“A tea party at the palace?”

“Yes, it seems Princess Solty has sent out tea party invitations to the nobles of Basheker.”

“I see.”

Renebv took the teacup to his lips and looked away.

Amber took a bite of a chocolate-rich cookie and spoke.

“Right now, there seems to be a frenzy among the nobles to get an invitation to the princess’s tea party.”

There hadn’t been a party at the palace since the ball.

There were no other royals in Basheker Palace besides Ikar, and Ikar didn’t seem to particularly enjoy parties.

So, an invitation from Esika would be desperately needed to enter the palace.

‘So we will meet soon.’

Renebv finally understood the meaning of what Rachel had said earlier.

That also meant Esika had sent a tea party invitation to Rachel.

Listening quietly to Amber’s story, Kiernen rummaged through a drawer and shook his head.

“Strange, why is it not here?”

“Kiernen, if you are looking for Princess Solty’s tea party invitation, there’s no need.”

Kiernen, who had been rummaging through the drawer collecting invitations, turned his head toward Renebv.

“My lady, what do you mean?”

“She won’t send me an invitation to the tea party.”

When Renebv said this calmly, Amber asked,

“Do you think the princess plans to invite only those she has recently befriended to the tea party?”

Kiernen grudgingly took Amber’s words.

“Princess Solty must be quite narrow-minded. Maybe she’s still holding a grudge about what happened in the dining room.”

“Eh? What happened in the dining room?”

As Amber looked puzzled, Kiernen passionately explained the events in the dining room.

“The princess tried to belittle my lady while discussing social status.”

Then Amber widened her eyes and spoke.

“Oh my, goodness! Comparing a small kingdom to the Paradigm Empire. She knows no shame…”

“Luckily, my lady gave her a piece of her mind.”

When Kiernen spoke triumphantly, Amber’s eyes grew wider.

“My lady. You didn’t… physically confront the princess, did you?”

At Amber’s words, Renebv let out a soft laugh.

“Of course not.”

“Ah, even if she’s angry, a lady as elegant as you wouldn’t resort to hitting people. Right?”

Kiernen quickly came to Renebv’s defense.

“Well, that’s true…”

Amber responded briefly, lowering her gaze and quietly sipping her tea.

Because she had witnessed Renebv hitting someone in the past.

And hit them quite well.

Of course, Renebv hadn’t punched anyone without reason or hit an innocent person.

As children, Renebv, Siren Count, and Patrick would usually stay in the western border region and return to her downtown count’s residence for the national foundation day.

The nobles invited the two, and Patrick, who had been to several social gatherings, felt somewhat constrained, so he called the knights to spar in the training ground.

Renebv used to sneakily watch them and mimic them.

Thinking that learning self-defense would be helpful someday.

She was caught doing this by Lucius, who was visiting the Siren Count’s residence.

Lucius mocked Renebv, who was throwing punches into the air, and an enraged Renebv swung her fist at Lucius.

It was against the law to touch a royal, but she couldn’t help herself in that moment.

At the time, Lucius was small, and Renebv, who had gone through early puberty, was about an inch taller than him.

Thanks to that, she was able to beat Lucius in a physical fight.

Amber had seen all of this.

‘Since that day, Amber has been strangely more loyal.’

Of course, both Renebv and Lucius were young, so it was possible.

Fortunately, there were no major incidents afterward.

‘It must have been against Lucius’s prideful nature to tattle to the empress.’

As she recalled that day, Renebv felt her cheeks heat up a little.
Taking over a child’s body seemed to be the reason; it was a dark period when my mind was a bit immature.

And now, Reneb regretted what had happened back then.

I should have beaten Lucius much more, he thought.

Gazing absentmindedly beyond the carriage window, a lavish mansion entered Lucius’s view.

As he looked at the quickly passing landscape of Count Seiren’s mansion, Lucius was lost in thought.

Young Lucius had often visited the Seiren Count’s mansion.

He now knew it was part of his mother’s plan to strengthen the relationship with Reneb early on, but back then, he didn’t know why.

He simply knew that he could play with a fun girl his age there.

During the founding festival, when Seiren’s riches returned from the western change, Lucius learned swordsmanship from the Count and also heard war stories from the Viscount.

Innocently, without knowing how they looked at him.

‘Seiren Count must have noticed.’

The purpose of his mother who frequently made her precious only son go to the ownerless count’s mansion.

Yes. He must have known.

The Seiren family sometimes looked at him with displeased eyes.

Especially when Reneb was friendly with him, they couldn’t hide their uncomfortable expression even more.

The Seiren family was loyal to the Emperor, which also meant supporting the Empress.