The neatly arranged refreshments felt unfamiliar. She hadn’t come often, but whenever she had, Cedric had treated her like an unwelcome guest, rarely even preparing a proper seat for her.

Perhaps she had grown used to those brief bouts of discourtesy, but what she ought to have received now weighed on her all the more.

‘I have to speak. If I don’t, Ernst in Callithea and everyone there…’

This was all the more true because she had come to ask for a favor. Anita swallowed, her eyes fixed on the cooling tea, unable to bring herself to reach out and take it.

Cedric simply waited, facing her. He neither sneered nor urged her to state her business and leave. He merely watched her with a blank expression, occasionally raising his cup to his lips.

How was she to begin? Unlike Cedric, she could not bring herself to look at him. With both hands clenched in her lap, she stared at the table. Then, on the plate of sweets, she spotted the sugar galettes. They had sometimes quarreled over those as children, each insisting on having the last one. Her fingers tightened around her skirt.

They were simple confections, common in both the palace and noble households. So why did tears sting her eyes?

Lowering her head, Anita forced herself to speak.

“Your Highness… the reason I asked for this audience is none other than—”

“…”

“—to make a request, even at the risk of offending you.”

“…”

“You may be angered, but still… I wished to beg, just once more…”

‘Pathetic.’

Cedric could barely stifle a laugh when he saw her trembling form. She was too terrified to utter a word. Yet this was the same princess who had once been hailed by her followers as the goddess incarnate.

In his eyes, she appeared no more dignified than a street urchin who had never learned to speak properly, a pitiful creature abandoned by her parents.

‘A pitiful woman.’

His irritation intensified, and a cold gleam flickered in his eyes. Nevertheless, there was something oddly satisfying about watching her like this: tiny, cowering, and unable to look him in the eye.

So this was the so-called ‘blessing of the goddess’. It was exactly the sight he had longed to see.

If there hadn’t been a glimmer of hope in Anita’s eyes, he might have shown her a shred of mercy. If she hadn’t looked at him with such a naïve, pleading gaze, as though he were a divine being who could save her, he might have dismissed her as before with a curt word or a wave of his hand, ordering her to vanish from his sight.

But Anita still clung to hope. She believed that Cedric might grant her request this time because he had agreed to meet her, offered her tea instead of turning her away, and seemed willing to listen.

“…Your Highness.”

“…”

“As I wrote in my letter, I humbly ask permission to sell a few of my personal jewels, to send the proceeds to Callithea.”

“…”

“And… though I know it is presumptuous of me, I beg that you help Callithea, just this once. I’ve heard the situation has worsened.”

Anita’s voice trembled with urgency. It was damp with emotion, yet her eyes looking straight at him now held more hope than fear. Her words, though still cautious, came smoother than before.

“I know my origin displeases you, Your Highness. But Callithea is where I was born and raised. My family and friends are there.”

“…”

“So, just this once, please look kindly upon them. I am not asking for troops. I am only asking you to provide enough aid to protect my family and help the Imperial Household of Callithea regain stability…”

As Anita continued to speak, she felt a sense of shame creep up her neck and spread across her face. She had just claimed that she was not seeking military aid, yet here she was asking for the power to restore order — a clear contradiction exposing her audacity. However, now was not the time to dwell on pride or the humiliation it brought.

Slowly, Anita rose from her seat. Moving closer to Cedric, she stopped at his feet, between the table and the couch. Without hesitating, she lowered herself to the floor.

She knelt with both knees bent so low that her head was below the level of his seat. For a brief moment, Cedric’s eyes narrowed.

“If that’s what it takes, I’ll give up everything I have. From now on, I’ll do whatever Your Highness commands.”

“…”

“So please help Callithea. Help my family, Your Highness.”

“…”

“I beg you… please.”

Her hands were clasped tightly together as she pleaded. The shimmer of tears in her eyes, the sincerity in her voice, and her frail body, thinned from sleepless nights made her look heartbreakingly small.

“Is that all?”

