Even after the crown prince left, Serena remained in the drawing room, lost in thought.

“From far away, bright and noisy, from very far away…”

Luana’s childish voice kept ringing in her ears. If Serena were to describe the modern world she came from to the people of this world, those words would be spot on.

“The princess is still young.”

Fortunately, no one had taken the princess’s words seriously yet. As Lucas said, it was a common symptom in the Tern royal family, and an ability that would naturally disappear as one grew up.

“But… if there is such a mysterious ability, we can’t jump to conclusions about anything.”

Serena realized anew just how strange a world she had fallen into. From the beginning, this was a story she hadn’t even read properly, so it wouldn’t be surprising if dragons breathing fire or wizards appeared.

Fortunately or unfortunately, there were no wizards in this world, and most of the common sense of the Middle Ages applied. However, that fact also meant that Serena herself had no special abilities. Moreover, she lacked too much information.

“There is much more to find out.”

When Serena rang the bell on the table, Anna, who had been waiting, entered and bowed.

“Anna, this is the palace, so there must be a place to keep records or books, right?”

“Yes. I’ve heard there is a separate palace library.”

“Can I go there too?”

“Of course.”

When she thought about the emotional issues with Lucas, it was uncomfortable to be tied up in marriage, but she was relieved that she had now secured the legitimacy of being the crown princess.

If she had to live longer in a place like the Sherwood Marquis’ residence, she wouldn’t have been able to enjoy even this level of freedom.

“Right now?”

“Yes. Shall I prepare?”

Serena nodded.

“I will prepare the carriage and tell the librarian to wait.”

The scale of the palace was much larger than she had imagined, and it was unexpected that there was some secret in the Tern royal family.

“I knew the empire’s prestige was great, but the palace is no less than that.”

The first meeting with Lucas was a mess, and when he came back to the Astel estate to find Serena, she hadn’t expected his free and easygoing demeanor.

“To think that to go anywhere inside the palace, you always have to take a carriage.”

“The palace is vast and Your Highness the Crown Princess has a noble status, so it can’t be helped.”

If Duke Astel had been an ordinary nobleman, Serena would have been somewhat accustomed to luxury, but she had built up the Astel estate herself, so everything was still unfamiliar.

And soon, upon hearing the news that the carriage had arrived, Serena rose.

“Only Anna will come with me. It won’t take long.”

“Yes.”

The young maids lined up at the front door to see off the crown princess’s small outing. Serena once again swallowed her admiration at the elaborate gardens and well-kept trees outside the carriage window.

Everything in the palace made her miss Astel while at the same time realizing how great Lucas’s journey had been.

“If I had been born and lived here for 16 years… could I have gone to such a harsh place like a battlefield overnight?”

Anna immediately understood that it was a remark with Lucas in mind.

“It would be difficult for anyone.”

“Yeah. It would feel like the whole world had changed overnight.”

When she became the Serena of the story, she couldn’t believe anything and even she herself felt unfamiliar, so she knew the feeling well.

The circumstances were different, but Lucas had also fallen into a place that denied everything about him and had to work hard to survive.

“I have no choice but to acknowledge that it’s amazing.”

At first, there were concerns about Serena entering the palace, and after being asked to destroy the evidence of her past, there were deep worries about the marriage itself.

However, Serena was continuing her relationship with Lucas at her own pace, so maybe this was fine as it was.

“Yes, you both have many strengths. There will be plenty of time in the future to learn more about each other.”

Somehow, Serena nodded without showing any dislike. After all, no one knew about matters between men and women.

Just as ripples cannot be stopped when a drop of paint falls into clear water, Lucas’s presence was already permeating Serena’s heart.

Serena was amazed at the enormous size of the imperial library. Now she understood why the librarian was waiting for her separately.

Without the help of someone who knew this vast library inside and out, it seemed that even if she searched all day, she wouldn’t be able to find the books she wanted.

“Greetings to Your Highness the Crown Princess. I will provide paper and pen, so please write down the contents you wish to find.”

Serena nodded at the words of the old man with an abundance of white hair. Of course, before coming here, she had already thought about what she would look for.

“Well…”

Serena wrote down a few words and called the librarian again to hand it over.

“Would this be enough?”

“I apologize, but it seems to be a very vast amount, so you’ll need to be more specific.”

