"That's right. This is Nadia, my older brother's daughter. Remember Helen?" The Empress indulged her and anyone could hear the excitement in her voice.
Upon hearing the name of my mother come out of her mouth, my attention was easily grabbed.
Does the queen perhaps know my mother?
The Queen's eyes flickered and that small reaction from her immediately let me know that she does, in fact, recognize my mom.
"Helen..." her dark eyes then flew to my face, studying me for a while– "Hmmm, she does resemble her..." she then muttered afterward.
My heart skipped a beat.
"Her Highness knows my mother?" I inquired out of curiosity.
The only people that I talked about my mother were the Empress and my father. So knowing that others had met her before kind of thrilled me. It makes me want to ask them things about her. That's how deprived I was.
The empress saw my anticipation and cupped her cheek in surprise.
"Oh, dear. Haven't I told you about Helen's younger years?"
I shook my head softly, "No..."
Plus the only things we talked about were memories you have with her and me so...
Not that I am complaining or anything.
"Goodness, it must have slipped my mind..." said the Empress and sighed in disappointment.
The Queen glanced at the two of us as she played with her cup. She then gazed at the flowers in the garden behind me, a distant and wistful look on her face. No doubt, reminiscing things in her head.
She then turned to me, her dark eyes shimmering in the light and tipped her head to the side.
"You see, both your mother and I were friends. Even before your father took an interest in her..." The queen started.
I dropped everything and put all my attention on her, wanting to hear more, wanting to know more.
"We attended the same classes in the academy where we first met and immediately hit it off. She was a lovely woman even back then, loved by everyone around her..." Her ruby lips then stretched into a small smile– "Even though she has a lot of admirers, she never entertained anyone. The boys who had tried to woo and gain her love all ended up brokenhearted," she then laughed musically.
"She had also rarely attended parties and balls but even so, she would always capture everyone's attention whenever she did. That's how beautiful your mother was," her dark enchanting eyes went to me– "She was dubbed as the most beautiful woman of Rosenthal and I'm sure you have that title now."
I didn't notice the tone in her voice from her last statement. I was more preoccupied with the fact that I am learning new things about my deceased mother. It felt nice.
"What was my mother like? I... I don't remember anything about her..." I uttered it almost in a whisper.
All I know are the things I have already heard from my aunt and father, and those weren't enough to satisfy me. It's like I still carry this big puzzle around with no way to solve it. Plus I wasn't the real owner of this body and her memories about Helen are taken away. So even though I really wanted to know her, my mother, I got nothing.
My brother won't talk about her either because he thinks that it might trigger me or something, same with the people in my household. It's like they have this big understanding that one shouldn't carelessly open topics about her for me.
"Oh, poor thing..." The queen's face contorted into pity– "Did your aunt here never say anything about her at all?"
"She did!" I immediately answered, not wanting to discredit my aunt– "It's just... I wanted to know more about her from other people's perspectives... That's all..."
The Empress was also sporting a sympathetic look on her face now and I couldn't decide whether I should be embarrassed or not. I mean, I sound like a depressed young orphan.
"Goodness, now I feel bad..." she murmured, covering her mouth using her fan.
The queen clasped both of her hands and smiled at me.
"Alright, I will tell you about her..."
I sat straight on my seat, anticipation flowing in my veins. I'm so sure I looked like a dog right now, waiting for a treat but whatever.
"Helen is... soft-spoken. She's kind, sweet, and impersonal. She doesn't involve herself in matters that are way beyond her. She likes keeping things to herself too and she smiles a lot. I remember her like that," The queen then toyed the rim of her cup– "... Always smiling and seeing things in a positive light."
I have heard a lot of stories about her so I can definitely agree. My mother would certainly fit the criteria of a female protagonist from a romance novel or something. Just like Estelle...
"Helen is basically an introvert. Countless times I had asked her to play and hang out, and she turned them all down." She picked up one petal that had flown in front of her with elegant fingers and flicked them off. That movement from her caught my attention and almost got me sidetracked.
"One time, she was asked by the academy to present herself in front of the royals during a banquet. You see, those times, the academy would choose excellent students to perform for the royal family and it was the biggest honor ever for any student to have," she pointed out– "But Helen turned it down. The position that every single student coveted, she turned it down. Imagine how dumbfounded everyone was..."
Oh? So there was a tradition like that back then? But wow... My mother really is not blinded by superficial things. I'm kind of proud for some reason...
Everyone is vying for attention and prestige, even until now. I had seen a lot of people do anything just to be in the spotlight because they love being in there. Nobles are notorious in that department and they are the kind of people who crave it more than others.
It was one of the ugly sides of the nobility I have already talked about.