“Greetings, Your Highness. May the radiant light of Eisenbart be with you.”

When she saw the visitor who had arrived early in the morning, a flush bloomed across Seraphina’s face. The maid who entered the room and offered a respectful greeting was someone she knew all too well.

“Rosie!”

Seraphina started to climb down from the bed, but then stopped. A searing pain shot through her body and contorted her face.

“Ugh…!”

“Your Highness?”

Startled by Seraphina’s reaction, Rosalynde hurried over to her at once. She carefully helped her to lean back against the bed.

“You mustn’t overexert yourself. His Highness the Crown Prince gave strict orders as well.”

“Rosie, what is all this? Why are you calling me ‘Your Highness’ too?”

Seraphina grabbed Rosalynde urgently when she tried to pull away. Rosalynde was a childhood friend from the same neighborhood who had helped Seraphina secure a position as a maid. They had been assigned the same living quarters, becoming roommates and each other’s closest confidants.

“Because you are Your Highness.”

Rosalynde replied, as though the answer were obvious.

What’s more, she was keeping her distance from Seraphina.

The court physician. The Crown Prince. And now Rosalynde as well.

Seraphina had no choice but to accept that what had happened yesterday was not a dream.

“Am I really… the Crown Princess?”

Unable to hide her confusion, Seraphina murmured to herself. Rosalynde covered her mouth in shock upon hearing her words.

“Don’t tell me you still don’t remember anything? The physician said it was temporary memory loss.”

“Not at all.”

Seraphina bit her lower lip and shook her head. Rosalynde’s expression turned grave.

“Perhaps… this might actually be for the best.”

“What do you mean by that?”

“…It’s nothing. I spoke without thinking.”

Rosalynde shook her head hurriedly. Then, putting on a gentle smile, she continued in a composed, businesslike tone,

“I’ll help you get ready. I am Your Highness’s chief maid. His Highness the Crown Prince is in his office. He asked me to tell you that he will be busy for a while, as he has a lot of work to do.”

“Rosie, why are you acting like this? You don’t feel like yourself at all.”

Ignoring Seraphina’s visible confusion, Rosalynde picked up a brush.

“I’m simply attending to you, as I always have.”

As though it were part of her daily routine, Rosalynde gently ran her fingers through her brown hair. Sitting quietly, blinking occasionally, Seraphina suddenly reached out and took her friend’s hand.

“What on earth happened? How did I end up becoming the Crown Princess? And what about this—being an omega?”

“That is not something I am permitted to tell you.”

“Rosie!”

“I’m sorry, Your Highness.”

Rosalynde answered stiffly and lowered her head. Just as Seraphina was about to press her further, she detected moisture in her friend’s voice and stopped.

‘She’s treating me completely like royalty.’

Although Rosalynde was the daughter of a count, which placed her higher in the social hierarchy than Seraphina, within the imperial palace she was nothing more than a maid.

To the imperial family, those outside the bloodline were mere instruments meant to serve them. This was particularly true of attendants and maids who waited on royalty at close quarters.

They were expected to live as though they had no eyes, even when they saw; no ears, even when they heard; and no mouths, even when they knew. Only then would they be deemed to have fulfilled their duties as servants.

If they failed, entire families could be destroyed.

When Seraphina first entered the palace, she too was drilled in these fundamental rules imposed on maids. This was why she could not bring herself to force Rosalynde to speak.

No matter what the truth was, if Seraphina learned it, the imperial family would trace the source of that knowledge, and Rosalynde and her family would be in danger. Rosalynde and her family would then be in danger.

Seraphina could not risk endangering her friend and her household just to satisfy her curiosity.

“Am I really the Crown Princess? Just tell me that. You can at least answer that much, can’t you?”

“Of course. Your Highness is the legitimate Crown Princess, formally acknowledged by the imperial family.”

Rosalynde replied with a slight bend of her knees. Then, after a brief hesitation, she added softly,

“…I’m sorry, Sephi.”

Seraphina nodded quietly in acceptance of her friend’s apology. Then, as if nothing were amiss, she allowed Rosalynde to help her get dressed.

Outwardly, she maintained a composed expression. Inwardly, however, she was in complete turmoil.

With Rosalynde’s confirmation, there was no longer any doubt: she had indeed become the Crown Princess. Yet there were far too many unanswered questions for her to accept this reality so easily.

