I Raised Snow White!

32. Promise with the Queen

[Episode 32] – Promise with the Queen

“Have a drink with her daughter-in-law, Your Highness.”

“…Are you crazy?”

At my request to have a drink together, the Queen Mother frowned, turned her head away, and waved her hand as if telling her to go away. I tried to ignore the action and settled down in the empty seat next to her queen mother.

Ignoring the queen staring at me as she consumed all her arrogance, I sat down and poured her wine into her empty glass, which she especially liked, and offered it to her.

Looking at the brand of her wine, the queen clicked her tongue and took the glass I handed her to her and drank from it. Looking at that, I filled my glass with wine and took a sip.

As the bitter liquid ran down her throat, she frowned involuntarily. Why do you use this wine? It doesn’t even taste good, but it was extremely bitter.

“Isn’t it delicious?”

“…Honestly, I don’t think it’s my taste.”

“What is a guy who doesn’t even know how to drink…”

Perhaps she was dissatisfied with me for not knowing the taste of alcohol, the queen put the wine I poured into her mouth and exhaled her nostrils.

Unknowingly, I burst into admiration at the image of the Queen Mother emptying her cup of bitter and tasteless alcohol, unlike me, without changing a single expression on her face.

As I was sipping a glass of wine to empty it, the Queen Mother looked at me blankly and then drank the wine in one breath and let out a deep sigh.

“…A silence order was issued regarding the body of the first queen found in her majesty’s room.”

“Yes? Ah yes. I did that because I thought nothing good would happen if rumors spread.”

The queen mother’s words reminded me of the time when I entered the room of the servant in the corner of the room. Aurora’s corpse tumbled under the canvas. Come to think of it, she hadn’t seen Aurora since she became a fairy.

Did she die like Sylphy said? I didn’t want to care as long as it didn’t hurt me. Either the two really became one, or the King was dead and left in shock and went somewhere other than here.

The Queen Mother looked at the empty wine glass and let out a deep sigh.

“…Yes, when the king goes mad, he turns to the queen’s corpse. Thank you for handling it well.”

“Yes?”

For a moment, she thought she had heard it wrong, but the queen looked at me with a disgusted expression and handed out an empty glass. It meant drinking, not talking.

“It looks like your ears are blocked.”

“Whoops, no. I hear you.”

When I answered while pouring myself a drink, the Queen Mother clicked her tongue. Now, to some extent, he seemed to know what kind of person the queen mother was. She wonders if alcohol is the answer to getting close with people.

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As she was drinking so quietly, the queen’s lady-in-waiting brought out various side dishes, saying that drinking without side dishes would damage her body. Cheese and sausage, snacks that go well with wine in moderation.

So I took her cheese and put it in her mouth. The Queen Mother wondered if she had praised her once, should she curse at least once? She clicked her tongue and glared at me.

“By the way, why are you like that during meetings?”

“Yes?”

“Unusually, it was pitiful to see the old people clinging to each other. Didn’t you do half of what you did to me?”

The Queen Mother, who picked up a side dish and put it in her mouth to chew, looked at me annoyed. Even if I ask why I did it during the meeting… To be honest, I didn’t know how to act at that time was the correct answer.

No matter how many excuses he made, it didn’t work for the foreign minister. Under the pressure of the Foreign Minister, who complains about everything, opposes everything, and says no to everything, I can only appeal to my emotions.

And, in the first place, at the meeting that decided on my treatment, there was no way I could be indifferent to the ministers, who are the leaders of this country and members of the Council of Elders.

They were gentle puppies in front of the queen,

Because he was like a beast in front of me.

“…How can I do that at a gathering of leading figures in this country? Your Highness, the Queen Mother, is overestimating me. I think I got my subject right on the spot.”

“Is it your subject that a member of the royal family is being seduced by nobles? Do you want to say that being a maid and licking my feet are your subjects as the queen of this country?”

Being royalty…

Surely, ‘Vivian’ was the royalty of this country.

However, I did not receive the royal family’s ‘surname’, and even rumors were not good. To be honest, in this royal castle, it seemed that there would be no people other than the maids under me who would consider me as royalty and follow me.

I took a sip of the bitter wine and frowned at the taste. Then the Queen Mother, who was looking at her, clicked her tongue in annoyance and turned her head away from me.

“Did you just throw away your self-esteem after coming back to life? I really hate to see you.”

“Me, Your Highness?”

