* * *

 “I will correct it.”

With a calm voice and a thud, the office door closed. Left alone, Erina let out a deep sigh.

‘Why am I really acting like this?’

Lately, she kept acting like a spiteful three-year-old.

‘……I hate this.’

‘I won’t wear it.’

‘Don’t need it.’

Though she knew she shouldn’t, knew it wasn’t good behavior, slight irritation kept rising. Something kept pricking at her nerves, making her say things she would regret.

‘I really don’t want to act like this……’

She knew the cause. The pink-haired girl. Her idol, Reibella.

Recently, whenever she saw Reibella, she would unknowingly become sharp.

‘It’s okay. You haven’t been here long, so it’s natural you don’t know everything. Don’t worry too much.’

‘Right. Reibella. Who else thinks about Her Highness as much as you do.’

‘I’m fine. I’m just worried that Her Highness might be uncomfortable because I’m not doing my job properly.’

Whenever she saw Reibella surrounded by people receiving attention, her nerves would stand on end. That child she had liked so much was gradually becoming someone she hated.

Because it felt like the people by her side were drifting away as Reibella received attention. As if everyone’s attention was fixed on Reibella instead of her and would never return.

As if she would lose everything that way.

‘What makes you so special?’

For her, these things could only be obtained through diligent effort. People’s attention, praise, Dad’s love. She could only get these things as rewards because she had changed from the past, because she acted as they wanted.

But Reibella was different.

Reibella didn’t act cute for people, didn’t force herself to smile.

Yet just by being there, people gathered around her, and laughter seemed to bloom.

It happened two days ago too.

‘How pathetic and incompetent.’

Her mentor, who hated those who didn’t try more than those who were stupid, had always looked down on Reibella and spewed harsh words.

Saying she was Felicity’s shame.

But suddenly he changed.

‘How did you even think of this? A formula with so many variables?’

After seeing a note Reibella had briefly left while working, he muttered something and rushed after her. Clinging to the girl, the mentor’s voice was full of excitement as he asked questions, his eyes overflowing with curiosity.

Unlike before when he had viewed her like a bug for being from a treasonous family. It was intense interest.

But Reibella seemed to hate that attention. It was clearly visible how she tried to avoid the situation.

Erina couldn’t understand this.

Why refuse it? When others try so hard, working even harder to receive praise.

As these thoughts continued, she felt uncomfortable.

‘I’m being bad.’

Reibella hadn’t done anything wrong. She was quietly doing her job, and doing more than enough for her too.

‘It’s not like she made Raniel quit in the first place.’

Raniel had simply found her own happiness. Though lonely and sad, it was right to bless her for finding her own happiness after being by her side through difficult times.

‘Let’s stop being needlessly spiteful.’

With that resolution, Erina prepared a gift for Reibella who had endured all her spite these past few days. It was a vase for the purple flowers she liked. Reibella would surely accept it gratefully with her green eyes gently closed.

So she went to find Reibella but.

“Reibella, is something wrong?”

“What’s wrong? Hm? What’s the matter?”

“Ah, no! Nothing’s wrong!”

“If something’s bothering you, tell us. What is it? What’s wrong?”

Seeing Reibella surrounded by maids receiving attention, her suppressed anxiety surged again. Without realizing it, she dropped the vase she was holding, and only then did the maids’ attention turn to Erina.

“Oh my! Your Highness!”

“Are you alright?”

The maids’ eyes were full of worry as they rushed over in surprise.

Though their attention had returned to her, she couldn’t be purely happy.

Because her behavior of trying to get attention this way felt too petty.

Finally, leaving the maids cleaning up the broken vase behind, she stormed out of the princess’s palace. She headed straight for the emperor’s office.

She tried to hide that dark, damp feeling by chattering brightly about recent events, but…

Dad seemed to notice.

When she burrowed into Dad’s embrace to comfort her gloomy heart, he patted her back gently and said.

“Should Dad clear it away?”

Clear it away……?

Her heart sank at Liam’s words. His ‘clear it away’ meant the same as ‘should I kill them.’

Yet strangely, for a moment, her heart was moved by those words. The thought ‘I wish that child would disappear’ surged intensely.

‘……No.’

‘Erina Curtis Rastel’ who was loved by everyone shouldn’t do that. The princess deliberately suppressed her ugly emotions and said to Liam.

“Dad, you can’t. Understand?”

Though she had simply talked about recent events, her unworthy feelings toward Reibella seemed to have shown through.

“How can Dad stay still when our daughter is struggling.”

“It’s just because I’m lacking. Reibella hasn’t done anything wrong.”

“But it upsets Dad more that our daughter thinks that way.”

Seeing the emperor taking her side unconditionally, Erina’s blackened heart seemed to dilute a little. When she smiled, Liam found it cute and patted her head.

“Then what should Dad do?”

“Nothing…… don’t do anything.”

“If you don’t want to completely clear it away, should we just clear it from your sight?”

“Clear from my sight?”

What’s the difference?

When Erina narrowed her eyes and looked at Liam, he added with curved eyes.

“Originally, by now she would have been dead or living as a slave. Should we send her to the mines now?”

“……I don’t want her doing hard labor.”

“Then should we confine her in some abandoned palace?”

“That would be too lonely. Reibella has been really good to me.”

“……Then should we praise her merits and send her away for adoption?”

……Adoption?

Erina’s ears perked up at that word.

‘If it’s adoption…..’

Certainly, Reibella had the merit of saving her. If they suddenly removed such a child, everyone would question it and might misunderstand them as being heartless. However, ‘adoption’ wouldn’t be bad since it would be giving Reibella, who had lost her family, a new home.

But…….

“Is it… possible?”

“The crimes that House Felicity committed are certainly not light, but what’s more important than that is my daughter’s feelings.”

House Felicity had committed such great disloyalty to the imperial family that they had paid for their crimes with the lives of their entire clan.

The ink hadn’t even dried on the documents proving their crimes, yet for the emperor to praise the merits of a survivor from that house made no sense.

It could appear as though the emperor’s judgment in exterminating House Felicity had been wrong, and this was an attempt to make amends.

“Anything is possible if my daughter wants it.”

But Liam Curtis Rastel, the emperor known as a tyrant for his mercilessness, said he would take back his words for his daughter.

“I’m sorry.”

“If it makes my daughter’s heart comfortable, Dad is fine with it.”

“Dad……”

Erina burrowed deeper into Liam’s embrace with a moved expression. Being completely enveloped in his large embrace, she felt great love that calmed her turbulent heart like a peaceful sea.

‘Yes, let’s send her for adoption.’

To protect this happiness, that was the only way.

Reibella had done nothing wrong. She was still her idol and she truly wished for her happiness.

‘I hope it’s somewhere far.’

As Erina quietly pondered where to send her, Liam asked.

“Should Dad help? I’ll give you options.”

“Options? What kind…… Ah!”

Liam gave a meaningful smile toward his beloved daughter.