Alicia’s steps toward the annex were more confident than they had ever been.

˗ˋˏ ♡ ˎˊ˗

Two days later.

In the western annex, where Helena resided.

Alicia moved at the appointed time for the dinner gathering. It was the procession of the Grand Duchess, the mother of the principality. But the eyes that followed her were not kind.

“So that is the Grand Duchess who arrived recently?”

“Apparently. From a backwater corner of the North to Grand Duchess overnight. Could there be such luck?”

The wedding was over and she had become Grand Duchess, but the gazes that followed Alicia were sharp.

Cutting stares and whispers. But Alicia did not shrink. She kept her shoulders back and walked with her head held high.

‘These kinds of stares. I know them well.’

They were the same eyes that had always followed her, even when she had been thrown into a dungeon on absurd charges.

There was something else familiar too.

Back when she was Seraphiel, the western annex had been where she lived, so the layout was familiar.

After passing through the vast, labyrinthine garden and standing before the great door, Helena’s maids approached at the sight of Alicia.

“Good day, Your Highness the Grand Duchess. What brings you all the way here?”

A friendly smile and greeting. But the smiles they wore as they looked at her felt hollow.

It felt like leaping alone into enemy territory.

Sharp gazes poured over her from all sides. But Alicia kept her shoulders square.

“Did you not receive word that I was coming?”

“If this is regarding the dinner, we were told it had been cancelled due to His Highness the Grand Duke’s urgent departure.”

“Strange. I received no such notice.”

“There must have been a mistake.”

They appeared polite, but their tone was utterly impersonal.

“Then we would be grateful if you would return for now.”

“I cannot do that.”

“……Pardon?”

“Call Lady Helena. Right now.”

“I apologize, but she is currently occupied with personal matters.”

A daughter-in-law too busy to come out when her mother-in-law had arrived. The reality of it hit Alicia in that moment.

Right. This is it. This is exactly like you.

But Alicia had no intention of backing down either. If she had planned to end it here, she would not have come in the first place.

“When the Grand Duchess calls, the Grand Ducal heir’s consort’s duty is to set everything aside and come. What kind of absurd talk is this?”

Then, the sound of maids whispering from behind.

“What does she think she’s doing when His Highness the Grand Duke isn’t even here?”

“Exactly. Getting a little too full of herself just because she became Grand Duchess? She’s nothing but a shell.”

The low murmuring reached Alicia’s ears.

Perhaps it was to be expected.

They had said it deliberately for her to hear.

There were two reasons why mere maids could behave this way.

Contempt for a Grand Duchess with no real foundation, who had arrived with nothing but a single maid.

And confidence in the Grand Ducal heir’s consort, born of imperial blood.

Those two firm foundations determined their attitude. And naturally, those were also the two foundations Alicia needed to shatter.

Now is exactly the right moment.

Stomp. Stomp.

Alicia walked toward the maids with firm steps. The maids flinched slightly at her bold approach, then straightened their backs.

It was behavior they could afford because they trusted Helena inside the residence.

But then,

“Aagh!”

Alicia seized a maid’s hair roughly. Then shook her hard.

“Why, why are you doing this? Aagh!”

The maid’s head jerked with her screams.

“Nothing but a shell? Go ahead. Say it again.”

Her voice was cold. The sudden action threw the other maids into a panic.

The maid who had been holding her head highest swayed back and forth before collapsing. But even then, Alicia did not let go.

The air in the Grand Duke’s palace froze in an instant.

“Someone, someone stop her.”

“How do I stop her…… you stop her……”

No one dared step forward under Alicia’s wild, burning gaze.

Then, at that moment,

“What is all this commotion?”

A familiar voice rang out. A voice she could never forget.

Alicia slowly turned her head.

The maids, who had been speaking moments before, quickly lowered their voices and bowed.

The door of the annex opened and the owner of that voice walked out. A woman appeared through the maids as they parted naturally.

It was Helena.

Click. Click. Helena approached Alicia.

