“Ughhh…!”
The count collapsed onto the floor with a loud crash.
Ioret looked down at him coldly as he groaned at her feet.
In the past, Catherine had set Ioret’s wedding date on the kingdom’s founding day.
The Founding Day was a national event on the same scale as the king’s birthday celebration. It was also the occasion when foreign diplomatic delegations from neighboring kingdoms gathered in the largest numbers.
Catherine had overseen every detail of the wedding.
Under the watchful eyes of neighboring countries, Ioret had been forced to hold a lavish yet humiliating wedding ceremony. It was Catherine’s scheme to turn her into an international laughingstock.
‘I should have suspected Catherine back then. I was foolish to believe it was for my reputation.’
There was no way to defy Crown Princess Catherine. With Ioret’s power, she could not stop the wedding.
But what if the groom disappeared?
“Y-you… princess… even after doing something like this… do you think you’ll be safe…?”
The count barely opened his eyes and looked up at her. Blood streamed down from his head, where he had been struck hard with a candlestick.
Ioret carefully leaned down, making sure not to stain her dress.
“You whip young boys every night.”
The count had once even shoved a whip stained with the children’s blood toward her.
“No one can even count how many children have died by your hand.”
Every dawn, Ioret went out into the forest and made graves for the dead children. Even the watchers like Lisi had not stopped her from doing that much.
“Among those children you kidnapped and killed… there was even the second son of the Telcia Count family, wasn’t there?”
“C-cough… h-how…?!”
It was something she had learned while secretly tending to injured children in the count’s manor after her marriage.
“Those who marry into the royal family must have no crimes committed across three generations. What you’ve done is outright murder.”
“T-there’s… no proof!”
“The boys locked in your basement are witnesses. Shall I send the capital’s guards right now to confirm it?”
The count’s face turned ghostly pale.
Suppressing her nausea, Ioret snapped at him.
“If you don’t want to be executed for insulting the royal family, you’ll do exactly as I say. Then I’ll keep your mouth shut.”
The count shrank back without realizing it.
A girl nearly forty years younger than him looked down at him with a chilling murderous intent in her eyes.
Even more pressure than Crown Princess Catherine—who was praised as the kingdom’s future ruler—was crushing the old man.
Was that girl truly Princess Ioret?
The same timid princess who had been crying in front of him just a week ago?
The terrified count hurriedly nodded at her next words.
“O-okay… I understand…”
“Good.”
Ioret swung the silver candlestick once more.
The count’s eyes rolled back.
She then hurled the candlestick and tableware from the dining table onto his body.
Leaving the dining room immediately, Ioret hid behind the curtains. Her hands were trembling violently.
She feared violence precisely because she was so used to it. She clenched her pale hands tightly.
‘It’s okay, Ioret. It’s fine. This is nothing.’
Human emotions were useless for revenge.
Catherine, Benedict… they achieved victory by doing things Ioret could never understand with common sense.
Morality, charity, compassion, empathy, understanding.
If abandoning all of those was necessary to defeat them, she could abandon them a thousand, ten thousand times.
Besides, simply striking someone in the head was nothing compared to what the count had done to her in the past.
Her shaking pupils gradually grew cold and still.
Ioret did not step into the hallway. She waited behind the curtain.
It was about time.
Soon after, Lisi’s scream echoed from the dining room.
“Someone was injured?”
Catherine, Crown Princess of Elovice, raised an eyebrow.
She had just finished lunch and was enjoying a leisurely tea time.
Across from her sat Duke Valer.
Benedict Valer.
A man she had pulled to her side out of necessity—but his composed appearance made him a pleasant sight, like a well-made dessert.
Catherine idly looked at Benedict as she waited for news of her half-sister and the old count’s luncheon.
But an hour had passed with no word, and now someone was injured?
The palace steward hurriedly reported.
“C-Count Castlein was severely injured on the head during his meal with Princess Ioret. He is currently unconscious and being treated.”
“What could possibly happen during a meal that leads to a head injury?”
Catherine asked sharply, and the steward broke into a cold sweat.
“Th-that is… it is said the princess’s maid accidentally dropped a tray… onto the count’s head.”
“Ioret’s maid? You mean Lisi Keyes?”
“Yes, Your Highness.”
“That makes no sense.”
Lisi Keyes was a maid personally selected by Catherine herself. She was not someone who would make such a ridiculous mistake.
Before Catherine could react further, the duke pressed the steward.
“Was Princess Ioret present as well? Was she injured too?”
“N-no, Your Grace. The princess is unharmed.”
“Speak properly. If the count is unconscious, something serious must have happened. Where is Ioret now?”
The duke’s brows furrowed deeply as he demanded the princess’s condition. He did not even notice Catherine’s sharp glare at him.
“Calm down, Duke. Steward, are you certain Lisi made a mistake? Or did Ioret perhaps shift the blame…?”
“Princess Ioret is not the type of person who would do such a thing, Your Highness.”
The duke stated firmly.
Annoying—but he was right. Her sister was foolishly kind.
Raised in a tower from childhood and trained to be obedient, she was naïve and timid.
Even while having everything taken from her bit by bit, she still called Catherine “sister” and relied on her—so she was clearly too dull to even think of framing someone else.
And yet, an odd sense of unease crept in.
Everything about Ioret was under Catherine’s control. There had never been a single incident she did not intend.
Not once.
Catherine set down her teacup and stood.
“I’ll go see Ioret. Where is she now? Is she with Count Castlein?”
“No, that is… she is…”
The steward hesitated and lowered his head.
“Her Highness is currently with His Majesty the King.”
The King of Elovice had once been renowned as a brilliant strategist in his youth.
He expanded Elovice’s territory greatly, elevating the kingdom into a powerful nation.
Though the royal family had its share of scandals, his governance for the people was flawless, and he was praised as a wise king.
But as he aged, the sharp brilliance of his youth faded.
After losing two queens in succession, the king began indulging in monthly affairs and leisurely pleasures.
With a talented crown princess and loyal ministers, there was no need to worry about governance.
For the king, who had already achieved remarkable accomplishments, only a comfortable and idle old age remained.
Only one thing mattered—if his second daughter’s marriage could be successfully concluded.
When Catherine hurried into the audience chamber, the king was wearing a troubled expression as he faced his second daughter.
“Please forgive Lisi, Father.”
Behind Ioret, Lisi Keyes was kneeling, bowing her head. Her wrists were bound behind her back, and her sleeves and dress were drenched in blood.
“Lisi didn’t do it on purpose. It was only an accident, so please forgive her generously.”
“No, Your Majesty! When I entered, the count was already collapsed!”
A panicked Lisi shouted.
“I only went to the bedroom to retrieve the item the princess asked for! It was the princess who entered the dining room first!”
The king pressed his throbbing temple.
