After passing through strict security and several doors, I finally entered the audience chamber. The first thing I saw was the imperial throne, hidden behind an opaque black curtain.

The man presumed to be the Emperor was seated there, but his face couldn’t be seen due to the curtain.

“You must have been very busy yesterday. Judging by your sudden cancellation of our scheduled meeting.”

Charlen sat down in the prepared seat, making a pointed remark.

Rose also awkwardly took a seat following him, but there was no chair prepared for Katharine.

Right. Of course a maid would just stand in the back.

Katharine stood in a position that wouldn’t interfere with the conversation between the three, looking at the faint shadow barely visible beyond the curtain.

The Emperor remained silently seated without responding to Charlen’s words. However, it felt as if he was staring intently from behind the curtain.

“…Are you upset?”

The Emperor asked after a long silence.

Though unclear from the distance, his voice was noticeably deep.

Charlen shook his head with an expression of wounded pride visible to all.

“Of course not. I’ve long known that Your Majesty has the relaxed temperament to not be overly enthusiastic about receiving guests.”

“Thank you for understanding.”

Emperor Farnese cleanly ignored Charlen’s subtle sarcasm.

Seeing that he hadn’t said anything to her so far, it was clear that the man she met in the flower garden wasn’t one of the Emperor’s close associates.

In other words, he had merely frightened her for no reason.

‘Phew…’

While feeling relieved, Katharine was also strangely compelled to meet that mysterious man again.

His handsome face, which seemed painted with colors that didn’t exist in this world, oddly refused to fade from her mind.

“Ah yes. Let me formally introduce her. This is the new queen of our Khan Kingdom who was recently enthroned. Rose Roberfon Riche.”

Charlen subtly signaled Rose beside him with his eyes.

As if she had rehearsed beforehand, Rose put on a bright, sociable smile and gave a light bow.

“I’m Rose Riche. It’s a great honor to be able to attend this sacred festival event.”

Rose’s nightingale-like voice refreshed the somber atmosphere of the audience chamber.

That was her greatest strength.

Objectively speaking, Rose wasn’t beautiful enough to be called a beauty, but she was skilled at acting cutely and charming, so she was never treated unkindly wherever she went.

Moreover, her small, thin build like that of an adolescent girl tended to stimulate men’s protective instincts.

Rose was well aware of this aspect of herself and often took advantage of it.

Though she would grumble to herself, “If only I had a voluptuous figure like my sister.”

Seeing how she would stumble or struggle to lift things around men, behaviors she didn’t normally do, well…

In any case, judging by the lack of response from the Emperor, it seemed Rose’s radiant smile had its usual effect this time as well.

After all, Emperor Farnese had been staring intently at Rose for a while now.

However, his first words were directed at someone else entirely.

“Are you the queen’s maid?”

At that, Katharine nearly blurted out a foolish “What?”

Wasn’t he looking at Rose?

Though inwardly flustered, Katharine calmly nodded to avoid appearing naive.

“Yes, that’s correct.”

An awkward silence swept across the cold marble floor.

Charlen and Rose seemed quite surprised that the Emperor showed interest in a mere maid rather than anyone else.

Why would he address the maid standing like a shadow in the corner, without even greeting the newly enthroned queen?

Even the guard knights standing in the audience chamber all looked perplexed.

“I heard you’re an ill-mannered woman who fearlessly climbs like a kitten. You seem different from the rumors. Or are you restraining yourself in my presence?”

The man she met in the flower garden must have reported every detail of that day’s events to the Emperor.

Perhaps the Emperor granted this audience today to confirm her identity and punish her.

Katharine calmly replied:

“I’m not sure what your servant told you, but there’s a misunderstanding. I’ve never been disrespectful.”

“It seems your words about not being afraid to meet me were sincere. I see no wavering in your eyes.”

“I have no reason to tremble when I’ve done nothing wrong.”

As Katharine raised her chin and spoke boldly, the Emperor’s lips seemed to curve up slightly.

No, perhaps I saw wrong.

“Why haven’t you done anything wrong? After trespassing in the garden.”

“Trespassing…?”

The Emperor reclined slightly on his throne, merely resting his chin on his hand.

As if telling her to think for herself about what she had done wrong.

When he remained silent, the elderly advisor, Duke Ludwig, who had been standing unobtrusively to the side, kindly explained in his place.

“The garden with the giant flower tree is a sacred place that only the Emperor and Empress have been allowed to enter for generations. Outsiders who set foot there may face consequences.”

Ah, I’m in trouble.

No wonder there was no one around while I was taking a walk.

