At a time just past midnight.

The outskirts of the empire were shrouded in darkness. Except for the Marquis Shumael’s mansion, which had been brightly lit for some time.

After dismissing all the servants, the Marquis secretly welcomed the Northern Grand Duke who had arrived, cutting through the cold air. The Grand Duke was accompanied by an elderly man in tattered clothes, his eyes covered with a blindfold.

“Your Highness the Grand Duke, what brings you here so suddenly……”

“Bring me the woman named Cecilia.”

The Grand Duke’s words were not just ominous, but even deadly.

The Marquis opened his mouth in bewilderment.

“She has already retired to her chambers. Today, she could become Her Highness the Imperial Princess, so how could she this night……”

“Marquis.”

Sion Belfast’s voice sank heavily.

“She is not the Imperial Princess. She is under the hypnosis of the Southern Grand Duke, mistaking herself for the princess. If you wish for your life to last beyond the morning at the Imperial Palace that will come shortly, wake her up and bring her here.”

“W-What?”

Shumael froze in place, unable to move.

What is this……

Certainly, His Majesty the Emperor had said it. That Cecilia knows memories that only the deceased crown prince and himself shared, which he had never told anyone.

That perhaps, at long last, he may have found his granddaughter.

“That can’t be, Your Highness the Grand Duke. Are you mistaken about something? The Southern Grand Duke would have no reason to hypnotize Lady Cecilia, would he?”

“If it was the South who left her unconscious in front of your house?”

“!”

“Do you know what she went through before losing consciousness? What will you do? Will you come up with a plan here, or will you trust Cecilia to the end and face the Emperor without a plan, branded as a traitor?”

The Marquis’ face turned pale.

He recalled the request Arcadia Nugent had made to him a little while ago.

[If you want to save your life, follow the words of His Highness the Grand Duke whom you will meet shortly.]

“……I will wake her and bring her.”

[This is the timeline separator]

Early dawn.

As soon as I opened my eyes, I almost fell out of bed. Because outside the window I had turned to without thinking, Arcadia was sitting on the window frame.

With an extremely affectionate face at that.

“I thought it rude to enter a lady’s room, so I waited here for you to wake up.”

Startled, I pulled my nightgown up to my neck and jumped out from under the covers.

“D-Don’t you think this is an even more frightening rudeness? I thought you were a ghost! What if you fall?”

“Don’t worry. I have an innate sense of balance.”

“Why are you doing this?”

I was suddenly scared that something bad had happened.

“Hurry. His Highness the Grand Duke will be a little late today. We need to go first and assess the situation.”

Ah…… that’s right.

Only then did I realize that I had fallen asleep last night without any plans.

To bring such important information and then fall asleep until now without discussing a plan together, what a fool I am!

‘You idiot!’

I couldn’t slap my own cheek because Arcadia was in front of me.

“Where did His Highness go?”

“He was with me at Marquis Shumael’s mansion and then went somewhere else.”

“Where?”

“He didn’t tell me either. I can only hope he returns before Lucella appears.”

“He’s alright, isn’t he?”

“Me?”

“No, His Highness.”

“……I don’t know, ask him yourself when he comes. Hurry!”

Arcadia yelled at me to hurry and then jumped down below the window.

Time is of the essence.

I wet only my face with cold water and then put on the Northern uniform.

‘I shouldn’t have fallen asleep like that yesterday. Why didn’t you wake me up?’

I was so angry at myself I couldn’t stand it.

[This is the timeline separator]

The ‘Silver Lucella Hall’ was filled with nobles who had hurriedly come out early in the morning.

Perhaps because it was a day when a new imperial family member may be born, everyone wanted to witness that moment in person.

‘But that woman is a fake.’

[Who am I?] [You are the one who brought me to this empire, the Northern Grand Duke who supports me from the shadows.]

The image of Cecilia under hypnosis, referring to the red caterpillar as ‘Your Highness the Northern Grand Duke’, was vivid in my mind.

My heart sinks sharply.

If Cecilia, exposed as a fake at this place today, accidentally utters those words, even by mistake.

“Don’t worry too much.”

Then Arcadia, who was standing right next to me, whispered.

“I saw the old man who sold you the premium seat remove the hypnosis on that woman. When she woke up, she realized that everything she heard under hypnosis was a lie.”

Many things happened on the night I was asleep.

