Nina’s words flowed on smoothly.

“It isn’t just the newspaper I’m thinking of. More than anything, I want to protect Your Highness. After everything we did to drive out Queen Fabienne and the parliamentary faction……”

Click.

But the smooth current of her argument was cut off by the sound of Andrea leaning back and opening his cigar case.

Nina faltered at the subtle pressure, and an indifferent gaze was tossed her way.

She felt herself shrinking, but indignation stirred beneath it.

That look.

The look he gave her, always without a trace of warmth, had always pricked at Nina. He no longer seemed to see her even as a capable subordinate. It was the look one gave an object one held in contempt.

Like something that had served its purpose and now needed to be discarded.

Resentment that would have left Andrea baffled filled Nina’s heart.

He never looks at that woman Riley like this……

Sure enough, the words he produced matched Nina’s intuition exactly.

“Nina, you’ve been exceptional all this time. Since I chose you from among so many talented people, I’ve never once been disappointed. You were, so to speak, the first mate of the Minerve, someone who could think and fight within that ship. But……”

Andrea’s words began as praise, but his eyes were cold enough that Nina had no choice but to swallow.

As expected, what followed cut like a blade.

“It seems you’ve been under a misapprehension. The Minerve is my ship, and the decision of who boards and disembarks is also mine.”

The color drained from Nina’s lips.

She sat there with only her lips moving, and Andrea delivered his verdict without mercy.

“You’re dismissed, Nina. Your severance will be generous enough for you to start your own independent paper.”

˗ˋˏ ♡ ˎˊ˗

Nina stood blankly at the coach stand, waiting for a carriage.

She was wrapped in outrage, betrayal, and a burning sense of injustice.

From the moment she was chosen by His Highness during her Academy days, she had given him nothing but loyalty. She had poured every talent and effort she had into the newspaper she built for him.

And yet…… how could he simply dismiss her like this.

He was royalty, but at times she had felt they were comrades on the same vessel.

She had never doubted that they were steering something far greater than the Daily Minerve together, the great ship of the Aurelion royal house and the Kingdom of Arvel itself.

And now, after all that, she was being told to step off the ship she had been steering all this time, because of one scheming woman?

Nina trembled with a sense of betrayal, like she had been thrown into the middle of a storm-tossed sea.

This can’t be happening.

Her fists clenched, and her face drained to a pale, furious white.

Darkness settled around Nina as every carriage departed and left her standing there, but she did not move.

After a long while, she seemed to reach some kind of decision, and began walking with grim, purposeful steps.

˗ˋˏ ♡ ˎˊ˗

“Welcome, Miss Nina.”

Fabienne smiled brightly as Nina stepped inside.

She was still every bit the magnificent queen, only thinner, but Nina went rigid at the sight of her. Something chilling emanated from the deposed former queen, perhaps because she sat in a dark corner of the room.

Nina composed herself quickly, offered a polite greeting, and was shown to a seat.

The moment Nina sat down, Fabienne asked her question with blunt directness, and the urgency in her manner was plain.

“Have you finally made up your mind? I need your help desperately.”

Watching a queen who had once defined an era look at her with earnest pleading, Nina’s resolve only hardened.

She answered in a firm, self-affirming tone.

“Yes, I’ll help. That woman is deeply harmful to His Highness the Crown Prince. But since telling him directly has done nothing, I believe it is also a form of loyalty to handle it on his behalf.”

Fabienne listened to Nina’s words and nodded with evident satisfaction.

“Exactly. Miss Nina does her duty as a loyal subject and protects the crown prince, and I protect my son. What mother could stand by and watch her son, a child of noble blood, be endlessly mocked and scorned among the kingdom’s people?”

Prince Henry was also Fabienne’s lifeline.

With Andrea gone, her son Henry would hold the right of succession as the legitimate heir. For that, she needed bait.

But there was no need to show this woman her true hand. Better to let this foolish girl go on believing she was acting out of loyalty.

Fabienne smiled graciously and deflected.

“Come to think of it, it is rather remarkable that removing just that one woman would protect both princes. Don’t you think, Miss Nina?”

