Goddess Kingmaker – Chapter 12

Author: Chewyy

“Okay, put on your clothes first. Right, raise your head.…Oh my, it looks like someone else has arrived!”

“Huh?”

The maids had already come by earlier, so there shouldn’t be any more visitors today.

If a guest comes suddenly like this without any notice…

“Could it be His Majesty?”

“Huh?”

“It must be His Majesty. Who else could enter the palace so freely if not him?”

Just like Roen’s fuss, the maids only went to the front yard and did not go inside.

Rumors must have spread about what happened to Parma last time, so there was no reason—or authority—for them to risk stepping inside.

The sound of footsteps heading towards the door gradually came closer.

“You mustn’t fall asleep today. His Majesty has to see this adorable—.”

“That one?”

The voice of the guest who appeared, trampling on Roen’s expectations, was loud and proud.

“Even though His Majesty personally brought her here, she is only in the Layton Palace.”

“As if His Majesty truly cared. He probably had no choice since they insisted the child belonged to Duke Targa.”

She didn’t even come alone.

Beside the elegantly dressed woman, a maid in a gray uniform bowed excessively.

“Your Highness the Grand Duchess, you were also there that night, weren’t you?”

“Yes. It was such a commotion in the middle of the night.”

‘Grand Duchess?’

That arrogant face looked familiar.

Then, a memory from the distant past surfaced—she had been present, though barely visible, at the Duke of Berk’s Mansion.

Standing just behind her husband, the third prince, Grand Duke Erno.

“I greet Your Highness the Grand Duchess. I am the maid serving the—!”

“How insolent! Do you have any idea who stands before you!”

Roen rushed forward to greet the unexpected guest, but the Grand Duchess’s maid sharply scowled.

Bowing her head instantly, Roen hesitated, nervously biting her lips.

“I’m sorry, Your Highness.”

“……”

The Grand Duchess didn’t even glance at her, let alone a response.

Judging from her arrogant attitude, as if to say, ‘You and I are of different races,’ it seemed that she was uncomfortable with the very act of talking to a lowly maid like Roen.

‘That woman!’

‘She was my sister! My only family!’

With nothing left to hold onto, I clenched my fists tightly. But the Grand Duchess approached me, raising one eyebrow.

“So, His Majesty came all the way here just to see… this.”

She didn’t treat me like a human being either.

“He never once visited our Harmel and Thebes first.”

“…….”

So that’s what she’s angry about.

She scrutinized me like an animal in a zoo, yet she had no intention of touching me.

As if I carried some disease, she quietly pulled out a handkerchief and covered her mouth.

“But seeing His Majesty leave it here, I can’t say he truly cherishes it.”

“Of course, Your Highness. How could this unknown child ever compare to the Young Masters?”

“That goes without saying.”

The Grand Duchess seemed to feel much better after hearing the maid’s words. At that point, the maid tried to please her a little more.

“His Majesty granted the Young Masters Clayton Palace, even though they only use it for occasional royal visits. But this child, whom he brought personally, is locked away in a place like this. Doesn’t it resemble a lion’s cage?”

“Well, since My children are also the bloodline of the Marquis of Milos, His Majesty can’t just disregard them.”

“Of course. Your brother, Marquis Milos, is the commander of the Royal Knights. How could the bloodline of such a man ever be compared to that of a child from a brothel?”

“….Well, that’s true.”

The Grand Duchess’s mood lifted even further. The corners of her lips twitched as if she wanted to smirk.

‘Are they insane?’

Just because I was a child who couldn’t speak yet, they talked as if I weren’t even there.

Unable to bring herself to intervene, Roen, with a sad face, wandered behind me, trying to draw my attention away.

There was no hope in her clear eyes, as if she was saying, ‘Baby, don’t listen to such words.’

“Mother! How could you leave without telling me!”

“Thebes!”

“Did Mother come here alone to catch ghosts? My brother said this is a palace where ghosts appear!”

“……”

‘Did you watch “Gonjiam” too?’

I looked at the boy who had barged into someone else’s palace without permission, just like his mother.

The boy who had ‘He’s a brat’ written all over his face was so rude from the start that I thought he might be just like his mother.

“Then this kid must be the ghost! A baby ghost?”

