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‘I heard that daughters of great esteem may become ladies-in-waiting to the Empress. Does that mean I can’t...?’

Rivetti sighed. Although she lived in a mansion at the capital, she was still a lady from a little country estate. There was little chance that she, a woman who had no connections, could become a lady-in-waiting.

She continued to scour her wardrobe and try on dresses when there was a knock on her door, and Viscount Roteschu let himself in.

“Father!”

Rivetti hugged the viscount and then let him go.

“How do you like this dress? Does it look good on me?”

However, he was silent and did not give his usual enthusiastic praise.

“Father?”

She looked at him concernedly and sat them both on her bed.

“Rivetti. If you are to meet the Empress tomorrow, be careful what you say.”

His expression was unusually grave.

“I see. My father is very worried that I might be rude in the palace.”

Rivetti answered with confidence, misunderstanding the meaning of her father’s words.

“I won’t be rude in front of Her Majesty.”

Viscount Roteschu’s expression only turned more serious.

“You have to be more careful.”

“I won’t disgrace myself, Father.”

“No. About Rashta and An.”

“!”

“Whatever the Empress may ask, don’t speak a word about them, or say that Rashta was your brother’s lover. Do you understand?”

Rivetti’s brow crinkled. After seeing Rashta at the party a few days ago and finding out that she had become the emperor’s concubine, Rivetti had wondered how the slave had risen to such a great position. No matter how much she asked Viscount Roteschu or Alan about it, they wouldn’t answer a peep.

“Rivetti. Do you understand my words?”

“...The Emperor will be jealous if he founds out that my brother was Rashta’s lover and has a baby.”

“Yes. A powerless family like us will be destroyed under the Emperor’s wrath. Be careful.”

“...”

“Why do you think the Empress would suddenly summon a young woman who comes from a weak family, and who has not even made her social debut?”

“It’s because Lady Alischute—”

“No, the Empress wants to use you to keep Rashta in check. Rashta is the Empress’ rival.”

“I’m not being used by anyone!”

“Remember. You’ve never met Rashta.”

Rivetti had a burst of anger, but Viscount Roteschu did not back down. His heart ached at the sight of his daughter’s sullen face, but if things went wrong, there would be more than just that to deal with.

“Act wisely.”

Viscount Roteschu stood up and let himself out of the room.

His daughter may still be immature, but she was bright. She wouldn’t do anything to harm the family.

***

It was the day Alischute would bring Viscount Roteschu’s daughter to the party.

After I finished my audience duties, I toured various departments to decide where to allocate the national budget and review the progress of various projects.

My work went smoothly, and I returned to the western palace and changed my clothes. Meeting aristocratic children was nothing new, but today I had a different purpose, and I took more care in selecting my clothes.

After preparing the tea and cookies, Viscount Roteschu’s daughter arrived a little earlier than expected, along with several other ladies that came to visit.

“Ah, hello—no, how are you, Your Majesty?”

“Welcome, Lady Rivetti.”

“You know my name...?”

Her face turned red as she stammered hello. She was far cuter than I expected. I didn’t have much contact with Viscount Roteschu, but somehow his daughter seemed to look at me with admiring respect.

The party was about two hours, and after it ended, Countess Eliza spoke to me.

“Lady Rivetti seems very fond of you, Your Majesty.”

I gave a silent smile, and the countess continued teasingly.

“Her face turned red when she came in, and she looked quite disappointed to leave.”

Countess Jubel was gloomier though, as if she there was something else more important than talking about Rivetti’s character.

“It’s a shame you didn’t ask her about Miss Rashta.”

Countess Jubel seemed to have expected to find out more about Rashta’s past. The other ladies-in-waiting nodded in agreement and chimed in.

“Why didn’t you say anything about Miss Rashta, Your Majesty?”

“Maybe Rivetti wouldn’t help Her Majesty.”

“I don’t know. I hope we didn’t cause her to be more cautious.”

Even the other ladies-in-waiting started to become worried. They wondered if Rashta found out that I invited Rivetti, then told Sovieshu, perhaps my husband would become angry with me again. If fact, that was something I considered as well.

However, I had invited Lady Rivetti to show Rashta, ‘You cannot attack others with lies.’ I wasn’t going to let myself be the only one to be provoked. But...

“It went better than I thought.”

Yes, was a good thing to call Rivetti... To reassure the ladies, I smiled and took a sip of my tea.

“She gave me enough information.”

The ladies-in-waiting glanced at each other in bewilderment. Lady Rivetti was charming, but she hadn’t said a word about Rashta. Some ladies wore expressions of confusion, while others smiled widely as realization dawned on them.

Later that night, after most of the ladies-in-waiting left to sleep, Countess Eliza remained. She was one of the ladies who understood me, and when it was only the two of us, she spoke quietly.

“Lady Rivetti seems to know ‘that woman’ very well. Right?”

I nodded my head.

Rashta was so beautiful that she was often a subject of discussion, and it was impossible for Rivetti not to hear of her. Nevertheless, Rivetti didn’t say a single word about Rashta. I concluded that she was forced to keep her mouth closed.

“If Rashta was formerly Viscount Roteschu’s slave, she would find both the viscount and his daughter a thorn in her side.”

“Yes.”

Viscount Roteschu had even humiliated Rashta in public, which made it even curiouser that they kept meeting in the palace.

Sovieshu must know and accept that Rashta was a slave, despite his attempt to quash the rumors. If Viscount Roteschu was blackmailing Rashta, it was not because of her background.

Taken together, there was only one answer—the secret Rashta had hidden was not that she was a former slave to the Roteschu family.

“Perhaps Rashta has another weakness she wants to hide.”

And it wasn’t just Viscount Roteschu who knew about the weakness.

“Let’s investigate the surroundings of Viscount Roteschu and Lady Rivetti. There’s nothing wrong with knowing what secret they’re blackmailing with.”