n

n

n

n“Regardless of whether you are the crown prince’s bride or not, you should not stand in the way of his governance. But you tried to take away his time by visiting the palace endlessly by using your status. That’s enough to disqualify you. Look at what you did on the first day of the banquet. Weren’t you put to shame in public while trying to covet what Lady Monique, our next empress, has?”

nPrincess Moira’s face turned red in embarrassment. Nevertheless, Lady Genoa continued, “Besides, even though Lady Monique had nothing to do with it, you insulted her. Even after you won an apology from her, you have been extremely rude. How dare you leave when she was apologizing? It was you who should have apologized to her for your rudeness. With all these disqualifying factors, are you still interested in being his bride?”

n“What the heck?” Princess Moira raised her right hand high. I quickly intervened between the two and grabbed her hand when she was about to hit Lady Genoa. She was staring at me intensely in a fit of anger.

n“Can’t you let it go?”

n“… Well, this is too much. I can’t stand it anymore. Your behavior is more and more ridiculous! ”

nI heard someone’s cold voice at that moment. The young man with blue hair appeared with an aide holding a bunch of papers behind him and stared at them coldly.

n“Your Majesty!”

n“I’m sorry. I should have anticipated this would happen to you. I think I was narrow-minded,” the crown prince said to me softly, walking among them as they made way for him.

nHe pulled Princess Moira’s aside politely and said, “Princess Moira?”

n“Yes, Your Majesty. ”

n

n

n“I’m sorry, but I don’t want a princess like you causing disturbances, so please go back to your kingdom!”

n“Your Majesty!”

nShe shouted out as if she was frustrated, but he looked at her coldly and said, “I’ve been watching you since the first day you arrived here. So, don’t try to make poor excuses before me! Do you think Lady Monique, who is bound with the royal family, came here, wearing a tiara without any reason? This was given to her by the emperor even though she refused it strongly.”

n“But Your Majesty…” Duke Jena tried to balk at him.

nBut the crown prince ignored him and said, “As most of you are here, I think I can tell you about my decision. I won’t choose any of the five princesses as my bride candidate.”

n“Oh my god! How can you…”

n“Your Majesty!”

n“You can’t do this, crown Prince!” Duke Jena shouted, gnashing his teeth. Everyone paid attention to the duke because of his loud voice, but I couldn’t look at him. Not caring about them, he was looking at me intently. What the heck is he thinking? Why was he saying this kind of nonsense in the presence of all the princesses?

nAfter looking at me mysteriously for a long time, he turned his head only when Duke Jenna called him for the third time.

n“You cannot do this, Your Majesty. Didn’t you already decide to accept one as a bride? Why have you retracted your decision? ”

n“How stupid you are! I don’t know how you can get by as a noble in this empire.”

nHe cut his words off and raised his right hand. His aide, standing behind him, brought a bunch of papers and stood next to him. He picked up the paper on the top, and he opened it wide.

nWith everybody holding their breath, he slowly opened his mouth amid their intense attention,

n“Beary de Sapu, the eighth princess of the Sapu kingdom. She is 18. The king’s beloved royal princess but the biggest troublemaker. Since childhood, she was indulged in luxury and pleasure. The money she spent for a month is usually equivalent to one month’s budget of the kingdom. There is widespread public opinion that they should not tolerate her anymore even though the kingdom of Sapu boasts great wealth. After hearing the news that our empire’s crown prince was looking for his bride candidate, the cabinet council decided to send her to the empire unanimously.”

n“… . ”

nHe threw the paper he was holding in front of Duke Jenna, who seemed to be speechless, and picked up the next document and said, “Naima de Sono, the third princess of the Sono Kingdom. She is seventeen. As a prominent beauty as a kid, she was favored by King Sono. Even though she just came of age, she officially dated as many as five guys secretly, but many more unofficially. Rumor has it that she is not interested in learning, compared to her beauty.

nOne notorious anecdote has it that she burnt the national treasure of her kingdom, “The Chronicles of the Sono Kingdom,” simply because her dress got dirty from the book.”

nHe threw the paper down the floor.

nThen he said, picking up the next paper, “Frincia de Lua, the second princess of the Lua kingdom. She is eighteen.”

n“Oh, are you mentioning me, too? Your Majesty, please skip it. I want to give up my candidacy completely,” she said with a smile. He nodded silently and picked up another paper.

n“Beatrice de Lisa, the fifth princess of the kingdom of Lisa. Sixteen–”

n“I want to give up, too. Your Majesty, please don’t mention anything about me!”

n“Got it. I won’t mention you here, but I’m going to bring it up someday, so you had better prepare for it,” he said to her as she trembled with fear.

nHe picked up the last paper and said, “Moira de Eet, the first princess of the kingdom of Eet. She is eighteen. She has nothing worth mentioning except that she expelled some of the noble ladies from social circles because they challenged the royal family’s authority. She has an ambitious personality. While leaving for the empire, she declared that she would be the next empress of the empire. She also revealed her ambition for the crown prince’s bride while constantly making contact with the nobles including Duke Jenna. And…”

nColdly staring at Duke Jena, he roughly handed the duke a pile of documents about her.

nAfter receiving and opening them, he opened her eyes sharply.

n“Now you realize why she isn’t qualified, right?”

n“How come…”

n“Hey, Duke Jena, you’re overlooking the intelligence capabilities of the imperial family? I already started to investigate you when you first mentioned the issue of the crown prince’s bride candidate.”

nNobody knew when he arrived, but the emperor was watching the crown prince and the duke in interest. Next to him were standing Duke Lars, Duke Verita, and my father.

nThe emperor said, smiling mischievously, “I know you gave a considerable amount of wealth to the kingdom of Eet. I wonder what kind of deal you made with the kingdom…”

n“Your Majesty, that was…”

n

n

n“You know that there are provisions in the imperial law that prohibit the transfer of the empire’s wealth to other countries. If I apply that strict rule to you, which you applied to the tira a little while ago, this is clearly a violation of the imperial law. It’s a felony equivalent to treason. Don’t you agree?”

nLooking back at me once, Duke Jena kept silent.

n“However, it depends on us humans how to interpret the law. So, I don’t have to be so strict. Just like I gave the tiara to Lady Monique as I love her as my future daughter-in-law, I think you gave some of your wealth to the Eet kingdom to promote good friendship for the interests of the empire. Don’t worry. I don’t think you attempted to secretly support the kingdom of Eet in their attack on the Lua kingdom, our empire’s nascent ally, which allied with the Lisa kingdom. I also don’t believe you promoted Princess Moira of the Eet kingdom as the crown prince’s bride candidate to gather information about the imperial family, and I don’t think you wanted to use Princess Moira to influence our politics after she becomes the next empress. I can’t imagine how you could do that. Right, Duke Jena?”

nDuke Jena tried to stay calm as if what the emperor said was not a big deal, but he was holding the hem of his robe tightly, with his face turned white.

n“Kaisil, Heidel, Laurel.”

n“Your Majesty.”

n“I think you know these names better than anybody else, so you can’t do these things. I just want to believe that you were overzealous to promote friendship with the Eet kingdom. Don’t you think so?”

n“Yes, yes, you’re right, Your Majesty.”

n“I’m glad you confirmed it. I was really worried if my guesswork was wrong.”

nThe emperor smiled sarcastically at him.

n