Chapter 40
“Wouldn’t you like to become the foundation for a small sun that will one day rise?”
“……”
“It might be difficult right now, but if you remain in the Second Prince’s Palace and simply run a few small errands for Her Majesty the Empress, you will be duly rewarded. For example, you could be transferred to serve in the Empress’s quarters… or the Artis Trading Company could receive her protection.”
Ah. So this was it.
Reinol, you terrifying man.
Putting Emily’s words plainly—it meant that in exchange for siding with the Empress, Hestia would not only be guaranteed a position as a lady-in-waiting, but the Artis Trading Company would gain the Empress’s backing.
In other words, they intended to use Hestia, the Artis Company, and the Werner family for their own purposes.
And, without a doubt, Reinol must have predicted this situation in advance.
Now she recalled his parting words—
“Don’t worry about the Artis Company, Lady Hestia. Just do whatever you want!”
Hestia barely held back the incredulous laugh threatening to escape.
Emily’s gaze was sharp and pressing.
The conclusion was obvious, and so was the answer Hestia had to give.
Setting her cup down, Hestia turned to Emily and offered the gentlest smile she could muster. Her lips, red as if biting into a rose petal, curved gracefully.
“…May the blessings rest beneath the moon.”
It seemed Hestia and Sonia were the last interviewees. Once Sonia’s turn ended, Lorina entered the lounge where Hestia and five others were seated.
Lorina met Hestia’s eyes for a moment before opening the documents she carried.
“Miss Hannah Gerstein, Miss Reyna Werner, and…”
Hestia glanced at Sonia, tapping the back of her hand lightly in reassurance. It was a small gesture of encouragement, possible only because she knew the usual Sonia well.
Outwardly, Sonia’s expression was utterly calm, but Hestia knew she was inwardly anxious about being rejected.
But Hestia already knew—Sonia would be staying at the palace with her. In her deal with Emily, she had used the Artis Company as leverage to request Sonia’s acceptance as well.
The rest would be for Reinol to handle.
Sonia’s eyes were fixed on Lorina’s lips. And then, finally—
“Miss Sonia Fenser, please come with me.”
The decision was made.
Following Lorina, they were each assigned a room within the Second Prince’s Palace and briefed on their schedules and duties. Only afterward was Hestia left alone.
Her assigned room was warm from the fireplace. It was modestly sized, furnished only with the essentials—a bed, desk, and wardrobe.
Hestia collapsed onto the bed as if falling.
“Gain His Highness the Second Prince’s trust.”
With her eyes closed, she recalled the head lady-in-waiting Emily’s words.
“And after getting close, what then?”
Well, befriending someone in the royal family wasn’t necessarily bad. It could expand her range of activity.
“The problem is… how do you get close to someone again?”
It had been so long since she’d made an effort to befriend anyone, she couldn’t even recall how. Six years ago, that child had been a special case, so that didn’t count.
“Uncle El, Finn, Lu, and Baek-ah aren’t even human, so they don’t count… I’ve known Reinol since he was a baby… Sonia—are we even ‘close’? I didn’t exactly try with Illina either… Ah! Whatever! I’ll figure it out.”
Hestia truly knew nothing. Or rather, she didn’t even care.
About what was happening in the imperial palace… or the fact that she had just stepped into the center of it.
…Or what would happen next.
Thus ended a long day woven from both tension and indifference.
Hestia’s eyelids slowly rose. She blinked at the unfamiliar ceiling, but nothing changed.
Her mind finally began to clear. Outside, the faint light suggested dawn was just breaking.
“…Habits really are scary.”
Rising, Hestia opened the window. The crisp morning air filled her lungs.
“Uncle El.”
In a voice so small it wouldn’t be heard even if someone stood beside her, Hestia murmured.
Flap—
With a strong flutter of wings, a small bird flew from the opposite tree and landed on her shoulder.
“You’re a spirit creature, right? Can you sense the special energy that comes from holy swords or treasured blades?”
Chirp?
The little bird tilted its head, as if it had no idea what she was talking about.
“Stop pretending to be cute. Yes or no?”
At her words, the bird—no, El—hopped down her arm, placing its tiny feet on her fingertip and staring straight at her.
“If you tell me first.”
But Hestia shook her head firmly.
‘This human has no sense of fair trade.’
El’s eyes sharpened.
Peck! Peck!
“Ow! That hurts!”
He pecked her finger relentlessly, red blooming against her pale skin.
Finally—
“Ah! Fine, fine!”
Only at her exasperated cry did El lift his beak and shake his tail feathers.
