‘……It can’t be, right?’

The Ratse Marquis family was one of the prestigious families of the Feisis Empire that had been passed down for generations, but they were on bad terms with the late Empress’s family.

Because of that, while they were unable to spread their wings in many ways, the late Empress died.

It was the Ratse Marquis family that added strength to the voices arguing that a new Empress should be brought in.

So for the Empress, it could be said that she had received help from the Ratse Marquis family.

The Empress also repaid the Ratse Marquis family by giving them special favors.

Keeping the Marchioness Ratse as her closest lady-in-waiting and trusting her was an extension of that.

Thus, the Ratse Marquis family was desperately hoping for Joshua to become Emperor soon.

If that happened, the Empress would become the most powerful person who could actually shake the Feisis Empire.

Now that Countess Minster had fallen from grace, the Marchioness Ratse was the Empress’s only close confidant, and it seemed she was expecting to gain a lot more.

Thinking about it again, there was no way the Marchioness Ratse would have leaked internal government information.

Nodding inwardly, the Empress took her gaze off the Marchioness Ratse.

‘Then who……’

Considering the family situations of each lady-in-waiting and various circumstances, there didn’t seem to be anyone who would benefit from leaking internal information.

In other words, there were no suspects. That’s why it was giving her a headache.

‘There’s no helping it.’

The Empress devised a method to ferret out the person who leaked the internal information.

After some deliberation, she came up with an ingenious plan without much difficulty.

The method the Empress came up with was to make them suspect each other.

She would hint to the Marchioness Ratse that another lady-in-waiting was suspicious and ask her to keep an eye on her, and then tell another lady-in-waiting that a different lady-in-waiting was suspicious.

That way, the individual loyalty of each lady-in-waiting towards the Empress would increase.

Because they would think the Empress trusted them.

Moreover, they would also hope to be able to secure the vacant position of the Empress’s closest confidant after Countess Minster’s fall from grace.

There was no doubt they would watch each other’s actions with eagle eyes and report every move to the Empress.

Having made her decision, the Empress soon opened her mouth.

“Marchioness Ratse.”

At the Empress’s call, the Marchioness Ratse raised her head.

“Yes, Your Majesty.”

The Empress motioned quietly for the Marchioness Ratse to follow her out.

After hearing the news of Duke Amaterasu’s daughter’s engagement to Duke Cardia, Joshua went hunting with the young nobles.

It was to relieve his dampened emotions after his plan went awry and to prove himself at the same time.

In the current situation where he couldn’t go to the battlefield, it was one of the few opportunities to show his bravery.

Although it wasn’t as rare an animal as a white marten, if he could catch a few wolves or bears, he thought his mood might improve a little.

As Joshua was moving from one hunting ground to another, a fairly large brown animal appeared before his eyes.

Seemingly not having noticed him yet, the brown quadruped was busy grazing on grass.

Observing this sight, Joshua clicked his tongue softly.

‘……Tch, a deer?’

Thinking it would have been better if he had found a carnivore like a wolf or bear, Joshua aimed his bow at the brown beast.

There was no other choice.

Right after entering the hunting grounds today, the young Duke Blatnik had caught a wild boar.

It could be said that young noble was unusually lucky.

For nobles, hunting was one of the means to compete with other nobles and show off their status.

Since they would be scored based on the beasts caught today, he couldn’t return empty-handed.

It was the moment Joshua, having exhaled all the breath he had inhaled, released the tightly drawn bowstring.

“……”

As if sensing something strange, the brown beast raised its head.

Feeling anxious that he might lose the prey he had just found, Joshua bit his lower lip.

At that moment.

Thud. The brown beast collapsed.

Fortunately, it was a direct hit.

With this, it seemed he could barely save face when returning to the imperial palace.

As Joshua let out a sigh of relief, the guard knight behind him said,

“A direct hit! As expected, you’re amazing, Your Highness the Crown Prince!”

Joshua gestured to the guard knight with an expression that said it was no big deal.

The guard knight nodded and soon gave instructions to the hunting dogs.

Several hunting dogs rushed towards the brown beast that was weakly trembling on the ground.

But the joy of a successful hunt was soon forgotten.

He had thought that if he could draw the Amaterasu Duke family, who had been maintaining neutrality, to his side through marriage with Duke Amaterasu’s daughter, he could prove his worth.

‘But……’

But Duke Cardia had ruined that plan.

By submitting a marriage proposal to the Amaterasu Duke family one step ahead of him.

For Joshua, who had even suffered humiliation in front of the Emperor after the incident on the terrace, Duke Cardia’s existence felt like an obstacle he wanted to remove from his sight immediately.

