The Princess is Going on Strike - Chapter 9
Chapter 9
The Imperial Banquet is held once every 3 years and is celebrated similar to how the Founding Day is celebrated. Despite not falling on the same date, these two were always held together which is why the size of the banquet was quite grand. During this time, the Capital City held a festival during the day and night time which caused many foriegn envoys to come and celebrate. This year’s banquet was particularly special as it was the first to be held immediately after the Crown Prince became an adult, thus many local nobles have expressed their intention to attend because of the vacant seat of the Crown Princess. As a result, many young ladies will wear fancier dresses like a peacock with bright colors, which will cause bright fabrics to be in high demand in the cities and the countryside. In contrast, dark colored fabrics weren’t popular, which was what I chose to wear since there was no need for me to bring attention to myself by wearing bright colors. I honestly did feel that being the only one wearing a dark color amongst the bright colored dresses would stand out more, but then I remembered that I’d be wearing my mask, so I’d stand out despite what I wore. Therefore, it was better to wear dark colored dress in order to blend into the shadows better. I was even tempted to wear pants instead of a dress, but quickly abandoned that thought since it would draw too much attention.
With a sigh, I looked out the window of the carriage I was riding alone. It would take the entire day to reach the location of the banquet within the Capital City. It would normally take people two days to enter the city during this time, but for the Brixia Family, being a high aristocratic family, there was no wait time. The tightly closed city gate opened with a wave of the driver’s hand. It might’ve been crowded outside of the gate, but inside was complete havoc. The streets were full of people, nobles and commoners, trying to find accommodation. The high aristocratic families would normally find lodging through connections within the Capital City or stay in another noble’s estate, but lower and middle class nobles had to find accommodation on their own. But the Brixia Family were unlike other noble families and stayed in a very special place.
“Welcome. The servant shall take care of your carriages. The Duchess, Princesses, and Young Master will be escorted to their living quarters. As for Your Grace, His Majesty has summoned you as soon as you arrive.”
“Mm.”
Oledin nodded as if he had expected as much and stroked his mustache. The Brixia Family were given an annex located inside of the Imperial Palace, worthy of their family name. I recalled being amazed at the size and space of the palace every time I came to visit, but now that I’m back, it felt a bit uncomfortable.
Leaving my family behind, I picked up my own bag and turned around. I’m sure they assigned me a room in the same general area as the family, so I decided to choose a different room in order to avoid being annoyed. After moving to the opposite direction of the area where my room was originally assigned, I grabbed a passing maid. Her eyes widened in surprise after seeing my mask then bowed her head.
“May I help you?”
“This room is empty, right?”
The maid glanced at the room I pointed to and gave a perplexed expression.
“That room hasn’t been prepared. Of course, it is cleaned regularly, but it is not fully furnished to accommodate noble guests-”
“It’s fine. As long as it’s not a room someone else uses.”
“Ah, uh…”
I turned my body to leave but looked back at the maid after she called out to me. I was used to seeing people flinching as they looked at me.
It’s nothing new, anyway.
I can see her shifting her eyes around trying to find the words to speak when she finally opened her mouth.
“Th-there isn’t a maid assigned to that room, so…”
“I don’t need one.”
“But…”
The young maid standing in front of me probably knew which family was using this palace, and who I was. To others, I was nothing but a monster.
“But?”
“We’ll be reprimanded if it was revealed that we did not serve a lady of a noble family…..”
I stared at the maid as the words she spoke got quieter.
So she’s worried that she’s worried that they’ll get in trouble if they neglect me, right?
This was something that shouldn’t have been mentioned in front of a noble, but I still liked how she had the courage to express her intentions clearly. She changed her expression to one of confidence. I recalled the number of servants brought along with the Brixia Family before speaking.
“Your name.”
“Pardon?”
“What’s your name?”
“Ah, it’s Alissa.”
“Alissa. Okay, then let’s do this. Tell them that you’re in charge of my room and serving me. If you do that, then that will ensure that you and the other maids will be safe, right? But that does not mean you actually have to be responsible for me. I can do things on my own, you see. If I need help, then I will call for you, alright?”
“Then what about being served…?”
“I don’t need to be served. Ah, just make sure to bring me my meal at the proper time. I will most likely stay in this room for the duration of the visit, so come and find me if you need anything.”
I smiled at her behind my mask as she nodded with a sullen expression. I opened the door, placed my bag inside, then turned around.
“You can go now. I’ll take care of the rest.”
“I understand.”
Alissa bowed to take her leave while I gave her a light dismissal, went into the room, and turned on the light. Although the room wasn’t prepared to receive guests, it was still clean.
I can’t believe she said this was a room that wasn’t being managed.
I couldn’t help but laugh in disbelief. The first thing I did was unpack my bag and hang my dress in the wardrobe. Dresses weren’t normally moved and handled like this, but since it was dark in color it was hard to see the wrinkles; which could later be ironed out by hand. Next, I placed my books, papers, and pen on the desk, then changed my clothes before sitting down. My location may have changed, but what needed to be done was still the same.
Regalius Tome: FYI, we changed the format for speech and thoughts that took place in the past with bold face type rather than surrounding it with brackets.