Arcadia told me that His Highness the Grand Duke had brought that blind old fortune teller to the Marquis’s residence.

The old man lifted the hypnosis on Cecilia, and when she woke up from the trance, she was initially so scared that she didn’t even know why she was here.

“She had been abandoned in front of the Marquis’s residence while under hypnosis.”

Arcadia said.

After some time passed, Cecilia was able to recall most of what she had seen and heard while hypnotized.

And that she had been manipulated to pretend to be the fake princess and deceive the emperor.

She trembled in fear.

“But if she runs away like this, things will only get bigger.”

The Grand Duke had the old man put her under hypnosis again. Only erasing the memory of the red caterpillar mentioning ‘the North’ from the woman’s mind. And he also secretly hypnotized the Marquis and his wife.

Erasing all memories of the Grand Duke and Arcadia coming here, of lifting Cecilia’s hypnosis.

And he did the same to Cecilia.

It was an unavoidable thing, Arcadia said.

“If the Marquis gets scared and blurts out what he heard from us as an excuse, that could also become a bigger problem, he judged. Because right now we have no clear evidence of the relationship between the red caterpillar and the Southern Grand Duke. If we reveal it by mistake and the South cuts off that red caterpillar, we lose the chance to secure more evidence.”

I agree.

The Grand Duke made an unparalleled, astoundingly excellent judgment and response.

However…… the despair and sorrow the Emperor will face because of Medeia, and the tragedy that will stem from it, even the Grand Duke cannot prevent.

My chest feels suffocatingly stuffy.

‘That much can’t be stopped. It can’t be helped.’

Do I have no choice but to just watch, biting my lip and holding back my rage?

That’s when it happened.

“She’s here.”

At Arcadia’s words, I came to my senses and raised my head. In the distance, on the platform, I saw Cecilia appearing together with the Emperor.

“His Majesty the Emperor, the Sun of the Empire, has arrived! Everyone pay your respects!”

The cries of the attendants rang through the hall.

Cecilia, standing next to the Emperor, looked pale. She’s shaking like she might collapse at any moment.

I bowed to the Emperor and then said to Arcadia,

“Then that woman knows what will happen to her now.”

“Probably. She knows better than anyone that she’s not the Emperor’s granddaughter. She’s the daughter of a poor tenant farmer who lived near the western border. She lost her parents in an attack by a horde of demons and came to the empire in search of work. Knowing she’ll be chased to her death if she runs away…… she came to this place.”

Arcadia looked below the platform. There stood the Marquis Shumael and his wife, their faces as pale as Cecilia’s.

“They found out that Cecilia is a fake. Cecilia must have confessed. That under hypnosis, she thought she was really the Emperor’s granddaughter.”

“Do they know that Lahert is behind this?”

“No. Even if we tell them, we have no clear evidence. We can’t say the red caterpillar is behind it either. They’ll just know that Cecilia was manipulated by someone, and that they too were ruined by being deceived by her.”

“……Lahert.”

“Yeah. That bastard we need to tear apart.”

“Say more.”

“What?”

“Those curses. It’s cathartic.”

Why is Arcadia’s hatred a comfort at this moment?

“That bastard isn’t even worthy of curses. If you want, I can curse him worse later. Of course, I’ll really tear him apart then.”

He spoke in a voice as chilling as a snowstorm.

I fully understand Arcadia’s resentment.

Those bastards we really need to tear apart.

I looked at Medeia, standing far away below the Emperor’s platform. She was wearing Madam Lumiere’s spring collection, the ‘Blue Moon’.

The elegant blue dress sensually revealing her chest softly envelops her white skin. Befitting her nickname of the White Grand Duchess, she was smiling brightly.

As if she too was overjoyed that the Emperor had found his real granddaughter. I could see the Emperor also smiling at Medeia like that.

It felt like my heart was being pierced by a thick needle.

Arcadia gritted his teeth.

“That bitch looks cheap wearing that dress. Like a skinny dried up white pig. Throwing her in a shit pit wouldn’t be enough, that bitch.”

“Deputy Commander, someone will hear you. Lower your voice.”

“Let them hear.”

Still, Arcadia lowered his voice.

Thank you Arcadia.

They’re not even worth you dirtying your mouth for.

“Thank you.”

“I’m doing it because I want to.”