What was so special about a scheming creature like her, anyway.

Fabienne read the look in Nina’s eyes, which seemed to agree wholeheartedly with that final barb.

In truth, she had already learned through Parnelli that the woman living at 1 Meymond Street was the Daily Minerve’s illustrator.

But her informants, unable to get close to the woman herself, had tailed Nina instead, one of the people who came and went from that address, and eventually brought her here.

At that first meeting, Fabienne had learned something even more startling from Nina. The illustrator named Riley had been living beside Crown Prince Andrea all this time, disguised as a male attendant.

“So that’s how it was……”

Fabienne had initially had no way of knowing how the illustrator she had once employed had ended up working for the other side, and had gone on to win over the crown prince.

But it turned out she had spent years working as his personal attendant, right at his side.

She could not know the full details, but she could now guess why the crown prince was constantly coming and going from that house.

The crown prince must have known she was a woman from the beginning…… or perhaps they had already been lovers by then.

The fact that she had drawn and sold an illustration of the crown prince might simply mean she had not known who he was.

Fabienne was the one who had orchestrated the scheme, but she had only ever communicated with those involved by post, with multiple intermediaries between them. She had no way of knowing the inner workings of a mere illustrator she had simply paid.

Either way, what mattered was that the illustrator was still someone precious to the crown prince.

That’s enough.

She had been struggling to find anyone worth taking hostage, and Andrea’s conduct had been frustratingly difficult to fault. There had been no point of counterattack.

But now there was.

Fabienne smiled to herself as she reviewed her plan, and Nina asked carefully, in a tone that sought reassurance.

“So after ‘the matter’ is done, you will thoroughly conceal where I hide and where I go?”

“Oh, of course. You have nothing to worry about, Miss Nina. Everything will be attributed to me. All you need to do is lure that woman out.”

Fabienne had been told that the one or two covert guards Andrea had stationed at 1 Meymond Street made it impossible for her hired men to get any closer. Observing the house for too long risked getting caught as well. The same was true whenever the woman went out alone, so every opportunity to approach had been cut off at the source.

That alone tells me this is no ordinary relationship.

Fabienne smiled, certain the odds of success had just risen considerably.

But Nina felt a chill in that smile and shivered.

She thought about pulling back even now, but a heavy pouch had already been placed on the table.

“This is your advance. The rest will be paid the same day the job is successfully completed. It is enough gold to live comfortably for the rest of your life in another country, so I trust Miss Nina will not be changing her mind.”

The subtly threatening tone frightened Nina a little. She was certain that backing out now would not end well for her.

On top of that, thinking of Riley, who had pushed her out of the Minerve, only hardened her resolve.

She took the pouch and answered in a voice that was steadier than she felt.

“I will not change my mind. Miss Riley is the one clouding His Highness the Crown Prince’s judgment right now. For the sake of the Minerve, for His Highness, and for the Kingdom of Arvel, it is better that she disappears from his side.”

Fabienne gave a satisfied smile at Nina’s bold conviction.

˗ˋˏ ♡ ˎˊ˗

A few days later.

“Oh, honestly.”

Riley looked at the necklace she had been more or less forced to put on, studying her reflection in the mirror.

“It’s blinding.”

The craftsman’s skill was evident. The necklace scattered the morning light and sparkled brilliantly.

Nancy, the maid watching from beside her, chimed in.

“It really suits you perfectly, Miss. It’s the finest jewel I’ve ever seen!”

Riley knew Nancy was not just flattering her. The luminous necklace made even her own eyes in the mirror look brighter and more alive.

But she let out a small sigh and turned the problem over in her mind.

“Hmm…… it’s beautiful, but……”

Riley was fidgeting with the necklace and looking hesitant, and the jeweler standing nearby grew anxious and asked carefully.

“Is there something…… about the craftsmanship that displeases you? If you wish, I can add smaller diamonds around it to make it more elaborate. Done that way, you would shine like moonlight at any banquet you attend!”

“Oh, no. It’s not that……”

The reason Riley was sighing so heavily was not that she found anything lacking. It was that the necklace was too beautiful.