“Oh my, a ghost? You’re too much, oh-hahaha.”

“As expected, Young Master Thebes has such a great sense of humor.”

The three of them laughed and clapped at the insignificant words.

At first, I thought the Grand Duchess just disliked children in general. But no, she only disliked other people’s children.

“Have you been looking for me?”

“Mother!”

“Harmel! Are you here too?”

Another boy stormed in. He looked one or two years older than his younger brother.

I thought that the mother and the younger brother were both amazing, but the older brother? He was on another level.

“Thebes, do you want to die by my hand? You dare break my toy and run away!”

“Who do you think you are, yelling at me? You should just die!”

“……”

Wow. What a couple of little punks.

Did he just threaten his brother’s life in front of his mother?

Instead of clicking my tongue, I bit my lips and shook my head.

Actually, if that were to happen, it wouldn’t be such a bad thing for me.

If my father’s rivals’ sons were to kill each other, they would automatically be eliminated from the line of succession.

‘That’s great!’

Honestly, if they were sane, I wouldn’t have thought this. But looking at their appearance, they’re the kind of kids who would die at the hands of anyone before they become adults.

While I was busy entertaining that thought, their hostility suddenly turned toward me.

“Hey, why are you laughing! It’s annoying!”

“Huh?”

“Mother! Isn’t this the monster girl?”

Oh, really?

I was speechless at Thebes, who reached out with his index finger as if to press my forehead.

Who was barging into whose palace right now? The way he acted so shamelessly was incredibly arrogant.

“Her eyes are red too! Must be because she’s a monster’s daughter!”

“Ugh, so creepy.”

Thanks to me, the two brothers finally had the same opinion.

If they had a normal mother, she would have scolded them—”You can’t say things like that!”—but I never expected that from her.

“Now that I think about it, her eye color really is ominous, like blood.”

Their mother was the type of person who wouldn’t just let things slide—if anything, she would make them worse.

“Harmel, Thebes. You two should stay away from her. Since you’re here with your father, you’ll be staying in the Imperial Palace for a week. If you make a fuss and get on His Majesty’s bad side, what will you do?”

“Mother, you always told us never to cower before anyone!”

“That’s right!”

“That’s something that will naturally happen over time… But for now…”

She whispered something to them, her eyes gleaming noticeably even in the dim room.

Not that it was surprising. Since even the middle realm had placed bets on who would inherit the throne of the Caronin Empire, this woman was nothing more than another gambler caught up in the chaos.

“Don’t break any of the palace’s treasures like last time. And don’t fight with your brother.”

“Why am I the one getting scolded? He started it last time!”

“What, you little brat! Come here! I’ll kill you!!”

The two of them ran in circles around their mother, yelling at each other. If they were going to fight, they should at least try to catch each other.

With their clumsy movements, they would be gasping for breath after just a couple of laps.

“Why did you even bring us to the palace, Mother? It’s so frustrating and boring!”

“That’s right! It’s all Mother’s fault!”

Having found something to agree on for once, the brats blamed their mother for everything.

When the sons snorted in anger, the Grand Duchess even took out a fan to cool their faces.

In a way, her love for them was impressive.

“If you keep doing that, you’ll only get hurt. I told you that you have to come to the palace. You have to show your faces to His Majesty the Emperor regularly.”

“But still!”

“Shh, Thebes. See where this child is staying. There are children who live in beggarly dens that are nothing more than ruins, but didn’t you guys get a good palace in advance?”

To soothe them, she used a simple yet primal tactic—belittling my home right in front of me. And astonishingly, it worked. The brothers immediately felt better.

“Right. I can never live in a place like this!”

“Me neither!”

“…..”

‘What the hell.’

I had planned to ignore them, but I couldn’t help my lips parting in disbelief.

Maybe say that after you’ve swept the floors here even once. The effort Roen put into keeping this place clean was being trampled on.

And yet, if they had stopped there, it would have been fine. But of course, those brats had to cross the line.

“But what is this?”

Harmel, who had been looking around to see if there was anything interesting, picked up the white dress lying next to me.

Then Thebes was startled as if he had seen a bug.

“Eww, these are clothes that girls wear! Why is this here?”

“Exactly! As if this monster girl is even a real girl! Hey, let go of that!”