A person skilled with daggers! The thought sent chills down his spine. Harman listened intently to Kai, his eyes filled with intensity. How dare anyone threaten the emperor of the Credion Empire? It was unthinkable.

“What kind of person is it? Just say the word and I will immediately—”

“There are those who operate in secrecy. People who never catch anyone’s eye.”

“Ha. Are you referring to Your Majesty’s shadows as well?”

“Yes. They move so discreetly and secretly that even the shadows can’t do anything about it.”

This person seemed more formidable than expected. Harman felt dizzy and closed his eyes tightly.

Kai gave a faint, dry laugh at Harman’s reaction. Although Kai was genuinely amused, to Harman, it appeared as a forced smile out of sadness. Harman’s heart felt like it was being torn apart.

“Your Majesty, how can you leave such a dangerous person alone?”

“Indeed. Why am I just watching? I wonder.”

Kai’s gaze was fixed on Iver, who had curled up into a ball and fallen asleep on his desk.

He had been poking Iver’s round belly for a while, but Iver only squirmed like a grub and didn’t wake up, which captured his attention.

* * *

“Oh my, I didn’t know Princess Stella was invited here as well.”

Caitlin, who had been hovering around and glancing over, finally approached Stella as if she had just noticed her.

It seemed strange that she was away from Annette, but Annette was engaged in a private conversation with Marchioness Melissa.

The princesses, who usually hovered around Annette, gathered like ducklings without a mother and approached Stella upon noticing her.

Stella didn’t even want to respond, so she simply nodded with a formal smile. When they approached to greet her, they soon started ignoring Stella again and chatted among themselves.

The problem was that their conversation was loud enough for Stella to hear.

“How shameless. If it were me, I wouldn’t have the face to show up if I were invited.”

“Was there something else that happened after that?”

“You didn’t know? Well…”

Fortunately or unfortunately, Caitlin whispered to the princess who had asked, so Stella couldn’t hear it.

However, the princesses who heard the story looked at Stella with expressions as if they had bitten into something unpleasant.

The princesses, who seemed to be sharing some great secret, gathered for a while, whispering, then moved elsewhere all at once as if planned.

Suddenly, there was no one around Stella. It was a party of only women, so most people were chatting in groups or sitting in clusters, drinking tea or wine.

Stella was the only one sitting alone, like an isolated island.

It seemed better to return to the castle. If she had known it would be like this, she would have gone to the market instead, and she regretted not doing so.

As soon as she stood up and turned around, a cold liquid suddenly spilled onto Stella’s chest.

“Ah!”

“Oh, I’m sorry, Princess Stella.”

The person standing opposite with an empty glass was Annette. Red wine had spilled onto her white dress, leaving an unsightly stain.

Stella was more worried about not being able to use the dress again than feeling embarrassed or flustered.

“You should have been more careful.”

Annette murmured apologetically, covering her mouth as though she felt terrible.

It was obvious she had spilled it on purpose. Stella had just stood up, and Annette had approached, leaving Stella with no way to avoid it.

Annette deliberately pulled out a silk handkerchief with intricate lace and rubbed the wet stain on Stella’s dress.

Instead of cleaning it, the red stain spread more wherever the handkerchief moved, and Annette bit her lip to suppress a laugh.

Anyone could see it wasn’t an attempt to clean but to make the stain spread more.

“Just leave it.”

Stella grabbed Annette’s wrist and shook it off forcefully. Caught off guard by the unexpected retaliation, Annette lost her balance for a moment and staggered.

If Caitlin hadn’t caught her in time, Annette might have fallen quite disgracefully, as Stella had quite a strong grip.

Annette’s face flushed red with embarrassment. It was the first time in her life someone had treated her so roughly.

“What do you think you’re doing?”

Annette shouted loudly enough for others to hear. As intended, the attention of the other princesses, the noble ladies of the empire, and even Melissa turned towards them.

People stopped their conversations and turned their heads towards the commotion.

Having achieved her intention, Annette began to sob as if she might burst into tears at any moment.

“Stella, I’m sorry for my mistake. But you didn’t have to hit me.”

As Annette rubbed her wrist where Stella had grabbed it, Caitlin quickly chimed in from beside her.

“Oh my, Annette. Is your wrist okay? She pulled so hard. Even though you apologized, how could she?”

Stella was taken aback. Annette secretly relished Stella’s flustered expression.

However, Annette overlooked one crucial fact: the star of this party was not her, but Melissa, the Marchioness of Frentium.

