Elvin raised his hand and slowly lowered the mask he was wearing.

Soon his face, as beautiful as a painting, was revealed.

He took it off so easily.

I dont know why he was wearing it in the first place.

Youre not surprised either.

Unless I was a child, Master Croix, its difficult to be deceived by such a poor disguise.

It doesnt matter. Im not going to show up in person anyway.

I was at a loss for words at the somewhat inconsistent words.

Contrary to my complicated mind, Elvin seemed very calm.

He reached out and took a leisurely bite of a cookie.

Somehow, it looked absurd.

Young Master seems to trust me very much. Seeing you reveal your secrets so easily to someone you havent seen in a while.

Elvin lifted his head and looked at me.

Arent you worried that I might tell others that the veiled owner of the organization is none other than Young Master Croix?

I dont think you will. Are you going to talk?

I dont know.

I raised the corners of my lips slowly.

Elvin burst into laughter.

He smiled leisurely when I looked at him with a puzzled face at the unexpected reaction.

Even if you do that, I cant help it. Its me who suggested that we become friends first. If I want to become close with the Young Lady, Ill have to accept that. If not, how can I trust you?

He said that, but he must have prepared a plan.

And I, too, had no intention of talking about what Elvin wanted to hide.

Because there was no need to make such a dangerous person angry. There was no benefit from doing that.

It was a joke. Dont worry, I wont tell anyone. Rather, the Young Master said he wanted to be friends with me. Why me?

I grew up lonely from a young age, so I dont have anyone I can be friends with. After my mother passed away, I was alone all the time.

Elvin lowered his gaze and pretended to be pitiful.

For a moment I almost fell for it because of his handsome face, but now I knew it was nonsense and he knew it too.

If you want to find someone who wants to be friendly with the Young Master, the banquet hall is filled with them.

Thats not real friends.

Then what does the Young Master think a real friend is?

I was genuinely curious and asked.

To my question, Elvin was silent for a while.

Seeing him silently in thought, he seemed to be genuinely troubled.

Ive never really thought about it deeply Sharing worries, drinking tea together, going for a walk? Lets leave it at that for now.

Is it any different from right now? I think you can do that with other people.

Its important to be closer than others.

Elvin looked at me and raised the corners of his lips.

I frowned as I looked at the red smiling lips.

Was wanting to get closer to me just a whim or did he have other plans?

I had no idea what the hell he was thinking.

***

Stephen was waiting for me when I returned from meeting Elvin.

He handed me a letter from the imperial family.

What is this?

The letter was addressed to the young lady, and it was sent from the imperial family. It must have been sent by His Majesty the Emperor.

I opened the letter in my hand with a nervous face.

Inside it was written a simple message to visit the Imperial Palace within a few days.

Perhaps he was going to give me an answer to my birthday wish.

I dressed neatly and I got into the carriage calmly to go to meet the emperor.

As the palace drew closer, my heart grew more and more anxious.

When I looked out the window, the sky was dark for some reason and it looked like it was going to rain at any moment.

Before long, the carriage reached the Imperial Palace and I got off the carriage.

Your Majesty is waiting for you, so you can follow me.

A servant with a face I saw for the first time led me to the Imperial Palace.

The path to the Imperial Palace was unfamiliar.

The magnificence and luxury was incomparable to the Crown Princes palace or the Dukes residence.

As soon as I thought about meeting the emperor alone, my body became tense and stiff.

His Majesty is in the audience chamber.

I stopped in front of a large arched door.

Would you mind waiting here for a moment?

I nodded.

Your Majesty, Princess Lillian has arrived.

The door opened not long after the servant delivered a message to the inside.

Soon after, a room decorated with a proper mixture of white and gold was revealed.

The interior, which looked grand but sacred and neat, felt like a temple rather than an imperial palace.

Princess?

When I hesitated to go inside, the servant who was leading the way turned around with a puzzled face.

I took a step reluctantly.

Lets go.

The room was spacious and I followed the directions of the servant.

As I continued walking along the red carpet, the emperor was waiting for me at the end.

Princess, are you here now?

The emperor greeted me as he sat on the throne.

On either side of him were knights in neat uniforms.

Their faces were all solemn with a harsh atmosphere.

The emperor had a benevolent face.

However, because he was the emperor of a great empire, he certainly had an unparalleled dignity.

I stiffened if I had been thrown in front of a large beast.

I felt the urge to leave this place immediately.

Roxana Lillian, the eldest daughter of the Duke of Lillian, sees Your Majesty the Emperor.

Raise your head.

The reason the emperor chose the audience chamber and sat on the throne to greet me must have been to intimidate me.

I raised my head proudly and faced him.

