9.
I silently picked it up.
Then the spirits appeared, furious.
Thatrottenbastard!Master,justgivetheword!I’llburnhimtoacrisp!That rotten bastard! Master, just give the word! I’ll burn him to a crisp!
Hmph,burningisn’tenough !Master,let’sdrownhiminstead !I’llteachhimalessonuntilhebegsforhislife !Hmph, burning isn’t enough~! Master, let’s drown him instead~! I’ll teach him a lesson until he begs for his life~!
Master,areyouokay?Thathumanisawful!Somean!Master, are you okay? That human is awful! So mean!
‘I’m fine.’
I gently opened my mother’s crumpled diary and murmured,
“You were the one who refused to reconcile first, Your Highness.”
So, the one who will be leaving the capital—won’t be me. It’ll be you.
I calmly prophesied the future and stared at Gobard’s retreating back.
*
“Good afternoon, Princess Neroli!”
A few days after the banquet.
Evwa von Beauboncher, the precious daughter of the Beauboncher Dukedom, came into my garden.
I greeted her with a wide smile.
“Welcome, Lady Evwa.”
Blushing at my smile, Evwa sat down on the prepared seat.
“I can’t believe I’m having tea time alone with Your Highness! Ever since I received the invitation, I’ve been counting the days!”
“Really? I’ve also been looking forward to meeting you, Lady Evwa!”
And so, we started off with some casual small talk.
Evwa, being fond of speaking, naturally led the conversation.
“My grandmother was especially worried about Your Highness. After all, something so sad happened recently.”
“Oh dear, I must have caused Grandmother Beauboncher concern.”
“Heavens, not at all!”
Evwa waved her hands frantically.
“Our family is so deeply indebted to you, Princess. Don’t say things like that!”
I smiled quietly at her words.
It was only natural for Evwa to say such things.
Two winters ago, I had secretly treated the chronic illness of her grandmother, Duchess Beauboncher.
‘A newly formulated medicine happened to be effective for her condition.’
With the help of the spirits, I knew what properties plants and fruits had on the human body and what effects they’d have when combined—even things not written in books.
My specialty was using their advice to craft various medicines.
And occasionally, when timing was right, I’d discreetly hand them over to those in need—out of sight of the emperor.
‘I get to test the medicine’s effectiveness and expand my connections. The patients get treated. Everyone wins.’
The Beauboncher family was one such case.
They were deeply touched by my actions and continued to maintain favorable relations with me.
“We’ll always be concerned for our savior, Princess. So please, don’t say such things.”
“It means a lot to me that you think of me that way.”
I looked at Evwa with a touched expression and met her gaze.
“I’m alright. I think if I continue grieving, my mother won’t be able to rest in peace… And I have people like you and the Beauboncher family worrying about me! So, I decided to cheer up!”
As I smiled brightly, Evwa, who had been staring at me in a daze, slowly nodded.
“Your Highness’s smile truly is the treasure of our empire.”
Evwa murmured, her cheeks still red.
She sipped her tea shyly, eyes lowered.
Sensing the mood had ripened, I gently brought up a new topic.
“Now that I think about it, it seems to be taking a while.”
“Taking a while?”
“Hmm… Between you and His Highness the Crown Prince.”
I cupped my cheek with one hand and spoke in a worried tone.
“I mean the wedding.”
Evwa’s hand twitched slightly at my words.
Pretending not to notice, I tilted my head innocently.
“It’s been several years since your engagement… I was wondering if I missed any recent news.”
At my concern, Evwa’s face turned rather sour.
Then she let out a heavy sigh.
“I’m incredibly frustrated too, you know.”
She suddenly began venting everything that had built up inside.
“Since we’re speaking honestly—it’s already been five years since our engagement, hasn’t it? But His Highness keeps avoiding the topic, saying he’s busy!”
“Oh my, really?”
“At first, I understood. He was busy clearing out pirates right after our engagement! But that ended last year, didn’t it?! He should have gotten married immediately! Why’s he dragging his feet like this?!”
“Hmm, that’s true.”
“Ugh, I only insisted on marrying him because I was so smitten the first time I saw his face…”
“…”
“But now it’s too late to back out. His Majesty only approved it because I begged and pleaded.”
