The three days passed by in the blink of an eye. The Lotus Palace, where the eleven candidates were staying, was busy day and night with preparations for the banquet.

This banquet, signaling the start of the final competition, was like a second debutante ball for the candidates. The only difference was the immense scale and the fact that the results could determine the rise and fall of not just a family, but an entire kingdom.

It was a place where the candidates would receive the full attention of the top families representing the Empire and the continental kingdoms, but more importantly… it was the day the young ladies would have their first official meeting with the Emperor.

All candidates were to take turns dancing with the Emperor once, and the Emperor could choose to dance with one candidate he liked a second time at the end.

Dancing with the Emperor twice didn’t necessarily give a candidate bonus points in the competition, but it definitely meant gaining the upper hand in winning the Emperor’s favor.

No matter how much the judges swore to be fair, they wouldn’t be able to ignore the Emperor’s preferences.

To become the star of the day, the young ladies were practicing their signature moves in front of the mirror.

Princess Lilibet repeatedly pursed and parted her trademark full lips provocatively, dramatically lifting her fan-shaped lashes to reveal her blue eyes.

Also, the youngest daughter of Count Hoston gathered her most luscious breasts, sprinkled glittering powder on top, and deeply bowed in a curtsy, displaying the most voluptuous figure among the candidates.

Lady Grace still hadn’t let go of the book in her hand, intending to attract the Emperor’s attention with her vast knowledge and humor, while the princess of Chatel proudly showed off her unrivaled dancing skills with graceful swan-like movements.

Even busier than the ladies were their maids. They scrubbed, polished, dressed, made up, and styled the ladies’ hair to make them stand out the most.

They were maids trained for the Empress Selection. They couldn’t miss the opportunity to bring glory to their family and possibly become the Empress’ top handmaidens.

They adorned the ladies with the most beautiful and luxurious dresses and treasures brought from their families, making them even more beautiful with the most fashionable hairstyles and makeup from the continent.

“My lady, it’s time to head to the banquet hall,” Dina informed Arabel, who was standing in front of the mirror, as Vera, who was doing a final check of Arabel’s dress, said,

“You don’t need to be nervous at all. You know that, right? Absolutely do not be nervous.”

Vera, who told Arabel not to be nervous, clenched her trembling hands into fists and forced a smile.

“When you’re this beautiful, you don’t need to feel discouraged. The moment you enter, all those chattering mouths will shut up.”

Dina deliberately made a fuss and touched the small flowers adorning Arabel’s hair once again.

With a gentle smile, Arabel looked at herself in the mirror.

Her hazelnut brown hair was braided into a single long strand draped over her left shoulder, and dozens of small lavender silk flowers were intricately woven into the braid, subtly sparkling.

The boat neck line of the light green dress revealed her neckline and collarbones, accentuating her slender waist and flaring out cleanly without exaggeration.

The puffy short puffed sleeves covered her shoulders and arms that could otherwise look too thin, and cream-colored gloves, finely woven with crystals, came up just below her elbows, shimmering in the light.

Looking at Arabel standing with an awkward smile, Vera and Dina gave motherly smiles. When they first met, she was a small, skinny girl with nothing special, but now she was noticeably getting prettier by the day.

As Arabel put on shoes made of the same color silk as her hair ornament, Dina said to Millie,

“You grabbed the lady’s handkerchief and dancing shoes, right?”

“Ye-yes, they’re here. I polished them one more time.”

At that moment, Rosa came running in hurriedly and handed Millie the velvet pouch containing the shoes.

The dancing shoes provided by the Imperial Palace to the candidates for the sake of fairness. A faint sneer flashed across Millie’s lips as she held the shoe pouch.

“Shall we have you try them on again and practice dancing?”

“There’s no time. I heard the other ladies are already in their carriages.”

When Rosa hurriedly shook her head at Dina’s words, Vera nodded in agreement.

“It’s okay since you practiced with the shoes until just now. More importantly, we can’t be late, so let’s hurry and escort her out.”

As Rosa said, when they arrived in front of the palace, the ladies who had come earlier were taking turns getting into the eleven small carriages sent by the Imperial Palace.

“Millie, you have to escort her well.”

“Don’t worry.”

When Vera reaffirmed to Millie, Millie answered while avoiding eye contact.

“I’ll do well and come back.”

Arabel waved to the maid trio, steadying her trembling voice.

“Let’s go.”

The eleven silver carriages left the palace and headed towards the Imperial Palace.

The Crystal Ballroom, the Imperial Palace’s second banquet hall, was truly the symbol of the Heltered Empire’s wealth and power.

The interior, so large that the ends were not visible, was designed as a circular shape rather than a rectangle, and the high ceiling was decorated with a fresco painting reminiscent of heaven.

From the center of the semi-circular domed ceiling hung a crystal chandelier weighing over 7 tons with three hundred and sixty long candles, and eight smaller chandeliers surrounding the central chandelier like flower petals illuminated the banquet hall together.

The reddish-golden marble floor reflected the light pouring down from the ceiling, and with all the walls made of glass, the huge artificial waterfall cascading outside and the large sculptures of ancient gods in the garden created an optical illusion as if they were part of the banquet hall.

Ordinary nobles entered through the west door after passing the Empire’s “Hall of History,” but the Emperor, the imperial family, and distinguished guests made their entrance using the spiral staircase spread like two wings through the second-floor VIP room.

“The eleven candidates for Empress are entering.”

The music coming from the east glass balcony stopped, and the voice of the imperial banquet manager echoed through the hall.

