Especially among the common people, Marchioness Buffon’s popularity had been considerable, and noble merchants who frequently dealt with commoner merchants had also viewed her favorably, so if it was discovered that Eldris had stolen Lashardian, even as Empress she wouldn’t be safe.

And the fact that Eldris had shown this to her was truly important to Isabella. Because from this moment, she and her mother had become accomplices.

“I told you, didn’t I? I wouldn’t leave even a single trace of that wench.”

The Empress’s blue eyes shone coldly.

When she’d been an imperial consort, she’d hated Marchioness Lasha Buffon, the Emperor’s lover, far more than Jenith Lun Jeremiah, who’d been Empress at the time. There was the fact that she hated seeing the marchioness, who wasn’t even a great beauty, monopolizing the Emperor’s love, but it was because she was of commoner origin.

Eldris, who valued bloodline and class, couldn’t stand eating, sleeping, and breathing in the same place as a commoner wench. She’d often had breathing difficulties, saying the imperial palace air had become dirty because of Lasha.

One lucky commoner had entered and settled as the Emperor’s lover in the imperial palace she’d barely entered while regarding it as her life’s goal, and moreover was receiving more love than herself—for Eldris, it was maddening.

The day the Emperor, who’d never given jewels with names he’d personally attached even to the Empress and imperial consort, gave tremendous jewels with a grand name to a mere commoner lover, Eldris had resolved to correct this ‘greatly wrong reality.’

So she’d killed her. Though it had taken a long time to arrange things so no one could catch evidence, the result was very satisfying.

The marchioness’s carriage returning after meeting her birth parents for the first time in a while had crashed below a cliff in a place very far from the road returning to the imperial palace, and the imperial palace knights had retrieved the marchioness’s bloodied corpse.

No one could know why the carriage was there or why it had rolled below the cliff. Since the knights who’d escorted the marchioness, the coachman who’d driven the carriage, and the marchioness’s maid had all died too, naturally no one knew except the Empress who’d instigated it.

“The biggest trace that wench left was exactly Elizabeth. Now that I can get rid of even that, it feels like ten years of indigestion is going down.”

Watching the Empress smile proudly, Isabella also forced the corners of her mouth up to smile, but she was frightened as if facing the pitch-black abyss of hatred existing inside her mother for the first time.

“You don’t need to be so tense. His Majesty the Emperor doesn’t have many days left to live. And the plan to put Orban on the throne is also progressing smoothly. When Orban becomes Emperor, this necklace will be able to see the light of day too.”

Isabella felt like she could hear the words omitted after that.

‘So continue moving for Orban from now on too.’

Since she’d seen that Lashardian existed, for knowing this and keeping her mouth shut not to be a crime, Orban had no choice but to become Emperor. Eldris hadn’t brought out Lashardian for mere celebration, but to bind Isabella even more.

And Isabella, who’d realized that meaning, felt like her eyes were going dark. Because actually, to her eyes, it didn’t seem like Orban would become Emperor.

Though the prestige of Marquis Brommel, her mother’s natal family, was tremendous, and quite powerful noble families had converted to Orban’s faction through underground work until now, there were still far more neutral nobles.

And since most of them were the Emperor’s loyal subjects, at the critical moment they’d definitely throw their votes to Pamir’s side, whom the Emperor was pushing.

‘If I stay like this, I’ll become the scapegoat. If anything happens by any chance, Mother will pin everything on me.’

For Isabella, who’d watched her mother for a long time, making that level of guess wasn’t difficult. Isabella resolved to figure out how to survive on her own.

“That’s right, Mother. Even the marchioness couldn’t properly pull off this necklace. The person with beauty and presence who can overcome this splendor is naturally Mother, right? Don’t you think so, Rosalie?”

Though Isabella’s appearance praising her mother was a bit embarrassing, Rosalie also agreed with Isabella’s words and praised Eldris’s beauty to the fullest. Pleased by those words, Eldris showed generosity to her daughter for the first time in a while.

“You too should now adorn yourself only with the finest things that suit you. I’ll call in the capital’s most popular jeweler soon, so choose whatever you want to your heart’s content.”

“Thank you, Mother. I always don’t know what to do with your love and grace.”

Isabella succeeded in hiding her changed thoughts with her usual acting.

⁕⁕⁕

Elizabeth began preparing to go to Kartran. The wedding ceremony would be held in Kartran in Kartran style, but when Su Mai Tan came to officially fetch Elizabeth two months later, they planned to also hold a simple wedding ceremony at the imperial palace.

