At first, Jessie showed Irene various dresses and accessories, giving her choices.

But everything looked pretty to Irene’s eyes, and she had no fashion sense, so she didn’t know which accessories would go well with which dress.

So every time, she passed the choice back to Jessie, asking her to choose.

After this situation repeated a few times, it became a format where Jessie would choose directly and then ask Irene if it was okay.

It was the same today, and as Irene was living in the dress Jessie had chosen for her, she suddenly looked at her reflection in the mirror.

‘It’s plain.’

Compared to the clothes she wore when living with her parents, it was incomparably luxurious.

But perhaps because she had worn many more gorgeous and beautiful dresses and accessories than this, it felt plain and ordinary.

It’s been a while since she had dinner with Kalos, wouldn’t it be polite to dress up nicely?

Even yesterday, they suddenly had tea time late in the evening, and she went out without properly dressing up.

“……”

Although she didn’t particularly want to receive special attention from Kalos, she didn’t want to show a shabby appearance either.

……And there was also a desire to look a bit pretty.

It wasn’t because it was Kalos, but just the heart of a person who wanted to look pretty to others.

Irene, looking in the mirror and fiddling with the hem of her navy skirt that had no pattern, asked Jessie.

“Can I change clothes?”

“Clothes? Are you uncomfortable somewhere?”

“Ah, it’s not that I’m uncomfortable, I just want to wear something prettier.”

My goodness. Irene finally took an interest in dresses!

“Of course! I’ll bring them right away!”

Jessie, extremely delighted, ran to the dressing room.

*

Jerdin, who returned to the imperial palace after a long journey, went straight to see the emperor without washing or tidying his clothes.

It was because of the letter that Kalos had asked to be delivered to the emperor secretly and as quickly as possible.

“My master asked me to deliver this to His Majesty the Emperor.”

Curious about what was written inside, he immediately handed the letter to the emperor.

The emperor, who had been looking at his son who appeared covered in dust with disapproving eyes, changed his expression as soon as he heard that Kalos had sent a letter.

Seeing the Esper family crest stamped on the red wax seal, his heart skipped a beat for no reason.

The emperor took a deep breath before opening the envelope with a letter knife.

After reading Kalos’s stiff writing style, characteristic of his personality, without missing a single period, deep wrinkles of concern appeared between the emperor’s brows.

Judging by his expression, it seemed serious content was written.

Although it seemed unlikely he would tell if asked about the content, it was worth a try.

“What is written in it?”

Jerdin casually brought it up, thinking there was nothing to lose, but unexpectedly, the emperor willingly revealed the content.

“He’s asking to create a culprit who instigated the riot by releasing monsters during this Poyeon Festival.”

“What?”

Not to catch the real culprit, but to create one?

“What nonsense is that?”

“It’s true. The real culprit can never be caught, and even if caught, it’s someone who can’t be revealed to the world, so a fake culprit is needed, he says.”

In other words, Kalos knows who the real culprit is.

Moreover, saying it’s someone who can’t be revealed to the world means the culprit is not human but an underground resident.

Considering Kalos says they can never be caught…

“Could the culprit be… the one who bound my master to this land?”

“Well.”

The emperor neatly folded the letter.

“I don’t know who the real culprit is, but if it’s someone who can never be caught, we do need to create a fake culprit. The incident has become too big to just bury and move on. The temple side is also insisting on catching the culprit, even sending an investigation team directly to the Esper territory.”

That’s true. Jerdin nodded in agreement.

The culprit who caused this Poyeon Festival incident will most likely receive heavy punishment.

Even if they survive the punishment, it’s clear they would live a life worse than death.

Although he didn’t like the idea of making an innocent person the culprit, it was unavoidable to cover up this incident.

Is this what they call sacrificing the small for the greater good?

Jerdin smiled bitterly at the unpleasant motto.

“So who do you plan to make the culprit?”

“That’s what I’m worried about too.”

The emperor sighed deeply and rubbed his furrowed brow.

“We need to find someone who can take all the blame without repercussions and who the temple side will also accept as the culprit…”

Who could such a person be?

As father and son were putting their heads together to ponder this rare problem, a beautiful voice like a nightingale’s song was heard.

“Shall I help you, Your Majesty?”

“Empress?”

The emperor looked at the empress in surprise.

Jerdin also looked at his mother with startled eyes.

“How did the empress come here…?”

“I knocked several times but there was no answer, so I was worried that something might have happened to Your Majesty and entered without permission. Please forgive my rudeness, Your Majesty.”

There was nothing to say when she said she entered out of concern, and not for something else.

If he said anything here, he would just look like a mean-spirited bad guy.

“…Please be careful next time.”

So the emperor, though displeased, could only give a light warning.

The empress answered with a warm smile that she would, then turned to look at her son.

“It’s been a while, Jerdin. Did you meet your master well?”

“……”

Although she was the perfect image of a mother without any flaws, he felt somewhat displeased because he knew his mother’s rotten inner thoughts.

