Chapter 21

A cold tension lingered throughout the audience chamber.

The Emperor could not easily speak in the face of Heinox’s sharper-than-ever demeanor and merely kept rubbing his dry face repeatedly.

After a long silence of contemplation, the Emperor finally answered with a weary sigh, as though resigning himself before Heinox’s unwavering resolve.

“……Very well. I will no longer involve myself in this matter.”

Resting a hand against his forehead, the Emperor continued.

“But there is nothing I can do about the Empress. I cannot even predict what stance she may take, so I cannot prepare for it either.”

“There is no need for Your Majesty to prepare anything.”

Without concealing the overwhelming pressure surrounding him, Heinox replied,

“No matter what position she chooses to take, nothing will change.”

---

As soon as I stepped out of the audience chamber, just as Heinox had said, an attendant was waiting outside.

The moment he began reciting the history of the Imperial Palace while offering to guide me around, I firmly stated my destination.

“The library.”

I’d worried they might completely prohibit entry, but fortunately the attendant led me there without objection.

“You may freely read any of the books in this section. However, the inner area contains forbidden texts protected by powerful magic, so you must not enter there. Even brushing against it slightly could seriously injure you.”

“Okay.”

I gave the attendant a short wink of trust before walking toward the bookshelves.

“Waaah….”

There really were a lot of books. The shelves nearly reached the impossibly high ceiling of the library.

I began searching around for books related to the Goddess. Maybe I should start by carefully looking through imperial history first.

‘The Prosperity of the Empire,’ ‘The Birth of the Empire,’ ‘The Emperors of the Empire’….

I checked one after another, yet I couldn’t find even a single mention of the Goddess.

“What the heck!”

There was no way I could search through this absurd mountain of books one by one. At times like this, I wished I’d at least asked for the title.

According to Dikal, there was only one proper book ever written about the Goddess—authored by the First Emperor himself. And it was stored in the Imperial Library.

‘Could it have been classified as a forbidden book because ordinary people weren’t allowed to read it?’

Still, leaving like this felt disappointing.

Regret and temptation began battling in my head.

‘Forbidden books… should I go look?’

The attendant’s warning kept bothering me, but if I returned empty-handed, then following Heinox all the way to the Imperial Palace while sacrificing precious sleep would’ve been pointless.

‘But… if there’s a barrier, I probably can’t even get in anyway….’

And he’d said even touching it slightly could cause serious injury.

‘Right. Staying alive comes before satisfying curiosity.’

After all, I had to survive first if I wanted to uncover any secrets.

‘Though I really do think the Goddess and Priscilla’s death might be connected.’

Considering the Temple’s involvement, it almost seemed certain.

Priscilla’s death had happened because the Temple stood by and did nothing.

There was still no concrete evidence, but since the Temple wielded the power of Goddess Artana, perhaps some divine revelation had been given.

‘And if that revelation had something to do with Priscilla….’

Then Priscilla’s death wouldn’t merely be tied to the Temple, but to the Goddess herself.

And whoever stood behind House Tanzeric’s downfall probably knew all of this already.

Someone who could secretly access the contents of divine revelations.

Just as Emperors recorded history, the Temple must have preserved records of revelations for generations. And copies of those records were likely stored within the Imperial archives as well.

‘Documents even members of the imperial family couldn’t freely access without the Temple’s permission.’

Everything about that seemed somehow connected to why the Goddess’s book had been classified as forbidden.

‘But right now, I’m in no position to enter the forbidden section or read those texts.’

There was no other choice.

For now, I’d just have to be satisfied knowing the Goddess’s book was likely hidden within the forbidden archives.

For the sake of my precious life, I decided not to attempt anything reckless.

‘If another opportunity comes later, I’ll investigate then.’

Leaving behind my lingering disappointment, I walked toward the attendant waiting at the entrance.

“Um….”

“Ah, Young Lady.”

“I wanna go somewhere else now.”

The attendant must’ve assumed a child my age wouldn’t stay in the library long anyway, because he simply nodded without questioning me further.

“Then would you like to visit the gardens?”

“Okay.”

Following the attendant, I headed toward a garden located some distance away from the audience palace.

“This is the Contena Garden. Her Majesty the Empress personally selects and tends to the flowers here, which is why it’s so beautiful.”

‘The Empress personally manages it?’

The Contena Garden truly was beautiful. The scent drifting from the roses, tulips, and crimson daisies was especially striking.

