“Platt, when was it that I had dinner with the princess of Hirschsten?”

At the sudden question, the eyes of the head servant Platt briefly moved left and right.

“It was a week ago, Your Majesty. And if I may add, tomorrow is Your Majesty’s wedding.”

“Was it really that long ago?”

“It depends on how one perceives it, I suppose…”

This is troublesome. Arkan rose from his seat and sighed as if he had a headache.

“I didn’t intend to neglect her for a week.”

“Neglect, Your Majesty?”

“The princess, I mean. After ending dinner like that, I haven’t seen her face even once.”

“Your Majesty has been so busy lately, you’ve hardly had time to sleep. It couldn’t be helped.”

Arkan glanced at Platt with an expression that seemed to say, “Do you call that an excuse?”

“Even so, it’s not polite. It’s unlikely she’ll apologize first, so I should have approached her first. I really have been out of my mind.”

Platt couldn’t agree with his words at all, but sensing it wasn’t the right time to argue, he kept his mouth shut.

Having spent more than half his life closest to the king, unlike Lady Fiddlers, he knew well when to strike and when to retreat.

“I must go see her for a moment.”

“You mean… right now?”

“I have to meet with the officials again in the afternoon. I should go and ask her for a cup of tea to clear up any misunderstandings.”

Though doubtful if things would go as planned, Platt obediently followed Arkan.

If the princess were to attempt to assassinate Arkan, he would have to sacrifice his life to prevent it…

Arkan said,

“Since tomorrow is the wedding, it would be best for both of us to shake off any resentment quickly.”

Meanwhile, after sending away Lady Fiddlers and Viscountess Weekes—almost to the point of expelling them—Erdene called the maids back to put on the remaining accessories.

Even as she did so, her mind kept replaying the scene she had glimpsed from the corner of her eye moments ago.

Lady Fiddlers had whispered something to Sophia before leaving.

Sophia had shown indifference both to her mother being practically driven out and to whatever she had said.

Erdene thought that perhaps she had been trained to behave in such a manner.

‘Do they think they can influence me with such foolish, unfunny tricks? When one lacks intelligence, not only do their limbs suffer, but their children do too.’

Erdene stood without uttering a word, inwardly imagining twisting Lady Fiddlers’ nose.

What was strange was that Sophia also said nothing to her, and stood still like a statue, neither offering a flattering smile nor glancing around.

The pitiful ones were the maids who had to attach small accessories while caught between these two.

“You all.”

The maids who were carefully pinning accessories startled and looked at Erdene, then turned their heads towards Sophia with wide eyes.

Not just them, but Erdene too stared at Sophia with interested eyes.

It was the expression of a predator that had spotted prey creeping stealthily.

“You may leave now. How do you expect to serve Her Highness with such slow hands? Go and practice pinning.”

“Ah, well…”

The maids who had suddenly been scolded looked up at Erdene with troubled expressions.

As the queen’s confidants were usually ladies or wives from good families, they had the authority to give orders to maids and servants.

But with Erdene clearly present, they couldn’t immediately follow Sophia’s words.

“You may go.”

Finally, when permission fell from Erdene’s lips, the maids scattered like rabbits released from a cage.

They were in such a hurry to escape that one even stumbled as her shoe heel came off.

“I will do it for you.”

Sophia, speaking in a calm voice, approached Erdene and removed the accessories that hadn’t been pinned yet, then attached them back in place neatly.

Then, she knelt at Erdene’s feet and began to carefully check the hem of the ceremonial dress from the bottom up.

If there were any accessories that had been carelessly pinned or were crooked, she removed them and reattached them firmly.

It was an action worthy of considerable appreciation, but Erdene merely looked down at Sophia with a contemptuous expression.

“Your effort to gain my trust is commendable, but tending to me won’t be so easy. Especially if you’re also trying to be your mother’s eyes and ears, even ten bodies wouldn’t be enough. Why don’t you reconsider while you still can?”

Sophia glanced up and looked at Erdene.

Unlike Lady Fiddlers, her eyes were a clear jade color.

Did she take after her father? The more Erdene looked, the less she could find any resemblance to the Marchioness.

