Veirya and Sisi
Whilst patting Veirya on the back, Sisi, wearing her friendly smile, expressed, “Veirya, I’m so glad you could come here. I’m honestly so glad. Veirya, you must be in a pinch as the lord after something so severe happened in the North. I’m glad you all made it through. I’ll spare you the pleasantries. I was genuinely very worried about what transpired in the North.”
“It was. Actually not that serious.”
Veirya chose not to tell the truth. Her loyalty to Sisi remained steadfast. In saying that, she didn’t interpret Sisi’s statements as her questioning what exactly happened. Plus, Lin Dongqing told her not to tell anyone, which was another reason for her to choose not to share anything.
Sisi pouted then intimately looped her arm around Veirya. Sisi led Veirya into the rear palace, continuing, “I’m so happy you could come see me. Recently, I haven’t been in very good health. The doctor said that I would inevitably feel even worse later down the road. He said it would persist for about… one year? You can’t tell yet, can you?”
Veirya looked back at Sisi with concern: “Your Majesty. You Must. Take care of yourself. You are this nation’s. Monarch. And you don’t have a child yet.”
During the nation’s period of internal strife, Sisi’s father’s brother killed him. After Sisi poisoned her elder brother and took back the throne, she killed her uncle who usurped the throne from her father. In addition, she exterminated her family for revenge. As a result, the prospering imperial family was left with just Sisi after her vengeance was complete. If she died, then nobody could tell you who the nation would belong to. That was why all the vassals hoped she’d have a child. After finding out that she was pregnant, they didn’t even care who the child’s father was or if he was going to be with her or not. As long as the empire had a descendant to inherit the throne, then all was well.
“I will take care of myself. Essentially every woman will be inflicted with the illness. Interestingly, it’s not painful. Well, it is somewhat taxing, but I’m happy about it.”
Veirya nodded: “You do not. Look too bad.”
“Yeah, I’m fine. I’m taking advantage of it to get some good rest.”
Sisi and Veirya sat down at the balcony in the rear palace. The birds raised in the imperial palace jumped up and down on the lawn, celebrating the heaven’s bright blessing. There were people mingling and going along both sides of the lawn at the outer perimeter of the imperial palace, enjoying Queen Sisi’s grace and the beautiful morning.
A lady-in-waiting filled up two cups with a clear amber tea.
“So, did you have something to tell me this time?”
Veirya raised her left hand, reflecting Sisi’s smile that lingered between a smile and scowl off her ring: “I am. Going to be marrying him. So. I want to. Invite you. To our wedding. I hope you can come. Since. You look all right.”
Sisi couldn’t maintain her smile. If Veirya could read expressions ever so slightly, she’d realise that Sisi didn’t want to hear that news. Despite knowing Lin Dongqing couldn’t marry her, it didn’t mean that Sisi had given up. She still loved him; as if she’d be happy to attend his wedding with another woman. Even worse, she couldn’t show how angry she was. Instead, she had to put on a facade and give them her blessings.
Not even Lin Dongqing dared to announce his marriage to Sisi to her face. Needless to say, who would be able to figure out how Veirya would be bold enough to tell her. Most importantly, though, Sisi couldn’t vent because she couldn’t reveal her affair with Lin Dongqing. Sisi’s metaphoric speech didn’t aggravate Veirya in any capacity since Veirya couldn’t understand what Sisi was getting at. All of Sisi’s narrow-minded remarks were pointless when her listener was Veirya.
Sisi could have Lucilia gasping blood with those gimmicks. Alas, trying to use the strategy on Veirya would only result in her angering herself. “Everything has its vanquisher,” they say. Sisi’s intellect’s vanquisher was Veirya’s dullness.
Veirya looked forward to hearing Sisi’s response. Sisi couldn’t refuse for the reason that she always claimed Veirya was her friend and her hero. Only those who worshipped Veirya would help her. Consequently, she had to attend the wedding. After all, Veirya was the hero.
Sisi chuckled then raised her cup: “Sure. I’ll be sure to attend. Do you have to hold it in the North, however? If you held it in the imperial capital, I could provide you with the best quality for everything you need.”
“We must. Hold it in the North,” answered Veirya, revealing an incredibly stubborn look. “We. Got to know each other. In the North. So we must. Hold our wedding. In the North. Having said that. He said. We would live in the imperial capital. Afterwards. Your Majesty. When I move here. Can I work here for you?”
Sisi smiled hopelessly. Though she knew that Veirya didn’t purposely brag, she still interpreted it as Veirya gloating. Veirya didn’t appear to comprehend the significance of marriage. Gently stirring her tea with a small spoon, Sisi conveyed, “If you still want to work for me after marriage, your husband’s standing among nobles would be rock bottom. A man who can’t feed his wife is bound to be belittled, after all. That’s why some nobles refuse to let their wife work in spite of being broke. Once you’ve settled down permanently, I’ll confer Lin Dongqing the rank of duke. That will make you a noble lady. You can chat over tea together with the noble ladies in the imperial palace every day, attend balls, spend time with your husband at night and so forth. At most, I can allow you to have tea together with me once a day.”
Veirya opened and closed her mouth a few times. She had lots to say but couldn’t figure out what to say. Sisi laughed and conveyed, “Your life, mm… it’ll be just as these birds next to me. They look free but will only have a very small boundary to fly in. If you really like it, however, you could say the imperial palace is a nice place. Of course, with your husband by your side, even a bird cage would be a comfortable cage, right?”
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