Mariella looked at Elishia and lowered her head. There was an indistinguishable sorrow in her deep eyes.

“Can fate not be avoided?”

“What do you mean?”

Elishia couldn’t understand the murmured selfdeprecating words, and Mariella lifted her head and smiled at her gaze.

“No. I was just saying something.”

Mariella picked up a letter with a large golden royal emblem on it.

“The Empress wants to see you in five days.”

“So soon?”

“She seems to have heard that you were punished at the Hadeunsha. She said she liked you very much.”

Elishia couldn’t understand what part of this cheerful content was making Mariella worried. So she quickly asked.

“Mother. I don’t remember. Please tell me everything.”

She was nervous that if she didn’t, she might make a big mistake.

“Sigh. Elishia. The Empress wanted to welcome you as the Crown Princess.”

“Wha?”

Elishia’s eyes widened.

“Crown Princess……”

She looked at Mariella. Mariella’s reaction was strange.

When she was punished in Hadeunsha, Elishia tried to understand Mariella’s almost desperate behavior as being similar to ‘the reaction of parents who had invested all in private education when their child failed to get into Seoul University’.

But now this felt like ‘the reaction of parents who hate studying abroad when their child who got into Seoul University is admitted to Harvard with honors’.

Could the position of the Empire’s Crown Princess be lower than the candidate for the Shrine’s deputy?

Since she had only read a bit of the original, Elishia couldn’t possibly know this part and cautiously opened her mouth.

“Well, um. I think I’m a bit lacking to become the Crown Princess.”

Moreover, if it was the Crown Prince, then he was Carina’s submale lead in the original. Carina had definitely said that there was a marriage proposal between herself and the Crown Prince. But what on earth was going on that the Empress wanted her to become the Crown Princess?

“It’s not because you’re lacking. It’s all because I’m a foolish mother.”

Mariella smiled with a sad face. Ah, if Lorie had seen this face, he would have fallen for mother instead of me. Elishia became solemn at the sight of the beautiful duchess’s sad face.

“There wouldn’t be a noble who would refuse a marriage proposal with the royal family, but I’m not so sure.”

She looked around the paradise that surrounded the concert hall.

“The Duke of Uterus has had many outstanding people throughout the generations. They made a great fortune. But your father loved researching history and traveling abroad. I’m also from a humble family and have no interest in political matters. All I want to do is take care of a quiet garden.”

She said that, but the power of the Duke of Uterus’s family wasn’t that low. That was the problem.

“If you become the Crown Princess, you would have to live in the palace, and that might be happiness for those who want it, but it could also be misery for others.”

Elishia closed her mouth that was about to open in surprise.

‘I misunderstood Mariella.’

She was a truly ideal mother who put her child’s happiness first.

“What do you want to do? If you have a mind to such a position, I’ll discuss it with your father.”

“Um. I don’t really want to be the Crown Princess.”

She was just curious about what had happened to the marriage proposal with Carina.

“I’ve forgotten everything. From now on, I have to learn and get used to everything step by step. I know you’re worried about me because I got punished. But I’ll find what I want to do. I believe in myself.”

She thought she wouldn’t have to worry about her life’s path once she found a job. Suddenly being dropped into this world and working as a maid was for survival, but Elishia questioned herself.

If she hadn’t been led to this different life, would she never have had to worry about her career path in reality?

She knew that wasn’t the case. After graduating from school, employment, after employment, promotion, after promotion, marriage that everyone else does, after marriage, again, the childbearing that everyone talks about if you don’t have it in each house.

She wanted to get out of the endless worries and run a happiness circuit for a while. She didn’t want to worry in advance about something that would pop up someday.

“I will definitely be able to make a good choice.”

The only thing she could trust and be sure of was herself. Elishia was convinced that she had such luck and power. At first, she almost died on the cold lakeshore without a house or a chapel, but in the end, she survived for half a year with her own strength, and fortunately, she found a family.

“Thank you for saying that, Elishia.”

Mariella stroked her hair with a somewhat relieved face. Mariella treated her twentyyearold grownup daughter like a very young child. Perhaps it was because Elishia had joined the Hadunsha at the tender age of three.

“But I’m worried. I have to find a dress all of a sudden.”

“A dress?”

Mariella nodded her head.

“You can’t wear a dress that’s not suitable for the palace. I can’t get a dress this quickly.”

Mariella sighed, saying it takes several weeks to make even a simple dress.

Then a good idea suddenly popped into Elishia’s head.

“I have a good idea.”

Costume room ‘Le Ballein’ located in Luton.

Looking up at the sign with shimmering golden letters, Illeon muttered.

“It was a place like this.”

It looked like a shop that would be difficult for commoners or maids to enter.

This was the first time Illeon had come to the costume room himself, with Lona.

That’s because there are several famous costume rooms under contract with the Grand Duke’s house, and when it comes to seasonal costumes or clothing for large events, they come to the mansion themselves if you call them.

The reason he brought Lona was because he thought she would like to go out, having been staying in the Duke’s house for half a year. She was able to have quite a fun time before Saviel showed up.

The touch of the clothes she touched that day still seemed to remain on her fingertips.

The woman who was supposed to wear that dress is gone.

“Welcome, Your Excellency. It is an honor for you to visit us.”

Emily, who saw his red eyes, could not hide her surprised face and quickly bowed in greeting.

“I stopped by because of the clothes I ordered last time.”

Emily nodded and answered quickly.

“Yes, Your Excellency. The order cancellation and refund have been completed.”