Snowstorm in Zalambra (3)

Alex smiled and asked: "Do you have the ability to make plants grow quickly?"

Ninif gave a fake smile subconsciously, but then she lowered her head in disappointment when she realized she couldn't hide it.

Alex and Inger looked at each other and nodded together.

【This is a strange person. 】

Ninifu asked: *"How did you guess it so quickly?"

Alex put a finger in front of his lips and said, "You seem to want to hide this. Don't worry, we won't tell anyone else about this. Not many people know about the strange ones."

Ninif pointed at Inger, her eyes sparkling: "I know, because you are a wizard. It's my first time seeing a wizard, and he is really amazing!"

Inger smiled and said nothing.

Sarambra is mostly populated by knights, and there are very few wizards, so it is normal that she is so rare.

Alex chatted with Neneve for a while, from food to books, and seeing that she was much more relaxed, he asked: "By the way, did you know that there was a person named Lucia in this palace?"

Ninifu blinked her eyes and said, "Oh, so that's what you want to ask. Are you from Chune? I heard that Lucia went to Chune to be the queen, right?"

Inger narrowed his eyes.

He didn't expect that this child had some understanding of the political situation.

Ninif said innocently: "I thought you were going to ask the emperor why he locked up those girls? After all, almost everyone in the palace knew about it, except for those outside. Didn't you just save them?"

Alex: *“…You saw it then? How did you know it was us?”

Niniff: *"I can only think it's you? You're the only ones who suddenly appeared."

Alex's attitude changed slightly. This girl might know more than they thought. "So you're interested in talking to us?"

Ninifu scratched her head and said, "I also learned about this when I was a kid, from listening to my mom and Vera chatting."

She was only six years old at the time, and her mother never thought she would remember and understand these things.

*"I heard from them that our emperor at that time was too bothered by the trouble of fighting, so he agreed to the request of Emperor Qunexin for a marriage alliance, but the identity of the bride had to be a princess. However, the emperor himself had no sisters and did not want to let my sisters go. The nobles were also unwilling to marry their daughters off, so he sent the older Lucia as a princess."

At this point, Ninifer smiled, a very forced smile: "By the way, you don't know that the emperor didn't let my sisters go not because he loved his daughters as a father, but because he kept some girls between the ages of fifteen and six in his palace, including his own daughters, daughters of minor nobles, and daughters of farmers. It is said that Lucia is a farmer's daughter."

Inger and Alex both understood what she meant.

Alex couldn't laugh anymore and clenched his hands on his knees into fists.

What kind of environment would allow a child to say such a cruel fact with a smile?

So she never called the emperor her father.

That's why her mother never lets her leave her room.

Inger's face turned a little gloomy.

[The Queen’s Past…]

The comics only briefly mention the debauchery of the last emperor of the Zalambra Empire, but there are so many tragedies hidden in this palace.

Ninif continued: "That's all I remember. Actually, Vera knows more. She took care of Lucia for a while before she got married. Vera will probably be back in the evening."

Vera was the only maid who would come back to see her no matter how busy she was, and she had been with them since her mother was still alive.

Lucia's affairs were not a big secret in the Spring Palace, and all the older maids knew about it. She decided that these people would not hurt them, so she told them.

Inger: "...You want to tie up another person?"

Alex: “Yes please~”

Bibidai: "Isn't that enough? Isn't Lucia the queen? Why are you asking about her?"

Uri, Cheryl, and Inger: "You actually understand?"

Bibidai: "Hey, hey, hey! I have a tutor at home, right? Aren't the languages ​​of the three empires compulsory courses? Why are you so surprised? Do you look down on me?"

Uri and Cheryl, who had failed the Salambra language test, were stunned.

Alex continued to chat with Nineveh, but every time he talked about Tels, she would change the subject, so he stopped mentioning him.

In the evening, as expected, there was a knock on the door.

*"Nineve?! Are you in there? What's going on with this door?"

