Chapter 7
Since her marriage partner had already been decided, there wasn’t even the pretext of searching for a match to justify her actions.
If the 2nd Imperial Consort had died, the Empress and the 1st Imperial Consort would have likely torn each other apart in a scramble to officially take Titania under their wing and utilize her.
However, even if she lived in seclusion, wasting away in her own palace, the fact that her biological mother was still alive made it awkward for them to make a move.
Furthermore, if a major problem were to arise with Titania, the Emperor would be furious if the marriage alliance with House Castline fell through.
Thus, the power players were merely treading carefully around one another on the surface, making sure not to ruin things unnecessarily.
However, if she were the ’original’ Titania, she would never have asked her fiancé for staff, as she didn’t have a single servant she could trust to entrust with her affairs.
Titania—the original Titania Sol Kite Hamastion—wanted to appear as a princess more noble and proud than anyone else in front of her fiancé, Raymon.
That was why she would throw tantrums and scream about how the Emperor doted on her and how the Duchy of Castline dared to look down on her, even though neither the listener nor the speaker believed a word of it.
In reality, the Emperor had absolutely no interest in Princess Titania, but he would occasionally grant her an audience if she used her fiancé as an excuse. He would have cooperated as much as she wanted, provided it was ‘for the sake of a pretext to pressure the House of Castline.’
There was no way she would have ever confessed to her fiancé that she was in a position where she had neither a proper knight nor a single trustworthy maid.
What surprised him most was her final remark.
‘People who can both kill and save.’
It was a clear signal to send those who could handle medicine, poison, and the sword.
In a sense, this was… nothing short of a declaration of her will to strike a deal and trust the House of Castline.
Whatever the Princess ordered those sent by House Castline to do, the details would be reported straight back to the Duchy.
Moreover, even if they plotted a conspiracy and framed the Princess, she would be utterly defenseless.
If the Princess ordered them to harm someone who aided House Castline, they might disobey her command or even harm her instead.
And yet, she was willing to bear all those risks.
The gaze of the Princess as she looked down at the teacup she had smashed with her own hands was bleak beyond measure.
It was strange. The Princess looked more pitiful than in any version of her he had seen before. Her hair, which had always been well-groomed, had lost its luster and hung limp, and her jade-like skin was pale and devoid of life.
And yet, the eyes glowing coldly beneath her long, thin eyelashes were exceptionally vivid. Like a wounded beast smiling while harboring a festering venom.
“…Perhaps the image she’s shown until now was an act.”
“Pardon? Now that sounds even more insane, doesn’t it?”
Cassian literally jumped at the suggestion.
“Wouldn’t it be more plausible that a complete stranger suddenly took over the Princess’s face and is acting the part?”
“No matter how weakened they’ve become… the Imperial family received the blessing of light. They aren’t susceptible to such sorcery.”
Even if they didn’t realize it themselves or couldn’t draw it out to use, the Imperial family were the sole successors of the ‘Power of Light’ in this era.
Furthermore, since it was a power that ‘dominated’ all other forces by nature, it meant that if one could properly awaken and utilize it, they could bring even the mighty House of Castline to its knees.
Since the Imperial family was the first to begin losing their power, the possibility of that happening was close to zero, but even a faint Power of Light was still power.
The Imperial family did not easily fall victim to wicked spells or magic. They even had a slight immunity to poison.
Of course, that immunity was useless if they consumed a poison so lethal it overcame the resistance, or if their head was cut off.
Even so, it was a bizarre feeling. It made no sense. This was an Imperial family that had surely lost its pride and transformed from the protectors of the Empire into its exploiters.
Moreover, a princess who had just barely regained consciousness after a coma, rumored by everyone to be a bratty, stupid, and atrocious puppet…
‘…Can you trust the House of Castline?’
‘It would be best for you to keep me alive. I can be used appropriately, we both know each other’s weaknesses, and we have the pretext of an engagement to show the world. No, you can kill me at any time anyway, so why bother doing it now?’
To think that a smiling face could look like the bloodline of an incomparably noble ruler.
‘Do you intend to use the House of Castline?’
‘Let’s call it a mutually beneficial arrangement.’
As he watched Titania speak with an infinitely haughty attitude, Raymon thought:
…Perhaps that Princess wants to use the House of Castline as a pawn to swallow the Imperial family whole.
Those tears she showed when Raymon danced with June, the eldest daughter of the Orland family…
Were they not sincere? Could it be that she already suspected the whereabouts of the at that point…
And she was testing whether Raymon was an opponent who could be swayed by a single grain of compassion until the very last moment?
It felt as though the air was freezing despite being indoors. It was a level of intelligence gathering that no one had noticed.
A princess who couldn’t even enter social circles and didn’t have a single person of her own within the Imperial Palace. Just how long had she been planning this?
‘Just so there’s no misunderstanding, Young Duke Raymon.’
While cackling that she had to show the maids, she had grabbed the well-laid tablecloth and yanked it, smashing everything on the table onto the floor.
Titania had said one last thing, unconcerned that her fingertips were being grazed by the broken glass.
‘My goal isn’t to force you into a marriage by holding onto you. You can rest easy.’
‘…….’
If her goal was to utilize the power of House Castline itself, the engagement might have been nothing more than a pretext.
It was a way for a powerless princess, who had neither strength nor legitimacy, to quietly devise her plans without everyone’s interference.
In that case, had all her actions until now been to test Raymon? And because she knew, until the very last moment, that Raymon would not fall into her hands…
‘Ah, and I’m going to keep acting like a brainless crazy b*tch in front of others, so there’s no need to be surprised.’
…His mind was a mess. Raymon had never been this shaken since he first came to know ‘Titania.’
“…I must see my father.”
“Pardon?”
“I don’t think this is a matter I should judge alone.”
At Raymon’s firm words, Cassian looked dumbfounded, his mouth hanging open for a moment before he shut it.
“How! Dare! You! Lie! To! Me!”
It was a literal lion’s roar.
My own ears hurt from hearing it, so the eardrums of the maids listening to it must be in even worse shape. Well, well, I put my all into that shout, using abdominal breathing even at the risk of straining my stomach.
I threw and destroyed everything my hands and feet could reach—flowerpots, chairs, water bottles, you name it.
Crash! Smash!
“P-Princess Titania!”
“Please calm down!”
This is great, trashing things is the best thing in the world! Especially if it’s a rampage that makes the kids who usually screw me over suffer!
And, naturally, the rats who were trying to subtly pry and find out what I had discussed with Raymon couldn’t leave their spots even while taking the direct hits of my fury.
Still, I didn’t throw things directly at them. It was just that fragments were flying everywhere. It wasn’t like it was the first time a foul-tempered royal had smashed furniture.
The 1st Imperial Consort and the 1st Prince also beat people and broke things whenever they felt like it.
And above all, Titania was stupid, so even if they ran away for now, if they came back later, flattered her, and apologized, she would act like a big person and forgive them even if she found them annoying.
So, if they were truly scared and hated it, they would have run away immediately.
To her, being beautiful was the most important thing in the world, so there was no way she could easily kick out the maids who adorned her, no matter how much she disliked them.
And that was exactly why the 1st Imperial Consort, Cleo, had planted them right next to Titania.
She hated incompetent rats the most.
The maids would only receive money or whatever else if they could find out at least a little bit of the conversation the Princess, who had barely recovered from her illness, had with the Young Duke.
I glared viciously and shouted.
“You said I was the most beautiful person in the world even when I’m sick!”
At that exact moment, the eyes of the maids, who had been anxious while looking at the ruined table and the state of the room, changed.
