The cheek was hit, but why would the wound on the back open?

In fact, it wasn’t even a slap, so why?

I looked at Susan with dazed eyes.

Susan winked at me.

‘I thought you were just a gentle deer, but you’ve grown up!’

A strong sense of kinship washed over me.

Even if I had a real sibling, I don’t think I’d be this proud.

“Are these two mocking me?”

Rose snorted angrily.

“Your Majesty, please calm down!”

Rose’s lady-in-waiting, who had been fidgeting, tried to stop her mistress.

Fearing that the ‘Emperor’s beloved’ praised by minstrels might get hurt.

She seemed afraid that she might be blamed.

That prediction turned out to be correct.

“What’s all this commotion?”

A cold, deep voice captivated the audience.

I slightly raised my left eyelid to look at Nikolai.

‘He’s wearing his uniform for the diplomatic reception. The charisma is no joke.’

Dressed in a black uniform from head to toe, Nikolai radiated light just by standing still.

His black hair, not a single strand out of place, exuded an ascetic yet sensual charm.

The golden tassels adorning his shoulders.

The red sash across his chest.

Even the gold buttons on his sleeves enhanced his beauty.

Of course, I couldn’t guess why he appeared at the Crown Prince’s palace during the time for receiving the diplomatic corps.

“We greet Your Majesty, the Emperor, the sky of the Empire.”

Rose curtsied, her skirts fluttering.

Her cheeks were flushed red.

Seeing the wild boar that had been threatening me and Susan now shy like a rose, I felt nauseous.

‘There are three more empresses like this? And countless others beyond that? This is why you shouldn’t get involved with a man with complicated relationships.’

Nikolai completely ignored Rose’s greeting.

He approached me.

His familiar scent came with him.

When he knelt on one knee before me, low groans erupted from here and there.

“Elizabeth. Are you alright?”

His voice was as soft as flower petals blown by the spring breeze, and as sweet as freshly spun cotton candy.

Honey dripped from his gaze as he looked at me.

I felt dizzy for a moment from that marvelous sweetness.

“I heard your scream.”

“I was just a little startled.”

“Why were you startled?”

“Well…”

“Surely you weren’t struck by someone?”

Nikolai asked as if he had witnessed everything.

The honey that had filled his green eyes disappeared.

A menacing killing intent took its place.

It was such a fierce aura that Rose and Susan’s shoulders flinched.

“Tell me, Elizabeth. If anyone tried to harm you, I won’t let them live.”

“I’m fine, Your Majesty.”

“I’m not fine.”

“I wasn’t hurt.”

“Harm includes threats and intimidation.”

“I’m worried you might get caught up in unnecessary rumors, Your Majesty.”

I lowered my gaze as if afraid.

Nikolai spoke with emphasis.

“Assault is a serious crime. If the punishment is weak, crime will run rampant.”

“But the Empress…”

“Those of high status who commit evil deeds should be punished even more severely.”

Rose was at a loss, unable to do this or that.

Rose’s lady-in-waiting bowed her head deeply and trembled.

At that moment, Susan knelt on both knees.

“Your Majesty. I will tell you what I saw.”

“Aren’t you the sister of Marquis Nettleton?”

“Though I am unworthy, I work as an apothecary in the imperial palace.”

“I’ve heard you’re a promising talent. Tell me everything you saw without omission.”

Nikolai commanded sternly.

Susan wiped tears with the back of her hand but answered clearly.

As if reading from a prepared script.

“The Empress threatened and assaulted Elder Sister Elizabeth.”

“This is a false accusation! Your Majesty!”

Rose, who had turned pale, screamed.

Nikolai raised one hand to silence her.

“Continue speaking.”

“I can endure the insult to our Nettleton family. But I cannot tolerate her hitting and humiliating my elder sister.”

“…Hit her, you say?”

“Not just me, but the Empress’s lady-in-waiting also saw it. Elder Sister Elizabeth was beaten so severely that she collapsed.”

Nikolai’s gaze turned to me.

Thanks to my enthusiastic rolling, grass was stuck all over my body.

Cornered, Rose prostrated herself.

“I merely touched her lightly! That lowborn insulted me, an Empress!”

“Is this a confession?”

“Call my father, he will clear up this misunderstanding!”

“Why did you come to the Crown Prince’s palace?”

“I, I just happened to pass by…!”

Rose, who had turned pale, stammered.

There was no way Nikolai would listen to such an obvious excuse.

He made a gesture with his chin.

The waiting knights grabbed Rose’s lady-in-waiting with their rough hands.

The lady-in-waiting blurted out words without being asked.

“I saw Her Majesty the Empress hit Lady Elizabeth. Lady Elizabeth rolled three and a half times to the right.”

“And?”

“Her Majesty didn’t come by chance. I clearly heard her say she would trample Lady Elizabeth.”

Rose glared with bloodshot eyes.

“You ungrateful wretch! When did you ever wag your tail in front of me!”

“I didn’t want to serve Your Majesty the Empress. I was dragged here right after graduating from the academy because of the debt to Marquis Brenden’s family.”

“Will you not shut up?”

Did Rose think it was over?

Did she want to seize the opportunity to escape from Rose?

The lady-in-waiting hurriedly continued as if she had made up her mind.

“Everyone knows that the Brenden Marquis family sucks the blood of lower nobles through usury.”

