Kill The Empress (Reincarnated as the villainess)

Part Thirty-three

Even with this sudden change of scenery--me going from a child bride to a maid at the imperial palace--I still didn't imagine I'd start my day on the floor covered in the burning sensation from spilled hot tea. 

"Look what you've done." The man before me scowled as he wiped his sleeves off even though there wasn't a single drop on him. "What are you going to do about this?" He sneered and rested his hand on his hip.

One might I assume it was my fault for dropping the tray since I haven't delivered tea before. Heinry never ordered it from me even though I distinctly remember him loving it. He would always drink it away from me because the scent made me nauseous, but now he doesn't drink it at all.

But, that is all besides the point. This wasn't my fault, it was that stupid second male lead's. Yet, he stands before me now acting as if he didn't just trip me. But, I am almost certain that he ordered the tea just to make me spill it.

"My sincerest apologies, Lord van Haus." I brought myself to my feet and bowed. He just rolled his eyes and brushed past me. "Just clean it up. You don't deserve any more of my time." And, so he marched off without scolding me any further.

This was very fitting of his character. I remember reading about how disrespectful he was to Edith out of his loyalty to Evalie, but he could never bring himself to do something terribly harsh. He would just antagonize her out of a false sense of justice, hoping Evalie would see him as some sort of savior.

They met while she was out running errands as part of her maidly duties. They bumped into each other at the market and he fell for her instantly which prompted him to invite her to tea with him once a week. There, he learned about Edith and eventually came to visit the castle out of his own volition for the sole reason of  requesting an audience with Edith to tell her off.

That is how it happened in the novel, but now it is different. Evalie is the Empress, so she has the authority to let him stay at the castle for however long he wants. Now, I am the powerless maid, but he's not loyal to me, he's loyal to the 'evil' empress. Though, I would hardly call Evalie evil, she's just misguided. And with her misguided morals, she actually thinks she's in the right by doing all of this to me. It's almost....laughable.

I audibly chuckled to myself as I picked up the scattered ceramic along with the wooden tray, but suddenly, my ears were hit with an awful screeching sound.

"Edith!" I turned my head and felt my anxious heart beat slow down as I saw her--it was just Hilda.

"Are you alright, my lady?" She checked my burn marks frantically, kneeling on the floor with me now. I smiled at her and cupped her face. "Hilda, I am no longer your lady." She just looked at me and sighed. "Of course you are." She said which made me smile more. "Well, anyway, I'm fine." I assured her.

She gave me a doubtful expression which made me giggle slightly, "Okay, maybe not fine, but I'm well enough." Hilda went back to examining my arms and I could hear her muttering about how bad the burns were. But, it was just then that Heinry's words from a few days ago came flashing in my mind.

"You.." I started with a teary tone of voice, "You care about me, don't you?"

Hilda didn't even bother looking up and just scoffed, "Of course I do. What kind of silly question is that?" It was then that she shot her eyes up and put her hands to my face, moving my head around in her grasp. "None of that tea went to your brain, did it?"

I just started laughing at her words, but that laughter got louder and louder until I was almost crying. I would've been rolling on the floor if her hands hadn't held me in place. But, I forced myself to calm down until there were just slight stifles as I breathed.