The hunting competition ended in chaos, and the Empress quickly left with the Emperor in their carriage.

“Your Majesty, are you really okay? Is there any discomfort?”

“I’m fine. Empress.”

As soon as the Emperor returned to the palace, the Empress stuck closely to him, casting an uneasy glance with concern. The Emperor chuckled, reassuring her.

“Fortunately. If Your Majesty had been in serious trouble, I would have been truly…”

The Empress, teary-eyed, embraced the Emperor.

“Were you very surprised?”

The Emperor asked while embracing the Empress’s shoulders.

“Yes. I was extremely surprised. You are everything to me, how could I not be shocked?”

“I’m truly unharmed, so don’t worry.”

“Yes. Your Majesty…”

After returning to her palace, the Empress wiped away the tears that clung to her eyes.

“Everyone, leave.”

“Yes? Yes. Understood, Empress.”

After chasing everyone out of the room, the Empress’s expression changed drastically, emanating a stern aura.

‘I thought it was a perfect plan.’

It was an excellent opportunity to bring down Kaern and some nobles. However, once again, Kaern Laverion thwarted her plans.

In this plan, she knew the Emperor wouldn’t be harmed. She had given him a sachet during the hunting competition, instructing him to carry it on his person.
The sachet was made with flowers of a plant called Urensia, which had blue leaves, and for Asdel, it was a flower like a natural enemy. In the land where Urensia grew, Asdel couldn’t thrive at all, and the herbal Urensia could detoxify the poisonous Asdel.

That’s why only the Emperor was given a sachet containing Urensia to avoid accidents, but everything went wrong because of Kaern Laverion. The Empress, holding the dress tightly as if unable to contain her anger, shivered. Meanwhile, she contemplated another plan to bring down Kaern Laverion.

‘What should I do?’

When she questioned Herena earlier, she didn’t seem to know about the greenhouse garden in Eastern Marquisate. If she knew, the greenhouse garden in Eastern Marquisate, unlike other greenhouse gardens, was slightly different. So, there was a high possibility that they were still unaware of Asdel’s existence.

But she couldn’t afford to be complacent.

A few days ago, Blake had visited her. Blake had asked her if he could get more Asdel, stating that the tea made from it was delicious and he wanted to have it again. However, even before Blake came to see her, the Empress already knew the real reason.

It was because she had planted spies to monitor Blake and Viscount Warren to gather information.
Of course, she hadn’t planted spies only in Viscount Warren’s mansion. Since becoming the Empress, she had spies in every noble mansion in the capital. The only place where spies had failed to infiltrate was the Laverion Duke’s mansion.

She had tried to plant spies in the Laverion Duke’s mansion several times, but all attempts had failed. It was due to Kaern’s thoroughness in not admitting unverified strangers into the Duke’s mansion.

In any case, the spies eavesdropped on Herena and Blake’s conversation and reported to the Empress after completing their mission.

Therefore, when Blake asked about Asdel, despite already knowing about Asdel from her, the Empress responded that she couldn’t obtain more.

Observing a fleeting disappointment on Blake’s face, the Empress had an intuition.

It was clear that Blake had feelings for Herena.

The moment she realized that, her mood wasn’t particularly good.

It wasn’t because of any romantic feelings towards Blake.

Such pointless emotions wouldn’t be of any help.

Instead, she had targeted Blake as her pawn a long time ago.

Although they had known each other since childhood, her plan involved using him, and she had no qualms about it.

In fact, to completely break down any guard he might have, she intentionally treated him even more affectionately, seemingly devoid of any caution.
Anyway, for her, the most important person was not the Emperor or her younger brother; it was her son, the one she had given birth to in this world.

If she could wield the strongest power and pass it on to her son, she was prepared to sacrifice even her parents or siblings, calling it mere pieces on her strategic chessboard.

The reason she raised Asdel in the Laverion Duke’s mansion was, in case something went wrong, she could pin the blame on her brother instead and escape.

So, it was only natural that Blake, who wasn’t even family, didn’t evoke any feelings of guilt in her.

However, when Blake developed feelings for Herena Rosentia, a variable entered her otherwise perfect plan.

She didn’t know when these feelings had started, but whatever it was, it made her uncomfortable and awkward.

‘I might need to make some adjustments.’

Considering various possibilities, she began to rethink her plans according to the situation.

Using her brilliant mind, she quickly devised a new strategy.