Meanwhile, at the castle, the queen still had the feeling that something had been wrong when she’d seen her son, the firstborn prince Maximilian, for the first time in so long. She didn’t know specifically what was different or strange, but something was. It was such a minute sensation that some might have just decided to ignore it, but the queen couldn’t let it go. She spoke to her lady’s maid, then Maximilian’s wet nurse, and even the prime minister about it, but none of them had noticed anything wrong with him. They thought maybe her nerves were stretched thin while the king was out of town. Maybe she was just jumping at shadows. She was glad, at least, that they’d walked away from the conversations thinking she was a sweet, delicate flower and not something worse.
However, every time she met with her son after that, she had that same wrong feeling nagging at the back of her mind. She couldn’t put her finger on it.
The queen knew that she didn’t have that kind of demure constitution.
After those conversations, the queen witnessed Maximilian and Rose talking in the castle garden from afar. It was her son, the firstborn prince Maximilian, speaking with the second-born prince Edward’s mother. It wasn’t all that unusual for the two of them to run into each other and exchange small talk. In fact, it was rather common in the castle. However, Victoria did not let that sight pass her by. She continued to observe the two as they exchanged their niceties. When Maximilian left, the concubine tilted her head slightly, as if she had noticed something was off too.
The queen invited Rose to the study in her personal residence.
“I’m so sorry to call on you so suddenly, Rose.” She’d chased everyone else off, so she put the tea on and served it herself.
This was the first time the queen had invited the concubine to her private space. As such, Rose was a bit nervous as she brought the tea to her lips. Her heart began to race as she started to wonder if she’d done something wrong. During the social season, the queen and the concubine would trade off spending time with the king as his partner, so they generally didn’t see each other much, be it publicly or privately. Normally, the only time they would cross paths was if Rose had done something wrong, but she couldn’t remember having made any such blunders this year.
“Lady Victoria, have I done something untoward?”
Queen Victoria was an immensely talented woman, without whom it was said the country could not run. As such, Rose was already prepared to apologize. She didn’t want the queen to be mad at her, but if she was going to get yelled at, it was best to just own up and apologize right away. And not just a cursory one—she’d apologize her heart out. It wouldn’t matter if she remembered doing anything or not, she was gonna apologize. This worldly wisdom had been given to her by Emma, who had used it for when Melsa (a woman as comparably accomplished as the queen herself) would get angry at her. Now that it had come to this, Rose might have to do the deepest apology possible: getting down on her hands and knees and begging for forgiveness like Emma had taught her to. Rose was ready.
However, the words the queen murmured as she stared at her reflection in the tea was completely contrary to Rose’s expectations. “Well... It’s about Maximilian.”
“Prince Maximilian?”
“Yes... You see...”
The queen began explaining the strange feeling she’d been having about this. She knew by now nobody would believe her. It was likely such a vague topic to open up about that she was sure Rose wouldn’t know what to do, but once she’d opened her mouth, it all came spilling out.
Maximilian was a very well-raised and well-behaved child. When she’d asked if there was anything strange about him, the prime minister, the maid, and his wet nurse had all shaken their heads. Yet no matter how much everyone insisted nothing was wrong, she couldn’t believe them. She couldn’t quite put her finger on what was wrong, but she thought it every time she saw him. She knew it was rude to think such things about her own son, but she didn’t know what else to do. After she’d spilled all her bottled up emotions, she drank her cooling tea and took a breath.
She was surprised by how seriously Rose listened to her. She was more attentive than the prime minister, the maid, and the wet nurse. She’d never interrupted her, only politely listened. And then, Rose said the words that none of the others would tell her:
“Lady Victoria... If a mother says something’s off about her child, then I believe something must be wrong.”
“Rose...”
“You see, I noticed something too...” After hesitating a bit, Rose opened up about something that had been bothering her after meeting with the firstborn prince in the garden. “Now, this might be completely unrelated, but... I noticed something a little strange about Prince Maximilian as well.”
Victoria took a deep breath.
“When I spoke with Prince Maximilian in the garden earlier... He, erm... He never even once looked at my breasts.”
“What?!” Rose’s confession was so shocking that Victoria stood up in disbelief. “He didn’t look...even once?!”
Maximilian was a healthy young man. How could someone like him not look at a woman’s breasts, let alone Rose’s absolutely stunning pair, even once?! There was no way. There simply wasn’t.
“I thought maybe I’d just been getting self-conscious about it or something, but...most people tend to look at them when they talk to me,” Rose added bashfully, her hand on her reddening cheek. There wasn’t a soul alive who could avoid stealing a glance when faced with Rose Alicia Royale’s marvelous, massive melons. Nobody could resist. None.
“Yes... There really must be something wrong with him.” Victoria was sure now. Rose’s breasts were so beautiful that every man, woman, and child would be drawn to look at them. One simply couldn’t resist such natural urges. Children, clergy, women who had been married three times over, and even saints themselves would cast their eyes low if Rose was before them. That was just how magnificent they were. “Thank you, Rose. I’ve decided to have him monitored right away. There wasn’t anything wrong until he went to the Western Empire... I’ll need to look into this further.” Thanks to Rose’s help, Victoria no longer had any doubts. She took to her office with self-assured steps.
Rose, who was left in the study, just sat there with a blank look on her face.
“Glad...to be of service?”