“Her Majesty the Empress has passed away.”

This story takes place not long after I emerged from that shock.

From a certain day, a brown-haired woman stood naturally by my father’s side.

And soon, that brown-haired woman dared to become the empress who could sit beside my father.

“It’s not because I’ve forgotten my wife.”

Father always told me.

That he hadn’t forgotten his wife yet.

He said it was an inevitable matter, explaining that if the empress’s position remained vacant for too long, chaos would inevitably come to the empire.

But my father’s wife was no longer my mother.

The current empress treated me like her own son.

No, she tried to.

However, I could tell.

Where her maternal affection was directed.

My father could never notice.

Because it was something only visible to my eyes, which hungered for maternal love.

Her maternal affection was always directed toward Veltune Detrian.

But as I grew older, I cared less and less about her maternal affection.

Because I had the imperial palace to take responsibility for, and the empire.

So I began to focus solely on becoming emperor, forgetting everything else.

I worked desperately hard, even taking on the imperial palace’s traditional secret information gathering role.

Then, I met her.

Someone who seemed timid yet was bold, who seemed rude yet was infinitely beautiful.

For the first time, I wanted to reject the traditions passed down in the imperial palace.

I developed a desire to face her as an equal, without the obstacle of status.

But she was different from what I thought.

She was a woman who never knew satisfaction in her pursuit of a better life, always putting herself in danger but never succumbing to it.

Unlike me, who had forgotten the past and simply walked the predetermined path.

So, wanting to help her even a little, I continued my deviations that weren’t really deviations.

Things like delivering to her parts of the asset management records maintained by the imperial palace that could serve as evidence in cases involving her, or providing clues to identify culprits by interrogating people when something happened to her.

In the process, I unintentionally discovered new facts about the empress.

I learned that the empress’s wealth in the past had come from Glevir Crescent, who was my father’s brother and Veltune Crescent’s father.

And even now, the imperial palace’s assets were being transferred to them through certain companies under ridiculous pretexts.

I became convinced that the empress must have been involved in Rowenloa’s kidnapping incident.

Then recently, I discovered that the empress’s money was flowing into a specific trading company under the pretext of investment.

The owner of that company was named Mollin.

She was a maid who had worked as one of Leila’s closest confidants at the Masipacius family.

They say she started a small business while working at the marquis family, and as the business grew, she quit her job at the family and opened a trading company.

And recently, I was also able to discover that the empress is having dresses made with jewels imported by that trading company.

In a few weeks, the empress has scheduled a grand banquet.

Something is definitely going to happen at that banquet.

* * *

“So… the current Empress is not Your Highness the Crown Prince’s birth mother……”

“Delian? That’s very rude.”

The young duke of Posilia covered his mouth with both hands in shock after being reprimanded by Grace.

The crown prince just looked at the two with a bitter expression.

“But… I’m hearing about the relationship between the empress’s wealth and Glevir Crescent for the first time too?”

“Ah, this is information I just recently discovered, so I wanted to share it here. I’ve been too busy lately to contact you personally……”

Brother Rubert looked at me with a bewildered expression after hearing the conversation between the crown prince and me.

“Wait, so Rowenloa already knew all this? And… since when have you two been speaking informally to each other?”

I looked at Brother Rubert with an “oops” expression after hearing his words.

But it was already too late to salvage the situation.

Over the past three years, the crown prince and I had grown much closer.

Not only did we start speaking informally when alone due to the crown prince’s insistence, but the crown prince also began to share stories of his past with me.

He showed interest in me at one point, but I deliberately chose to ignore it.

Sensing that I was deliberately ignoring it, Detrian also didn’t mention much about it.

We had planned to keep this fact strictly secret from others… but I never thought it would be revealed like this.

Slowly turning my head toward everyone, I found them all looking at the crown prince and me with expressions full of bewilderment.

