How About a Refill? ~The Elegant Tea Party of the Grand Witches~ - Chapter 14

The Situation of the Royal Family

“A person from another world appeared?”

Emilio had just returned from the meeting that had been going on since morning. He was thinking of taking a break when he received this report from his aide, Leonardo, and fell onto his desk with a thud.

“It seems they were wandering around in the forest. They’re currently being looked after at the Witch of the Forest, Valeria’s place.”

“Why do problems like this arise one after another…”

Emilio, with his head still lying on the table, lamented while shuffling the papers that had piled up on his desk during the meeting.

The encounter from a few days ago suddenly came to his head when he heard Valeria’s name. After that, he hadn’t heard back from Beatrice, but he wondered if the lady he’d met that day was alright.

Her brother was right in front of him, but he wondered if it would be okay to ask about her. No, judging from the reaction of this man, who doted too much on his sister, it would be better not to ask. Emilio thought so but still ended up asking.

“By the way, Leo. That, how is Miss Miriam doing these days?”

Suddenly asked about his precious sister, Leonardo looked at Emilio with a suspicious gaze.

At the handsome man’s freezing look, Emilio hesitated and considered if it was impossible to somehow talk to the kindred soul he’d finally found.

‘Rather than wait for the witches to have her over for a tea party, maybe I should invite her for tea myself. No, but it would be weird to invite her to the palace when she’s not even my fiance…’

“She’s started wearing brighter coloured dresses since that day.”

“What?”

“Miriam. You wanted to know how she was doing, right?”

The lady he had met at Beatrice’s mansion had been wearing a mint green dress that was appropriate for early summer.

It looked very good on the petite fair skinned lady. Her brother had said she looked like a fairy, and Emilio agreed with him completely.

However, it looked like that outfit was new. From what he’d heard, despite her young age, the lady seemed to prefer to wear dresses that were simple, in other words, plain, in colour and design.

On top of the plain dresses, the lady would always be surrounded by her beautiful family and would blend into the background like the backdrop of a painting.

Even though he’d told her she was a beautiful lady who looked lovely in that dress, the lady herself didn’t seem to believe it.

He felt concerned that such thinking had gotten stronger ever since she debuted, with her family always taking her along with them. Because of that, she always had someone to accompany her, but if you looked at it from a third party’s perspective, it had a different effect.

The more her family took her to tea parties and balls, even though their intentions were good, the more she would hear the voices around her. She would come to only look at the differences between herself and her family.

‘It must have been painful so far.’

Emilio felt his chest constrict when he remembered her smiling words, “I’m the same,” she’d said that day.

“If it’s okay, could I invite her for a tea party? Uh, with Leo as well.”

Before he realised he’d asked to invite her to the tea party he himself had dismissed just earlier. Leonardo let out a sigh and looked at the pile of papers piled on the desk,

“You have this much work yet you can still think about useless things. You must have a lot of free time. Emilio, Your Highness.” The long-slitted amethyst eyes pierced coldy through Emilio.

“Uh! I was about to start working on these…”

“The First Prince who is in the middle of searching for a fiance, invites a young lady by herself to the palace for a tea party. Think carefully about how people around you will perceive this as. To say nothing of Caparoni household being one of the oldest houses in the kingdom continuing since the kingdom was founded. With their large territory, and strong position in trade and transportation, it is a house that can certainly back the Crown Prince. The other day, you weren’t thinking of making Miriam your fiance, right? A rare to find lady? Isn’t that what you said?”

Leonardo’s words were extreme. Considering Emilio’s current situation. If he invited her to the Palace, even with her brother, people would think she was his chosen fiance. There was also the matter that marriage talks hadn’t gone well so far, and people were starting to get impatient. If they found out they would try their best to conclude the matter.

‘If it was just that it would be fine, but looking at the movements of the Second Prince’s faction recently, it definitely would not be safe here…’

The Avilier kingdom also had a concubine apart from the King and Queen.

The King also had a consort along with the Queen, however, the Queen was from an Earl’s household. Although she was from a low status, the King had married her out of love. In contrast, the consort he married as a means to get influence was from a Duke’s family. It was a political marriage, but the consort idolised the King, and the King himself had deep respect for her, so he took good care of her.

The difference in status between the two wives would later give birth to tragedy.

The First Prince, Emilio was the Queen’s son.

The Second Prince, Ivan, who was a year younger, was the consort’s son.

The two princes who were close in age, had always been compared to each other since they were young. Everything from their intelligence, skills with the sword, manners, working ability to the person they chose as their aide, was compared. In all of them, Emilio surpassed his brother, and as he was the eldest, and the son of the Queen, so naturally he should be the next King.

However, many in the nobility believed that the son of a Duke’s daughter, whose family had been a huge support to the King, would be more suitable as the successor than the son of an Earl’s daughter.

These voices had grown stronger over the years. The court had been divided into two factions: the First Prince’s faction, and the Second Prince’s faction.

The princes themselves did not have a bad relationship, but they had become unable to interact openly in public.

And, recently there were reports about suspicious activities from the Second Prince’s side. There were reports of making contact with an evil organisation, producing a suspicious drug. If word got out that Emilio found a fiance from an influential family, true or not, there would surely be some action taken.

‘I can’t let Miss Miriam be dragged into it by a misunderstanding.’

After considering this situation, Emilio’s shoulders dropped in disappointment. At this, Leonardo held his chin and looked up as he thought about something.

“I wouldn’t recommend calling her to the Palace, but if you go to ‘visit your close friend’s house’ it shouldn’t raise any eyebrows.”

Emilio glanced up at the unexpected proposal.

“Is that alright!?”

“Only if you finish up these papers.”

Emilio quickly straightened his back and grabbed his pen.