What Serena needed now was the history of the Tern royal family. First, she wanted to look into cases similar to Luana’s, and she wanted to gain even a small hint for her future palace life.

Of course, she was also a little curious about the secret of the Tern royal family that Lucas had mentioned.

“Since this is my first time seeing the content, find the simplest summary first. And… since I want to know the history, I also want to see a compiled family tree.”

“Yes.”

The librarian bowed his head and withdrew. This was the royal library, and what Serena wanted to know was the royal family’s history, so there would be a mountain of books related to that.

However, if she thought of it as learning for the first time, it was easy to greatly reduce the scope and get a sense of it.

And soon after, the librarian brought a huge amount of books with two attendants.

“For now, would this be enough?”

“…Yes. It looks sufficient.”

Even in her previous life, she had never been close to studying. She wasn’t forced to read all those piles of books, but the unfamiliar reading was quite burdensome.

“The books will be sent directly to your residence through the attendants.”

She had come with the intention of borrowing just a few books lightly, but the librarian’s words were right.

“Do that.”

After leaving the library, Serena got into the carriage and looked at Anna.

“Anna, you’ll… read with me, right?”

She didn’t add it, but the word “please” was written on Serena’s face.

“Of course, if that is what Your Highness desires.”

Until now, Serena had never read anything except the Astel ledgers. So when she voluntarily offered to study about the royal family, Anna couldn’t help but find it admirable and commendable.

Serena, who had been reading books with Anna until late at night, was dozing off while sitting on the sofa.

“Your Highness, please rest now. It’s not an amount that can be read in one day. There will be plenty of time in the future.”

“Hmm… That’s true, but…”

Serena, who had come to her senses again, looked over the royal family tree once more. If she went back to the beginning, there would be no end, but it seemed that just looking at the last 200 years would be enough.

“The Tern royal family has fewer descendants than I thought.”

Considering the prosperity and prestige of the empire, it wasn’t just that the descendants were few, but they were too lacking.

“Yes. That’s why the royals are regarded as even more noble.”

The Tern royal family always had a shortage of children to the point of being surprising that the succession was through a legitimate bloodline. Most cases were like Lucas, an only son, and it was very difficult to find cases where there were siblings.

“But isn’t it too strange? If there is always a legitimate son, it means there is no problem between the husband and wife, but there are no siblings like this.”

Now that she was consciously aware of that fact, the family tree looked even stranger.

“Moreover… why are there so many early deaths among the princesses?”

At first, she hadn’t noticed, but when she paid close attention, next to the princesses who were occasionally born, the year of birth and the year of death were recorded in tiny letters. And most of them died before reaching the age of 10.

“Look at this! In 200 years, even if a princess is born by chance, the number of times she has safely reached adulthood is…”

She was well aware that young children could easily die in this era. However, this was the palace, and the fact that this had been happening in one family every time was clearly suspicious and unpleasant.

“Only three times.”

Aside from the child who would become the emperor through the generations, cases where other siblings were born were also very few, but there were only three princesses who reached adulthood. In 200 years, no less.

“It’s really true. Moreover, whether by coincidence or not, they were all the firstborn.”

“Do you think it’s a coincidence? That all the younger sisters of the crown prince die early, and the only ones who barely survive are the princesses born before the crown prince?”

Anna closed her mouth for a moment in a very cautious situation. No matter how much Serena had become the crown princess, it could be dangerous to delve too deeply into the Tern royal family, which was said to have the most secrets in this world, comparable to the Vatican.

“Your Highness, please sleep for now. It’s not good to think too deeply from the beginning.”

After Serena had calmed down a bit, she looked at the clock and nodded.

“Tomorrow was the first day of the month, right?”

“Yes. The Crown Prince will come at night, and during the day, Lady Sherwood is scheduled to come.”

Serena, who had completely forgotten about Lora, made an annoyed expression. However, there was no other way if she wanted to find even a small clue about Elise.

“Anna, I don’t think I’ll have time tomorrow, so please figure out the rest of the family tree with Peter. Look further back than 200 years to see if there are any cases where the princesses didn’t die early, any exceptions to the facts we’ve seen…”

“Yes. However, it would be better to search carefully rather than openly digging into it.”

Serena also nodded at the ever-cautious Anna’s words. She still didn’t know what the fact she had discovered meant, but it seemed that if she kept searching, some clue would emerge.