The princess froze as if struck by lightning. She couldn’t even breathe and just stared down at the napkin again.
<Are your earrings alright?>
No matter how many times she read it, it was the same. Her hand holding the napkin trembled.
‘The Queen Consort noticed my earrings.’
She almost burst into tears at that moment. The princess quickly clenched the napkin with her slightly trembling hand.
“I guess I’ve been overworking myself with so much to handle these days. My body isn’t what it used to be.”
Could this be how a lost child feels when finding their mother? She wanted to throw away all dignity and beg Leticia to save her. She was that happy. But she held back and gracefully expressed her gratitude.
“Thank you for your consideration, Your Highness.”
Then, she started to think about how to destroy the evidence.
‘Should I just eat the napkin?’
Leticia, who was watching her carefully, slightly turned her head.
“Banessa.”
“Yes, Your Highness.”
Banessa, who was standing behind Leticia, bowed to the princess. His silver armor gleamed brightly.
“Please give me the trash. I will take care of it.”
“Thank you.”
The princess, who was pondering how to discreetly eat the napkin, gratefully handed it over. Leticia glanced towards the reception room door and asked,
“Is His Majesty running late?”
“Oh, I’m sorry. I should have mentioned it first. His Majesty is taking a brief nap. He’s so exhausted that he can’t easily wake up.”
“Will it be difficult to see him today?”
“Most likely. It seems it will take some time for him to regain his strength…”
The princess felt relieved for a moment after destroying the evidence, but soon she grew anxious again.
‘What if the Queen Consort gets offended?’
She had come at the emperor’s summons, but the emperor himself didn’t show up. If it were Josephina, she would have been furious, claiming blasphemy.
‘The Queen Consort must never be turned into an enemy.’
More than the earrings, Leticia’s power was essential to protect the empire.
She didn’t have high expectations for the earrings.
She appreciated that Leticia recognized them, but they had a function to explode if forcibly removed.
No matter how much of a saint Leticia was, it wouldn’t be easy to break that function.
“I see. Oh, that’s unfortunate. I wanted to share some good news with His Majesty.”
“Good news?”
“I recently gained new wings.”
“New wings? My sincerest congratulations…”
While trying to gauge Leticia’s mood, the princess finally understood the meaning of her words and was startled.
“New wings?”
“Yes, I gained the wing of healing.”
“The wing of healing, you mean…”
Leticia smiled brightly.
“What you are thinking is correct. Kailas, my mother’s fourth wing, pledged loyalty to me a few days ago.”
The princess, who had been frozen for a moment, gasped.
‘My goodness. Josephina lost another wing?’
Noel, Ahwin, Kailas, Callisto. Including Tenua, she had lost five wings.
‘No wonder. Now I understand why Josephina has been acting so aggressively these past few days.’
The princess quickly felt better. Hearing that the person who made her life so miserable was falling apart brought a ray of joy to her weary life.
‘I’ll have to endure for a while, thinking about the wing of healing.’
Leticia, receiving Barnessa’s escort, stood up from her seat.
“Then I will see His Majesty at the next opportunity.”
The princess quickly stood up and said,
“I’m sorry for showing such a lacking side. I will make sure to inform His Majesty so that this doesn’t happen again.”
“It’s alright. By the way, Your Highness, do you have time today?”
“…Yes?”
“My schedule unexpectedly opened up, and I have some free time. I’ve always been curious about the second capital while living in the divine palace, and I’d like to take a look this time.”
The second capital referred to this city where the imperial palace was located.
“Since Your Highness has grown up in the imperial palace all your life, you must be well acquainted with the surroundings, right?”
“Yes? Ah… yes, of course.”
“Then let’s go. Show me around.”
Leticia said, grabbing the princess’s wrist in a friendly manner. The princess blinked in confusion. Leticia’s smile deepened.
* * *
“Ugh…”
With a groan, the emperor lifted his eyelids. He stared blankly into space and then moved his lips in confusion.
“Where has everyone disappeared to…?”
“The effects of the drug have ended, Your Majesty.”
A familiar voice was heard nearby. As he slowly turned his head, the emperor’s eyes widened slightly.
“Sir Rehir.”
“I will check your condition.”
As if this was not the first time, Rehir’s hand, checking his pulse, moved with great familiarity. The emperor’s face twisted in despair as he realized his greatest happiness had been shattered.
“Sir Rehir, please give me a bit more of the drug.”
“A stronger dose would be too much for Your Majesty.”
“I’m still alright. I can endure it. So please…!”
The drug the emperor used was a powerful hallucinogen.
