“The competition will begin with the banquet to be held in three days. You will enter the competition venue escorting the young lady. Do you understand what I’m saying?”

“Yes.”

“Given the situation, it seems you’re the weakest among the candidates to the point where we don’t need to intervene directly in advance, but you mustn’t let your guard down.”

“Yes.”

Milly, who had been secretly summoned to the head maid Bridget’s room, was standing there giving short answers to her instructions.

“What is the young lady doing now?”

“…She said she felt stifled and went out for a short walk.”

“At this late hour? The annex was built by carving out the corner of a mountain, so it wouldn’t be easy to find your way once you leave the pond area. That’s why we marked the perimeter with vines.”

“She goes for walks whenever she has time… So far, she hasn’t gotten lost. I will follow her more closely from now on.”

Head maid Bridget spoke slowly, furrowing her wrinkled brow.

“I thought you were smart, but it seems you’re not. My point is that if the young lady takes a wrong turn and ends up outside the annex… it would be beneficial for us. Candidates are forbidden to leave without a permit. If it’s discovered that she went outside the annex for any reason, she could lose competition points at best or be expelled at worst.”

As Milly bowed her head, realizing something she hadn’t thought of, the head maid added,

“From now on, pretend to follow her, but if the young lady moves away from the pond area, don’t follow her. If she accidentally crosses the vine fence and goes outside the annex, things will become much easier for us.”

“Yes.”

Milly answered, clutching the envelope containing thirty silver coins she had received from the head maid.

‘This will cover three months of treatment for my youngest sibling.’

As Milly was walking out of the head maid’s room, passing the side door of the annex towards the separate quarters, she caught sight of Rosa approaching with new bedding.

But she stopped her steps as she was walking towards the right path where the eleventh separate quarters were. She seemed to think about something for a moment, then turned around and started walking in the opposite direction.

Quickly hiding behind a magnolia tree, Milly watched Rosa’s back. Rosa’s head was moving busily, looking around.

After confirming that no one was around, Rosa quickly ran to the third separate quarters, and without even knocking, the door opened and she disappeared in an instant.

Milly’s lips pressed into a straight line as she emerged from behind the magnolia tree.

‘The third separate quarters… that’s where Princess Lilibet of Sevils stays.’

Well, of course. You’re no different from me. You have to stick to the side that benefits you to survive. Especially for people like us who have nothing.

Milly’s lips twisted into a sneer.

Calling her ‘miss, our miss’ and sucking up to her.

Thrown into the annex, the young lady she serves is not only ignored by all the candidates, but has fallen out of His Majesty the Emperor’s attention, so she must be burning inside. Regretting that she might have backed the wrong horse.

From what I’ve heard, she wasn’t even serving her originally. There’s no way there could be loyalty or affection.

Touching the envelope of silver coins in her apron pocket,

“This would be perfect for sowing discord. Things are unfolding too easily.”

She muttered to herself and headed towards the separate quarters.

“I’ve been watching because it was irritating how mindlessly you were taking care of that child.”

Princess Lilibet, reclining on the reception room sofa, looked Rosa up and down as she had just entered.

“While a meticulous plan is essential for a grand task, the initiative to carry out that plan is also necessary. I was very pleased with your recklessness in throwing yourself in without holding back.”

Princess Lilibet twirled her wavy, glossy golden hair around her finger playfully, tilting her chin up. The princess’s maid, who had been waiting, placed a palm-sized silver box on the table.

“Open it.”

When the princess spoke to Rosa, who was standing there blankly staring, Rosa hesitantly opened the box carefully.

Rosa’s dark eyes widened at the sight of what was inside the box. It was an egg made of pure gold.

“If I become the Empress, I promise not to forget your contribution and allow you to work in the First Class Maid Unit of the Empress’s Palace.”

“What… what do I need to do?”

Rosa asked in a trembling voice, swallowing hard. Princess Lilibet’s lips curled up in satisfaction as she watched the maid whose eyes had rolled back at the sight of the jeweled egg.

“First, prove your ability. At the upcoming banquet, switch Arabel’s dance shoes. Since all candidates are supposed to change into dance shoes during dance time, make it so she can’t even dance at all. If you succeed, I’ll accept you as one of my people.”

Rosa, whose face had turned pale, hesitated before speaking.

“I thought this banquet wasn’t included in the competition…”

“What does that matter? It’s the appetizer before the main course. There’s no better way to crush someone’s mental state. The shock of being humiliated in public makes it impossible to compete properly in the main event. Do you know how many girls I’ve sent off like this in the first competition? Hahaha.”

Her beautiful blue eyes flashed cruelly, as if just thinking about it was enjoyable. A sharp laugh burst out between her captivating lips.

Rosa, who had put the silver box containing the golden egg in her underwear pocket, left the princess’s quarters and soon disappeared into the darkness.

“Is it true? You’ll put that country bumpkin in Her Majesty the Empress’s First Class Maid Unit?”

“Are you crazy? How dare you lower the standards like that. We’ll just frame them with a crime and get rid of them as soon as the competition is over. Like the previous ones.”

