Despite this, he was about to sincerely answer, “My daughter loves books the most,” when Lucius playfully interjected.

“But as far as I know, Lady Melrin likes our Mikhail the most.”

“No, that’s not true!” Despite knowing how his daughter’s eyes sparkled around the Crown Prince, Lord Melrin, with fatherly pride, denied it and retorted, “It’s the Crown Prince who is too fond of our Audrey!”

The sudden debate between the two fathers over who liked whom more left Cardein looking at them with a weary expression.

‘Well, as far as I can tell, they seem inseparable.’

Just then, Lucius felt a subtle vibration from the ring on his right thumb.

“……!”

“……!”

In that moment, Cardein and Lucius locked eyes.

They quickly turned their heads to look out the window.

Precisely in the direction of the Secret Garden.

Everything happened in an instant.

The ground shook, and a tree started to fall, root and all. There was no time to question the unbelievable sight.

Annette, acting on instinct, dashed forward, and amidst the loud noise and dust, a flash of red sword energy sparked like lightning.

Once the dust settled, the sight of the thick trunk and branches of the fallen tree scattered haphazardly on the ground revealed that a disaster had been averted.
Seeing this, Mikhail was dumbfounded.

Like a child, he had completely forgotten the situation that had upset him moments ago and the accident he had caused unconsciously, captivated by the extraordinary display of power Annette had shown.

The boy muttered absentmindedly, “She, she tore it.”

Annette gently corrected him, “I didn’t tear it.”

“No, you did! You tore it with your bare hands!”

“It wasn’t with bare hands. I had a dagger.”

“Oh my god, you tore a tree with your hands!”

“I cut it into pieces with a dagger!”

Of course, Annette had torn stronger beasts than a tree with her bare hands before…

But she hadn’t torn it this time, so she earnestly protested, aware of the presence of the Empress and the Dowager Empress.

Annette felt uncomfortable. The tree had dangerously fallen towards the bushes where the Empress and Charlotte were hiding, and she had to intervene hastily to prevent an accident.

Thankfully, her agility and sword energy hadn’t changed, allowing her to prevent any casualties…

Those who had seen her power before, the royal knights she had fought monsters with, all feared her.

They said she must truly be a seed of a monster; otherwise, she couldn’t have done such things. She had heard these comments numerous times.

While she preferred fear over being ignored when she first joined the knights, she didn’t want the same here.

‘I don’t want to be seen as a monster here too.’

For some reason, the Dowager Empress seemed to like her, and the Empress considered herself a follower.

Knowing this, Annette couldn’t help but worry.

‘What if they think I’m too monstrous?’

Grateful for being saved but still frightened by her power…

Imagining fear and rejection in the eyes of the Empress and Charlotte made her heart race uncontrollably.

So, Mikhail’s exaggerations about the situation were particularly distressing for Annette.

While slicing a falling tree with sword energy wasn’t ordinary, she hoped it could be seen as somewhat normal since she used a weapon.

‘Surely they couldn’t have seen exactly what happened because the large tree blocked their view…’

“I saw it! Flew over and swish swish swish!”

…Apparently, the overly excited young Crown Prince had no intention of downplaying the situation.

He embellished what he had seen, making it sound more and more like a grand tale.

The problem was that his description wasn’t entirely false.

Unable to outright deny it, Annette could only sweat profusely.