the capital.
