Chapter 80

Seyra, who was beside her, quickly grabbed Adelina’s hand and set the glass down.  

Leophris stood up abruptly, approached where Adelina was, and brushed past her.

“Thank you for coming such a long way.”  

At the welcoming voice of Leophris, Adelina relaxed her tense expression and turned around.  

“Princess.”  

Leophris knelt on one knee and lifted Isabelle’s hand, kissing the back of it.  

“Nice to meet you all.”  

Isabelle, dressed in a splendid golden gown, was smiling brightly with dozens of maids and knights in tow.  

The envoys from other empires all stood up and approached Isabelle.  

“Oh my, to meet Princess Isabelle here! We are very fortunate!”  

It was already known that she was the beloved younger sister of Emperor Grain.  

Sending Isabelle to this dangerous place where skirmishes were occurring was surely a tacit way to exert pressure on them.  

+++

Isabelle exchanged appropriate handshakes and glances with the envoys before approaching Adelina.  

“Queen of Ernst, it’s been a while.”  

You’re the queen of a kingdom? Without even a knight escort and relying on the protection of Tiola Empire’s knights?  

Adelina, who had brought only ten maids, looked endlessly shabby.  

“It’s been a while, Princess Isabelle.”  

When Adelina spoke informally, Isabelle’s eyebrows, which always gracefully arched, twitched slightly.  

‘How long can you keep acting so haughty?’  

Isabelle brushed past Adelina, close enough to touch shoulders, and approached the Petrus envoy’s seat.  

Although an attendant pulled out a chair for her, Isabelle stood there, surveying the people, fixing her gaze on Adelina.  

“Hahaha, Princess Isabelle, it must have been your first long journey like this. Weren’t you afraid?”  

It was amusing to see the other empire envoys anxiously trying to divert their attention, fearing their voices might rise.  

“Afraid? With a dragon? It protected me all the way here.”  

“What?”  

Isabelle raised her index finger and pointed to the sky for the bewildered envoys.  

Following Isabelle’s fingertip, the envoys looked up and immediately pursed their lips.  

A large black shadow swiftly passed over their white table.  

“There it is, Petrus’s dragon.”  

A dragon in silver armor was leisurely flying over the Tiola Imperial Palace garden, reflecting sunlight.  

“Princess Isabelle! How rude!”  

A noble from the Tiola Empire protested loudly, but none of the envoys dared to agree with him.  

‘The dragon crossed the sea!’  

Only this thought occupied their minds.  

+++

Isabelle, assigned to Jasmine Palace, rested briefly with her maids before having a private meeting with the Emperor.  

The unease that dragons might invade the Tiola Empire at any moment permeated the entire palace, creating a subtle sense of disorder.  

Isabelle, accompanied by her maids and escort knights, headed to the Emperor’s audience chamber.  

“They say the horses are all startled…”  

“Well, they were scared of such a huge creature they’d never seen before… I trembled just at the shadow…”  

The whispers of the maids, who glanced at them while gossiping, were faintly audible.  

Upon entering the audience chamber, a rather luxurious chair was placed just below the Emperor’s platform.  

“I greet Your Majesty, the Emperor of the Tiola Empire.”  

“Thirteen years, Princess. You’ve truly become a fine lady.”  

The Emperor showed a gentle smile to Isabelle, who greeted him gracefully without any tension or fear.  

Starting with small talk about her journey, the two continued their secret meeting for an hour.  

When the Emperor rang the bell to signal the end of the meeting, an attendant entered and placed two glasses of cold drinks in front of them.  

Having sufficiently presented their conditions, they each took a sip of the cool drinks to soothe their complex minds.  

“One of the conditions involves Adelina. Do you really intend to make Adelina your niece-in-law?”  

The question that had occupied Isabelle’s mind burst out.  

“If desired, I’d like to make her a daughter-in-law.”  

“I don’t understand at all. Isn’t she someone whose origins are unknown?”  

“Princess, that’s precisely why.”  

“…?”  

As Isabelle still seemed puzzled, the Emperor set down his teacup and smiled broadly.  

“Your intelligence is already well-known. But precisely because of that, no kingdom will propose a royal marriage to you. You’ll act for Petrus, not for the country you marry into.”  

“Yes, because I am a princess of Petrus.”  

“Exactly. That’s the point. Meanwhile, Adelina.”

“She wouldn’t have any patriotism.”

“Right. To gain a remarkable talent, there’s only one condition to fulfill.”  

“Surely… are you referring to a man?”  

Isabelle’s previously haughty face momentarily twisted.  

‘To think her elegant expression, maintained like a doll for an hour, broke over something like this.’  

The Emperor watched Isabelle’s change in expression with interest.  

“Yes, and some women would risk their lives for the man they love.”  

Like Adelina right now.  

Being Lexion’s woman.  

That very part made her humble origins disappear, making her even more desirable!

Isabelle regained her composure.

She was annoyed that her elegance kept getting disrupted because of Adelina.  

‘What? Was it just that?’  

What, I thought it was something grand.  

Adelina, you’re a person easy to exploit here and there, so you’re desirable.  

“You should encourage Jaeyon to try harder.”  

Isabelle saw both the fake being used and those trying to use the fake as insignificant.  

+++

At the same time, Adelina was pacing back and forth from the terrace to the door, biting her lips with her fingers.  

