Leticia had never been one to ask for anything. Rather, she was a child who always tried to give something more to the Basilintes, who already had so much.

And now, such a Leticia had finally clearly expressed what she wanted.

She wanted to overthrow the Herta imperial family.

There were countless ways to overthrow the imperial family.

They could use a powerful family to usurp the throne, or they could mobilize Basilinte’s military forces to wage war against the empire and eliminate the imperial family.

Since the curse of Herta that had bound Basilinte was no longer there, they had more than enough power to do so.

Honestly, even without bringing in Basilinte, Leticia alone would be sufficient.

But Astrid knew that the end of revenge that required so much bloodshed would not be very refreshing.

After all, revenge is for self-satisfaction, so why should there be any reason to feel discomfort?

Especially when they weren’t lacking in power to the extent that they needed to dirty their hands.

It was better for the blood of uninvolved people to flow as little as possible.

Astrid wanted Leticia to feel only the pleasure of revenge and not know anything else about it.

There was no need for her to feel the bitterness or emptiness of revenge.

It was like the heart of a mother bird who wanted to feed only the most delicious parts to her baby.

In the end, that mother bird decided to hold her fluttering baby bird tightly in her arms and properly place the prey she had just caught into the baby bird’s beak.

“Mmph…!”

That was why the ceiling of the room they were in suddenly burst open, and the tightly bound Prince Sion came crashing down.

Astrid proudly introduced the Prince Sion, who was squirming on the floor, to Leticia, whose eyes had widened in surprise.

“This is a gift, Leti.”

“…?”

“You said you wanted to overthrow the imperial family. Then you need to go inside to see how and what to overthrow.”

A brooch fell from the body of Prince Sion, who was struggling while tied up, and rolled on the floor.

Astrid picked it up.

She couldn’t tell how valuable it was. She didn’t know much about jewels.

But this belonged to Prince Sion. The real prince who had made her beloved disciple consider herself a ‘fake’.

So it didn’t matter whether this was valuable or not.

What mattered was the fact that this brooch belonged to Prince Sion, and Astrid’s determination to make everything that Prince Sion had become Leticia’s, just like this brooch.

Astrid smiled as she pinned Prince Sion’s brooch on Leticia’s chest.

“Now our beautiful disciple becomes the real prince. How about that?”

***

“To completely destroy something, you first need to possess it.”

Leticia pondered Astrid’s words as she looked out the window, where rain was constantly falling.

After revealing her identity, it felt strange to be dressed as a man when she thought there was no need to do so anymore.

It felt even stranger because she was doing it voluntarily, not because someone else told her to.

The princely attire she hadn’t worn in a long time felt unfamiliar. Leticia fidgeted with her sleeves as she looked around the room.

This was the outer palace where unmarried princes resided.

She had been living in this palace like the real Prince Sion for several days now.

It didn’t take long for Leticia to take the place of the real Prince Sion.

First of all, most of the imperial family members were in seclusion, so there was little chance of encountering someone who knew Prince Sion’s face.

Moreover, Prince Sion, who was only 18 years old, had not yet made his debut in society, nor had he appeared at official events, so if the servants of this outer palace kept their mouths shut, who would know whether the person living here was Prince Sion or an actor using Prince Sion’s name?

In fact, she had thought that the palace servants, many of whom were connected to noble families, would not be able to hide the fact that Prince Sion had been switched for long…

“Your Highness. Is there anything you need?”

At the butler’s polite voice, Leticia looked at Tan, who had collapsed on the sofa in exhaustion, and said, “Bring some dry clothes.”

“Yes. Shall I prepare something that fits his build?”

“Yes.”

Astrid had taken Luka and Nathan aside and whispered something, then suddenly started ordering Chamuka and Tan around to do something.

The reason this explanation is so vague is because, truly, no one told Leticia anything.

“Mmm. Our baby doesn’t need to know. Your master did something a little bad, but it’s okay because your master is an adult.”

Tan wanted to point out that he wasn’t an adult, but he quietly gave up since he didn’t think they would tell him anyway.

All Leticia knew was that all the servants working in Prince Sion’s outer palace had been completely replaced.

She found it more surprising that despite replacing all the servants, no one came looking after hearing rumors, rather than the fact that the new servants of the outer palace had solid recommendations and tight lips.

After the butler brought the clothes and left, Leticia shook Tan’s shoulder as he lay face down on the sofa.

“Tan. Please change into comfortable clothes and get some sleep.”

“No. I have to go out again…”

“You said you didn’t sleep at all yesterday. Please sleep just a little. If Master says anything, I’ll defend you.”

Tan rubbed his cheek against Leticia’s hand and whispered weakly, pretending to be fragile.

“Then let Leti put me to sleep for a bit.”

If Chamuka had seen this, he would have ground Tan to pieces, but fortunately, Chamuka, who was being worked even harder than Tan due to his superior skills, was not in the vicinity.

Seizing the opportunity, Tan quickly lay down with his head on Leticia’s lap.

Instead of telling him to at least change his clothes, Leticia just sighed.

“What kind of work are you all doing?”

“Threa— I mean, persuading the nobles who know Prince Sion’s face.”

He definitely seemed to have said “threatening” at first.

Leticia stroked Tan’s head with a sour expression.

Tan made a pleased growling sound, and Leticia briefly wondered what species Tan was before coming to his senses.

Tan is a human species(?). Get a grip.

“Don’t you think it’s strange that I’m the only one resting while other people are working on my behalf?”

“Nope. Not strange. And you’re doing the most important job. Making it rain.”

“That’s something I can do comfortably from inside the room.”

“And imitating Prince Sion?”

“This isn’t even really an imitation. I’m just insisting that I am Prince Sion. How is this an imitation when I haven’t copied Prince Sion’s appearance or habits at all?”

In fact, at first, Leticia had said she would try to imitate Prince Sion exactly, but it was scrapped due to everyone’s opposition.

When she asked how she could possibly claim to be Prince Sion, they said they would create a situation where people had no choice but to acknowledge her.

A situation where, even if they knew Leticia wasn’t Prince Sion, they would have no choice but to recognize her as Prince Sion.

At first, Leticia thought this made no sense, but she eventually accepted it after Astrid’s explanation.

Of course, she wondered if there was any need to take the difficult path when an easier one was available…

“But if you imitate the prince, it makes you seem fake. To us, you’re the real one.”

Tan’s bright blue eyes stared directly at Leticia.

His expression, which usually softened whenever he looked at her, unlike that of typical Basilintes, was unusually serious today.

It felt unfamiliar to Leticia.

He spoke slowly.

“I’m doing this because of you, Leti. I’m doing something I wouldn’t have done if it weren’t for you, because you’re here.”

She knew he wasn’t trying to burden her. Rather, it sounded like he was urging Leticia to recognize her own worth.

That’s how precious Leticia was.

“So you should let me work for the real you. Not for a fake like Prince Sion.”