Previously
Caesar sneaks into Irenia's bed for comfort, and the two share a tender moment where he kisses her before they fall asleep. Meanwhile, Prince Matthias learns that Irenia survived the wedding and begins investigating her, suspecting she used ancient magic to tame the 'beast.'
When the question was asked, the maids exchanged wary glances and hesitated to answer, until one spoke in a faint voice, while another lay prostrated on the floor behind them.
“This girl… dared to lay hands on Your Highness’s jewelry.”
I raised an eyebrow in surprise. “My jewelry?”
When I repeated the question, everyone pointed toward the maid sprawled on the ground.
“I saw it with my own eyes!”
“It was Delfina! She must be thrown out at once!”
I watched them in silence. Their faces were smug, their tones laced with confidence, but the only thing I felt was…
Unbearable insolence.
I motioned toward the dark-haired maid. She wore finer clothes than the rest, a clear mark of her higher station.
“You there. What is your name?”
“E… Elda.”
She looked taken aback by my sudden attention, but she quickly pulled herself together and steady her voice.
A cold, haughty expression settled over my face, and I paused deliberately, letting confusion creep into her features.
“I, I am the head maid here.”
At last, she declared her position. I asked her calmly, deliberately projecting an undeniable authority:
“Well, Elda… what is all this noise about?”
Before she could answer, the other maids burst out in unison:
“It is Delfina!”
“This girl is the cause!”
I raised my hand to silence them, then looked straight at Elda.
“Speak, you.”
“During cleaning this morning, Sara saw Delfina tampering with Your Highness’s jewelry, so we came to report it.”
I nodded, then studied their faces once more. Their gazes were laced with suspicion, or perhaps something else entirely.
A mere test.
That was how I saw it.
I was no stranger to such games. When I first stepped into the Flores estate, the exact same thing happened. I remembered vividly how they had looked at me then:
‘This is Duke Gasparo’s illegitimate daughter…’
‘The fruit of an affair with a kitchen maid…’
No one accepted my presence. The blood running through my veins—half of it belonging to them—was their disgrace.
And Celestina, my father’s wife, was the most transparent in her hatred.
‘Your eyes are a cheap copy of that common whore’s.’
How could she accept a child who was the living embodiment of her husband’s betrayal?
Consequently, from the very first moment, I was an outcast.
An illegitimate daughter without backing, despised by the lady of the house… even the lowest maids commanded more respect than I did.
Had I been an ordinary maid, I might have fared far better.
A hardworking maid could rise through the ranks, save money, and perhaps open a shop or marry into a decent life. But me? I was not even allowed such a dream.
I endured neglect, mockery, and sometimes even beatings.
I washed laundry in freezing water until my hands cracked, scrubbed floors in place of others, and came to learn how these servants thought: what terrified them, and what drove them to attack.
“Elda.”
“Yes, Your Highness!”
She answered eagerly, like someone delighted just to have her name called.
“I brought no maids from my family’s house.”
At that moment, her eyes gleamed with satisfaction; she likely thought I would rely on her.
“Since you are in charge here, let me ask: you lead the maids in this palace, correct?”
“Yes, proudly so!”
She smiled with a confidence that seemed boundless. I wanted to see just how long that pride of hers would last.
“However, Elda…” I lowered my voice abruptly.
“You have been insolent. Very insolent.”
“What…?”
Her smile fractured with bewilderment.
“Who taught you to barge into a room before I have even awakened?”
“I, I meant no offense…”
She began to protest, and I thought to myself: had we been in the Flores estate, she would have been silenced with a slap.
She grew visibly flustered, then hastily raised her hand as though suddenly remembering something.
“Ah! Delfina! She is the cause!”
How vile it looked—dragging others down to cover your own blunder.
I smirked. “I am speaking to you now, Elda.”
Unease rippled through the maids, and their heads dropped, each staring fixedly at the tips of her shoes.
Even so, I was not foolish enough to believe they respected me. In their eyes, I amounted to nothing more than a wretched girl wed off to a disgraced prince.
They thought my anger was nothing more than an aimless tantrum.
“The Emerald Palace was reopened so suddenly yesterday… which means you were never among its former servants, were you?”
“Y… Yes…”
I had no desire to comment on how she dragged out her words.
“Then where did you come from?”
She hesitated, so I pressed with a sharper edge.
“Elda. The quarters you used to serve in.”
“I was… I was on the dressing staff in the Moonstone Palace.”
The palace of the Empress herself. A servant there commanded considerable prestige.
Yet being transferred here? They inevitably took it as an insult.
The picture was finally becoming clear.
“Even if you were a maid in the Moonstone Palace, you are under my command now. I am the mistress of this palace.”
“O-Of course, Your Highness!”
She fell back into sycophancy once more. She still did not grasp the reality of the situation.
“And who sent you here?”
“It was on the orders of Countess Elvira.”
Ah. One of the Empress’s closest confidantes.
I tilted my head and said:
“Hmm.”
I gave her a long, scrutinizing look. Her expression began to freeze.
“Such conduct reflects poorly on the Countess’s reputation.”
“What…?”
At the mention of the Countess’s name, she gasped. She was not the only one; even the maids behind her grew flustered.
At last… the atmosphere shifted.
They showed fear—not of me, but of the true source of their authority.
If only they understood… it only made me angrier.
“I shall have no choice but to report your behavior to the Countess.”
“Y-Your Highness!”
At last, she collapsed at my feet.
“Get out.”
Even with that direct command, she did not budge. She simply kept weeping.
“Please, forgive me… I was wrong…”
If fear of me was not enough, a greater fear would suffice. At the mere mention of the Countess’s name, she broke down.
A mistake, an oversight, a lapse…
Yet the truth was that everything today had begun the moment she demanded Delfina’s punishment.
Whether she stole or not… that was not an affair for the princess to meddle in.
It was the head maid’s duty.
Instead, she chose to test me.
Testing my resolve, measuring my reaction, and deciding whether she could walk all over me.
“They say a bride who weds on a rainy day… will weep many tears thereafter.”
Perhaps the fault was there from the beginning. Perhaps your sin began when you sat there on the morning of my wedding day, staring at me as if I were a lifeless corpse, whispering and gossiping right before my eyes without an ounce of shame. Perhaps what I am doing now is merely a petty, belated retaliation for the humiliation I suffered back then. But it was an unavoidable reckoning—a challenge that could not be overlooked.
There had to be a response. If not for the sake of my dignity, then to enforce order… and for my own survival in this Imperial Palace.
“Do you intend to make an even greater mess? I have had quite enough of this pathetic display. Get out of here, and do not let me see your face before me again.”
“Your Highness!”
“They say she stole the jewelry…”
In truth, there were several pieces of jewelry I received from my stepmother, Celestina, as part of my trousseau. She had undoubtedly chosen them with great care to suit the status of the ducal house without appearing overly extravagant. As for me, I knew nothing of the details, and I could not care less whether they were lost or kept.
I had far more pressing matters weighing on my mind.
“Delfina touched Your Highness’s jewelry…”
A dream I had had the night before suddenly drifted back into my thoughts… I did not know if it was mere coincidence, but its details came back with vivid clarity. There was a maid weeping bitterly, tears streaming down without pause… Delfina.
I remembered that name. I had heard it clearly in the dream. True, it was a common name, but… was it really just a coincidence? And if it was not… what did it mean?
FADE OUT