It was a party centered around the prince’s consort and princess. Obtaining qualification to attend this party was proof that they were influential nobles of Valter.

Tatiana touched her necklace while taking a broad look around the banquet hall.

Throughout the interior, House Bloom’s symbol was decorated like her necklace.

Perhaps the blue rose was the most precious and expensive flower in the world? It couldn’t bloom naturally, and horticulturists still hadn’t succeeded in cultivating it. It was truly a mystical flower from fairy tales, but for that reason, it also felt like a symbol of impossibility.

For the same reason, there were still various interpretations about House Bloom’s emblem.

The current king, Ainsler III. Twenty years ago, he personally bestowed this emblem while celebrating the birth of a new count family.

But was that truly pure celebration? House Ainsler’s symbol was the red rose. Yet the king, standing at its apex, bestowed a symbol of impossibility to the most influential man in Valter. In some ways, it felt like a warning.

Tatiana believed there was at least some spite mixed in.

But do you know how remarkable Tatiana’s mother was? Of course, most would know of her greatness. However, few knew what kind of personality she had.

At her wedding to Count Bloom, in front of the king and guests, Tatiana’s mother turned all the flowers blue. She silenced those who were gossiping behind their backs, showing that magic could turn impossibility into possibility.

So even if someone mocked this flower, shouldn’t she, as the daughter, take pride in it?

To Tatiana, the blue rose was never a symbol of impossibility. It was a symbol of will that turned impossibility into possibility.

Standing in the middle of it all, Tatiana looked at the guests with a relaxed smile. She was searching for suitable conversation partners before the party began.

And the first person to approach her was the most noble lady in Valter, the Empress.

“The hall is filled with Bloom’s fragrance.”

Oh my, how elegant.

Tatiana smiled, first admiring such a poetic greeting.

But had she been unknowingly influenced by Gideon? Tatiana found herself deliberately trying to interpret this greeting in a twisted way.

‘It’s just red roses dyed with pigment. Is she actually trying to say it’s Ainsler’s fragrance?’

Ah. It was exhausting. How did the Ainsler family members do this every day?

Thinking the first guest wasn’t going to be easy, Tatiana responded. Not as elegantly as the Empress, but in frank and sincere language.

“It’s an honor to have you here. I’m truly grateful.”

“Of course I had to come when my daughter-in-law and daughter joined forces for a good cause. I would have come even without an invitation.”

“……”

Ah. This one was quite difficult. Where’s an interpreter when you need one?

They say spouses complement each other’s shortcomings, and Tatiana already missed Gideon’s presence.

‘Is she perhaps sarcastically asking why I sent an invitation?’

No, surely not. How could someone be that twisted? Where in the world would such a person……

At some point, she had lost confidence in this matter. Moreover, Tatiana had actually worried before sending the invitation to the Empress. As a royal elder, it was proper to send one regardless of attendance. However, she had been concerned that the Empress might privately find it distasteful or look for fault.

But not knowing others’ thoughts, Scarlet had been excited about this too.

‘Her Majesty will come. She’ll definitely come. But she’ll probably be really annoyed inside though?’

‘……Why would she be annoyed?’

I don’t want to annoy Her Majesty? Getting along well seemed unlikely, but I didn’t want to deliberately create uncomfortable situations either.

‘She probably doesn’t want to do anything nice for Gideon. As a sister-in-law, would she want to come and grace the occasion?’

‘……’

‘But if she doesn’t come, she’ll look petty. She’ll probably show her face briefly and leave, but inside she’ll hate this and that and everything.’

Tatiana recalled her sister-in-law’s words while carefully observing the Empress’s expression. However, if she exposed her emotions so easily before a novice, she wouldn’t be the empress of a country. Instead, the Empress began offering various words of wisdom to Tatiana.

“The Bloom couple would have been so proud to see this.”

“You flatter me. I try not to bring shame to my parents’ name, but I’m always embarrassed by my shortcomings.”

That was Tatiana’s honest feeling, but perhaps the Empress felt awkward about directly agreeing with ‘Yes, that’s true.’

