Chapter 99
“Your Highness the Crown Prince, please don’t interrupt. I’m talking with His Highness the Grand Duke’s son right now.”
“!”
The Crown Prince was stunned. He hadn’t expected Beatrice to be so bold.
“Your Highness, according to the curse, Eclis kills his parents. And eventually, he becomes darkness itself. The god pities him and sends the Moon Goddess, but—did that ever comfort him?”
“Stop!”
“Let her finish.”
The Crown Prince tried to scold Beatrice, but the Grand Duke’s heir blocked him.
Ugh, she’s as bold as Beatrice…
The children looked at the Crown Prince, then at Theodore, then at Beatrice.
That mouth of hers—she’s definitely going to say something.
As expected, Beatrice’s violet eyes sparkled. At that moment, Lottis shut her eyes tight and rapidly blurted out:
“Actually, Eclis wasn’t at fault, right, Beatrice? If the king and queen hadn’t believed the curse and abandoned him, he wouldn’t have attacked the kingdom, nor founded an empire. That’s what you wanted to say, isn’t it?”
The table fell into silence at Lottis’s sudden interruption. She peeked one eye open.
‘I failed last time, but this time I have to succeed.’
From Eclis’s perspective, Lottis’s words made sense—he was unjustly treated.
If so, then Theodore wasn’t at fault either.
So quit it, you attention-seeking queen!
Clink.
“Are you saying there was something wrong with the oracle?”
Beatrice, sounding offended, put down her long dessert tweezers.
“These discussions can wait until after the play—during history class or theology. Today, we’re here to enjoy a play, aren’t we?”
It was the Crown Prince. Now that the topic had shifted away from curses, he hurried to clean up the situation.
Beatrice had always been a child desperate for attention.
Her brothers had enough divine power to be chosen as priests of the Central Temple, but she didn’t, and it made her anxious.
Was this another attempt at that?
Trying to leave an impression on the Grand Duke’s son by provoking his curiosity instead of divine power?
But this couldn’t continue.
If word spread that such conversations were happening in his presence, people would think he lacked authority.
“Yes, Your Highness. That would be best.”
Cordelia—desperate to avoid the underground dungeon—quickly stepped in.
“But Beatrice, aren’t you going to give us prayer books?”
Daphne joined in, out of spite.
“Huh? Everyone has these prayer books. We saw them in theology class. His Highness the Grand Duke’s son probably doesn’t have one, right? Isn’t that so, Your Highness?”
With her pointed remark, Beatrice passed the topic back to Theodore.
Wow. She’s relentless.
The children glared at Beatrice, then looked back at Theodore.
Theodore pursed his lips, thinking hard about how to answer.
He had never seen the Orlesion Prayer Book in the Schlesen Palace.
Huh? Why not? Why doesn’t he have one?
Beatrice, amused by his expression, cheerfully cut her meat.
“He seemed like the type who would’ve come to the Central Temple for worship at least once, but he never did. So I wondered.”
Pop.
Beatrice placed the finely cut meat into her mouth. One cheek puffed out annoyingly.
Hmm. This was troublesome.
Theodore pondered how to respond to her smug expression.
He didn’t want to say he didn’t have one. Maybe he just hadn’t seen it—the Schlesen Palace was huge.
“I’ll look for it. Thank you for the prayer book.”
Since it was his first gift from someone his age, Theodore thanked her sincerely.
But—
“To be honest, I’m thanking you because Her Highness the Grand Duchess found the sweets.”
“Huh? Then should I give this to Her Highness instead?”
“No. They were made for you by Her Highness, so aren’t they all thanks to you? Honestly, if I lived at the Schlesen Palace, I’d get to eat these every day.”
Beatrice’s lips curled as she smiled with her eyes. The children sighed—here she goes again.
She used to flirt with the Crown Prince, and now the Grand Duke’s son?
Wait!
…Was Theodore blushing a little?
Did Theodore… like Beatrice?
Theodore flipped through the prayer book quickly.
Cordelia felt her mouth go dry.
I should’ve prepared something for him too. How foolish of me.
The Crown Prince was annoyed.
He felt like the Grand Duke’s son had stolen the spotlight from him.
Thankfully, Mother wasn’t here to see it.
The rest of the children just wanted the curse incident to end already.
“I see.”
Theodore straightened his posture and propped the prayer book upright on the table.
Phew… The curse talk was finally over.
But—
“Then why didn’t you just say that when you gave it? Why did you talk about protecting me from the curse, Beatrice?”
Hic.
Cordelia hiccuped—the thought of ending up in a damp, moldy dungeon terrified her.
Lottis shuddered—the idea of being locked in a windowless meditation chamber was horrifying.