Considering the schedule for the delegation to return to Kartran then prepare and come again anyway, two months wasn’t a very generous period. Originally it should have required at least half a year of preparation, but the lovers who wanted to be together even a day sooner hoped to cut out all formalities and hold it as simply as possible.

That too satisfied Eldris’s mood, so conversely she even gave orders to prepare with maximum budget as Elizabeth’s schedule allowed.

Thanks to that, Vivian recently dropped by Phivoigne Palace once or twice a week to help Elizabeth choose dresses and jewels to take. Of course, since Elizabeth was the one with aesthetic sense, Vivian was actually learning how to look at jewels from Elizabeth.

“Between these two, one is a pink diamond and one is a magenta diamond. Can you tell the difference?”

“Umm…… umm…… i-isn’t this side the pink diamond?”

“Why did you think so?”

“The color seems…… a bit lighter.”

“Wrong! That’s a very low grade magenta diamond. Look carefully. This diamond is much higher grade, right? Yet it has a pink tint, so this side is the pink diamond. Pink diamonds don’t have a ‘low grade’ class itself. Magenta diamonds have quite a bit more production than pink diamonds and grades are also classified. The lower the grade, the lighter the color. That’s why jewelers who deceive people by selling low-grade magenta diamonds as pink diamonds emerge. Understand?”

“Um…… actually, I don’t really understand why this one is higher grade……”

“What? No, how can you not know this? The sparkle is completely different!”

Elizabeth jumped as if she’d heard something outrageous, but to Vivian’s eyes, no matter how much she looked, it was all the same. Both sparkled prettily, but neither particularly seemed to sparkle more.

“Oh, Vivian! Vivian, never buy pink diamonds from now on. You’ll definitely be scammed.”

“I had no intention of buying them anyway.”

Vivian, who’d been pouting for no reason, had her gaze stolen again by the jewels the jeweler spread before Elizabeth while barely holding back laughter about to burst out. Watching that appearance, Elizabeth asked with a pleased face.

“Is there a jewel you’re interested in? Vivian’s eyes finally have focus.”

“N-no. I was just looking because it’s pretty.”

However, the jeweler’s eyes were faster. The jeweler picked up a ruby brooch from the middle of the black velvet box and placed it on the plate in front of Vivian.

“Her Highness the Princess seems worried, but seeing how you recognized this brooch at a glance, you also have considerable aesthetic sense. Everyone knows pigeon blood rubies are top grade, but many don’t know that pigeon blood’s value differs again depending on origin. This brooch was made by cutting raw stones from Ruban’s Mogok region, which has the finest quality even among pigeon blood rubies. It’s 1.5 times more expensive than ordinary pigeon blood rubies. Look. This vivid color and transparency. Recently, all jewelers with some name in the capital are desperately trying to obtain this Mogok region pigeon blood.”

“Hmm. Certainly, opportunities to see such beautiful rubies are rare. Do you like rubies, Vivian?”

“Ah, that’s…… no, I just, there was something red smack in the middle so I looked at it.”

Vivian momentarily resented herself for casting her gaze toward the ruby brooch, and resented the jeweler for not missing and reading that.

It never needed to become this much of a topic. She had only thought that the ruby resembled Luciel’s eyes, but she could not say that now. If Elizabeth found out, she would definitely ask her to recount the anecdote of thinking about Luciel at the banquet.

However, Elizabeth seemed to think Vivian was being shy and picked up that ruby brooch to look at it for a while.

“It’s pretty but it wouldn’t suit you, Vivian.”

“I’m not really interested in jewels……”

“No way! Jewels are noble common sense, common sense! Leave this and let’s look at emeralds that resemble your  eye color.”

Fortunately, Elizabeth’s interest shifted to the emeralds, and Vivian had to look once more at the ruby brooch that had returned to its place before participating again in a quiz to guess which among the emerald earrings Elizabeth had picked up was the more expensive product.

This time, the product she guessed was truly the highest grade emerald, and ultimately those earrings were awarded as a gift for Vivian.

Vivian refused adamantly, but Elizabeth held out the earrings with even tears welling up.

“I’m sorry I can’t give you something better, Vivian, after you stepped forward to marry a stranger in my place. This is a gift to promise our eternal friendship.”

Since she said that much, there was no way to refuse further, so Vivian ultimately had to return home holding expensive jewels that weren’t in her fate.

⁕⁕⁕