The birthday celebration preparations were going smoothly.

Leoprick revived memories from his past life to prepare his mother’s birthday celebration more splendidly than ever before.

Many people were surprised and applauded him for the fact that he, not being a woman, paid attention to even the smallest details of the party.

However, some were displeased, saying that the Crown Prince was doing something outside of ‘common sense’, and the most prominent figure among them was Duke Derick Valois.

“You’ve put in a lot of effort to give Her Majesty the Empress a wonderful gift.”

“You flatter me, Duke Valois. As her only child, isn’t this what I should naturally do?”

“But it would have been nice to see Her Highness’s skills on this occasion. Isn’t it that women usually know parties better than men? Her Highness was also the flower of social circles before marriage.”

It seems to mean something like: what is the decent daughter-in-law doing while the son is running around so unsightly here?

Leoprick smirked as he looked at his cunning expression.

“Since she was the flower of social circles before marriage, her abilities would be excellent without saying. I don’t want to pressure someone whose abilities have already been proven to demonstrate them by my side.”

“Ah. That’s not what I meant. I just regret not being able to see Her Highness’s skills.”

“Is today the only day? There will be countless opportunities to see in the future. I didn’t want to burden Her Highness with difficult tasks when she’s busy adjusting after recently getting married.”

“Ho ho. By that logic, wouldn’t Your Highness be even busier?”

“Well, it’s my mother, not Her Highness’s mother, isn’t it?”

Why don’t you try preparing your mother-in-law’s birthday yourself this year, Duke?

Leoprick said to Duke Valois with a grin.

He should understand by now.

Duke Valois, unconcerned, laughed heartily and looked around the grand hall where the banquet was being prepared.

Thinking it was too meticulous and thorough for a first-time preparation.

With skills that only women could possess, it seemed that everything from the decorations of the banquet hall to even the colors of flowers on the tables all went through the Crown Prince’s hands.

Duke Valois questioned Leoprick’s skills.

It wasn’t Crown Princess Amelia, who was familiar with parties, but the Crown Prince, who had only ever attended parties prepared by others, preparing such a high-level banquet.

Duke Valois was someone who could evaluate this and that even if he had never prepared a banquet himself.

He looked around at the decorations that filled the surroundings without lack and the palace people busily going back and forth, preparing even the guests’ movement lines and resting areas without missing anything.

Probably only when tomorrow’s banquet starts will we know, but this event would remain unprecedented in the history of the empire.

A banquet prepared not by a daughter or daughter-in-law, but by a son, lacking nothing.

For him, who had come looking for something to nitpick, it was an extremely disappointing affair.

Well, it’s not like there was nothing to gain at all.

“My mother prefers my daughter and daughter-in-law more than me.”

“Is that so? Then those two will have a hard time this year as well.”

“What’s there to be hard about? They just need to do as they always do.”

How can a Crown Prince of a country be so undignified?

He planned to tell the noble faction about the undignified Crown Prince who prepares parties himself and the irresponsible Crown Princess who doesn’t stay by his side for even a second.

Saying how can we entrust the empire to such people?

While his head was full of thoughts of exaggerating even trivial matters as usual, he was giving perfunctory answers.

Leoprick looked at him with a subtle expression.

“Does the Duke find party preparation easy?”

“Pardon? Ah, well, I suppose it gets easier with familiarity.”

“Then you don’t know how mentally and physically draining this is?”

“…Well, we also have mentally and physically draining work. The palace affairs are quite complex, aren’t they?”

Duke Valois replied nonchalantly.

These are things everyone does.

Is women’s work more difficult and men’s work less difficult?

If you have to do it, you just do it.

It was when he was about to turn his gaze back to Leoprick, thinking of leaving soon.

“It seems the Duke doesn’t understand women’s hardships well.”

“Pardon? What do you mean…”

“Women are also subjects, but it doesn’t seem like women are included in the Duke’s subjects.”

“Oh my, that’s unfortunate. Women’s rumors are known to be more fearsome than men’s.”

Duke Valois was listening to his words with a bewildered face, wondering what on earth he was talking about.

And soon, he realized the reason from the voice heard behind him and the approaching footsteps.

“…I greet Your Majesty the Empress and Her Highness.”

“Yes. It’s been a while, Duke Valois.”

Seeing the Empress and the Crown Princess entering with dignified faces, Duke Valois had to struggle not to harden his expression.

To encounter the Empress at a time like this.

Looking at the Empress, who was no different from the spokesperson for all women in the empire, the Duke slightly bit his lip.

While he could brush off things like his wife and other women talking about women’s hearts, it was different with the Empress.

On the surface, she might seem like a woman blessed with only love, but in reality, it wasn’t so.

As if to show that not just anyone could become the Empress of the empire, she was formidable.

It’s hard to know what kind of troublesome public opinion this might create.

Derick Valois desperately racked his brain on how to overcome this situation.

“As you’re the protagonist of tomorrow’s banquet, is it alright for you to see this in advance?”

It seems His Highness the Crown Prince has prepared a lot, Your Majesty.

