Rumors spread faster than wildfire, and people’s hearts were more fickle than reeds.

No sooner had the name of the winner of the first competition been called on stage than today’s results began to sweep through the imperial palace, scouring every corner of the capital and spreading throughout the empire.

Even the little children in the market already knew the results before the velvet cloth with a gold border inscribed with the name of the first winner, Arabel of the Del Saincre family, was hung below the main gate of the imperial palace.

“I hear she can use Agorterre freely. Apparently, she studied humanities directly under the empire’s top Coubert professor.”

“Oh my, Agorterre that even elder nobles struggle with…! No wonder His Majesty favors her.”

“This is really a secret… but His Majesty actually met Lady Arabel in the kingdom of Semper, not in a rural estate.”

“Gasp, I heard that too. Her family, concerned about her intelligence, dressed her as a man and sent her to study abroad at Semper National University, where she met His Majesty who was visiting the kingdom. Doesn’t it sound like something out of a romance novel?”

“Now it all makes sense. His Majesty personally found and brought someone suitable for him.”

“So the initial rumors were completely wrong. The talk about an ignorant and insignificant woman from the countryside seducing the emperor with her body.”

“Come to think of it, it was a ridiculous rumor. What kind of person do you think His Majesty is, to keep someone unsuitable by his side? This was all lies made up by people jealous of the young lady. We almost fell for it.”

“But there’s also talk that the young lady deliberately let such rumors spread. That way, she wouldn’t unnecessarily become a target from the start, and could clearly identify who her enemies were.”

“Oh my, oh my, if that’s true, Lady Arabel is a strategist just like His Majesty. How impressive.”

Young and old, men and women, everywhere people were gossiping about today’s winner.

In an instant, the young lady from a fallen family in the countryside had transformed into a disciple of a renowned humanities scholar, a foreign student who studied at Semper National University, and a strategist on par with the emperor.

This competition was thought to be a two-way race between Lady Grace of the Le Sang ducal family and Princess Lilibet, the niece of the empress dowager and princess of Sevils, but an incredible dark horse had appeared. People’s lukewarm interest was reignited.

After the first competition ended, the families of the candidates who were granted entry to the palace annex gathered in a separate building, putting their heads together.

While having heated discussions about how to respond going forward. The parents of the candidates were eagerly advising their daughters.

“We’ll have to watch the upcoming competitions, but now is the time to be cautious. Don’t visibly take anyone’s side.”

“If she can use Agorterre to that extent, it’s now difficult to challenge her education and intellectual abilities.”

“Your father is right. If you carelessly provoke her, you might end up being the one in trouble. If Lady Arabel suddenly uses Agorterre on you in an official setting, it will only reveal your incompetence and lack of intelligence.”

“How fortunate that no one except Lady Arabel understood the play. We thought Lady Grace would surely win. Hah. Even the young lady of the Le Sang ducal family is nothing special.”

“Last time, Princess Lilibet of Sevils was disgraced in front of everyone, and this time, the overly confident Lady Grace was humiliated. So much for being hailed as the empire’s brightest talent, tsk.”

“So don’t make an enemy of Lady Arabel now. Moreover, she’s the young lady favored by His Majesty the Emperor. You must act wisely for the sake of our family.”

“I’ll give you plenty of the precious tea leaves we recently imported, so it might not be a bad idea to invite Lady Arabel for tea time. I’ll also send some of the perfume our family produces, so share it with her.”

“We should properly instruct the maids too. Tell them to be friendly with Lady Arabel’s maids.”

While they want nothing more than for their daughters to become empress, they know the chances are slim. So they’ve been advising them to unconditionally side with the most likely candidates, Grace or Lilibet.

They were well aware that their daughters were ostracizing and ignoring the eleventh candidate brought in by the emperor. They thought it was natural, but the situation is taking an unexpected turn.

Word came that Arabel, who they believed had been abandoned by the emperor the moment she arrived at the palace, had accompanied him on his secret outing and spent a night alone with him.

Not only that, but it’s said that the emperor threatened, “If you dare speak ill of Arabel, I’ll reduce your families to dust.” The social circles began to stir.

And now, the winner of the first competition is Arabel, who is receiving the emperor’s favor.

Worried that aligning themselves incorrectly could bring very troublesome consequences to their families, the nobles were now passing on to their daughters the very difficult task of maintaining relationships with Grace and Lilibet while also becoming friends with Arabel.

The young ladies, who had never needed to be mindful of anyone before, were now making sullen faces at the prospect of having to walk a tightrope between these three women.

The greatest shock from the first competition was palpably felt in Lady Grace’s quarters.

The atmosphere in the building was as quiet and gloomy as a funeral home. Duchess Caroline and Grace, who shared her cunning nature despite not being blood-related, were seated in the reception room.

The two pairs of eyes that always looked down on people with arrogant and haughty gazes were now unsteadily shaking, seemingly shocked by today’s events.

Even the maids, who had been confident like their mistress, were now barely breathing, watching nervously. They knew all too well where the sparks might fly when these two were angry.

“I thought something was strange. There’s no way the emperor would bring in a country bumpkin who hasn’t even appeared in social circles. He was testing us. To see how we would behave towards the young lady he brought.”

The duke, who had come to firmly believe the rumors circulating about Arabel, rolled his eyes anxiously and huffed.

“When I saw her at the banquet, she looked so innocent and unknowing, but to think she even dressed as a man to study at university in Semper. The emperor didn’t bring a wife, but an aide. To think all of this was an act, it gives me chills.”

Ignoring her husband who was sputtering as he spoke, the duchess turned her gaze to Grace.

“Today’s competition was supposed to be your debut as the most qualified candidate for empress. But it was completely ruined. Your name is now being mentioned as a laughingstock. They’re saying that you, who was called the brightest talent among the candidates, was perfectly defeated by a woman no one had ever heard of.”

