My Fiancee Was the Villainess of This World

21 – Distancing (2)

As usual, after finishing my morning training and eating, the lady-in-waiting gave me very important information.

“What? Didn’t Martin come to visit today?”

That ghostly man skips class on his own?

It was an incredible story.

“Has there been any contact?”

I brought Priscilla to the imperial castle over the weekend.

She sent Martin a letter of understanding in advance that she would miss classes on Monday, as she was quite a mess.

I must have written in the letter that I needed only one day on Monday….

“Yes, Your Highness.”

It’s a strange thing.

Martin is a talented person who is trusted by the chancellor.

There is no way I would make such a mistake, since I am trusted by the chancellor who raises his eyes at the slightest fairy tale….

In particular, Martin promised to introduce me to the exchange meeting this week.

There’s no way he would take his promise to the imperial family lightly.

I had no choice but to figure out that this meant that a major accident had occurred in his life.

“Tell me with your nature. Martin’s whereabouts are unknown.”

“Yes, Your Highness.”

‘I hope nothing special happens.’

For some reason, I put my uneasy feelings behind and took out the schedule that Martin had prepared just in case.

Then I slowly proceeded to study according to the schedule he left behind.

……

…

Martin was concerned that my concentration would suffer if I had to do self-study.

So, whenever I needed self-study, I would always include one topic that would interest me.

Thanks to that, I was engrossed in the story, and before I knew it, it was time for morning tea time.

Smart.

─ Mr. Maximilian, I will serve you some tea.

It was Priscilla.

“Okay, come in.”

Priscilla wasn’t that different from morning.

As if nothing had happened.

Dalgak.

Priscilla, who gave her tea, is waiting with her hands together.

It was a position to serve tea in an empty cup at any time.

“Priscilla, sit down.”

“Maximilian-sama, do you be ashamed of yourself?”

“It is an order.”

“… All right.”

It wasn’t until after Priscilla said that it was an order, that she sat across from me as usual.

It’s so strange.

It was said that the word handmaid was justification.

Why did she go so far as to fulfill her duties as a lady-in-waiting even though she told her to stay as usual?

‘… Was it uncomfortable?’

Did you want to keep your distance?

So you rely on the nice excuse of being a handmaid?

Unknowingly, I frowned.

“I don’t know why you are so obsessed with being a maid.”

This was not what I wanted from her as a lady-in-waiting.

I only wished for a relationship where she playfully teased her, saying, ‘Is that her behavior as a lady-in-waiting, Priscilla?’

However, she felt obsessed with her duties as a maid of honor.

Priscilla slipped away from my gaze and began to twitch her hands.

She was that slender and her figure wriggling with her beautiful hands was really untidy.

“….”

In the past, we would talk to each other while sitting face to face like this.

But why don’t you even talk to me now?

It was frustrating.

Are you still holding on to what happened in the morning?

Teatime, which was supposed to change your mood, actually ruins your mood.

“If you have any complaints, tell me clearly. It’s frustrating.”

When I said that, frowning her slightly displeasedly, Priscilla looked at me with a slightly embarrassed look, then she averted her gaze again.

“… No. The Hwangseong is giving me a gracious shade.”

But why are you trying to keep more distance?

“It has been done. Stop going now.”

I ordered Priscilla to leave the room after only one cup of her tea she had dropped her off.

Then Priscilla looked at me with a hard expression.

Tea time is basically 30 minutes to 1 hour.

But now, including the time we had tea, only about 10 minutes had passed.

This was a situation close to an obvious banquet.

“Go out.”

I don’t know why I feel so disturbed.

… I felt like I was being cursed by a witch.

“Yes, Maximilian….”

Priscilla slowly stood up from her seat, looking as if she was somehow lost.

That appearance again disturbed my heart.

‘… Was it too extreme?’

I don’t know.

I’m sure I didn’t feel this distance until yesterday….

‘Tsk, you brought up a pointless story.’

If that’s the case, I wouldn’t even mention becoming a handmaid.

“Whoa.”

Today, the tea in the Istrian Mountains felt strangely bitter.

***

Smart.

─ Mr. Maximilian. I’ll give you the car.

Priscilla also visited during afternoon tea time.

But after going through that in the morning, I didn’t feel like drinking tea that much.

Her head was confused and dizzy.

