Ainberg appeared before me.

‘What? Why is he here?’

While all the women bowed their heads respectfully, Ainberg approached with his entourage of aides.

“Your Majesty.”

After composing my voice to sound demure, I faced Ainberg.

He spoke first with an expressionless face.

“You seem to be enjoying yourselves.”

“All thanks to Your Majesty’s generous indulgence.”

These flattering words now flow effortlessly without any mental preparation.

“I instructed them to provide everything you might need.”

At Ainberg’s words, the expressions of the aides standing behind him changed. I quickly nodded and responded.

“Everything is perfect, Your Majesty. Your aide has taken excellent care of everything.”

“Good.”

He replied briefly and moved closer to me.

I wanted to step back. His scent, more familiar today than yesterday, the illusion that he might actually be a good person, or rather, simply because Ainberg was too close.

‘What are you doing? There are so many people around!’

Unable to move due to the gazes I felt on my back, Ainberg slightly bent his waist and whispered to me.

“Don’t forget that you’re to have lunch with me.”

What did he just do?

I was about to laugh in disbelief when my eyes met someone standing across from me.

My former father, Foil.

I lowered my awkwardly raised lips and smiled gently.

“Yes, Your Majesty. We were just about to take a walk in the garden. Would you like to join us?”

Just as I naturally took a step back:

“It seems you’ve recovered enough to host tea parties and stroll through gardens.”

My former father’s smooth yet pointed voice reached me.

“Yes, thanks to your concern.”

I smiled innocently, but I understood what his words meant.

He was elegantly saying, ‘Since you seem fully recovered, why not leave the palace?’

It seemed my presence was too irritating for him to bear.

“I’m glad to hear that.”

Then, my former father spoke again.

“The imperial court has etiquette and rules to follow. I’m sure the lady is well aware of this.”

He delivered his barbed comment with a benevolent face.

In the past, I might have been flustered, but not anymore.

I’m not Foil Viper’s daughter, but Chadmon’s daughter.

That means no one here can treat me carelessly.

“If you have something to say, I’d prefer you speak directly instead of beating around the bush.”

After taking a breath, I added gracefully:

“As you can see, many people are waiting for me.”

Ainberg glanced down at me.

What’s with that expression?

Did he just smile?

Confused by Ainberg’s reaction, I couldn’t hide my emotions either.

But he left only a momentary smile before returning to his lofty gaze.

“I merely wanted to remind the lady that while staying at the imperial court, one must follow its protocols.”

My former father replied with a slightly redder face than before. He seemed angry.

“Thank you for the advice. Do you mean I shouldn’t act recklessly? Or perhaps that I should refrain from inviting people and going to the garden when I’m nothing? Oh, I suppose those are the same thing.”

As I tapped my chin with my finger, my former father’s cheek twitched.

“You misunderstand, my lady. That’s not what I meant.”

“A misunderstanding? That’s a relief. Actually, there was one more person I wanted to invite to this gathering.”

I wonder if Ainberg knows that Foil has adopted a daughter.

I glanced at his face, but it remained unchanged. I wish I had learned her name beforehand.

“It seems the lady enjoys hosting private gatherings.”

“I also enjoy meeting new people.”

Again, Foil merely stared at me without any change in expression.

‘Is he saying he doesn’t mind if I talk about his newly adopted daughter?’

“I’m not interested in your preferences, my lady. I simply wish to speak about imperial etiquette.”

“This was permitted by His Majesty. Having received the master’s permission, isn’t there no issue?”

My former father still wore a dignified smile, but his eyes were sharp.

A familiar expression to me. A gaze that had lingered like trauma, weighing me down for a long time.

“That’s correct, my lady. But the imperial court doesn’t only have His Majesty—”

“Let’s go.”

It was Ainberg who cut off my former father’s words.

“Will you join us for a walk?”

I asked, still looking at my former father, and laughter erupted from behind me.

At that moment, Ainberg added dryly:

“Just the two of us.”

The laughter faded, and I looked up at Ainberg.

He extended his hand to me and said:

“I’ll be borrowing Leonora now.”

❀❀❀

We separated from the group and walked for quite some time.

But we kept walking straight ahead, neither toward the garden nor toward the back courtyard.

‘Where on earth are we going?’

I knew the palace was vast, but walking endlessly through maze-like corridors was becoming tiring.

Ainberg didn’t say anything special as we walked down the corridor.

Of course, he wasn’t a talkative person, and I didn’t particularly want to chat with him either.

I was just concerned about the young ladies left standing in the corridor and my former father’s cold gaze.

‘This seems like a path I’ve never been on before.’

It was unfamiliar even to me, despite having lived in the palace. Unable to contain myself any longer, I questioned Ainberg.

“Didn’t you say we were going for a walk?”

“That’s right.”

“But there doesn’t seem to be a way out in this direction.”

“You speak as if you know the palace well.”

“Haha, of course not.”

I laughed awkwardly, taken aback by Ainberg’s comment.

Then a bad feeling suddenly came over me.

‘This is definitely not the way to the garden. Where exactly are we?’

Forget the garden—is this the way to the dungeon?

The thought sent a chill down my spine.

After letting me say whatever I wanted all this time, is he now planning to throw me in prison?

‘Get a grip.’

I tried to suppress my anxiety by speaking to Ainberg.

“…Are we going to eat before our walk?”

“No.”

“Ah, so neither a walk nor a meal.”

I thought he might reveal our destination after this much prompting, but he fell silent again.

I trailed off and looked at Ainberg again.

If it’s neither a walk nor a meal, what else could it be?

Then something suddenly occurred to me.

‘No way.’

Ainberg was someone who never gave me a second glance when I was Empress, but he was notorious for his interest in women.

I’d heard dozens of rumors—that he kept women hidden in temples, that he brought in different women every night—though I’d never witnessed it myself. I hadn’t wanted to see such things.

‘Wait, could our destination be…’

A place where he enjoyed secret meetings with women?

Just as I thought I’d figured it out:

‘Then what is he planning to do with me?’

When that thought hit me, my face burned and my heart began to pound.

‘He’s crazy. He’s absolutely crazy. Is he really insane?’

I fanned myself and looked back at the path we had walked.

We seemed to have come quite far. What should I do?

Wow, I could handle him acting like a lunatic, but being alone with this man—

“Ugh.”

I unconsciously grimaced.

Ainberg looked down at me with a puzzled expression.

“Are you uncomfortable somewhere?”

“No, that’s not it.”

What should I do? Is it safe to keep following him?

I took a deep breath and asked him:

“What… are you planning to do with me?”

“Do what?”

“Well…”

How should I phrase this?

I struggled to speak, but it was better to face embarrassment than be dragged along and meet a terrible fate.

“You know… the things lovers do.”

“……?”

“I mean, I do li-like Your Majesty, but I’m not mentally prepared yet.”

I shook my head, lightly tapped my cheeks, and asked again.

“Am I being kidnapped then?”

“What a refined kidnapper I would be.”

What is he saying?

I suppressed a laugh that threatened to burst out and changed my tone.

“Perhaps you’re aiming to be the first.”

The first refined kidnapper.

But again, Ainberg remained silent.

‘He was never talkative, but today he’s especially strange. This is really driving me crazy!’

How far had we walked without any attendants or maids? After passing through complex connected paths, we reached a massive corridor.

To lighten the mood, I smiled brightly and asked him:

“This isn’t the garden, is it?”

Ainberg turned to look at me without saying anything.

“Your Majesty…?”