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Chapter 9
“W-what…!”
The Empress Consort glared at me, her eyes bloodshot.
Judging by how her hands twitched, it looked like she wanted to grab me by the hair right away if she could.
‘But then she’d ruin her image as a generous and kind mother.’
Until now, the Empress Consort had always presented herself as a pitiful mother suffering because of a reckless princess.
In the end, after breathing heavily in rage for a long time, she suddenly turned around.
BANG!
The door slammed shut with a sound like it was breaking.
“Ah, finally it’s quiet.”
I looked satisfied and slowly crawled back under my blanket.
Listening to the Empress Consort’s ridiculous nonsense had drained too much of my mental energy.
From now on, I was going to just lie down and take a nap.
A few days later.
I received a letter from the Imperial Ability Research Institute.
Stripping away all the formal wording, it could be summarized in one line:
[The purification potion is complete and will be sent to the North.]
Huh. That’s strange.
I had been waiting for this moment all this time.
So why were my eyes getting watery?
“Haahhhh….”
I let out a deep, sorrowful sigh from the bottom of my chest.
Now it was really time for five years of hard labor in the North.
My warm, comfortable imperial princess life—goodbye… sob.
The Astrid Imperial Palace was thrown into chaos.
Most of the times the palace turned upside down, about 80% of the reason was the reckless princess.
And this time was no different.
“Cassia is missing?!”
The Emperor, burdened with a troublesome daughter, felt a sharp pain twisting his stomach early in the morning.
At this rate, he might need to ask the imperial physician for stomach medicine soon…
Frowning, the Emperor turned to the servant.
“Your Majesty, a letter was found in the princess’s palace. It appears to have been written by the princess herself…”
“Give it to me!”
The Emperor snatched the letter from the servant’s hands.
Then he quickly read it with wide eyes.
“W-what in the world is this!”
At the same time, his hand began to tremble violently.
[To my respected Father.]
Hello, this is Cassia.
You always told me to grow up and become mature.
I am glad that I am finally able to follow your words.
In order to comfort the hardships of the soldiers, I have decided to personally go to the Blue Dawn Knights as their logistics officer.
I understand there have been various rumors between me and Sir Romano.
But please do not worry.
I only have the intention of serving my country.
And, Mother Empress.
You told me to contribute to the country by marrying someone useful to the Empire.
Honestly, when I first heard about marriage, I was very confused…
But thinking back, I wondered how much I must have been criticized behind my back for you to say that.
You even went as far as preparing a list of marriage candidates and sincerely advised me to marry.
I have reflected a lot.
Fortunately, even if it is not marriage, I am very glad that I can still contribute to the country as a logistics officer.
I feel very proud to finally be filial to Your Majesty after such a long time!
Thinking about how much I troubled you both until now, I even wonder why I didn’t do this sooner.
Until we meet again, please stay healthy. ᕕ( ᐛ )ᕗ
— Cassia
“Cassia, that damn girl!”
The Emperor’s furious roar shook the entire palace.
The Empress Consort, standing nearby, hurriedly tried to calm him.
“Your Majesty, too much anger is bad for your health. Please calm down a little…”
But at that moment.
The Emperor suddenly turned and glared at her.
“Empress Consort, how exactly did you raise that child?!”
The blame suddenly shifted onto her.
The Empress Consort blinked in confusion.
“Your Majesty?”
“Did you by any chance tell her nonsense about marriage?!”
What?
Cold sweat ran down her back.
The Emperor raised his voice again.
“Is that why she ran away?!”
“Y-Your Majesty, that’s…”
THUD!
With a sharp motion, the Emperor threw the letter onto the Empress Consort’s chest.
“I told you to properly manage her so she wouldn’t cause this kind of disaster!”
Another thunderous shout echoed through the hall.
The Empress Consort, flustered, picked up the letter from the floor.
The letter was infuriating in general—but one line stood out the most…
“Thinking back, I wondered how much I must have been criticized behind my back for you to say that. You even prepared a list of marriage candidates and sincerely advised me to marry.”
‘That girl… she did this on purpose.’
The Empress Consort gritted her teeth.
‘She’s trying to make it look like she ran away because of me!’
That girl—how dare she twist things like this?!
But her anger did not last long.
“Logistics officer?!”
The Emperor kept exploding in rage.
“While that child is causing chaos, what exactly were you doing?!”
“Y-Your Majesty, I…”
“Romanov will go mad again! How am I supposed to deal with that?!”
The Emperor vented his anger, treating the Empress Consort like a servant being scolded.
The Empress Consort, flustered, could only lower her head.
It was less like a husband and wife of equal status, and more like a superior and subordinate.
‘He never treated the former Empress like this.’
Bitter humiliation rose in her chest, and she bit her lip until it almost bled.
The former Empress.
The image of the woman who had always been dignified—never flinching even before the Emperor—flashed through her mind.
‘Really… that woman was already unbearable… and now her daughter is exactly the same!’
But the Empress Consort endured it again and again.
Her long-standing inferiority toward the former Empress.
To overcome that muddy emotion, she needed her son, Fernando, to become Emperor.
So…
‘The Emperor must support Fernando.’
So she forced a smile.
“I’m sorry, Your Majesty. I was thoughtless.”
She kept flattering him until his anger finally subsided.
A few days later.
Jiscar was locked inside the Knight Commander’s office, lost in deep thought.
Cassia Sortiz del Astrid.
A disaster-like woman who suddenly entered his life.
As if his already exhausting life wasn’t enough, Cassia kept adding new disasters whenever he almost forgot about her.
Now, just hearing her name made him feel sick.
But recently…
‘What is she even planning?’
A deep frown formed on his sculpted face.
Jiscar recalled Cassia’s face from the banquet again.
“I mean exactly what I said. Support for the Blue Dawn Knights.”
“I will do it.”
Looking directly into Jiscar’s eyes, she had spoken boldly.
Of course, Jiscar had dismissed it as nonsense and left.
But Cassia hadn’t backed down.
She shouted again.
“Just wait, Sir Romanov!”
“I will make the Blue Dawn Knights the richest knight order!”
Honestly, back then, Jiscar had no expectations at all.
He was too exhausted to be shaken by such words.
Everyone treated the Blue Dawn Knights as expendable.
Because they were the remnants of a fallen nation.
Because they were refugees of Romanov, given only a small piece of land just to survive.
So Jiscar and the knights had no choice but to bow their heads.
…Even though the reason Romanov fell in the first place was because they desperately defended the portal to protect humanity.
“Damn it.”
Jiscar muttered under his breath.
Despair felt like a swamp.
It tightened around his neck little by little, with no way out in sight.
‘How long are we supposed to keep sacrificing our knights like this?’
The nobles and royals of the Empire lived fat and comfortable lives on their sacrifice.
And then, one day…
A strange rumor began to spread.
