Translator: Nox

Chapter 21

The room, which had been boisterous for the first time in a long while, fell silent.

The guest, who had dutifully followed along with the card games and the inspection of the music box despite making no secret of her distaste, had finally cut things short and left, declaring she couldn’t stay a moment longer.

Adrian sent the servants away and personally tidied the messy room. It was then that a cold voice spoke.

“Is there really a need to put so much effort into that child?”

Despite the late hour, her appearance was impeccable, and her face was as indifferent as frost. Yet, Adrian read the underlying concern within her words and let out a soft chuckle.

“Mother.”

“She is a doll that Imperial Consort Cleo has put quite a bit of effort into. If you touch her carelessly and get caught…”

“Mother, you used to lament that the people of the Imperial Palace were truly creatures who didn’t know the meaning of being human.”

The power struggles within the Imperial Palace were fundamentally no different from those within high-ranking noble families.

Of course, since the Imperial Palace recognized the right of succession for children not born of the Empress, the scale of the struggle was on an entirely different level.

In the early days of her marriage, the Empress had tried to understand the Emperor. She tried to change things, and she even contemplated bowing her head, wondering if she herself was the one at fault.

Even when alone, she kept her back straight; even when no one was watching, she remained proud and lived with a clear conscience.

The Empress was perhaps someone who suited the image of a true member of the Imperial family even more than the Emperor himself.

However, once Imperial Consort Cleo gave birth, the Emperor began to secretly ridicule and look down upon even the Empress’s father, the elderly Marquis Integria. He insulted and mocked him.

The father the Empress had respected her whole life was forced to kneel before the Emperor over truly trivial matters.

If she were to fight the Emperor in vain, and the Empress continued to be treated with such coldness that she failed to bear a child and was eventually driven out… there would be no future for the Marquisate of Integria.

Only then did the Empress abandon all lingering attachment to her husband.

She vowed to raise her son as someone precious.

She would raise him to be fundamentally different from her husband.

She would raise him to have patience and sharpen his claws, so he would not be trampled by those lawless wretches, and so he would not lose what is precious because his pride was wounded in a petty squabble.

Even if he were to gain everything in the end, she would ensure he didn’t credit it all to his own merit and crush those beneath him.

The pride she couldn’t discard for the sake of the Emperor, she could discard for her son.

For the sake of his future, she was willing to stain her hands not just with blood, but with disgrace.

So, naturally, ignoring a young child who had been forsaken by her own parents since she was a mere infant should not have been difficult.

Even if it wasn’t pleasant.

“And yet, you feel sad that you are becoming just like them. You said even hypocrisy is a luxury, but I know well that it was all for my sake.”

Bystanding is also a form of violence and hypocrisy at times.

There was no way the Empress didn’t know this.

She had already committed all sorts of acts while engaged in a silent war with Imperial Consort Cleo. Even the innocent had to be used and discarded.

It was just…

“Mother. We can at least do this much.”

Adrian took his mother’s hand.

“We don’t have to go as low… as Brian and Imperial Consort Cleo, Mother. I know you’re trying to be careful until the very end for my sake, but I haven’t grown up to be such a fool that I’d be endangered by something like this.”

To avoid giving him a single weakness for the sake of her precious son. To eliminate the very grounds for a fight.

Adrian understood that heart better than anyone. That was why his heart had lurched the moment he saw Titania, who looked as if she were smiling and crying simultaneously with eyes like clenched teeth.

Pretending to know while knowing nothing. Pretending not to know while knowing everything. Acting like a fool.

It was like looking at himself.

Even if one reveals a weakness or asks for help, no one in the Imperial Palace shows mercy.

At least Adrian had the Empress. The mother and son could do anything for one another.

But Titania didn’t even have that.

She staked herself on a gamble as steep as walking a tightrope. Acting like a fool and giggling, she laughed it off even toward those who tried to use and sell her out.

Seeing that filled him with guilt. He knew it was hypocrisy, but he felt it anyway.

