Melli stood before the stained glass of the chapel filled with light.

‘I feel just like a saintess from the scriptures.’

Melli fingered the veil covering her head.

“Before, I wasn’t even allowed to set foot in this place. It feels surreal.”

“Now everything belongs to the Princess.”

Melli’s loyal maid, who had followed her from Moisa, said with apparent emotion.

Seeing the maid dabbing tears with her handkerchief, Melli smiled brightly.

“Silly, why are you crying? On such a wonderful day.”

Who would dare say anything now if Melli freely came and went here?

Melli was the person the Crown Prince loved most, and the most likely candidate to take the position of crown princess that Agatha had abandoned.

Melli recalled when she first came to this imperial palace.

※※※

Unlike the icy, frozen lands she had passed through until now, this was a warm and splendid space. People in sophisticated attire strolling through the imperial palace. Overflowing elegant vitality.

At the same time, it was also a land of cold people.

That day, there was an imperial worship service.

‘I wonder how happy Agatha will be to see me. She’ll surely want to be friends.’

Agatha Raphilus, befitting a future Crown Princess, was with several influential noble young ladies.

Melli found Agatha among the people leaving the chapel and smiled brightly.

When the imperial doorkeeper said that uninvited people couldn’t enter the imperial chapel, Melli’s maid put her hands on her hips and snorted derisively.

“Who are you treating like a common peddler? The person I serve is a Princess!”

In Moisa, Melli could go anywhere freely. Beautiful face and noble status as a Princess.

She had a personality that made friends easily with anyone, and this time too, she believed in herself.

While the doorkeeper and Melli’s maid were arguing, Melli stood at the doorway and waved frantically at Agatha.

“Ah, Lady Agatha! Look here, here! I hear you’re going to be the Crown Princess of this Cullinan Empire? I’m from Moisa. Let’s get along well from now on!”

But despite the energetic greeting, Agatha didn’t even look her way. As if she hadn’t even heard Melli’s clear voice.

Did I mistake someone else?

But there couldn’t possibly be another woman with such ominous white hair and bright red eyes like that old woman, other than the rumored Agatha Raphilus.

“Hey, Lady Agatha! Over here!”

“Lady, there’s a suspicious person at the doorway. It would be better to wait a moment before going.”

“Should we open another door?”

The young ladies surrounded Agatha with bewildered expressions. They whispered among themselves.

“Who is that woman? Why aren’t the guards removing her?”

“She claims to be a princess from some country or other……”

“The Empire has diplomatic relations with numerous kingdoms. I’ve never seen her face before.”

Melli was confused.

The guards who wouldn’t let her in despite seeing her, the young ladies whispering about her—all of this was something she had never experienced before.

“Hello? Aren’t you going to let me in? Can’t you hear me, lady?”

At that moment, a young noblewoman stepped forward.

“Wait. Who are you to act so familiar with Lady Agatha? She’s not someone you can address so casually!”

“I’m not just anybody.”

Melli emphasized her words with pride and satisfaction.

“I’m a princess, higher in status than your lady, and a diplomatic envoy. Normally, your lady should pay respects to me, but I’ll let that slide. This is our first meeting, and I want to become friends with her.”

So the guard should release her arm immediately, and those women should hurriedly apologize for not recognizing her.

Someone frowned.

“What nonsense are you talking about?”

“Saying that Lady Raphilus should kneel and pay respects.”

Expressions of indescribable bewilderment appeared on everyone’s faces. Melli fumed.

“Didn’t you hear me? I am the daughter of the King of Moisa. You, who serve the king—I mean, the Emperor—should show proper respect to me, a royal from another country!”

“How did that country, Moisa or whatever, raise a princess? Sending an ignorant brat who doesn’t know basic etiquette to the imperial palace.”

Everyone could be seen snickering at the sharp words of one young lady. They all seemed to agree with the noblewoman who had uttered words not even worth responding to.

“To the future crown princess…… I’m truly speechless.”

Even as she was dragged away by the guards, Melli was furious beyond belief. She had never met such ill-mannered people before.

Among the people whispering behind their hands, Lady Agatha kept her mouth shut and remained still. Just as she had been from the beginning.

