The Princess seemed extremely angry at being told to “get lost”, but the Mirmode family members had already surrounded me in a protective formation.

The Princess gritted her teeth and rose as if fleeing. She must have judged it better to leave and plan for another day.

“Anyway, I didn’t like her from the start!”

I thought as I alternately looked at the departing Princess Anesa and elder sister Delphia, who was cursing angrily.

Princess Anesa was not one to end things like this.

She would surely return, but how she would return was the key.

‘Surely all of this was not Princess Anesa’s doing alone.’

During our long conversation, I realized.

She was clearly the type with short-sighted thinking.

There must be a mastermind who designed all of this.

‘But who is behind it?’

Who could be the hidden mastermind who created this situation?

I gritted my teeth and sank into thought.

[This is the timeline separator]

Princess Serina Anesa was no longer allowed to enter and leave the Mirmode mansion.

The marriage talks that had been going on also fizzled out.

Feeling threatened, the Princess hid herself away in the imperial palace.

Of course, elder sister Delphia was waiting for the day she would come out, until I stopped her.

She said she would blow her up with dynamite…

But even so, I didn’t expect her to be holed up in the palace for this long.

This couldn’t be the end of the web cast by the Princess, or rather the hidden mastermind behind her, but the atmosphere was too calm.

I sank deep in thought with my chin in my hand.

Unfortunately, there was no one around me who could help.

‘But there is one adult who can help with advice.’

That was Ted, the holy knight.

And these days, he was going in and out of the imperial palace following my father, acting as my eyes and ears.

“Ted.”

He answered me in a serious tone.

“At your command.”

Kind eyes conveying the intention to follow whatever I say.

I looked at him quietly and asked.

“Have you heard any rumors from the palace lately?”

“There are no rumors about Her Highness the Princess. Only that she is in seclusion…”

I tilted my head and let out a long sigh.

“I see…”

What could the Princess be plotting? As I pondered, I opened my mouth again.

“Then, are there no other rumors surrounding the palace?”

Perhaps there might be a tiny clue here.

That’s when Ted carefully opened his mouth as if remembering something.

“Ah! Come to think of it, while it’s not related to Her Highness the Princess, there’s been a lot of talk lately about the Imperial Count, Count Yoter.”

Imperial Count, Count Yoter?

I cocked my head curiously at the sudden, unexpected words.

“Isn’t Count Yoter the rival of my trading company!”

“Yes, that’s right. Haha. These days, instead of focusing on trading company work, he’s mainly been doing volunteer work under the orders of His Highness the Crown Prince, they say.”

At that moment, Leonhart rushed in and chided.

“Come on, what volunteer work! He’s a guy who does all sorts of vulgar inspections, obsessed with making money.”

I thought hard and tilted my head at the words ‘vulgar inspections’.

“What do you mean by vulgar inspections?”

“Ah… well.”

Ted tried to open his mouth carefully, but Leonhart was faster.

“There’s talk that Count Yoter’s capital was involved in the holy power inspection that little Acid did last time. Well… Recently, he’s even been doing paternity tests for noble illegitimate children? Count Yoter really does all sorts of things.”

“Ah, yes. That’s right. Count Yoter has been making a fuss about conducting paternity tests for nobles lately. It’s quite popular under the surface, they say.”

‘Paternity tests…’

I sank into thought with my chin in my hand.

Princess Anesa, who kept going on about ‘real daughter, fake daughter’. And now the paternity testing business being conducted by Count Yoter, a close associate of the Crown Prince.

“Ah… I see.”

I nodded quietly.

The elusive thread was slowly being grasped.

The reason that woman kept calling me a ‘fake daughter’.

And the paternity tests conducted by the trading company under the Crown Prince.

I looked around.

Today, Leonhart and Acid were here, having appeared to protect me.

I opened my mouth towards Acid, who was sitting demurely next to me doing embroidery, and Leonhart, who was leaning back with his mask on, staring intently at me from across.

“Soon, a child who looks just like father will come.”

“Huh?”

“What are you saying, little bean?”

“Suddenly… you say?”

They all tilted their heads in confusion at my words that seemed to be grasping at clouds. But I calmly opened my mouth.

“To be precise, our father’s daughter will come.”

…To be exact, a child claiming to be our father’s daughter, who could possibly be the ‘real daughter’, would come.

At my words, Leonhart dropped the water bottle he had been holding quietly. As it fell, it rolled across the floor. I stared at that water bottle and chuckled softly.

“What are you saying? You’re Matthias’ daughter!”

“Hmm… They’ll probably say I’m fake.”

Leonhart’s face turned bright red at my calm words without any context.

“How do you… know… No, don’t tell me you have prophetic abilities too.”

“…More or less?”

“Amazing… Then you must have a strategy to crush that so-called daughter too.”

I couldn’t help but smile at Leonhart’s eyes filled with faith and trust.

