The emperor found her too beautiful to cast out, so he allowed her to remain in the palace.

‘Though you were once my daughter, I can hold you in my heart but cannot give you more affection than that. So I’ll give you a choice. Whether to stay in the palace like this, or go to a convent.’

Instead, he gave Lisette a choice. It was his maximum consideration for a woman he had loved but felt betrayed by.

‘I’ll stay in the palace.’

She must endure until mother’s false accusations are cleared!

Staying in the palace meant enduring piercing gazes from others, but Lisette chose to remain without hesitation because she needed to persevere until she found evidence.

The empress was displeased with the emperor’s decision but had to be satisfied with Lisette falling out of the emperor’s favor.

As expected, this day marked the beginning of Lisette’s difficult life, but she strived to overcome any hardship and gather evidence that could clear her mother’s name.

However, there was one problem. Finding evidence while avoiding the empress’s watchful eyes was not easy. This was because living a restricted life in the palace limited her evidence collection.

‘I heard that mage who occasionally visits the palace is quite skilled?’

‘You mean that young female mage with pink hair? I received a medicine from her, and my pain disappeared instantly. She must have excellent magical skills.’

Then one day, Lisette heard rumors that a mage occasionally visited the imperial palace.

Hoping to receive help, Lisette wished for her to visit the detached palace as well, and when she heard rumors that she had come to the detached palace, she waited for her to pass through the rear garden.

Since people with pink hair were rare in the Alka Empire, Lisette, who was waiting on the path leading outside the palace, hurriedly approached when she saw a woman who looked like a mage passing by.

‘Are you the mage? Can you… can you help me?’

It would have been natural to be surprised when someone grabbed a passerby and made such an abrupt request, but the mage didn’t look startled at all. Rather, she looked at Lisette with sympathetic eyes.

‘What do you want to ask of me?’

‘It’s my personal matter so I’m hesitant to tell you now, but I need your help.’

After hearing Lisette’s words, Celia tilted her head to one side.

‘Actually, I do grant wishes as a side job…’

‘Really? That’s fortunate.’

Seeing a glimmer of hope, Lisette’s face brightened.

‘Ah, of course, I can’t grant just any wish. My magic has limitations. So I can’t do illegal things like creating gold coins to make you rich. I can’t grant wishes that would get me arrested for breaking the law.’

‘What I want to ask isn’t something that would break the law.’

‘Is that so? Then I might be able to grant your wish. But I can’t do it for free.’

‘I’ll give you as much as you need.’

‘I don’t need money.’

‘Then what?’

‘Can you help me with my work? It’s been overwhelming working alone since my father passed away.’

‘Would I be able to do it?’

‘Of course.’

‘Then I’ll do it. I can do anything if I can get help.’

And so, before she knew it, Lisette became a slave at Celia’s shop.

Busy making magical tools, Celia worked her like a slave, and Lisette regretted accepting the job for the entire first week.

She had to clean the shop, polish all those magical tools daily, sell items when customers came, and display the odds and ends Celia created.

It was a series of exhausting tasks without time to rest, and she wanted to quit several times, but Lisette had to endure, believing in the possibility of clearing her mother’s name.

But they say familiarity is frightening. The more time she spent working at the shop, the more she started to think it was okay despite being overworked.

Conversing with customers at the shop was much better than being alone without anyone to talk to in the palace. No, it seemed better to live simply as a commoner rather than an imperial princess.

Of course, this life had a precondition. It was peace predicated on being able to hide Lisette’s identity.

Still, this is better than nothing.

Grateful for her current situation, Lisette hoped her present life would continue a little longer, but the peace she envisioned didn’t last as long as she expected. It shattered the moment she saw the list of appointments after finishing cleaning.

Claude Usta.

The moment she discovered the familiar name written there, Lisette felt her breath stop.

She wanted to deny it, refusing to believe it, but no matter how she thought about it, the surname Usta she knew belonged to only one prestigious noble family in the Alka Empire.

‘Could it be the person I know…?’

Claude might not know Lisette well, but she knew too much about him.

Claude Usta was the eldest son of Marquis Usta and the captain of the imperial guard leading the imperial guards. He was an imperial hero who had returned after suppressing the northern barbarians with minimal forces, and thanks to his achievements, his popularity soared.

‘I wish I could at least exchange words with Sir Usta.’

It was natural for many women to admire him, and nobles with daughters also wanted him as their son-in-law.

Although he had the drawback of being somewhat prickly and arrogant, even this came across as charming to the young ladies, so his popularity never waned.

As a result, he was often discussed among various maids, so Lisette couldn’t help but know of him.

It would be a lie to say she had no interest in him. However, he was a man who didn’t match her current circumstances at all, so she was closer to turning off her interest.

On the other hand, Claude might vaguely know about Lisette, but he had never seen her face. This was because she had to wear a black veil whenever she went out.

‘He won’t recognize me.’

Since it was the first time meeting Claude without a veil, he had no way of recognizing her. Yet she worried because Claude was a knight with good instincts.

Lisette’s appearance, deliberately dressed in rustic clothes with disheveled hair and even wearing glasses, was not that of a noble by anyone’s standards. An ordinary person wouldn’t imagine she was a noble, but Claude could be different.

Through training, he was likely to have keener senses than others. So no matter how hard she tried to hide it, he might notice she was a noble by observing her gestures, ingrained with noble etiquette.

Or the unique flower scent from the detached palace’s rear garden might have permeated her body, making her discoverable despite wearing plain clothes.

If Claude caught her having gone outside, she could be expelled from the imperial palace for leaving without permission, so Lisette couldn’t help but feel anxious.

‘I hope he doesn’t come…’

Because of this, Lisette had to remain on edge until the day the man with the appointment visited. She had to pray and pray to God that her thoughts were wrong, that someone else had written the surname incorrectly.

“Welcome.”

When the day came, the man visited the shop at his appointed time.

The man who entered with light footsteps despite his sturdy physique had soft silver hair and deep blue eyes that could penetrate to the abyss, and a thick masculine scent emanated from him.

The moment he entered, Lisette couldn’t help but stop what she was doing and stare.

She had clearly expected him to come and had resolved many times to act nonchalant, but the pressure flowing from him and his solemn expression made her nervous heart and trembling simply refuse to stop.

“Did you, did you come to buy a potion?”

No matter how calmly she tried to speak, she couldn’t. Her voice trembled, and she kept stuttering without realizing it.

‘Oh no. What if he finds my stuttering strange?’

Lisette glanced at Claude, watching his reaction.

“I made a reservation under the name Claude Usta, so check it.”

Contrary to her worries, Claude replied in a confident tone, seemingly unconcerned with her behavior.

She thought he would find it strange, but fortunately, he didn’t seem to care about her unusual behavior. Rather, his cold gaze and commanding tone made her feel like he was looking down on her.

Even when someone appears to be a commoner, many people still act politely, but he was not one of them. He was an arrogant and haughty man, just like the rumors said.

“Yes.”

Is it really okay?