***
They arrived at Lisette’s quarters without any issues.
‘See?
Runa sometimes worries too much.’.
Sez was in a good mood.
The weather was beautiful, her mouth was working well once again, her stomach was full, and most of all, Rayton had allowed her to follow him.
Sez was so happy that she just wouldn’t shut up the entire way there.
Surprisingly, Rayton didn’t tell her to shut her mouth as he would usually.
Of course, that didn’t mean he actually had a conversation with Sez.
He just stared at her as she chattered.
But that alone was remarkable progress.
Anyway, the two of them arrived safely after taking the shortcut.
“Brother, I’ll wait here.”
Sez looked at Rayton as she spoke.
While she had followed him all the way here, she didn’t actually want to enter the building.
The reason was simple.
Eton.
It was only yesterday that she went through that entire ordeal, so she didn’t want to run into him unnecessarily.
Besides, she had already told him that she wouldn’t be able to come for a few days.
Sez couldn’t shake off the feeling that Eton was waiting for her in that room, but…
Sez was terrified of seeing his face, at least for today.
“Sure, whatever.”
Rayton nodded and headed into the building.
Left all alone, Sez decided to take a walk nearby.
Sez was around the back of Lisette’s quarters, the scenery was great as there weren’t many people around and various kinds of flowering trees were blooming.
Come to think of it, they said the emperor planted these flowering trees for Lisette too.
‘It’s interesting, right?
How can he hold the most affection toward Mistress Lisette while hating my brother so much?’
Sez walked slowly, pondering such thoughts.
Sez stopped by a garden where the flowers bloomed alluringly and gave off a sweet scent.
Sez sat down in front of it, fascinated.
“Wow…”
‘There’s nothing around my room, let alone flowers…
how would it feel to see these flowers every day?’
Sez turned her head toward Lisette’s quarters, then back to flower again.
‘She wouldn’t mind it if I pick one, right?’
“You annoying little brat!”
“Kyaaa!”
Sez rolled across the dirt with a bang.
Surprised, Sez looked up to see Lilien, who had kicked her in the side.
“Do you even know where you are?!”
‘Where I am?
Why?
It’s Lisette’s place…’
Sez was completely caught off-guard.
It wasn’t about Lilien kicking her, as Sez was used to that kind of thing.
What surprised Sez was that Lilien had suddenly popped up out of thin air.
“What?
Are you trying to draw His Imperial Majesty’s attention?
“Ha, you’re making me speechless.”
‘No…
it’s me, not you.’ Sez blinked for a while before finally realizing why Lilien had brought up the emperor out of nowhere.
The building Lisette resided in was also the innermost part of the palace.
The Emperor’s private quarters and chancery were nearby.
People didn’t usually come here, and neither did Lilien.
But it looked like the eagle-eyed princess had noticed that the idiot squatting in the flowers and grinning was Sez.
Lilien must have misunderstood.
She seemed to think that Sez was scheming to gain the emperor’s attention…
as she was near the inner palace.
“No, sister, I didn’t mean to-.”
Bam!
Sez’s head was slapped to the side as Lilien spat out disgustedly.
“You dare to talk back?”
‘You asked me, bitch…
‘
Twelve-year-old Sez would have bowed and begged for mercy, but death-defying, seventeen-year-old Sez was different.
‘What a bitch!’
Sez murmured internally.
Of course, she didn’t say it out loud, she just hoped that her sister would piss off as soon as possible.
‘But how on earth this sleepyhead is here, at this time?’
“How pathetic.
You know what?
His Imperial Majesty doesn’t give a damn no matter what you do.
How about running around the palace fully naked?
Maybe then people will look at you.”
“I’m not intending to draw…”
“And that excludes His Imperial Majesty.
Do you know that?
His Majesty sometimes forgets that you even exist.”
“…….”
“I heard him call me his youngest daughter as we had breakfast together.”
‘So that explains why this lazy sleepyhead is here and awake for that matter.’
The Emperor occasionally dined with Bern and Lilien.
He favored Lisette the most out of the mistresses, but Rayton was her son.
Therefore, the Emperor loved Bern and Lilien the most out of all of his children.
‘So what?’
Honestly, Sez couldn’t care less.
She was already used to her father’s indifference, just like she was used to Yerna’s violence.
All Sez could say to Lilien’s smug face was, well…
‘Whatever, like I give a damn.’ Sez’s reaction didn’t satisfy Lilien, so she went even further.
“What?
Or were you scouting people out, dreaming of being a pimp mother just like your mother?”
People who didn’t like Yerna called her a pimp behind her back.
Yerna was not particularly powerful, she just came from an ordinary noble family.
Yerna was able to enter the palace because of her father not long after Rowayne III became emperor.
Back then, all the nobles worked behind the scenes to make their daughters into an empress or a mistress.
So did Yerna’s father.
He was quite an ambitious man and poured all his money into bribing people, to get Yerna into the palace somehow.
His wish came true, just not in the most ideal way.
Yerna became one of the many mistresses of the Emperor.
Yerna was like her father.
She was an ambitious woman.
