I smiled and slowly picked up the teacup.

“I’ll see you at the lady’s tea party next time. I trust you won’t be as rude then as you are now.”

“…You’re coming to the tea party?”

“Oh my. I sent an acceptance letter, but I guess you didn’t receive it?”

I looked at her with a nonchalant face as if nothing had happened.

She had a face of disbelief that I would attend the tea party after treating her this way.

Either she was naive or stupid.

I took a sip of tea and put the cup down.

“I expect you to give me the treatment befitting the crown princess of a country at that time. Surely you’re not stupid enough to make the same mistake, are you?”

Behind my faintly smiling face, Flora Alois’s shocked expression was reflected.

Ah, it feels so refreshing.

It was almost evening when I found out that Leoprick was there when I defeated Flora Alois.

He sent someone to ask me to have dinner together, so I accepted without hesitation.

At dinner, Leoprick brought it up first.

“I saw Duchess Alois come and go earlier.”

“Ah. Did you meet her?”

At first, I thought he must have just seen Duchess Flora wandering around the palace.

After I finished speaking, she turned pale and then flushed red, panting and running out without saying goodbye.

As she left, she screamed at the top of her lungs that she would never forget this humiliation, so I thought he must have seen it.

But at my words, Leoprick shook his head with a slightly embarrassed expression.

“No. Even though I knew it was rude, I listened to your conversation with the Duchess in front of your office.”

“Ah… You heard it?”

At those words, I stopped my hand that was moving the tableware for a moment.

At the same time, my head started spinning rapidly.

No matter how much the rest of the imperial family, except the former emperor, dislike Flora, she is still the emperor’s sister and Leoprick’s aunt.

Even if she doesn’t have the imperial family’s surname, she is someone who should be treated with sufficient respect.

Of course, I didn’t regret all the words I had thrown at her.

However, that was only because I knew that not many people would believe the words that came out of her mouth, as she was known for her excessive boasting and showing off.

It wasn’t something I said knowing that someone would hear it directly.

Moreover, it was Leoprick, who values courtesy and relationships between people more than anyone else!

I bit the inside of my mouth and glanced at him.

Could it be that he invited me to dinner tonight to talk about that matter as well?

To question me for treating his aunt like that?

Naturally, unpleasant memories from the past came to mind.

Before regression, Lloyd would come to reprimand me furiously even if I pointed out his mother’s rudeness just a little.

Even though he himself wasn’t very polite to his mother, he made me think that even the slightest rudeness I committed was terribly wrong.

Then, he would never see me or take my calls until I went to apologize to Duchess Alois.

So how could I protest to Duchess Alois even if I was treated unfairly?

I always had to be the one to uphold Duchess Alois’s prestige on behalf of Lloyd.

I lived most of my past life like that.

Is that why?

Even though I knew Leoprick was a different person than Lloyd, I couldn’t help but worry.

Worry that he might not rebuke me for treating his family carelessly like Lloyd did.

What if he reprimands me like Lloyd did?

What if he tells me to go and apologize to Duchess Alois right away?

I don’t really want to do that this time.

I was thinking all sorts of thoughts to myself when,

“You did well.”

“…Pardon?”

His voice reaching my ears was unexpectedly gentle.

Moreover, it even had a hint of a smile.

…Things that were never allowed to me before regression.

Unable to believe the situation, I gathered my courage and asked him again.

“You’re not going to reprimand me?”

But at my question, he looked rather puzzled.

“Me? Why?”

“Well… because I hurt Your Highness’s aunt…”

“I know the Duchess was rude to you first. Didn’t I say I heard everything outside?”

“But still, she’s Your Highness’s aunt.”

This time it was my turn to look puzzled.

Leoprick made a face as if to say what the problem was with that, and I couldn’t quite understand it.

No matter what, she’s his aunt, his family?

Is it okay not to treat her with full courtesy?

As I was looking confused, Leoprick burst into laughter instead.

“Amelia. Just because Duchess Alois is my aunt doesn’t mean you have to forgive her when she’s rude to you.”

