Clea intended to somehow hide her wounds.

If she couldn’t completely point to Aria Hersher as the culprit, the situation would only turn favorable for Grit.

Moreover, there were still quite a few people who liked Aria.

It was difficult to ignore the possibility of facing backlash if she pushed too hard against Aria.

Especially if she pointed to Aria and then Grit declared the culprit to be someone else, she could well imagine how people would react.

But more than anything else, the most important thing was that she didn’t want to worry those who cared about her.

So at first, she tried her best not to get caught, but.

“Tell me quickly. Who did this?”

Unfortunately, as soon as she got out of the carriage, she frowned from the oncoming pain and it was revealed.

If it had been Lloyd, he probably wouldn’t have noticed and just let it pass.

But the person wasn’t Lloyd, it was Admund.

Even if she tried her best to hide it, it was natural for him to notice immediately.

“Admund, I’m fine.”

“How can you say you’re fine looking like this?”

She had only received basic first aid at the Odoi mansion.

Fortunately, the bleeding had stopped, but the palace doctors were shocked when they saw her wounds.

They expressed concern about how she managed to endure such painful injuries.

After all the treatment was finished, Clea was put to bed with instructions for ‘absolute rest’.

Admund approached her as she lay in bed.

“I shouldn’t have let you go alone.”

“Admund.”

As Admund spoke with self-reproach, Clea took his hand.

Admund quietly looked at Clea’s small hand.

“I hate it most when you get hurt somewhere alone, Clea.”

The voice that had urgently asked who had done this suddenly became quiet.

Clea felt sorry seeing him like this.

She had expected to have a physical altercation with Aria, but she hadn’t thought she would get cut by a knife.

If she had known beforehand that Aria was carrying a knife, she wouldn’t have approached her in that way.

Clea sighed, thinking she had been too careless.

“But it wasn’t entirely without gain.”

At the word ‘gain’, Admund frowned. There was a hint of rebuke in his expression, as if to say such words were inappropriate in the current situation.

Clea took out the necklace she had put in her pocket and said,

“If this had fallen into Aria’s hands, I probably wouldn’t be able to talk to you like this.”

“What do you mean?”

Admund’s expression hardened coldly.

“Just as I said. For some reason, Aria seemed to be looking for this.”

Although the truth hadn’t been verified yet, Clea was certain.

That this was indeed what Aria was looking for.

On the other hand, Admund was about to ask something more.

But their conversation was interrupted by voices from the doorway.

“I heard you were hurt, so I came to see. Are you alright?”

“What on earth happened? I suddenly heard that my daughter-in-law was seriously injured.”

The royal family, excluding Admund.

Odin and Elaina had visited the Crown Prince’s palace.

For the palace servants, this sight was surprising. It was rare for these three to meet like this.

“I greet the two Majesties.”

“No, don’t get up.”

Clea was also flustered by their visit, as she tried to rise from her sickbed to pay her respects to them.

Although she was in pain, she still wanted to show them a good image.

But unfortunately, as soon as she tried to get up, she was promptly stopped by all three.

“Why are you trying to get up when you’re already in pain? You should think of your own body first.”

“But Your Majesty.”

“The Empress is right. Do we appear so inconsiderate in your eyes?”

At Odin’s words, Clea almost nodded unconsciously.

She too had heard and seen things.

For instance, news that the Emperor had not received greetings for hours from an elderly count, remembering his previous disrespectful behavior.

Still, Clea spoke with gratitude to the two who had come to visit her.

“That’s not it.”

“Then don’t mind and rest comfortably. I came here anyway to talk with this thing.”

The ‘thing’ Odin referred to was Admund.

Admund was looking at Odin with a displeased expression.

For the first time in his life, he showed rebellion towards his father, who had never seen any defiance from him before.

But as Odin wasn’t unaware of the reason, he clicked his tongue and forcibly dragged Admund out.

Clea smiled and waved her hand at Admund as he left.

“So, are you feeling alright?”

After Admund and Odin left, only Empress Elaina and Clea remained.

Elaina looked at Clea with worried eyes.

“Yes, I’m fine now.”

When Clea smiled and said she was fine as if nothing was wrong, Elaina smiled bitterly.

