“I heard Your Highness will attend Duke Kelliard’s audience today? Since it’s your first time meeting the Duke, I’ll help you look dignified.”

“……”

“When it comes to dignity, should we use jewels? If only we had a crown!”

“…No, that’s fine. Just dress me like usual.”

At my words, Sela’s face visibly fell with disappointment.

But in the end, following my request, she dressed me in a comfortable dress like always and braided my hair.

I finished preparing and left the room.

Lerrhagen sat on the windowsill.

“Why are you sitting there instead of coming in?”

“Knocking is troublesome.”

“……”

“Let’s go. The audience hall, was it?”

“Yes, the audience—”

But before I could finish speaking, I was already in the audience hall.

I closed my mouth.

I glanced at Lerrhagen who was standing beside me with his arms crossed indifferently, then exhaled deeply.

Since this was an unofficial audience, all the knights had withdrawn, leaving the audience hall completely empty.

Normally, Lerrhagen shouldn’t be in the audience hall since he was neither royalty nor held any official position in the imperial palace, but who would dare object to his presence?

‘It’s almost time.’

With that thought, I felt inexplicably tense. In truth, this wasn’t my first time seeing Sever, nor was he unfamiliar or frightening.

However, I was meeting him with a purpose, and my plan was half a gamble.

Of course, calling it a gamble was an understatement—I did have some confidence.

Perhaps noticing my tension, Lerrhagen stared at me intently.

Feeling his gaze, I turned my head. Somehow feeling he had detected my anxiety, I made an excuse.

“I’m not particularly nervous.”

“Did I say anything?”

“It’s just that Sever Kelliard, though not a mage, is a swordsman with good intuition, so…”

“I know. That’s why I’m here.”

I pressed my lips shut at Lerrhagen’s indifferent voice.

Just then.

There seemed to be some commotion in the distance, and soon Rigan’s voice was heard.

“Your Majesty, Duke Kelliard requests an audience.”

I glanced at Lerrhagen.

Understanding the meaning of my gaze, Lerrhagen turned his head slightly.

Simultaneously, a woman with a face identical to mine—my original appearance—appeared on the imperial throne in the audience hall.

Marionette. Puppet magic.

In fact, puppet magic wasn’t difficult for me to execute, having used it many times before.

However, Sever possessed intuition honed through swordsmanship, which was somewhat difficult for me to overcome, having learned magic later in life.

‘But Lerrhagen is different.’

With that thought, I infused my magic into the puppet.

When connecting puppet magic with my will, I could control it.

Sure enough, as soon as my magic permeated, the puppet with my appearance opened its mouth.

<Enter.>

Hearing my own voice after so long made me feel somewhat strange, and then the door opened.

Lerrhagen and I naturally stood beside the imperial throne.

Given Lerrhagen’s character, I thought he might slouch, but for some reason, he stood in front of me with an indifferent face.

Creeeeak—

As soon as the large doors of the audience hall opened, Sever Kelliard appeared.

The greatest swordsman produced by the Arsis Empire, the first Dragon Slayer, the pride of the imperial family, the noble son of Kelliard, a man noble from birth.

Ridiculously, all these titles were created solely for him.

I fixed my gaze on Sever.

Except for his appearance a few days ago, he looked remarkably consistent.

Neatly arranged black hair, a sculptured face that was captivating, the solid physique characteristic of a swordsman, and medals honoring his glory adorned the knight order uniform he wore without a single wrinkle.

It was an overwhelming presence of a different kind from Lerrhagen’s.

Soon, with measured footsteps, he stopped before ‘me’ and bent one knee.

“Sever Kelliard, reporting to Your Majesty.”

<Rise.>

Fearing even the slightest mistake, I focused all my attention on controlling the puppet on the platform.

Although it was a situation where no one needed to pay attention to the young princess’s presence, I deliberately hid behind Lerrhagen, peeking out just my face to avoid drawing attention.

At ‘my’ command, Sever rose.

The cape attached to his uniform fluttered gently. Soon he raised his head and looked at ‘me.’

As ‘I’ was about to formally greet him, Sever’s previously calm eyes twitched.

Despite this subtle change in expression, I maintained my composure.

There was no way Lerrhagen’s magic could fail.

Even though Sever was a Dragon Slayer, Lerrhagen, a Dragon Lord, was on an entirely different level of skill.