Yerna, now a mistress, quickly realized that her family background was mediocre compared to others, and she wouldn’t survive long in this jungle of a palace.
It didn’t help that the Emperor had no interest in her either.
So, the first thing Yerna did was befriend the people of the palace as much as possible.
Her methods of doing so were reflected in Lilien’s insults.
It was very difficult for Yerna, the daughter of a humble family, to sit among them.
If it were a different situation, there would have been almost no possibility.
Since Yerna was the Emperor’s mistress, that position became her only weapon.
Although she had a hard time, in the beginning, Yerna eventually succeeded in establishing friendships with other noble families.
She befriended as many people as she could and did her best to please them.
Over time, her presence in high society grew larger.
Yerna, who had many friends by this point, began to match up the noble families.
Marriage was one of the best ways for the aristocracy to build or maintain power, and Yerna was the core of that.
Whenever a marriage took place, the nobles handed out jewelry and artwork with unfamiliar names to Yerna as a token of their gratitude.
Yerna carefully took care of each gift and continued to grow her wealth and connections.
Rather clever, it was.
There was even a saying that if you go went through Yerna, you would end up knowing everyone in the palace.
In addition, unlike other nobles, the couples that Yerna arranged rarely broke up.
Her reputation grew day by day.
The hard-earned connections with prominent families helped Yerna greatly.
They favored Yerna.
Due to that, they would cover up her faults, even if she did something bad in the palace like taking care of a mistress that she didn’t like.
Yerna was smarter than she seemed and acted rather secretively when she did such a thing, so it did not reach the Emperor’s ears.
In that sense, he was a great man.
Well, anyway, people like Lilien would treat Yerna like some kind of shallow pimp.
“What a pair, you two are almost identical.
You’re both vulgar, and His Imperial Majesty doesn’t even know you exist.”
“…….”
“Well, I see you two are truly of the same blood.
You are nothing but a pimp’s daughter.”
Lilien laughed and mocked Sez.
The problem was, Sez was not impressed by her insults toward Yerna.
‘Hurry up and go already…’
However, Lilien just kept babbling.
‘What a chatterbox you are.’
After the mayhem in the library, Sez developed a strange sense of confidence.
She and Rayton had achieved victory that day, nonetheless.
Maybe that’s why Sez talked back to her.
“Then why don’t you ask my mother to arrange your marriage?”
“What?”
“She’s quite skilled, so she’ll definitely find you a good husband.”
“Do you think we are the same?!”
‘Ugh, that stupid ego of hers…’
Sez thought to herself as Lilien suddenly grabbed her hair.
“Argh!”
“You think you’re good enough to talk back, you little shit?!”
“Let me go!”
“What, you think you’re something now?
Did Rayton feed you those ideas?”
Why mention Rayton all of a sudden?
Lilien must still have a grudge against him for the incident in the library.
“You dirty worms…
you’re all the same!”
Sez thought that if Rayton heard Lilien, he might beat the hell out of her.
“We suffer because parasites like you keep clinging to the palace!”
“Ahh!
S-since when did I make you s-”
“You crawled into my sight and ruined my mood!” Lilien yanked wildly at Sez’s hair.
“Just go die with, along with that cursed filth!”
It had always been like this.
Sez didn’t do anything, let alone anything wrong.
She always walked on eggshells, breathing quietly, and yet they still cursed and beat her.
‘Why?
Just because they saw me?’
A sudden rage kicked in, so Sez shoved Lilien away with newfound strength.
“Aaah!”
This time Lilien rolled over into the dirt.
“Die?
For what reason?!
What have we done to deserve all of this?!”
“You little shit!”
Lilien jumped up like a spring and grabbed Sez by her collar.
Sez lost her balance and fell backward.
Lilien mounted Sez and slapped her on the cheek.
‘Gosh, if my mother is a pimp, you are a thug!’
It was ridiculous.
Sez couldn’t fight back despite trying her best.
It didn’t matter if Sez was mentally seventeen or seventy.
Lilien was physically much taller and stronger than Sez.
“What, do you feel confident because that filthy creep gets along with you, you vulgar little shit?”
“Let me go, let me go!”
“Your days are numbered!
Once my brother becomes emperor, you two will be the first to go six feet under!”
“Filthy?!
Creep?!”
Sez yelled, enraged.
She was furious.
Every word Lilien spat out was insulting, but the most ridiculous thing of all was calling Rayton a filthy creep.
Even insulting Sez’s mother didn’t upset her that much.
Yes, he was a little problematic, but at least Rayton didn’t beat the hell out of Sez like Lilien did.
These days, he actually took care of Sez quite well.
“You and Bern are the creepiest to me!”
Sez continued to talk back.
“Rayton’s way better than you!
What else have you got other than your blonde hair and blue eyes?
Nothing!”
“Are you done, you little shit?!”
Lilien was so furious that she almost fainted.
She stopped slapping Sez and instead began smashing her face with her fist.
‘I should have listened to Runa…’
Sez thought, but she wasn’t planning to apologize.
This was just another normal day for her.
Then, suddenly, someone’s big hand grabbed Lilien by her collar.