*"I'm here, wait Vera, they'll take you in."

Before Vera could understand what was happening, in the blink of an eye, she was "invited" into the room by a stranger using a teleportation array.

She looked like she was having a heart attack.

Alex said, "You can go a little slower."

Inger: "It's the same thing as letting her recover in the room."

"Chuneyu? Wizard?" Vera's eyes changed. She protected Ninifu behind her. "What do you want to do?"

[A maid who can understand the Chuuni language. ]

Alex smiled and said, "Ask us something. If we wanted to harm you, you wouldn't be standing here peacefully."

Vera glanced around nervously: "What do you want to ask?"

*"Don't worry, we're not crossing the border illegally. We want to ask about Lucia, and Ninif said you know something."

Vera thought for a while before she remembered that she had talked about this with Nineveh's mother six years ago. She looked at Nineveh in surprise.

Vera raised her eyebrows: "Why do you want to ask this? Isn't it enough for you to know that Lucia is the queen of your country now?"

Alex smiled and said, "It doesn't matter what we want to do. You just need to know that it's easy for us to kill you, and no one will convict us."

Inger looked at him in silence.

Vera shuddered; she knew the tone of those who had been stabbed and bloodied when they spoke such words.

They sat down.

Vera frowned and thought for a while, then slowly said: "When I knew what the emperor had done, I could only be thankful that I was average looking and old, and that I escaped this disaster and got this job. Most people in the palace were like this. As long as the disaster didn't happen to them, they wouldn't pay attention and pretend that nothing had happened..."

"The bride and groom have been decided, let's find a few people to take care of it."

"Eh? I don't want it!"

"Vera, you go."

"..." Vera had little experience at the time and had no intention of resisting the head maid.

She, along with three other people, was ordered to take care of the princess who was said to be going to marry a foreign prince.

In fact, everyone knew that she was just the daughter of a peasant who was casually dragged out of the emperor's private harem.

The bill announced by Queen Verdin freed many slaves from slavery and turned them into ordinary farmers. The same was true for Lucia's family, and the family circumstances of most maids like them were also the same.

But the bill was shelved within a few years of implementation, and their situation did not improve.

The slave system has never disappeared. It is undeniable that there were signs of abolition under the rule of Empress Veldin. However, after her death, the nobles turned the tables again. People who had once been slaves were also discriminated against, and the conflicts and disputes between slaves and landlords intensified.

In the same situation, they would feel that compared to themselves who work hard, those women who are favored by the nobles and only know how to eat, drink and have fun are too happy————until the moment she saw her, she really thought so.

Vera was a sixteen-year-old girl who met her in a magnificent princess bedroom and was out of place there.

When she was still at home, she saw the body of a frozen beggar on the street. At least the frozen body was intact.

When Lucia was dragged over, there was not a single piece of intact skin on her body. There were all kinds of wounds from thorns and spikes, new ones overlapping old ones, and a bloody mess. Her clothes were even more leaky than shredded rags, and her lower body was bleeding.

Both of her eyes were swollen, there were two long scars on her face, her jaw seemed to be crooked, two teeth fell out of her mouth, and several of her toes seemed to have been cut.

The maids other than Vera vomited violently upon seeing this scene and were carried away directly.

The girl, Lucia, turned her eyes towards her and said with her mouth wide open: "You are not afraid... You will be able to see it later anyway."

Vera sensed no emotion in her tone, nor in her eyes.

Maybe it was because her words and the people around her were too cold, or maybe she was just a cold-blooded person by nature. Vera cleaned the floor, found a piece of clothing for her to put on, and said nothing.

Lucia looked up at her and gave her a cracked sneer.

Vera was deeply impressed by this smile.

Although Lucia was of low status, it was decided that she would be sent to an alliance after all. She was the face of a country and could not be disposed of at will.

Soon a wizard came and healed Lucia's skin back to normal, and then a doctor came and fixed her dislocated bones.

