Cermiane’s Secret (1)
Everything started when Cermiane’s mother, Her Highness Felianne, became the current Empress, Her Majesty Coranamuelle’s, maid. When Her Majesty Coranamuelle, a lady from a marquisate, entered the imperial palace as the crown princess, Her Highness Felianne, as the third daughter of a barony, was assigned to be her maid.
Her Majesty Coranamuelle was fifteen years old at that time. Her Highness Felianne was the same age. The two became really close, and they say that they had become best friends, surpassing their official relationship as master and servant. The current Emperor, His Majesty Railiem, was two years older. Of course, he had already known Her Highness Felianne at that time, but at that point, there was no romance between them yet.
Her Highness Felianne was very dedicated to supporting Her Majesty Coranamuelle, going so far as to decline all of her marriage proposals in order to serve Her Majesty Coranamuelle. Due to her efforts, Her Majesty Coranamuelle was able to become the Empress at the age of twenty-two. Her Highness Felianne’s dedication was lauded, and she was appointed as the head maid of the inner imperial palace, as well as being gifted the standing of a viscountess, they say. There were some who said that she was actually gifted the standing of a countess, or a marquess, but anyway, Her Highness Felianne firmly declined the gift.
Her Majesty Coranamuelle had her first child, a prince, at sixteen years old, then her second child, a prince, at twenty years old, and her third child, yet another prince, at twenty-five years old. There were three princes. The imperial bloodline was safe. No doubt, everyone had thought that way. However, reality didn’t turn out that way.
First, the second prince passed away days before his seventh birthday. It was due to illness. To be fair, the likelihood of a child dying before reaching adulthood wasn’t slim even for aristocrats, so it couldn’t be helped. All of their siblings reaching adulthood was labeled as an anomaly. His Majesty and Her Majesty were extremely saddened by their son’s death, but there were still two princes. The first prince grew up healthily, and what’s more is that he was similar to his father, being he was extremely skilled in military prowess. He was named the crown prince when he reached adulthood. The first prince was apparently a very talented prince, and everyone had very high expectations for him and believed that the empire was in good hands.
However, when the crown prince left for the battlefield when he was sixteen years old, he was killed in action. They say it essentially was an accidental kill in action.
The empire was apparently greatly shocked. I, of course, wouldn’t know because I hadn’t been born yet. The empire who had lost their crown prince was of course in grief, but His Majesty and Her Majesty who had lost their beloved son were so stricken with grief that they were bedridden for a while.
His Majesty blamed himself for sending his son off to war so easily and felt despair to the point that he would say he would resign from the throne. Her Majesty was also deeply devastated and she became bedridden. She could only console His Majesty but was not able to cheer him up.
The one who was able to scold and spur him out of His Majesty’s misery was the head maid, Her Highness Felianne. At times, she would use strong words to cheer His Majesty up, console him, and dedicatedly support him. Due to her efforts, His Majesty was able to pull himself together, achieved an astounding victory to avenge his beloved son and crown prince, and the empire was able to recover from their state of shock.
During this, it was said that romance bloomed between His Majesty and Her Highness Felianne. His Majesty was deeply grateful to Felianne, and Her Highness Felianne also deeply respected and admired His Majesty, so they naturally grew closer.
His Majesty had no intention of making their relationship an illicit one, so he brought up this topic with Her Majesty, who had slightly recovered from her state of shock, to discuss. I don’t really understand how bringing up the topic of a lover to your wife works, but apparently, Her Majesty was deeply grateful to Her Highness Felianne for her unwavering support of His Majesty while she was bedridden, and was the most pleased to hear that Her Highness Felianne had received His Majesty’s affections. So, with Her Majesty’s official approval, Her Highness Felianne became the Royal Mistress of His Majesty. At this time, Her Highness Felianne was thirty-two years old. She was gifted the Emilian earldom, and became the Royal Mistress while continuing to work as the head maid.
However, as Her Majesty’s loyal servant, receiving His Majesty’s affections while Her Majesty was bedridden had apparently made Her Highness Felianne feel shameful, so she never showed off that she was the Royal Mistress, and she carried out her duties as the head maid. She always wore her uniform, declined the offered detached palace, and continued to live in the servant dorms. Cermiane definitely inherited her stubbornness.
Before long, Her Highness Felianne became pregnant, and her child was born. That was Cermiane.
His Majesty and Her Majesty were greatly pleased with the birth of her child. Not only was there the nuance of being the replacement of sorts of the deceased eldest son. But there was great meaning in there being another prince in the next generation of the imperial family, where only the third prince remained. His Majesty immediately acknowledged Cermiane as part of the imperial family and granted him the black ring. And when Cermiane reached adulthood, he apparently said he would publicly announce Cermiane as an imperial prince.
However, when Her Highness recovered from postpartum, she requested to leave the imperial palace. Both His Majesty and Her Majesty were extremely surprised and urged for her to change her mind, but Her Highness Felianne was firm with her decision. With no choice, His Majesty granted her the mansion Cermiane and I currently lived in, and Her Highness Felianne and Cermiane left the palace. At this time, Jamal and Quemella, who were palace attendants, were assigned to go with Her Highness Felianne.
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