“Her Majesty has said that she will hold a feast with the people she treasures the most.”

Werner Venetiaan thought that this was a chance. The Prince Consort started smiling.

His attendants’ faces also lit up and they exchanged positive glances with each other.

It had already been three weeks since Queen Christanne regained a clear sense of reason.

She was shocked after hearing that her precious son had become a Diplomatic hostage of the Empire, but she was not shocked enough to make her go insane again.

The Queen was still strong.

Furthermore, she also had a solid sense of judgment to not strike down her Prince Consort.

Werner’s family, the Duke’s House of Sneijder was one of the major economic strongholds of the Venetiaan Holy Kingdom.

The current Duchess Sneijder was a colossus who had significant influence with both the nobles and politics, and Christanne had always maintained a friendly relationship with her.

The reason the Queen did not cast the Prince Consort aside, or maybe could not do so, was because of the ties to the Duke’s House.

That fact always stabbed deep into Werner’s heart while also giving him an infinite source of confidence.

It was like blood pouring out of the hole in his heart.

“Bring me a new formal attire. The shoes and jewels all better be things I have never seen before. I will hold all of you at fault if the perfect look is not created.”

“As you command, your highness.”

The attendants all bowed after the Prince Consort’s heaven-like command.

Even the people who grew up with high standards in noble households were ‘lowly beings’ in front of Werner.

Even Prince Jesse, who was the Queen’s child was a lowly being to him, so the attendants could not say anything even if they were treated poorly.

This led to the Prince Consort’s residence being busy from the morning the Queen announced the feast until late that evening.

Even the slightest of cracks, mistakes, or holes were not acceptable.

Werner was a man who obsessed over being flawless.

“Your highness, the list of people you asked about in the past has been prepared. Shall I have it brought to you immediately?”

The Chief Attendant silently arrived and asked while the hairdresser was combing the Prince Consort’s fine hair.

His tone was extremely calm.

It sounded as indifferent as if he had created a list of attendees for a party or ball.

However, the Chief Attendant, the Prince Consort, and everybody involved knew that this list was not such a lighthearted list.

This might potentially be the most secretive and heaviest piece of paper on the entire continent.

The chocolate-colored eyes reflecting on the angled mirror became sharp.

A benevolent voice flowed out of the Prince Consort’s lips.

“I will take a look later. It is not something to discuss on such a happy day.”

“Yes, your highness.”

He was being his usual capricious self. The Chief Attendant accepted the command without even blinking an eye.

If the Prince Consort wanted to harm the Prince tomorrow, that would be the case and if he wished to kill the Prince a year from now, he would just follow orders at that point.

“Your hair is always so thick and the color so beautiful, your highness. It is the most beautiful hair in the entire Holy Kingdom.”

“Thank you.”

The hairdresser, who was keeping her royal customer happy, put some product in his light purple hair and brushed it extremely sincerely.

The attendants walked in with multiple jewelry options as she did that.

They kept their eyes down on the ground in fear that they would make eye contact with their master.

Werner scanned the jewels in the boxes with a casual gaze.

“Today I will use the wedding gift her Majesty bestowed to me.”

He then changed his mind compared to earlier as if he was just flipping his hand over. Nobody was surprised at this sudden command.

The attendants bowed their heads and quickly disappeared to find the wedding present.

Werner rubbed the wedding ring on his left ring finger.

His relationship with Christanne had been stellar while he was her fiance and even until right before they got married.

The Queen sincerely spoke to him first and wanted to fulfill whatever he wanted.

She did seem to draw the line on things every so often, but it was not weird as this was an arranged marriage.

In fact, Werner saw that as an extremely good sign.

Everything was satisfactory in comparison to the Duke’s House where nobody accepted him as himself.

The Queen’s cautious demeanor seemed to be a symbol of her being considerate and the castle accepted him as a noble member of the royalty.

It was completely different from his life as the second child of the House of Sneijder.

“Chief Attendant-nim, I don’t see one of the bracelets. I believe his highness threw it into the furnace……”

“Shh. Then do not bring the bracelet at all. Only prepare the items we have.”

“……”

His older sister was born with a sense of authority.

She had their parents’ trust since long before she became the young Duchess and the people in the royal capital had only good things to say about her.

Her mistakes were seen as charming while her flaws were praised as giving her a relatable nature.

