“How dare a lowly concubine have any decorum!”

Duke Ahilo burst into flames with anger. Madam Bertolt also expressed her agreement with him.

But I had a slightly different thought.

‘This is great. It’s an opportunity to figure out Helene.’

If I called for Helene separately, it would be perfect for rumors to circulate that ‘the Empress is persecuting the saint’.

On the other hand, if we met and talked in an official setting, it was always difficult to have a conversation with just the two of us because Enrique was always stuck right next to her.

But now that she has come to see me like this, I couldn’t be more grateful.

I smiled and crossed my legs, arrogantly changing my posture.

“Let her in. I’ll have to hear what she has to say.”

“There’s no need for that, daughter. Why would you do such a thing?”

“Calm down, Father. After what just happened, wouldn’t the saint also have something to say?”

It seemed that Duke Ahilo cherished his daughter very much.

Well, that’s probably why he composed the Empress Palace with only close aides.

“Hello!”

Helene, who finally entered the drawing room, greeted me cheerfully.

I had previously moved Duke Ahilo to another room and ordered the teacups to be cleared away, which seemed like a good thing to do.

If he had seen this sight, he would have probably collapsed while grabbing the back of his neck.

Helene came in, wobbling with her arms full of something. She didn’t even bend her knees properly when greeting and also omitted the honorifics.

It was an action that blatantly revealed that she didn’t need to follow the palace etiquette because she wasn’t someone who belonged to the imperial palace.

“Ah, come to think of it, this is the first time I’ve come to see you first. I tend to be very shy, so I’ve been distant until now… but from now on, it would be nice if we could visit each other’s palaces and become close friends! Like friends of the same age!”

Helene took a seat on her own without being told to sit down. She even sat right next to me, not across from me.

At that, Madam Bertolt, who was just bringing a tea pot and fruits on a trolley, stumbled ever so slightly.

I pretended not to notice and finally gave my attention to Helene.

“If I had known you had such a bright personality, I would have spent time with you more often.”

“Hehe, thank you for the compliment.”

Madam Bertolt’s pupils were trembling, probably shocked by this informal, impolite, and disregarding of etiquette seating arrangement.

Nevertheless, as befitting a head maid, she hid her emotions and poured the tea like a shadow, without making a sound.

The peach oolong tea, which has a strong fragrant peach scent, is my favorite tea. I didn’t want to give the accompanying honey-drizzled peaches to someone like Helene either.

But if I don’t eat this, it’s difficult not to vomit while looking at that face pretending to be innocent.

I elegantly lifted the teacup and nodded my head.

“Go ahead. But your name is?”

“You don’t know my name…?”

Helene’s eyes widened as if she didn’t expect to be asked such a question.

It was the very expression that made me want to throw a punch.

“I would know if you introduced yourself. You didn’t introduce yourself when you came in.”

When I gently admonished her, Helene, who had a dumbfounded look for a few seconds, barely managed to compose her expression.

“I’m Helene. Please call me Helene comfortably.”

“I’m glad you told me that, Helene.”

“Yes! Then what should I call you?”

“Your Majesty the Empress.”

“……”

Helene was at a loss for words again at the straightforward reply.

At that, Madam Bertolt’s shoulders trembled slightly as she pushed the trolley and left the drawing room. Seeing her struggling to hold back her laughter, I laughed inwardly.

In a short moment, Helene and I had each landed a blow on each other.

She would probably want to quickly tell this story to the maids outside.

I put down the teacup and smiled as kindly as possible.

“I hope you didn’t expect to be able to call me by my name. You’re not too young to lack discernment, are you?”

“Ah… yes.”

“Even His Majesty the Emperor calls me Empress, so you should do the same, shouldn’t you?”

“I will, Your Majesty the Empress. I was short-sighted.”

She’s not an easy character after all.

Helene was quick to compose herself and respond to any attack.

So I was rather pleased.

If she died screaming at the slightest pressure, it would be difficult to torment her for a long time.

This is how it should be.

“About this banquet, Your Majesty the Empress will surely do well. But just in case you need help, I brought samples of various items I had ordered. Feel free to use as much as you need!”

Helene smiled brightly. Then she picked up a branch with red berries from the messily laid out items on the table.