So he reached out, however forced it might have been.

Adrian embraced the Empress, who made a complex expression but couldn’t bring herself to say anything more to her son.

“…It will be fine, Mother. I think that child is more clever than we thought. Just look at today; didn’t she exceed all our expectations? Who knows? Since she’s engaged to the Duchy of Castline… there might even be an unexpected windfall for us.”

Of course, Adrian likely didn’t expect this empty remark to become a reality so soon.

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Hello, if you’re asking me, it’s a peaceful afternoon with nothing much going on!

The fact that no one cares about my education is one of the few good things about being a pariah Imperial Princess.

There’s no one to nag if I oversleep. The original Titania also used to throw tantrums, saying, ‘They say beauties are sleepyheads. What will you do if my skin gets ruined!’ and slept to her heart’s content.

Normally, before marriage and before becoming an adult, young members of the Imperial family share a palace with their biological mother.

If the biological mother isn’t there, they share a palace with the mother who raised them, or they live alone.

In other words, the Lilac Palace I visited yesterday is a palace where the Empress and Adrian live together.

Since it’s where the Empress resides, it’s naturally massive and grand, so even if they live together, it probably doesn’t feel like it.

However, as soon as she gave birth to Titania, Imperial Consort Elaine took to her bed and played the role of a critically ill patient. Titania, too, was so sickly that people worried she might die before turning ten.

So, due to the reasonable concern of how a sick person could raise a sick child, I was moved out to the Rose Palace.

And after a battle of wits between the Empress and the Imperial Consort, they reached the conclusion that ‘even if she is sick, she has a biological mother, so it’s a bit much for someone else to take full charge of her education,’ leaving Titania’s position floating in limbo.

One of the few female professors from the only Academy in the Empire was dispatched as a governess to teach her basic education and common sense for a few years starting from around age seven.

But before I was ten, I was constantly sick and couldn’t attend lessons properly, and after I turned ten, the other party lost interest.

In the first place, she only came to teach me during the Academy’s vacations, so it couldn’t be helped. I managed to build up some basic culture and common sense, but that was it. After that, it was a life of freedom.

Conclusion! I slept in and then came to the library.

“…Even for a library exclusive to the Imperial family, there’s not much here.”

I came all the way to the library—a place Titania wouldn’t have dreamed of looking into in her life—to investigate that damn emoticon demonic sword currently crying sorrowfully in the corner of my room, going ‘Contractoooooor…’, but there wasn’t much to show for it.

At most, I found one book that vaguely explained the names and origins of ancient weapons and weapons imbued with divine power.

I was skimming through it when the name ‘Gloriana’ caught my eye, so I took it just in case.

Even though it’s technically the Imperial Library, I wondered if I had to fill out a checkout slip or something, but since cleaning and maintenance are done with magic and entry is verified by Imperial bloodline, there wasn’t even a librarian…

So I just walked out with it.

Is it really okay for an Imperial archive to be managed like this? Really?

Well, come to think of it, if a member of the Imperial family takes something from the Imperial Library, I doubt anyone would dare pester them to return it even if they didn’t write it down.

And if it’s like this, I could just take it and pretend I didn’t, and no one would know.

Well, it’s good for me. I had even come up with the excuse: ‘I shall scour the history of the Empire to find a weapon worthy of our woooonderful fiancé and boast of my vast knowledge to him.’

The Rose Palace is currently quite hectic with preparations for the repair work on the burned area and other matters.

And the staff of the Rose Palace are most focused on me when I’m meeting my fiancé.

In other words, they leave me alone during ordinary times when there’s no one looking for me and no one I’m looking for.

Thanks to that, I was strolling near the library in the famous Imperial Maze Garden, whistling softly…

“…Bibi?!”

I stared in horror at a young child falling into a black hole that had suddenly opened in the very center of the maze garden.

Why is she here?! The book didn’t say anything about this?!

Without a second thought, I sprinted and dove into the hole after the vanishing Bibi.