When I returned to the residence, I saw employees busily running towards Bershua’s room.

And soon, several carriages seemed to enter the main gate of the residence, and the people who got off them also rushed hurriedly to Bershua’s room.

It seemed that Father had employed many people to educate Bershua on what he needed before going to the imperial palace.

In the suddenly noisy outside, other siblings and Leila opened their doors and stared with bewildered eyes at the people rushing to Bershua’s room.

So I quickly returned to my room, and when the commotion outside subsided a little, I went to Brother Rubert’s door and knocked.

The door opened, and it was the moment when the maid was about to inform my brother of my arrival.

“Quiet.”

As I urgently pulled at her skirt and gestured for her to be quiet, the maid looked alternately at me and inside the room, seemingly confused.

“What’s the matter?”

Brother Rubert stuck his head out of the room to check the situation himself and met my eyes.

“Rowenloa…”

“May I come in?”

As my brother nodded, I entered his room.

And I gestured for him to close the door quickly.

“Um… what exactly is going on…”

“I caused quite a stir at the imperial palace. So, from today, there’s something you need to do, brother.”

My brother, hearing my words, dismissed the maid standing behind him.

He didn’t forget to threaten her that she must keep absolute secrecy about what she heard in this room before dismissing her.

Yes. No matter how gentle he is to those around him, this brother is still a Masipacius.

His appearance as he lowered his voice and warned the maid had more intimidation than I expected.

After the maid left, my brother pointed to a sofa near me, indicating for me to sit.

Come to think of it, this is the first time I’ve entered Brother’s room throughout my previous life and this one.

As I looked around, a neatly decorated room in white tones caught my eye.

“So, what urgent matter brings you here to find me?”

I handed him the documents I had brought from my room.

“Father is preparing a major business under Brother Bershua’s name.”

At those words, my brother’s gaze turned sharp.

“And from now on, I’m going to make that business known to the world under your name, not Brother Bershua’s.”

My brother widened his eyes in surprise but didn’t add anything more, as if telling me to continue.

“A week later, all the people of the Masipacius family will head to the imperial palace. His Majesty the Emperor has written an invitation asking us to dine together. There’s something separate we need to do then.”

As I shifted my gaze to the documents in my brother’s hand, he began to carefully read through them.

“This is…”

“It’s the business plan for the business Father is preparing now. You need to think specifically about not only the contents in those documents but also the future plans for this business. His Majesty the Emperor will ask you brothers about this business at the dinner table.”

After hearing that, Brother Rubert seemed to read through the documents with concentration for a while, then put them down on the table and looked at me as if something was strange.

“But… how do you know that His Majesty will ask questions related to that?”

I shrugged my shoulders at my brother.

“Well, that dinner is an event I created by making a contract with His Majesty the Emperor.”

At that, Brother Rubert’s pupils began to shake rapidly.

“Then… surely you didn’t tell His Majesty about making a contract in front of Father…”

“Of course not. I quickly finished it while Father was briefly detained at the checkpoint. There’s no time for this. Hurry and read the contents in the documents first. And I’ll come to find you at this time every day until I go to the imperial palace. We’re going to prepare everything His Majesty might ask about, understood?”

After earnestly imploring my brother to read all the contents in the documents by tomorrow, I checked that there was no one outside and headed quietly back to my room.

Thus, for a week before going to the imperial palace, I discussed the business plan with my brother every day.

Rembro and Leila, having heard they would suddenly be going to the imperial palace, were busy studying imperial etiquette while extremely nervous, and Bershua was shut up in his room with no thought of coming out.

Or more accurately, he couldn’t think of coming out.

Whenever Bershua was seen wandering the corridor, Father scolded him, saying he should study more instead of wasting time.

And in the meantime, I sent a letter to Heris of the Brel family.

The letter said that I wanted to become friends with other young ladies, and asked if I could teach martial arts after attending a tea party if there was one scheduled.

And a positive reply soon came back from Heris.

And so, the morning of the day to head to the imperial palace dawned.

We all boarded the carriage together.