“I’m sorry, Aunt. I will definitely make up for it. Sob, sob.”

Unable to contain her frustration at the duchess’s cold tone, Grace let tears fall.

She couldn’t have imagined it. Losing to that girl who sat frozen as if she’d never been to a theater before.

The duchess’s eyes narrowed as she looked at Grace, who was sitting there biting the inside of her cheek so hard it might tear. Standing up from her seat, the duchess met Grace’s gaze and spoke in a chilling voice.

“You know very well that competitions don’t just happen in the competition hall. Are you just going to sit here crying in frustration like the other young ladies? I’m very disappointed.”

The duchess’s eyes reminded her niece of how she had discredited and eliminated a strong competitor during the previous semi-final competition.

Grace’s strong competitor was disqualified and sent to a convent, branded with the disgrace of having an affair with a knight.

Although she and the knight had never even spoken, Grace’s scheme of planting their undergarments in her quarters made it seem as if they had been secretly making love every night, away from people’s eyes.

Grace’s eyes, which had been downcast, suddenly flashed with determination as she silently nodded towards the duchess.

“The empress must be an object of fear to all. Show them. Your ability.”

As the duchess opened her fan and headed towards the door, the duke followed behind her, shuffling along.

The emperor’s third guest reception room.

Emperor Maxwell was having a late dinner with today’s competition winner.

The winner of the competition was given the prize of spending time with the emperor, and today’s winner was the eleventh candidate whose victory no one had predicted.

Try as he might to suppress his smile, the corners of his alluring red lips kept curving upwards. His crimson eyes, usually exuding a cool arrogance, now shone brightly like rubies, seemingly genuinely amused.

Not wanting their moment alone to be interrupted, the emperor had dismissed everyone, and as soon as the door closed, he reached out with both arms to Arabel sitting beside him.

Grabbing her waist and lifting her light body in one swift motion, he placed her on his lap, the emperor who had lost his composure smiled.

Though her cheeks flushed like ripe apples and her lips pouted shyly, her round eyes didn’t avoid his red gaze, meeting it directly.

As his large palm gently stroked her thin back, the emperor’s lips drew close enough to almost touch her plump earlobe and whispered.

“How do you know Agorterre?”

Even the emperor couldn’t have imagined the result of the competition.

The play by the Cadin Kingdom’s theater troupe was a tragedy called “The Enchanted Princess.”

It was a sad story about a princess who fell in love with a sorcerer, was used by him, and ended up under a spell that transformed her and the people in the castle into forest animals, her love thoroughly trampled.

The ridiculous gestures and sounds that made the audience burst into laughter were actually their desperate cries for help.

The star of the show, the blue bird, perfectly reproduced the actress’s words, portraying the foolishness of losing not only the man to whom she had given her body and heart but also her kingdom.

The play ends with the princess’s soul, in the form of the blue bird, escaping the cage with the help of a good sorcerer, returning with a magic wreath to punish the evil sorcerer.

That Arabel understood the content of the play perfectly was simply amazing. He couldn’t help but smile foolishly, feeling so proud.

As the emperor’s hot breath tickled her ear along with his pleasant voice, Arabel’s shoulders flinched slightly.

“Tell me. How do you know Agorterre?”

Arabel’s eyes grew even rounder, and her head tilted slightly to the side.

“I don’t… know Agorterre…?”

One of the emperor’s eyebrows rose slightly as he asked in a low voice.

“Then how were you able to understand the performance? Your acting perfectly concluded the final scene.”

Arabel’s round eyes drooped a little more, and she mumbled.

“I don’t know why I won either. When my name was called, I was so nervous and surprised that I couldn’t say anything and just returned to the annex… Until Your Majesty called for me, I thought my name had been called by mistake.”

“Then why did you open the cage door? People say you cried sorrowfully and let the blue bird escape.”

The emperor asked without mentioning that he had used the secret staircase to go to the rooftop theater.

Arabel furrowed her brow slightly, thought for a moment, and then slowly answered.

“The blue… the blue bird was crying throughout the performance. Crying that it wanted to get out of the cage, that it wanted to spread its two wings and fly in the blue sky. At first, it tried not to cry, but the blue bird cried so pitifully, shouting ‘Please, someone save me,’ that I couldn’t help but shed tears.”

“The blue bird was crying, not laughing…?”

“Yes, the blue bird’s words were so sad. Crying out in sorrow and guilt for being betrayed by the one she loved and putting those who loved her in danger, I couldn’t hold back my tears in the end… I wanted to help, so when my turn came, I opened the cage, but I was so surprised when it came back with the wreath in its beak. I didn’t know it was acting.”

Arabel’s clear eyes met his red ones as she shyly said.

“I thought the blue bird was really an enchanted princess. It reminded me of Your Majesty’s curse, so I couldn’t just ignore it. But when I found out it was acting, I felt so foolish that I couldn’t lift my head in embarrassment, and when they said I won, I couldn’t believe it…”

Watching the blue bird crying in the cage, you thought of me turning into a beast. So without thinking about how you would appear on stage, you opened the cage door to let the bird escape.

Hot air rose up the emperor’s throat. The emperor’s arms tightened around Arabel’s waist.

Though he wanted to shower her with kisses, finding her so adorable, the emperor had to ask the crucial question that had just flashed through his mind.

Suppressing the desire to devour her cute lips, the emperor asked in a low voice.

“How did you understand the bird’s words? Perhaps… can you understand the language of birds…?”

It was an absurd question, but the emperor swallowed dryly and waited for Arabel’s answer.

Arabel’s eyes widened a bit more, and a slightly surprised voice flowed from her pink lips.

“Your Majesty, can you not understand the language of animals?”