As he began to call out the family names and names of the candidates one by one at the foot of the staircase, the nobles and representatives of foreign delegations turned their heads to gaze at the top of the stairs.

The inside of the banquet hall was so quiet that one could hear the sound of a needle dropping on the floor. Everyone’s gaze alternated between the Emperor descending the spiral staircase and the young lady standing in the center of the banquet hall.

At the sight of the Emperor in a dark gray tailcoat decorated with gold trim and buttons, the women licked their dry lips with their tongues and the men tightened their chests and stomachs.

The Emperor’s first dance partner of the night. Princess Lilibet of the Kingdom of Sevils.

Smiling at the descending Emperor, she was dazzlingly beautiful, like an angel who had come down from the heaven painted on the ceiling.

No less charming than her, the Emperor descended with an attractive smile on his lips, his eyes lingering for a moment on the candidates behind her before moving away.

‘I received a message that Lady Arabel… is not in a condition to dance at the moment.’

As the Emperor passed through the VIP room to head to the banquet hall, the servant in charge of the banquet reported with a flustered face.

Kyle, the aide, hurriedly added to the Emperor, who showed no expression.

‘Just now, when the ladies went to the powder room to change into their dancing shoes, it seems the heel of the shoe Lady Arabel was wearing broke. She wasn’t seriously injured, but she may have sprained her ankle a bit, so dancing would be too much of a strain.’

At Kyle’s words about ‘spraining her ankle,’ the Emperor’s eyebrows twitched for a moment before settling back into place.

‘Your Majesty could designate the first dance partner, so we put Lady Arabel at the top of the list, but now it seems you’ll have to follow the order of the families’ names.’

Kyle spoke, gauging the Emperor’s reaction.

‘It can’t be helped. You said the first is Princess Lilibet? My first dance partner?’

‘Yes, yes. From the Kingdom of Sevils, Her Imperial Highness the Empress Dowager’s niece.’

‘I see. Let’s go down.’

His cool red eyes remained unwavering as they gazed forward, and the Emperor’s long legs headed unimpeded towards the entrance of the banquet hall.

“We’ll get to rest and stretch our legs for an hour or two. Phew, I’m really exhausted to the bone.”

“I couldn’t even sleep a wink last night. We had to change her pearl pack on her face and whole body every hour.”

“If she’s not chosen as the last dance partner today, I don’t know how I’ll deal with her hysteria again…”

The maids, who had sent the ladies to the banquet hall, vented some of their pent-up emotions.

In the palace storage where they received new bath soaps, fragrances, laundry soaps, etc., the maid trio was examining with fiery eyes to see if any good items had arrived.

“I knew this would happen. Why aren’t they giving us Hicktery soap? Last time, I saw them distributing Hicktery laundry soap to the other ladies. They’re giving us this cheap soap. The lady’s clothes will get damaged!”

“Head maid, look at this too. They didn’t give us Kerosny hair oil either. If you use this oil, not only does your hair become shiny, but the scent lasts for a week. If they discriminate so blatantly like this, we’ll file an official complaint!”

Vera and Dina raised their voices and argued, looking at the items in the other maids’ baskets. The maid in charge of distributing the items frowned and shouted.

“If you’re upset, go and complain to your lady. She’s the one who directly came and requested this to us!”

“That’s nonsense…! Does it make sense that our lady would request not to give us these good items? Today, I saw the other ladies’ hair was so shiny that ants would slip off.”

“It’s because of you! Is your skin made differently from ours? It’s an eyesore, really.”

“What do you mean by that?”

Vera took a step forward and asked in response to the glares from the maids in charge.

“You still don’t get it? Your lady asked to exclude these items because they damage her maids’ skin!”

At the shout of the maid in charge, the maids of the other ladies also began to gather one by one.

“Who doesn’t know that using Hicktery laundry soap for a long time causes rashes and allergies on the skin? But we use it because it washes cleanly. Kerosny oil causes blisters and itchiness on the hands that apply it to the hair, but we endure it all. For our ladies. That’s our job!”

The maids unconsciously looked at their red, blistered hands. That’s right. The reason we use them despite knowing the side effects is because it’s our job. We have to use these products to make our ladies stand out more.

The maid trio also looked at their own hands. Come to think of it, their hands and feet, which had suffered from rashes and allergies every day, were clean. They were things they used every day even at the Count’s estate.

The maid in charge asked the trio, who couldn’t say a word with a lump in their throats.

“Then, were you also unaware that your lady received skin oil for you instead of the expensive items she was supposed to get?”

The gazes of the maids gathered around the trio wavered with complex emotions.

On the way back to the annex, Dina rubbed her reddened eyes with the back of her hand and said,

“The oil the lady luckily brought back from the storage and gave us was that oil…?”

“Yes. That natural oil is such a precious item for skin recovery.”

“Rosa’s hands got much better with that. When Rosa was in charge of the former Countess and her daughters’ hair, her hands were in terrible shape from using that damn oil so much. She couldn’t even sleep properly at night. She knew about that.”

“She knew we were suffering…”

“Sniff, actually… I was regretting a little. Following Lady Arabel to the palace. I was worried that if I made a mistake, I might suffer by displeasing the future Empress. Sniff. I didn’t know the lady was thinking of us like this, sniff.”

Vera nodded, looking down at her plump hands again at Dina’s sobs.

“Waaaaah…”

Suddenly, a loud crying sound came from behind, and when Vera and Dina turned around, Rosa started wailing, sitting on the floor.

“What do I do, I… waaaaaah… Young lady, young lady’s shoes… I committed a sin worthy of death!”