Noble and doll-like.

※※※

Later, Agatha invited Melli separately and consoled her about that day.

“The Cullinan Empire doesn’t treat all countries equally. We consider the size and power of each nation. A princess from a small country like Moisa receives the same treatment as a daughter of a Count family in the Empire.”

How red Melli’s ears had turned when she heard those words.

“I didn’t know… that…”

To think that she, a precious princess in the Kingdom of Moisa, was no different from a mere Count’s daughter in the Empire.

It was truly an unacceptable fact.

“Marquis Lushin’s daughter did show somewhat intense behavior that day, but she has strong pride as a noble. She’s as strict with herself as she is in emphasizing etiquette to others.”

Melli realized that the person Agatha mentioned was the one who had been particularly harsh to her at the chapel that day.

“She, she was too much. It was my first visit to the Empire…… I wasn’t familiar with anything yet, how could she speak so harshly……”

“You might not have known. You could have been confused.”

Just as Melli was about to grab Agatha’s hands in delight, thinking the lady agreed with her—

“As I repeatedly said that day, Princess, you are Moisa’s diplomatic envoy. Your mistake doesn’t end with just you.”

It sounded like she was scolding Melli: You of all people should have known better about etiquette.

Melli’s face turned as red as it could possibly get.

Only after leaving did Melli fume and summon the Moisan officials staying in the Empire to confront them.

“How could you let me be humiliated like that? You people who call yourselves our kingdom’s officials!”

The Moisan officials were simply dumbfounded.

They had already advised her to rest in her quarters for a few days and get accustomed to the imperial palace atmosphere rather than wandering around.

It was Melli Moisa herself who had ignored that advice and poked around everywhere.

Angry, Melli asked her father to expel those officials as an outlet for her frustration, but the king didn’t grant her request.

The King of Moisa didn’t have high expectations for Melli. He only wanted her to gain moderate favor with her beauty. He had not the slightest intention of entrusting her with diplomacy.

That practical work had to be done by the very officials Melli wanted to expel.

‘But now everything has changed.’

Agatha Raphilus, who had looked down on her from this very place, was no longer in the palace.

That arrogant woman had been driven out without being able to say a word to Melli and was now shut up in her own home.

The same went for the various noble young ladies who had thoroughly ignored Melli that day.

After the incident with Agatha, Lloyd had ostentatiously brought Melli into the Crown Princess’s palace.

Everyone objected, saying it violated protocol, but Lloyd wouldn’t listen.

Melli simply embraced Lloyd and whispered words of love.

There were no more daughters from duke families, marquis families, or count families in the Crown Princess’s palace. They all had to leave with their heads down.

How satisfying it had been when she told that haughty Lady Lushin to leave the Crown Princess’s palace where she now stayed.

“I would have left on my own anyway. There’s no suitable mistress for this place anymore.”

Nevertheless, Lady Lushin had trampled on Melli’s pride until the very end, snorting derisively.

Just as she was contemplating how to crush that impudent Lady Lushin the next time they met, someone came looking for Melli.

“Princess, a letter has arrived from the Kingdom of Moisa.”

“From my homeland?”

Undoubtedly, her father would be delighted by this news and had sent a letter to congratulate Melli.

Melli happily broke the seal of the letter.

However, not long after, Melli put the letter aside with a cold expression.

The person who had brought the letter flinched in surprise and said:

“Won’t you finish reading the letter?”

Melli’s devoted maid glanced at her mood and suddenly shouted at that person:

“Our Princess will read it later!”

The person who had expected Melli to be pleased with the letter from her father and perhaps reward him for delivering it bowed his head in embarrassment.

“Let’s go to His Highness the Crown Prince.”

At that time, the Crown Prince’s palace was engulfed in an untimely commotion.

“What? The Crown Prince’s most foolish act, blinded by female beauty? Who would abandon Lady Raphilus and choose the Princess of Moisa just for her face? What do these people take the imperial family for!”

Crown Prince Lloyd, his face red with anger at the expl*cit criticism in the article, slammed the newspaper down. With a crash, innocent furnishings in the Crown Prince’s palace were swept away.