In the banquet hall, Siana craned her neck a little to search for the Queen.

Since the day she received the Lerk family’s fortune, the Queen had not visited her even once. If it weren’t for the teachers she sent, Siana might have thought the Queen had forgotten about her.

The teachers sent by the Queen taught her how to speak slowly and clearly, and how to make eye contact. She also learned how to manage a territory as a lord and how to keep accounts.

Although these were all things she was doing for the first time in her life, Siana studied hard in all subjects.

Her efforts bore good fruit. Siana still stuttered, but she was much better than before. She also asserted herself much more firmly than in the past.

Even so, coming out to the banquet hall was still burdensome.

“The head of the Nebel family won’t be at the banquet hall.”

The heir to Chesa, who came to check her lesson progress every three days to a week, said before the banquet began. It was somewhat comforting, but not completely reassuring. There would be people in the banquet hall acting as her father’s eyes and ears.

But she couldn’t miss the Queen’s birthday celebration, and Siana had another reason why she had to come to the banquet hall. She might be able to show the Queen how much she had changed.

During her lessons, Siana thought the Queen would come to see her at least once. So she practiced even more harshly. She wanted to show her that she had definitely improved.

The Queen had clearly said this:

“I’m not someone who sympathizes without reason.”

So Siana betrayed her father to gain the Queen’s sympathy.

And the Queen’s sympathy manifested immediately in tangible ways. She got a comfortable room and personal property she had never had since birth. It was something she couldn’t even dream of in her father’s house.

The Queen told her that if she didn’t pull herself together, she would be at her father’s mercy, but Siana knew that fact before she said it. After all, she had observed him all her life. Siana knew her father better than everyone thought.

Her father had always talked about value and cost-effectiveness whenever he saw her.

“Anyone would expect at least this much from you, you good-for-nothing.”

Strangely, when her father said such things, she just wanted to avoid the situation, but when applied to the Queen, it changed to a desire to prove her worth.

But the Queen did not come to see her. Siana couldn’t even be sure if she was receiving reports about her.

Day after day she was anxious, but there was only one thing she could do. Wait. Wait for the Queen to come find her, or to chance upon her by coincidence.

For that reason, she came out to the banquet hall hoping for the latter, but the Queen was nowhere to be seen. She had clearly seen her dancing with the King, but she disappeared while people briefly blocked her view.

As Siana nervously bit her lower lip, a voice came from behind.

When Siana turned around, she saw familiar faces. They were the heads of the Onde and Pelita families, who often visited the Nebel house.

Reflexively, she was about to bow to them, but then Siana realized that she was no longer Nebel, but Lerk.

“If you have a name, act according to its value.”

Recalling the words she had heard from the King’s advisor, she straightened her back and gave a short bow. Perhaps it was less than the expected courtesy, as the faces of the two men reddened.

If she had been in a good mood, it would have been a face that felt satisfying, but now Siana was only anxious. She tried to turn around again to look for the Queen. That’s when her wrist was suddenly grabbed.

“Why are you in such a hurry? I have something to tell you anyway. Your father says that now that you’re of marriageable age…”

“Th-this…”

She tried to say, “This is unpleasant, please let go,” but the words wouldn’t come out well. After moving her lips a few times, Siana hit the man’s wrist with the fan she was holding. It seemed faster than words.

“What do you think you’re doing…!”

Shaking off the head of the Onde family, who seemed shocked as if he had never been hit in his life, Siana turned around. Tense, she pushed through the gaps between people, searching for the Queen. But the silver hair as fine as powdered sugar was nowhere to be seen.

Finally, Siana caught one of the passing servants and asked.

“Is… is Her Majesty the Queen not in the banquet hall?”

“No, she isn’t.”

Siana’s face turned pale. Noticing her disappointment, the servant asked if there was anything they could do to help.

“No, it’s fine.”

Siana retreated with slumped shoulders.

Afterwards, Siana hid in a corner of the banquet hall, trying to avoid people’s eyes, waiting for the Queen to return. But the Queen did not appear until the end of the banquet. The same was true for the King.

