An eerie silence persisted.

But soon, a small voice was heard among the women.

“I, I saw it, Your Majesty. Clearly…… That man jumped from Lady Grace’s second-floor balcony.”

“Your Majesty, I also…… witnessed that fellow coming out of Lady Grace’s bedroom.”

Two maids standing at the last row stepped forward with hunched shoulders and testified.

They were Princess Lilibet’s maids. The women gathered in front of the bedroom stared at them with gaping mouths.

“You……!”

The Grand Duchess and Grace’s faces contorted horribly as they glared daggers at the Empress Dowager and Lilibet.

The Empress Dowager who had been laughing and drinking celebratory wine with them just moments ago, thinking of expelling Arabel, was no longer there. The Empress Dowager wore a sardonic smile and ignored the Grand Duchess’s gaze.

The Empress Dowager’s wicked mind, having quickly grasped the Emperor’s intention like the Grand Duchess, began to turn rapidly.

Though expelling Arabel was now out of the question…… it was the best opportunity to get rid of another thorn in her side. Her eyes gleamed maliciously as she turned her gaze to Lilibet’s maids standing beside her.

“It’s a lie! They are telling falsehoods!”

As Grace screamed, two more maids came forward to testify, soon followed by two or three others.

“The truth is…… we also saw it. This man jumping from Lady Grace’s bedroom balcony and fleeing……”

The maids gathered here were women chosen from the highest families of the Empire and Kingdom to serve the young ladies. The families had selected the smartest and most capable maids to help in the competition to make their daughters the Empress.

These quick-witted maids, having been through thick and thin, could immediately grasp how the current situation was unfolding.

Seeing Lilibet’s maids step forward at the Empress Dowager’s signal, they realized that the situation was now turning very unfavorable for Grace.

Grace was also the strongest competitor to their young ladies. If possible, eliminating her now would benefit their ladies as well. Moreover, the Emperor had promised a great reward.

Suddenly, the sound of shoes was heard on the stairs, and three or four soldiers came forward and bowed to the Emperor. They were the Emperor’s investigation team. Among them was a female investigator.

“After searching all the annexes……”

The female investigator held up a bundle in her hand.

“A man’s underwear was found in Lady Grace’s bed mattress. We will investigate if it belongs to the captured soldier.”

At yet another unexpected turn of events, everyone forgot even to breathe as they looked at the Emperor.

A thin, satisfied smile spread above the Emperor’s lips as he nodded.

“There’s no need to investigate, we can just ask the person directly. Is it yours?”

As the Emperor turned his gaze to the soldier and asked, the soldier slowly nodded and answered.

“Yes, it is.”

“It’s a lie! Everyone is lying to frame me!”

With her eyes rolled back showing the whites, Grace rushed at the soldier, grabbed his collar, and shouted.

“Say you were in Arabel’s bedroom! Say it!”

The soldier, his head shaking in Grace’s hands, slowly opened his eyes and answered.

“It’s all over, my lady. Our…… relationship has been exposed to the world.”

At the soldier’s outrageous lie, Grace,

“Aaaaargh!!!! It’s a conspiracy. This is all a conspiracy!”

She snatched the bundle from the female investigator’s hands, unfolded it, and grabbed the underwear inside, thrashing about.

“This should have been found in Arabel’s bed. I gave it to her! I did! Do you think I’m crazy enough to hide this underwear in my bed? I told them to hide it in Arabel’s bed!”

She seemed unaware of what she was saying in her fury.

“You wretches! How could you have seen the man who didn’t even go near Arabel’s room and fled over the back wall from outside my bedroom? Where are you lying from?”

She pointed accusingly at two young ladies standing in the middle row, watching the situation. They were Grace’s old friends who had helped with her misdeeds at the Grand Duchess’s instigation.

“You know too! Why aren’t you telling the truth? It was you who hid a man’s underwear in Lady Esther’s bed, who was expelled from the last competition! Tell them this man has nothing to do with me!”

Seeing Grace dragging them down with her, the color drained from the two young ladies’ faces.

As Grace was about to grab the hair of Lilibet’s maids while spewing words tantamount to a confession,

Slap! With a sharp sound, Grace’s body fell to the floor, rolling. Grace held her burst cheek and looked up in disbelief at the woman standing before her.

“I’ve long noticed your malicious and wicked nature, but as my only niece, I’ve embraced you…… To commit such an unforgivable act. You’re a disgrace to the Le Sang family!”

Caroline, the Grand Duchess, looked down at Grace with cold eyes and twisted her lips.

Foolish thing. For all her big talk. She cannot fall with someone so incompetent.

The eyes watching Grace, whose eyelids were twitching as if in aftershocks, held not a shred of affection or mercy.

