Though he couldn’t remember exactly, Claude had met her at the victory celebration banquet. Other than that time, he had never conversed with her because he was busy patrolling to strengthen security around the area.

Who was she again?

No matter how hard he tried to remember, no woman from the banquet remained in his mind. So many women had approached him, and he only remembered trying to act polite.

Maybe she was an unremarkable woman since he couldn’t remember anything about her?

After trying and failing to recall, Claude concluded that regardless of her status, she held no value to him.

Instead, he remembered the employee he met at the shop when he went to buy potions.

Of course, he didn’t clearly remember her either, but she had captured his interest more than the Imperial Princess. Her face seemed familiar somehow, and there was something unsettling about her behavior.

Though dressed like a commoner, her mannerisms were unmistakably noble.

Perhaps a fallen noble? He definitely felt he had seen her somewhere before, but couldn’t remember where.

She was probably just one face among the countless crowds he’d passed.

Claude shook his head as he recalled the woman who had looked at him with a peculiar gaze.

Many women looked at him that way. So he concluded she was just another woman who admired him, promptly erased her from his thoughts, and returned to thinking about his marriage.

“Marriage to the Imperial Princess…”

No matter how he thought about it, marriage to the Imperial Princess didn’t appeal to him. But he had an ominous feeling that his father, who always pushed through with whatever he decided, would take some action.

He didn’t care what action his father took, but the fact that the intended partner was the Imperial Princess made things quite troublesome. If the Emperor’s order came down, he might end up married against his will.

That can’t happen.

He had no interest in a forced marriage by someone else’s command. So he firmly vowed never to comply, even if Marquis Usta stubbornly insisted on proceeding with the marriage.

* * *

“Your sister is getting married?”

Celia tilted her head when Lisette told her about Natalie while they were having lunch together.

“Yes. It seems Natalie will be married soon.”

“Are you okay with that? Since she has the Emperor’s love, her marriage partner will likely be from an excellent family.”

Lisette had expected Celia to ask who Natalie was marrying, but surprisingly, she expressed concern for Lisette instead.

“It’s not okay to watch someone who trampled on others’ happiness find happiness for herself.”

Lisette pouted, outwardly showing her displeasure.

“So what are you planning to do? Are you thinking of wishing for the Imperial Princess’s marriage to be ruined?”

“Why, are you going to refuse again because it’s related to the imperial family?”

“I’ll decide after hearing what wish you want to make.”

Celia answered with a prim expression. It seemed she was ready to find some strange excuse to refuse if Lisette made that wish.

Just try to refuse this time.

Lisette looked at Celia with an unfriendly gaze.

Although she was working in exchange for having her wish granted, Lisette still hadn’t told Celia her wish. This was because Celia had suddenly changed her tune after initially saying she would grant any wish that wasn’t illegal.

“I… I want to make a wish.”

Even after explaining her unfair situation and asking Celia to prove she was the Emperor’s daughter,

“No matter what I claim, people will listen to the High Priest, right? They’ll believe someone with authority. I can’t risk my life for something like that.”

Celia had coldly refused.

“Then do you have any potion that can control minds? Please make the Emperor recognize me as his daughter.”

“That would be disastrous. That’s manipulating His Majesty the Emperor. We could be arrested.”

Celia was cautious about anything related to the imperial family. Unable to make her desired wish, Lisette felt cheated.

Yet there was a reason she continued working with Celia.

“Then at least help me find evidence.”

Fed up with being treated like a slave, Lisette had angrily shouted, wanting some other compensation.

“Fine. I’ll give you some magical tools that could be useful. They’re still experimental, but quite usable.”

Celia, perhaps feeling guilty, partially granted her request.

Of course, Celia had impure motives, wanting to use her as a test subject, but tools like recording devices, video recording devices, and various other gadgets proved quite useful. They were effectively used to gather evidence.

“By the way, are you steadily gathering the evidence you want?”

Celia hastily changed the subject, perhaps uncomfortable with Lisette’s gaze.

“Yes, I’m gradually collecting evidence with the experimental tools you gave me.”

