I tilted my head slightly to look at the person blocking the sunlight. The one who appeared was none other than Lerrhagen, the very person who had been giving me “headaches” these past few days.

“What are you doing?”

“What are YOU doing here, Lord? When you’re usually in the garden.”

It was an unexpected appearance. Instead of answering, Lerrhagen raised his gaze toward the greenhouse I had just left, or more precisely, toward the bird among the gifts in the greenhouse. Then, leisurely, he opened his mouth.

“A Sedriger.”

“Sedriger?”

“Sent by the beast folk?”

“If you’re talking about that three-headed bird, then yes. Do you know this bird?”

“It’s a spirit beast of the beast folk. Each of the three heads sees the past, present, and future.”

“Oh.”

My eyes lit up at this unexpected function. But his next words immediately made me look disappointed.

“But it can’t speak.”

“…Then what use is that ability?”

“That’s why I called it a spirit beast. If it were truly useful, they wouldn’t use it as a spirit beast but would use it for fortune-telling.”

Theoretically, he wasn’t wrong. After finishing his words, Lerrhagen gazed leisurely at the greenhouse.

I looked at him for a moment, then spoke grumpily. “This is all your fault, Lord.”

“My fault again.”

“Why did you issue such an order? Telling everyone to help me when they see me. I nearly fainted when I heard it.”

Thankfully, I had calmed down while finding a place to store the crown Oliphs had given me and arranging various things. Otherwise, I would have gone to confront Lerrhagen much earlier.

However, Lerrhagen looked indifferent, like he didn’t understand why it was such a big problem.

“It wasn’t an order.”

“You told them to help me as much as possible.”

“I said ‘as much as possible.'”

“Do you think anyone would take the words of someone like you at face value?”

“That’s their problem.”

He’s truly arrogant. I snickered and deliberately spoke mockingly.

“Looking at you makes me think I should never become such a ruler. Pushing your subordinates around like that.”

“For someone who says that, you’re quite skilled at tormenting your aide.”

“That’s because it’s Rigan. Rigan exists to be tormented.”

I shrugged while saying something that would make Rigan submit ten resignation letters if he heard it.

Lerrhagen’s gaze fell on me. I pressed my lips together under his transparent, cold blue eyes.

‘What?’ I asked with my eyes, and Lerrhagen let out a long “hmm” before speaking.

“How’s your weapon practice going? You haven’t been coming to the garden lately.”

Could that be why he came? Lerrhagen’s words were true. I hadn’t been to the garden recently. But that wasn’t because I had suddenly become lazy with practice.

“The garden is a bit narrow for wielding a whip, so I deliberately went to the training ground to practice.”

“I see.”

“Why, did you think I was slacking off?”

“Not particularly.”

After saying that, Lerrhagen turned around. However, just when I thought he would disappear immediately, he glanced at me, nodded toward the greenhouse, and opened his mouth.

“The Sedriger can’t speak.”

“…Yes? You just told me that earlier.”

“But it understands words.”

“…”

“Make good use of it.”

With those words, Lerrhagen vanished. I tilted my head at his behavior.

‘Did he come just to tell me this?’

Or was it to check why I hadn’t been coming to the garden?

Either way, it felt different from the Lerrhagen I knew, which made me feel strange.

In the end, I reached the not-very-credible conclusion that Lerrhagen had just been passing by.

‘And he agreed to help me.’

Of course, I still didn’t know why he did that.

Nevertheless, I honestly felt strange. Although I was exasperated by his actions, things had been working out one by one since I asked for his help. Even though communicating with Lerrhagen was somewhat difficult.

‘Sigh. If he were just a bit more reasonable, I would have accepted it gladly.’

In truth, I wasn’t the type to reject others’ goodwill. I was too greedy for that. But Lerrhagen’s actions were being upgraded daily, making it hard to accept them with a smile.

Just when I got used to a level 1 shock, he would give me a level 2 shock, and when I got used to that, he would give me a level 3 shock.

Is he deliberately trying to train me this way? I hope he’s not planning to backstab me later.

I moved along with these pointless thoughts. However, when I almost reached my room, I paused upon seeing Rigan waiting for me in front of the door.

‘It’s not his usual time.’

