Lady to Queen

"Oh right, I heard from our mother. She said you did a great job meeting with the envoys' wives? Our mother admired you so much."     

"Ah..."     

Patrizia awkwardly blurred the end of her sentence. She naturally remembered the day. That day, she couldn't work hard on the actual meeting. Nevertheless, she was relieved that they had taken to her well. At that time, Patrizia's attention was focused solely on Rosemond.     

Patrizia wondered whether to tell her sister about what happened that day and Petronilla, who noticed as if she was a ghost, motivated her disclosure.     

"What is it? Did something happen?"     

Her twin sister asked her with such pure eyes, Patrizia answered with a contemplating expression. Then Petronilla looked at Patrizia with a serious look she rarely made.     

"Why are you like this, Lizzy. We are sisters. We have to tell each other everything. Why, is it something bad?"     

"It was not something good, Nil. I do not know if I can tell this to my sister."     

The only person that knew it was Rafaella. At those words, Petronilla asked her with a more curious look in her eyes, "What is it?"     

"Lady Phelps messed around a little."     

The word 'Lady Phelps' hardened Petronilla's face. She asked Patrizia in a stiff voice, that was quite different from the previous one.     

"What does that mean?"     

"Lady Phelps turned the beef that was to be cooked into steak with pork. Fortunately, I was watching out for the Vain Palace in advance, so I managed to block it... Even if I think about it right now, I feel chilled to the bone."     

"Oh, my word…"     

Petronilla could not shut her mouth due to shock. Patrizia regretted for a moment when she saw how shocked her sister looked. She shouldn't have told her? Her sister was already worrying about her so much as it was.     

"That crazy Rosemond finally, again…"     

"Calm down, Nilla. Nothing had actually happened."     

Even Patrizia's words could not hide Petronilla's anger. Rather, she spoke to Patrizia with a firmer voice than before.     

"You're peaceful, younger sister Majesty. You should know how serious this matter is."     

"I know. That is why I still warned her. To mess around like this again. If that happened, I would not stay still either."     

"… scary."     

Petronilla spits out some words after a while, "Lizzy, are you really okay?"     

"I am okay, Nilla. I wouldn't have told you if I knew Nil was going to worry like this."     

"You'll be in trouble."     

She looked up and made a scary face as she lectured Patrizia, but Patrizia just smiled like a child and kissed her sister's cheeks.     

"I'm fine. I will stay quiet as a Queen, but that doesn't mean I will be stupid and become the victim. My words… you know right?"     

"..."     

However, Petronilla never answered Patrizia's question and looked on with a serious expression. Then Patrizia, who was watching out carefully, asked Petronilla, "Nil, are you perhaps angry? However, there is no useful evidence, and there might have been diplomatic friction ..."     

"Lizzy."     

Then Petronilla silently called out Patrizia. When Patrizia swallowed her dry saliva for some reason, making a nervous expression, Petronilla continued, "The truth is, coming here was not just about seeing you."     

"Then?"     

"A suggestion… is not quite what it means, and there's something I wanted to say."     

"Tell me, Nilla."     

At the end of Patrizia's words, Petronilla stared closely at Patrizia's pupils. Then, not much time had passed, before she opened her mouth again.     

"I'm thinking of becoming your maid."     

"… What?"     

After a moment of being taken aback, Patrizia's eyes shook greatly. What was this... With Petronilla's sudden announcement, Patrizia asked with a startled look, "What are you talking about? Suddenly a maid?"     

"I did not suddenly decide when I listened to you just now. It's been what I've been thinking about since you became Queen."     

Petronilla's expression was so determined. But Patrizia couldn't guess the reason as to why she was suddenly saying that she would be her maid.     

In the past, she was a person who had refrained from entering and leaving the Imperial Palace, let alone being a maid. When she came back with this life, her sister was suddenly saying that she would be her maid. Patrizia had no idea whether to look at this as good or as bad.     

"But even if you say so..."     

"As you already know, historically, becoming a sister maid wasn't so strange in the Marvinus Imperial Family. Plus, I'm not going to take on the role of a maid for a lifetime, and I plan to quit before I end the best time for me to get married. During that time... I just want to be completely by your side."     

"Then it would be a year or two at best. It would be so hard for me later on." Because she missed her. Petronilla laughed at Patrizia's words.     

"What do you mean missed? Even if I got married, as long as there was nothing special going on, I would be in the city. How did you suddenly become so emotional like this?"     

"Then, how did Nilla suddenly lose her love. So are you really going to become a maid?"     

"Yes."     

Petronilla nodded calmly, and Patrizia was troubled. Anyways, she was the Queen, and her sister would marry someone else. So, as in the past, Nilla falling in love with the Emperor, at first sight, would not happen, but even if it did, her sister would not try to take over her position as her own.     

If Nilla was there for her by her side, she would certainly feel more supported than she did now. Of course, she might also end up revealing a side to her that she didn't want to show her…     

"Okay, then."     

Nevertheless, Patrizia had absolutely no reason to refuse her. Anyways, she thought that the number of maids was a little short, and had been thinking about filling them in more. At the permission of the Empress, Petronilla made a small smile and expressed her joy.     

"Ah, good. So I can stay with you all day long from now on?"     

In the case of Petronilla, there was a high probability that she could freely commute because she would not enter officially as a lifelong maid like Mirya. Patrizia smiled and replied, "Yup. Maybe you can start coming to work next week."     

There was not much time left until next week. Patrizia smiled unconsciously, staring at her sister's face, where she discovered both seriousness and joy at the same time.