“Then, that golden egg too……”

“Of course it’s fake, just shiny on the outside. During the competition, maids are also forbidden to go out, so how could she have it appraised? She’ll find out when she tries to sell it later. Oh, what a shame. We should have seen that expression, hahaha.”

Princess Lilibet added, “Those lowly ones are not only disloyal but also stupid,” as she held her stomach laughing. The maids around her hid their rotten smiles, focusing on pleasing the princess.

“Is it true?”

“Yes, it’s information I obtained by mobilizing all my connections, so it should be correct.”

“We can win a landslide victory in the first competition. Thank you, Aunt!”

Grace clapped her hands and was overjoyed after hearing the information about the first competition brought by Duke Caroline Le Sang.

Even though Duchess Le Sang and Empress Dowager Natalia had strong influences in the imperial court and social circles, they couldn’t reach the final selection committee for the Empress.

Contrary to their wishes, they not only failed to enter this final selection committee but also couldn’t secure honorary judge positions.

It was the Emperor’s and the Elder Noble Council’s decision to maintain the fairness of the competition, and the Emperor also promised not to exercise any power over the competition.

The nine-member competition committee consisted of representatives from the cultural and artistic fields that the Empress would be responsible for, as well as the greatest scholars of the era.

And in the final round, along with the nine judges, two honorary judges were included, but their identities were secret according to imperial law.

The final competition’s judging panel had been staying in the Crystal Palace, a former temple, for half a year, strictly prohibited from outside contact.

Finding Emperor Heltherd Maxwell’s companion was such an important matter for not only the empire but the entire continent. Depending on which family or kingdom the Empress came from, the geographical and political landscape of the continent would change.

Just as the Kingdom of Sevils, the home country of Empress Dowager Natalia, had risen from an insignificant small kingdom to a wealthy kingdom that couldn’t be ignored on the continent.

And the butterfly effects that followed were bound to impact not just one kingdom but the entire continent.

“The first question is about the Agrute language, right?”

“That’s what they say. I don’t know in what form it will be presented, but seeing that Agrute books were moved in large numbers from the judges’ residences to the imperial palace, the information seems certain.”

“When I was studying the difficult Agrute language, you told me every night. That it would definitely be useful in the Empress selection. You were right, Aunt!”

Duchess Le Sang smiled bitterly as she watched Grace take out a poetry book in Agrute and start reciting.

To eliminate Maxwell and put her only son Jeremy, two years older, on the throne, she and her husband had used every means possible… but what returned to her arms was the corpse of her son who had gone to study abroad.

They drove Maxwell to the battlefield and sent their son far away to study, fearing he might also be sent to war due to his duties as a royal. But he lost his life to the epidemic that swept through that year.

It was from then on. She adopted her orphaned niece Grace as her daughter and trained her to be the most optimized Empress candidate. She placed twelve tutors beside her and made Grace the empire’s finest talent.

Finally, the moment to see the fruit of her efforts was approaching. Duchess Le Sang closed her eyes as she listened to Grace’s clear voice reciting poetry in a language she couldn’t understand even if she heard it.

Silence flowed between the man and woman passing through the long corridor.

The Emperor because of the soft small hand he held in his, Arabel because of the warm large hand that enveloped hers… Without saying a word, they moved their steps, aware of each other’s warmth.

Emperor Maxwell, who had grabbed Arabel’s hand and moved forward, soon felt her in his hand and bit his molars hard.

I should let go… but I don’t want to. Just thinking that I’m connected to her like this, I feel reassured.

The Emperor, reducing the stride of his long legs to match Arabel’s steps, thought.

Watching Arabel run frantically, stepping on the ginkgo leaves he had dropped, his throat tightened and he couldn’t breathe.

This place… this imperial palace where I am… She wants to leave. She wants to run away.

There was no time to feel hurt that Arabel couldn’t even imagine that I had dropped them. Watching Arabel running away calling the name of the ‘master’, his heart began to twist.

Reason insisted that she couldn’t leave before breaking the curse… but the curse wasn’t the problem. I will never let her leave. I will never let her run away.

Even if she never shows me that kind and clear smile again, I will keep her inside the imperial palace no matter what. Because the imperial palace… is where I am.

His distorted reason screamed to bring Arabel, who had entered through the vine gate, to the imperial palace from the annex immediately.

Rather than letting her suffer in the competition, bring her to my side. At least then I could stop her if she tries to run away.

The moment he reached out to her slender nape, Arabel’s smile entered his eyes.

Her clear eyes without a trace of lies reflected my distorted figure. His heart sank at her words that she was so happy to see me that her heart felt like bursting, and she couldn’t meet my eyes because she was shy.

Thinking that if he had done wrong, he might never have seen that smile again, a chill ran down his spine.

“Why don’t you ask me for help? You came all this way to help me, so I think it’s fair that I help you too. I’m an Emperor who values fairness very much.”

The Emperor, arriving at the end of the corridor, lowered his head to meet Arabel’s gaze and asked.