The situation unfolded according to the worst-case scenario she had hoped to avoid imagining.

Katharine swallowed dryly as she looked beyond the curtain.

There was no room for excuses.

Just as she was anxiously waiting to see what terrible punishment the Emperor, rumored to be tyrannical beyond reason and certifiably insane, would inflict on someone who had entered his garden, he spoke:

“You answer in her place, as her superior. Queen Rose Riche. What punishment do you think would be appropriate for her?”

“W-What? Well…”

Suddenly questioned, Rose couldn’t hide her bewilderment and looked to Charlen for help.

He quickly intervened.

“This is Katharine’s first time in the Renel Empire. She wouldn’t have known about such regulations, so it must have been an honest mistake. Please understand with a generous heart.”

“Your Majesty. You didn’t say a word when that maid girl was in trouble, but as soon as the queen became the target, your eyes lit up.”

“…I had no other intentions.”

No. He most likely did have other intentions.

Strangely enough, Emperor Farnese had hit the nail on the head.

When the Emperor questioned Katharine, Charlen thought she would handle it well and pretended not to notice, but when his beloved Rose was in a predicament, he tried to protect her.

Charlen feigned innocence and added:

“Queen Rose and Katharine are sisters. I respect Katharine as much as I cherish the queen. She is also my ‘sister-in-law’ after all.”

Those words from Charlen painfully gouged at Katharine’s still-unhealed wounded heart.

It was just a few months ago that he had earnestly courted her with those frivolous lips, saying “I could give up the throne for you.”

If he had felt even a little remorse, he wouldn’t have carelessly spoken such brazen words.

Katharine barely swallowed the painful discharge flowing from the wound that Charlen kept picking at before new flesh could even form.

In a way, it was fortunate that she and the Emperor were separated by the black curtain.

If even that thin barrier hadn’t been there, the Emperor might have seen her miserable face filled with deep sorrow by now.

There could be nothing more shameful than having even the emperor of a foreign country know about how she had been abandoned by Charlen overnight.

* * *

Back in the guest room where she would be staying during her time in the Renel Empire, Katharine took a clean bath and neatly combed her hair.

She opened a book of general knowledge to study in the evening as usual, but for some reason the letters wouldn’t register in her eyes today.

She eventually closed the book and lay down on the bed.

“I’m also not someone of such low status that you can fearlessly talk back to me.”

Why couldn’t she get that mysterious man out of her mind?

Judging from the situation, he seemed to certainly be a close associate specially favored by the Emperor, but why was he alone and injured?

As she lay with her face half-buried in the pillow, blinking her eyes, someone knocked on the door from outside.

Thinking it must be a maid, she absentmindedly told them to come in.

But the person who opened the door and entered was none other than Charlen.

Katharine, startled that he would visit her room at such a late hour, reflexively clutched her robe and stood up.

“I came in because you said to. Don’t be so wary.”

“…What brings you to my room?”

“There’s something I wanted to ask. No matter how I think about it, I can’t understand it with my common sense.”

“What is it?”

He paused for a moment, wandering around the room.

Sauntering over to the desk, he picked up the book she had closed earlier after studying.

Looking at the cover, he pulled up the corners of his mouth in a smile.

It looked like he was sneering.

“World Politics… How very like you to read this. It’s useless now though.”

Katharine bit her lip hard.

He meant what was the point of reading such books when she wouldn’t become queen.

That smile just now was indeed a sneer.

Ignoring his words, Katharine cut to the chase:

“You said you had something to ask.”

“How does Emperor Farnese know you?”

He asked, closing the book with a thud.

“Did you come all this way just to ask that?”

“It’s not just that. It’s the most important matter to me.”

“I don’t think it’s any of Your Majesty’s business where I go or who I meet.”

“I’m the one asking questions here. Don’t carelessly question me, Katharine.”

He glared at her arrogantly.

Katharine met his gaze directly without averting her eyes even slightly.

“You seem to be misunderstanding something. I’m giving you an order right now.”

Charlen approached and roughly grasped Katharine’s chin.

She tried to shake him off, finding even his touch unpleasant, but he demonstratively drew even closer.

His cologne scent and breath, coming without warning, were frustratingly familiar. Against her will, Katharine’s tightly pressed lips trembled slightly.

A strange light flickered in Charlen’s eyes as he looked down at Katharine, who let out a faint moan with her jaw held.

“Tell me while I’m asking nicely. Why is Emperor Farnese interested in you?”

“What on earth are you imagining?”

“Did you perhaps have a secret meeting with him while I was away?”