The inner garden of the imperial palace was filled with blooming flowers.

A bee dug into the lush pink petals to collect nectar and flew straight up into the sky.

Beside it, a walkway was prepared to fully appreciate the most beautiful moment of the flowers.

The Empress, who had just finished lunch, was walking along the path with her maids before returning to her office.

The chatter seemed as ordinary as ever.

But somehow today, it was difficult to shake off the feeling of discomfort.

‘Something is strange…’

This didn’t just apply to the maids and Court Minister Anwaz.

Wherever she went, the Empress’s life was followed by gazes.

But today, the gaze felt different from the usual reverence, respect, and admiration that always followed her.

The maids always prioritized the Empress’s mood and health, but today they seemed especially cautious.

It was when the Empress was staring blankly at the faces of the maids she was conversing with.

She felt a gaze from somewhere. She turned her head abruptly.

“…!”

It seemed she had caught someone peeking.

When the Empress looked, the maid who had been staring at her until just now hurriedly averted her gaze.

Normally, the Empress would have resolved matters through her maids, but today her legs moved first.

As the Empress approached, the maid who had been rolling her eyes unable to do anything, soon bowed her head deeply.

“It seemed you were having a pleasant conversation. Could you share that story with me as well?”

“…”

“What were you talking about just now?”

“Th-that is…”

The maid, terrified, glanced sideways at Marchioness Ratse.

Seeing her looking to Marchioness Ratse for cues, the Empress became a bit more uncomfortable.

She was the highest person in this imperial palace. Not Marchioness Ratse.

The Empress glared at Marchioness Ratse with a sharp gaze.

Flinching at that gaze, Marchioness Ratse soon spoke with a resigned expression.

“Tell the truth to Her Majesty the Empress.”

The maid, who had been moving her lips for a moment, soon stuttered out words.

“We… were talking about His Highness the Crown Prince’s sturdy and manly appearance. Of course, we lowly ones know we shouldn’t dare speak of someone like him, but our admiration runs deep…”

The maid’s explanation continued at length.

As it was mostly praise for the Crown Prince, the Empress could nod along and listen well enough.

But a few words repeatedly mentioned by the maid upset the Empress’s mood.

“While praising His Highness the Crown Prince’s masculine charm and charisma, we spotted Your Majesty’s back and were so happy…”

While the maid continued to list words of praise for Joshua, the Empress was lost in thought.

‘Masculine and rough?’

The reason the Empress focused particularly on those words was that they didn’t match at all with the image of Joshua she had been trying to impress upon the public.

Just being royalty alone made the public look up to Joshua.

But there were not a few nobles who harbored dissatisfaction with the current Emperor, and it was unreasonable to completely eliminate the criticism that called him an Emperor who ascended to the throne after patricide.

For that reason, the Empress tried to overlay Joshua with an image opposite to what the Emperor had as much as possible.

It wouldn’t be bad to give Joshua a masculine image like being sturdy, as he was a young man.

But Joshua must not be left with the impression of being a tyrant.

Reading from the maid’s words that there was a fixed perception that Joshua was willful, the Empress cut off the maid’s words.

“Wait.”

“…Yes, Your Majesty.”

“How long have you worked in the imperial palace?”

“It’s been about 2 years and 3 months now.”

“Then what kind of work have you done in the palace during that time?”

The maid said she had been in charge of miscellaneous tasks like the laundry room and palace cleaning, and during the recent imperial ball, she had served guests in the banquet hall.

The Empress looked at the maid with narrowed eyes.

‘It doesn’t seem like she’s just gossiping based on rumors…’

The Empress couldn’t shake the feeling that this maid had directly observed Joshua up close and shared her impressions.

‘But where…?’

The Empress immediately voiced the question that had come to her.

“Which area were you in charge of on the day of the imperial ball?”

“The… terrace.”

“The terrace…”

The Empress rolled the word around as if savoring it.

On the day of the imperial ball, she had handed Joshua the list of Crown Princess candidates.

She told him to spend some time observing the ladies on the list as much as possible.

The banquet hall was too noisy for deep conversation, and it was somewhat dangerous for an unmarried man and woman to be alone.

Strange rumors could spread.

So the terrace was just right as a place that was outdoors but where they could talk quietly alone.