She was surprised by her words that she didn’t want to look like her, and when she turned her head and looked at the queen, the queen didn’t want to look at me. That she had abandoned her self-esteem… So what on earth was I supposed to do there?

They have already made up their minds to expel me, and they have reason enough to expel me from the palace. It was to the point where I thought it was strange that I wasn’t kicked out even when I thought about it.

Didn’t even the Queen Mother try to kick me out at that meeting? She said that she would send her letter to the temple, and that she would take care of her property. But even if she suddenly says that she has lost her self-esteem, that she doesn’t want to look like…

Is it because of the drunkenness?

Feeling somewhat moved, I asked the Queen Mother with her choking voice.

“Then what should I have done there? Everyone is trying to kick me out together, so what’s the use of me even if I shout at them and respond to them there?”

“What?”

“You said you lost your self-esteem. Yes, I came back to life and let go of my self-esteem. In order to stay by the princess’s side for as long as possible, I’m going to throw away all my remaining self-esteem.”

I felt like I was choking on the words I had unknowingly said, so I gulped down the wine remaining in the glass. Momentarily, as I wrapped my head around her head, the queen looked at me with a bitter expression.

“…She said she wanted to be someone the princess could rely on.”

“Yes, Your Highness.”

“Then, start by picking up the self-esteem you threw away. Even if it is confirmed that you will leave the castle, until then you are the ‘queen’ of this country. She won’t be seen creeping up on the nobles again.”

“……”

“What will the princess learn from seeing you now? Did the queen, whose self-esteem hit rock bottom, say she would become a maid and make her learn to cringe? Or did she intend to make the princess her maid?”

Tsk, the Queen Mother clicked her tongue and looked at the empty wine glass with a bitter expression.

At the words of the queen, she somehow felt as if a hammer had hit her head. In shock, I burst out laughing knowing what I had done wrong.

Because she didn’t get a royal surname, because she’s going to be kicked out of here anyway, because she doesn’t have a good reputation and nobody thinks Vivian is a queen. Could it be that she was too buried in that thought?

I was so lost in my thoughts that I seemed to have forgotten the most important thing. She seemed so absorbed in the thought of being with the princess that she had no idea what the princess would learn from seeing me.

I smiled bitterly as I refilled the queen mother’s empty wine glass.

“…I had a short thought.”

“Tsk, I just need to know.”

The queen let out a deep sigh and said no more. I didn’t ask any more, I just tilted my glass together. Maybe it was because of the cool night breeze that blew in, and I laughed without knowing it.

When time passes for a while, and the night wind blows away some of the alcohol. The Queen Mother cleared her throat and looked at me.

“Are you well prepared for the princess’s birthday party next month?”

“The princess is difficult to dance… But other than that, I am preparing well. The dressmaker sent by Her Highness the Queen Mother said that her dress would be sent soon. When the dress arrives, she will visit you with the princess.”

“All right. You can look at the princess’s dress at the party.”

I wondered if the princess’s birthday party would be postponed or canceled because of the king’s death, but the queen mother did not postpone the princess’s birthday party. Rather, since it is a time like this, she nailed it, telling her to prepare in the most splendid way.

Come to think of it, it’s already been a month and a little bit of time until the princess’s birthday party. The princess’s dance is still the same, but let’s worry about what to do with her-

The Queen Mother met her eyes with mine and suddenly said to me.

“Your name for the princess.”

“…..Yes?”

At that moment, she almost dropped the wine glass she was holding.

What is the name of my princess? Of course, since the queen mother acted as the regent, it was assumed that the queen mother would name the princess. When I looked at the queen bewildered, the queen sighed and continued her words.

“Why, don’t you like it? How can someone like me ever again dirty my ears with the sound of low self-esteem, what is the name of a princess?”

“Oh, no. It’s not like that-“

“No. Tsk.”

Actually, I couldn’t really say no. The moment I heard the story, I wondered if it was really okay for me to name the princess.

And I knew how much the princess wanted her own ‘name’. Is it okay if I just build what I so desperately want?

After pondering for a while, the queen mother clicked her tongue and looked at me pathetically, then shook her head. Even if I said that, as if I was really pathetic for acting as if I had no self-esteem.

“Originally, a child’s name is given by the ‘parents’.”

“……”

“From my point of view, it seems that the current ‘parent’ of the princess is you, not me.”

“I am… The princess’s ‘parent’…”

…I was just going to be content with being in charge of the princess’ education.