It seemed more beneficial to take a nap than tea time.

“It has been done. Go back.”

─ … All right.

The presence of people in front of the door is slowly moving away.

Then I felt like my fatigue was rapidly rising.

My body was strangely heavy.

“Haa….”

As time goes on, he is working on more and more extreme schedules.

To digest all of that, I also reduced my sleeping time to a minimum.

Nevertheless, my body is full of energy these days.

But today, for some reason, my head felt strangely heavy.

Kikik.

I opened the door to the study and walked down the hallway with a bit of speed.

Now I feel like I want to throw myself on the bed in my room as soon as possible.

Puffed up.

After returning to the room, I was too lazy to say goodbye, so I threw myself on the bed.

It’s been a long time since I closed my eyes when the sun was shining like this.

As I slowly closed my eyes with that thought in mind, I felt a faint presence in the next room.

Obviously, the next room was the waiting room for the lady-in-waiting to attend on me today.

Maybe Priscilla is in the room next to hers.

If you stretch out your hand, there is a guy within reach.

Now we can talk anytime without having to wait for the weekend.

Still, strangely, she felt more distant than before.

And the part where I couldn’t figure out the reason was the most nerve-wracking.

‘This cheeky witch….’

To make people’s hearts so disturbed in just one day.

A witch was indeed a witch.

I tried to close my eyes slowly while thinking that.

─ Miss Priscilla, are you all right?

Until I heard a conversation coming from the next room.

Why talk sound?

My consciousness, which had been drowning in a bottomless swamp, became clear.

Then, the invisible parts began to be recognized one by one.

The duvet I’m lying on now seems to have been cleaned by the ladies-in-waiting, and it felt even softer than in the morning.

Above all, the air in the room was pleasant.

I even felt a bit of a cool breeze there.

It seemed that the ladies-in-waiting were cleaning the room and leaving the window in the room open for ventilation.

Recently, I took private lessons from Martin in the study all the way until dinner.

So it felt like I had left the window open to ventilate the room, judging that I wouldn’t be visiting at this time.

And through that open window, I could hear the conversation from the next room.

‘This voice… Is it Annette?’

She was the most talkative maid in the Biryong Hall.

─ Yes, it’s okay.

There was strangely no energy in Priscilla’s voice when she said that.

─ I heard that Sir Martin broke his promise without permission today. Maybe that’s why His Highness didn’t have enough room in her heart?

Perhaps she was trying to comfort Priscilla, Annette made a little fuss.

─ Is that so?

Priscilla showed an ambiguous reaction to Annette’s words.

I don’t think so.

But somehow I wish it was like that.

It was a weak voice that seemed to contain such conflicting emotions.

─ You can’t always use her maid’s work as an excuse, Miss Priscilla….

─ I know. I know….

When Annette was done feeling decent, Priscilla tried to make her excuses in her downcast voice.

What do you mean, witch?

Just be honest.

I thought so and waited for Priscilla’s words.

─ I don’t know what to say… I don’t know….

Priscilla said as she squeezed it.

─ Every time our eyes meet… Just like this….

The sound gradually diminished and I couldn’t hear what he was saying anymore.

─ Ahhh, ah, ah!

Annette, who was so loud that you could hear it even with the windows closed, let out an even louder roar.

It was to the point of doubting whether that was the voice of a noble lady from a viscount’s family.

─ Ah, how can you be so lovely?!

Annette began to make a fuss about him with a sound close to screaming.

Noisy.

I can’t hear the witch’s voice… !

─ I don’t know because I haven’t experienced it yet, but I’ve heard that time will definitely solve it.

Annette said something as if giving some advice.

─ I don’t think so. Every time I face Maximilian-sama….

What do you mean?

─ Ugh, I think I did too. ‘Is the royal family funny?’ Ahhh….

Annette, who was making such a fuss, suddenly shut up.

─ Ah, ahahahaha…. It’s not that I’m aiming for Your Highness!

─ You said, ‘Are the imperial family funny?’.

─ Ah, ah, ah. Yes, I heard that.

… Yes, was it something like that?

Yes, that’s right.

I slowly got up from the bed and opened the door to make as little noise as possible.

Then, with the sound of my footsteps stilled, I headed for the study.

‘It’s amazing.’

In the end, I couldn’t sleep at all, but—

I felt strangely lighter in my body.