I couldn’t help but smile brightly. Even though I knew it wasn’t the time to laugh, I was grateful for Arcadia’s warm consideration.

“Smile a lot, Esther. From now on too.”

“Pardon?”

“I’ll make you laugh.”

He spoke bluntly while staring at the platform.

What?

I feel like I heard something warm, but it also feels strange.

At that moment, His Majesty the Emperor raised a hand. Then instantly, silence fell over the hall.

“On this final day of the banquet, I wish to make an important announcement to you all. As you all know, one who claims to be my true granddaughter left behind by my son Michael Delfast has appeared like a gift. Today, through Lucella, I intend to verify the authenticity of this claim.”

“Ooh!”

At the mention of ‘Lucella’, low exclamations overflowed from here and there.

The holy sword that proves one possesses the blood of the imperial family. One of the two legendary holy swords passed down in the myths of the empire.

Whether they wish for the birth of a new princess or not, perhaps what everyone wants to see with one heart is the holy sword Lucella.

However…

‘When Lucella appears, that woman is finished.’

I looked at Cecilia.

Now she was shaking like a leaf, her face having turned pitifully pale.

The Emperor looked at such a Cecilia and suddenly asked Medeia,

“Grand Duchess Lahert, do you think this old one’s wish will be granted today?”

Then Medeia said,

“This Medeia sincerely wishes for it to be granted. Thinking of seeing Your Majesty rejoice, my heart swells with joy.”

“Hoo. The Grand Duchess is indeed kind and virtuous.”

“However…”

Medeia paused for a moment. Then she bowed her head and spoke again.

“In the extremely unlikely event that something happens to sadden Your Majesty’s heart, this Medeia, in the name of Lahert! The one who committed the sin and those behind that sin! Please allow me to punish them all for Your Majesty!”

“Hohoho, that heart of yours is admirable, Grand Duchess. But…… it seems such a thing will not happen now.”

“Yes, Your Majesty.”

Medeia smiled brightly again.

‘She’s saying to let her punish the one behind Cecilia. The Northern Grand Duke.’

Without realizing it, I put my hand on my sword.

I could see the Marquis Shumael and his wife, and Cecilia, their faces drained of color as if all the blood had left their bodies at Medeia’s words.

For the sake of toppling one Grand Duke, you…

No one may know, but I do.

‘The reason you go this far to bring down Belfast.’

Medeia’s dream is to become the Emperor’s granddaughter. To become the Emperor’s only granddaughter with no heir and be the future Empress who rules this empire.

However, becoming the Emperor’s ‘adopted granddaughter’ is a matter related to the safety of the imperial family and requires ‘approval’. That decision lies with the empire’s ‘Grand Dukes’. Namely, Belfast of the North and Lahert of the South.

Lahert knows Belfast will naturally oppose it.

That’s why she’s trying to bring down Belfast. There is only one way to strip the ‘Grand Duke’ title from Belfast who founded this empire – to frame him for treason, strip his title, and kill him.

Just for that reason…… in your previous life, you killed Sion Belfast.

Rage welled up to the point my vision turned white.

I heard the Emperor shout,

“Bring forth Lucella!”

Then above the platform, the golden door opened and three ministers walked out, holding high a transparent diamond case containing a single sword.

Among those ministers was Cramnel Lahert.

‘At this rate, not only Cecilia but also the Marquis Shumael and his wife will be framed for treason and lose their lives.’

What should I do?

Do I just watch them die?

Or…… should I come forward as the real granddaughter of the Emperor?

With my face disfigured on one side, in front of everyone, should I sprinkle my blood on Lucella and turn that silver sword to gold?

Can I set everything right by doing so?

Now, before the Emperor picks up Lucella, is the only time I can save them. Now is the last chance.

But…

Can I save the Emperor, whose heart is ill, from Lahert’s clutches by doing so?

Locked in the cage of the Imperial Palace, can I save the Northern Grand Duke?

Can I thwart Medeia’s ambition?

That’s when it happened.

“Her Majesty the Empress, the Moon of the Empire, Francis Antoine! And His Highness Sion Belfast, the Northern Grand Duke, the Shield that protects the Empire, enters!”

With the chief attendant’s cry, the closed entrance to the Silver Lucella Hall opened again.

At the silver entrance stood the Grand Duke.

Escorting the Emperor’s only empress, Francis, whom I had never seen even once in my previous life…… only heard of.