He tried to cover his embarrassment by lightly changing the subject.

Thinking that since it was nothing special anyway, the Empress would just let it pass.

But the Empress, who smiled meaningfully towards him, didn’t seem to have any intention of letting it pass.

“It’s truly a grateful thing, Duke. A son preparing a banquet for his mother. Isn’t it a lovely sight?”

“Ha, haha. Yes. His Highness’s filial piety is very pleasing to see.”

“So, I was thinking of recommending this to other sons in the future.”

What do you think, Duke?

The Empress asked the Duke with a subtle smile.

Could she be planning to create public opinion targeting all noble ladies at this birthday celebration?

The Duke tried hard to hide his uncomfortable face and smiled awkwardly.

“Wouldn’t it be premature to recommend it already when His Highness has only prepared the banquet so recently, Your Majesty?”

“Is the number of times important? Isn’t it important that the heart is expressed?”

“Of course, that’s true. I have no doubt that it will be an occasion where even the observers will deeply feel His Highness’s filial piety.”

And finally, he brought out one idea that had come to his mind.

“As it’s such an occasion, how about Your Majesty giving a gift that would make everyone admire?”

“A gift? Me?”

The Empress smiled as if amused.

But Derick Valois knew that smile would soon fade.

So, smiling even more joyfully than her, he opened his mouth.

“I mean Isolde’s Tears. How about showing it to the nobles as a response to His Highness’s gesture?”

Mentioning something that was like a symbol of the imperial family, which hadn’t appeared in official settings for several years, and probably would never appear again.

How shameless.

Leoprick barely suppressed the urge to sneer at Duke Valois.

He had known that Derick Valois was a thick-skinned person for a long time, but he didn’t know it would be to this extent.

To think that those words about Isolde’s Tears would come out of his mouth, of all people.

Leoprick recalled the news he had heard at Count Ferze’s banquet not long ago about an intruder in Wayne Castle.

They said that because the assassin died before interrogation, they couldn’t confirm whether they came to retrieve it or simply to steal it.

However, there was no need to confirm it further.

He knew that it was Lloyd and Flora who had stolen Isolde’s Tears, and he had already found out that Duke Valois was in cahoots with them.

Daeon, who remained in Wayne Castle investigating the Valois territory, had informed him that he had found a clue to the recent intrusion incident.

The circumstantial evidence was clear, and they were currently investigating to secure accurate physical evidence.

He could almost hear Lloyd’s voice, who had come boasting before he died in the past.

‘It was all planned from the start. Don’t tell me you didn’t notice?’

Recalling that immature and arrogant voice made him feel sick to his stomach.

From approaching Amelia systematically, stealing Isolde’s Tears, extending a helping hand to the east and north, to various relief activities done in his name.

Lloyd laughed, saying that everything he had done to usurp the imperial authority was all part of his grand plan.

From that position where he had trampled on everything of Amelia’s.

‘Isolde’s Tears, that great spectacle was all planned by me too. The late emperor gave mother the key to the imperial treasury. He told mother to keep it even after getting married. I bet His Majesty didn’t know about it?’

Foolish late emperor. Foolish grandfather.

Did you love and cherish your daughter so much without knowing what kind of person she was?

Leoprick had to tremble with a sense of betrayal towards the deceased on the day he heard Lloyd’s confession.

‘I properly distracted the guards, entered the treasure room, and only took Isolde’s Tears. To take away the legitimacy of you and His Majesty.’

Isolde’s Tears was practically a symbol of the imperial family.

The empire’s treasure said to bring prosperity to the country.

The rightful token of legitimacy and heritage that mother, who became empress from a humble family, valued more than anything.

By taking that away, Lloyd had torn mother’s heart to pieces and planted distrust in the hearts of the empire’s people.

Distrust towards the imperial family.

Distrust that perhaps the heavens might support someone other than the current imperial family in this generation.

Furthermore, distrust that the king’s material given by the heavens might not be righteous.

That’s why in this life, he had tried to find Isolde’s Tears before anything else.

Seeing that Valois sent people separately, it seems he doesn’t have it in his possession either.

Since the infiltration operation failed.

Leoprick thought as he looked at Duke Valois, who was smiling triumphantly alone.

Then, who?

And the thought that returned to the starting point.

Leoprick looked at his mother who was looking at the impertinent Duke Valois, and Amelia standing beside such mother.

He thought as he looked at Amelia, who was looking at Duke Valois with an expressionless, indifferent face.

…If it was Amelia in the previous life, could it be Amelia in this life too?

The doubt that had been buried in Wayne raises its head again.

No, it might not be doubt, but perhaps his own wishful thinking.

If Amelia has it, if she has Isolde’s Tears, which is distinctly different from before the regression.

That this life might be different from the last one.

His own vain wishful thinking.

“Whether or not to come out with Isolde’s Tears is for Her Majesty to decide. It doesn’t seem to be an issue for the Duke to comment on.”

It was at that moment.

As if sensing his feelings, Amelia opened her mouth and shot at Duke Valois.