Lorencia laughed leisurely.

However, contrary to her relaxed appearance, she was suppressing a rising anger.

This anger was not due to Julie’s display of violence or the mockery of calling her a bastard. It was because of the future she had seen through the amethyst necklace.

Today, the maids were unusually kind to her. It was a bit strange and unfamiliar, but she didn’t forcibly draw a line at their kindness.

“The roses blooming in the garden today are so fresh, I’ll put some in your bath. Take a half-body bath.”

“Your skin will become much smoother, Miss Lorencia.”

“Cats don’t like water, so leave it in the room.”

“But Leo likes water…”

“It’s still a kitten, so staying in water for too long could be harmful to its health. It’s better to leave it behind.”

Leo, unlike most cats, rather enjoyed water, so Lorencia had wanted to bring him along, but the maids strongly advised against it.

Leo glared at the maids once, then slipped out of Lorencia’s arms as if saying “I’ll be waiting,” and jumped onto the middle of the bed with practiced ease.

In the bathroom, led by the maids’ hands, there was a boat-shaped bathtub. Bright red petals floated on the warm water surface. She told the maids who offered to wash her body that it wasn’t necessary.

Lorencia was actually embarrassed to show her body to others. After all the maids left, she undressed herself and carefully lowered her body into the tub.

Lorencia looked at her reflection on the water’s surface. Her face was white, but her cheeks were sunken, making her already thin face look even more gaunt.

Her slender bones made her body’s thinness quite apparent. Her red hair, falling long to her waist, made her white skin stand out even more, looking eerily like blood. She looked like a monster covered in blood. There was no trace of the curves that only women could possess. Small in stature with a flat figure. No matter how you looked at it, she appeared youthful. Who would believe she was 19 years old!

But what was even more depressing was that her appearance 10 years in the future wasn’t much different from now. It seemed to be a side effect of the medicine Ruans had given her. Biting her lip hard enough to draw blood out of frustration, Lorencia sighed deeply and leaned her head against the edge of the tub.

At that moment, the purple amethyst necklace around her neck began to glow on its own. Startled, she quickly grasped the necklace and looked at it.

The amethyst showed a scene from the future where Julie and the maids forcibly caught Leo and tried to feed him fish porridge. Leo, after eating the porridge, coughed up blood and choked, and when she returned to the room after finishing her bath, she saw the dying Leo and broke down in tears.

As the light from the amethyst necklace faded, she abruptly stood up in the tub. Stepping outside, she saw the maids looking flustered.

The thought that they had shown kindness to her in order to kill Leo made her sick. She regretted feeling even slightly grateful for their kindness.

“We’ll give you a massage.”

“Don’t lay a finger on my body.”

Then she heard Leo’s choking sounds from her room. While she had been wallowing in self-pity in the bathtub, Leo had been fighting for his life. She let out a small, bitter laugh.

The faces of the maids who followed her turned pale white or blue. She didn’t stop the maids as they backed away and fled.

Lorencia looked into Julie’s eyes. Although the pain she inflicted was much less compared to what Leo had endured, Julie seemed to be quite terrified.

“Head Maid Julie. Why aren’t you speaking? Is it because I’m not worth answering, even though I’m now officially recognized as Lady Lorencia Pol Heredian, despite being born a bastard?”

“No, that’s not it. I will answer.”

Lorencia smiled with satisfaction.

“Yes, Lady Lorencia. I…”

Illina began to pace back and forth nervously as Julie explained that she had failed to kill the cat and retrieve the bowl of fish porridge.

“How could you leave that fish porridge in the monster’s room!”

“I’m sorry, Lady Illina.”

Illina was momentarily at a loss for words. Julie’s anxious eyes as soon as she entered the room seemed unusual. Normally, she would have taken some kind of action, but there was no sign of that now. She just kept apologizing.

“Don’t just apologize, say something else! Julie!”

“…I’m sorry, Lady Illina.”

Julie, looking down, chewed the inside of her cheek. The Lorencia she saw today was shocking. She wasn’t just the “monster-like thing” that Anne and Illina jokingly referred to. She was a real “monster.” And a “monster” that shouldn’t be carelessly messed with.

“Should I educate Head Maid Julie first?”

The hair all over her body stood on end. It was Lorencia’s voice, but not the Lorencia she had known until now.

“Or should I replace the head maid?”

The gentle and soft voice that kept echoing in her ears.

“I’ll spare you for now.”

When she met the manic gaze in Lorencia’s purple eyes, which had inflicted pain on her with an unknown power, her whole body instinctively screamed, ‘If you want to live, you must run away.’

As she remembered the sight of Lorencia licking her lips and savoring the sight of the bowl of fish porridge, Julie’s body began to tremble involuntarily.

The only thought in her mind was the desire to live.

“Julie? What’s wrong with you? You’re not answering properly, it’s not like you.”

“I’m sorry.”

