I was in the drawing room with Clements, eating an entire pumpkin pie that was served for him.

“Do you really not want any, Clements?”

“Yeah, you eat it all.”

I took a large bite of the pumpkin pie. The sweet flavor filled my mouth.

Clements, who was watching me, softly smiled.

“Is it good?”

“Yeah!”

I was happily scraping the pumpkin pie when Duke Crustel and Archduke Konsta walked in one after another.

‘Did they have a fight?’

It wasn’t just because Duke Crustel’s expression was stiff. Archduke Konsta, who had been all smiles just before, also had a rigid look on his face.

“Princess.”

“Yes, what is it?”

“Indeed, I’m referring to you, Princess. First, I must apologize. Actually, what I intended to propose to the princess was—”

“Stop it.”

Duke Crustel cut off Archduke Konsta’s words without hesitation.

‘Why is he suddenly apologizing?’

I looked at Archduke Konsta with a puzzled expression. Clements, who was next to me, gently patted my shoulder.

“Don’t worry about them, kiddo. Want some more?”

I was tempted by Clements’ sudden offer. I almost said ‘Yes!’ impulsively but restrained myself.

“No, I won’t be able to eat dinner if I have more.”

I had always cleaned my plate of any food served to me.

If I filled myself up with snacks, I wouldn’t be able to finish dinner, and that would raise Sophia’s suspicions.

“I understand your concern completely.”

Archduke Konsta slowly approached me, showing both of his palms to Duke Crustel.

“Princess, what I was apologizing for earlier was for involving you in adult matters. As the Duke said, it’s no big deal; don’t worry about it.”

‘Adult matters?’

I glanced at Duke Crustel and noticed him subtly avoiding my gaze.

‘Why did he do that?’

I relaxed the tense look in my eyes. I thought about asking, but if he intended to tell me, he would’ve said it already.

“It’s alright.”

“Thank you for saying that, Princess.”

Archduke Konsta stood up. He took a deep breath and exhaled, appearing rather pleased.

“I must return now. Because of someone, my son went back to the kingdom first.”

“You probably know best why that happened.”

“Well, not inviting my son Oliver Konsta to the banquet is regrettable, but…”

“Oliver Konsta wasn’t invited?!”

I stood up in surprise, startling those around me as well.

“Diane, why do you care?”

“Don’t worry, kiddo. There were valid reasons for not inviting Oliver.”

Duke Crustel asked in a cold tone, and Clements comforted me.

I couldn’t calm down easily.

‘Oliver is the prince of the Balkandia Kingdom, right?’

Being friends with Archduke Konsta was good, but befriending an inventor who could generate massive wealth was even better.

Moreover, Oliver is currently attending Bistel Academy with Clements.

He may move to the academy run by the Mage Tower later on, but for now, his interest lies in history and imperial studies, so he’s at Bistel Academy.

That means Oliver had been in the empire until recently and could’ve easily come if invited.

‘Why wasn’t he invited?!’

I knew they were pretty close in the original work.

Could they have fought?

“Princess, are you interested in my son?”

Archduke Konsta asked, sounding rather excited. I nodded fervently.

“Yes! I really want to meet him and talk!”

If possible, I wanted to share ideas in advance about the inventions he was going to make.
Oliver was potentially setting himself up for future accomplishments!

“Doing no harm, at least.”

Perhaps Oliver could achieve success faster with my assistance.

“Ah, yes. It’s not solely for my selfish reasons.”

“Great, great! Actually, I wanted to make that proposal to the princess as well! My son and the princess would make an excellent match!”

The excited archduke grasped my hand and shook it vigorously.

“Our kingdom is connected to the Byers Empire by land, but it’s much quicker to arrive by crossing the sea. Those who can come over from Zhongzhou by sea are extremely rare. You could probably find Duke Crustel here easily, but I doubt he would provide an ideal Zhongzhou match!”

As I briefly glanced at the Duke, he was looking at us with a rather icy stare. Seeing his expression, I agreed with the archduke.

“As soon as we return to the kingdom, I’ll send a Zhongzhou courier to the princess! With that courier, you can easily send letters to the kingdom!”

It was a remote area outside Hesera, close to Keduark, where the habitat of the beasts wasn’t far off and hardly any people were around.

Emerging from behind large rocks where they had been hiding, the shadows revealed their identities.

“Ah, these tedious things.”

“Damn it, I’d rather be caught by those Leviche bastards than spend another day in this pit.”

“Exactly. How long do we have to stay in this stinking beast pit?”

“Why can’t we move to another territory at this point?”

Just then, an eerie howl that was neither animal nor human rang out from not too far away.

The men, who had been whispering among themselves, promptly shut their mouths.

Even after the howling ceased, they remained silent for a good while.