Chapter 87 - Jealousy

“You’re always going to His Majesty when you have free time.”

“I’m sure His Majesty loves our princess because she returns his affections.”

“I also want to be loved by the princess!”

“I’m so jealous of His Majesty!”

I blinked silently as I heard the maids talk amongst themselves. 

“How cute!” 

As I watched their reactions to me, I realized something: ‘I’ve got them all in the palm of my hand.’ I smiled in satisfaction while Luciana, standing next to me, looked exasperated.  

“Are you that happy?”

“There’s no one in the world who hates being loved.”

“That’s true.” Rather than having ten thousand admirers, I thought it was better to have the love of the person I liked the most. “Let’s go see Daddy!” I felt like I wasn’t living my life properly if I didn’t see him three times a day. Luciana signed and followed me.

It had been a month since I became a princess. The palace observed an interesting schedule: breakfast, lunch, dinner. That was the princess’s routine to go meet the emperor. And the servants looked after the princess in contentment. 

“Do you really like the emperor this much?”

“Are you curious, Luci?” 

I told her that I had answered this question a million times already, but Luciana just shrugged, “Don’t you think it’s good to be curious?”

“I’m not.” Wasn’t it obvious that someone would fall in love as soon as they saw Miltiades? I thought of him and sighed, “Why are there only 24 hours in a day? I want to be next to him all day and breathe the same air as him.”

“…You’re acting like a pervert.” 

“I know.” That was why I was limiting myself to seeing him only three times a day.

“Sometimes it feels like you’re His Majesty’s guardian.”

Her keen observation made me smile. It was 100% true. “But Luci, don’t you think the atmosphere’s a bit strange in the palace?” I asked. The atmosphere had changed near the road to the training grounds. 

“All that talk about an empress had died down for a while, but I think it’s starting up again.”

I didn’t care who the next empress would be, but I hated when the palace was busy. The most important part was that I didn’t know if the assassination attempt would happen or not. I wondered why they would want to kill him. Since he was young, Miltiades had encountered many assassination attempts. He wouldn’t die so easily. The only people who profited from the incident were Priscilla and Duke Ravenhook. 

On second thoughts, only Duke Ravenhook had something to gain. I had never thought about this before, but it was weighing on my mind now. It was odd for Duke Ravenhook to allow Priscilla to help since he had been hoping for Miltiades’s death. What if he only wanted to attempt an attack on Miltiades and not actually kill him? It was a possibility. 

A truckload of people died after the incident, and most of the nobility—with the exception of Duke Ravenhook—had their authority weakened. The person who lost the most power was…“Grand Duke Noichrome.”

The grand duke was the first in line for the throne. Everyone thought he was the one who had tried to kill Miltiades to get the throne, but the possibility of him being the culprit was low. Why would he send an assassin when he was up in the north and only came to the capital once or twice a year? It was more likely that someone else tried to kill Miltiades and blamed it on the Grand Duke. But who would do such a thing? 

A voice rang out as I was wracking my brain, “How long will you make me wait?” Luciana and I turned in the direction of the voice. It came from the maze in the garden.

“…That.”

Luciana read my mind and made a face. I shushed her and listened intently. Who was raising their voice in this sacred palace?

“I apologize, please give me more…”

“Give you more? I had listened to you until this whole mess happened!” 

“But there hasn’t been a chance…”

“I don’t need excuses!” 

I parted the bushes that had been cared for by the gardeners and watched the situation unfold. A blue-haired lady who seemed quite agitated was throwing a tantrum at someone. …Why did she look so familiar? I’d seen her somewhere before…

“It seems that you’ve forgotten your place now that you’ve been in the palace for a while, but remember your position! How could you repay my kindness like this?” the angry lady pushed her hair back as she ranted, “The longer you put this off, the worse it’ll be for you. Keep that in mind.”

Who in the world was she talking to? Luciana shook her head, signaling for me to stop listening, but my curiosity got the better of me. My eyes widened when I saw who the lady was lecturing.