“It’s natural for interest to accrue on urgent loans!”

“Didn’t you demand interest more than ten times the principal? Deliberately making it impossible to repay the money and then taking all their property, isn’t that what gangsters do?”

The Brenden Marquis family used money to win over nobles and increase their influence in the House of Lords.

According to what I found out, the gold mine the marquis family boasted about had long since been depleted.

The estate’s finances were in such poor shape that they couldn’t even collect taxes properly.

‘I wondered where all that money came from, so it was usury? If a close lady-in-waiting is willing to inform on them like this, how much must they have tormented the commoners?’

Though it started by chance, I resolved to thoroughly and meticulously bring down the Brenden Marquis family.

So that the name Brenden would never torment anyone again.

“Your Majesty. This lady-in-waiting is not at fault.”

Nikolai, catching my gaze, asked in a cool tone.

“Did she not encourage from the side?”

“Not at all.”

“Failing to stop one’s master’s evil deeds is also a great sin.”

“What lady-in-waiting could go against her master? Please bestow your imperial grace.”

Nikolai’s generosity extended only that far.

“Confine Rose Brenden in the Ice Tower of the imperial palace. No one is to visit her until I give orders.”

[This is the timeline separator]

Nikolai wanted to stay by my side.

I wanted to be with him too.

But I had to push him away.

The envoys from various countries were waiting.

Pretending to be hurt was quite tiring.

As soon as Nikolai left, I came out of the palace with Susan.

“Elder Sister Elizabeth. Shouldn’t you rest today?”

Susan asked in the swaying carriage.

“You know best that I wasn’t hit, right?”

“But you collapsed.”

“I pretended to collapse. Just like you pretended to worry about me.”

Susan covered her face as if embarrassed to think about it again.

“I’m sorry. I got too excited, didn’t I?”

“I was proud.”

“Really?”

“You were truly like my sister.”

“Sister…!”

Susan, who couldn’t continue speaking for a while due to overwhelming emotion, placed her hands on her chest.

“I’ll never forget today. I wanted to become a real family with you.”

“Susan…”

“I’m not talking about my brother. That would be burdensome for you.”

“Thank you for understanding, Susan.”

“Instead, will you grant me one wish?”

“What’s your wish?”

I tilted my head.

Susan, who had become very tense, answered with determination.

“Please speak to me informally! I don’t like the formal speech, it feels distant.”

“Susan, you’re a marquis’s daughter and I’m a commoner.”

“I respect you, and you care for me, so what does that matter?”

“But…”

“You’re the one who taught me that character is more important than social status. Please, I beg you.”

Susan looked up at me with desperate eyes.

Those transparent and large eyes.

I couldn’t refuse her blind affection.

“Alright, Susan. But only when we’re alone, okay?”

“Thank you so much, Sister! My lifelong wish has been fulfilled!”

Susan burrowed into my arms.

The pleasant scent of soap and faint smell of herbs approached comfortingly.

My heart too felt as cozy as if I had returned home.

Although home was meaningless, and I had never had a real family.

“Since I was young, I wished I had a little sister like you.”

“I’ll protect you, Sister!”

“That’s reassuring.”

“You said we need to persuade the farmer Boritz, right? If he’s interested in plant research, he’ll be able to communicate with me.”

“I’m counting on you, Susan.”

“Look forward to it. I can do anything!”

Looking at Susan’s flushed cheeks, I swallowed my guilt.

Preventing Susan’s suicide and supporting her research were all calculations.

I thought she would be helpful in the future because she liked me.

But not now.

Susan’s sincerity, warm like the spring sunshine, melted my heart too.

‘Susan is as precious as a real sister. The people I love are increasing one by one. I wonder what effect this will have?’

I didn’t mind even if it became an obstacle.

Beyond gains and losses, my connection with Susan was precious.

I inwardly vowed to cure Susan’s illness.

For that, I needed the divine object of Morasyncia, the goddess of healing.

[This is the timeline separator]

The Ice Tower was a prison located at the highest point of the imperial palace.

Although only royalty or high nobles could enter, it was as brutal as the underground dungeon.

It was so cold that frost formed even in midsummer.

But prisoners weren’t given even a single blanket.

After Dowager Empress Penelope, the Ice Tower welcomed a guest after a long time.

Naturally, public attention was focused on it.

“I heard Empress Rose hit Elizabeth and made her faint?”

“She almost died, they say?”

“She’s such an ill-tempered woman, right? I knew something would happen eventually.”

“They say His Majesty the Emperor saved Elizabeth again this time? It’s true love, really!”

“I heard Rose’s lady-in-waiting almost got executed on the spot. If Elizabeth hadn’t knelt and begged His Majesty, an innocent maid would have died.”

“What crime did the lady-in-waiting commit? I’d like to see nobles get punished for once.”

Rumors favorable to me snowballed.

This time, it wasn’t something I had orchestrated.

“It seems too idealized. Won’t this be obvious?”

I asked the girl with long braided light brown hair.

Nisa, who used to be Rose’s lady-in-waiting, smiled brightly.

“Lady Elizabeth took me in and even paid off my debt. I should repay your kindness, even if just a little.”

Why are there so many people around me who want to repay favors?

When I first met her, I thought Nisa was just an ordinary lady-in-waiting.

But that wasn’t the case at all.