She had advised Joshua to lead the ladies on the list to the terrace, and this maid happened to be in charge of the terrace that day.

The Empress thought this maid might have seen something she shouldn’t have.

It was common in noble society to assign bedchamber maids to young men about to be married.

It was to allow them to experience a woman’s body in advance so they could treat their wife’s body preciously.

After the enthronement ceremony, the Empress had assigned several bedchamber maids to Joshua.

Joshua soon became absorbed in nightly games with the bedchamber maids.

As the number of times increased, he realized that intimate and secret contact with the opposite sex could give greater satisfaction to some people, and sometimes not.

So she was slightly suspicious.

On the day of the imperial ball, there would have been only Joshua and one of the ladies from the list on the terrace.

It seemed quite likely that some natural physical contact would have occurred.

Especially at such a vigorous age.

The fact that the lady followed to the terrace was also proof that she was somewhat interested in Joshua.

So the Empress thought Joshua had intense skinship with one of the ladies, and the maid had seen it.

“You didn’t… peek, did you?”

“…Pardon?”

“I asked if you peeked when the Crown Prince and the lady were alone.”

“…N-no, I didn’t.”

As the maid shook her head quickly, Marchioness Ratse shouted.

“It would be better to tell the truth!”

“I-I did see His Highness the Crown Prince… removing Duke Cardia’s clothes, but…”

“What? Duke?”

The Empress frowned and looked at the maids with an expression that said, ‘What is this nonsense?’

They hung their heads low like criminals, averting their gazes.

“Marchioness Ratse.”

The Empress opened her mouth languidly.

Marchioness Ratse stepped forward one step from the line of maids.

“Yes, Your Majesty.”

“Explain properly.”

Only then did Marchioness Ratse reveal the truth of what happened on the night of the imperial ball, which she had been hiding from the Empress.

That Joshua had forcibly torn Duke Cardia’s clothes on the terrace and tried to violate him.

As quite a number of people witnessed the scene at the time, Court Minister Anwaz moved quickly to clean up the situation, but it had already grown out of control.

The maids knew well that this would soon reach the Empress’s ears.

However, the reason they didn’t report the facts to the Empress first from their side was simple.

“Your Majesty the Empress… what should we do?”

Marchioness Ratse said, gesturing towards the maid with her eyes.

“I trust you will handle it well.”

The Empress said only those words and turned her body towards the palace.

There was no subject in the Empress’s words.

But the Empress’s maids knew how to handle things well on their own.

Marchioness Ratse, who had been looking at the Empress’s back as she was already far away, immediately gave a look to the knights.

Soon, understanding Marchioness Ratse’s intentions, the knights grabbed the maid’s arms on both sides.

“W-why are you doing this! What did I do wrong…!”

The maid shouted towards Marchioness Ratse, struggling.

“You were just unlucky, that’s all.”

Marchioness Ratse left those brief words and followed after the Empress, who had already gone far.

A scream close to sobbing was heard from behind, but Marchioness Ratse walked on, staring straight ahead without minding.

The incident on the terrace on the day of the imperial ball was like a bolt from the blue for Marchioness Ratse and the Empress’s other maids.

Court Minister Anwaz, who had first received a report on the terrace situation that day, asked Joshua what had happened.

At that time, Joshua vehemently denied any wrongdoing, saying it was all fabricated by Duke Cardia.

He even said there was one more person on that terrace besides Duke Cardia.

It was Duke Amaterasu’s daughter.

But the problem was that there was no witness to prove that fact.

The testimonies of the knights guarding the front of the terrace that day also didn’t match.

They said they saw Duke Amaterasu’s daughter enter the terrace but didn’t see her come out.

They didn’t see Duke Cardia enter the terrace.

Apart from that, the two people’s opinions differed slightly.

There was a possibility that their memories were confused due to the chaotic situation at the time.

Moreover, those knights reeked of strong alcohol that they couldn’t hide.

Marchioness Ratse judged that they had been drinking on duty and thus neglected the situation, making quick resolution difficult.

So she immediately stripped them of their knighthood.

And as always, it was up to the maids to make the incident caused by the Crown Prince disappear without a trace.

While they were running around frantically to clean up the aftermath, the Empress, who knew nothing of it, would only judge based on the results.