18 — Off to the Royal Palace

18 — Off to the Royal Palace

As soon as my mother-in-law was finished giving me her socializing advice, the conversation returned to Mimosa.

“So, it sounds like Mimosa is having some bad morning sickness.”

“It seems so. We only just found out she is pregnant, though, and she wasn’t in poor health before.”

“Ah, it does happen like that sometimes. If you only just found out now, she’s probably at least two months along. There will be plenty of difficult days ahead,” Lady Fisalis explained. I nodded along as she bestowed upon me the wonders of the creation of life. This is probably old hat to her at this point!

“I bet there will be.” Sorry, but there’s not much more I can say about that, considering I’ve never had children and don’t know anything about the process.

“There certainly will. Nausea from simply smelling food, sudden bouts of dizziness...! Ahh, you’ll understand, too, someday, Vi!” she smiled so brightly I swear I could hear her teeth sparkle.

I couldn’t help but feel like the conversation had delved into a sensitive topic and that she was implying something. I mean, the way she looked at me certainly suggested she had certain... expectations. Is this her way of asking for grandchildren?! Now that I think of it, where are we in terms of children in our agreement? When we renewed our contract, we essentially rewrote the whole thing, after all, so I guess we can’t go by the original anymore. Forget grandkids—I don’t even consider Mr. Fisalis and I to be a real married couple...

When I timidly looked at my mother-in-law... Yup, she had a wide smile across her face. Run! Run for the hills! Or at least pretend like you don’t understand what’s being implied!

“Whatever do you mean? Ah ha ha ha!” I deployed a very fake laugh.

“Oh, that’s right... Dahlia stayed here, too, when she was pregnant,” Lady Fisalis said unexpectedly, which made me realize something else unexpected.

For a brief moment I was relieved that she didn’t continue to focus on me, but then I did a double-take; that was the first time I’d ever heard that about Dahlia.

“Huh? Dahlia did? She’s never mentioned it before, though.” Not to mention, I had no idea she had children!

“Indeed she did. She and Cartham have two children, a girl and a boy. They were born at the manor and raised there, too. Since both of their parents worked and lived at the manor, the place became something like their home, too. Their parents had help raising them, and it was better than them living at either family’s home while both of their parents worked. Now that I’m on the subject, Rohtas did make a good companion for them when he was young.” My mother-in-law continued to giggle at me in amusement as I digested what she had told me.

I had no clue! But then again, I didn’t even realize they were a couple at first. Dahlia has kept her private life very separate from her public life from the start, so it’s no wonder I didn’t know she had children. She’s made sure that all I know about her is that she’s married to Cartham!

“So they have children! I had no idea until now! And two children, at that!”

“Yes. Their daughter works at the Royal Palace, and I believe their son is training to be a chef, somewhere,” she told me after a moment of thought.

“Woahhh. What does their daughter do at the palace?”

“She is a lady-in-waiting to the queen. Truthfully, she had planned to work at the manor as soon as she finished vocational school, but then she was called to the palace. She probably figured that since Dahlia had once rejected an invitation to work at the Royal Palace herself before coming here, it would be needlessly cruel to reject them a second time. So for now, she is on temporary loan, you could say, to the palace, and she is working to further her career there.” Shocking new information seemed to pour from Lady Fisalis’ lips.

And is it just me, or is she kind of making the Royal Palace sound bad in comparison? Regardless, Dahlia’s daughter sounds amazing! I bet her grades in school were amazing, too. The palace wouldn’t have called on her personally if they weren’t. This is the first I’ve heard of Dahlia refusing an invitation from the palace herself, too. That’s incredible.

“So, anyway, Mimosa is more than welcome to stay at the manor, as well.”

“She’ll be thrilled, I’m sure, when I tell her.” I’ll have to tell her right away when I get home!

The Royal Palace came into view while we were chatting in the back of the carriage. This would mark the third time that I had been there. It should go without saying that the first time was my wedding, which had been over six months prior at that point. The second time was that ‘add-on’ party. Wow, it’s been so long. But then again, I don’t have any reason to go to the palace myself... nor do I find myself actually wanting to go very often.

Given that the day’s event was to be a garden party, the carriage dropped us off at the gate to the garden. The garden at the Fisalis manor was gorgeous to be sure, but the Royal Palace’s garden was truly befitting of, well, a palace. Er, no... maybe ours is actually prettier, I thought to myself, but I knew that to say so out loud would be an offense against the crown—even if I did really believe ours was better.

But enough with the flattery.

In terms of size, the palace’s garden was obviously bigger. And in that expansive garden were crowds of women dressed in multicolored dresses, but they all paled in comparison to the Women’s Corp who had come out in full regalia.

It was easy to tell who was in the military, as they were all wearing knight’s or soldier’s uniforms. They were the most important people there that day. Apparently, you could tell their rank by their lapel pins. I say “apparently”... because I sure couldn’t. I was never good at remembering that sort of thing.

Nevertheless, there was a huuuge crowd out that day. The weather was on our side, too, with not a cloud to be seen—perfect weather for a garden party. The mood of the gathering was nice, too—less ‘off to war, men!’ and more simply pleasant.

So this is a military rally...? It’s awfully calm, isn’t it? Just a regular garden party.

No sooner had Lady Fisalis and I alighted from the carriage and entered the gate to the garden than:

“My, if it isn’t Duchess Fisalis!”

“How wonderful to see you again!”

“How long has it been since you moved to the countryside?”

“Oh, my mistake, you’re the former duchess, yes? Your son’s wife is such a lovely girl.” In a split second, my mother-in-law was surrounded by (I assumed) old friends.

“My word, it has been a while since I’ve seen everyone. Are you well? Yes, the current duchess is Viola here. I suppose that makes me the ‘ex-duchess,’ oh ho ho.” The open and friendly attitude Lady Fisalis had shown me inside the carriage disappeared, and she transformed into the elegant and refined Former Duchess Fisalis. It was like flipping a switch! She also made sure that everyone gathered around her understood that I was the current duchess, not her, but she was smiling all the while.

She did not seem startled by the swarm of ladies who rushed at her, and I couldn’t help but be impressed at how she calmly greeted each of them. Her energy’s completely different now. This must be what “advanced” socializing looks like! Complete with a bonus real world example, mother-in-law included! I’d better watch and learn.

I positioned myself just behind Lady Fisalis and watched respectfully.

“Since it’s been so long, why don’t we all chat over there?” someone in the group of women suggested, at which point Lady Fisalis was swept away by the crowd, leaving me all alone before I could even comprehend what happened.

La—?! Lady Fisalis?! What am I supposed to do now?!

I looked around but didn’t see anyone I knew. I could not even look for Lady Fisalis; I had lost sight of her in the thick crowd. My parents were supposed to be there, too, but after I looked around for them to no avail, I assumed they had not arrived yet. I was hoping to catch sight of Miss Iris and my other friends, whom I had also heard were attending, but I could not find them, either.

So much for that. It looks like the time has come to deploy my most powerful secret skill, cultivated through years of practice: Secret Ritual: Hidden Wallflower!

Oh, wait. This is a garden. There are no walls.