Helena then naturally shifted the topic.

“Come to think of it, since this dinner is a celebration of Your Highness’s marriage, I sent a gift, but it seems it was not to your liking.”

She was referring to Alicia, who was wearing the black dress.

“I received it well. However, I had lost a little weight these past few days and needed it altered, which was quite a bother, so I was unable to wear it today.”

“Ah, I heard. You mentioned being short of maids? I will arrange an assignment for you soon.”

The matter of assigning maids was something that should have been done long ago. Yet now she spoke as though showing consideration for Alicia. Of course, there was another meaning hidden in this remark.

She wants to make clear that the assignment of maids falls within her authority.

It was a move to show that she was the one managing the castle’s affairs. And there was no way Alicia would fail to read that intent.

“There is no need. I intend to choose my own maids.”

Helena’s gaze turned to Alicia once more at the unexpected response.

“I apologize, but it seems Your Highness is not familiar with the laws of the principality.”

Helena showed the ring on her finger and continued.

“Under the laws of the principality, I hold responsibility for the management of maids within the castle. This is the symbol of that.”

The Blood Rose Seal. The most prominent symbol of the power she held.

“Since you have become the mother of the principality, I thought you should know its laws. If I have caused offense, I apologize.”

Seemingly wrapped in fine words, but in the end it was an act of dismissing the Grand Duchess.

The manner and tone of pressing down on an opponent with the backing of the ministers’ power was all too familiar.

But then, in that moment,

“Ha ha ha.”

Alicia burst out laughing.

At the sudden laughter, the ministers’ eyes turned to her.

“It seems it is not I who does not know the laws of the principality, but you.”

The ministers were startled by the provocative remark.

But Helena smiled with ease and asked in return.

“What do you mean by that?”

Alicia composed her laughter and opened her mouth.

“The laws of the principality, yes, they matter. You are right that the one who holds the seal manages everything within the castle. But what does the law code say about who the rightful owner of that seal is?”

A moment later, Alicia’s firm answer followed.

“The Grand Duchess. Me.”

Alicia smiled and pointed to herself with a slender finger.

A clearly deliberate gesture.

Naturally, a ring came into Helena’s view.

A symbol passed down only to grand duchesses throughout history.

The one and only Ash-Grey Ring in the principality.

˗ˋˏ ♡ ˎˊ˗

The atmosphere in the room turned cold in an instant.

“……”

Helena’s eyes wavered as she looked at Alicia’s finger.

More precisely, it was because of the Ash-Grey Ring, the symbol of every grand duchess throughout history.

The Blood Rose Seal symbolizes authority over internal affairs.

The Ash-Grey Ring symbolizes the Grand Duchess.

The two women exchanged sharp glances, each looking at the seal and ring on the other’s finger.

“……”

“……”

It was Helena who broke the silence first.

“Are you invoking the laws of the principality?”

“You know it yourself. It is clearly written in the law code. The Blood Rose Seal belongs to the grand duchess.”

Alicia’s argument invoked the law.

But a smile rose at the corners of Helena’s lips.

“You are correct. Ordinarily, it would be right for Your Highness the Grand Duchess to own the seal. However, because the position of grand duchess had been vacant for a long time, a special provision was added several years ago.”

“A special provision?”

“Yes, a special provision stating that ‘in place of a vacant Grand Duchess, the Grand Ducal heir’s consort shall become the owner of the seal.’ And the one who approved that law was none other than His Highness Grand Duke Evander himself.”

Helena deliberately placed emphasis on the name His Highness Grand Duke Evander. A cunning way of speaking, borrowing his name to pressure Alicia.

Chief Justice Bertio, listening from the side, backed her up as well.

“That is correct. I was the one who presided over the legislative council that assisted His Highness at the time.”

Two people claiming through the special provision that the owner of the Blood Rose Seal was the Grand Ducal heir’s consort.

The surrounding ministers, having witnessed all of this, began to murmur quietly.

