The maids wondered if alcohol had accidentally been mixed into the tea. Even for a favored consort, those words just spoken were too dangerous to be taken lightly.

Even if the listeners were only maids of the Empress’s palace, one always had to be careful with their words. Though they worked for the Empress now, one never knew when allegiances might shift and they could turn their backs.

The head maid of the Empress’s palace was accustomed to such matters from her long experience in the imperial court and social circles. She carefully but firmly admonished the Empress:

“You must show respect for Her Majesty the Empress even when unseen. And speaking carelessly of others’ misfortunes is dangerous, especially in the palace…”

“I should make things clear this time. Was it the young lady from the Count Darrent family?”

“Yes, Your Highness.”

“Still unmarried, from a fallen house, and entered the palace through Her Majesty’s grace, correct?”

A vein popped on the head maid’s forehead. What exactly was Selina le Diobe made of? What was the point of asking questions she already knew the answers to?

Nothing was more frightening than malice disguised as innocence. Selina flaunted her transparently gleaming wickedness as she crossed one leg over the other.

“I’ll make this clear now. Are you the Empress’s person, or my person?”

“…I am Your Highness’s person.”

“Is that so? Then you should obey my orders.”

Selina glanced over with a haughty look and set down the empty teacup she was holding. She gestured with her eyes to the table, addressing the head maid.

“Pour the tea.”

The head maid silently picked up the teapot and poured. An inexplicable sense of unease spread across the surface along with the steaming vapor. Selina, who had been glaring at the full teacup, suddenly pushed it with her finger, causing it to fall off the table.

The cup shattered loudly as it hit the floor, and the deep color of the black tea slowly began to seep into the ground. The maids looked at each other nervously, about to get up to call for a servant.

“No need to call anyone. You clean it up.”

As it was the Empress Consort’s order, the maid could not refuse. And memories of countless times serving the imperial family in the past compelled the head maid to move.

She lowered herself and reached for the broken teacup shards.

At that moment, Selina abruptly stood up and stepped on the head maid’s hand.

“Aagh!”

An unbearable scream filled the Empress Consort’s palace.

The white floor was stained with a strange color as blood from the head maid’s hand mixed with the spilled tea. The surrounding maids turned pale and moved towards the head maid.

“Anyone who tries to help will suffer the same fate!”

At Selina’s shout, the maids hesitated and backed away.

The head maid’s hand was pierced with teacup shards, looking not just messy but utterly wretched. Having witnessed the entire scene, Selina smirked as she sat back down.

“How could you serve me with that hand? I’ll have to change the head maid. I’ll speak to His Majesty the Emperor directly about this.”

“Then… allow me one final word.”

A chilling sound of pain being swallowed crept across the floor. With her blood-covered hand trembling, the head maid stared directly at the Empress Consort.

“How long do you think this peace will last?”

“What did you say?”

“The power you wield now was not earned by Your Highness, but given to you by another. Remember this. If you wield it recklessly, it will eventually strangle your own neck.”

The head maid walked out alone, still bleeding. Selina stared blankly at her unwavering back as she left, then hurled the remaining teacup to the floor.

“Your Highness! Please calm yourself!”

“Don’t try to stop me. You’re all the same. You think I don’t know you have the same thoughts as that one who just left? You all look down on me and our family. Saying the Viscount Diobe family that sold out the country is now trying to make a comeback by selling their daughter!”

The maids tried to stop her, but Selina shook them off with near-violent thrashing. When she whipped her head around, raw anger burst forth.

“At least my father and I are better than those who turn their backs and gossip behind others! Isn’t that right? Even if we seem materialistic, we’re still loyal to His Majesty the Emperor, both body and soul!”

The maids could only tremble, covering their mouths with their hands. In their short histories, they had never witnessed such a moment of madness. Selina grabbed a few flowers from a vase and brandished them at the maids.

“This is the result. These flowers surrounding me, the tea poured before you. It’s power I’ve earned through my own efforts. No one can look down on me, no one!”

She must have caught the Emperor’s eye by existing as a well-cultivated single flower. It was love earned through effort. A world built on love was unshakeable and would never crumble.

As long as Cledius existed, Selina’s power would be eternal.

She gradually regained her composure. The terrified maids watched the Empress Consort carefully, wondering what to say or do next.

Selina’s gaze fell to the floor stained with blood and tea. Surprisingly, she looked at the gruesome stains with a bright smile.

“The floor has gotten dirty. Go call someone to clean it up.”

The maids were eager to escape this space. As the sound of their hurried footsteps faded, Selina raised her head. The room, now empty except for her, was once again filled with the scent of flowers.

“It’s only natural.”

Hidden in her monologue was an excuse. The reason the head maid left bleeding, the reason she wielded this power – it was all natural. It had to be.

Staring intently at the red stains, Selina sat back down at the table. As if nothing had happened, she calmly poured herself tea. Another cup of still-steaming tea was placed before Selina.

“…I’ve thought of something interesting.”