Since he was the emperor’s aide, it wasn’t good for him to meet the princess frequently, so Rigan usually only reported in the morning and evening. Otherwise, he would be working in the office or doing routine tasks, and he rarely came to my room.

But his confident presence now meant he definitely had business with “Princess Esht.” Having experienced endless gift showers these past few days, I held out my hand, assuming something else had arrived.

Rigan carefully handed me something.

“An invitation.”

“Invitation?”

True to Rigan’s words, what he gave me was a white envelope. I furrowed my brow and entered the room. Rigan followed me in, closed the door, and spoke.

“It’s from the Adler Marquis family.”

“Adler…”

Weren’t they a family that followed Duke Delmen?

I examined Rigan’s expression. His face showed displeasure. In other words, he didn’t like this invitation itself.

From the beginning, Rigan, who was practically raised by the Delmen Duke family, disliked everything related to his family. Always smiling and making sarcastic remarks, he couldn’t hide his true nature when it came to family matters.

I tore the letter open cleanly. Inside was a card with a sweet strawberry scent.

Adler Garden Party.

We await Your Highness the Princess’s attendance.

Margrit Adler.

“Margrit Adler?”

I slightly furrowed my brow. The name sounded vaguely familiar from a social debut party. The first daughter of the Adler Marquis family, wasn’t she? I heard she was a genius, but given the lack of news about her, she was probably just smarter than her peers.

“Why a sudden invitation from the Adler Marquis family? And from the daughter?”

“It seems the Senate has started to be wary after rumors spread about recent events.”

Saying this, Rigan frowned. His glasses lifted slightly with the wrinkles on the bridge of his nose.

I clicked my tongue.

“Relax your face. Why are you being so sensitive about this?”

“Still…”

“The Delmen Duke faction’s attempts to check the imperial family, or rather me, aren’t new. But suddenly a daughter appears, and moreover, a daughter receiving the Dragon Lord’s attention. They must be more anxious.”

“…Sigh.”

“The Dragon Lord lives almost eternally, and just the fact that his daughter could become the empire’s emperor might mean the nobles will never be able to raise their heads before the imperial family.”

Regardless of the truth, in the nobles’ eyes, it would only look like the Dragon Lord, a god-like being, was suddenly protecting the imperial family. Unlike other beings, the power of the Dragon Lord, who lives for eons, would surely prevent the nobles from ever gaining strength.

Honestly, I had anticipated this to some extent when making Lerrhagen my father. Of course, at that time, I didn’t know Lerrhagen would cause such ripples.

Anyway, the fact that the previously quiet nobles suddenly made this move meant they found it somewhat unsettling that I was receiving attention from all species after the crown incident.

“Still, an invitation? Are they planning to have a power struggle with a child? How pathetic.”

“The invitation came in Lady Adler’s name. The party will probably feature children.”

“The Adler Marquis family. I could just not go, but…”

I rolled my eyes. The Adler Marquis family was quite influential in the central government. And if I had to say, I knew them well, and more specifically, they were also somewhat responsible for my current state.

However, unlike other families, the Adler Marquis family was always quieter despite their power. I stared at the invitation.

What did this invitation mean? Flattery or check. Either way, they had invited me, and I was currently the daughter of Emperor Estria. I didn’t think they were stupid enough to invite me only to insult me. But at the same time, they weren’t kind enough to stay quiet.

“Any reports from Sever?”

“His Grace the Duke has only returned to the Knight Order for a few days. And during these days, he must be busy with his return to the Senate.”

‘I thought about waiting for Sever’s report, but I can’t just sit still relying on that alone.’

Besides, lately, Sever had been consistently attending meetings as the Knight Commander and Duke Kelliard, making necessary reports, but he hadn’t brought any information related to black magic.

Of course, it would be ridiculous to demand results right away when only a few days had passed… He seemed quite shocked at the time, but he had been surprisingly quiet.

‘Perhaps he’s deliberately staying quiet to observe the situation for a while. Well, there’s no benefit in unnecessarily provoking whoever sent an intruder to my room.’

Ah, speaking of which, Ilian. I tapped my chin with the invitation.

What should I do with this? Of course, it wouldn’t matter if I didn’t go. But.

“There’s no need to avoid a provocation that comes my way.”