“Yes. I returned safely. I was going to greet you, Mother, right after paying my respects to His Majesty the Emperor, but I’ve met you like this. Have you been well, Mother?”

“If you say I’ve been well, then I’ve been well, and if you say I haven’t, then I haven’t.”

At this meaningful answer, Jerdin closed his lips.

The empress smiled sweetly and continued.

“Don’t take it in a strange way. It just means that I haven’t been entirely well because I was worried about whether my son was doing well and would return safely.”

“…I see.”

Tap tap, the emperor lightly tapped the desk to draw their attention.

“More importantly, Empress, what do you mean by saying you’ll help me?”

“It means exactly what I said. You seem to be very troubled about who to present as the culprit for the Poyeon Festival incident, so I will solve that problem for you.”

The emperor asked, very surprised.

“How does the empress know about that… Did you secretly eavesdrop on our conversation?”

“That’s not what’s important right now, Your Majesty. What’s important is that I can help you. Furthermore, it will also help the Grand Duke of Esper.”

“……”

The emperor was very irritated by the empress’s words, but he couldn’t say anything since she was offering the most needed help.

“…How do you plan to create a culprit? Do you have a good idea?”

Instead, he asked about the plan, and the empress smiled, prettily creasing her eyes.

“I have thought of a few people who would be suitable to set up as fake culprits.”

“Who are they?”

“I can’t tell you yet. I haven’t decided which of the people I’ve thought of would be best to set up as the culprit. I’ll tell you when I’ve made a decision.”

“If that’s the case, we could decide together.”

“That might cause trouble for those who are eliminated from the list of culprit candidates.”

What on earth could be troublesome about that?

As the emperor frowned, openly showing his displeasure, the empress spoke in a gentle tone as if soothing a child.

“Please trust me, Your Majesty. Have I ever done anything harmful to the imperial family and the empire?”

“……”

He didn’t want to admit it, but it was true.

The empress’s actions had always been helpful, never harmful.

At first, the emperor welcomed such behavior from the empress, but not anymore.

Not only did she create secrets like this, but she also made statements that seemed to disregard him.

Sometimes she showed actions that made him wonder if she really needed to go this far.

“…Fine.”

However, because he acknowledged her heart for the imperial family and the empire, the emperor decided to accept the empress’s proposal, even if it irritated him a little.

“We need to announce the culprit within a week, so please decide and let me know within three days at the latest.”

*

“Mother.”

Jerdin blocked the empress’s path as she was returning to her palace from the emperor’s, and abruptly asked a question.

“You’ve already decided, haven’t you?”

Although such rude behavior and words might have been unpleasant, the empress smiled without a wrinkle.

“I don’t know what you’re talking about.”

“Just now…”

Jerdin stopped mid-sentence and glanced at the maids following the empress.

They were all the empress’s people, so they probably wouldn’t carelessly spread words, but still, you never know.

As a rule, the fewer people who know a secret, the better it’s kept, so Jerdin didn’t want the maids to know.

“All of you, step back for a moment.”

The empress, realizing that Jerdin was concerned about listening ears, dismissed the maids.

Once the maids had retreated to some distance, Jerdin finished what he was going to say.

“You already have someone in mind to set up as the fake culprit, don’t you?”

“Why do you think that?”

“Because you wouldn’t speak of something uncertain, Mother.”

The empress smiled like an unnamed white wildflower blooming on the roadside.

A very strong wildflower that never yields to wind and rain, though it looks fragile on the outside.

“Is it because you’re the child I bore with pain? How is it that you know me so much better than the husband I’ve lived with for over 20 years?”

“Mother.”

“If you’re concerned that an innocent person might be framed as the culprit and die, don’t worry too much about it. It’s natural to sacrifice the small for the greater good.”

The ‘small’ the empress spoke of included not only the fake culprit of the Poyeon Festival incident but also Kalos.

Suddenly recalling that the empress was trying to hold Kalos back somehow for the sake of the imperial family and empire’s prosperity, Jerdin clenched his fist and said,

“I don’t want someone to sacrifice themselves for me. If that person is close to me, I especially don’t want to see their sacrifice.”

“Oh my.”

The empress clicked her tongue as if very regretful and covered her mouth with a fan.

“I thought you understood my heart well, but looking at you now, it seems you don’t. Well, even if you’re the child I bore with pain, you can’t fully understand a parent’s heart.”

The eyes looking down at Jerdin were slightly cold, unlike before.

“But make one thing clear, Jerdin. Everything I do is for the imperial family and the empire.”

Jerdin had always wondered.

Why does the empress go to such lengths for the prosperity of the imperial family and empire?

It seemed too extreme to say it was because she received harsh education to become an empress since childhood.

She was more obsessed than the emperor or Jerdin, who had been royalty since birth.

If the situation of the imperial family or empire was bad, it would be understandable, but that wasn’t the case, so he couldn’t understand why the empress was so obsessed.

Even when he subtly brought it up to the empress, she didn’t reveal anything.

“……”

When Jerdin just stared without saying anything, the empress looked down at him a bit disdainfully for a while.

Then she turned around and walked away gracefully.