Sophia, who had been making eye contact with Erdene for a moment, spoke while indifferently attaching a new accessory.

“You think I’m my mother’s pawn.”

Erdene laughed out loud.

“Are you planning to flatly deny it? This isn’t a battlefield, and I don’t have any information that must not be stolen, so I might pretend to believe you.”

Sophia said,

“Your Highness is more naive than I thought. It’s somewhat disappointing.”

Erdene’s gaze shot down towards Sophia like an arrow.

Sophia had her head slightly bowed, so her face wasn’t visible.

Only her pale, slender fingers, adjusting the accessories while barely touching the fabric of the ceremonial dress, were noticeable.

The quick and efficient movements were almost at the level of art, but Erdene, as if throwing a tantrum, suddenly yanked the hem of the dress back.

“What did you just say?”

The pin was pulled, almost damaging the ceremonial dress.

However, Sophia had sensed it coming and removed her hands before Erdene pulled the dress, preventing an accident.

Sophia raised her head again.

For someone who had scolded the maids for being slow, her movements weren’t particularly quick either.

Perhaps it seemed that way because of her indifferent expression.

Sophia rose with an almost absurdly calm and careful manner, lightly dusted off the crumpled hem of the dress, and said,

“Is this really something to be angry about? I am me, and you are you. Everyone who doesn’t suit me is my enemy, a spy trying to dig into me and harm me… Unless Your Highness thinks that way, you wouldn’t suddenly say such things to someone you’ve just met today.”

A rough, mirthless laugh escaped Erdene’s lips.

“The world is originally black and white. Allies or enemies. Isn’t it precisely divided that way?”

“There’s also a saying that today’s enemy can be tomorrow’s ally, Your Highness. Conversely, couldn’t today’s ally stab me in the back tomorrow?”

Sophia replied with a composed attitude, then adjusted one of the accessories she had just released, and finally fixed the accessory on the left sleeve as well.

Then, stepping back, she looked Erdene up and down like a meticulous inspector.

“You look splendid. However, the maids’ skills aren’t very good. It would be better to recruit new ones with good handiwork and quick movements. I assume these weren’t chosen by Your Highness?”

“It was done without regard to my opinion.”

A subtle expression, whether a smile or anger, appeared on Erdene’s lips.

“Just as it wasn’t my wish for you to come here, everyone from the close maids to the lowest-ranking apprentice servants are all people unrelated to me.”

“You wouldn’t have done that in the Empire, would you?”

“It was half and half. I kept people I wanted, people I absolutely needed by my side, and for the rest, it didn’t matter who they were.”

“Then do the same here. I’ll bring some useful girls, and Your Highness can choose them yourself. I don’t know what the imperial court of the Empire is like, but the nobles of Betor are very accustomed to kicking each other’s ankles under the table while pretending to be elegant.”

Erdene felt her ill feelings and suspicions towards Sophia gradually fading away.

And in their place, curiosity was rising. It was the first time she had been so strongly impressed by a person, rather than a new weapon or tactic.

‘No, not the first time. The first was…’

She thought of Arkan, then frowned as she swept back her long hair.

Then she looked at Sophia again with fresh eyes.

Though she didn’t know how much of Lady Fiddlers’ words were true, she was certainly the type of person who would engage in behind-the-scenes machinations to make her daughter queen.

It was obvious from her arrogant attitude and her attempt to teach Erdene, who was the heir to the Empire’s throne before becoming queen.

If Sophia was really meant to be Arkan’s consort, how would things unfold from now on? She was also curious about how much Arkan cared for Sophia.

Whether the two had been engaged and then broke it off, or if it was just Lady Fiddlers’ own wish.

As Erdene was pondering each of these thoughts one by one, her gaze suddenly fell on her left sleeve.

The accessory Sophia had newly attached was incredibly intricate yet neat. It looked as if it had been part of the original decoration, not pinned on separately.

“I have to admit your handiwork is good. How are you so fast? Have you been practicing pinning every day?”

To this jokingly thrown question, Sophia gave an unexpected answer.

“Yes, that’s right. I had to practice attaching pins to ceremonial dresses for three months. At first, my fingertips were covered in blisters, and I was scolded quite a bit.”