“Then the day of revenge isn’t far off.”

“That would be nice, but it’s still not enough.”

‘If only I could prove I’m His Majesty’s real daughter…’

With a bitter expression, Lisette recalled past events, particularly the day the Empress falsely accused her mother of being unfaithful.

When the High Priest revealed that the Emperor and Lisette weren’t father and daughter, the shocked Lisette couldn’t bear to stand before people any longer.

She ran out crying, but no one stopped her. They only looked at her with contemptuous eyes.

Since the Empress had defamed her mother in the Temple’s secret chamber, Lisette, who had fled from there, hid behind a large tree in the Temple and cried.

After crying for a long time, it grew dark, and no one had come looking for her. Cold and scared, Lisette entered a chapel, avoiding people’s eyes.

Since it was evening service time and almost everyone had gathered in the main chapel, no one watched her enter the chapel.

The place Lisette entered had a large statue of Goddess Ella, and the statue was big enough to provide adequate hiding space.

Cold and hungry… she dozed off behind the statue but woke up to the sound of people talking. Judging by the singing still coming from outside, she hadn’t been asleep long.

Who could be here during service time?

Just as she was rubbing her eyes and about to stretch, Lisette froze when she heard a familiar voice.

“I did as instructed, now give me the promised item.”

“Fine. I’ll give it to you, but keep this secret forever in your heart. If you ever speak of it, I won’t let you off.”

The voice belonged to the Empress. She seemed to be talking with a priest.

It was suspicious that she hadn’t returned with the Emperor, but that wasn’t important to Lisette. What mattered more was their suspicious conversation.

“Of course. If it’s discovered that I framed someone, my life would be in greater danger, so I won’t speak of it. Especially since I tampered with the paternity testing tool.”

Impossible! It was really a false accusation? Poor mother.

The moment she heard the word “tampered,” Lisette felt her heart collapse. Fearing she might make a sound, she hurriedly covered her mouth with both hands. Tears came, but she held them back to avoid making noise.

Even after the Empress and the priest left, Lisette remained huddled, unable to go outside. At dawn, when everyone was asleep, she slipped out of the chapel, evading the patrolling priests, and waited outside for daybreak. She needed to ensure no one suspected she had overheard anything.

Her body shivered from the cold, but she was so filled with anger that she didn’t feel cold at all.

However, there was nothing she could do right then. All she could do was clench her fists, determined to clear her mother’s name.

‘I will reveal the truth, no matter what.’

And now, years later, she was gradually gathering evidence to clear her mother’s name with Celia’s help.

As soon as she obtained magical tools from Celia, the first people she visited were the family of the gardener who was said to be her father.

“Why did you lie about the gardener being my mother’s lover? Do you think His Majesty would remain silent if he knew this?”

Though she was known as the abandoned daughter in the palace, these commoners only knew that the Emperor had recognized her as his daughter. Fortunately, when she threatened them using the Emperor’s name, they became frightened and began to confess.

“I’m sorry. We did as we were told.”

“Who told you to do it?”

“The High Priest. He threatened that if we didn’t make you out to be our Jackson’s daughter, he wouldn’t leave us alone.”

“The High Priest?”

“Yes.”

Lisette’s brow furrowed when she heard “High Priest.”

No wonder a mere priest had told such an outrageous lie. The High Priest was involved.

“How exactly did the High Priest threaten you? Tell me specifically.”

“He said he would confiscate our property and make it impossible for us to live in the Alka Empire.”

Seeing the terrified gardener’s family, she could guess how cruel the High Priest was.

Lisette recorded all these facts. For future use. While this alone might serve as evidence, it was far from sufficient.

Instead, she unexpectedly learned about the High Priest’s true nature, so she also began investigating his background.

She needed to expose his immoral actions to increase the likelihood that the Emperor would believe the paternity test he conducted was wrong.

However, with the Empress backing him, investigation and evidence gathering weren’t easy. In this situation, Lisette needed to either drive a wedge between the Empress and the High Priest or bring something that could diminish the Emperor’s trust in them.