“Your Majesty… your lips are bleeding.”  

Laura, the oldest among the maids, held Adelina’s hand, looking as if she was the one in pain.  

“Haha, it must be because it’s dry in autumn.”  

Caught showing her anxiety, Adelina approached the terrace and looked out the window.  

The garden, which had lost its vibrant flowers, was now occupied by trees beginning to turn brown.  

As the wind swept by once, leaves helplessly fell one by one onto the white chrysanthemums.  

“Your Majesty, we’re back.”  

The door opened cautiously, and Seyra and two maids entered the room.  

Adelina turned towards them.  

“Well… do you have any good news?”  

“Not yet… Your Majesty…”  

Seyra shook her head with a gloomy face.  

“It’s alright. I already thought they wouldn’t move yet.”  

Adelina held the hands of Seyra and the maids, who appeared downcast as if they had failed a mission.  

The envoys from other empires began hurrying to return home.  

However, their definite commitment to support the war was still lacking.  

Especially after Isabelle and the dragon appeared, they seemed reluctant even to meet with Adelina and the maids of Ernst.  

‘If only other empires would move their armies, we could reduce the sacrifice of Ernst’s people…’  

In war, the number of civilian and soldier casualties differed greatly.  

Everyone expected more soldier casualties, but in reality, the sacrifice of civilians without combat abilities was greater.  

Especially if the war was fought on their home soil.  

Adelina unknowingly began pacing the room again, biting her lips.  

“Your Majesty! If you keep biting your lips, I’ll apply bitter medicine!”  

Seyra, upset by the sight, grabbed Adelina’s hand.  

Finally, seeing the slightly blood-stained lips, she sat Adelina in front of the dressing table and applied ointment liberally.  

She applied so much that the bitter taste seeped into Adelina’s mouth.  

+++

As Adelina was about to secretly wipe her lips with a handkerchief, Hailyn entered the room.  

“Your Majesty, you said you’d give a bonus today.”  

Hailyn checked if the door was properly closed and approached Adelina.  

A few days ago, Hailyn had safely sent all the shipbuilders by ship to Ernst.  

“I’ve prepared it.”  

When Adelina pulled out a thin book from the bookshelf, the maids suddenly gathered around, and the room became lively, as if they had never been gloomy.  

Or perhaps they wanted to change the mood somehow.  

“Oh my, Your Majesty, you draw so well!”  

“Indeed. It’s prettier than a famous artist’s painting!”  

‘Of course, it’s pretty. The famous artist drew it realistically, and I drew it like a romance comic.’  

Hailyn and the maids couldn’t take their eyes off the beautiful R-rated illustrations of men and women drawn with a thin pen by Adelina.  

Every time Hailyn turned a page, exclamations burst out.  

“Oh my, what is this picture?”  

Hailyn’s eyes widened even more as she looked at the picture.  

“A service. It’s Jaeyon’s half-n*de.”  

“Whatever you need. Just tell me, Your Majesty.”

Hailyn immediately closed the book.  

Although the maids looked longingly at the closed book, Hailyn stood up, seeming ready to leave the room, and hugged the book tightly to her chest.  

“Elder sister, I learned that good things are to be shared, and delicious things are to be eaten together.”  

Seyra gently tugged at the edge of the book nestled in Hailyn’s chest, suggesting they look at it together a bit more.  

“Little sister, you haven’t learned much about the world. Good things are to be savored slowly alone, and delicious things are to be eaten abundantly alone.”  

Hailyn removed Seyra’s fingers from the precious book, winked at the maids, and left the room.  

“When she’s like that, she’s just like Jaeyon! So mean!”  

“Exactly. Like master, like maid!”  

As Seyra pouted and plopped onto the sofa, the other maids sat next to her, glancing subtly at Adelina.  

“Hahaha… I’ll draw a copy for each of you.”  

Adelina looked at the bookshelf lined with blank books and sighed softly.  

‘Am I going to be locked up for days drawing?’  

“You’ll draw the service too, right?”  

Hearing Seyra’s voice, which was suddenly full of energy, confirmed it 100%.  

+++

The next night, Adelina, with Jaeyon’s help, gathered the envoys she had been negotiating with behind the scenes again in one place.  

In the conference room of the Daffodil Palace, Ernst’s maids continuously filled the transparent glass cups with cold ice.  

“I’ll give you the post-war reconstruction civil engineering project for Ernst and Iberis.”  

Adelina presented a bold condition, and positive words flowed from the envoys early in the meeting, but it soon began to stagnate again.  

“We could propose this to Petrus, couldn’t we? This alone isn’t enough to face the dragon.”

The impact of seeing the dragon was significant.  

Even the envoys who had spoken positively seemed uneasy and were trying to change their stance to neutrality.  

Seyra, seeing Adelina’s lips, which she had moistened before coming, drying out, poured another glass of cold drink.  

“Petrus is rich in resources and has many mountains. There are many other kingdoms around it. You all must know that.”  

“That’s true.”  

“Petrus won’t mention post-war reconstruction across the sea to you. On the other hand, Ernst is an island with few trees. You could sell your abundant wood to us.”

“That’s true, but it’s difficult to become Petrus’s enemy for just this.” 

<Continued in Volume 3…>