I drew my brows together at the sound of somebody touching my dress. Somebody patted my shoulder and swept back my hair that hung down on my shoulders. I smiled at his gentle touch. When I snuggled into his arms, rubbing my face like a child, he whispered, “…Tia, wake up.”

“Um…”

“Why are you sleeping in a place like this? What if you get sick again?”

His voice was familiar to me.

I lifted my heavy eyelids and blinked at him slowly. His navy blue uniform came into my view clearly. I also noticed his shiny silver badge.

“Ah, Daddy.”

When I pulled myself from his strong arms and smiled awkwardly, he examined me, then nodded, softening his face. When I slowly lifted my body, I met the eyes of a man watching my father a few steps away from me. His navy blue eyes were full of envy of my close ties with my father.

I was startled to see him and greeted him politely, “I’m honored to see Your Majesty, the Sun of the empire.”

“You look very tired. Well, I think you have gotten very weak recently.”

“I’m sorry, Your Majesty. I took a nap… By the way, why are both of you here at the same time?”

“Well, I gave him a notice that I would like to discuss with you over dinner to discuss some matters about the breakoff of our engagement and other things.”

“Oh, I see.”

I hurriedly adjusted my dress and walked after them silently.

The place I arrived after catching up with them quickly was a simple restaurant reserved for the emperor and his close aides. When I sat before a round dining table, the servants and maids who came in briefly put down some plates and went out.

When I saw the food on the plates, I was puzzled.

‘No way, is this all?’

I know the emperor loves a simple menu, but how come there are only five plates, and that all the plates are soup?

When I knitted my brows slightly, the chief maid quickly came to me and explained in a small voice. She said she prepared the simple menu because they came here for a meal for the first time in about a week. Really? Both of them skipped meals for a whole week?

“… Let’s have food.”

When I looked at him nonchalantly, he picked up the spoon, avoiding my eyes. My father also avoided my eyes.

I sighed a bit, looking at the two who pretended not to have noticed me. I was told that they skipped meals for a week, but little did I think they actually did.

Are they trying to change the topic? They immediately started talking about my dwelling place.

According to the imperial etiquette, I couldn’t stay in the Central Palace once I regained consciousness because I was a daughter of a mere nobleman. The emperor insisted that he would let me stay at the place because it’s safer than my house. But my father insisted that he would take me home because he didn’t want me to be talked about in social circles.

I took the spoon to my mouth, listening to their argument. I broke into a smile while watching them talking about me seriously. Now I took great delight in spending time with these two men that I loved. I thought I would feel awkward, but I didn’t.

“Your Majesty, you have a report from the government.”

“What is the matter? I clearly told you not to disturb me unless it’s really urgent.”

His aide flinched at his cold voice and answered quickly, “The apprentice knight Spia is said to have died. So they are waiting for your order.”

“Really? That’s too bad. Marquis? Do you want me to give the Monique family the right to dispose of it?”

“…Well, that’s fine because my daughter had regained consciousness. Please do as you wish.”

“Got it. Aide Rankle, let me take care of that at a trial, so focus on investigating the other guys.”

“Yes, Your Majesty.”

Oh, I was forgetting about the case of Sir Spia.

I recalled the man laughing like crazy while his shoulder was bleeding. Considering the situation at the time, he must have colluded with Duke to lure me out from the beginning.

Why did he do that? Although the Spia family was only a small baron in the border area, they were closer to the pro-emperor faction than the noble faction.

“By the way, why did he do that? Did he have a grudge against me?”

When I asked cautiously, the emperor said, putting down the spoon after hesitating for a moment, “He said he wanted to get even with you. It seemed that he had his heart set on the daughter of the merchant group controlled by the Jena family, which went bankrupt because of your measure. I hear the woman got married to another man after that happened.”

“…Oh, I see.”

“Don’t pay attention to it. Other than that, he had been targeting your life all along.”

“Really? What do you mean?”

When I tilted my head, he explained to me what he had found out. It was Sir Spia who cut the reins and saddles of my beloved horse Silvia on my coming-of-age ceremony day. Given the situation at that time, his shooting an arrow at the bear was most likely intentional, not a mistake.

If it was his plan to carry out another plot against me, I survived only because I met the emperor there not long after I was separated from my company.

Of course, I could not tell whether my guesswork was true or false because the man who could tell the truth was dead. I still couldn’t figure how long he had been shadowing and targeting me.

“Anyway, Tia, don’t worry. We lost only one of the many means we could use, but it won’t overturn the tide. Perhaps the day after tomorrow we will be able to solve the matter.”

“The day after tomorrow?”

“Yes. We are having a trial for the third time the day after tomorrow. All the others were convicted with treason, and we have to try Marquis Mirwa and Duke Jena.”

I see. It seems like the trials for all others were over.

I slowly nodded, then focused on having dinner because all my questions would be solved when I attended the trial two days later.

***

Two days later I headed to the Imperial Palace, escorted by the family knights. At the end of the day, my father prevailed in arguing with him over my dwelling place, so I headed home on that day. Although the emperor seemed very dissatisfied, he had to nod at my father’s argument that he didn’t want to have them gossip about me behind my back.

But he presented several conditions on my return home. Namely, I should be escorted by more than two royal knights under any circumstances, I should be accompanied by the family knights when I had to move, and I should come and see him everyday. That’s why I’m now heading to the palace.

When I entered the conference hall, the members of the noble faction competitively greeted me with a smile. I sat down, properly responding to them who were unusually warm to me today.

When I looked around slowly, I noticed one empty seat among the noble faction’s section. I could not help but chuckle at that, but I tried to stay indifferent as much as I could. I was so overjoyed deep down, but I knew I should not express it now.

“Okay, today is the final trial. Start right away without delay. Protocol office, bring Marquis Mirwa here.”

The young man with blue hair at the head table ordered the start of the trial as soon as he received their greetings.

Shortly afterwards, the man with honey-colored hair came in. He looked very gloomy.

“Dupla la Mirwa. Born in 941 by the imperial calendar. Lord of the Mirwa estate, with the title of marquis. He is a full-fledged knight with the regular knights group and the Captain of the 4th Knights Division. Is that right? ”

“Yes, that’s right.”

“You orchestrated the treason plot to kill the emperor and poison Lady Monique. As someone who organized a total of 15 families except for the Holten family found not guilty a few days ago, you have been charged with having been involved in importing, carrying, poisoning and buying off a palace affairs officer and destroying the evidence. Do you admit your charges?”

“No, I can’t admit the charges.”

“If so, are you claiming you are innocent?”

“Not really. I was only an accomplice, but I’m not the mastermind who initiated and led the treason plot.”

There was a tense silence filling the courtroom.