It was true that I had decided to cause some trouble, but it felt like the scale had become too big.

– Rustle rustle……

We had a large piece of paper at the center of the table and our quill pens were scribbling on it.

Benjamin, who came after hearing from Ganael, sighed and placed some new refreshments in front of us.

He even kindly said that he would bring our meal here as well if we wished.

My hands and feet suddenly tingled and I started to crave something.

I ate a salmabo with yellow icing and purple chocolates.

The sweet and fragrant cream felt like a feather on my tongue and stimulated my nose as well.

The other four were suddenly looking at me.

“To keep it short…… His Royal Highness desires to run away as well so we can abduct him to help him out?”

Nod nod. Christelle nodded her head in agreement.

Her face was glowing and her clear water-like eyes were full of mischievous energy.

‘Bite!’ She looked like a beagle that was ready to go bite a bear.

Tithé, who was in her arms, was also sparkling his chestnut-like eyes.

This seemed more interesting to him than the fairy tale.

Vice Captain Élisabeth, Ganael, and even Sir Johann seemed to be fully focused on the plan.

I stopped Percy from biting at Sir Johann’s clothes and groaned.

“Ugh.”

– Piiiii

I couldn’t tell whether things were flowing well or not.

Anyway, all of my friends, minus the Imperial Crown Prince, were here supporting me.

I was truly thankful that they were trying to make my wish come true despite this absurd plan.

But to abduct the son of the Empress… ‘I may have to vacate my room after we get back.

Or maybe she’ll hit my palm with Durandal’s scabbard before kicking me out? Would my hands even be okay after that?

If she takes my territory away as well, where would I stay?’

“……You know what, let’s do it.”

‘Eek.’ I blinked in shock at my own comment.

I quickly shoved another salambo in my mouth to shut myself up, looking to see if anybody heard me.

But the staff in Juliette Palace had been very busy the last few days.

There wasn’t anybody who would pay attention to our scheming.

During the Grand Celebration of the Advent of the Almighty God, as many guests came in and out of the Imperial Palace as her Majesty’s birthday.

Even the Pair de Riester in the remote territories came to give their new years greetings.

The palace was currently full of imperial family members.

Maybe this was an opportunity given to us by the Almighty God.

“I knew you should say we should do it, your highness. You secretly are the type who likes to cause a ruckus.”

Christelle chuckled. I solemnly hugged Demy. “Kiii.”

“Even if we fail in the abduction, we will have no regrets as we would have tried everything we could do. We won’t feel wronged even if we are punished or imprisoned.”

My mind started to spin after saying that.

Text to reference… Friends to get advice from… A set path, a map, and arrangement of all the pieces…

We needed to look through it, pound it, and fix it to make it perfect by tonight.

“That is a great mindset.”

Sir Johann’s eyes curled up as he answered. The MC was excitedly clacking her teeth and silently clapping.

Vice Captain Élisabeth looked a bit concerned but she relaxed after Ganael smiled brightly and hung onto her.

I turned my gaze and looked out the window.

Christelle’s voice rolled away like a pinecone.

“My mother has memorized all of the caravan’s paths. As long as we make it out of the palace……’

– Shaaaaaaaaaaa……

The winter breeze swept through the outside. The piles of snow sparkled white as they scattered.

I could see Romero Palace, which, as always, was blocking Juliette’s path forward.

The palace was luxurious with golden and purple decorations.

The neatly cut garden maze was full of busy attendants and guests out on walks.

I could hear a bell ringing in the distance.

As for crown prince Cédric, who should be working in his office, I naturally did not see him.

I apologized once again internally.

‘I totally understand you wanting to be filial and that you hate going against your mother’s wishes.

I know that big bro is acting so immaturely despite my old age.

Sorry I’m not listening and acting like a little troublemaker.’

“Still…”

‘……Just forgive me this one time. I promise I’ll be good once I get back.’

*

-♬♪♩……

– Clack!

Frédérique loudly put her knife down. It was intentional.

THe musicians stopped playing their instruments.

Silence swept over the long table.

“Aurélie.”

“Hmm?”

“What is it?”

“What do you mean?”

The Cardinal tilted her head and blinked. The Empress instantly frowned.

This had almost been a perfect day before the Grand Celebration started tomorrow.

Her soulmate had invited her to Amitie Palace and offered her a delicious feast.

The anisette that came with the meal was fragrant and sweet, making it wonderful to drink.