[This powder contains all the happiness in the world. I wish to offer it to Your Majesty.]
The moment he saw the powder Rehir offered, the emperor immediately recognized it as a hallucinogen. But he didn’t care. He had used hallucinogens in his younger, reckless days. After seeing strange things a few times, he had stopped. He didn’t become addicted. So he thought it wouldn’t affect him much this time either. But he was wrong.
“This, this is…!”
Rehir’s words were true that it contained all the happiness in the world. As soon as he inhaled the white smoke, everything he desired came to him.
Even though the emperor had lived as the master of the imperial palace all his life, he always felt parched. It was because of the divine palace. He lived with the thirst of never truly being the real master of the empire.
However, in his hallucinations, all that thirst was quenched. The entire world looked up to him. Even Josephina groveled at his feet, fawning over him.
It was thrilling and more thrilling. The extreme euphoria engulfed the emperor. From then on, everything went according to Rehir’s intentions. The emperor completely lost his mind and became Rehir’s puppet.
“Your Majesty, listen carefully. In this world, the only saintess is my mother, Josephina. You must never forget that.”
“I understand…”
Eventually, the emperor became a fervent follower of the very Josephina he had hated so much. He even ended up installing surveillance devices on his daughter’s ears with his own hands.
“Please, just one more time.”
The emperor looked up at Rehir in pain. Strangely, the aftereffects of the hallucinogen were deeper today.
“Understood. If you are so desperate, I shall show you. However, there is a condition. If you act arrogantly like a few days ago, it will be very difficult. Do you understand?”
At Rehir’s leisurely warning, the emperor flinched. There was a faint fear in his grey eyes.
“No way.”
Rehir smirked.
“That’s right. I increased the intensity of the happiness because I was afraid you might change your mind. Don’t worry. As long as you keep your promises to me, you will see even greater happiness.”
The emperor’s face turned pale as he finally realized why the aftereffects were so severe today. But he couldn’t blame Rehir for arbitrarily increasing the dose. He could no longer give up the happiness Rehir provided.
“You made a wise decision.”
Rehir patted the emperor’s forehead as if petting a dog he raised.
“Don’t worry. As long as my mother’s reign continues, Your Majesty’s happiness will be eternal.”
* * *
The princess eventually went out on a trip with Leticia.
‘Where on earth should I take the Queen Consort?’
She got into the carriage, but she had no idea where to go. The princess decided to ask Leticia about her preferences.
“Is there any particular place you’d like to go?”
“I want to buy some jewelry. Please take me to the place with the most jewelry.”
“Jewelry?”
Despite the princess’s question, Leticia only smiled without saying anything.
‘Is she buying jewelry for her debut in society?’
It was necessary to have jewelry for full-scale public activities.
‘But does a saintess really need jewelry to enhance her dignity? Wouldn’t it be fine without such things?’
Despite her doubts, the princess tapped the wall towards the coachman.
“Let’s go.”
“At your command.”
A short while later, the carriage stopped at the entrance of the shopping district. Signs glittering in the sunlight greeted the two women.
“This is the jewelry street mainly used by nobles. It’s the largest one. I hope you find something you like.”
“Indeed.”
Leticia looked around the shops for quite some time.
“Are you looking for something specific?”
“No, just browsing.”
After looking around for a while, Leticia spoke.
“Nothing particularly catches my eye. Could we try another store?”
“Yes, I’ll guide you.”
Thus, the princess continued to explore jewelry stores with Leticia. The longer the exploration went on, the more curious the princess became.
‘It would be nice if she told me what she was looking for.’
There were many custom-made shops, so they could find something Leticia desired. Then it happened.
“Oh.”
When they entered the fourth store, Leticia exclaimed at something in a glass display case. The princess quickly approached.
“I like these earrings.”
“What?”
The princess looked at Leticia in surprise. The item Leticia pointed to was a pair of earrings with black gemstones. At a glance, they looked so similar to the ones the princess was wearing that it was hard to tell them apart.
“I liked your earrings, Your Highness. I wanted to wear the same ones.”
Leticia smiled sweetly and suddenly said to the bewildered princess,
“Your Highness, I mentioned that I gained the wing of healing, didn’t I? Thanks to that, I can now use healing powers.”
“…Yes?”
“Healing power is truly amazing. It can heal most wounds in an instant. They say it can even restore severed limbs.”
“Oh, I see…”
The princess nodded, trying hard to hide her confusion.
After buying the earrings, Leticia suddenly introduced her healing power.
The princess couldn’t fathom Leticia’s intentions.
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