“I wanna look around alone.”

Since I knew the original story, the Empress’s movements were extremely important, so I decided to send the attendant away before exploring further myself.

“Then I’ll wait at the entrance to the garden. Please call for me once you’re finished sightseeing.”

“Okay!”

After sending him away, I began walking through the garden alone.

But the more I looked around, the stranger something felt.

‘All the flowers are red.’

Every flower planted in the garden was either red or some similar shade.

‘Was there ever a setting saying she liked red? The Empress has pretty unique taste.’

To fill and maintain this enormous garden entirely in shades of red… the Empress clearly had a stubborn personality.

“Ah, my eyes hurt.”

Staring at nothing but highly saturated flowers was gradually making my eyes ache. To make matters worse, despite walking for quite some time, I still couldn’t find anywhere to sit.

‘Isn’t there somewhere to rest?’

Just as I was huffing to myself about how absurdly huge this garden was—

‘What’s that?’

Something oddly out of place caught my eye.

Unlike the overwhelmingly crimson garden surrounding it, this area felt completely different.

Soft purple and blue flowers slowly entered my view, along with deep green leaves.

‘Ah, finally. My eyes can relax.’

The tension in my eyes gradually eased just from seeing those calmer colors.

Then, as I moved closer, I noticed a small house hidden among the flowers and grass. It looked old, as though it had been built long ago.

‘Do servants live there? Or maybe it’s abandoned, since I don’t hear anyone.’

If someone really lived inside the Empress’s garden, they must be someone important.

Just as I crouched among the flowers and cautiously peeked out to see whether anyone was there—

“Who are you?”

“Ah…!”

Startled by the voice suddenly coming from behind me, I lost my balance and fell onto my backside.

“Ow….”

The palm I’d used to catch myself was scraped raw.

Wincing from the sting, I quickly lifted my head to look at the owner of the voice.

“Ah….”

The moment I saw him, I instinctively fell silent.

Silver hair gleaming beneath the sunlight and red eyes like carefully polished rubies.

There was only one person in this Empire with an appearance like that.

The abandoned tragic prince destined to spend his life imprisoned in a tower after being falsely accused of attempting to assault Pleri Akarinz because he rejected her advances.

‘Royster Philitium.’

The Second Prince of the Great Luent Empire.

While I stared blankly at him, Royster did not lower his suspicious gaze.

“I asked who you are.”

“Ah…!”

Only then did I realize how suspicious I must look right now.

“I-I just saw there was a house here, so I wondered whose it was….”

“You were trying to come inside?”

“No! Absolutely not. If no one was here, I was just gonna leave.”

But Royster still didn’t lower his guard.

“How did you even find this place?”

“I got lost while looking around the garden.”

“The Contena Garden….”

Royster muttered through gritted teeth.

‘Somehow… he seems even more wary now?’

It was true I’d been snooping around someone else’s home out of curiosity, but if I’d known it would lead to this kind of misunderstanding, I never would’ve wandered over here.

‘First, I need to clear this misunderstanding.’

Even if Royster was the powerless forgotten Second Prince with no influence to help me later, there was no reason to create unnecessary conflict.

“First, calm down.”

“……Why should I?”

Yeah right. Of course he wouldn’t listen.

Even in the original story, Royster had been an extremely cautious person.

‘Actually, maybe it’s fortunate he’s only this suspicious.’

He only truly began distrusting everyone after his mother, Naomi, died.

‘Right. It’s still okay for now.’

To prove I meant no harm, I smiled brightly at him.

“I really didn’t know this was your house.”

“……Liar.”

“Seriously. If I knew you were here, I wouldn’t have even come near this place!”

‘That should clear things up, right?’

I smiled with satisfaction as I looked at Royster.

‘Huh?’

But contrary to my expectations, his expression seemed darker than before.

“So you’re the same too.”

‘What’s he talking about?’

“You hate me too, don’t you?”

“What are you talking about…?”

“You think I’m filthy.”

“What?”

Before I could react properly, Royster turned his head away.

“Go. I’ll pretend I didn’t see anything.”

“Wait.”

Hurriedly grabbing him, I asked,

“Why are you pretending not to notice me?”

When I looked at him with genuine confusion, Royster pressed his lips together before slowly speaking.

“Because Her Majesty the Empress wouldn’t like you being around me.”

‘Ah.’

