The maids were carefully washing the feet of Empress Mariela Lucein.

Her mood had been quite good lately since defeating the crown princess in front of her.

No matter how vicious Esika was, she must have been utterly distraught to find a maid’s neck hanging in her room.

Since she had made the mistake first, she couldn’t even come to confront the empress.

“A witch is no match for me, chosen by Tameron.”

The empress’s lips moved.

“Indeed. O great Tameron.”

Soon, she would surely drive that witch out of the imperial palace.

“Mother!”

The empress raised an eyebrow at the familiar voice coming from the doorway a moment later.

She saw Breyten, neatly dressed.

“Tsk.”

Breyten approached, whining at her displeased expression.

“That’s too harsh. I came to greet you first thing in the morning, but you don’t seem pleased at all.”

“…”

When the empress didn’t respond, Breyten came closer and slightly bent his knee. The maids and attendants around them cleared away the basin used to wash the empress’s feet and retreated.

Breyten smiled and waved at the maids and attendants with a carefree expression, then turned back to the empress with a serious face and said,

“Please help me, Mother.”

The empress had guessed his purpose from the moment Breyten entered.

“Who is it this time?”

“Dilena, a courtesan. She seems to have run away last night.”

The empress’s brow furrowed deeply.

She then scolded Breyten in a low voice.

“How many times have I told you to use contraception, yet you still can’t get your act together!”

“Using contraception doesn’t feel as good…”

Breyten closed his mouth when the empress glared at him fiercely.

After a moment, he continued.

“I’ll do better from now on. Anyway… Mother. Please find her and persuade her well.”

This was the third time Breyten had impregnated a woman.

The first time Breyten came to the empress for help after impregnating a maid, she held his hand and said,

“I’ll find her and persuade her to terminate the pregnancy.”

The pregnant maid disappeared from the palace the next day.

The empress told Breyten:

She had persuaded the maid to terminate the pregnancy and given her money to live elsewhere.

Breyten believed his mother would resolve this situation in the same way this time.

“…”

The empress looked at Breyten with an exasperated expression and then sighed.

“I understand. Your mother will take care of it… Don’t worry about it, Your Highness.”

Relieved to get the answer he wanted, Breyten let out a sigh of relief.

“Thank you, Mother.”

“And…”

As he was about to turn away, the empress’s voice was heard.

“I’m planning to arrange a meeting with Duke Hillis’s niece soon. Since we couldn’t connect with the Grand Duke Heinz family, we’ll need to find a replacement.”

“…”

Breyten’s eyebrow twitched.

His mother seemed to have a new woman in mind for the position of crown princess.

“…If only that woman hadn’t used such tactics…”

The empress’s lips moved, uttering words filled with anger.

She was thinking about how the engagement with Grand Duke Heinz had been broken due to Esika’s schemes.

His mother seemed quite displeased with his sister-in-law, but Breyten couldn’t care less about such matters.

He only thought about drinking and playing with women.

Hiding his thoughts that it would be better if they gave up on bringing in a crown princess, Breyten replied,

“I understand, Mother.”

**

Knock knock-

A faint smile appeared on Esika’s lips at the familiar face behind the maid who came in with food.

The maid left after setting down the food, but the cook remained in the room.

“Sit down.”

“Yes, Your Highness the Crown Princess.”

It was Hemos, dressed in the palace cook’s uniform.

Esika tasted the food in the dishes.

As expected of Hemos’s careful preparation, the taste of the dishes was excellent.

And Esika swallowed the water in the cup placed next to the food.

“Is life in the palace better than at the Duke’s residence?”

“The money and honor are certainly more… but there’s no time.”

Hemos grumbled in response to Esika’s question.

“What’s the use of saving money when I don’t even have time to gamble?”

Esika chuckled at Hemos’s words and said,

“That’s good.”

“A person’s joy in life… Hmm. By the way, Your Highness.”

Hemos looked around and then lowered his voice to speak.

“Are you really… alright with this? The medicine the empress gives you makes the body healthy but increases the chances of contraception.”

