Mercedes swallowed down the rising unease. A walk alone with Count Cromwell. It was something she couldn’t have even imagined a few years ago.

When they were alone…….

For a moment, the whip that used to strike her viciously and the countless unspeakable words that poured out flashed through her mind.

Her head seemed to throb.

“The moon is bright, Mercedes.”

The Count maintained his gentle demeanor even after coming outside.

When she first came to the Count’s residence at a very young age, she had wished for him to call her like that and smile at her even just once.

The kindness came too late.

“……Yes, it is, Father.”

But the kindness was brief.

“You dared to ignore your father.”

As soon as they were enveloped in the quietness of the deep garden where no one passed by, the Count faced her with cold eyes.

His face, reflected in the moonlight, had accumulated quite a lot of wrinkles. Nevertheless, his eyes still held a stronger greed than anyone else.

“How could I ever ignore you, Father?”

Mercedes also threw away her act of smiling warmly and answered calmly.

It was the way they conversed since childhood. She would respond indifferently, and the Count would reprimand.

She knew the Count had brought her out with an ulterior motive, and even though she had deliberately agreed, her heart seemed to beat a little faster.

When will her memories fade? Even now, when this person has become shabby with nothing to his name, why…….

Although only one scar remained and the rest had disappeared, her body still habitually traced the wounds.

“Is that so? You say you didn’t ignore me, but I couldn’t even attend your coronation ceremony……. Ha. That knight named Argos or something, he’s really a fraud, isn’t he? Right?”

“……I don’t really understand what you’re saying, Father. Argos?”

The Emperor’s insignia and seal were fake anyway, and she had instructed Bruno to steal the letter they wrote to the Count while sending him. Bruno had succeeded, and no evidence remained. The mansion had all burned down anyway.

Well, she had instructed him to deliberately leave behind the insignia he wore.

“Are you playing dumb now?!”

The Count raised his voice, then seemed surprised himself and turned his head around, surveying the surroundings. He seemed to care quite a bit about his reputation.

“So this is how you’re going to be, huh? Right, you stupid wench? I forcibly brought in a lowly bug like you and raised you, only to be betrayed−.”

The Count’s muttered words grew increasingly crude.

But it was strange.

At first, Mercedes’ heart was pounding, and as she traced her past wounds, she felt dizzy, but her mind gradually began to calm down.

‘Why…… is it okay?’

The person in front of her was just a man approaching old age who had lost everything.

He didn’t have a tall stature like Carlos, and his eyes didn’t hold the spirit like Mrs. Fisher.

Ah. It seemed her world had expanded.

The father who had been the most fearsome and enormous presence in the world was no longer as scary as before.

Now, apart from the Empress Dowager, he had nowhere else to rely on. Cornered, he was pressuring her even more, thinking she was weak.

She decided to use that. Steeling her resolve.

“I’m sorry for putting you in a difficult position, Father. But what can I do? His Royal Highness the Crown Prince tried to kill me…… Should I have died?”

Mercedes answered him with a sneer. The Count’s hand habitually rose.

Mercedes neither closed her eyes nor avoided it. She just stared at him silently.

The Count raised his hand, then slowly lowered it.

“……This isn’t the time for this. Phew……. This damn habit.”

He muttered something, then tightly grabbed Mercedes’ wrist and pulled it up. Even though he was old, as a man, he was stronger than her.

It was a bit overwhelming.

“You should have died. It would have been easier if you had. Why do I have to suffer this humiliation? Is it a sin that I pitied and raised someone like you? What did the Crown Prince say? In the end, he’s a man. You couldn’t even seduce him and get pregnant, and you caused problems. Tsk. Then you should have just entered as a concubine and quietly earned money, you stupid wench!”

In fact, when she became the Crown Princess, the one who was the happiest was the Count.

Mercedes laughed once more.

“Hahaha. Father. Does it make you feel better to blame everything on me?”

“How dare you talk back.”

“I have a mouth too, and I’ve come to have thoughts of my own. Father, where are you planning to hit me this time?”

The Count glared at her. If he hit her even once here, it would leave a mark, so he couldn’t return to the banquet hall. So he couldn’t hit her.

Mercedes trusted that and spoke confidently, enunciating each word. Although her hands trembled, it also felt refreshing.

“And you say you raised me? Putting a corset on a ten-year-old child and throwing them a hard piece of bread, is that what you call raising? It seems your meaning of ‘preciously raised’ differs from the commonly accepted range, Father.”