Moreover, he knew that the Emperor didn’t approve of him.

In the past, the Emperor used to compare him with Princess Trinity at every turn.

Fortunately, Princess Trinity had died.

But after that, the Emperor subtly began to compare him with Duke Cardia.

So he needed to show.

That he wasn’t just lucky to be born as the Emperor’s son, but that he was fully qualified to reign over all the people of the Feisis Empire.

Duke Cardia, whom even the Emperor couldn’t easily control.

If he could handle him well, it didn’t seem difficult to gain the Emperor’s recognition.

“What would you like to do? You’ve caught quite a big one, so the victory seems certain. Shall we return to the tent now?”

At the guard knight’s suggestion to return, Joshua quietly shook his head.

“No, I still have one arrow left.”

Joshua gestured towards the quiver on his shoulder and took a step forward.

His eyes and ears were searching for beasts that might be hiding in the bushes, but Joshua’s mind was full of thoughts about Duke Cardia.

How he could bring him to his knees.

Warm sunlight streaming through the large glass window fell on the red carpet.

A pair of brown men’s shoes quickly passed over it.

The floor of the duke’s residence was made of marble, but the soft, high-quality luxury carpet completely absorbed the noise from the shoes.

This was because there had been special instructions from the previous Duchess Cardia to pay attention to soundproofing, as the end of this corridor led to the study of the master of the mansion, Duke Cardia.

The butler, who had arrived at the door after passing through the wide and long corridor leading to the study, politely knocked.

In his hand was a tray containing lunch for two people.

“Your Grace. I’ve brought your meal.”

Soon, Cabelased’s permission to enter came from beyond the door.

The butler who entered the study placed the plates from the tray one by one on the round table.

Earl Preston, who had just taken his eyes off the documents he had been looking at, approached the table where the butler was and asked.

“What is the Countess Greykin doing?”

“She’s currently having tea time with Duke Amaterasu’s daughter in the garden.”

As the butler continued to neatly arrange the tableware on the table, Earl Preston, who had sat down in the chair in front of the table, shook his head.

“It seems we won’t be able to get her help today.”

Recently, he had been assigning small tasks to Countess Greykin.

She had been competent, having previously helped Princess Trinity with paperwork, and Earl Preston made good use of this.

However, recently Duke Amaterasu’s daughter had started staying at the mansion, and Countess Greykin often spent time with her.

Because of this, he seemed to regret not being able to get her help with work.

Judging by Earl Preston’s slightly puffed cheeks.

“The meal preparation is complete.”

The butler said after perfectly setting the table.

Soon, Cabelased and Earl Preston began their somewhat late lunch.

Naturally, the butler stood by the two, appropriately serving the meal.

Then, a silent meal time continued without even the sound of tableware clinking.

When Cabelased, who had finished his meal cleanly and quickly, picked up his napkin, Earl Preston, who had also cleaned his plate, rinsed his mouth with water and said.

“By the way, I still can’t believe it.”

Cabelased stared at Earl Preston while holding out his teacup towards the butler.

“What?”

The butler filled Cabelased’s teacup with tea.

“Everything from Your Grace telling someone else about the alliance to getting engaged.”

As if hearing a funny story, Cabelased snorted softly.

“What about you, Earl Preston? Don’t you have any thoughts of settling down?”

Earl Preston was a man with what is commonly called a playboy temperament. The type who doesn’t stop women from coming or going.

And what made this possible was the power and wealth of his family, as well as his quite handsome appearance.

While he wasn’t particularly talkative among men, he knew how to use his unique sense of humor in front of women.

“Someday I should do that too. Like others do… But I have no thoughts of marriage yet.”

Saying so, Earl Preston looked at the butler.

The butler then filled Earl Preston’s water glass with fresh water.

“But what was the reason?”

At Earl Preston’s question, Cabelased, who was bringing his teacup to his mouth, looked at him with an indifferent expression.

“If it’s for the unity between families, you used to turn your nose up at Duke Amaterasu’s daughter before, didn’t you?”

As Earl Preston said, Cabelased had a history of not batting an eye and rejecting Jieselgrante’s numerous courtships.

Then suddenly one day he abruptly changed his mind, so it was understandable to be curious about the reason.

“You already know the reason, don’t you?”

“You mean the excuse of keeping the Crown Prince in check?”

Earl Preston raised one eyebrow and shrugged his shoulders.

“What exactly do you want to hear from me?”

When Cabelased frowned slightly, Earl Preston immediately added.

“That’s what I’m saying. There’s no way that Duke Cardia would have acted because of love, such an emotion……”