**

It was an unfamiliar maid. Ilarid put down the pen she had picked up and turned her head.

“Her Highness the Empress Consort has invited Your Majesty the Empress.”

“The Empress Consort?”

“Yes. She wishes to have tea and conversation with you this afternoon, and hopes you will certainly attend.”

“I understand. Tell her I will come.”

Was this the head maid of the Empress Consort’s palace? Before Ilarid could ask, the head maid had already left her office.

A buried sense of unease began to overwhelm Ilarid.

She had been reassured knowing that the young lady from the count’s family she had been keeping an eye on was serving as head maid in the Empress Consort’s palace. She had believed that being upright and meticulous, the head maid would stand firm even against the Empress Consort’s difficult personality.

“I wonder if something happened?”

“There may have been sudden changes now that the Empress Consort’s palace is no longer under the Empress’s palace.”

Did Selina change things on her own, or was there an order from Cledius?

‘If it were still under the Empress’s palace like before, I would have noticed right away.’

But there was no time to keep regretting. Having placed Selina in the position of Empress Consort as planned, it was most important now to understand the movements of the Emperor and nobles circling around her.

Ilarid began to think about the head maid of the Empress Consort’s palace, the young lady from the Count Darrent family. Could it have something to do with the Empress Consort’s palace changing to be under the Emperor’s palace?

She had heard the head maid was alone in the world. After her family’s downfall, she had cut off contact with her father. She was an unusual young lady who had no fiancé and firmly stated she had no intention of marrying.

She was someone who remained in the imperial palace solely through her own will and ability, with no backing.

A woman driven by the firm conviction to live only for the imperial family. Such a person would not quit or storm out over a few acts of tyranny from the Empress Consort.

Ilarid signed the last document and stood up.

“I should look into this.”

“Shall I come with you…?”

“It’s an official invitation, so nothing should happen. I’ll be fine on my own. I’ll be back by four o’clock.”

Surely she wouldn’t throw tea at Her Majesty the Empress. Lynette felt a hint of worry rising. She recalled how the maids of the Empress Consort’s palace had avoided her gaze and evaded the question when asked how it was serving there.

“Still, please be careful. She was reckless even in her ‘shadow’ days. She might commit some rudeness again.”

“They say the position makes the person, don’t they? She’s risen all the way to Empress Consort. She should at least maintain proper etiquette in public.”

“No. People make the position.”

Ilarid was a prime example. It wasn’t the position of Empress that made Ilarid, but Ilarid as a person who elevated the position of Empress. If Selina sat in the same position, its authority would have plummeted so low as to be invisible.

“So Your Majesty can hold your head high. The current position of Empress in the empire is essentially what the person ‘Ilarid Rowen Melpiram’ has established.”

There were those who spoke ill of the Empress, but the reputation and impression Ilarid had built up was enough to offset such slander.

A reputation couldn’t be built overnight. It was solely the product of Ilarid’s own efforts. Lynette lightly lifted the hem of her skirt and gave a small bow, filled with respect.

She hadn’t expected to receive such praise. Ilarid felt as if she had briefly returned to her childhood as she responded to Lynette’s gratitude. Her heart felt a little lighter as she left the Empress’s palace.

The Empress Consort’s palace had a completely different atmosphere from the Empress’s palace. While Ilarid’s Empress’s palace was neat and tidy, the Empress Consort’s palace was the epitome of extravagance.

Originally, the palace given to Selina had been rather plain, but she had added all sorts of decorations and landscaped the garden to the point that it was dazzling. The interior was likely even more so, if not less.

Selina could be seen sitting at a small table in the shade of a tree in the distance. Her white dress stood out against the green grass.

“Your Majesty! Welcome!”

Selina stood up with a bright expression. Isn’t this the first time she’s greeted me like this? Perhaps because she had only ever seen Selina with a sneering smile in Cledius’s arms, such an expression on Selina felt utterly unfamiliar.

Ilarid hid the uneasy feeling rising from the pit of her stomach and smiled back.

“Thank you for inviting me, Empress Consort.”

“To think that I would invite Your Majesty the Empress first, after putting it off day after day… Please forgive my rudeness.”

It was the most polite and refined language Ilarid had ever heard from Selina. Had there been some change of heart? But Ilarid’s intuition pointed in a different direction.

‘She’s hiding something.’

Looking around, the original head maid was nowhere to be seen. Surely Cledius hadn’t conspired with her to move the head maid somewhere else?

‘I was too complacent. The person backing Selina is Cledius.’

She had thought Selina was too simple-minded to be part of any grand scheme. But the opponent Ilarid had to face was not Selina in front of her, but Cledius and the noble factions hiding behind her.

She observed the maids around Selina.

They all seemed to be unfamiliar faces, likely maids reassigned by the Emperor’s order. They appeared to be daughters of pro-Emperor nobles. Every action and gesture of Ilarid would be reported through their mouths.

She couldn’t even relax enough to take a sip of tea, let alone sit comfortably. But having taken a seat, there were things she needed to confirm clearly.