“What are you thinking?”

“Well…”

“Don’t beat around the bush! If you don’t want to see me go crazy!! What happened in the monster’s room?”

“What I’m thinking right now is…”

“Would it be faster to replace the head maid?”

“I’m thinking of quitting my job as the head maid of the Pol Heredian Count’s household.”

“As Lady Lorencia said, I think it would be faster to replace the head maid.”

Julie forced a smile, painfully lifting the corners of her lips. The meaning behind her words to Lorencia about it being faster to replace the head maid was actually a plea: ‘Please spare my life.’ Fortunately, the monster seemed to understand, as she finally withdrew the madness from her eyes and said these last words.

“That’s a relief. The horse that wins first place in a race gets to live, right?”

“I’m sorry, Lady Illina.”

The monster who was contemplating whether to push her off a cliff or take her hand had chosen to take her hand. It was fortunate that she could live. Now that she was alive, her mind was filled with only one thought: she must run away.

Lorencia, who had been pointed at as a monster, had truly become one. There was no other way to explain that power.

The person Ruans wanted to kill the most was Crown Prince Adrian. He had been contemplating how to kill him, but fortunately, Lorencia had awakened her power to see the future, and Adrian was soon to die.

Once Adrian dies, he, as the only remaining prince, would inevitably become the Crown Prince of the Isuter Empire.

He couldn’t help but smile.

However, Adrian had invited him to his palace, saying he had something to say. Although he didn’t want to meet, he had no choice but to visit due to the request.

“You’re getting married? Was there a lady named Charlotte in our empire?”

“She’s not from our empire.”

Adrian was 26 years old this year. The Emperor had been worried about his late age. But Adrian had shown no interest in marriage, always busy wielding his sword and wandering outside the imperial palace, claiming to be subjugating magical beasts.

“Congratulations on your marriage. I thought you weren’t interested in marriage, brother Adrian…”

“I didn’t mention her full name. My marriage partner is Princess Charlotte Ucha Liuside of the Polloid Empire.”

“Did you say Princess Charlotte of the Polloid Empire?”

“Yes. The marriage talks with Princess Charlotte have been decided. You know Princess Charlotte too, don’t you, Ruans?”

Ruans’ face, which had been maintaining a formal smile forcibly, began to crumble slowly. Ruans slightly lifted the corners of his mouth out of habit, but his eyes held no emotion whatsoever.

“I had sent a marriage proposal to Princess Charlotte not long ago.”

“I see, Ruans.”

“Do you intend to proceed with the marriage talks even though she’s the one I sent a proposal to?”

If by any chance Lorencia hadn’t awakened her power to see the future, he had planned to marry Charlotte, take control of the Polloid Empire, and then wage war to take over the Isuter Empire.

But that plan was no longer necessary now. Because Lorencia had awakened.

“Of course. There’s no reason to refuse.”

Nevertheless, losing to Adrian in this competition stimulated Ruans’ sense of inferiority.

“Why is it you, brother Adrian, and not me?”

Adrian’s low voice, calmly demanding an answer, seemed like a declaration of war, as if testing Ruans’ patience to the limit.

“Because Princess Charlotte chose me.”

“What do you mean she chose you, brother Adrian? Your slow-witted brother doesn’t understand.”

“Recently, when magical beasts crossed over to our border area, I went out to subjugate them, remember?”

“Yes, I remember.”

“While subjugating them, I ended up crossing the border into the Polloid Empire, where I met Marquis Spencer and together we subjugated the magical beasts. Afterwards, we went up to the capital of Polloid together. That’s when I met Princess Charlotte.”

“Marquis Spencer, you say…”

He was the man from the Polloid Empire who had shot and killed Adrian with an arrow in Lorencia’s dream.

“Yes. The Devil of the Borderlands. Teishar Spencer, the Marquis who was selected as a strategist of the Polloid Empire at the age of 20 and subjugated an enormous number of magical beasts near the border, a hero of the empire.”

Adrian looked over Ruans once and raised one corner of his mouth crookedly. His brother, who always maintained a smile, was showing irritation at the mention of Charlotte.

“I know that you sent a marriage proposal to Princess Charlotte, Ruans.”

“Knowing that, do you still intend to marry Princess Charlotte?”

“I told you. Princess Charlotte chose me.”

Ruans bit the tender flesh inside his mouth.

“But isn’t Princess Charlotte the only future queen of the Polloid Empire?”

“Is it important to rule by drawing lines when it’s a distance that can be reached in a day if we hurry? Honestly, I think it would be fine if Princess Charlotte ruled the Isuter Empire instead of me. I could support her from behind while she works, take care of the children if we have any, occasionally train with swords with Marquis Spencer, subjugate magical beasts… Come to think of it, it could be a good life.”

Ruans felt frustrated by Adrian’s words. Adrian’s casual thoughts and tone of speech irritated him.