Erdene, who rushed out of the study, didn’t return to her quarters but walked aimlessly.

She wanted to go outside, to a place where no one was. Even that narrow training ground from earlier would do.

However, she didn’t know where to go.

Her steps were urgent and fast, making the thin decorative strings above her sideburns sway and flutter as if they were about to fall off.

She was so angry she didn’t know what to do, spinning in circles before striding off again aimlessly wherever her feet took her.

‘Damn it.’

Cursing inwardly, Erdene stopped walking and glared at the beautiful garden beyond the corridor railing as if she wanted to burn it down.

The intricately decorated pond, the silver osmanthus shrubs planted around it, and even the single blade of grass trimmed to look like a weed all irritated her for no reason.

Thinking it must be Arkan’s taste made it even worse.

“Damn it!”

As she kicked the corridor railing with her shoe and spat out a single curse, a few nobles passing by chatting were startled and jumped in place.

They stared at Erdene’s back as if wondering who this rude person was, then realizing a beat later it was her, they held their breath.

“Oh my, did you see that just now?”

“How can she behave like that, with people watching…”

“His Majesty is the only one to be pitied, really…”

They whispered in voices low enough for only the person right next to them to hear, but unfortunately, Erdene had very sharp ears.

She could have ignored the comments about whether they saw it or not, or about people watching, but the last remark overturned Erdene’s already boiling insides.

“Stop right there.”

The three people who had been whispering and walking quickly all turned their heads at once.

With reddened faces, they hesitated like people caught in the act of stealing.

Erdene looked at their faces in turn and pulled up the corners of her mouth menacingly. Then she strode over.

“Say that again, what you just said.”

The lips of the person standing on the far right trembled. He was a tall young man with freckles on the bridge of his nose.

His pale face and timid-looking gaze somehow reminded Erdene of Tenek, making her feel even more enraged.

“Y-Your Highness. We didn’t say anything…”

“Where do you get off lying? You said someone was pitiful, didn’t you? Who exactly is pitiful, and for what reason?”

As Erdene forcefully struck the solid corridor railing with her fist, the woman with fluffy golden curls braided cutely spoke in a shrinking voice, her cheeks turning bright red.

“Y-Your Highness should be a role model for everyone, but if you act so v-violently, His Majesty will…”

At that moment, Erdene took another step towards her.

It was just stepping closer, but the woman, already frightened, stumbled backward and tripped on the long hem of her dress, falling hard on her bottom.

“Ouch!”

A sharp scream rang out, and the two people standing next to her panicked and rushed to help her up.

Watching the woman struggle to get up properly because of her puffy petticoat, Erdene wrinkled her nose and burst into laughter.

“What are you doing? Are you trying to make me laugh on purpose?”

The fallen woman’s face turned ashen. It wasn’t from fear, but from shame.

Her face, flushed with heat, turned even redder. Tears welled up in her eyes as she barely managed to stand up with help.

“Y-You’re being too harsh…”

The woman covered her face with her palms and burst into tears.

Then the other people who had been watching this scene from a distance, not daring to approach, started whispering among themselves again.

Those who didn’t know the situation well began to say that Erdene might have pushed her, and it didn’t take long for that to change to ‘the queen pushed someone down’ as it passed from mouth to mouth.

‘Ah, how annoying.’

Looking at the sobbing woman and the two people comforting her while constantly glancing around nervously, Erdene felt like kicking and breaking not just the railing but a pillar.

Just as she was about to snap and yell at them to stop it already, someone appeared, pushing through the gathered crowd and quickly approached Erdene.

“Your Highness, so this is where you were. I’ve been looking everywhere for you! His Majesty urgently requested your presence.”

Erdene stared at the woman who had curtsied before her.

At first, she didn’t know who it was, but soon she remembered. It was Viscountess Weekes.

The viscountess turned her head towards the woman who was still ostentatiously sobbing.

“Miss Telma, what unseemly behavior is this for the eldest daughter of a count’s family? Stop crying. There are many eyes watching.”

At the viscountess’s words, the cheeks of the woman who had been sniffling like a child turned red again.

She looked at Erdene once, as if wanting to tattle, then turned her gaze back to Viscountess Weekes with pleading eyes.