“Ah…”

What use was it? The man in front of her showed no emotion whatsoever. Cedric looked bored. His tone was flat and detached as he tapped the carpet lightly with the toe of his shoe while speaking.

“Princess.”

The sound caused Anita to glance towards the spot beside her hand, where the polished leather tip of his shoe moved in a steady rhythm.

When Cedric’s cold eyes dropped to her bowed figure, he spoke in a low, cutting tone.

“Did you think that by kneeling before me with such a solemn face, I’d actually say I’d consider it?”

Despair took the place of hope almost instantly. Meeting her unsteady blue eyes, Cedric exhaled a slow, weary sigh.

“What value could your knees possibly hold for me?”

She had not knelt for the sake of it. All she wanted was for her desperation to reach him, even if only a little, so that he might spare her family from ruin.

“If you were going to grovel, you might at least have done it somewhere public. Then, perhaps out of concern for appearances, I might have pretended to reconsider.”

Every interaction with Cedric since Anita arrived in Laxion had been painful. She had foolishly hoped that she might grow accustomed to it and that the pain would subside over time. However, whenever he spoke to her in that cutting tone and made no effort to hide his disdain, the pain hit her all over again.

She had always known it, but each time he treated her this way, it became clearer than ever just how useless and despised she was to him.

“It’s been a while since I’ve heard you speak so much nonsense. Seems you’ve come to the wrong person.”

“…”

“Why not ask Gerard for help instead?”

Anita’s head snapped up. Her hands clenched and a flicker of pain crossed her face. Gerard? He knew perfectly well that she couldn’t. His tone made it clear that he was mocking her.

“Why that face again? The whole palace has heard, you know. That you and Gerard were tangled up together in the imperial gardens. Or has he already grown tired of you?”

“What—!”

The words struck like a slap. Shame and fury burned together as Anita burst out, unable to contain herself.

“Of all people, Your Highness should know that’s—”

“…”

“—that’s a lie.”

With the exception of Renee, most of Anita’s attendants from Laxion were little more than spies working for Cedric.

Anita had long known that every detail of her life was reported to him. And yet he spoke as though he believed such lies.

The injustice hurt, of course, but what hurt more was the deliberate way his words wounded her, and how clear his contempt had become.

“True or not, I don’t care. But I’ve grown too disgusted to stomach it any longer.”

“…”

“What do you think is filthier? People saying that a man’s half-brother and his wife are having an affair, or you making me feel like a fool?”

There was a dark glint in Cedric’s eyes. Seeing her expression twist with rage, humiliation, and disbelief gave him a cruel sense of satisfaction. Her trembling submission was charming, but he found her feeble defiance appealing, too. The thought of overpowering her sent a shiver through him.

“Whether it’s true or not, conduct yourself properly. Make sure I never hear such talk again. Otherwise, people will just keep saying it: that Gerard has been acting differently lately and that he’s even competing with me for a woman.”

The very rumors he had ordered to spread, Cedric now used to crush her underfoot, drawing the line of power clearly between them.

“How slow-witted of you! I told you not to use my name!”

The insult had gone too far. Anita’s lips parted, ready to utter his name, but the memory of his past warnings stopped her in her tracks. Not a sound escaped.

Like a fish floundering out of water, her mouth opened and closed silently. Cedric caught the movement of her lips and frowned ever so slightly — a reaction so brief that he hardly noticed it himself. Something — something faint and unpleasant — tightened in his chest.

He had been in her presence for too long. Deciding to end it, he curved his lips in mock realization, his voice light with derision.

“Ah!”

He exclaimed, shrugging exaggeratedly, as though struck by a thought.

“Or is this your plan all along?”

Anita’s breath caught in her throat, and her trembling hands shook even more. She didn’t understand what he meant, but she could feel a sense of dread growing in the pit of her stomach.

Cedric’s smile widened — soft, yet venomous.

“I was wondering if you’re trying to maintain good relations with both brothers, so that whichever one becomes the next Emperor of Laxion, you’ll be his Empress.”

“…”

“Not a bad strategy. If Callithea lasts a little longer, you might even help your homeland one day, as the Empress of Laxion.”