It seems the child who will become the greatest villain in the future has an unexpectedly innocent side.

The tiny healer, Acid, who was by his side, carefully grasped my collar and whispered.

“A real daughter? Then, if Sien gets h-hurt because of that…”

I shook my head.

The world is too wide and there are too many crazy people to get hurt over every little thing!

“It’s okay.”

I have always overcome adversity.

Princess Serina Anesa is just a new adversity.

And every time adversity appears, I have grown stronger by facing it head-on without defeat.

This time will be the same.

I clenched my fist tightly.

In fact, I had already thought of a way to overcome this situation.

But there was just one thing that bothered me.

‘If a child appears claiming to be the “real daughter”, father…’

Since father is a person with a lot of affection, he might be blinded by the words of his own flesh and blood.

More than anything else, if father gives his heart to the ‘real daughter’…

‘It would surely hurt.’

To me, father getting hurt was the biggest problem of all.

[This is the timeline separator]

At that time, Matthias Mirmode, who had just gone out on patrol outside the castle, had received a report about Princess Anesa.

Normally, he would have checked on Sien’s every move, but the ‘villains pretending to be harmless’ that he had openly placed by Sien’s side had already fallen for Sien’s scheme and were not reporting anything to Matthias.

But things that are meant to surface eventually do come to the surface.

Matthias called his close aides who had been by Sien’s side, and the healer Acid, to hear the full story.

Though the tiny scratch on Sien’s face is said to be covered with holy water, a healer could see the process of a wound that had already occurred healing.

“So that woman bullied Sien, you say.”

“Yes, that’s right.”

“She dared to leave a scar on my daughter and pretended nothing happened…”

“Yes. Sien didn’t tell anyone about it.”

Of course, Sien had a plan to pay it back twice over later while holding a grudge.

However, the people present were completely unaware of that fact.

Matthias whispered as if sighing.

“My daughter is so kind… She shows mercy even to such trash of a woman.”

Could it be that raising her to be kind had backfired?

Should he educate her to be a bit meaner even now?

Matthias gritted his teeth, remembering Sien’s cheek that must have hurt. So hard that the tendons in his jaw were visible.

His close aide was about to say ‘From what I’ve observed so far, it seems a bit off to say Sien is kind’ but quickly shut his mouth.

In front of Matthias, who was a doting father when it came to his daughter, even the slightest wrong word about Sien would lead straight to demotion.

As the silence continued.

After reviewing the report materials on Princess Anesa, Matthias rubbed his face dry.

If someone was going to interfere when he just wanted to live happily with his daughter without getting involved with ordinary people.

What could he do?

“It seems she’s plotting something in the imperial palace…”

If there was any intention to leave a scratch on my daughter.

“If she crosses the line any further, wouldn’t it be justifiable homicide?”

No, she might have already crossed the line.

He crumpled the report materials on Princess Anesa in his hand and thought.

She dared to touch my daughter.

What on earth is she thinking, hiding in the imperial palace now?

And how should he make it look like she died well?

But just then.

The door opened, and the secretary hurriedly pleaded.

“Lord Matthias! Princess Anesa has come, saying to consider this her last visit. She says it’s an important matter.”

Just as he was wondering how to devour her, the prey crawled into the tiger’s den on its own.

Matthias rose with a chilling smile, raising one corner of his mouth.

[This is the timeline separator]

Time goes back to just before Princess Anesa ‘finally’ visits the Mirmode family.

‘The killing intent of the Mirmode family was real. What on earth is Sien Mirmode that they go to such lengths?’

Until her elder brother the Crown Prince came to the Princess’ palace, which had an atmosphere as if someone had died, Princess Anesa kept biting her lips and nails in worry.

“How was Sien Mirmode, Anesa?”

“…”

The Crown Prince’s expression showed that he knew she had failed. Anesa spoke as if throwing a pointless tantrum.

“You can tell just by seeing me here, even if I don’t say it. I failed.”

His expression was calm and composed, as if he had expected this.

Anesa muttered, messing up her hair.

“…Yes, I failed. That’s why I told you, I should have sweet-talked Sien Mirmode.”

“And then?”

“After gaining her favor, I should have entered the family and married Matthias Mirmode. It wouldn’t have been too late to drive her out after that, but I got impatient for nothing…”

In fact, Anesa had planned to backstab Sien Mirmode.

Everyone seemed to like that child to some extent. The plan was to seduce her, enter the family, and then drive her out.

But it was the Crown Prince before her who dissuaded her from that plan.

In the end, she did as he said, but the plan failed.

Now Matthias no longer viewed the marriage talks positively. Moreover, Duchess Lucella and Delphia Mirmode, who had seemed interested in her, kept threatening her life.

“You said you wanted to marry Matthias Mirmode.”

“Yes.”

“For that to happen, Sien Mirmode needs to disappear.”