It was right to speak when it was a moment she could, and it was also right to provoke him more, thinking he might do something.

Mercedes savored the feeling of becoming free. Whatever he did…… Right now, she could let it out. The resentment that had filled her up was being swept away.

“I want to treat you ‘preciously’ too, so let’s go back now. I’ll treat you even more ‘preciously’ from now on.”

“You……!”

The Count grabbed her wrist as she turned around and pulled her. Mercedes reflexively shook off the Count’s hand.

It was just that.

There was no way Mercedes could overpower him. But the Count…….

“Argh!”

He rolled on the ground, screaming loudly. It was obvious he was deliberately trying to inflict an injury on himself, very dramatically.

It was an absurdly ridiculous sight.

But Mercedes, who immediately grasped the situation from that sight, looked around.

‘Aha. So you’re going to create this kind of controversy.’

She saw people.

It should have been a deep garden where no one was.

Quite a few people were approaching where they stood, including nobles closely associated with the Empress Dowager and those the nobles had brought out for a walk.

“Gasp, that’s…… What’s going on?”

They probably came out as a group, saying they wanted to get some fresh air.

They shouldn’t walk this dark path individually in case something strange happens. A suggestion to go out as a group would have been welcome to each other.

“Oh, oh my! Your Majesty the Empress……. No, Count Cromwell?”

People approached in surprise.

Anyone could see that it looked like Mercedes had pushed her father.

“How I raised you.”

Count Cromwell suddenly opened his mouth. Now, a long-winded story would flow out of that filthy mouth. It was obvious even without looking.

“Why are you making this father so miserable?”

Wiping away tears that hadn’t even come out, the Count wailed.

An old father covered in dirt and a daughter standing straight with her back turned, without a single injury.

“In Shame too. I wanted you to be happy and supported you so you could do well as the Crown Princess. But what did I get in return……. Do you not think of us, your loving family? Please, I beg you. Accept this father. Even if I know what you’ve done, this father loves you…….”

Listening to his words, accompanied by sniffling sounds, Mercedes began to wonder if her acting talent might have flowed from the Count.

‘If that’s the case, it’s not too bad.’

She thought she hadn’t received anything from him. It would be good if she at least got one talent. Before, she would have hated having anything in common with the author…….

Like that, under the moonlight, amidst the commotion, Mercedes inwardly sneered.

“Count, are you hurt anywhere? Oh my.”

A nobleman who had called a servant in the meantime supported Count Cromwell. He screamed that his arm hurt and continued to sniffle.

“……Let’s talk next time. Don’t hate this father then.”

Watching the Count’s back as he left, it felt like watching a crudely woven play.

The murmuring sounds of the audience were perfect too.

“Pushing……”

“So……”

“Hurt……?”

“It seemed like their relationship was not good…….”

The whispers didn’t even reach Mercedes.

She only saw the Count’s back. The frock coat covered in dirt looked truly shabby.

Is this the best he could come up with? Trying to further inflate the rumors spread in high society and pressure her.

Is this all he’s capable of?

For Mercedes, who had raised Bruno as a spy and sent him in, and shaken Shame with secret letters, it was a bit amusing.

It seemed her father still thought her world was tiny.

But for now, she intended to play along.

She pressed her lips together tightly. And clenched her fists as if she was resentful.

If there was a desired reaction, she had to give it, right?

Mercedes didn’t smile as usual.

She just silently trembled, then slowly raised her head and looked at the people.

Still beautiful, but different from the Mercedes who was always smiling at banquets.

A cold, expressionless face.

It was bound to be strongly etched in people’s minds.

Mercedes deliberately made that face, then walked through the center of the people and out of the garden.

She didn’t return to the banquet hall. She had to give the Count enough time to spread rumors.

As for this side, well.

‘I wonder if he knows that this side is preparing in its own way.’

She envisioned the headlines of tomorrow morning’s newspapers.

[Empress. Abandoning Human Affection.] [Empress. There were problems since Shame……?] [Empress Who Deceived the Father Who Raised Her] [Is There Anything More Important Than Family Love in This World…….]

Well, something like that.

Mercedes walked a bit faster towards Carlos’ office.

As if he had been waiting for her, Carlos jumped up and approached her as soon as she entered.

“Mercedes. What did you talk about with the Count? Are you okay?”

His eyes were full of worry.

Mercedes smiled faintly and relayed to him what had happened.

Even her father’s verbal abuse didn’t bother her.

But his concern seemed to hurt a little.