The Princeliest Prince of All - Chapter 23
Bang, bang, bang!
The loud knocking on the door woke Sera, who had been tossing and turning late into the night, feeling restless and uneasy.
Could it be that someone who didn’t know about the special maid’s vacation had come to wake her?
Sera pulled the thick blanket over her head.
“Sera Brandt!”
The angry voice of the head maid made Sera sit up abruptly.
Could it be that the prince’s schedule had changed and he was suddenly looking for her?
Sera hurriedly opened the door in her pajamas.
“W-What’s going on?”
“Pardon me, Miss Brandt.”
Pushing aside the perplexed head maid of the prince’s palace, a middle-aged woman barged into Sera’s room unceremoniously.
Following her, unfamiliar maids filed in one after another, filling the small room with women.
The stern gaze of the leading lady swept over the piles of clothes, gifts from the prince, scattered around the room.
Feeling a pang of guilt, Sera hunched her shoulders.
“Let’s get you ready immediately. Her Majesty the Empress is waiting.”
“…Huh?”
Sera’s eyes widened at the unexpected appearance of the inner palace’s highest authority.
The head maid of the empress’s palace looked at Sera with disapproval.
It was the empress’s command—why wasn’t she getting ready immediately instead of dawdling?
“Everyone, help her.”
At the command of the head maid of the empress’s palace, the maids from the empress’s palace swarmed around Sera.
“Wh-What’s going on, please tell me…!”
Sera struggled in confusion, but she couldn’t fend off so many women at once.
This seemed oddly familiar, as if it had happened not long ago.
Sera cast a desperate look at the head maid of the prince’s palace for help.
But even with the same rank, one’s position ultimately depended on their master’s power.
Despite Sera’s plea for help, the head maid of the prince’s palace could only fret and stomp her feet, unable to intervene.
The maids rummaged through Sera’s pile of clothes and selected a light pink dress.
In less than half an hour after getting out of bed, Sera was perfectly dressed to meet the empress.
“Why is Her Majesty… looking for me?”
“You will find out once you see her.”
Had the tail finally been caught after the petty theft?
Sera, anxious, darted her eyes around, but the stern-faced head maid offered no hint.
Instead, the head maid maintained a cold expression and tone while being almost excessively polite, making Sera uncomfortable.
Sera followed the head maid, who unnecessarily guided her to the empress’s palace, a place she already knew well.
With a trail of maids following like a string of sausages behind her.
It was a grand procession, as if a king were passing through.
From a distance, the empress’s palace looked extremely grand.
If the prince’s palace or the princess’s palace gave off a ‘Yep, this is a rofan world’ vibe, the empress’s palace screamed ‘entering here means death’ kind of desolation.
Sera arrived at the reception room with stiff, robotic steps.
“Miss Sera Brandt has arrived.”
To Sera, the head maid’s words sounded a bit different.
It felt like she was announcing, ‘We have brought the criminal Sera Brandt.’
If the empress were to accuse her of laying hands on the prince’s precious body, Sera could only argue that she was following orders.
But why did she have to go that far? She had no explanation for that.
If asked why she had guided the prince’s hand to her intimate parts, she would have even less to say.
“Come in.”
The empress’s voice was colder than the prince’s ever was.
When the head maid urged her to enter, Sera trembled as she moved her feet.
In front of the open terrace, there were a tea table and two plush armchairs.
The empress, her luscious red hair styled up and adorned with glittering accessories, gestured for Sera to approach.
With an imposing aura rivaling the Queen of Hearts, Sera hesitantly approached the table.
“Sera Brandt?”
“Yes, yes, Your Majesty!”
“Sit.”
The smooth command made Sera reflexively plop into the chair.
A maid, who was so still that Sera hadn’t noticed her presence, naturally approached and poured tea.
Sera, forced to hold a teacup at the empress’s gesture, sipped the bitter tea whose taste she still didn’t understand.
“I hear the prince’s condition has improved significantly.”
“Yes, yes!”
Sera put down the teacup and nodded vigorously.
Fortunately, it seemed the empress was interested in the progress of her duties as a special maid.
It was the one thing Sera could confidently speak about.
The empress, who had been looking at Sera with displeasure, spoke again.
“Answer only once.”
“Yes….”
Sera hunched her shoulders and screamed internally.
Scary!
It felt like she would be flogged for answering twice!
With a gesture as elegant as a scene from a movie, the empress lifted her teacup.
“The most important thing right now is the coronation. Until then, keep your mouth shut.”
Did this mean she should not speak about the prince’s condition to others?
It was good news, so spreading it around would be nice, but if a high-ranking person said to keep it quiet, there must be a reason.
Moreover, Sera didn’t have close friends to gossip about Leonard.
It had been hard enough to keep the secret when told to.
This time, Sera nodded confidently.
“Yes.”
A maid who had refilled the empress’s teacup now placed a stack of documents before her.
Sera suddenly felt like she was being interrogated at a police station.
She was the suspect, the empress was the detective, and the maid was the officer.
The genre had abruptly switched to crime.
“You’re the daughter of Baron Brandt.”
“Not the daughter, but the sister….”
The empress frowned and turned another page in the report.
With each line her eyes moved down, her expression grew colder.
Sera’s neck shrank back like a turtle’s.
What could be written there?
Sera Brandt made the prince faint, Sera Brandt fondled the prince’s private parts, Sera Brandt used the prince as mxstxrbation material… No!
