When Rose Alicia Royale finished her duties for the day, she returned to her quarters and found her daughter relaxing on the sofa with a boy she’d never seen before.
“Who’s your friend, Jadwiga?”
At the sound of her mother’s voice, Jadwiga raised her head and closed the picture book she was reading. “Welcome back, mother! This is Hugh!”
“Hugh?”
I don’t think I know him. She didn’t think there were any children Jadwiga’s age among her relatives in the royal family. She recalled that the wet nurse only had girls, and even if he were the child of one of the castle staff, he shouldn’t have been able to enter Rose’s quarters without permission. So just...who is this boy?
“Wow, you’re like, seriously gorgeous, lady!” The strange boy gasped when he saw Rose tilting her head.
Well, I quite like a kid who says exactly what he means, Rose thought. However, his rough way of speaking was certainly not the kind one would expect to hear within castle quarters.
“And who might you be?” Rose asked the boy, with a gentle smile.
There was one family she could think of who could accomplish something so ridiculous as though it were natural. This was a boy who was able to sneak into the most heavily guarded quarters in the kingdom with ease. That family was the type to make the impossible possible, without even once thinking it was impossible in the first place.
The boy was wearing purple clothes, and Rose was familiar enough by this point that she could tell even from where she was standing that they were made of Emma silk.
“Oh, I almost forgot!” The boy bopped himself on the head, then fell to one knee and lowered his head—a bow reserved only to be used with those in the royal family.
Rose’s eyes widened in surprise. It was absolutely perfect, at just the right angle. Even the Etiquette Demon herself, the Duchess Hilda Sullivan, would have had no complaints.
“Raise your head,” Rose said.
“Hugh’s here to bring you a dress, mother!” Jadwiga said as she went to fetch a beautiful dress made of Emma silk with roses printed all over it. The roses weren’t embroidered; it was a rare sort of dress with the pattern painted directly on the fabric. Jadwiga was so tiny that she couldn’t hold all of the dress, and more than half of it was dragging along the floor. Anyone who knew the cost of Emma silk would have fainted at the sight, but Rose had worn so many Emma silk dresses by now that she knew that wouldn’t be enough to damage it. Apparently, the boy before her knew that as well.
“Hey there, Lady Rose! I’m Huey. I’m from the slum...er, the Stewart region in the capital. I was told to deliver your dress and this, so here I am.” Hugh pulled a handkerchief from his pocket; it was also made of Emma silk. “Now the deed is done!”
Once Rose accepted the handkerchief, the boy disappeared with a fssh sound.
“He’s gone...”
“Wow, Hugh just disappeared!”
Jadwiga blinked in disbelief and went to touch the floor where Hugh had disappeared.
Well, this must have something to do with Emma, then. Rose thought, and she looked down at the handkerchief. There were beautiful letters on it with impeccable penmanship.
“Hmm? Joshua Rothschild?” The name on the handkerchief was not at all what she’d expected, and while she thought it odd, she kept reading. “Cannons...?”
“Mother?”
“Jadwiga, I’m so sorry. Could you watch over my quarters for a bit longer? I have something I need to speak with Queen Victoria about immediately.” With that, Rose dashed out of her quarters. If what the handkerchief said was true, the entire kingdom was in danger, and it was far more than she could handle alone.