“……”

Alicia’s body flinched for a moment.

An instinctive fear rooted in memories from her past life.

Young as she was, Helena was still a source of fear for her.

‘But things are different now. Now I am your mother-in-law……’

Alicia steadied herself with firm resolve and faced Helena. The trembling in her body subsided, and strength returned to her eyes. And a moment later,

“So you were busy, and here you are at last.”

A natural tone of authority flowed. Words Seraphiel could never have imagined speaking. Helena’s face stiffened for a moment in surprise.

But Helena had no choice but to endure it.

Right. That is the difference between a mother-in-law and a daughter-in-law.

The corners of Alicia’s lips rose slightly.

The seasoned Helena quickly composed her expression and bowed with courtesy.

“I apologize. Some ministers had come to visit. But what is the meaning of this?”

Only then did Alicia release her grip.

The maid crumpled to the ground, hair falling loose around her.

“You had better ask her that yourself.”

Alicia kept her gaze fixed on Helena as she spoke.

“What happened?”

“Th, that…… I told her the dinner had been cancelled, and she grabbed my hair.”

“Is this true?”

Helena asked again. Alicia smiled.

“You are leaving out the rest. There is something she said to me.”

“That was……”

“What did you say?”

“……”

After a long moment of moving her lips, she spoke carefully.

“I said…… nothing but a shell of a Grand Duchess.”

In that instant,

Crack!

Before the words had even finished, Helena slapped the maid across the face.

“How dare lowly creatures show such disrespect to the Grand Duchess?”

Helena’s sharp rebuke poured down. The maid, drained of all color, pressed her forehead to the floor and clasped her hands together.

“I have committed a mortal sin.”

“If you ever show such disrespect again, I will have your tongue pulled out as punishment.”

Everyone knew.

Those words were no empty threat.

“I, I am sorry. I will never speak out of turn again……”

Helena’s words created a suffocating tension. Alicia could not help but feel a kind of stunned admiration at Helena’s cruelty and decisiveness, even at such a young age.

“Will this be enough to ease your anger?”

Helena asked Alicia with courtesy.

But all of this too had been carried out with cold calculation.

‘No apology, just pinning the blame on the maid, while at the same time trying to damage my reputation.’

Her cruel and cold nature had been shining through since childhood. But Alicia was not the Seraphiel of the past.

“How amusing.”

“What is?”

“The one who was disrespected is me. So why is it you who delivers the punishment?”

“……”

Helena looked at Alicia with a hint of confusion. In that moment, Alicia had already taken a step toward the maid.

And then,

Crack!

This time Alicia struck the maid on the opposite cheek. A far louder sound than before rang through the garden.

A kind of first strike against enemy territory.

She needed to show that she was not a half-hearted villain, but one that could not be touched.

Stagger.

The maid who had been struck properly crumpled to the ground. Alicia looked at the reddened cheek and finally nodded.

“That should do.”

Alicia and Helena faced each other.

“……”

“……”

On the surface they appeared composed and courteous, but their gazes cut sharply into each other.

Helena had the backing of numerous maids, but Alicia did not retreat a single step.

In the end, it was Helena who stepped back first.

“I apologize for creating such an unpleasant situation. Please come inside and wait a moment. I will give orders for the dinner to be prepared at once.”

Alicia smiled watching Helena offer a reluctant apology. But this was not the time to be intoxicated by a small victory.

Those people will be inside.

The ones who had led her to her death.

The ones who had helped Helena k*ll Seraphiel.

The real fight starts now.

Alicia straightened her back as she looked at the building where they would be coiled and waiting.

˗ˋˏ ♡ ˎˊ˗

A battlefield where the smell of blood had not yet faded.

Grand Duke Evander, having just finished a fierce battle, sat on the carcass of a monster and wiped the blood from his sword.

“They should be having the dinner gathering about now.”

“Yes, Your Highness.”

“Time has already come to that.”

Grand Duke Evander let out a quiet sigh and asked again.

“Where did the remaining monsters go?”