“Au-Aunt……”

As Grace, sensing that the Grand Duchess was about to abandon her, moved her lips, the Grand Duchess coldly shouted, cutting her off.

“Don’t you dare mention my name! I shouldn’t have taken in an orphan like you. You’ve become a dagger in our family’s back.”

The Grand Duchess turned and deeply bowed her waist to the Emperor, pleading.

“I have no words to offer, Your Majesty. It’s all my fault and lack of virtue. Even if you thoroughly investigate and punish, please know that this incident has nothing to do with our Le Sang family.”

The Emperor, who had been watching this comedy more entertaining than what was unfolding before him, nodded. Of course, he didn’t forget to wear the benevolent smile of a wise ruler.

“Take Lady Grace and those three candidates, along with their maids, to the interrogation room right now. I hear that Lady Esther, who was eliminated in the last competition, seems to have been falsely accused, so investigate thoroughly and restore her honor.”

No sooner had the Emperor’s clear order fallen than the waiting Imperial investigation team bound and led away more than ten women.

In an instant, the number of Empress candidates had dropped from eleven to eight.

“Is there any reason to remain?”

As the Emperor raised his sharp chin and spoke coldly, the women, pale with fear that they might be implicated, left Arabel’s annex without looking back.

Looking at the Grand Duchess who bowed her head with a sigh of relief, the Emperor thought. The reason I’m letting you go now is…….

The Emperor moved his red gaze to the Empress Dowager standing a little behind, smiling triumphantly, and then withdrew it.

So that you two can tear at each other’s throats until you both suffocate.

As per the Emperor’s plan, a murderous intent flashed in the eyes of the bowing Grand Duchess. The Grand Duchess bit the flesh inside her mouth until she tasted the fishy blood and vowed.

That she would not leave the Empress Dowager be. That she would never allow Lilibet to become Empress, she vowed again and again. It was the moment a shallow alliance crumbled.

In front of Arabel’s bedroom, now emptied of everyone, the Emperor opened his mouth towards the trio of maids and Millie.

“You all have worked hard too. Go back and rest comfortably.”

Trying to avoid the large, kind eyes, her maids hurriedly went down to the first floor.

Surprisingly, Arabel was unaware of what would happen tonight.

The trio of maids and Millie had no choice but to agree with the Emperor that it was better for Arabel not to know about what would unfold today. It was obvious that the young lady who couldn’t lie would arouse suspicion from her enemies.

The trio of maids and Millie entered the kitchen and thought as they calmed their startled hearts. They didn’t want to deceive the young lady, but…… they hadn’t spoken for the young lady’s sake.

‘Just because the young lady you serve is kind, is it really for her benefit if you too are kind? Think carefully.’

While recalling the Emperor’s advice.

“By the way, I never imagined you would hide underwear in Lady Grace’s bedroom.”

“Me neither. I almost shouted when the captured soldier confessed to having that kind of relationship with Lady Grace.”

“We were just supposed to go out to the pond and make a fuss, then come into the annex and block the soldiers….. I thought we were just protecting the young lady’s honor and that would be the end of it. I had no idea His Majesty had planned even beyond that.”

“My heart is still pounding. In an instant, the number of candidates became eight.”

The trio of maids and Millie whispered as they turned their gaze to the stairs.

Arabel’s bedroom.

“Were you not too surprised?”

As the Emperor reached out his arm to wrap around Arabel’s waist and bring her into his embrace, he asked tenderly,

“No. I wasn’t very surprised because Your Majesty was here with me.”

Arabel shook her head and answered.

It was sincere. She was a little surprised, but thinking that the Emperor was by her side, she wasn’t scared.

The Emperor had visited Arabel’s bedroom this evening as he had forewarned.

As he reassured her not to be afraid of what was to come and held Arabel in his arms, indulging his personal desires, loud footsteps were heard, followed by the voice of the captain of the guard.

At his request to [open the door], the Emperor tenderly fastened Arabel’s clothes, then suddenly began to strip off his own clothes.

By the time the second request was heard, the Emperor, now almost naked, had leisurely settled on the bed, having seated Arabel on the sofa.

“I’m glad. That the honor of the young lady who was falsely accused and sent to the convent during the last competition can be restored. And the knight who was expelled with her too.”

As Arabel buried her face below the Emperor’s chest and spoke, the Emperor pressed his lips to her round crown and thought.

Back then, it was a matter he hadn’t cared about. When he heard the story, the thought briefly crossed his mind that those wicked ones might have played a trick, but he dismissed it as insignificant.

If Arabel in his arms had suffered such an unjust fate…… just imagining it made his blood boil, and the falsely accused young lady and her family, as well as the knight and his family, must have felt wronged too.

The Emperor, who in the past wouldn’t have given it a second thought, held Arabel and decided that they should be properly compensated.