Thinking this, I was about to continue speaking calmly.

Suddenly, Sever’s face contorted, and he spoke.

“Who are you?”

As soon as he finished speaking, shock spread across my face.

‘What? Did he just recognize it’s a puppet?’

But I couldn’t falter at mere words.

‘I’ answered calmly.

<What insolence is this? Do you realize what you’re saying? If you apologize, I’ll pretend I didn’t hear your previous disrespect.>

Despite my response, Sever’s face didn’t relax.

No, rather, his face—which rarely showed any change in expression—completely contorted, and anger settled in his eyes.

Soon, his cold gaze fixed on us standing beside the throne.

To be precise, it fixed on Lerrhagen standing in front of me.

Growling like a beast, openly displaying all his anger, Sever muttered.

“What is this? Where is Your Majesty?”

“Isn’t she right before your eyes?”

“Don’t talk nonsense. That is not Your Majesty.”

“Interesting. Do you have any proof?”

All of Sever’s anger crumbled helplessly under Lerrhagen’s languid and indifferent retort.

Behind him, I pressed my lips tightly and swallowed hard.

Soon, Sever gave a cold sneer.

“How could I not know?”

At Sever’s words, I pressed my lips into a firm line.

I couldn’t understand how Sever had detected Lerrhagen’s magic, regardless of what he meant. I certainly knew Sever was strong. I had seen him spar with others and seen him fight magical beasts when he was young.

We had even engaged in combat once after I gained magical power.

At that time, he deliberately lost because I was the emperor, but even so, I knew how skilled he was.

But not to this extent.

The audience hall was immediately enveloped in tension.

Judging by his demand to produce me, he didn’t seem to know that I was myself.

Of course, if that was also an act, it would be chilling, but Sever’s eyes didn’t seem to be lying or hiding anything.

To borrow his words, I knew that much too.

I kept my mouth shut and pondered how to escape this situation.

However, escape was never an option, and no matter how much we insisted, Sever wouldn’t believe us.

We could laugh off his words as nonsense or punish him, but depending on what he said after leaving this audience hall, serious problems could arise.

I finally sighed inwardly.

Change of plan.

Thinking this, I was about to speak when Lerrhagen’s voice echoed through the audience hall again.

“Estria is asleep.”

“What do you mean?”

“Exactly what I said. She’s asleep.”

Wait, hold on.

Sever wasn’t stupid enough to interpret “asleep” literally.

Proving this, shock and anger frosted Sever’s eyes.

But before my and Sever’s shock could fade, Lerrhagen lightly flicked his finger.

At that moment, my puppet on the imperial throne disappeared.

Sever’s gaze grew even colder.

A throat-clearing sound echoed softly but clearly in the audience hall.

“Speak clearly. Why exactly do you say she’s asleep?”

Despite Sever’s demeanor, Lerrhagen remained composed.

He seemed to think for a moment, then spoke indifferently.

“Black magic.”

His brief, blunt statement caused tremendous repercussions.

I was shocked by Lerrhagen’s outrageous act of informing a political rival about the emperor being affected by black magic.

‘No!’

Of course, I had planned to let Sever know about the existence of black magic so he could investigate secretly.

However, my original plan was to create a false incident outside the palace, making it seem like a commoner had been affected.

If I suggested black magic was involved, given Sever’s character, he would naturally act for the safety of the empire and its people.

Incidentally, if I mentioned Ilian was at that location, Sever would definitely monitor Ilian, and I could learn about Ilian’s every move without exerting any effort.

Simultaneously, if he investigated secretly under the name of Duke Kelliard, the nobles who knew about the poor relationship between Sever and me wouldn’t suspect me.

But now!

‘How could he reveal that I was affected by black magic! How can he announce the emperor’s crisis like this? And more importantly, will Sever even act properly?’

My mind became complicated.

I wanted to grab Lerrhagen by the collar and shake him to shut up.

The bean-sized respect and admiration I had for him until yesterday completely vanished.

Instead, shock took its place.

I turned my head toward Sever, trying to salvage the situation.

The moment my gaze touched his face, I unconsciously hesitated.

‘Huh…?’

Sever’s face was contorted.

But it was completely different from his earlier anger, closer to an emotion that even I couldn’t describe.

I had never seen him make such a face before.