“That… I went too far yesterday, didn’t I?”

“It was unexpected, but…”

Huh?

Unexpected?

I brought up the topic of children because Nathaniel had been watching the kids all day yesterday.

“Still, I thought it would be nice to have someday.”

Smiling cheekily, I looked at Nathaniel, who blushed.

“Then why did you look at the kids like that?”

“Me?”

“You were only looking at the kids yesterday.”

Nathaniel looked at me with a genuinely puzzled expression.

For some reason, I felt unfairly treated and choked up.

“Well, maybe I did…”
“No, I must have just misunderstood.”

Moreover, I felt a sense of disappointment for no apparent reason.

I still thought it was too early, but when he said he hadn’t thought about it at all, it felt really strange.

Nathaniel naturally embraced me and sat me in the chair by the window.

I rebelled a few times, but in the end, I decided to allow this much in the face of Nathaniel’s firm reaction.

On the table, breakfast items were already prepared as if it were morning.

“By the way, your mother is waiting outside.”

“My mother?”

“It seems she doesn’t like the villa much. This morning, she threatened to kill herself if Martin didn’t inform you. She even held a knife to her own throat.”

I naturally expected that.

“Still, she endured a day. I thought she’d run away saying she couldn’t live another day, but she didn’t.”

I put on a cardigan and called a maid to escort my mother inside.

Soon, Cecilia and the black-haired woman I had seen yesterday entered.

“Please greet their Highnesses.”

The maid who brought them in said coldly from behind.

Cecilia and the woman bowed slowly, as if there was no choice.

“It is an honor to have the opportunity to meet both of you, His Highness, and Lady.”

Instead of Cecilia, the woman next to her delivered the greetings.

Although I was curious about her identity, I didn’t intentionally ask.

I didn’t need to inquire about their purpose when it was so obvious.
I glanced at the back of both of them and said, “You can lift your heads now.”

Overnight, their faces had swollen considerably.

They looked as if they had been through something significant.

However, I pretended not to know and asked, “Did you have a good night? I specially arranged the imperial villa for my two people.”

Cecilia seemed to be angry at my calm tone, and her body trembled.

I waited quietly for her reaction.

“Lady, I trusted you.”

“What does that mean?”

“How could you force this mother into such a place!”

As Cecilia shouted, the woman next to her glanced at Nathaniel with tears in her eyes.

It was quite a pitiful sight even in the eyes of the same woman, but I wasn’t particularly concerned because the opponent was Nathaniel.

“Lady Demeter!”

The frustrated person was, surprisingly, a maid who had been waiting behind.

I raised my hand to stop her words and asked Cecilia, “Lady Demeter, does the gift I, now the Crown Princess, gave displease you?”

At my words, Cecilia’s body shook with a start.

She had probably considered me a daughter to be used until now and hadn’t thought of me as the Crown Princess.

What I gave her yesterday was essentially a gift from the imperial family.

Whether it was good or bad, it could not be refused.

“Well, is that…?”

Only now did Cecilia, who understood her position, pale.

Unfortunately, the woman next to her couldn’t do the same.
“Lady, that place is too small and difficult for Lady Demeter to stay… Ah!”

Cecilia stepped forward and slapped her.

Although it was done to survive, the woman, unaware of the reason, had a bewildered expression.

“How dare you ignore the grace bestowed by Lady Demeter!”

“Lady…?”

“Daring to insult the favor of the royal family, I must have raised you too indulgently.”

Only now did the woman understand Cecilia’s words, and she knelt down, bowing her head.

“I, I apologize, Your Highness. I am ignorant of your grace, Your Highness.”

“Enough. Well, it might not be to the liking of both of you.”

I called the maid who was making an angry expression behind me.

“Tell Martin to assign new quarters for the ladies, Your Highness.”

“Yes, Your Highness.”

Confirming the maid urging them to leave, I looked at Nathaniel.

He was looking at the closed door with a strange expression.

“Why is that?”

“Well, I feel like I’ve seen that woman somewhere, but I can’t remember.”

“Nathaniel too?”

He nodded and muttered, “If I see that strange aura again, I might figure out what it is.”

“Hmm, really?”

Anyway, they would probably come back again.

The place they were sent to this time would be less inconvenient than before.

Cecilia and Bianca stared blankly at the cabin in front of them.
Martin, who had arranged their stay, explained with a smirk.

“This is His Highness the Crown Prince’s property. It might not be inconvenient for you, as His Highness sometimes stays here for hunting.”

Contrary to Martin’s words, the cabin was inevitably uncomfortable.

Originally, this place was used by hunters, and, of course, Nathaniel had never stayed here even once.

It had been hastily arranged by Martin on Nathaniel’s orders not long ago.

“T-Thank you…”

Cecilia and Bianca, who had shrunk at the threat of the Crown Princess earlier, said their thanks and went inside.

Once inside, it became even more miserable when they lit the fire.

The cabin was smaller than the restroom they had used at the villa yesterday.

“What on earth is this?”

Cecilia sat down on the bed and murmured.

Bianca, looking at her, muttered with her lips closed.

“I introduced you to the Crown Princess! But what is this?”

“Our daughter wasn’t like this.”

In response to Cecilia’s excuse, Bianca swept her hair back roughly and bit her nails.

If this continued, the plan would be disrupted.

And ‘they’ hated anything that disrupted the plan the most.

‘After finally obtaining the perfect appearance.’

They had to become friends with the Crown Princess at all costs.