The Executed Saint Reincarnates as a Princess and is Loved by Her Older Brothers - Episode 49

Hortense chuckled once more and repeated, “Poor princess.”

“To be the only one born as an illegitimate child among your siblings, how lonely and insecure you must have felt. Please don’t hold back in front of me. I can only imagine the suffering of Your Highness.”

A sweet whisper that coats the shocking topic of “illegitimate children” with kindness.

The words spun from Hortense’s alluring lips seemed to sway Angela with a mix of honey and vinegar, revealing a cunning intent to ensnare her.

Angela is soon turning fifteen. It’s a sensitive and impressionable age.

At this age, every girl has one or two worries or frustrations. Even if Angela and Josephine were mother and daughter, they would still have had minor conflicts or misunderstandings.

If they become a parent and child without bl00d ties, the suffering will inevitably grow.

No matter how privileged their circumstances or how enviable their noble status, young and immature children will always find some dissatisfaction somewhere, exaggerate it themselves, and indulge in the role of the tragic heroine, saying, “Oh, how pitiful I am…”

If someone points out the delicate topic of your birth secret and whispers the words you long to hear, “I understand your suffering,” it wouldn’t be surprising if your heart were captured.

“If you were incited by someone saying, ‘A stepmother can’t possibly think well of her stepdaughter,’ you might have become suspicious and paranoid.──If you didn’t have any memories from your infancy.”

You might have believed and become infatuated with someone who instilled doubt in you, thinking, “This person is the only one who understands me.” — If you were truly in your mid-teens.

I… if you combine it with my past life, I’m about thirty years old.

Unfortunately, Angela’s inner self is already an adult, and she has long since passed through puberty.

If Angela were a real teenage girl, she might have been so preoccupied with the truth about her origins that she couldn’t think about anyone else.

But in reality, thanks to living about twice as long as she looks, I can clearly see the size of Josephine’s capacity.

The strength of my mother, who didn’t blame Anna even though her husband cheated. The kindness of accepting the maid’s child as her own. The fact that the love she poured out was genuine.

It is far more clearly felt than the petty things like one’s own suffering.

“You must have been in so much pain. You don’t have to endure it anymore. From now on, rely on me──”

In front of the half-spoken words of Hortense, Angela placed the cup on the saucer without making a sound.

“It was truly delicious tea. I am grateful for Her Majesty’s thoughtfulness.”

Angela smiled cheerfully at the maid standing behind her. She wasn’t a palace maid. She was the princess’s personal maid who had come along from the empire.

“I want to thank you too. As a return favor, please make me some tea. Use my favorite cup, please.”

“Understood, Your Highness.”

The maid bowed respectfully and stepped back, then returned after a while with a tea set on a silver tray.

“Please, I hope Her Majesty the Queen finds it to her liking.”

“Wow, what a lovely scent──”

Hortense narrowed her eyes in rapture at the fragrance wafting from the tea.

However, the moment she picked up the teacup, her alluring face rapidly froze.

“Huh…!?”

On the side of the cup, there was a portrait of Empress Joséphine. The saucer was printed with the imperial crest and the empress’s initials.

The other day, when Angela went out into the city, she found one of the imperial family’s goods.

At that time, I fainted from seeing the flames of the yagura, but I desperately wanted my mother’s goods, so I later asked a servant to go and buy them for me.

“Your Highness… w-what is this…?”

“Isn’t it lovely? As I mentioned earlier, it’s my absolute favorite!”

Angela spread an innocent smile.

“There were also items from your father and older brothers, but I only asked for your mother’s. Ah, this was brought for travel, and there are also preserved and ornamental ones in the palace.”

“Huh…!?”

Hortense was speechless.

On the face full of confusion, the goods of the emperor and princes are ignored, and only the empress’s goods are…? Even multiple sets…? Brought along on foreign visits…? Question marks are busily crossing each other.

Angela puffed up her delicate cheeks and picked up her cup. Of course, it was the same product.

“But I’m a little dissatisfied. It’s well-drawn, but the real mother is much more elegant and beautiful. After all, it’s difficult to express true elegance in a painting…”

In Angela’s lament, there is no sense of deceit or flattery.

From any angle, they are “the real deal.”

“My mother is the person I respect the most in this world. So… what was the story you just told me?”

“Y-yes! N-no! It’s nothing!”

Overwhelmed by Angela’s unexpected affection for the Empress, Hortense, with a flustered expression as if realizing she had stepped on the tiger’s tail, hurriedly tried to extinguish the flames of her statement.