Her unique strengths made it easy for her to make friends and charm people no matter where she went.

As her younger brother, Werner had lived his whole life thoroughly covered by her shadow.

Unlike his sister, his mistakes were a sin and his flaws could not be covered up.

He would only receive a score of fifty even after putting in an effort of one hundred unless he was cold and flawless.

Receiving compliments were rare for him and he could name the few times he had received attention.

That was why he liked the position of Prince Consort.

He looked forward to Christanne giving him plenty of affection and attention.

She was an accomplished ruler but knew how to be respectful. She did not criticize him or try to fix him.

The time they worked together to be good parents to Elise was certainly a happy time.

‘Michael. Michael……’

However, enlightenment had arrived out of the blue.

It was the moment he happened to catch her mumbling another man’s name and smiling while alone in the bedroom.

The Queen’s pupils had been shaking as she thought of something.

Werner had felt as if someone was ripping a rib out of his body at that time.

What she had shown him until then was not love.

There was no sincerity in Christanne’s actions toward him. The only things connecting the two of them was a superficial level of greeting and a sense of duty.

It was not that she had accepted him as he was. She was just not interested in her husband at all.

It was terrible. His reality had instantly turned into a nightmare.

“Your highness. The preparations are completed.”

Werner snapped out of his thoughts.

The man in the mirror was now the most beautiful man in the entire Holy Kingdom.

Until early spring of this year, that title had been given to that lowly illegitimate child of the royal family.

However, neither that priest who was like a thorn in his eyes nor his dirty little offspring were in the Holy Kingdom anymore.

Werner was planning on living while receiving a decent level of admiration once again.

His eyes curled up as he started walking.

“Let’s head to the banquet hall.”

“Right this way, your highness.”

The Chief Attendant politely responded. The Prince Consort’s long and extravagant procession walked across the hallway of the castle.

Everybody walking by bowed toward him.

It had been a while since Werner felt excited like this. He probably had not felt this way since before he got married.

All sorts of treasures he had received as wedding gifts were sparkling all over his body.

Although Christanne had never looked for him first these past three weeks, it wasn’t bad to think that today was the start of her doing so.

There was nothing to get in the way of the Queen and the Prince Consort’s relationship anymore.

He had completely gotten rid of one forever while the other would soon follow his father as well.

“Has the crown princess and second princess gone there in advance?’

“That is what I heard, your highness.”

The attendant informed him. Elise and Cornelisse were healthy and flawless legitimate heirs.

Werner was especially pleased that Cornelisse, who was in an important growing phase of her life, would no longer be affected by that bastard of a prince.

His footsteps became lighter as he got closer to the banquet hall.

The knights and attendants guarding the entrance bowed toward the Prince Consort’s procession.

“Your highness. What brings you all the way out……”

“I heard that her Majesty is filling the table with her favorite things. I have come after being invited, so announce my arrival.”

“Excuse me?”

The flabbergasted attendant raised her head before realizing who he was and urgently lowered it back down.

The knights exchanged ominous glances with each other.

“Are you going to make me wait?”

“N, not at all, your highness. How could I dare……”

The attendant’s voice trailed off with a pale look on her face.

She took a look at the Prince Consort’s appearance and the ghastly looks in the faces of the attendants before clenching her teeth and knocking on the door.

Knock knock. The sound was cold and short.

“Your Majesty. His highness, the Prince Consort, has arrived.”

– Click!

The door opened.

Werner had a bright smile on his face as he exchanged glances through the opening door with his soulmate.

The way her golden curly hair was elegantly twisted up underneath her crown looked exactly as she did in the past.

Her familiar apricot-colored eyes were full of brilliance. Their two daughters were seated at either side of her.

The Prince Consort showed respect without any unnecessary movements.

“Your esteemed Majesty. I have come to join you in this feast-”

“Please withdraw yourself from here.”

Werner’s body stiffened up. Her voice was as cold as ice.

She probably would not be this cold to anybody else, let alone a random subject of hers on the street.

The man’s eyes were shaking. The Queen continued to speak.

“I never invited you to this feast.”

“……”

He felt suffocated.

“A draft is coming in.”

She meant for the attendant to close the door. The Queen’s attendant immediately did as ordered.

– Creeeeeak……

His beautiful fantasy scattered like embers right in front of his eyes.