Before coming here with Odin, she had first met with the doctors who had examined Clea.

They all said that Clea’s physical condition was very poor and that she needed to be careful.

As this came from the mouths of doctors who exclusively treated the royal family, Elaina thought that Clea was pushing herself too hard right now.

“I don’t care what kind of past you have.”

“Your Majesty the Empress.”

“You are already like family to us. So I hope you won’t overexert yourself.”

There had already been several people who carefully expressed their opposition to Elaina.

Despite there being no reason to reject Clea as the Crown Princess, given that Admund had chosen her himself, they recommended Aria.

Elaina couldn’t understand at all.

Did it have to be only Aria who became the Crown Princess?

She thought that if anyone, Clea was qualified enough.

But her thoughts and those of noble society were quite different.

‘They oppose because she can no longer be called a noble lady, having left the Duke’s family.’

Elaina gritted her teeth for a moment, reminded of those who had opposed her own origins when she was a viscount’s daughter in the past.

But thinking it wasn’t an appropriate expression to show a patient, Elaina smiled again and said,

“I’ll get up now, as staying too long might be uncomfortable.”

“It’s fine if you stay a bit longer.”

“No, you need to rest too. Ah, and make sure to drink this.”

“It’s been a while since I’ve seen you.”

“I’d like to ask how you’ve been, but the situation is not good at all.”

As soon as Elaina finished speaking, her friend and lady-in-waiting Matilda approached.

She smiled and handed Clea a cup.

Inside the cup was an unidentified green liquid.

Although it looked like the contents would be bitter just by looking at it, Clea smiled and accepted the cup, grateful just for their thoughtfulness.

“I’ll drink it with gratitude.”

“Good.”

Clea immediately drank the contents of the cup.

Contrary to the thought that it would be bitter, the contents were sweeter than expected.

“This taste is actually…”

She tried to comment on the taste, but Clea couldn’t. Suddenly her vision darkened.

Clea dropped the cup she was holding and then collapsed onto the bed.

Seeing this, Elaina approached and covered her with the blanket up to her shoulders, then said,

“Like Admund, you also try not to show weakness to others. Well, they say couples who love each other grow alike.”

“Your Majesty, it’s too early to call them a couple when they haven’t even held their wedding ceremony yet.”

“Hmph. Look at them, Matilda. They look like a married couple no matter how you see it.”

The two looked at the sleeping Clea.

In fact, what Elaina had prepared was nothing special. It was just a medicine to relieve some fatigue.

It would have been very bitter originally, but they had made it slightly sweet for her.

To add a bit more explanation, it had the effect of very rapid natural healing, but they didn’t bother to explain that.

* * *

“So, have you found out who did it?”

Odin, who had forcibly dragged Admund out, got to the point.

He was asking if he knew who had hurt her.

Admund answered.

“I’ve checked the list of people who visited the Odoi Duke’s residence.”

“Then you must have already found the culprit.”

As Odin said, Admund could say he had already found them.

From the moment relations with the Percy family completely broke down, the number of visitors to the Odoi family dramatically decreased.

Just today’s list alone had very few families written on it.

Admund focused on one family among them. Then he contemplated.

Whether to draw his sword right now and cut out those who were obstructing him.

Seeing Admund contemplating, Odin advised him.

“How about showing something as a warning before the wedding ceremony?”

“A warning, you say?”

“Yes. If they’ve done something, they should be held responsible!”

The wedding preparations were almost complete.

Now only two things remained.

One was to somehow break Clea’s curse.

The other was to deal with the Hersher family that kept interfering.

Of course, as they were the leaders of the Emperor’s faction, if they raised the white flag on their own, there was no need to deal with them.

But if they continued to interfere even after the marriage, it would be a different story.

“Since we’re here, I’ll ask.”

Admund’s eyes shone fiercely.

“If I were to say I would exterminate the Hersher Duke’s family, would Father not oppose this?”

At his question, Odin laughed. He had seen the behavior Admund was showing somewhere before.

It was similar to how he had behaved for Elaina in the past.

Odin spoke with a sense of encouragement,

“I too have brought down several families since my days as Crown Prince to protect my wife. Is this answer sufficient?”

Admund nodded.