Understanding Hemos’s words, Esika looked out the window and then spoke.

“It’s good for me too. I have no intention of losing something precious because of that woman again this time.”

Hemos couldn’t understand what Esika was thinking.

But he knew that whatever decision she made was always in the right direction.

So this time too, he had no choice but to trust her orders.

“You just need to keep doing what you’re doing now. And…”

Esika’s eyes flickered darkly.

“Tell Hans to look into this for me.”

What she handed over was the notebook given by the Grand Duchess Heinz.

“I’m here to see Her Majesty the Empress.”

At dusk, Esika headed to the empress’s room upon her summons.

And she greeted her with proper etiquette and modesty.

Her blue eyes were cold and calm.

“I know it’s impolite, but your visits are too infrequent. Are you busy? Or… do you think now that you’ve become the crown princess, you no longer need to make such trivial efforts?”

The empress, with her legs crossed, asked Esika bluntly.

She spoke with one corner of her mouth twisted.

“How could that be? I was simply unwell.”

“Oh… is that so?”

Seeing Esika not even looking her in the eye, the empress was certain that she had successfully broken her spirit last time.

“I fed you nutritional supplements to help your health, yet you’ve become unwell. I should speak to the pharmacist about finding a more effective medicine.”

But she had no intention of stopping here.

Her goal was to drive Esika out of this palace, after all.

So she had prepared a new prescription suitable for her.

“Anyway, the reason I called you today is… actually, something has been bothering me ever since you entered the palace.”

“…”

Esika just stood there listening without moving a muscle.

“I was worried about how you could adapt to the imperial family without proper bridal training.”

The empress opened her fan to cover her mouth.

“The etiquette of noble families is very different from imperial etiquette. Moreover, I heard that even when you were the wife of Duke Klaus, you troubled the grand madam by not mastering etiquette… There’s no guarantee it won’t be the same here.”

It was a baseless nitpicking. She had already seen Esika’s perfect etiquette.

“But as it happens, there’s a good imperial etiquette teacher, and I thought of entrusting the crown princess to him.”

At the sound of footsteps behind the empress, Esika slowly raised her head.

A long shadow fell over Esika.

“Greet him. This is Priest Erill Fuse.”

The man, who appeared to be in his mid-40s with long black hair tied in a ponytail, was wearing priest’s robes and had a very stern expression.

And Esika, with her keen senses, could immediately recognize who he was.

The man who had tied her up when she was kidnapped by the empress’s forces before.

He must be one of the empress’s people.

“Princess Astia is also being educated by the priest. The clergy are very talented and excellent educators.”

“It’s a pleasure to meet you. And an honor, Your Highness the Crown Princess.”

The man greeted Esika with a chilling smile.

“My etiquette lessons are a bit strict, but if you take them, you’ll be able to eliminate all the bad habits that interfere with life in the august imperial family. For example…”

He gave the impression of a snake-like, cunning person.

“Things like an unsound mind that goes against Tameron’s will, things that need to be corrected.”

Esika slowly raised her eyes to look at him.

And she moved her lips.

“Thank you, Your Majesty the Empress.”

Esika, having paid her respects to the empress, left her room.

The outside had already grown dim.

Since yielding to the empress last time, the empress had indeed let her guard down against Esika.

She also wanted to keep pushing Esika with this momentum.

Erill Fuse must be part of that plan.

‘But…’

Esika’s lips twisted slightly.

Everything would become part of a much grander plan.

After all, it takes many ax strokes to fell a large tree.

“…Esika.”

Her footsteps were neither heavy nor light.

Suddenly, she heard a familiar voice calling her name from behind.

And she sensed a very familiar presence.

Esika turned around, furrowing her brow.

A shadow slipped into the bushes.

Even though Esika was looking in that direction, whoever it was didn’t show their face, seeming to have hidden.

It appeared they had impulsively called out but then lost courage, which was actually better for Esika.

Esika turned back to face forward and began walking again.