Previously
Liliana meets Princess Lucia for the first time outside the Empress Dowager's palace, where Lucia treats her with cold condescension and warns her not to ask for help.
Thinking back on it, it had been no easy feat for the original novel's heroine to win Lucia over either.
Once Lucia opened her heart, she was willing to lay down her life for someone. Fully aware of this weakness in herself, she made a deliberate effort to put up walls against people.
In the original story, the heroine had breached those defenses with a single tactic.
Patience, and then persistence.
Lucia acted cold on purpose, but she was never truly capable of turning away anyone who pressed forward with absolute sincerity.
When Liliana said this, the maid stood flustered before darting back inside, her steps far brisker than before. Even so, Liliana prepared herself for a long wait…
Before long, the maid came hurrying back, calling out breathlessly.
Liliana’s eyes went wide. She turned to Sophia with a delighted smile.
Upon stepping into the palace salon alongside the maid, a magnificent view unfolded before her. As she took in the room with polite wonder, a voice called from behind.
The tone was crisp and firm. Liliana turned around immediately, meeting Lucia with a warm smile.
Lucia's voice was frigid. It was hard to believe this was a person brimming with deep affection. Striving to remain polite, Liliana lowered her head with a crestfallen air.
At those words, Lucia looked down at Liliana with a hint of sorrow in her eyes. Liliana lifted her head slightly, blinking up at Lucia’s face with wide, pleading eyes.
Lucia might have carried the chill of an icy gale, but she undeniably had a soft heart underneath. Cold as she tried to appear, she was instantly moved by Liliana’s woeful expression.
‘All right, then I'll play the part of the poor, helpless thing!’
Committing to the act, Liliana clasped her hands together and gazed up at Lucia, her gentle brows drooping into a pitiful curve.
Upon hearing that, Lucia looked appalled and brought her hand down hard on the table.
Liliana nodded meekly.
Liliana had spoken the words purely to tug at Lucia’s heartstrings. Yet Lucia’s gaze shifted unexpectedly.
Having grown up as a princess, Lucia knew this better than anyone. To master royal protocol simply by careful observation meant having a sharp mind… and that meant she might prove far more capable than she seemed.
Lucia sighed, folding her arms.
Hearing that, Liliana beamed brightly and caught hold of Lucia's arm, her face radiant with pure joy.
Liliana’s eyes shone with heartfelt gratitude. Finding herself held by such an earnest, affectionate smile, Lucia let her crossed arms drop without realizing it.
Yet at the same time, she found her rather endearing. Wondering briefly if her brother Helio had a weakness for sweet, simple girls, Lucia shook her head with a self-derisive scoff.
As Lucia launched into her explanation, Liliana nodded along attentively.
Sitting closely together as their discussion continued, Sophia, pouring tea beside them, wore a contented smile—just as the maids of the Empress Dowager's palace had done upon seeing Liliana smile.
❈❈❈
The bedroom of the Emperor's palace was hushed, save for the occasional rustle of bedsheets as Helio shifted restlessly.
Closing his eyes, he let out a long breath and gave the bell pull a light tug. A servant soon entered, carrying a lantern.
The servant made a meek attempt to dissuade him, but Helio showed no inclination to listen.
In the end, the servant lit the lamps and quietly departed. Helio picked up the book resting on the side table and began reading through it, word by word.
Yet as time wore on, the exhaustion of a grueling day took its toll, and he closed the volume once more. Summoning the servant to extinguish the lights, he returned to bed, but that was where the trouble began. Sleep simply would not come.
Helio muttered under his breath with a dry chuckle. How could he possibly admit that he was unable to sleep merely because that little woman was not beside him? It was nothing more than an excuse for a restless night. And yet, the truth remained: whenever she was close, slumber came without effort.
He knew that if he went to her, she would panic and tense up, but the moment she realized he would not lay a hand on her, she would quickly relax, taking deep, steady breaths before drifting off. He found himself wishing he could watch her sleep like that again.
Listening to the soft rhythm of her breath banished every stray thought, settling his mind so that nightmares could not take hold. The grim visions of bloodsoaked battlefields that plagued his sleep would vanish entirely.
In the end, Helio pulled the cord once more.
It was the third time he had summoned a servant tonight. He knew the man would likely be exasperated, but he was the Emperor.
No one held the right to object.
True to form, the servant appeared with practiced, unwavering deference.
Helio asked him:
The servant leaned over and whispered to another attendant standing by the entrance. It was likely a palace official tasked with managing the inner quarters and reporting directly to the Emperor. After a brief pause, the servant replied.
Helio drew a deep breath, lowering himself back down against the pillows to lie flat once more.
There was no reason to disrupt their efforts.
Assigning her the birthday banquet had originated from Liliana’s own desire to prove her worth within the imperial court.
Yet why did his chest feel so hollow?
Helio closed his eyes and drifted into deep thought.
❈❈❈
Preparing for the Empress Dowager's birthday banquet took an immense amount of effort. Whenever Liliana grew weary and offered a faint, tired smile, Lucia would remark:
Liliana would then protest with a bewildered look:
Her words were perfectly logical, but Lucia merely lifted a shoulder without comment.
Liliana could not fathom why Lucia, ordinarily so sharp and calculating, kept making such bizarre assumptions. Even so, despite her constant fretting, Liliana handled her duties remarkably well.
When one of the attendants made a mistake ordering the draperies, the merchant refused to accept the return.
Lucia had expected Liliana to wield her imperial authority to force the issue. Fragile though Liliana seemed, she was born of royalty and now belonged to the imperial house.
Instead, Liliana disciplined the servant for the blunder, then distributed the rejected draperies to impoverished families to use as warm blankets. She then recalculated her allotted budget, securing replacement fabrics that, while slightly less luxurious than the original specification, matched the venue's requirements perfectly.
Lucia came to recognize that while Liliana might not be a genius, she possessed an uncanny resourcefulness. Whenever Liliana praised her own frugality, she tossed her neatly tied hair with modest pride.
A rather sorrowful justification, yet that very upbringing had taught her how to manage with grace.
Furthermore, the commoners using the fine fabrics as quilts came to revere Liliana even more. When Lucia asked her about it, Liliana had answered as though it were the most obvious choice in the world.
Hearing that, Lucia reconsidered her impressions once again.
There was indeed a reason Helio had entrusted Liliana with this banquet; it was not simply because the seat of Empress sat vacant.
And so, the Empress Dowager's birthday celebration was held in grand, magnificent fashion.
Fitting the dignity of the Empress Dowager, the banquet hall looked exquisite and radiant, drawing sighs of admiration from the assembled guests. Yet, as was always the case, there were those who could not bear to witness another's triumph.
The moment Vesty stepped into the hall, she let out an audible scoff.
A noble lady standing beside her remarked offhandedly:
At those words, Vesty sneered in mockery.
Her tone was quiet, but quite audible to everyone standing nearby.
“It seems she felt pity for the poor, hailing from a beggar kingdom herself.”
The remark was thoroughly appalling, hardly words befitting someone aspiring to be Empress. What was more, Vesty’s sharp comment carried straight to the ears of the Empress Dowager.
The Empress Dowager smiled thinly upon hearing it, then raised her glass toward the hall.
At the Empress Dowager’s words, the room's attention split in two.
Glares and glances darted between Liliana and Vesty, and every eye in the hall was drawn to the two women.