If on the first day she had received the nobles of Edegrun, on the second day she had to face nobles from other regions. From the south came the heirs of the lords and Anika, and from the northern end, someone from the Soer family also came.

Idren selected a few of them and arranged a formal dinner. It was a place to have proper conversations before the evening banquet. Ophelia attended and became acquainted with the people he introduced.

As the meal was ending, Idren said to her.

“I have something to discuss with Salode and the heir of Soer. In the meantime, how about taking a walk in the garden with the Lord of Rohos?”

When Ophelia hesitated for a moment at the unfamiliar suggestion, he added.

“It’s the warmest season, so the weather should be nice. And since the Lord of Rohos is about your age, he should be a good conversation partner.”

And Idren looked at Anika across from him with a gaze that seemed to contain something. Anika quickly agreed.

“Of course, Your Majesty. I’ll do my best to ensure it’s a pleasant walk.”

Although it was a scene of instigation that she witnessed with her own eyes, Ophelia pretended not to notice and agreed.

“Alright then.”

It seemed there might have been intentions other than just a walk, and sure enough, Anika brought up the topic of the south.

“By the way, I hear pirates have been appearing in the southern waters lately.”

It was a remark aimed at Hazel, as she couldn’t directly address the royal family.

Hazel, too, seemed to have heard something separately from Idren and responded to Anika’s words.

“I’ve heard. Has the Lord of Rohos had any trouble?”

“I was lucky enough to have no problems, but it seems the Reden ships suffered quite a bit of damage. Perhaps because of that, the southern lords who used to trade with Reden seem to be shrinking back from the waters these days.”

“Is that so? Then…”

And Ophelia was certain that Idren had made Anika and Hazel do something he had never done himself.

The conversation between the two, watching her reactions, seemed uninteresting not only to her but to the participants themselves. Quite seriously so.

Ophelia interjected between the two exchanging soulless words.

“If there’s a problem with the export routes, Reden’s economy must be struggling quite a bit.”

At this casually thrown remark, Hazel’s expression immediately brightened. It seemed it had been quite torturous to converse on a topic of no interest.

Anika, too, answered as if she had been talking with her from the beginning.

“Yes, in fact, Reden’s tax rates have risen so much that some Reden citizens who can’t afford to pay taxes are crossing the border.”

“The Reden royal family won’t take any other measures, so some lords must be quite troubled. How is the King of Reden doing?”

She wasn’t really interested in Dares. Though quieter than Mahanas, Dares was no different from his son. Both were equally detestable.

But for now, Dares is the King of Reden. In her past life, Mahanas never became king until his death.

After comparing her home country with Galicia a few times, Ophelia concluded that Reden would be good enough to give to Idren.

And one of the several ways to take Reden was for her to become the legitimate heir and succeed to the throne, so it wouldn’t hurt to find out how Dares was doing.

Anika answered.

“I haven’t heard any other news, but I’ll inquire further when I return and report back to you.”

“That would be appreciated. By the way, I heard the second prince of Egelvahmot visited Reden.”

“Ah, I heard that news as well. They say he went up to the western archipelago?”

As if she had had many such conversations, Anika immediately understood the intention behind her words. She added.

“But since the connection between Rohos and His Highness the Second Prince of Egelvahmot has been severed for some time, I don’t know the reason.”

Well, even Prince Mahanas didn’t know about it. It was natural that Anika, who had temporarily stepped back from real power, wouldn’t know. Ophelia changed the subject.

“I heard the previous Lord of Rohos was friendly with the second prince, why did this generation distance themselves?”

“Well… this might sound a bit impertinent, but I don’t particularly respect my father. Perhaps because of that, when it comes to my father’s friends, I tend to view them with prejudice…”

And Anika added, seeming a bit embarrassed.

“Of course, I know it’s a narrow-minded view, but it’s not easy to change.”

Ophelia completely understood Anika’s words. Blood relations could be a hindrance to life.

“You might not need to change it. Some prejudices can filter out unnecessary things.”