Cream-colored silk adorned with ribbons of various colors, a sophisticated feel that complemented the hard-to-find pearls from Perseta.

While Lady Greta hummed a tune and swiftly adjusted the finer details, Milene took her daughter to a corner, having her dress and undress repeatedly.

“Lu, listen to your mother.”

Lu nodded her head without fully understanding.

“Your father has a terrible intuition for things like this.”

“Uh…do you mean he has a terribly bad intuition, or a terribly good one?”

“Both. He’s too extreme.”

Ah. Lu made a nuanced expression thinking about her father.

“So here’s the thing.”

Her mother lowered her voice after double-checking that Lady Greta was out of earshot.

“Lu, you mustn’t get involved with the Emperor.”

“…Excuse me?”

“Do not become personally entangled with His Majesty.”

Though she was already deeply entangled—no, as entangled as one could get—Lu wore a ‘what on Earth are you talking about?’ expression.

It felt as if she was going to laugh and cry, so she controlled her expression as best as she could. She had an idea of what her mother was trying to say. A prickling sensation started somewhere again.

“Why would my mother think like that?”

She deliberately asked with a cheerful tone, feigning ignorance.

“I’ve never seen His Majesty take such personal care of someone. Plus, isn’t everything you’re wearing a gift from him?”

Her mother whispered almost inaudibly.

“Do you not know what it means for a man to gift jewels to a woman?”

Milene hoped that her daughter had gathered a diverse range of experiences and knowledge, not just academic studies. You didn’t graduate from the academy just to become a knight, did you?

“Ah, mom. He just gave them because they’re necessary for lifting a curse.”

Of course, Lu had amassed social awareness and experience to meet her mother’s expectations. She possessed enough audacity to deny any insinuation bluntly in front of her mother.

She knew what it meant for a man to give a woman jewels. Hayden had been able to give them under the pretext of a request, and Lu had no choice but to accept them. But was it solely a favor? She knew that it wasn’t.

“What are we going to do? Did she really only study? What will you do if His Majesty says he likes you?”
I already said it’s good. How many times do I have to say it’s good?

“Why would he like me when His Highness has eyes, too? Mom, you’ve gone too far. Come back.”

“If he has eyes, then he would naturally like you.”

“Mom, since when have you been so outgoing? Is this really you? Hello?”

“I’m not in the mood for jokes right now.”

“Yes.”

Lu folded her hands neatly in front of her mother again. Her mother was frightening.

“I’ve heard that you took care of His Highness during his cadet years. It’s natural for special feelings to develop, but it can’t happen.”

If she were a child, she would simply love that her husband was making a fuss again.

The Gennes family has just been recognized for their blue blood, but they are in a situation where they can’t fit into the mainstream and have to hunt monsters desperately in the west.

So, the violet blood of the royal family that the blue-bloods look up to couldn’t even be looked at. They didn’t even think about it.

But the moment the Emperor personally sent news that he would “like to choose a party dress for my daughter,” and even arranged a designer, it didn’t seem right.

Which Emperor, especially one who’s busy dominating the current empire, would take care of some lady’s dress, and even pay attention to the mother’s participation in choosing the dress?

Milene Gennes could not deny that this time her husband’s intuition, which either horribly mismatches or perfectly fits, was right.

“We need to cautiously enter central politics over several generations. No matter how many achievements we make, we won’t be recognized. Somehow, we have to devote ourselves to solidifying the currently unstable standing of His Highness in order for us to survive here.”

The stigma of being from Calleta, the land of thieves, may not disappear for hundreds of years in this country, tightly held by nobles. The Emperor was their only way out, the ruler who must be properly served.

“His Highness should marry a suitable Eastern noble lady. That’s the shortcut for political stability. I won’t force you into a strategic marriage, but I think someone who understands and supports you would be good.”

The future Count Flache and Earl Fuerli’s daughter must be prudently aided. Milene and Ethan had already reached an agreement on this point. If he was not such a person, he could not be accepted as a son-in-law.

“A maternal home that can’t back you is a weakness. So, even if His Highness takes a liking to you, or you take a liking to His Highness, it can’t happen. It’s not a good match. The nobles would tear you apart, and the throne that has just been filled after 430 years is not strong enough to withstand it.”