The Daughter of Evil - Volume 1 - Chapter 1.01

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♦Allen ~Lucifenian Palace’s “Heavenly Yard”~

“Oh, it’s snack time.”

As I heard the bells ring three times, I can’t help but spit out that sentence.

The sound of the giant bell in Levin Cathedral, reached the palace from afar. Beside me, Chartette sighed heavily. It seems that she and I are thinking of the same thing.

We’ve been cleaning the courtyard ever since noon. It’s already 3 PM, and we’re still not done cleaning.

Chartette and I, as well as six other butlers worked hard. But because the yard was too big, we simply can’t do it with just us few.

In fact, most of the servants at the moment are doing intensive preparations for the upcoming ball to be held tonight. Even if the Head of the Maids, Mariam, requested it, I don’t think she would be able to give us a few people.

Chartette said to me impatiently:

“Ah~~! I’m exhausted! So exhausted! Hey, Allen, can’t we just quit all this sweeping and cleaning already?”

“I’m afraid we can’t. We still haven’t cleaned the area around the fountain. Didn’t Mariam-san say that royal families from other countries are coming and we have to sweep here?”

“Don’t mind it, people wouldn’t notice a little dirt. Besides, the ball will be held at night.”

“…… But today is the birthday of Her Royal Highness Riliane. Even Mariam-san is careful to work more than usual. If the Queen find outs that we’re being lazy, something bad might happen to us.”

Chartette silently continued cleaning up. But in her mind, she was still complaining. To think of it, it’s my job to serve the princess but cleaning the courtyard, isn’t part of my job. Why both of us are cleaning is because of Chartette’s brute force. When Chartette is preparing foods and fixing clothing, she will certainly use her brute force to break the tableware and tear the clothes. I’m only here to be her supervisor.

Even if she’s like this, she’s still not dismissed yet. In terms of efforts to live, she was much better than most men. More importantly, Queen Riliane liked Chartette’s bubbly personality, which was Chartette’s key to Riliane’s heart.

The Queen liking us was a crucial thing for us. In fact, serving the Queen literally means, “risking our life”. Once you angered Her Highness’s feelings, you will most likely be beheaded on the spot. Here, “dismissal” has a different meaning from the world outside.

In the last month and the month before that, Riliane sent 17 and 18 people to the guillotine, respectively. The reason why they were killed varied: some of them said rude remarks to the queen; some of them accidently spilled water on the queen’s skirt; what’s more was there was someone punished just by smiling. In short, anyone who isn’t pleasing to the queen’s eyes is immediately put to death. The Queen is no different from other humans and animals. Dolls and toys that she doesn’t want are just easily thrown away.

Not far away, Chartette was talking to me while wiping the fountain. It made me remember of our childhood. We’ve been together ever since we were young, so we talked more naturally than the other servants.

“Ah! Allen! Big trouble! This is really bad!”

“What? You broke another fountain?”

“What do you mean ‘another’! I have never broken a fountain before, okay…. Just cracked it a bit.”

“……”

“…… Oh, forget it! It’s 3:00 already. Aren’t you supposed to send Her Highness Riliane’s snacks? You’re going to be in big trouble if you won’t go.”

“…… Ah, Ney and I have already changed places. Because I didn’t think we can finish cleaning the courtyard ‘till 3:00.”

Ney, like Chartette, is specialized to be one of the Queen’s maids. At work, Ney’s hands and feet are more than diligent. And she never provokes Riliane’s anger.

“Hey~~~ kid, working hard?”

A heavy voice suddenly sounded in the yard. I tracked where the voice came from and saw someone with a red armor. The brave man went right in front of us, smiling.

“Looks like you’re having a hard time being a servant, Allen.”

“It’s nothing compared to the Commander of the Royal Guards’ duties, Leonhart-san.”

“Ah~~~~~I see. Since we’re living together, you can call me “Daddy” whenever you like to.”

“B-but this is how I’m used to calling you.”

My father scratched his head with a “why are you taking me so literally?” look. I looked at his discouraged appearance. I don’t feel like I have the right to be associated with someone who’s part of the “Three Heroes”.