“Your Highness, His Majesty is urgently looking for you, so please hurry.”

Erdene’s brows furrowed at the viscountess’s words.

“What are you talking about? I…”

“Q-Quickly, Your Highness. My, how can you make His Majesty worry so much?”

Erdene looked down in bewilderment at her arms, which Viscountess Weekes had suddenly grabbed.

The viscountess pulled Erdene with almost all her strength, and they were barely able to leave that place.

The direction Viscountess Weekes was heading was completely opposite to where the king’s quarters were.

Erdene realized that she too, just like Erdene had been earlier, was walking aimlessly wherever her feet took her.

“Where do you intend to drag me? Is there some hidden underground prison?”

At that moment, the viscountess let go of Erdene’s arm in panic.

She had been so flustered that she had forgotten she was rudely dragging the queen around halfway through.

“Y-Your Highness! I’m sorry. I’m so sorry! P-Please forgive my rudeness…”

Viscountess Weekes bowed deeply, her face turning pale.

“That’s enough, just tell me what this is all about.”

The viscountess looked up slightly to gauge the situation, then answered with a tearful expression.

“W-Well… That is, as I was passing by… Your Highness seemed to be in trouble, so I just…”

“That’s for me to deal with. What business is it of yours to interfere?”

“I-I’m sorry. Um…”

Erdene stared at the viscountess with a very displeased expression.

‘In trouble, so you just? Did you think I would be troubled and flustered over such a small matter? Did you expect me to show weakness, lamenting and sighing?’

Thoughts that were no different from making excuses rose up relentlessly.

She was already angry, and those three people had added fuel to the fire, and now the viscountess who had tried to put out the fire was about to catch a stray spark.

However, Erdene took a deep breath and calmed herself down.

No matter how enraged she was, she wasn’t short-sighted enough to take out her anger on the viscountess in this situation, saying her behavior was despicable.

“Raise your head now. Unless you’re planning to pretend your back is broken because of me and cry and wail.”

As Erdene’s voice seemed to soften somewhat, the viscountess raised her head, inwardly relieved.

A faint blush returned to her cheeks, which had lost all color from fear.

Erdene said:

“You were Viscountess Weekes, correct?”

“Yes, Your Highness. Please call me Maura.”

“Is that your name?”

“Yes, Your Highness.”

Maura. Erdene repeated the unfamiliar name several times in her mind before saying, as if sighing:

“So, I suppose it was a lie that His Majesty was looking for me? Maura.”

The face of Viscountess Weekes, that is, Maura, turned bright red again.

“I’m sorry, Your Highness.”

“It seems all the nobles in this country lie without batting an eye.”

It was a sarcastic remark, bringing up the incident with Duchess Fiddlers.

Although it wasn’t something she had done, Maura’s face suddenly flushed hot since she too had been present at that time.

Maura said:

“Your Highness, it m-may sound like an excuse, but I… I thought what Duchess Fiddlers said was t-true.”

Erdene looked at her intently with eyes that couldn’t read her true intentions.

From the moment she first introduced herself as Viscountess Weekes, Maura had seemed somewhat naive, but not filled with the haughty malice like Duchess Fiddlers.

Even considering just today’s events, hadn’t she acted to try to help Erdene out of a difficult situation?

“It was an unnecessary act, but I appreciate the intention to help me.”

Saying that, Erdene rubbed her hand that had turned red from striking the railing.

The skin felt a bit raw and stinging, as if it had been slightly scraped.

Maura looked like she might collapse limply now that the tension had drained away, but she snapped back to attention when her shoulder hit a pillar.

She recalled the count’s daughter who had been sobbing in the middle of the corridor.

What on earth had happened between her and Erdene?

‘At any other time, I would have found it detestable to see her doing something she would never normally do, and that’s why I escorted Her Highness away, but…’

“Why are you staring like that? If you have something to say, say it.”

Erdene asked in a gruff tone.

Maura, who had been hesitating, not knowing what to do, finally opened her mouth cautiously after a long while.

“Um, Your Highness. Earlier in the corridor… What exactly happened with Count Telma’s daughter?”