“What’s going on here?” Melissa asked as she approached with a stern face, having sensed the commotion. The first thing Melissa noticed was Stella’s dress, ruined by a red stain.

The wine on the white dress seemed impossible to remove. It wasn’t just a small spill; it was soaked through, clearly done on purpose.

Anyone could see that Princess Stella was the victim here.

Yet, Annette and her entourage acted as if Stella were the perpetrator. Annette was on the verge of tears, and her group seemed eager to pounce on Stella.

Melissa quickly assessed Stella’s position in the Plant District and decided whose side to take in this moment.

“Princess Stella, are you okay?”

Annette was shocked to see that Melissa was concerned about Stella, not her. Just moments ago, they had been chatting warmly, strengthening their friendship.

Annette, thinking Melissa might not have understood the situation, clutched her wrist again and whimpered.

“Oh, my wrist is going to swell up. Melissa, do you have any ice?”

Her voice was so pitiful that anyone might think Stella had broken her wrist.

This party had been held out of curiosity about Stella.

Melissa had initially found her unimpressive, but seeing the other princesses so eager to attack her, she realized there must be something intriguing about Stella.

Melissa’s interest in Stella grew. She wondered if, after learning more, she would join the others in disliking Stella or perhaps even grow fond of her.

“May I take a look? I’m quite experienced with injuries. I usually know how to treat them.”

Melissa spoke kindly, and Annette showed her slender wrist with a look that said, ‘See, I told you she’d take my side.’

“Oh my, this part seems a bit red,” Caitlin exclaimed, though it was Melissa who had asked to see. Of course, the mark Caitlin pointed to was where Annette had squeezed her own wrist.

Melissa was exasperated. She didn’t particularly like Stella, but she despised these childish emotional battles.

“In my opinion,” Melissa began, and the chatter around them suddenly ceased.

“It doesn’t seem injured enough to need ice.”

Annette’s eyes widened in disbelief. Caitlin was equally surprised.

Melissa then turned her attention away from the two and focused on Stella. She didn’t particularly like Stella either, but she was preferable to the melodramatic pair.

“Princess Stella, what about your dress? I have a dress prepared for myself. Would you like to wear it? I think it might fit you well.”

Melissa extended her hand to Stella. Annette’s face turned as red as the wine she had spilled, feeling ignored by Melissa.

Though it was satisfying to see Annette’s face change colors, Stella had no desire to get involved with Marchioness Melissa.

She planned to quietly save money through farming and eventually escape this place. She didn’t want any more attention. The hunting festival had already drawn enough eyes her way.

“I appreciate the offer, but I’m fine.”

Stella politely declined, and Melissa’s eyes narrowed slightly. Others were eager to befriend her, yet Stella stepped back even when Melissa reached out.

Why? It had been a while since someone piqued Melissa’s curiosity like this.

“If you don’t clean the stain now, you might never be able to wear that pretty dress again.”

Melissa’s sympathetic comment made Stella bite her lip. She frowned slightly, contemplating the dress. Melissa felt she could understand what motivated Stella.

Meanwhile, Stella was swayed by Melissa’s words about possibly never wearing the dress again. She wondered how many times she’d have to farm spinach to afford another dress.

Seeing Stella’s hesitation, Melissa pressed further.

“Why don’t you just clean the stain and leave? It should come out just fine if you do it now. I’ll even provide a carriage to take you back.”

When Melissa asked again, Stella reluctantly nodded and thanked her.

“Thank you.”

Melissa was sure of one thing after seeing Stella change her mind only when the dress was mentioned.

Princess Stella Rune Oberlite wasn’t in a position to wear a dress once and discard it.

Is that why she farms?

But Melissa doubted that farming would earn enough to buy a dress.

“Shall we?” Melissa said, escorting her, and Stella followed. She felt the eyes of people on her back. She could easily imagine Annette’s expression without looking back.

Feeling strangely satisfied, Stella smiled to herself. Melissa, who had turned to check if Stella was following, caught her eye.

Caught smiling alone, Stella felt embarrassed and gave a sheepish grin.

“Because it’s delicious.”

“Pfft!” Melissa couldn’t help but burst into laughter at Stella’s candid remark.

—
T/N: This bullying!! Oh my god. I am going to rip my hair out in frustration. I hope (even though it seems unlikely) that Melissa will somehow form a genuine friendship with Stella and put Annette and her cronies to their rightful place!