Daphne clenched her fists—scared her tongue might be cut out.
Meanwhile, pale Alfred stared at Theodore, and Theodore, his red eyes gleaming with curiosity, stared at Beatrice’s deep violet eyes.
There was something the children didn’t know.
Theodore—the Grand Duke’s heir—was relentless. If he was curious, he had to know the answer. And he held grudges.
Tension stretched across the table once again.
“It’s all right.”
Sinclair spoke gently, but Sophia bit her lip and glanced anxiously at the Empress.
As Sinclair’s personal attendant, Sophia had seen the Grand Duchess’s injuries many times. She couldn’t leave Sinclair alone with the Empress—the woman who might have inflicted those wounds.
Sophia would never leave her master alone with danger.
She would sooner die.
Since Sophia refused to move, the other maids also stood like stone statues.
The only orphanage in the Empire was the Schlesen Orphanage, which also trained professional maids. Most noble households hired their maids from there.
Thus, most of the Heather household maids knew Sophia well. And since she refused to leave, they aligned with her.
“Why are you all standing like that?”
Empress Kenes raised an eyebrow, sweeping her gaze across the maids.
“Your Highness the Grand Duchess…”
Sophia clasped her hands and looked at Sinclair with clear worry.
“It’s all right. I want to be alone with my sister. Ariel, you go too.”
Ariel’s face turned pale.
The Duke had strictly ordered her never to take her eyes off Sinclair and to guard her closely.
“I’m not going to fly into the sky or sink into the ground.”
“…Understood. I will wait outside.”
When Ariel turned around, Sophia finally followed her out.
Watching Sinclair dismiss her own attendants and guard, Empress Kenes looked unsettled.
Does this girl… actually know how to control her subordinates?
Seeing the Empress’s confusion, Sinclair smiled.
This is the perfect place for a showdown.
The room Cecil gave her for changing wasn’t an official lounge. Sinclair had said she wanted a private moment with the Empress, so Cecil had lent her a spacious, cozy drawing room.
Once the door closed, Sinclair smiled at Kenes.
It was the first time they had met alone in this world from the novel. Kenes was Alfred’s kind mother, a pitiful Empress tormented by the tyrant Heraith.
Maybe because she was the male lead’s mother, she had a radiant aura even in dim lighting.
“It’s been a while. Or not? Since your whole family came to the Bedrian Palace last time, I suppose we see each other often.”
Kenes began the conversation elegantly.
“Of course. Things are different from when I was trapped in the detached residence.”
“Different indeed. From the daughter of a mere marquis to the Grand Duchess… It’s the second-highest position after Empress.”
“….”
“And who placed you in that seat?”
Kenes, are you seriously reciting your lines exactly as in the novel?
Fine. I’ll play along.
“My father and sister.”
“Good. So you should repay that favor.”
“I have been repaying it.”
Even under Kenes’s sharp glare, Sinclair remained calm. Kenes let out a hollow laugh.
“Repaying it? After what happened today?”
Finally—the topic Sinclair wanted.
“What happened today?”
“You know very well.”
“No, Father created that situation.”
As Sinclair casually stroked the armrest of the sofa, Kenes’s expression hardened.
Got you.
Sinclair did not miss it. Something definitely happened in the palace today.
Gerald being summoned—Michael being unwell—it was all connected.
But why had everything happened at once?
And why had Schlesen Palace’s physicians and healers been sent to House Owen?
Something was going on.
Time to uncover the truth Gerald was hiding.
“Father created it? If you had listened to him, none of this would’ve happened!”
“Listen to Father…”
Sinclair crossed her arms and leaned back, relaxed.
The anxious person was the Empress—clearly.
Kenes’s lips trembled with anger.
“You ungrateful thing.”
Sinclair shrugged.
“Is this the bloodbath you were waiting for?”
“….”
“Rejecting Father’s plan—and letting a mere nanny carry it out until she got caught?”
A nanny receiving orders from Marquis Michael? So it wasn’t just a petty jealousy incident?
‘Gerald, you liar. You said no secrets between us.’
But Sinclair needed more information.
“So?”
“So? Because of you, the Crown Prince has been accused of treason, and Schlesen Palace’s soldiers have surrounded House Owen!”
Kenes leaned in, whispering sharply.
Sinclair lifted a finger and pressed it against Kenes’s forehead, pushing her back.
Kenes’s eyes widened in shock.
Sinclair looked up at the Empress standing indignantly before her.
How dare you shove your pretty face at me?
But… the Crown Prince accused of treason?
That wasn’t part of her plan.
So that’s why sweet little Alfred had looked like he was about to cry earlier?
Sinclair’s thoughts tangled.
Something was happening.
And she hadn’t been aware of it.