The talks of work that went back and forth were the same as usual, but the tapestry honoring the first ever Religious Partners made the room feel reverent.

Even the golden candles on the table were works of art with symbols of the Church of the Almighty God within it and flowers from the tulip rear garden were embedded like a crown around the long candle.

Arian Riester was as cruel a woman as she was pure.

She gave the man who loved her his whole life a palace named friendship (Amitié).

“You are hiding something from me.”

“No way.”

“Who would believe you when you deny it while keeping the door shut?”

Aurélie quietly sat there as the Empress pressed her. It was the truth.

After receiving information that the children were figuring out a plan to abduct Cédric, she had tightly closed the door to her soul.

She was worried that she would subconsciously release information to the Empress. Of course, their plates that were tied together did not get separated.

However, the Empress, as the Master of the Covenant, could not hear his soulmate’s thoughts.

The information making it out of the gaps of the door were very few, unless it was an extremely strong thought.

Frédérique stabbed her fork in the air. It was a warning.

“Don’t think about tricking me.”

“I think you are just not trusting your soulmate enough. I heard Philip lived his whole life keeping his thoughts away from Arian like this.”

The Cardinal’s beige-colored eyes curled up underneath her monocle. The Empress scowled again.

Her husband used to do this while he was alive, and once he passed, Aurélie gave her even bigger headaches with the same action.

She had no way of defeating her two soulmates when they made up their minds to pull off some cute little schemes.

Maybe she just didn’t want to do it.

“I’m sure you didn’t want to show me your heart rotting and crumbling inside. So do you plan on continuing to keep me outside the door like this?

Talk to me if you have a complaint.” Frédérique grumbled like a child.

Aurélie looked at Frédérique, who was dressed neater than usual, and quietly chuckled.

She herself did not like hiding something from her one and only partner.

She also believed that the neutral region was too dangerous for the little prince.

That was why she was not actively agreeing with the children’s decisions. However……

“I read an article about you earlier today.”

“What article?”

The Empress sliced her magret de canard as she grumbled and asked.

No matter how much she was sulking, she never ignored Aurélie or her husband. Right now was no different.

“Something from the past. The one where you abducted Alexandre.”

“To be accurate, I helped him escape. He himself wished to be abducted.

His marriage to me would not have been possible if he became the young patriarch.” Frédérique shamelessly defended herself.

Aurélie ended up smiling brightly. Yes, the situation had been resolved like that.

Young master Alexandre Blanquer testified that he ‘himself’ ran away from home.

He claimed that all of it was his own wishes and not the Imperial Crown Princess abducting him.

‘I dare to have feelings for her Royal Highness. So please restrain the speculations.’

In front of the late Empress, in the audience room with all of the Pair de Riester watching, there was nothing he didn’t dare to say.

Even thinking about it now, it was a shocking proclamation.

Aurélie remembered the incident as clearly as if it had happened yesterday.

‘How romantic, honey. I am proud of our daughter.’

‘……Please be quiet, Prince Consort. Are you crying right now?’

‘You’re driving me nuts.’ Céline Riester held her husband’s rock-like hand and criticized him.

Thanks to the late Empress and Prince Consort accepting their relationship, the two lovers did not end up carrying dishonorable labels.

However, the Empire did end up rowdy many times until the two of them got married and Cédric was born.

It was because the couple, as well as Aurélie, went all around causing issues.

They knew that the Empress was having quite the headache dealing with the damages of the war day and night, but the three of them were unable to control their youthful energy and always caused issues.

Nothing was different from before they were engaged.

“We got in quite a lot of trouble at that time.”

“We ran around even after getting in trouble. We only matured a bit after Sadie was born.”

“I still remember how you were killing demonic beasts while at full term with your pregnancy. I would probably still be dreaming of it if the prince was not here.”

“Hahahaha.

That was some crazy shit. I definitely can’t do something like that again.” The Empress gulped her drink as she answered.

She had been upset at her soulmate until mere moments ago because she was hiding her inner thoughts, but now she seemed to be happy reminiscing about the past.

Aurélie took a sip of her wine as she continued to speak.

“When we were all in the hallway being punished, I have to be honest with you, I repented quite a bit.”

“You caused the most trouble out of all of us and then acted like a good little girl?”

“Yeah. People need to know how to repent for their actions.”

“My goodness.”

Frédérique shook her head and ate a bite of her duck breast. It was nice to see her eating so well.

“But the trouble we caused, if you think about it, they weren’t all bad.”