The last thing he saw was a flower decorating one side of the table.

It was an extremely old purple tulip that was barely preserved using a magic glass container.

It was the last gift that ‘Michael’ had given her.

– Click.

The Prince Consort stood up straight just as the door clicked. The attendants all gulped.

He would now raise his hand, throw something, or be violent toward anybody who annoyed him.

A young attendant at the end of the procession started shaking in fear.

A silence that felt like the calm before the storm swept through the hallway.

Nobody dared to step up and speak to their master.

About ten minutes or so passed before Werner finally said something.

“……You said that the list has been prepared.”

“Yes, your highness.”

The Chief Attendant immediately responded.

He had been supporting Werner for over thirty years and was extremely used to Werner asking random questions or giving unexpected orders.

There was only one list that the Prince Consort could be talking about right now.

It was the list of the spies that the Holy Kingdom had planted in the Empire for decades or maybe even centuries.

This list had names of Pair de Riester down to commoners.

“I will take a look right away.”

“Yes, your highness.”

The old man quickly motioned with his eyes. The Prince Consort’s procession turned to head back to his residence.

Werner slowly unclenched his fists and turned around.

His lips were busted from biting down and his palm was bleeding.

The scar from blocking Elise’s spear did not easily close even with the help of a healing priest.

A new injury appeared on his hand that had just healed a bit but he did not care.

The thing that hurt much more than this tiny scratch was being cast aside by someone he relied on.

Being betrayed by someone you considered close was painful, sorrowful, and terrible.

Assassins were not the only way to commit murder.

– Step, step, step……

So he will make the Prince face the same embarrassment.

No, he will make sure that the Prince dies a much more painful death.

That dirty bloodline that put him in so much shame… he will definitely make sure that it is gone.

*

– Click, click, click.

“After that, one, two, three! No, you turn on three. Not on two and a half!”

Eva’s voice echoed through the wide hall.

The musicians playing an exciting melody stopped playing.

It has already been close to two weeks since we left Sérénité and returned to the Imperial Capital.

People were starting to wear Fall clothes around the Imperial Palace and everybody was busy with their lives.

Well, we still did find some time to play every so often.

I earned a short moment of rest and sat down on the table.

We were currently having intensive training with Eva’s Beau Monde debut, the masquerade, coming up.

Christelle, who had been receiving an individual lesson from the young Duchess in the distance, had a complicated look in her face.

She then said, ‘I’m really good at singing but when it comes to dancing……’ Yes, she gave that unbelievable self evaluation.

Sir Johann, who was well-aware of her singing ability, chuckled loudly from the other side. I quickly placed my finger over my mouth.

“Dame Sarnez has no idea.”

“Yes, that is what makes Dame Sarnez so great. It is also amazing that she has a Holy Knight’s physical strength but sucks at dancing.”

His mint-colored eyes mischievously curled up.

Sir Johann seemed to be becoming more slick after becoming one of the Empress’s people.

‘Or maybe this is his true personality but he had been hiding it?’

“Your highness, have you memorized a lot of the Empire’s dances?”

“I have memorized all of the allemandes. I really did.”

I quickly added on because he tilted his head as if he didn’t believe me.

How could I not memorize them when Perry would climb onto Rhea and Demy on top of Perry to be my dance partner every night?

Even Percy would help out, bringing a little cloth to flap around in front of my face.

I think he was trying to tell me to imagine that it was a person’s face. To be completely honest, it was a bit scary……

“Two, three, tada! That was wonderful!”

“Oh my. I think I may have some talent after all.”

Christelle, who finally managed to get the step right after eleven tries, seemed amazed at her abilities.

Benjamin and Ganael were seriously whispering to each other.

I held back a laugh and quickly buried my face in my notebook.

I had a lot of things to resolve on my mind and my heart since returning from Sérénité.

Today was the day to go over the thing that had me the most concerned of all things.

I flipped the pages back without stopping.

A page that had faded a bit as it had been six months since then appeared.

– My goal.

Don’t get involved with the MCs and survive until the end so that I can go back home in one piece!

“……”

‘I guess I should modify the first half of that.’ I smiled bitterly.

—
Translator’s Comments

Definitely have to change that…lol.

<< Previous Chapter | Index | Next Chapter >>