When I returned to the room, Nathaniel was whining while looking at the documents.
I grabbed him with my hand, picked him up, and sat him in the chair.
[You should have told me when you arrived.]“What could have made our dragon so angry again?”
[What, what?]Nathaniel lost his words momentarily at my playful tone.
And then, his face soon turned bright red.
With his small, plump arms, he tried to escape by smacking my hand, and I laughed out loud at his efforts.
“You know you’re cute, don’t you?”
[I’m not cute at all! Let go!]It was no use floundering; he was in my palm.
I smiled sweetly and hugged him tightly.
“You know I like you a lot, a lot, don’t you?”
Nathaniel, who had been causing a fuss to be let go, soon calmed down.
I smiled slyly at his nodding head from my embrace.
It was something I wanted to say to him ever since reading the Empress’s diary earlier.
[Yes.]I felt Nathaniel’s heart beating fast.
I gently stroked his head, then looked down at him intently and repeated.
“Really. Even if everyone in the world points fingers at you, I will forever be on your side.”
When I first met him, I was no different from other people. I was scared of Nathaniel, and I did not think of him as a human.
But as we spent time together, I realized that he was just awkward, a person with feelings.
“Ah!”
At that moment, with a poof, Nathaniel finally returned to his original form.
Although he was naked, without his clothes, that didn’t matter at all.
He looked at me with soft eyes and smiled.
“I like you too, Jaina.”
The weight of his words was entirely different from mine.
My heart dropped, thump, to the floor.
(This is a time separator.)
The Empress called Lina, the maid of the Crown Prince’s palace, to ask about their recent situation.
“They’re close?”
“Yes. Their relationship is so close that there is no room to intrude. Besides, since the request to bring in a new consort, the Crown Prince has become even more guarded, even eating meals alone with his consort.”
The Empress’s expression turned serious at Lina’s words.
If a rift was to occur, there should at least be an opening to exploit.
Besides, unlike his father Philip, he even seemed to have some affection.
“Ha……. I understand. Go back.”
After dismissing Lina, Milia let out a long sigh.
Her head was throbbing.
If only Anais were here, it would have been good.
Suddenly, she missed her daughter who had cut off her path.
Without her, there was no one to talk to about these inner thoughts.
Milia considered calling the chamberlain but decided against it.
“Your Majesty, the Empress! You should come to the guest room!”
Then, the door burst open and the chamberlain ran in, his face pale.
Milia hastily headed towards the guest room with her horse.
The inside was dark as if to summon a demon.
“What is this…?”
The Empress reflexively covered her nose.
Her face involuntarily crumpled at the faintly emanating stench.
“Who is staying in this room?”
“Groban Youngae is staying here.”
“Diana?”
As the Empress gestured as if to say go in, the maid dashed into the smelly room.
“Groban Youngae, are you in there?”
As she cautiously called the name, Diana came out from within.
Her expression was not good, and her complexion was dark, so it felt like something had happened.
“Ah… I see Your Majesty, the Empress.”
Diana belatedly discovered the Empress looking at her with a frown.
Only then did she realize what she had been doing for the past few days.
The Empress walked up and slapped Diana’s cheek hard.
She slapped her so hard that tall Diana staggered and fell to the side.
“What are you doing on this sacred land!”
Diana, who was slapped for the first time in her life, was in shock.
She covered her cheek with her hand and looked up at the Empress.
“If someone else had discovered it, what would have happened! Don’t you know that the Empire executes those who handle black magic?”
The Empress was furious.
She had risked her life to have the Crown Prince wag his tail, and now he was doing such useless things.
“I… I didn’t know, Your Majesty. Please forgive me just this once.”
Diana was startled by the Empress’s words and bowed her body.
Black magic.
It was content that she could see in a fairy tale book from her childhood.
She had accidentally followed the Crown Princess’s back and discovered a secret library, and she had picked up a book that seemed useful there.
‘And I just read along with what was written in the book…’
If she had known that the book was so dangerous, she wouldn’t have looked at it from the beginning.
“Get rid of that thing at once…”
Milia stopped talking.
Her eyes were on the page Diana was looking at.
[Spell to Steal a Person’s Heart]It was what she had been looking for.
“Dismiss the person.”
She sent the maid away and summoned Diana to the private room.
“Is this content real?”
“Please spare me just once, Your Majesty.”
“Answer my question.”
Diana answered with her head bowed.
“I, I don’t know that well.”
She had carefully examined the book, but nothing else seemed useful.
Not long ago, the news came that Count Trevia had failed to find the Dius Knights.
So she was worried that she would have to find another way, but this solution rolled in on its own.
“Listen well.”
“Yes, yes.”
“You will use this at the Harvest Festival banquet on the Crown Prince.”
“Yes?”
Diana looked at her with wide eyes.
The Empress added with a cruel smile.
“And sleep with him. If you fail, not only you but the entire Groban family will disappear.”
Milia said so and abruptly stood up and went outside.
Diana sat on the floor and just listened to the receding footsteps of the Empress.
My Step-brother Is Obsessed With Me (Female-dominant)
A gentle female protagonist vs pitiful in the early stage, and a sick male protagonist in the later stage
Cheng Songer transmigrated into the body of a vicious cannon fodder female supporting character with the same name as her in a female-dominant novel.
In the original story, the cannon fodder female supporting character was inhumane, committing domestic violence, gambling excessively, being lustful, and even wanting to sell her stepbrother to a brothel for money.
As luck would have it, she just happened to transmigrate at this time.
Seeing Cheng Qingzhi biting his lip, enduring the tears in his eyes, looking pitiful, her heart softened.
She stuffed the money back into the Madam’s hand and reached out to him.
“Brother, come home with me.”
