Living As the Villainess Queen

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As a woman not of noble birth, she wouldn’t be holding a title.
However, when she served as a General in the palace, she had been given an honorary title, which was revoked when she left the service.

Kasser wanted to permanently assign a noble title to Marianne when she first left, but she had declined repeatedly.
Thus, she was called “former general officer” for a long time, until finally agreeing to accept the title of Baroness. 

“Your Majesty, Her Grace plans to leave the palace after sundown tonight.
I believe she has discussed this with you before.” She apprised him.

Kasser nodded.

“Yes, I have.
Where will she go?”

“Her Grace has not revealed a destination.
She desires to keep it confidential.
I have come to you to ask your advice on assigning guards around her.”  

“If it is confidential, then you shouldn’t assign too many.” A couple of his guards who were skillful yet covert during their duty came to his mind. 

“I am not sure if what you have planned would suit what Her Grace has in mind.” Marianne told him pointedly.

Kasser frowned.
He didn’t understand where she was heading with this.

As if sensing his confusion, she sighed and rephrased her words.

“I merely believe that the queen has her own plans if the frequency of her visits is anything to go by.” She straightened up.
“If I may, Your Majesty, I think it would only bring more trouble picking out a different guard every time she exits the palace gates.”

“And what would you suggest, Baroness?”

“I think it would be best to let the queen pick the guards herself.
It’s important that she gets along with them well.
Especially when they would be spending a significant amount of time together outside the palace gates.” She pointed out, amidst Kasser’s sonorous tapping of his fingers on top of his desk.

“Does she have anyone in mind?”

“No, Your Majesty.
I believe that you should discuss this with Her Grace.
Perhaps at noon, today?”

Kasser let out a deep sigh, finally grasping Marianne’s intentions.
“So, you want me to have lunch with her?”

“Not exactly, Your Majesty.
I am simply–” 

Before she could finish, she was cut off with a wave of Kasser’s hand.

“Fine, I will have lunch with the queen today.
I’ll send a page to her.”

“Please do not mistake me, Your Majesty.
Her Grace did not send me here today.” Marianne insisted, and Kasser nodded, humming in agreement as he went about his morning duties.

“Don’t worry, I won’t.” He knew if it were the queen’s desire, she would find him and speak to him directly herself. 

With this thought, he realized that he was predicting her actions with his knowledge of the type of person she was.
For the last three years of marriage, he hadn’t even had the interest to know such information.
The queen, he thought of now, was the queen with memory loss. 

He knew she was still the same person.
But for some reason, he kept considering them as two completely different people.
At some point, he had stopped suspecting she was pretending to have trouble remembering anything. 

Not long after Marianne left, Kasser paid a visit to the national treasure storage; his first visit since the incident of its disappearance.
Under the King’s orders, the storage was guarded tightly by the soldiers.
They were paired in teams, leaving no space for anyone to sneak in without getting caught. 

When Kasser showed himself, the chief inspector bowed deeply. 

“I suspect you haven’t had any unwanted visitors?” He inquired as soon as he arrived at the door.

“No, Your Majesty.” The chief answered with a display of confidence.
“No one has dared.”

“And no one has entered the storage?”

“It is so, Your Majesty.
As you ordered, no one has been permitted to enter, even for general inspection.”

“Open the gates.” Kasser commanded.