“……Ha. Your Majesty!”

At the sharp voice calling him, Enrique returned to reality.

It was Helene who had called him.

Though she clearly wanted to be saved from this situation quickly, not wanting to apologize at all, Enrique firmly set his expression.

If an investigation proved that the Lily Palace maids had indeed committed such an act, Helene had too much to lose.

He had tried to protect her all this time, but to think it would come to this with one stretch of the Empress.

The noble faction would surely use this to paint Helene as uneducated, and he was very worried about what would happen next.

After all, her origins were the biggest factor holding Helene back.

Of course, Helene had given much advice on domestic affairs until now. She had utilized her image as a saint well to gain public support, and had even moved the temple to benefit the imperial family.

So she wouldn’t fall with just this one incident, but…

The ministers of foreign affairs were already visibly displeased with Helene.

In other words, their education was different.

The Empress had simply been too weak to do anything until now. Once she began to take an active role in politics, Helene would have no choice but to step back.

Especially in diplomacy, the depth of their learning was too different.

Until now, Helene had only dealt with people who liked her under his protection.

So he had already predicted that diplomatic settings, where everyone hid daggers coated with poison under their tongues, would not be easy for her.

‘But I never expected the Empress to be that outstanding either.’

The Empress attacked Helene’s shortcomings as if harboring malice, and ultimately emerged victorious.

“But did you see how the First Consort used honorifics with Her Majesty the Empress, but spoke informally to the Saint?”

“I saw it very well. Isn’t it only natural? The First Consort knows her place.”

Soon, the Lily Palace maids entered in a line, hanging their heads like criminals.

The nobles exchanged opinions while glancing at them, but words trying to cover for Helene were hard to find.

“How could the Saint try to preside over the banquet without even knowing the desert culture deeply…”

“If Her Majesty the Empress hadn’t stepped in just now, it could have been a disaster. The good atmosphere was almost ruined.”

“If it had been mistaken as an assassination attempt, it would have been war. Fortunately, it was quickly clarified before misunderstandings could build up.”

Enrique closed his eyes.

Ultimately, to protect Helene, he would have no choice but to personally mete out punishment here.

Knowing this, he felt extremely uncomfortable.

It didn’t sit well with him that he had to scold her just because she didn’t know, and he disliked the Empress who had created this situation.

The Empress already had everything, didn’t she?

So why did she need to do this to Helene, who had nothing, to feel satisfied? She could have been a bit more generous and embraced her.

Enrique felt deeply disappointed in the Empress, while still feeling a sense of dissonance.

She didn’t seem like the woman he knew, who loved him, who clung to him, and yet she did.

A whirlpool of emotions that couldn’t be explained in words engulfed him.

“It was those maids! They were the ones who brought the vase earlier!”

Meanwhile, starting with Sophia Evans’ cry, the maids were interrogated one by one.

As the frightened maids began to spill everything, Helene was dumbfounded.

‘What on earth are those things saying now?’

The outline of the incident was as follows.

The Lily Palace maids who followed Helene were greatly angered by “the banquet that should have been presided over by the Saint being taken away.” They felt the preparations they had worked so hard on were such a waste, and then they happened to overhear somewhere that the theme of this banquet was fruits.

“We thought something like holly berries wouldn’t be noticed if we decorated with them secretly.”

“I swear we didn’t know you would eat them! We only thought they would be used as decorations, so we deliberately put them in vases too…”

“We just wanted to decorate one corner of the banquet hall. It was such a waste of what we had prepared.”

So those desert barbarians were too primitive to know not to eat them.

That’s basically what they were saying.

Helene wanted to tear at the faces of the maids who were pouring oil on an already bad situation.

‘Why! Why did you do something I never ordered!’

She wanted to kill them. As she found someone to take out her anger on, Helene’s eyes rolled wildly.

This banquet had been a nightmare from the start.

Helene herself didn’t have a birth family that could support a banquet of this scale.

That fact touched on the inferiority complex about her status deep in her heart.

Wasn’t she the Empress who seemed like she would crumble away at any moment? So she hadn’t paid attention, but seeing her today, she didn’t seem sick at all.

Moreover, the sight of the Empress conversing freely with foreign royalty and understanding difficult words was Helene’s ideal that she wanted to become.

That point also stimulated Helene’s feelings of inferiority.

Ah, I want to stand in that position.

I wish that position was mine.

An emotion she had never felt before made Helene’s dormant fangs jut out sharply.

And if that wasn’t enough, to even receive tributes from people, from royalty!

‘The foreign royalty bowing their waists… is because that woman is the Empress.’

If I were the Empress, it would have been offered to me.

If I became Empress, I could get rid of those who mock me!

Helene clenched her fist tightly, not forgetting to pretend to look pitiful on the outside.