“She tried to use the law and got hit squarely back, didn’t she?”

“Exactly. Ignoring the special provision would mean disrespecting His Highness’s authority, so she’s in quite a difficult spot.”

“Why did she even try? She doesn’t even know the law properly.”

“My thoughts exactly.”

The ministers’ snickering conversation reached her clearly. But Alicia only began to smile.

‘Right. I already knew you would come at me like that. But Chief Justice Bertio, you are missing one thing. That I know the laws of the principality just as well as you do. Thanks to the two of you, in fact.’

Alicia steadied herself and looked at Chief Justice Bertio again. Now it was Alicia’s turn to attack.

“How thorough of you, as expected of a Chief Justice, to know even the special provisions. Then you would also remember the contents of the sub-clause under ‘special cases in which the Grand Ducal heir’s consort comes to own the Blood Rose Seal,’ would you not?”

In that instant, Chief Justice Bertio’s eyes narrowed.

“That……”

The trailing end of his words was plainly flustered.

It was not because Alicia had pointed out something he did not know. It was a reaction of surprise that Alicia knew it.

Alicia called out quietly to the maid.

“Bring the law code here at once.”

At those words, the flustered maids glanced at Helena. Then,

“What are you doing? Go and fetch it.”

Startled by the sharp tone, the maids quickly left the dining hall. A short while later, they returned carrying a thick law code.

“Here it is.”

It was a law code thick and large enough to cover the entire chest of a grown man.

But Alicia did not even open the law code before she began to recite the memorized statute.

“Special Provision of the Principality, Article 17, Clause 4. ‘Special cases in which the Grand Ducal heir’s consort comes to own the Blood Rose Seal.’ Should the position of Grand Duchess remain vacant for an extended period, the Grand Ducal heir’s consort may own the Blood Rose Seal with the Grand Duke’s approval. At this time, all of the Grand Duchess’s authorities are also granted.”

Up to this point, it was as Helena had said. But the sub-clause that followed read as such.

“However, in the event that a Grand Duchess is subsequently appointed, the following sub-clause is established to prevent disorder in the principality. ‘Six months after the nuptial mass officially announcing the marriage, the Blood Rose Seal shall be transferred to its rightful owner, the Grand Duchess. At that time, all authorities shall also be transferred to the Grand Duchess.“

Alicia deliberately enunciated the final words one by one. It meant that as long as a Grand Duchess had been appointed, Helena’s use of those rights was ultimately time-limited.

Helena, who grasped the meaning faster than anyone, naturally stiffened.

“……Is that content accurate?”

Helena looked at Chief Justice Bertio and asked. But he could not answer easily.

Then,

“Lady, surely you are not disrespecting the Chief Justice? He would already know. The one who presided over the legislative council together with His Highness was none other than Bertio, the Chief Justice. Is that not so?”

Chief Justice Bertio’s expression darkened at Alicia’s words.

“Answer me. Is that true?”

At Helena’s urging, Chief Justice Bertio reluctantly and slowly opened his mouth.

“……It is.”

Silence fell over the hall.

The Grand Ducal heir’s consort’s authority was to be transferred after six months after all.

“There was a sub-clause like that?”

“Indeed. To think it was specified this concretely…… I am hearing of it for the first time myself.”

The ministers nearby looked at each other and whispered. A murmur with an entirely different tone from moments before spread through the room.

“……”

Chief Justice Bertio’s flustered face went rigid. But he was not a man to be easily subdued either.

“However, this is ultimately a sub-clause. In a special situation such as the current one, a legal dispute is necessary.”

But Alicia answered immediately, as though she had anticipated even that.

“Well noted. Yes. A legal dispute is necessary. That is precisely the point I am making as well. Whether I or someone else is better suited to use this seal must also be contested.”

“……”

Chief Justice Bertio was caught off guard in that instant.

A legal dispute.

He had essentially admitted on his own that a legal contest over the rights to the seal currently held by Helena was necessary.