I had no intention of becoming the princess’ parents. No matter how much the princess longed for the love of a ‘parent’ she had never received, I wasn’t sure if I would be able to take care of it.

I just want to become someone who can be depended on by the princess. In my opinion, ‘persons who can be relied on’ did not include ‘parents’. I thought of him as just a friend, like a teacher…

As I was hesitating, the Queen Mother put her cup in her hand down on her table.

f*ck!

He blew a beetle on my forehead. As I stared at the queen in her sudden pain and put her question mark on her head, the queen stared at me in disgust.

“Ugly things. You make a lot of money. She said that she wanted to be a dependence on the princess, and wasn’t that what she said to be the ‘parent’ of the princess?”

“I-I’m like that…”

“The only people a child can trust and rely on are their parents. It is no different than saying that you would become the princess’s parents from the moment you thought so. Stop thinking about useless things and think about the name of the princess.”

“This, can’t you give me some time to think…? Even if you suddenly ask me to think of the princess’s name, nothing comes to mind…”

Actually there are, but…

I pleaded with the Queen Mother, wrapping my aching forehead with her hands. Then the Queen Mother let out a small sigh and resolutely drew her line.

“I’ll give you two weeks. Before that, come find me and tell me the name of the princess.”

“I will…”

As I bowed her head, the queen waved her hand, saying that she had nothing more to say to me, and that she would get out of here quickly. I quickly got up from my seat, thinking that if I stayed longer, it would only be a good night.

The moment I turned the doorknob to leave the terrace, the queen consort called me to stop me.

“Queen.”

“Yes, Your Highness.”

“Just make one ‘promise’ with me.”

When I suddenly tilted her head at the word promise, the Queen Mother rested her chin on her chin as if contemplating what to say for a moment, glanced at me, and continued her words.

“Take care of the princess with affection as her parents, enough to forget the wounds she suffered from her majesty and her first queen. Never again cry like at a funeral. Can you do it?”

At the word ‘promise’, I just smiled.

It was a ‘request’ from the guardian rather than a ‘promise’. I don’t know if I’ll be able to do well as the princess’s parent, but my work for the princess hasn’t changed.

“I will try to do that.”

“…Okay, that’s all right. Let me go.”

With those words at the end, I nodded to the queen and left the terrace. The Queen Mother was busy refilling her empty glass, probably trying to drink more after leaving me.

As I came out of the terrace, the queen’s lady-in-waiting looked at me with a puzzled expression for some reason. Then he came close to me with gunfire and whispered in my ear in a small voice.

“…? What? The princess is going away…?”

*

After the funeral, the time when Vivian entered the meeting.

The princess walked down the hallway with a sad expression and was heading to her room. Whether Obama was really dead or not, it still didn’t feel real. It seemed as if he was walking in her dream, floating beneath his feet.

As I walked around the hallway, I heard the chatter of the maids at the end of the hallway. The princess, who usually received sweets from the maids, unconsciously moved her steps to the place where the maids were.

As the princess approached her chattering maids at the end of her hallway, the maids, unaware that the princess was by their side, kept talking about her.

“In the end, is Her Highness the Queen going to leave the palace?”

“Well… Why don’t you leave? Since she was not given a ‘surname’… The head maid said that this has happened many times throughout history as well. Every time it happens, in this case, eventually…”

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“To think that Her Highness is leaving the palace makes me feel sad… In the past, she would never have thought of this. Right?”

“You mean… You mean…?”

Her maid turned her head at the gaze she felt beneath her own feet. Then, seeing the face of her princess standing in thought behind her own back, her maid couldn’t keep her mouth shut.

She couldn’t say anything, not even the maid who chattered beside him, her speechless expression at the sight of her princess. She came to her senses and tried to make an excuse, but her princess spoke faster than her maid.

“What do you mean?”

“Go, princess… That’s not it…”

The princess looked at the maids with empty eyes. With the death of Obama, the princess, who had no more emotions left to grieve, didn’t know what to do with her feelings of futility.

She just opened her eyes wide and looked up at the maids with eyes asking if what she was hearing was true. The maids didn’t know what to do and covered their mouths, but the princess had already heard them clearly.

The princess shook her head and trudged back to her room, turning her back from her maids.

“Her Highness the Queen is leaving…”

A tear fell down the princess’s cheek as she repeated her words. Tears and feelings that she thought would never come out after crying all day, the princess ran into her room and locked the door.

I told no one to enter the room.

He said he would never leave this place again.

The princess declared that.