Evwa, clearly stressed, took a huge bite of cake.
“He doesn’t understand how tormented his fiancée is. What on earth is he thinking?”
She muttered between mouthfuls of cake.
Of course, I knew exactly what Gobard was thinking.
‘Originally, Gobard was planning to marry Evwa immediately after the pirate suppression.’
But upon returning to the palace after years away, he encountered an unexpected variable—the female lead of the original story.
‘Right now, he’s in the middle of falling for that heroine.’
So his fiancée no longer even registered in his eyes.
For context, Evwa was merely a minor antagonist in the original novel.
‘Thank goodness my mother’s diary included details up to the middle of the original plot.’
Thanks to that, I could roughly grasp Evwa’s role.
Though, the real-life Evwa sitting here having tea with me was slightly different from her portrayal in the book.
In the original, Evwa stubbornly clung to the engagement and ended up sent to a convent—a tragic one-off villain.
But this Evwa had her own circumstances.
‘She insisted on the engagement, and the emperor extracted a massive dowry from the Beauboncher family in return.’
Time had passed, and she was now well past the typical age for marriage. All she had left was the Crown Prince.
‘If she had pressed on those points, the marriage might have gone through.’
Or at least, if she’d stayed quiet, her father, Duke Beauboncher, might’ve found a way.
But she was largely unaware of the intricate political ties and national matters between her family and the imperial house.
Not to mention, she was emotionally volatile and a bit hot-tempered—making her susceptible to Gobard’s provocations to break off the engagement.
This ruined her reputation among nobles over time.
‘Eventually, she pushed the female lead off a terrace at a royal banquet, and it was discovered.’
She was then exiled from the capital, charged with attempted murder at a sacred imperial banquet.
Recalling my mother’s notes, I spoke in a deliberately hopeful tone.
“But Lady Evwa, don’t worry too much!”
She looked at me.
Meeting her eyes, I smiled innocently, without any ulterior motive.
“His Highness completed the pirate campaign using the dowry he received from the Beauboncher family. There’s no way he’d pretend that didn’t happen! He’s probably just really busy right now!”
“Huh? What do you mean? I know the dowry was given in advance… but what do you mean it was used to finish the pirate suppression?”
“Oh? You didn’t know?”
Inwardly, I smiled sharply.
‘But what if someone started giving Evwa the right advice from now on—how might the tides change?’
I was getting curious.
“The Beauboncher Dukedom owns the empire’s largest navy, right? That’s how they helped with the pirate campaign!”
“Yes.”
“Back then, the imperial family received 17 warships from the Beauboncher fleet as part of your dowry. That completely reversed the naval balance between the two!”
“…Is that true?”
Evwa’s face turned ghostly pale.
“Seventeen ships…? I’ve never heard of that before!”
She was in shock.
Understandable.
Beauboncher, the guardian of the South, had the continent’s strongest naval force.
They originally had 57 ships—more than the imperial family’s 46.
‘But five years ago, 17 ships were handed over as part of the dowry.’
Now, the imperial family had 63 and Beauboncher had 40. The balance was reversed.
A huge loss for Beauboncher.
Of course, since dowry contracts among high-ranking nobles are often kept secret, Evwa probably never knew.
Her hand on the table trembled.
“Oh dear, Lady Evwa.”
I gently placed my hand over hers to console her.
“I suppose the Duke didn’t tell you the details so you wouldn’t worry.”
“Princess, I—I can’t believe this! How could they not tell me, of all people?!”
“You thought the engagement only happened because you insisted so strongly.”
“That’s…!”
“Lady Evwa, I don’t know the full story either, but I can say this for certain.”
Gripping her hand firmly, I spoke with conviction.
“His Majesty never agrees to a deal unless it benefits him. That includes approving your engagement with the Crown Prince.”
“Ah—”
“The Beauboncher family has already paid a huge price. So you have absolutely no reason to feel inferior. In fact, I think now is the time you should proudly claim your rightful place.”
“Princess Neroli…”
With a deeply worried expression, Evwa hurriedly clutched my hand in return.