Now I remembered just how much the Empress hated Royster in the original story.

As the daughter of a marquis house, the Empress had grown up wanting for nothing and became Empress without much difficulty, despite not loving the Emperor.

Every noble lady admired her, and the Empress herself knew it. She even enjoyed that admiration.

‘But the problem was the Emperor.’

One day, the Emperor brought a wandering gypsy woman into the palace, and cracks began forming in the Empress’s perfect life.

‘If he’d only brought the gypsy woman, the Empress would’ve simply been irritated.’

The real problem was that the woman had a child.

A boy carrying the Emperor’s blood.

‘That child was Royster.’

According to imperial law, any boy carrying the Emperor’s blood possessed succession rights regardless of his birth.

Even if his mother was a wandering outsider of unknown origin.

Naturally, the Empress—who believed her own son would be the sole heir and future Emperor—became furious when her plans were disrupted.

And all of that anger had been directed toward Royster and his mother, Naomi.

‘If the Empress constantly kept him in check, then it’s no wonder he’s so wary.’

Looking again, Royster didn’t seem angry.

If anything… he looked disappointed.

‘Ah!’

When I’d said that if I’d known he was here, I never would’ve come, his expression had visibly darkened.

He must’ve interpreted my words to mean I would’ve avoided this place if I knew Royster lived here.

‘And because I said I got lost in the Empress’s garden, he probably assumed I was close to her.’

But that was a misunderstanding.

‘I’ve never even spoken to the Empress!’

I’d seen her from afar during Heinox’s victory banquet, but the Empress had left early.

‘So technically, we haven’t even formally met yet!’

Completely unaware of my inner turmoil, Royster’s expression continued darkening by the second.

‘There’s no choice but to be honest.’

I couldn’t just leave him digging himself deeper into that misunderstanding.

At this rate, he’d definitely assume I was on the Empress’s side.

‘And I hate that.’

Looking directly at Royster, who now seemed almost convinced of his misunderstanding, I spoke firmly.

“That’s not true.”

Royster frowned slightly.

“What?”

“I said it’s not true. I’m not on the Empress’s side.”

Royster looked utterly confused by what I meant, so I continued more firmly.

“I don’t even know Her Majesty the Empress.”

“……You don’t know her?”

Royster looked at me suspiciously.

“Then why are you in this garden…?”

“The attendant just guided me here. I didn’t even know this place existed.”

“……Really?”

“Yep.”

‘Do you believe me now?’

As I looked at him hopefully, Royster’s guard finally eased somewhat.

Still, one question clearly remained unanswered for him.

“Then why did you come to the Imperial Palace?”

“Uh….”

‘Now that’s difficult to explain.’

No matter how destined Royster was to become the powerless prince trapped in a tower, I couldn’t carelessly reveal my identity.

‘If I were just some random noble, it wouldn’t matter.’

But I was the legitimate daughter of House Tanzeric.

The final child of Heinox and Priscilla Tanzeric.

The weight behind those simple words was beyond imagination.

‘That’s what it means to be Tanzeric.’

Now I finally understood what House Tanzeric represented within this Empire.

From birth itself, every aspect of our lives—how we grew up, even what we ate—became the subject of the Empire’s attention and scrutiny.

Because House Tanzeric was, in some ways, even more absolute than the imperial family itself.

No matter how isolated Royster lived within the hidden corners of the palace, there was no way he wouldn’t know House Tanzeric.

‘And if someone from Tanzeric suddenly approached him, of course he’d be suspicious.’

After all, Royster was still the Emperor’s son and the Empire’s Second Prince.

‘He might think I deliberately approached him to use him.’

No matter how young I was, I was still a stranger.

‘That can’t happen.’

If House Tanzeric was going to avoid the same ruin it suffered in the original story, we needed to protect the family while making as few enemies as possible.

‘Even if Royster isn’t a powerful figure who could help the family, there’s no reason to make an enemy of a prince.’

After finishing my brief thoughts, I looked up to find Royster waiting only for my answer.

Blinking at him, I finally said,

“I can’t tell you that.”

“……Why?”

Before Royster could misunderstand again, I hurriedly continued.

“Because I’m… I’m…!”

‘Ah, what do I even say?!’

I couldn’t exactly pretend to be someone else.

Desperately scrambling for an answer, I eventually blurted out the first thing that came to mind.

“I’m… I’m a hero!”