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“I have seen Sir Raphael Kedrey with her a few times. But they were only brief meetings,” Lydia replied.

“Hmm.”

“She spends the most time with His Highness Rezef these days. It’s nice to have the opportunity to see His Highness more often, but strangely, he’s not the same as before. Did you hear the ridiculous nickname, ‘beast trainer’? I was dumbfounded!”

‘Something is weird.’

He heard that Prince Rezef had recently become quite obedient. He was told that it was Princess Cayena’s influence. He didn’t trust the rumors that much, but listening to his daughter’s story, it seemed that there was some truth to them.

He was suspicious of the intentions and behavior of the princess. She may have been trying to get a regent position when the prince was crowned.

‘That could be it.’

It happened every so often in history that an heir’s mother, sister, or wife wielded his power as if it were her own. Even Cayena had the distinguished Count Hamel from her mother’s side of the family.

Prince Rezef suddenly became compliant when he heard Cayena’s words. What could this mean?

Now that he thought about it, there was something strange when he had talked with Zenon Evans about the incident with Lydia.

He had the feeling that Zenon Evans was watching Princess Cayena carefully.

Count Benzeman couldn’t shake off the feeling that there was a conspiracy.

He took Lydia’s shoulder and said furtively, “Princess Cayena is suspicious. Look closely to see if she is in contact with anyone. Gifts, or anything like that!”

“Erm. She receives so many gifts, though… ”

“Won’t it be fine if you order the other court ladies to help? Your father will tell them off, and they will follow you.”

Lydia wasn’t very happy to receive an assignment so suddenly. Still, she liked what her father said about making the other court ladies listen to her again.

“I understand.”

***

Cayena was staring at the ledger with a serious face as the sun shone through the window.

It wasn’t that there was a specific problem.

‘I have too much money left in the budget.’

Rezef was the one with the authority to control the budget. This was because Cayena, who should have done the job in place of the empress, had been incompetent. This time, Rezef made unprecedented adjustments to the budget for the princess’s palace.

It was a simple but sure way to show that he cared for Cayena.

‘If it were the original me, I would have laughed, buying so many things that even this budget would be insufficient.’

Or maybe she would have taken apart and redone the garden or her bedroom. She might have bought a bunch of flowers that would wither and be difficult to deal with after a few days or have hosted a party.

Now that she didn’t have parties or meetings, she didn’t need more clothes, so Cayena had nothing to spend money on. Recently, her biggest expense was replacing her shoes.

“The refreshments are a little late.”

Vera, who waited on Cayena alone while other maids were away, stopped working on her embroidery.

“Shall I go see what happened?”

Cayena smiled and shook her head. “You don’t need to.”

It was a fact that one needs time to do certain things.

These days, other than Vera, the ladies-in-waiting left Cayena’s bedroom whenever they could. Vera said they seemed to be looking for something. Because of this, they were more neglectful of their duties. Cayena didn’t scold them at all, so they no longer cared. Furthermore, Cayena didn’t go out or receive guests, so the ladies-in-waiting had nothing to do.

“The time for afternoon tea is nearly over, Your Highness.”

“So it is. Still, it’s fine since I have the butter cookies I baked.”

“Only eating sweets is not good for your body. I will bring your refreshments myself.”

Saying that, Vera left the bedroom.

She hadn’t gotten along with the other court ladies lately. It was almost as if she was being bullied, but Vera didn’t care at all.

‘Now it is the eve before the explosion.’

Vera had witnessed Rezef’s change head-on. She saw first-hand how dramatically his attitude toward Cayena had changed. Meanwhile, Cayena continued to poke at Vera gently. Vera felt the subtle urge to choose sides soon.

‘I have a feeling that she will change all the ladies-in-waiting.’

But, how would Cayena accomplish it?

Even the emperor couldn’t throw people away without justification. How could the princess do it?

At that time, a maid brought in Cayena’s refreshments. It was Donna.

“What happened to the ladies-in-waiting? Why are you bringing Her Majesty’s snacks?”