The Empress offered another compliment-like response and began bringing up strange topics.

“The wife was born with much talent for the sword. Too much modesty can become a flaw.”

“……”

“It would be nice if Vaikal had such a sword too. Don’t all royals need a strong sword? They say it’s the strongest sword.”

“……”

“It’s quite regrettable in many ways.”

Tatiana had been listening with an awkward expression, but when the conversation took a strange turn, she stared at the Empress.

The Empress’s words just now quoted a sentence known to every Valter citizen.

‘Let he who obtains the strongest sword become the king of Valter.’

Even though Vaikal was royalty, it was dangerous to carelessly apply that sentence to him. No, rather, it was more so because he was royalty. Because it would mean he desired the sword to become king.

However, despite hearing such a sensitive statement, Tatiana had a rather odd thought. She remembered Gideon, who had reacted completely differently to the same sentence.

He had shown an attitude like ‘I am the king’ while saying that those who followed him would ultimately become the strongest sword.

As if asking who would take those words literally, he seemed to find it quite old-fashioned. Compared to that……

‘Her Majesty seems quite concerned about those words.’

If Gideon were here, he would have sneered that her sensibilities were all outdated. Or he might have muttered ‘She sure talks at length about not having loyal knights.’

Similar words rose to her throat, but Tatiana couldn’t bring herself to say such things directly to her mother-in-law’s face.

Missing her husband’s presence once again, she showed an awkward smile. 

 The strangely uncomfortable atmosphere was broken when Lady Muller began hovering around the two.

After meeting the in-laws, she had to meet her own family too. But why did both sides feel so exhausting?

They say that after marriage, there comes a moment when your parents’ home suddenly feels unfamiliar and awkward — was this similar? She felt drained before the party had even properly begun.

The Empress half-turned away from this party novice and greeted the Duchess.

“Oh my, Lady Muller was waiting.”

“Yes, Your Majesty. It’s an honor to see you again.”

“This opportunity was granted thanks to our wife. But you must be worried about your husband.”

Lady Muller gave a bitter smile at those words, seemingly troubled but also resigned.

“Yes, indeed. Life brings all sorts of things.”

“I pray for the Duke’s swift recovery. After all, he needs to do great things for the royal family again.”

Tatiana tilted her head while listening to their conversation.

‘……Recovery?’

Perhaps she had missed some context in their conversation? She rolled her eyes trying to recall the situation, but no matter how much she thought about it, she couldn’t understand what they were talking about.

The Empress exchanged a few more ceremonial greetings with the Duchess. Then, as if being considerate of the two, she said while leaving:

“Please, continue your conversation. I won’t interfere further with this touching mother-daughter reunion. Then I’ll take my leave……”

Tatiana watched the Empress’s retreating figure, thinking, oh my, even her farewell is elegant. Then she immediately turned to the Duchess to satisfy her curiosity.

Lady Muller seemed to feel more comfortable with her former adopted daughter than with the Empress. Her expression while asking after Tatiana was much more natural than before.

“Your Highness, have you been well? It brings me such joy to see your face again. There was a time when we saw each other every day……”

“Yes, indeed. ……But Mother. Is Father perhaps unwell somewhere?”

Tatiana asked carefully, half worried and half puzzled. However, the Duchess also seemed very puzzled by her question.

“You didn’t know?” 

 “……”

“There was an accident on his way to court. It’s not serious, it’s just his arm is a little……”

The Duchess briefly informed Tatiana about Sir Muller’s health and recent situation.

Tatiana, who had been listening with a serious face, said that while visiting the Duke’s residence might be difficult, she would definitely make time to visit his office later.

Though the Duchess waved it off, she seemed privately pleased. She subtly told Tatiana that her adoptive father would like it too.

Well. Would he like it? Tatiana honestly wasn’t sure about that. Yet she continued to wonder about one thing.

‘Why didn’t anyone tell me?’

While it wouldn’t be anything special for a knight to be injured, this was an accident of a different dimension. Even if it had been a minor injury during training, someone should have informed her.