I couldn’t understand Ilian’s intentions. Why would he suddenly come to me and say such things?

However, I couldn’t tolerate how he had immediately found and prodded at the greatest weakness in my past.

“You wouldn’t make these baseless accusations out of nowhere… Did someone tell you something? When? Earlier at the Adler mansion?”

“No.”

“Then who? Who told you such things?”

Ilian gazed at me leisurely in response to my question.

Then he slowly opened his mouth.

“The person who sent me to you told me. That you killed not only your siblings but your parents too.”

“…!”

At that moment, I froze completely.

“Ha…”

Ilian continued to stare at me intently. I narrowed my brows and raised my head.

“So, why are you telling me this now? Do you suddenly want to pry into every detail of my miserable past? What benefit is there in confirming whether I really killed my parents or not?”

“Just because.”

“Just because?”

“Just thought I’d let you know.”

“…”

“That’s all.”

After finishing his words, Ilian smiled faintly and turned away.

I didn’t bother to stop him.

Click.

As the door closed, I kept my mouth tightly shut.

‘Who could it be? Why would they tell him such things… To motivate Ilian by saying I’m a vicious person who killed my entire family?’

Of course, that wouldn’t be incomprehensible.

‘What is this uneasy feeling?’

I frowned.

Somehow, it felt like something was stuck in my throat.

* * *

After leaving Esht’s room, Ilian let out a light sigh. His face, which usually carried a relaxed smile, had turned cold.

“Apologize.”

Ilian unconsciously recalled that small figure who had firmly uttered those words in the garden this morning.

Among the countless punishments she could have imposed using her title as princess, what Esht actually chose was the mildest method.

The punishment chosen by a princess who had lived fiercely since childhood.

Apologize.

Sincerely.

She hadn’t added anything else, but Ilian understood.

Since human affairs rarely go according to plan, honestly speaking, he also knew that what happened to him was unavoidable.

So if they had just apologized, if they had begged forgiveness for their sins, she would have been willing to forgive them.

If they had, they wouldn’t have ruined everything.

‘Is that an excuse?’

Thinking this, Ilian smiled bitterly.

To be fair, he wasn’t sure if he would have completely forgiven them even if they had apologized.

‘I would have had to receive an apology to know.’

Muttering this, Ilian continued walking.

Still, he wouldn’t be shaken by something like this. After all, he had something he wanted, and to achieve it, he needed to fulfill his part.

Thinking this as he walked, suddenly a familiar figure appeared from the opposite direction.

Tall and slender build, impeccably neat formal attire, ash-gray hair and glasses, and strangely cold amber eyes hidden behind them.

Rigan was carrying several documents in his arms, perhaps heading to report to Estria.

Ilian didn’t bother to acknowledge him. The other would prefer it that way too.

As he thought this and passed by, suddenly Rigan murmured, “Be aware of your situation.”

At that moment, Ilian hesitated.

Turning his head to look at Rigan’s back, he slightly furrowed his brow. But soon he smiled faintly and continued walking.

Meanwhile, Rigan, having passed by Ilian, quietly stood in front of Estria’s room. His gaze fell on the paper at the top of the document stack in his arms.

[Your sister will come soon.]

Looking at it, he closed his eyes, his thoughts unreadable. After some time, he opened his eyes again, clicked his tongue, and crumpled the paper.

Stuffing the crumpled paper inside his formal jacket, he took a deep breath and then, with a slightly brighter expression, raised his hand.

Knock, knock.

“Your Majesty, may I come in?”

“Come in.”

Permission was immediately granted, and the door opened.

“You’re here? I was just about to tell you something I heard earlier—”

Seeing Esht speaking eagerly as soon as he entered, Rigan nodded casually.

Click.

Soon the door closed.

* * *

After the garden party at the Adler marquis residence, the nobles of the Senate seemed to be cautious.

Well, after creating such a public mess, they must have realized I wasn’t a princess to be taken lightly.

Even without that chaos, the “young masters and misses” of noble families who had heard my words that day would surely have returned home with their own reports.