“If you end up being no help after all this…”
Hestia rested her other hand lightly on El’s head and closed her eyes. Warm light, the opposite of the pale dawn glow, bloomed beneath her palm and wrapped around El’s body in a gentle shimmer.
Glittering motes scattered into the air, and just as the light faded—
Knock knock.
Flap!
At the sound, El vanished in an instant. Hestia could only watch in disappointment as his tail feathers disappeared from sight.
“…This is like a dog staring up at the roof after the chicken’s flown away. Hah.”
Knock knock.
“Who is it?”
Closing the window with an irritable wave, she swung the door open.
“M–Miss Werner? Did something happen…?”
Lorina’s wide eyes studied Hestia’s expression.
“Ah… Ahem! Nothing at all. Good morning.”
Blinking, Hestia cleared her throat, quickly erasing the annoyed, emotionless look from her face.
In its place was the serene expression of a noble lady, which Lorina stared at for a moment before speaking.
“Yesterday, I mentioned today’s schedule. After breakfast, you will be going to greet His Highness the Second Prince. Please prepare accordingly.”
Having said her piece, Lorina immediately headed off, presumably to give the same message to the others.
“…I’d better be more careful.”
Her shoulders, which had stiffened in surprise, slumped.
Once, she had come and gone through this palace as if it were her own home. But that was a distant past, one she could barely bring herself to recall. The long years of living alone had become far more familiar.
“A leopard really can’t change its spots.”
With a sigh, Hestia flopped back onto the soft bed.
Now she was merely a lady-in-waiting with no backing, no position, nothing at all. She’d have to tread far more carefully.
“Just as I thought.”
“Did you expect a count’s daughter to appear?”
At Milan’s question, Terhan gave a faint smile and turned a page in his book.
“If she’d been from a powerful noble house, we might have considered recruiting her instead. Still, it’s good we reviewed the documents in advance—we found something suspicious.”
Milan flipped through the papers, rubbing his chin. Terhan’s eyes, however, remained fixed disinterestedly on the book.
“Have you ever heard of the Werner viscounty having a young lady? Even after all the digging we’ve done into the Artis Company, there was never any record of one.”
Thud.
At that, Terhan shut his book abruptly and held out his hand. Milan, expecting this, passed over the file immediately.
After all, the person Terhan was searching for had ties to the head of the Artis Company—this reaction was no surprise.
“Reyna Werner.”
Terhan quietly read the name written there. Of course, it was the first time he had heard it.
“What’s even stranger is that the moment we received this file, we reinvestigated the Werner family and—suddenly—information about a young lady began surfacing. As if the evidence had been fabricated.”
“…Could this be the Empress’s doing?”
It was highly likely the Empress had hired a skilled infiltrator to disguise their identity in order to deceive him.
What was unexpected, and irritating, was that the Artis Company, the Werner family, and even Reinol himself would cooperate in such a scheme.
“Quite a high probability. It seems they didn’t know we were keeping an eye on the Artis Company, otherwise they wouldn’t have borrowed the Werner name.”
Milan spoke as though he were certain it was the Empress’s work.
Terhan’s gaze still lingered on the file—more precisely, on the name Reyna Werner.
“We’ll know soon enough when she comes to pay her respects.”
Knock knock.
“Looks like she’s here now.”
The office door opened, and Lorina entered with three ladies-in-waiting in tow.
“We greet Your Highness the Second Prince. I am Lorina Sezan, in service to Her Majesty the Empress.”
Following her lead, Hestia, Sonia, and Hannah lightly lifted their skirts in a formal curtsey to the royal.
Until granted permission, they could not raise their heads, so their eyes remained fixed on the floor.
“These are the new ladies-in-waiting who will be serving Your Highness starting today.”
Terhan’s gaze swept slowly over the bowed figures before he spoke leisurely.
“Proceed.”
At his cue, they began introducing themselves one by one.
“Hannah of the Gerstein barony.”
The first girl, aside from her red hair, was unremarkable. Certainly, her color couldn’t compare to Hestia’s deep crimson locks.
His indifferent eyes moved to the next—Sonia.
“Sonia of the Fenser viscounty.”
Reddish-brown hair. Shorter than Hestia.
Somewhere along the way, Terhan had developed this habit—always comparing people to Hestia. She had made him this way.
His gaze shifted again.
“…Reyna Werner of the Werner viscounty.”
Hestia hesitated briefly at the unfamiliar name.
Rustle—
No sooner had she finished her introduction than a fluttering sound filled the air. A sheet of paper rolled to a stop at her feet.
While she debated whether or not to pick it up, a large shadow fell over her. A boot stepped down onto the paper, entering her vision in an instant.
“Raise your head.”
It was a low voice, with the faintest tremor—almost as if she’d imagined it.
