I had left the Grand Temple and was making my way toward the waiting carriage when I spotted Arbo in the distance, directing the knights. The knights were all in the process of carrying bodies away on stretchers. 

Beyond the dozens of terrorists who had stormed the banquet hall, there appeared to have been many more, as the number of terrorists being hauled away and the bodies were greater than expected.

‘It was Arbo who dealt with all of them.’

When Arbo had arrived at the banquet hall, he was not even short of breath. The ones who had plotted the attack surely possessed swordsmanship skills worthy of recognition in their own right, yet Arbo had not expended even a fraction of his stamina against them. It struck me anew just how formidable the swordsmanship was that had cut down countless enemies on the battlefield.

“Are you heading home?”

Just then, Arbo noticed my presence and approached me. Every time I looked at Arbo’s face, guilt seized my breath. I managed a small nod.

“I was not sure how you were feeling. At the Grand Ducal Household as well.”

“Yes, Your Highness.”

Arbo remembered our meeting clearly.

“I was so caught up in everything that I never gave you a proper greeting. I am Arbo Rovas Keadifar.”

“I am Rachie Aedis, Your Highness. It is an honor to meet you.”

After exchanging greetings, Arbo extended his arm toward me. I stared at it for a moment, caught off guard by the unexpected gesture.

“Allow me to escort you.”

“Pardon? You must be busy…… I am fine, Your Highness.”

“Your color is still not good. And the imperial palace is large, so finding your way may be difficult. Please take my hand.”

The imperial palace may have been large, but during my time as High Priestess, I had come and gone through it the way one moves through their own home. I knew the palace grounds well enough, but right now I was the naive Rachie Aedis who had set foot in the imperial palace for the very first time.

‘Better to avoid raising unnecessary suspicion.’

I wrapped my hand around Arbo’s firm arm. Arbo gazed in silence at my pale hand resting on his arm for a brief moment, then started walking.

“I have heard that the Aedis family is constitutionally frail.”

Arbo spoke to me readily, breaking the quiet that had settled between us.

“Among them, you seem to have a particularly weak constitution, Princess.”

Arbo’s words were true. The Aedis family was born with an extraordinary amount of magic, which left them physically weaker than ordinary people. So I, who possessed magic powerful enough to be counted among the strongest even within the Aedis family, was inevitably frailer than others.

I gave a wry smile at Arbo’s words. It was the one weakness and limitation I could not overcome.

“……I find myself worried.”

“Pardon?”

Arbo, who had been looking down at me, paused the escort for a moment and murmured. I lifted my head and met his amethyst-like violet eyes with a questioning look.

“I worry that the princess might collapse again while I am not around.”

His honest concern left me momentarily at a loss for words. If the person standing before Arbo had been any other young noblewoman and not me, this moment would surely have been the beginning of something like love.

Arbo’s face was that captivating, and his voice was that alluring, like the recitation of a beautiful poem. But more dangerous than any of that was his guileless manner, completely unaware of how magnetic he was.

“……Thank you for your concern, Your Highness.”

Though countless responses had crossed my mind, only this hollow reply made it past my lips.

‘To feel drawn to someone while guilt churns in my stomach. How utterly pathetic.’

I deliberately turned my head away from Arbo’s gaze and reproached myself. My reason and emotions tangled together in a mess, leaving me thoroughly confused.

“Ah!”

At a moment when I was not even sure how I was putting one foot in front of the other, my slender ankle twisted in the high heels. At that instant, Arbo’s quick hands caught my waist and steadied my swaying body.

“I truly cannot take my eyes off you.”

Somehow I had ended up nestled against Arbo’s chest. Flustered, I squirmed to pull away from his arms at once, but breaking free from those firm arms was beyond me.

‘His heartbeat…….’

What stopped my struggling was none other than the sound of Arbo’s heartbeat. Contrary to the calm expression on his face, the fierce pounding that surged in like a tide caught me off guard.

“Your Imperial Highness?”

“You will need to be careful with those high heels.”

I had been staring up at him, struck by Arbo’s rapid heartbeat. At last, Arbo released the arms that had been holding me and linked them firmly with mine instead.

‘Did I hear that wrong?’

His tone and manner were so perfectly composed that I nearly doubted whether the fierce pounding I had heard was just my imagination.

‘But…….’

I carefully shifted my gaze and studied Arbo’s face. His earlobe had flushed a deep red, telling me that the heartbeat I had thought I imagined was no illusion.

Seeing Arbo’s earlobe tinged a pretty shade of red, my own neck began to grow warm in turn. The hand linked with Arbo’s arm burned with heat, the way skin does after touching a flame.

