Chapter 347. Learned From the Best

He started like he’d been kicked.

“N-no, Majesty. We were only...”

“Observing?” she offered. “How brave.”

Color flooded his face.

She turned to the woman with the crate.

“Do you need a hand?”

The woman huffed a humorless laugh.

“Your majesty, I need ten. But I’ll settle for you telling them to piss off.”

Ann looked at the boy again.

“Piss off.”

He left at speed without any arguments, and so did the men with him. Running a little too quickly for it to be dignified.

The woman shifted the crate onto a stack and straightened, rolling her shoulders.

“Thank you.”

“You’re welcome.” Ann didn’t smile. “You don’t rise to it so that helps keep my job easier.”

The woman’s mouth twitched.

“If I rise to it, they get to feel justified. I’d rather make them bored of what passes as sport to them...”

“That’s a good strategy,” Ann said, meaning it.

On her way back across the yard, a noblewoman peeled