“You’ve been working here for a year now. How is it? You still all right?”

“So-so, I guess. Leonhart-san……what about Germaine?”

“Germaine…… That guy’s abundant energy is giving me a headache. Yesterday, she was lashing out other people in the streets.”

“But Germaine won, right?”

“Not only did she win, she wasn’t even the slightest bit injured…… Her choice of words weren’t what you would normally hear from a woman’s mouth…… I bet in the future, no one will dare marry her.”

He smiled wryly. He and I chatted throughout the day. At that moment——

“Captain Leon~~~~~what brings you here today?”

Chartette, who had been listening at the edge of our conversation, interrupted.

After all, aside from being my good friend, she is also very close with Leon.

“What brought me here? Be a security guard for the ball, of course. It’s my duty as the Commander of the Royal Guards.”

“Well…… I thought you were here to steal wine from the warehouse again.”

“What?! I have never done such a thing! I’m currently resisting alcohol, actually.”

“Oh? Wouldn’t Captain Leonhart be unhappy if he would resist alcohol? Why are you doing this?”

Chartette asked in surprise.

Leonhart resisting alcohol….. I’m a bit surprised about this issue as well. As I recalled, ever since I was adopted, there was never a day Leonhart didn’t drink, together with his adopted daughter and my righteous sister, Germaine.

“…… Because of consecutive years of poor harvest, our food supplies are depleting. People are starving. The Commander of the Royal Guards shouldn’t indulge himself in such things, should he?”

“I really hope the Royal family and other aristocrats listened to those words too.”

Chatette mumbled. Compared to her previous remarks, that one had a significantly deeper tone.

“Her Highness Riliane’s mood hasn’t been good recently, could that be the cause?”

I asked, and Leonhart just shrugged.

“Hey, although there’s a food shortage, the palace reserves are fairly abundant, and might be enough to feed all the people. But no matter what, Her Highness Riliane and Minis-san refuse to agree on the matter.”

“But…..Only Captain Leonhart’s loyal words could persuade the queen’s decision.”

Chartette said with exasperation.

“Do you know what the queen answered to me? ‘If they can’t eat bread, let them eat cake’”

“That’s because Her Highness Riliane loves her mid-afternoon snacks.”

“That’s not the problem here…The princess doesn’t understand the value of things.“

She doesn’t realize that the food her people put on the table everyday is far worse than the feed of her beloved horse. That sheltered girl’s not even capable of looking around her.”

The conflict between Leonhart and Rilliane hadn’t been born that day. Though Leonhart was unkempt and an incorrigible boozehound, he was serious when it came to his duties as Commander and devoted towards the people. Riliane, extravagant and self-indulgent, was heinously ignorant of the world around her and paid no attention to the daily lives of her subjects, so their clashes were a common sight in the royal palace.

“Her Highness Riliane is thirteen years old –and today turns fourteen; even though she is still young to administer the affairs of state, she should think more about her subjects…”

I more or less understood what Leonhart wanted to say. It was truth that the princess’ eyes didn’t turn towards her people. In that case, it was preferable that the retainers around her attended to the affairs of the state with utmost care. However, that was unlikely to happen thanks to the incompetence of Minis, who had only reached the position of Prime Minister due to his parentage.

“Oh, well…Speaking of which…”

Leonhart sat up straighter, and changed the subject.

“Before coming here, I passed by the stables…Is Riliane out at the moment?”

“That shouldn’t be the case…I think. She would never go outside the palace on the day of her birthday party…”

A sense of impeding disaster came over me.

“I see…But, she wasn’t there in the stables. Josephine.”

Leonhart said with a doubtful expression.

Josephine was the name of Rillianne’s beloved horse.

“She couldn’t have been stolen, could she?”

I questioned Leonhart, and he replied:

“Impossible. Today, security is especially tight. For someone to trespass so easily into the palace…”

“But what if by strengthening the defenses against trespassers…we aren’t paying enough attention to fugitives?”