“Originally, I was thinking of decorating the banquet hall with this firethorn to give it a winter feel. As you know, firethorn symbolizes peace. Also, the desert kingdom will probably not be familiar with winter since all seasons are summer there.”

“So?”

“Firethorn not only has pretty berries but also carries the meaning of worshipping God, so I think it’s a very good choice.”

Ah, this is a bit disappointing.

I should have just told Helene to take care of the banquet preparations and watched her be humiliated.

Seeing her confidently explaining about firethorn, I could imagine what might happen if the banquet hall was decorated with it.

‘People from the desert kingdom perceive everything in the banquet hall as edible. In their culture, when invited as a guest, it is considered good manners to eat everything in the banquet hall without leaving anything behind.’

In the first place, it’s not a country where many flowers bloom, so there’s no reason to decorate the banquet hall with flowers. It would also be strange to decorate the banquet hall with cactus just because there are many cacti.

So, traditionally, the desert kingdom decorated banquet halls with fruits or fruit trees.

That way, they could give a fresh and green feeling, and guests could eat fresh fruits at any time, so there was nothing bad about it.

‘But the berries of our dear firethorn are poisonous.’

If eaten unknowingly, it causes vomiting and dehydration symptoms…

‘Huh?’

Could it be that she knows about that culture and did this on purpose?

To heal everyone with the power of the saint when they are all suffering?

“Oh! And this is a paper that summarizes the foods that En… no, His Majesty likes and hates.”

I didn’t know what thoughts were going through that small head of hers, but her behavior was becoming more and more interesting.

Honestly, if it wasn’t related to me and if Enrique wasn’t in the middle… If I had met her when I was a demon, not a human… I might have been quite fond of Helene. Such a cunning human is fun.

I laughed softly without even glancing at the paper.

“I don’t know if you’re a saint or a concubine. If you’re a concubine, it’s an action that deserves praise, and if you’re a saint, it would be better to take care of one more poor person in that time. Didn’t that great God of yours tell you that?”

“What?”

“Whether you’re a saint or a concubine, or both, I don’t care, but it’s time to stop playing Empress now.”

I whispered softly and stroked Helene’s pink hair. Helene’s eyes widened again, and she had a startled expression.

“Pla, playing! I’ve never done that. I just… I just wanted to help you and worked hard.”

Her voice trembled as if she felt wronged.

I laughed like a girl and tucked Helene’s hair behind her ear.

“Oh my, taking a joke so seriously.”

“!”

“Come on, have some peach? It’s a precious fruit to eat this season.”

I personally took a fork and stuck it into the soft flesh. Helene’s slightly biting her lower lip was reflected for a very brief moment on the convex side of the well-polished silver fork.

But when I held out the peach, Helene had erased her resentful look and had an innocent face as if she knew nothing.

A bright red cheek like a peach and an appearance that seemed to shed peach juice-like tears at any moment.

A face very different from me when I was a demon, and also very different from the current ‘Leonarda’.

I looked at Helene with a great sense of freshness.

‘Enrique loves those weaker than him.’

The rather unimpressive impression circulated in my head and disappeared.

It didn’t really have any meaning.

“Uh, Your Majesty the Empress.”

After a few minutes of saying useless things like how sweet the peaches were and whatnot.

Helene, who seemed to have come up with a line that would stab me, suddenly put down her fork and spoke seriously.

“I believe that God will take care of Your Majesty the Empress. I really mean it.”

“Yes, that’s why I’m still alive.”

I deliberately answered indifferently, putting a stake in the flow of the conversation. Helene paid no attention and clasped her hands tightly, as if she was going to launch a very great attack.

“And… I don’t want to be jealous or fight over Enri. He’s a really precious person to me.”

Enri…

Come to think of it, I always called Enrique ‘Nike’. It meant that he was my victory and glory.

At that time, when I was deeply immersed in war, victory and glory were the most precious things to me, so I wanted to give him such a nickname.

‘What’s the point of remembering such things now?’

I looked at Helene with indifferent eyes. Helene flapped her flower petal-like lips with a somewhat excited feeling.

“So… so I’ll tell Enri to sleep with Your Majesty the Empress soon! As a friend of Your Majesty the Empress.”