In Zarambra, where wizards are in short supply, a wizard is used to do this kind of thing, but there is no emotion, and he looks very familiar with it.

She looked pretty, or rather, too pretty.

Vera dressed her in a luxurious and exquisite dress.

Anyone who saw her would have no doubt that she was a real princess.

The eyes of the maids who came to serve later were all filled with jealousy, envy and resentment.

Vera was the only one who had seen her at her worst.

Vera's expression was always indifferent, and since no one asked her to leave, they just kept serving her.

Her smile is just as perfect.

While Vera combed her hair, Lucia put on the earrings herself.

The crystal pendant looks like it will tear your earlobes.

"Are you wondering why I can still laugh?"

Vera just found her smile creepy.

Lucia rolled her eyes and said, "Well, judging from your look, my practice is not yet up to par." She smiled and said, "I will study hard."

Vera felt that beneath the beautiful patched skin was a pile of rotten, maggot-infested flesh.

When Lucia talks about learning, she means real learning.

When she got married as a queen, she had a lot of tutors who needed to cram education and knowledge into her body within half a year.

Yet, she learned it well. Perfectly.

Within half a year, her teachers praised her highly and the maids were very fond of her. When a person's level of perfection is so far superior, there is no desire to compare with others.

She is like a highly absorbent sponge, and any knowledge can be used by her.

For her, learning is not a burden or a responsibility, but a way of survival.

Although her eyes were dead at first, during the past six months, Vera felt a passionate and rebellious vitality from her. The power that wanted to survive by stepping on everyone was shocking.

Her thirst for knowledge reached a terrifying level.

She even had a wizard brought in, as well as a complete book of spells, and for a while she devoted herself to studying magic without sleep or food.

But compared to her other achievements, she doesn't seem to have any magical talent.

Because if she became a wizard, she would let everyone know it without them noticing.

In fact, the people of Houqiu did not know that their queen was once a wizard.

There was one more thing, which she kept well hidden and never told.

Until the day of her wedding, all the other maids went out and Vera was the only one left to do her dressing and makeup.

Lucia spoke softly.

At this moment, her smile and voice were no different from those of a real princess, and Vera only felt warmth like spring from them.

"You know what, Vera? I'm very happy today."

Although she had already called everyone else's name skillfully and affectionately, this was the first time Vera heard her call her own name.

"Why do you think I'm so happy?"

She looked just like a newly married girl full of expectations.

Vera had no expression on her face and did not speak, for she knew that this person would be able to answer the question himself.

Lucia took off her ruby ​​necklace and exchanged it for a white pearl one: "Ah, you are still so taciturn. Let me tell you——"

"Because I can leave here and I can see my family! Of course I am happy!"

Same tone, same words.

For the first time, Vera felt that she had heard her truth.

But this family——is it her past or future?

Vera spoke very rarely: "Your Highness Lucia, I hope you will have a happy family in the future."

A tear fell blankly on Lucia's face in the mirror.

A twist arose in Vera's heart.

[You don't really think your family is still alive? ]

Although they said they would give the girl's family a large sum of money so that they could live comfortably.

But the girl's family immediately resisted after she was taken away and were shot. The girl was taken to hell, and the people inside used her family to threaten her so that she could not die.

Then use her family to trick her out.

This kind of story happened more than once in this palace.

Everyone knew that Lucia's family loved her and that she was happy. Everyone knew where her family died. Only she didn't know.

Lucia's lips curled up into a smile. She wiped her tears, turned her head and said sincerely, "I'm sorry, I'm so happy to hear such beautiful words of blessing from you before I leave."

She hugged Vera excitedly.

Vera knew, she understood.

She couldn't deny feeling a little guilty.

However, for a broken person, this little guilt is nothing.

(In the same situation, if the people communicating use the same language, it will not be marked. If they use different languages, it will be marked.)

(Vera and Nineveh’s mother had this conversation six years ago, but Lucia got married more than twenty years ago.)