Above all, she could not fathom how she — once a Beta — had manifested as an Omega.

Typically, one’s traits would awaken around the time a child first learned to speak. Manifestation after reaching adulthood was exceedingly rare. Without some extraordinary catalyst, such a thing simply did not happen.

So what had caused Seraphina to become an Omega?

And how had she ended up as the Crown Princess?

Being an Omega did not automatically mean being paired with the Crown Prince. That much was obvious.

The Crown Prince was a dominant Alpha, exceptional even among Alphas. Accordingly, the imperial family had already designated a dominant Omega as his destined partner.

Yet it was Seraphina, a late manifester, who had become the Crown Princess.

She could not make sense of it. Neither the imperial family’s decision nor the Crown Prince’s choice to take her as his consort aligned with anything she knew or understood.

Seraphina herself could not understand her own place in all of this either.

‘To think that I married His Highness instead of that child. What was I thinking, back then?’

Once fully dressed, Seraphina stared intently at her reflection in the mirror. She wore a pale pink gown adorned with countless tiny diamonds. A heavy diamond necklace rested against her slender neck and she wore matching earrings and a bracelet. The entire ensemble was opulent — unmistakably fitting for a crown princess.

It was the kind of exquisite, extravagant attire that most women could only dream of.

Yet the face in the mirror was clouded with unease.

Seraphina had never desired such luxury.

Truth be told, she had never wanted to become royalty or marry the Crown Prince.

Because—

“Kid. If we make it out of here alive, let’s be sure to meet again.”

There was someone Seraphina had to find.

‘I haven’t even found that child yet.’

She could no longer remember the child’s face. Meeting that child had been her goal, but before she could start looking for them, she became royalty.

Now a royal, she was bound to the imperial palace and condemned to spend her entire life within its walls. She was forbidden to step beyond them until the day she died.

With a troubled expression, Seraphina touched the bracelet encircling her wrist. The finely crafted diamonds felt heavy and oppressive; more like a shackle than an ornament.

“Your Highness, you must go and pay your respects to His Majesty the Emperor and Her Majesty the Empress.”

Drawn away from the mirror by Rosalynde’s gentle urging, Seraphina nodded. Swallowing a quiet sigh, she turned.

She had no memory of what had happened, but there was no turning back now. There was nothing she could do.

She had no choice but to accept it.

With resignation, Seraphina approached the door.

“So you really did wake up?”

The door flew open and a stunning blonde woman appeared.

Surrounded by her maids, she shot Seraphina a sharp glance, her vivid green eyes flashing.

“You still look remarkably well, Your Highness.”

“Lady Mireille?”

Seraphina flinched when she recognized the uninvited guest. However, she quickly regained her composure and offered a formal greeting.

“My respects to you, Lady.”

“Are you making fun of me right now?”

At Seraphina’s greeting, Mireille’s face twisted sharply. Startled by the hysterical reaction, Seraphina froze.

‘Ah.’

Seraphina was now the Crown Princess.

Within the imperial palace, she was only required to show deference to members of the imperial family, above all the Empress. Yet she had bowed to a mere duke’s daughter.

“Do you have no awareness that you are the Crown Princess? Or are you perhaps trying to hint that I should be the one greeting you?”

Mireille’s sharp voice echoed loudly through the corridor. Seraphina hastily corrected her posture and composed her expression.

“I made a mistake, as I only just regained consciousness. Please forgive me.”

“Hmph!”

In response to Seraphina’s calm apology, Mireille snorted derisively. Rather than responding to the young lady’s rudeness, Seraphina lowered her gaze and remained silent.

After all, Mireille von Aurilien was no ordinary person.

She was a distant cousin of the Empress and daughter of the Gruber Grand Duchy.

The Gruber Grand Duchy was a wealthy territory located a week’s carriage ride from the imperial capital. This noblewoman, who had never wanted for anything, had come all this way to live in the imperial palace for one reason: to arrange a marriage.

She was the dominant Omega chosen for the Crown Prince.

In light of this, Mireille’s sudden confrontation with Seraphina was hardly surprising.

“There’s something else you should be apologizing for. You only wake up now? I travelled all the way to the capital — what do you think I look like now?”

Nevertheless, what happened next was something that even Lady Mireille herself could never have anticipated.

“I hadn’t thought that far ahead. I’m sorry for waking up.”

Seraphina was not the kind of ‘Crown Princess’ Mireille knew.