Seraphina swallowed hard as she stood before the doors to the Empress’s reception room.

With Founding Day approaching, the Empress had summoned her.

Until now, Seraphina had deliberately been excluded from all the preparations for the celebration. Born to a lesser noble family, she had been deemed unworthy of taking responsibility for an event of such imperial grandeur.

And yet, perhaps on a passing whim, the Empress had abruptly called for her today. Even more unsettlingly, the summons included an invitation to share tea.

“You may enter.”

When the head maid announced her arrival, Seraphina was finally allowed to enter the reception room. As she stepped forward, she felt a dull numbness creeping up her leg — she had been standing in the same spot for far too long.

The Empress never received Seraphina immediately. She was always made to wait outside the closed doors.

The excuses varied.

The Empress had gone out on other business.

She was asleep.

Or she was receiving other guests.

Seraphina would wait outside endlessly until the Empress chose to summon her. Sometimes she was never called in at all, in which case she had no choice but to turn back.

On those days, a maid would inevitably be sent after her with a reprimand for her lack of patience and perseverance.

They said this was the reason why she could not bear a child.

“Oh, you’ve arrived.”

The Empress smiled brightly when Seraphina entered the room. Mireille, who had been talking to the Empress, started arguing with her the moment she saw Seraphina.

“Your Highness, why do you look like that? You look like a cow being dragged to the slaughterhouse.”

She showed no respect or courtesy towards the Crown Princess in her choice of words. Yet the Empress did not reprimand her. Instead, she laughed along with her.

“Oh ho ho. Now that you mention it, you’re right. That face looks half-dead. But Lady Mireille, cows are known for their diligence.”

“That’s true, Your Majesty. I owe the cows an apology.”

Mireille replied with a faint smile.

While the two of them laughed together, Seraphina quietly took her seat.

Seraphina had become used to being mocked to her face by now. In a calm, even tone, she asked,

“I was told you wished to see me. For what reason?”

“To start asking about official matters the moment you arrive is rather uncouth. It only exposes how lacking your education truly is.”

Despite her outwardly refined tone, the Empress shot Seraphina a cold, cutting glance. She clicked her tongue and lifted her teacup. After taking a measured, elegant sip, she continued, speaking as though Seraphina were not even present.

“Really, one must be careful about whom one allows into the family. We welcomed someone without proper roots, and look what it has led to—the dignity of the imperial house has been dragged straight through the mud. It is positively mortifying.”

“I heard about it as well.”

Mireille added, her gaze fixed brazenly on Seraphina. Without looking away, she continued.

“They say the creditors came all the way to the palace, didn’t they?”

“To think that even after becoming Crown Princess, she acted as a guarantor wherever she pleased! There are limits to such carelessness. If His Highness the Crown Prince had not intervened and resolved the matter, the imperial family would have been disgraced.”

Seraphina, who had been half-listening to their exchange, lifted her head.

A guarantor? That was not something she could simply ignore.

“I have never acted as a guarantor.”

“Hmph. The creditors tell a different story.”

When Seraphina spoke up, the Empress let out a derisive snort. Unfolding her fan, she waved it lazily and replied.

“They came to the palace demanding repayment of Count Leoban Lindenrosen’s debt, claiming that you had guaranteed it. It caused quite the uproar.”

“A debt…?”

Seraphina narrowed her eyes at the empress.

Leoban.

She had almost forgotten about him since becoming Crown Princess. Both Marianne and Leoban had taken turns to bleed her dry in the past. She had wondered why things had been so quiet lately. It seemed that Leoban had even gone so far as to forge her signature without permission.

“I apologize, Your Majesty. It seems that my elder brother forged my signature.”

“You should simply admit your wrongdoing cleanly. Half-baked excuses are unsightly.”

“I did not act as a guarantor.”

When Seraphina spoke firmly, the Empress snapped her fan shut with a sharp sound and pressed its tip to her temple.

“Crown Princess. What you should be doing is reflecting on your actions and staying out of sight, not arguing back.”

“Your Majesty, I—”

“How shameless! Show some remorse, at least!”

The reception room fell silent in response to the Empress’s furious reprimand. Seraphina closed her mouth and lowered her gaze.

After glaring at her sharply for a moment, the Empress opened her fan again. As she waved it, as though trying to cool her temper, she muttered, loudly enough for everyone to hear.

“You leave all the cleanup to your husband, and yet you don’t even know how to be ashamed.”

“……”

“This is precisely why one’s origins and pedigree matter. Rather than strengthening the imperial family, the Crown Princess’s family has attracted debt collectors to our doorstep. I can only hope that any children the Crown Princess has will not take after her.”

Seraphina clenched her skirt tightly in her hands. Even now, they were speaking of a child who had not yet been born. A dull, suffocating darkness seeped over her, pressing down on her chest.

“I apologize.”

“Two years was far too long, after all. I should never have listened to the Margrave of the Borderlands.”

The Empress murmured this, pointedly ignoring Seraphina’s apology. Slowly fanning herself, she turned her gaze back to Seraphina. The eyes that had glared at her only moments before were now noticeably calmer.

“I hear that you are not sexually active with the Crown Prince. If this continues, it will be impossible for you to conceive within the next two years.”

Seraphina felt a rush of heat to her face as she listened.

Even their private marital circumstances were being monitored, then. Whether or not they slept together was an intimate matter between husband and wife. But even if she was the Crown Prince’s mother, this level of interference was excessive.

“Enough with the stubbornness. It’s time you started yielding the Crown Princess’s bedchamber to Lady Mireille.”

“…What?”

Seraphina stared at the Empress in disbelief. She was spouting nonsense as though it were perfectly reasonable.

“It’s obvious that an heir born of a dominant omega would be superior to one born of a recessive omega. Give Lady Mireille the bedchamber now, or we will cast you aside.”

Beside the Empress, Lady Mireille curled her lips into a grin. Her confident smile was directed squarely at Seraphina.

“Our Empress is merciful, after all.”

“Indeed. If you give up your position as Crown Princess in favor of Lady Mireille, I will let you stay as the Crown Prince’s concubine. You do realize, of course, what an extremely generous offer this is?”

Having finished speaking, the Empress smiled benevolently.

Despite this, Seraphina felt as though her heart were being trampled into the ground.

Hand over the bedchamber?

Even if she did not have Damian’s love, Seraphina was still his lawful wife. How could they demand that she yield her husband?

The Empress and Mireille were no longer merely disregarding her; they were humiliating her. This was outright humiliation.

“I will pretend I did not hear that.”

“Crown Princess!”

“Please, stop, Your Majesty.”

Seraphina sighed with weariness as she spoke. She was tired of arguing over something so absurd.

She knew the Empress despised her. But it had happened far too many times now. She wished the Empress would stop ganging up on her with Lady Mireille.

Dealing with Damian alone made her head feel as though it might split apart.

“I apologize for the disturbance caused by my brother. But I cannot accept such excessive demands.”

Seraphina spoke calmly, then turned her gaze to Mireille.

“You wouldn’t want to take another woman’s bed, either, would you, my lady?”

“What did you say?”

Mireille shot to her feet, bristling. The moment she glared at Seraphina and released her pheromones—

Seraphina smiled.