“That… let’s put that aside for now, and first listen to the information that Detrian… I mean, His Highness the Crown Prince has brought us?”

“No, wait. This isn’t an issue to put aside……”

“So, Your Highness the Crown Prince. What about the empress’s assets?”

Detrian looked at Brother Rubert and me for a while, trying to read the situation, then pointed to a section of the document.

“So, before the current empress became empress, most of her family’s wealth came from Lord Glevir. Since there was no connection between the empress’s father and Glevir Crescent, I think there must have been some kind of deal between the empress and Lord Glevir.”

The crown prince’s face hardened at those words.

He seemed to have realized something, but I didn’t press him about it.

I was confident he would tell me someday.

“And now, the empress’s assets are flowing to Veltune Crescent. The assets are being transferred through a place called Velly Trading Company……”

Reading the part the crown prince pointed to, I couldn’t hide my surprise.

“…Why is Mollin mentioned here?”

Velly Trading Company was, until a year ago, a ghost company that existed in form only, without even a name.

But a year ago, with the change of the company’s name and owner, Velly Trading Company began to extend its reach into trade.

And that new owner was Mollin, who had worked at the Masipacius family.

Brother Rubert was also surprised and, asking for permission, took the document from my hands to examine it carefully.

Then he let out a deep sigh.

“She said she was quitting because her business was going well, but I never thought that business would be a trading company……”

I nodded in agreement with his words.

Seeing Brother Rubert and me, the crown prince continued,

“When I investigated this person Mollin’s background and found she had worked at the Masipacius family, I wanted to share this with you. And… I think the empress will hold a grand banquet at the imperial palace in a few weeks.”

“A banquet?”

“Yes. Seeing that she’s having dresses made with jewels purchased through Velly Trading Company for the banquet… I think she must be planning something.”

Hearing Detrian’s words, the young duke of Posilia and Grace whispered to each other as if they had remembered something.

“That’s right, I think we received invitations too.”

Hearing that, Brother Rubert also nodded.

“Yes, we received them too.”

I tilted my head at my brother’s words.

“You received banquet invitations?”

“Yes, the butler brought them a few days ago in the morning.”

I shook my head at his words.

I had no memory of receiving an invitation.

“The imperial palace said they sent invitations to all members of the Masipacius family… so perhaps it was lost on the way or someone removed it after it arrived.”

It must be Leila’s doing.

I sighed. One cannot attend the imperial palace banquet without bringing an invitation.

While not attending the empress’s banquet itself wasn’t a big issue… it would be troublesome if Leila’s people did something foolish in the meantime.

But then, the young duke of Posilia and Detrian extended their hands to me.

Their gazes met in mid-air.

And I looked at them with eyes full of questions.

“Why are you extending your hands to me……”

Hearing that, Brother Rubert sighed.

“Imperial palace banquet invitations are divided into two types. The general invitation that came to me… and the royal invitation that those two probably have.”

The young duke of Posilia nodded at those words.

“Those who have royal invitations can enter the banquet hall with uninvited partners.”

“So you’re asking me to go with you.”

“No, come with me instead.”

Brother Rubert was glaring daggers at the two men engaged in this subtle power struggle over me.

“If you come with me, you can enter the Royal Hall too. Since Veltune, as a member of the imperial family, and probably his partner Leila will be able to enter the Royal Hall, coming with me would be more beneficial.”

“Then Your Highness the Crown Prince can eavesdrop on their conversation and inform us.”

Detrian glared at the young duke of Posilia after hearing those words, but the young duke merely shrugged his shoulders nonchalantly.

It had been quite some time since I rejected the young duke’s confession, but he continued to act on my behalf and think of me.

I often felt sorry for taking advantage of his feelings.

After taking a deep breath, I stepped forward to choose a partner to enter the banquet hall with.

I could hear their Adam’s apples moving noticeably as they swallowed nervously.

I carefully took the young duke of Posilia’s hand in both of mine.