With so many people in one carriage, it felt as if the carriage was moving particularly slowly.

Even inside the carriage, Father’s education of Bershua continued.

Father continuously threw questions at Bershua, and Bershua had to answer Father’s questions while sweating profusely.

And beside me, I heard Brother Rubert muttering faster than Bershua.

Fortunately, the carriage noise was loud enough that only I, sitting right next to him, could hear it.

When the carriage stopped, the magnificent imperial palace was waiting for us.

As we got out of the carriage, the imperial palace servants guided us.

Following their guidance, we entered the reception room of the imperial palace, where the emperor and crown prince were waiting.

“Ho ho, thank you for taking the trouble to visit like this, Marquis Masipacius.”

“Not at all, it is an honor to be able to have a meal with Your Majesty the Emperor.”

“This is my son, Detrian Crescent. Is this his first actual meeting with your children?”

After the emperor’s introduction, Detrian bowed slightly to Father in greeting.

Father also bowed to show respect to the crown prince.

“I apologize for not properly greeting you last time, Your Highness the Crown Prince. I am Grem Masipacius, the head of the Masipacius family.”

When Father bowed, we also stood behind him and greeted them according to imperial etiquette.

“Indeed, the marquis seems to have educated his children well, haha. I’ve prepared a meal, so let’s go that way. Since some people might be visiting the imperial palace for the first time, I thought we’d walk to see the palace as well.”

“I am grateful for Your Majesty’s consideration.”

So the emperor began to walk ahead, conversing with Father, and we followed behind.

The crown prince seemed to walk right behind the emperor at first, but then gradually slowed his pace and approached my side.

“I told you we would meet soon, didn’t I?”

As the crown prince addressed me, I smiled awkwardly, glancing around.

“Aren’t you glad to see me?”

“I… I am glad…”

By now, the emperor and Father had walked far ahead, engrossed in their conversation, and the rest of us, left behind, began to relax a little without the emperor’s presence and started to converse.

The crown prince simply quietly listened to our conversation.

And that’s when it happened.

Thud—

Hearing the sound of someone falling, I looked to the side and saw Leila sprawled on the ground, seemingly having tripped over a stone.

“Ouch…”

Bershua and Rembro, startled by the sight, rushed hurriedly toward Leila.

“Are you okay?”

At Bershua’s worried words, Leila nodded.

“But… I’m so shocked that my legs have gone weak, and I can’t get up on my own…”

Hearing that, Bershua and Rembro extended their hands to Leila.

However, Leila’s eyes were fixed on one place.

It was on Crown Prince Detrian standing next to me.

As the crown prince also turned to look at the commotion, his eyes met Leila’s.

Just as Leila’s face was beginning to redden, it happened.

“Miss Rowenloa. This time, Fath… no, His Majesty the Emperor has prepared quite delicious-looking food for the people of the marquis family.”

The crown prince suddenly addressed me.

“Oh… really?”

“Yes. The smell was so tempting that I was starving.”

Ah, here it comes.

The imperial palace way of conversation.

The reason the crown prince was talking to me now as if everyone could hear, was because he found the current situation displeasing.

In other words, if I were to translate that statement into normal speech, it would be something like this:

‘I know you’re not really hurt, so let’s just get up and go eat.’

Recognizing the crown prince’s meaning, I couldn’t help but burst out laughing.

So Leila got up with the help of Bershua and Rembro and started walking again, and we were able to reach the hall where the food was served.

The fact that Leila’s face was flushed bright red was a secret everyone knew.

“Wow…”

We couldn’t help but exclaim when we saw the hall.

The imperial palace… really seems to have a lot of money.

I was confused when the garden meal suddenly changed to a hall, but if I were the emperor, I would have wanted to show off this hall to others too.

The interior, the food—there wasn’t a place where gold wasn’t used.

As I was looking around the hall in a daze, the crown prince bowed and met my eyes.

“What do you think?”

Hearing that, I tilted my head.

“If you ask what I think… I think it’s an extremely beautiful hall.”

“Haha, that’s not what I meant… if you coveted these things, it would be more advantageous for me.”