“Do you know what you have done? With your reckless attitude, you have harmed the health of noble guests. Will you atone for your sins with your lives?”

“Pl-please spare us!”

“Saint! Saint, please save us. Please tell them we didn’t do it with bad intentions…!”

Terrified by the Empress’s frosty cry, the maids crawled towards Helene.

Helene, who almost kicked away the maid grabbing her skirt without realizing, took a deep breath inwardly. Then she began to pant rapidly.

‘I absolutely! Absolutely won’t apologize. I won’t obey the Empress’s words.’

Helene had a few tricks to avoid situations.

One of them was this.

Hyperventilation.

“Huk, heurk…!”

“Helene, get a hold of yourself. Helene!”

“En-Enrique… I…”

As she stiffened her whole body and trembled, Enrique immediately ran over and embraced her.

‘Even though you’re like this.’

The Empress might take everything else away, but she can never have Enrique.

Enrique was Helene’s greatest asset.

Something the Empress could never have even if she died and came back to life.

Helene clutched Enrique’s collar tightly and shed tears.

“Everyone, move aside. I will take the Saint to another room.”

“Are you saying you’ll leave without finishing the conversation we were having?”

“The conversation… The Empress can wrap it up well herself.”

With the Emperor’s cold order, the banquet completely dispersed.

The nobles were eager to gather in a secret place to discuss what they had seen and heard today, so there was no one who wanted to remain in the banquet hall.

Helene buried her face in Enrique’s chest and forced a smile.

Even if the Empress had won, she hadn’t won everything.

Consoling herself like that.

But she didn’t feel particularly good.

“How did it go, Your Majesty.”

After the banquet ended with a refreshing aftertaste. The one who greeted me happily upon my return to the Empress’s Palace was none other than Madam Berthold.

I couldn’t help but embrace the loyal and capable madam.

“You worked hard.”

“Ah, it seems things went well!”

“I’d like to tell you various stories, but before that, I should introduce someone who will be staying at the Empress’s Palace from today.”

That’s right.

The person who leaked to the Lily Palace maids that ‘the theme of this banquet is fruits’.

The person who bribed Sophia, a maid belonging to the Emperor’s Palace.

The person who manipulated and instigated everything from behind without ever showing themselves on the surface.

It was none other than my head maid, Susan Berthold.

I held the hand of the extremely capable Madam Berthold tightly and spoke to the boy.

“Mereum. This is the person I trust most. She’s Susan, my head maid. From now on, you can call her Madam Berthold.”

Mereum walked silently beside me as I returned to the Empress’s Palace. And whenever I staggered slightly, he caught me discreetly each time, thanks to which I was able to return here safely.

“And Susan. Mereum is the only remaining sibling of the Emperor of Quan. He’s royalty, so treat him accordingly. Give him a good room with plenty of sunlight, and call a tailor and shoemaker tomorrow so Nix’s clothes can be fitted.”

“I will do so.”

Susan looked very puzzled but didn’t dare to ask questions.

It was quite late, so she probably judged it would be fine to talk tomorrow after sleeping.

‘Actually… I feel like I might collapse right away.’

I’m at my limit now.

Fatigue was rushing in, feeling like it was stomping hard on my eyelids.

If I take a bath now, I feel like I won’t be able to get up from the bathtub.

“Your Majesty, you’ve returned.”

“Ah, Derek…”

Just then, a knight with ash-gray eyes appeared.

Someone who would roughly embrace and lay me down on the bed if I collapsed.

As soon as I saw the knight I could trust, I let go of the string of tension I had been holding.

“Your Majesty!”

As I staggered greatly, Derek moved to embrace me… Huh?

This doesn’t feel like Derek embracing me?

“…You’ve been unsteady since earlier.”

“…?”

“Are you stupid or what. If you felt like you were going to lose consciousness, you should have told me to carry you earlier. Why were you foolishly walking on your own feet?”

This prickly scolding is certainly not Derek.

Unlike at the banquet, Mereum was speaking informally, and as I stared at him blankly, I burst into laughter for a moment.

“Ah, this suits you much better. It doesn’t suit you to act docile while killing yourself.”

Derek’s expression was bewildered.

He must feel like the job he always did has been taken away.

I knew I should consider Derek’s feelings, but for now I was just too, too tired. I didn’t have the strength to speak anymore.

“Where’s the bedroom?”

“I will escort you. Please hand Her Majesty over to me.”

“I asked where the bedroom is. Don’t make me repeat myself.”

I vaguely heard Madam Berthold hastily whispering “He is royalty of Quan”.

And that was the end.

I lost consciousness just like that.

In my dream, I appeared holding a dagger, trying to stab Mereum’s heart.

And he, now grown into an adult male, was willingly accepting death with open arms.