“Why? Because we went around killing bad guys?”

“That too, but… The citizens of the Empire were able to think about the future thanks to us.”

The Cardinal gently smiled as she finished speaking.

The Empress stared at her for a while before chuckling and focusing on her food.

Thinking about it, she knew her soulmate was right.

The three of them always moved around together as if they were one and shared the lives of the Riesterians from the tips of the Empire to the remotest of countryside.

That was why they had always been popular.

Yes, they were at the center of the gossip, but they were also the source of affection and hope.

They were people who would become the symbol of a peaceful land where nobody got hurt or died anymore.

“It was fun.”

“Yeah.”

Aurélie wanted the children to live as similar influences once again.

She was prepared to help them handle any failures.

She would embrace their weaknesses and support their strengths.

So they should continue to jump into adventure, learn truly deserved respect, and, yes, at times fall and break……

They would go day by day without feeling any limits. They would prove that her concerns were unnecessary.

Even the lines that Yves have drawn in the name of protection…that they would jump over them without any fear.

“Should I give you a Divine Oracle so you can sleep well later? Tomorrow is the Grand Celebration. It is also the day before our trip.”

“How generous of you. It’s so wonderful after you’ve bolted your soul shut.”

“Yeah, this is my offer for my day of strike. You don’t like it?”

“I didn’t say that.”

The Empress grabbed her glass and retorted.

Unrelated to her dreams being good thanks to the prince, she had always slept very little.

Her eyes would open on their own around five or six in the morning even if she wanted to sleep in.

She could officially get some rest on the day of the Grand Celebration, so it would be great if her soulmate gave her a Divine Oracle.

They would need to head out early the day after that. If she had it her way, she wanted to stay in bed all day tomorrow.

She glared sharply with her cherry-colored eyes as she spoke.

“Don’t bite me.”

“Okay.”

The Cardinal laughed. Laura and Natalie filled the two of their glasses.

The musicians started to play some beautiful music once again.

*

February 22nd, 02:21am. I energetically stood in front of the bedroom balcony.

Awkwardly, clumsily, rough on the edges.

Those were the best words to describe our plan. It could not be helped.

This fight had a set time and we were unable to practice or even investigate the sites we would be using.

There were many eyes and our opponent was the Imperial Crown Prince.

It was right to proceed like this because we only had one chance.

They had no choice but to protect the palace if the Empress left.

I also could not run away a thousand miles without my partner, the crown prince.

The guy also had a political role to play in all of this.

‘……Abduction and running away really is the answer.’

– Click.

Once it became 02:22am, Benjamin, who had been hiding in the shadows, efficiently opened the door.

Swoooooooosh! A cold breeze ruffled my hair as it passed by.

My thick robe fluttered like the waves and my white breath dyed the darkness every so often.

A familiar voice tickled my ear immediately.

– ‘Juliette,’ this is ‘Charlie.’ Please answer if you can hear me. Over.

“This is…… Juliette. I hear you loud and clear.”

– Roger. Start moving.

“Roger.”

The earring became quiet with my answer. Ganael nodded his head once we made eye contact.

I took a peek at the garden at night.

There were more guards than usual downstairs and there were torches keeping the area well-lit.

I did not see any attendants or noble guests. It made sense as everybody should be asleep.

As such, we decided that it would be difficult to infiltrate Romero Palace pretending to be an attendant like Geoffrey or Marquis François.

‘I infiltrated his Royal Highness’s bedroom once.’

I raised my head and gave my thoughts.

The young Countess seemed quite shocked but the explanation continued.

‘Percy and the divine beasts created a cloud bridge for me at that time. There are a lot of guards today and it is bright all around so it would be difficult to use the same way. Clearing all of the vines is hard work as well. So why don’t we use some of our other knowledge……’

Ohhhh. Transferable skills are nice.’

I sat on the balcony ledge.

I made sure to slowly tighten my ether faucet so that the crown prince did not notice.

No light flowed out of my dark room at all.

The tips of my feet were slowly becoming dyed the same color as the night.

“Please be careful, your highness.”

“We will be right here waiting for you, your highness. Give it your best!”

Benjamin and Ganael warmly encouraged me. My grip around the gabag tightened.

I looked back at them and smiled brightly.

“Yes, I’ll be back later.”

– Tap!

I then jumped without any hesitation. This was our ‘transferable skill.’

—
Translator’s Comments

Please update your resume to include sneaking around, Jung Yeseo.

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