Donna replied, “They said that since you are here, it would be all right. They gave me a snack to give to Her Highness and went away.”

She looked at Donna with suspicious eyes. Donna was a maid who frequently took care of Cayena.

‘There’s something going on.’

“…Give it here.”

Donna handed over the silver tray of snacks to Vera.

She checked the refreshments out in the parlor before entering the bedroom.

“…”

Vera’s expression turned dark.

“Those crazy women…!”

Nut cookies were mixed with the snacks.

Cayena was allergic to nuts.

The ladies-in-waiting needed to carefully check if the food contained nuts before serving it to Her Highness.

In other words, this was a serious case of neglect.

Click—

The bedroom door opened and Cayena, dressed in a light indoor dress, walked out.

“Why aren’t you coming in?”

“I apologize. There is a problem with the refreshments, so I will prepare them again, Your Highness.”

“Oh, there’s no need.”

Cayena smiled brightly.

“It’s a very well-prepared snack.”

“…Pardon me?”

Cayena approached the table where the tray was placed. Then, she deliberately picked up a nut cookie.

“Your Highness, that…!”

“It’s a cookie with nuts.”

“…?”

“I think I’ll eat this.”

Did she mean to commit suicide? Vera could not understand.

“You go and give Rezef the snack that I made for afternoon tea. Because you were running my errands, you had no idea that nuts were mixed into the refreshments.”

“Your Highness.”

“I’ll lie here alone in the room, and Donna will be shocked. She’ll go call the doctor right away. Of course, this news will have to be told to my father. Donna will help. But, you shouldn’t know any of this.”

Vera finally understood.

“Can you do this well?”

Vera understood that she had been chosen. Cayena was planning to fire all the court ladies in one go with this ruse. Everyone but Vera herself would be cast out. Vera immediately knelt and bowed her head.

“I will be Your Highness’s obedient servant.”

As she did, Cayena cheerfully smiled.

“I’m glad to hear that.”

***

Rezef checked the sword, the bow, and his new epaulettes.

“The spies we planted by Archduke Heinrich’s side report that he bought a javelin.”

“A javelin?”

Why did Archduke Heinrich buy a javelin?

“It’ll be a problem if the horses are spooked when the spears are thrown. See what he’s trying to do.”

“Yes, Your Highness.”

Rezef removed his cloak and sat down on the sofa. Then, the servants began to remove the weapons on the table.

“How is my sister?”

Zenon raised his head from where he was working at another table.

“She is in her bedroom.”

These days, the princess did not engage in outside activities to a strange extent. According to the doctor, she should have recovered completely from the poison.

‘I don’t know what she’s thinking.’

He had a bad feeling about it.

“Your Highness, a lady-in-waiting from the princess is here to see you.”

“Let her in.”

Vera brought along only one maid.

“We greet His Imperial Highness.”

Rezef smiled at the silver tray in her hand.

It was because he recognized that they were snacks made and sent by his sister.

“Her Highness prepared this for your afternoon tea.”

“Bring it over.”

Now, this event wasn’t strange anymore.

Zenon got up, took the tray, and fed the snacks to a servant.

After confirming that nothing was poisoned, Rezef tasted the butter cookie.

“By the way, it seems that you’re coming by often these days.”

“Her Highness has placed trust in me to do this.”

“Is that so?”

He looked at her with blue eyes, as if opening her up to look inside. Vera inadvertently made eye contact with him, and she felt terrified.

“What is my sister doing?”

“Just now, she had a headache because the budget for the princess’s palace had been too much.”

At those words, Rezef laughed.

“If she wants to spend money, she should spend as much as she wants.”

He intended to use that as an excuse to go talk with his sister when a servant urgently entered the parlor.

“Your Highness, something big has happened!”

“What is it?”

“Suddenly, Her Majesty collapsed, and the doctor was called to her palace!”

“What? My sister collapsed?!”

Rezef ran to the princess’s palace.

~~~