And the content of those reports would definitely not have been something the nobles would like.

Anyway, I met with Marquis Adler a few more times after that.

To be precise, I observed his demeanor through a doll rather than in person, but I didn’t notice anything unusual.

He simply mentioned that his daughter had been disrespectful at the garden party and promised that such incidents wouldn’t happen again.

That was somewhat unexpected.

I thought he would make a fuss about what I did to his eldest daughter. Did I scare him that effectively?

While I was sighing with relief at having avoided troublesome matters, I realized I had underestimated these nobles when I saw Evelyn standing nervously before me.

“Your Highness.”

“What is it?”

Evelyn jumped at my curt voice.

Her soft face showed the same anxiety I had seen recently.

I softened my expression slightly at this, though I still frowned as I looked at Rigan.

Rigan sighed at my look.

Then he spoke kindly:

“Marquis Adler suggested that Lady Evelyn would make a good playmate for Your Highness, since you seemed to get along well during your previous meeting.”

Damn it all!

I realized I had dug my own grave.

These cunning foxes are sending someone to my side because of that incident?

For Marquis Adler, who had tried to keep me in check through Margrit, it wasn’t strange to approach me using the pretext of helping his second daughter.

After all, noble families using their children for gain was nothing new.

What angered me, however, was Evelyn, who probably knew nothing of her father’s intentions and was simply pushed to come here.

If she approached with clear intentions like Margrit, I could at least be on guard, but not knowing what she might say or how she might relay information made her even more dangerous.

“Shall I refuse?”

At Rigan’s question, Evelyn’s eyes drooped.

She probably never thought she could actually become my playmate.

But being a child, she couldn’t hide the clear disappointment in her eyes.

What should I do? Of course, an outright refusal would be most efficient.

But the problem was that if I sent this child back, who knew what Marquis Adler might do.

‘He’s the kind of man who ignored how Margrit treated Evelyn, just because she was useless to him.’

Of course, how Evelyn was treated by the Marquis and his wife wasn’t my concern.

I had no obligation to save all the children in this world.

But somehow, it kept bothering me.

‘What should I do?’

I fell into contemplation. A brief silence followed. Evelyn looked at me with a tense face.

Glancing at her, I deliberately raised my voice a tone higher than usual.

“What if she goes back to the Marquis and reveals my secrets?”

Rigan looked slightly surprised at the mention of secrets.

But this wasn’t meant for Rigan in the first place.

I crossed my arms firmly and looked at Evelyn.

“I’m a princess after all. I know certain secrets floating around the palace. What if she goes and tells everything to Marquis Adler?”

Realistically, how many secrets could a six or seven-year-old princess know? But I knew it would be different for a child.

Sure enough, Evelyn shook her head vigorously and said:

“I, I would never tell!”

“You’re lying.”

“It’s true! I’m only here because Father sent me… and since I met Your Highness last time, I was happy about it…”

“So when your father asks ‘What happened today?’ you’ll tell him everything. Do you think I don’t know? You’re going to tattle.”

Phew, children’s speech patterns are really difficult.

But is this really how children talk?

I glanced at Rigan beside me.

Rigan frowned slightly and mouthed:

‘Too much.’

‘Oh, was it too much?’

‘Yes, very.’

But while normal conversation was one thing, I wasn’t sure how to tell a child to keep her mouth shut.

I couldn’t exactly threaten to kill her if she spoke carelessly.

However, Evelyn was already flustered by my words, fidgeting nervously.

Watching her desperate to prove her “innocence,” I smiled inwardly.

Still cuter than Margrit.

Thinking this to myself, I approached her with a serious face.

“Promise me one thing. Then you can be my playmate.”

“What…?”

“Don’t tell the Marquis anything about what happens in this palace. And don’t even tell him that I told you not to tell. If he asks… just say what games we played.”

Evelyn’s eyes widened at my words.

Perhaps she thought it would be harder? Her eyes sparkled.

“Yes! I’ll definitely, definitely keep the secret!”