I have called you today to inform you of the outcome of what you requested last time.

I silently listened to what the emperor had to say.

You suspected that the prisoner was murdered rather than committing suicide in prison. Now that I think about it, you certainly had confidence. Who leaked the information to you?

I covered my mouth in amazement.

Then, I bit the soft flesh in my mouth to not make it obvious.

I tasted fishy blood, and at the same time my eyes became blurred.

Did you mean that the nanny did not commit suicide, but was murdered?

Princess, answer the question.

But I couldnt see.

I couldnt see the emperors face, nor the knights with swords lined up behind him.

I bowed my head with an anguished face, trying to swallow my sorrow.

I was raised from a young age by the nanny, no, Viscountess Willis. There was no blood related, but I treated her like my blood. She was like a mother to me until Viscount Willis abandoned me first.

With my head bowed, all I could see was the cold floor.

However, I could feel the emperors gaze over my head.

I grabbed the hem of my dress tightly.

But Viscountess Willis deceived me for her children. Then she died.

Therefore?

As you may not know, but Viscountess Willis children recently had problems. She was more stubborn than anyone else and had a strong motherly love. She would never kill herself and left her children behind.

Is that all there is to the suspicion that someone had killed the prisoner?

The emperor was not a fool, and deceiving him was harder than I thought.

But seeing him try to question me in this way, he didnt know either.

Then.

Actually, while I was visiting the Crown Prince a while ago, I happened to hear a strange conversation. I didnt hear it properly, but I thought I heard the names of Baron Danas daughter and the nanny.

In an instant, a cracking sound was heard from the emperors side.

Because I was bowing my head, I couldnt see the emperors expression, but I could tell that he was angry now.

I hoped it wasnt, but now that this has happened, I cant help but believe it. His Highness got rid of the witnesses for Lady Danas sake. Thats where Viscountess Willis got involved.

Yes, thats right.

The emperor graciously acknowledged it.

I asked you last time, but what are you going to do now? Even if you know the truth, is the answer the same as back then?

What isthe probability that the Emperor will kill me if I give an answer that he does not like here? As far as I know, the emperor cared more about the eyes of others than anyone else. Besides, the Empire still needed Duke Lillian.

Since I had already delivered the news to the Duke that I was coming to meet the emperor, nothing would have happened.

So the emperor wouldnt hurt me and become the Dukes enemy.

Threatening me with the knights in this room right now was probably just a warning.

Fortunately, I already knew the answer the Emperor wanted.

I know what Your Majesty is concerned about. Dont worry. I have no intention of making this matter public, and bringing the work of Viscountess Willis to the lips of the people. That defiles the name of the dead. Thats not what I want either.

Princess, do you really think so?

Unconsciously, I raised my head and looked at the emperor, who was looking at me with suspicious eyes.

It is not good for my reputation or for my family to continue to talk about unsavory things with this kind of useless gossip.

Yes. Thats a great answer.

The emperor had a satisfied face, as if he was pleased with my answer.

Thank you for the compliment.

I forced a smile.

In my mind, I wanted to bring this incident to a sunny spot and expose the shamelessness of the imperial family to the world.

But if that happened, even the emperor would not sit idly.

The most important thing for me was breaking up with the Crown Prince.

Since I got the most important cause for my breakup, I was able to negotiate the rest at a reasonable level.

When I left the audience chamber and looked out the window, there were dark clouds in the sky.

It didnt look good from the start, and it ended up raining.

On the way through the corridor to return to the dukes residence.

A familiar voice was heard from a distance, mixed with the sound of rain.

Pretentious bastard.

When I turned my head, I saw two people standing in the garden next to me.

It was the Crown Prince and the second Prince.

The two were in a confrontation.

The Crown Prince looked very angry.

On the other hand, the second Prince looked calm.

But the atmosphere wasnt good.

I cant quite understand what Your Highness is talking about.

Are you planning on sticking to that reason to the end?

In an instant, the Crown Prince hit the second Prince on the face.

And immediately he kicked the second Princes shin hard.

It was too one-sided for a quarrel between brothers.

Even though he could have avoided enough, the second Prince was accepting the violence.

Without a single scream or moan, with an expressionless expression.

The figure looked pretty familiar.

Then, the second Prince turned his head toward me, perhaps because he felt my gaze.

While my body stiffened in panic, someone grabbed me from behind.

My body was instantly hidden behind a pillar.

A large shadow was cast in front of me.

I looked up and saw Elvins face.

At first, I was surprised and stunned.

But I was soon able to come to my senses.

Realizing that the distance between us was too close, I pushed him away.

But Elvin didnt even move in the slightest.

He asked me with a playful smile.

Youll get caught if you push me away. I dont mind, but will you?