The aged maidservant, Lady Miriam Horlote, did not hesitate to follow the Empress’s instructions. She didn’t even blink while whipping the servant.

The Empress spoke coldly.

“Didn’t you say with your own mouth that the Second Prince’s horse riding is impossible? That he can’t even ride a horse. Yet he was flying around the hunting grounds.”

Miriam, in between whipping, spoke in short bursts.

“How dare you, where is the lie, confess!”

The servant pleaded on the floor.

“Kuh, it’s not true! After the head of the pharmacy went, His Highness the Second Prince was retching all day and not eating…! I never lied. Please save me!”

The servant’s plea seemed so desperate that it could not be false. Watching her, the Empress muttered quietly.

“Then you must have been deceived. You were deceived by a play to trick me.”

“The Second Prince’s illness was real. Prince Kaidel, Prince Kaidel came to find the medicine, there is no doubt.”

The servant was now too weak to even scream, crouching and clutching her head. It seemed she might completely break down if this continued.

At the Empress’s gesture, the maidservant stopped whipping. The sweat on Miriam’s forehead, dripping down, showed that she had done her best as well.

She had the servants take away the Second Prince’s maid and then turned to the Empress.

“Was that all a play by His Highness the Second Prince?”

“You must have weakened considerably after visiting the battlefield. Thanks to that, I had to see the child recovering robustly in front of His Majesty.”

The First Prince had acquired an unidentified chronic illness in his midtwenties, while the Second Prince flew around like a military god.

After roaming the battlefield for two years, he was now giving off an even more intense manly scent than his older brother.

It was said that there was no end to the tales of the Second Prince’s bravery at the night school. The First Prince had nothing to say there.

Miriam, knowing that it made her master unbearably anxious, stepped forward and spoke calmly to the Empress.

Her forehead was still glistening with sweat.

“Don’t worry, Your Majesty the Empress. The opportunity will come again. It always does.”

“Now that the Second Prince’s wellbeing is known, talks of succession are starting. There’s not as much time as we thought.”

“…….”

(This is a time divider.)

Princess Millyora heard a woman’s crying as she passed through the palace corridor. Following the sound, she entered a room where the maids were gathered.

On the floor, a whipped servant moaned like a dying dog, and the surrounding maids wept, waiting for a male servant to carry her away.

Millyora was surprised to recognize the woman as someone from the Second Prince’s palace.

“Why are you here? Who did this to you…….”

“Heeheeheuk, Your Highness the Princess…….”

Millyora did not ask any further questions. Who else in the palace could whip one of the Second Prince’s servants to this extent?

Millyora wondered why the Empress had gone this far. The top figures were so harsh that it was terrifying to look at the lower ones.

But she spoke firmly.

“Can’t you stop? The palace is noisy. What are the servants doing? Not hurrying to carry this girl away. You go first and tell them to send a doctor to the Second Prince’s palace!”

A maid standing by blanched at the mention of a doctor. A servant girl dared not request treatment from a medical institution. It was already a grace from the upper palace to allow this.

But the servant, who had risen with support, suddenly stopped and lowered her head.

The air chilled for a moment.

Before turning around, Millyora knew who was standing outside the door. It was a gaze familiar to her as well.

Before the Empress, she was no different from this servant, a female enemy of the royal family.

“What are you doing?”

The Empress’s sharp voice pierced Millyora’s slender back first.

“I greet Your Majesty the Empress.”

As Millyora turned and paid her respects, the maids took the whipped servant and left the room.

The Empress waited for them to recede and then opened her mouth.

“Shall I move the servant to the Second Prince’s palace altogether?”

Millyora realized her current situation made her appear as if she were taking care of the Second Prince’s maids, and her head went white. The servant’s fault seemed to be her responsibility.
She was the most noble daughter born and raised in the empire, but the moment she stood before the empress, her palms would become damp and her head would feel empty.

“That’s not it, I was just passing by…….”

“You’re really useless.”

A verbal dagger. The empress’s dry criticism sounded devoid of emotion, like an unchanging fact. There was no getting used to it, even if she’d heard it her whole life.

“Do you enjoy running around like a mouse with that small body of yours, pitting brothers against each other? Do you think anyone will consider you useful for that?”

“Your Majesty the Empress! Slander, I am…….”

“Stay down and think of seeking mercy from your great Orab.”