‘He is matching his pace to mine.’

Arbo’s long legs had a stride length that was simply different from mine to begin with. On top of that, the high heels made walking even more uncomfortable. But after the stumble just now, his stride had shortened to less than half of what it had been, making it much easier to walk.

Feeling his consideration for me, a faint flutter stirred in my chest. It was not an unpleasant sensation, but it was undeniably a dangerous one. I hoped this time walking alongside Arbo would pass quickly.

* * *

The morning after the farewell ceremony, in the wake of such a momentous event, was peaceful in a way no different from any other day. But within the Grand Ducal Household, a quiet ripple was spreading that no one had noticed yet.

I read through the official document Father had sent addressed to me and smiled with quiet satisfaction. The contents were dense, but to summarize, it delegated all authority over the Grand Ducal Household to me.

‘I should inform the head butler of this first.’

I decided I would call for the head butler after breakfast. Next, my eyes moved to the morning newspaper that arrived each day.

<The Grand Ducal Household’s bastard, Princess Rachie Aedis, manifests magic before Lord Norman!>

<Princess Rachie Aedis’s magic that suppressed the terrorists, and what becomes of Lord Norman?>

<The incapable eldest son of the Aedis household, and the bastard who manifested magic. Shockwaves through the Aedis household!>

It was not only Father’s letter of delegation that announced the successful suppression of yesterday’s terrorist attack. The morning newspapers were also competing to cover yesterday’s events. While I was reading through the papers, a knock came at the door along with Sofia’s voice.

“Princess, I have brought your breakfast.”

“Come in, Sofia.”

The door opened, and Sofia’s face as she entered carrying breakfast was clouded with distress and embarrassment, unlike her usual self.

“Why do you look like that?”

At my question, Sofia only hesitated and could not answer. Then, with an apology, she set the breakfast down in front of me.

“What is this?”

The food Sofia had brought as breakfast was a soup that had gone cold, a salad made from spoiled vegetables, and orange juice with a sour smell rising from it.

“I am sorry, Princess…… I asked the head chef over and over to prepare proper food, but he would not listen. He even threatened to punish me if I did not bring this……”

Sofia was on the verge of tears and at a complete loss, even though she had done nothing wrong.

“Haa……”

I let out a deep sigh and stared up at the ceiling. I had to hold back the anger rising within me. I could not let poor Sofia feel any more on edge than she already did.

‘Right. This was always my place in the Grand Ducal Household.’

In that moment, the humiliations I had suffered in the past swept through me like a panorama.

—How dare a bastard try to sit at the same table as Lord Norman!

It had been not long after I was registered into the Grand Ducal Household. I had gone down to the dining room without knowing any better, intending to eat with Norman. But what greeted me was not warm food, only sharp glares and cold mockery.

—Lord Norman has specially given you this food, so eat every last bit of it.

A chunk of meat dropped to the floor at my feet as I stood there trembling with shock and humiliation. Cold and thoroughly crushed, that piece of meat made it perfectly clear exactly how they looked down on me. The servants did not treat me as a princess, let alone as a fellow human being.

There was no time to be wounded by my unchanged position in the Grand Ducal Household or their mockery. If anything, their mockery only stoked my hostility and my desire for revenge.

‘So this is how they want to play it.’

I calmed Sofia, who had been crying, and asked her to help me get properly dressed. Sofia put every bit of her skill to work and made me presentable.

‘This will do.’

It was a modest appearance for the empire’s only princess, but putting together the best of what I had made for a respectable enough look. I stood before the mirror and smoothed my hair. Then I spoke to Sofia.

“Call the head chef for me, Sofia.”

Sofia hurried off to the kitchen and summoned the head chef. But the head chef did not arrive at my bedroom until quite some time later.

“You called.”

Despite having deliberately dragged his feet in answering his mistress’s summons, the head chef arrived without a single word of apology.

“Head chef, it seems there were quite a few problems with the breakfast you served this morning.”

“What problems would those be?”

Even though he was the one who had prepared and sent the food himself, the head chef tilted his head with a show of ignorance. In front of him, Sofia brought over the tray of spoiled food.

“I prepared it the same way I always have for you. What exactly is the problem?”

The head chef glanced over the food with its strange odor, let out a small smirk, and shrugged his shoulders. His attitude carried the air of someone saying this was all she deserved.

“Is that really something you should be saying to the princess?!”

Sofia shouted at the head chef, whose manner showed not a trace of basic courtesy. The head chef shot Sofia a sharp look and clicked his tongue.

“I prepared a specially curated menu for the princess, and it seems she has quite a few complaints.”