The Emperor addressed Robellia, who was frozen with tension. 

“Robellia, my daughter. Repeat the story you have heard.”

“I… I…”

Robellia stammered, unable to form a coherent response. The Emperor’s expression darkened, and the Crown Prince glared at her with icy eyes. Trembling, Robellia finally forced herself to speak. 

“Lady Suther… asked Duke Roxas if he intended to declare independence for his duchy.”

At her words, the nobles began to murmur. The Emperor raised his hand and silence quickly returned to the hall. His gaze shifted to Lady Suther, kneeling on the floor beneath the platform. 

“I entrusted you with my daughter, believing you to be loyal. And yet you dared to conspire against the crown within the Imperial Palace.”

“That was not my intention! Your Highness, the princess must have misunderstood due to her lack of education… Ugh!”

Lady Suther, struck by the guard’s boot, rolled across the floor in agony. The faint sobbing of the maids turned to wailing cries. Robellia instinctively raised her hands to cover her ears, but stopped when she felt Raves’ piercing gaze fixed on her. She lowered her trembling hands and stood frozen.

“All traitors present here will be executed immediately, and tomorrow the fate of their families will be decided. As for Duke Roxas, he will not escape beheading as a prisoner.”

At his command, the maids were dragged out one by one, their sobs giving way to desperate cries. None of the nobles in the hall dared to intervene or speak out. The horrifying scene had silenced them all. Robellia rubbed her sweat-soaked palms against her skirt, her heart pounding uncontrollably.

Satisfied with the outcome, the Emperor rose from his seat. Robellia’s mind raced as she replayed Raves’ words. “Duke Roxas will be beheaded. And his family… Akan.” The realisation sent a jolt through her. She quickly followed her father, who was leaving the hall with steady, measured steps.

“F-Father, I… I need to talk to you…”

“Come with me.”

The Emperor said nothing as they walked to his office, the silence stretching unbearably for Robellia. Even when they arrived, she was too anxious to sit down, shifting nervously on her feet. The Emperor, on the other hand, sank comfortably into his plush armchair, looking completely at ease. He spoke first.

“Well done, Robellia.”

“What?”

“Go on, speak your mind. Thanks to you, I’ve gained a lot – so I’ll grant you whatever you want”.

The young princess couldn’t understand the situation, but everything was going exactly as the Emperor had planned.

Neither Duke Roxas, a staunch traditionalist, nor the ageing Lady Suther were really capable of treason. However, the Emperor had no intention of passing up the chance to eliminate the ever-irritating Duke Roxas. However trivial or commonplace the remarks may have been, the Princess’s interpretation gave him all the justification he needed.

Unaware of her father’s true motives, Robellia could only think of one thing: ‘Akan must not die.’ She spoke urgently.

“Yes, yes. It’s about Lord Roxas…” 

“Go on.”

Robellia’s eyes darted nervously as she searched for words. She had to find a way to save Akan – she couldn’t just stand by and let him be executed. Her father seemed to be in a surprisingly good mood, a stark contrast to the sombre atmosphere earlier, which gave her a glimmer of hope.

“H-he… he said he had no intention of committing treason.”

“What are you saying?”

“H-he told me himself! That he respects Your Majesty and… and that he dislikes his father.”

The Emperor gave a short, incredulous laugh. The idea was absurd. There had never been any serious discussion of treason, and it was even more absurd to think that a little boy would say such a thing.

“Robellia, you’ve been very helpful this time, so I was thinking of rewarding you. Why are you acting like this all of a sudden?” 

“Reward?”

Robellia’s eyes widened at the unexpected word, her naivety on full display. The Emperor looked at her with a mixture of pity and frustration. Had he raised his pawn of a daughter to be too foolish? A wave of weariness swept over him as he furrowed his brow.

Seeing her father’s expression darken, Robellia panicked even more. She couldn’t shake the image of Akan crying in a cold, dark cell.

“Y-you’re not going to execute Akan too, are you?”

“Well…”

The Emperor stroked his chin, feigning thoughtfulness. He wanted to extinguish the Roxas bloodline completely, but he knew that such an act would provoke a considerable backlash from the nobles. Although weakened by the Duchess’s illness, the family was still highly respected.

Unaware of the political intricacies, Robellia, driven by desperation, fell to her knees and clung to her father’s feet.

“Father, please spare him. I’ll do whatever it takes. I’ll be more useful to you.”

The Emperor didn’t spare her a glance, his mind busy calculating. Killing a mere child might unite the dissenters and cause more trouble than it was worth. If Robellia was so desperate, sparing the boy’s life might serve as an effective leash. There were other, less direct ways to eliminate the last heir of House Roxas without further staining his hands.

Having come to a decision, the Emperor finally spoke. 

“Since you have begged so earnestly, I will settle this by making him a slave.”

Relief flickered in Robellia’s violet eyes, but just as she began to relax, the Emperor’s voice rang out again. 

“But…”

Robellia swallowed hard, her nerves returning as she braced herself for what was to come.

Robellia, not understanding the deeper meaning of her father’s words, nodded unconditionally. If she obeyed her father, Akan would not die. That was all that mattered.

“Your brother will tell you what to do. If you do it well, the boy’s life will be spared.”

“Yes, father…”

To save Akan, Robellia willingly became a puppet of the Emperor and Crown Prince. Her increasingly embellished testimony implicated countless innocent nobles in the treasonous plot. The capital was consumed by a never-ending storm of bloodshed, and Robellia was even summoned to the execution grounds as a witness.

The daily sight of horrific scenes filled her with fear and anguish, but she justified it by telling herself she was saving Akan. She had no way of knowing what really happened to Akan after he was sold into slavery. All she could confirm, under the Emperor’s watchful eye, was that he hadn’t been executed and had indeed become a slave.

The nobles chose silence to avoid being implicated, but they all knew it was all a play orchestrated by the Emperor. Unable to openly oppose him, they directed their resentment elsewhere, and Robellia’s reputation sank to its lowest depths. Naturally, the stream of children visiting the princess’s palace as playmates dried up completely. The newly appointed maids, wary of the “foolish” princess, were careful never to speak freely in her presence.

It was only years later, when Robellia was older and a little more perceptive, that she realised she had been nothing more than a pawn in the Emperor and Crown Prince’s absolute power. By then, she had long since been called both a princess and a witch behind her back.

With no one to lean on, the once cheerful and vivacious princess lost her spark and became a submissive doll. The magnificent palace in which she lived was nothing more than a showcase to contain the lonely princess.

As Robellia grew older, she came to understand that she was a hollow shell – nothing more than a princess in name only, with no real purpose. Even when she was told that no noble family would take her as a bride and that she would have to marry into a distant foreign royal family, she simply nodded obediently. And then.