“But…”

“Rather, my aunt should be more polite to you. After all, you are the precious wife of her only nephew.”

Wouldn’t that be the attitude of an aunt who truly cares for her nephew?

Leoprick added with a slightly playful face.

Seeing that face, I felt the tension that had been building up in my heart ease a little.

He is different from Lloyd.

I knew it, but it was a fact that I encountered again like this.

I looked at him for a moment and slowly opened my mouth.

“I thought I should be a little kinder since she’s my husband’s family.”

“She may be my family, but that doesn’t give her a free pass for her rudeness. I have no intention of forcing that on you either. It’s something that shouldn’t be done.”

Leoprick lightly shook his head.

Family is family and rudeness is rudeness.

Moreover, Leoprick said that there was no need to pay so much attention to someone who wasn’t even his parents.

“And isn’t it too wasteful to worry about such things? At a time when you should be relishing today’s achievement.”

Then, with a playful face, he slightly raised his wine glass.

“Today’s achievement?”

When I asked with a smile naturally appearing on my face at his expression,

“Defeating the rude person.”

Leoprick smiled brightly and pushed the glass towards me, then brought it to his lips.

At that action, I also raised the glass in front of me and slightly tilted it towards him as if toasting.

It was truly a pleasant evening.

“I’m glad to see you looking healthy, Your Highness.”

It was a day before Duchess Alois’s party.

It was also a time when I was gradually letting my guard down, talking about the day’s events with Leoprick every evening as we shared a room.

A time when I thought I didn’t need to be overly wary of him.

A time when I thought that to this extent, we could be good partners maintaining a nice relationship.

Father suddenly requested an audience.

“I’m glad to see you looking healthy too, Father. I hope you’ve been well.”

It was also a day when I was very happy to see my father after a long time.

I had tried to visit him several times, but he refused, saying he was busy. What brings him here today?

I prepared the tea and snacks that Father liked.

Father didn’t show it much, but he seemed to be enjoying it sufficiently.

I wanted to ask him if he was eating well, if he had a lot of work these days, if he was overexerting himself, but as expected of Father, he didn’t easily give his daughter, whom he met after a long time, a chance.

From the moment he entered the reception room until now, he had been treating me like a superior, and I smiled awkwardly.

“Please speak comfortably, Father. I’m your daughter.”

“Before that, you are also the one who will become the empress of the empire. The palace has many ears, Your Highness.”

As expected, Father is Father.

I smiled bitterly as I watched Father reply without a single lapse.

He’s not giving me any room at all.

But that appearance was so much like Father that I tried to erase the unnecessary sentiments and smiled.

“Still, thank you for coming despite your busy schedule. It would be nice if I could see you more often.”

“I will try.”

Father nodded at my words.

My heart was softened by his words that he would readily try to see me more often.

It was when I picked up the teacup with a much better mood than before.

“The reason I came to see you today is because I have a request.”

Father spoke in a slightly heavy tone.

“…I wonder why.”

I thought about what Father had requested today with a blank feeling.

Is it because I, who has returned from a past life, keep trying to change things that have already happened?

Or is it because everyone, including myself, is acting differently as if they have regressed?

Perhaps from the moment I regressed, the world had already changed from what I knew.

I sighed softly as I once again thought about the cause that was making my mind complicated.

“It’s not too late, Your Highness.”

Betty, who had been sitting across from me in the carriage and watching me carefully, cautiously opened her mouth.

Her face was full of worry.

“What is?”

And even though I could clearly read her concern, I tilted my head as if I didn’t know.

“Today’s party. Since we haven’t arrived yet, we can turn the carriage around.”

“We’re almost there, Betty. And it was my choice to go to this party today.”

I smiled as if to say it was okay.

The party hosted by Duchess Alois was attended by most of the noble ladies headed by Duchess Alois.

In my previous life, it was a place where I appealed for support for Lloyd and spread light rumors to dismantle the pro-emperor noble faction.

But now that I’ve decided not to support Lloyd anymore, it was also a place where I needed to find out the intentions of the noble families.

‘So I can’t not attend.’

I patted the back of Betty’s hand, telling her not to worry.