Wanting to continue my life in peace, I decided, “I think it would be better not to read it.
In response, Max slightly furrowed his eyebrows and asked, “What makes you say that?”
“Oh, it’s just… It might have bad words written about me, you know?”
“Has anyone done such a thing in the past?” he asked back in a suddenly grave tone, his expression slightly hardening. Nevertheless, his usual frightening aura when he would speak in this manner was mitigated by the pigeon resting on his hand—not to mention, the bird was resting peacefully with its eyes closed! The strange picture before me prompted me to wonder if the two had somehow befriended each other in such a short time.
“I asked you a question,” Max demanded just then, his menacing voice bringing me back to reality from my thoughts.
“Well, not really… But as you know, many people hate me.” After the royal banquet earlier in the day, I had learned that—due to the atrocities I had caused in the past—some people still found me abominable no matter how hard I tried. I couldn’t help but think pessimistically. No one had even dared to strike a conversation with me except for the ladies from the tea tasting party, and I had not received a single request for a dance. I had no intention for such menial things to affect my mood greatly, but the lack of social interaction I experienced during a grand event was a bitter confirmation of my awful reputation among the nobles.
“Still, why don’t you just check to see what’s written? It could be someone who really wants to talk to you,” Max suggested then, reminding me of someone.
‘Could it be… Bea?’
Bea did not get along with her family. Thus, it would have been a stretch to have an official letter delivered by a servant as doing so would mean that her family would immediately find out about our acquaintance. Thinking that ignoring the message would wound her fragile heart, I took deep breaths to calm down and asked, “Could you hand me the note?”
Without hesitation, Max unwrapped the piece of paper on the pigeon’s leg and handed it over to me. Afraid that the bird might go wild, I kept my eyes on the creature as I received the message in my hand. Closing my eyes, I told myself that the letter was not a threat and was simply an innocent message from someone I had befriended today.
“Don’t worry so much about it. I’m sure it’s good news,” Max chimed in as if to affirm my thoughts. I looked up at him in surprise at the kind gesture, then I ended up smiling from what I saw before me. I couldn’t take him seriously when there was a pigeon peacefully nested in his hand. In any case, I took a few more deep breaths before deciding to open the note.
‘It is true that I am too self-deprecating and conscious of what others think at times.’
Hoping this may be good news like Max had said, I plucked up my courage and unfolded the piece of paper.
‘Maximillian Casein Assiette?’ my eyes widened in astonishment at the first thing I saw on the left uppermost corner of the note. The crown prince had sent a carrier pigeon to me. Although I was trembling in fear, my eyes automatically moved to the contents of the message only to experience the feeling of my blood going dry. It was indeed a short note as I had expected, but it contained an incomprehensible amount of meanings.
“I won’t kill you,” the note read. This made me realize that I had already done something death-penalty worthy in front of him. I tracked back to my actions during the banquet today, in denial of the fact that I was supposed to be receiving this message. I felt as if I was victimized for an unknown cause, but then the events at the dark abandoned room flashed before my eyes. I had broken into the suspicious room that had appeared to be a prohibited area, I had stopped the crown prince from approaching Bea and even talked back to him, and lastly, I had shown unladylike behavior by tripping and falling while he was escorting me!
Ordinary people might have let such things go, but these things must have given the lunatic crown prince an excuse to murder me! I was lamenting over my complacent behavior at the royal event when I heard an innocent voice from beside me.
“What do you think? I was right, wasn’t I?”
Frowning, I glared at the man smiling with the pigeon still in his hand. This was not anything close to good news but a threat as I had expected. The crown prince went through the trouble of warning me via a private message, which meant that I was dead meat in his eyes!
‘He must now be waiting for me to make a slight mistake so he can behead me. That means I need to come up with a plan to not be seen at the coronation ceremony in two weeks!’
Sponsored Content
