She was already engaged, so there was no need to search for a husband.
If the Second Queen had died, the Empress and the First Queen would have reached out to each other and quarreled over how to make use of her properly. But even though she was sickly and confined to her palace, her mother was still alive, so there was nothing that could be done.
For if something were to happen to Titania, the Emperor would be very angry that his union with House Castraine had been ruined.
The people in power are just looking out for themselves.
However, if she were the ‘original’ Titania, she would have never asked her fiancé to take over the job because there was no one else she could trust.
Titania, the Titania Sol Kate Hamastion he knew, wanted to appear as a noble and proud princess before Raymon, her fiancé. So she would angrily and furiously question how House Castraine dared to belittle her when the Emperor favored her, not believing either the listener or the speaker.
The Emperor, although he had no interest in Princess Titania, would have been happy to cooperate ‘just for an excuse to put pressure on House Castraine’, so long as he saw her fiancé’s face once in a while.
There was no way she would have confessed to her fiancé that she had no proper escort and not a single trusted maid. But it was her last statement that surprised him the most.
‘Ones that can kill or save people.’
Clearly, this was a signal to send her people who could handle medicine, poison, and swords. In a sense, this was… a declaration of her willingness to trust House Castraine.
Whatever the princess instructed the people sent by House Castraine to do, it would be reported back to Duke Castraine. And should she try to conspire against them, she would suffer the consequences. If she orders them to harm anyone loyal to House Castraine, they may disobey her orders or even harm her.
And she was willing to take those risks.
The way she had stared down at the teacup she had shattered with her own hands was haunting.
It had been an odd sight. She was shabbier than he had ever seen her before. Her hair, always so well-groomed, had lost its shine and hung limply, and her once pearly skin was pallid and lifeless.
And yet her eyes, glowing coldly from beneath thin, long lashes, were exceptionally clear. Like a wounded beast smiling with venom in its eyes.
“…Maybe what I’ve been seeing until now has been an act.”
“What? Isn’t that, like, even more insane?” Cassian literally jumped up and down. “Wouldn’t it be more likely to say someone stole the body of the Princess and is now pretending to be her?”
“No matter how weak it is… Imperials are blessed by the power of light, they don’t fall prey to such tricks.”
Even if they couldn’t consciously perceive it, even if they couldn’t use it, the Imperial Family was the sole inheritor of the ‘power of light’ in this era.
It was also the power that ‘ruled’ all powers by its nature, which meant that even a member of House Castraine could be brought to their knees if they could perceive it and draw upon it properly. The chances of this ever materializing were close to zero, as the Imperials were the first House to begin to lose their power, but still, even the faintest light is power.
The Imperials were not susceptible to minor curses and magic. They were even somewhat immune to poison. Of course, that immunity was useless if you were to ingest a poison so dangerous that it could overcome it, or simply be beheaded.
Still, it was a strange feeling. It was ridiculous. An Imperial House that had already lost its pride, transformed from protectors of the Empire to exploiters of the Empire. The princess who had been in a coma and had only just regained consciousness, the woman who was known to everyone as a demented, stupid, evil puppet…
‘…Can you trust House Castraine?’
‘Well, you might as well keep me alive, you can use me as you see fit, we know each other’s weaknesses, and we have our engagement for all the world to see. Frankly, you could kill me at any time, but why would you want to?’
She had smiled, her expression clearly that of someone with the blood of an exceptionally noble House.
‘Are you thinking of taking advantage of House Castraine?
‘I would say it’s highly unlikely.’
Watching Titania speak with such a casual demeanor, Raymon had thought to himself.
…Maybe that princess wants to use House Castraine as a trump card against the Imperial Family.
The tears that Raymon had seen when Count Orland’s eldest daughter, June, and Raymon had danced…
Were they even genuine? Maybe, at that point, she had already realized the whereabouts of <Flamberge’s Wrath>…
In the end, was it because she was wondering if Raymon was someone who would be swayed by a few tears?
The air felt frozen even though he was indoors. She had an intelligence that no one else had noticed. A princess who hadn’t even made it into high society and had no one in the palace on her side. When did she start planning this?
‘Lest you misunderstand, I’ll tell you upfront, Lord Raymon.’
I have to put on a show for the maids, she had said with a giggle, dragging the fine tablecloth off and smashing everything on it into the ground.
Titania spoke up at the end, not caring that her fingertips brushed against the shattered glass.
‘Rest assured, I’m not here to grab my Lord by the throat and force him to marry me.’
‘…’
If the intention had been to use House Castraine’s power, the engagement may have been merely a pretext. A powerless princess with no power, no legitimacy, no authority to speak of, quietly plotting her plans without the scrutiny of anyone.
Then all her actions up to this point, have been to keep Raymon out of the picture, and knowing, till the very end, that he would not be within her reach…
‘Oh, I should let you know, I’ll still be acting like a brain-dead, crazy maniac in front of everyone, so don’t be too surprised.’
…His head was swirling. Raymon hadn’t been this agitated since he had gotten to know ‘Titania’.
“…I need to see the Duke.”
“What?”
“I don’t think I should be the one to make that decision.”
At Raymon’s resolute words, Cassian’s mouth opened and closed a couple of times in disbelief.
* * *
“You, dared, lie, to me!” I furiously screamed.
It hurt my ears to hear it, and I was sure the eardrums of the maids who were listening to it were even worse. Yes, I screamed at the top of my lungs, breathing twice as hard as I could. With all my might, I threw down and destroyed pots, chairs, jugs of water, and anything else I could get my hands and feet on.
Bang! Clink!
“Aah, Your Highness, Princess Titania!”
“Please calm down!”
Oh, man, I love a good temper tantrum, especially when it’s a tantrum that makes the bullies who’ve been screwing with me suffer!
And, of course, the rats who had been prying and trying to figure out what I’d been talking about with Raymon didn’t move away from me, even as they came under the brunt of my fury. At least I didn’t throw it at them directly, though the shrapnels ricocheted everywhere.
It was not the first time they’d had to deal with the imperial family’s foul temper. When the First Queen and the First Prince get bored, they beat people and break things.
And above all, Titania was so foolish that even when they ran away from her, if they sneaked back later to praise her and apologize, she would forgive them to make herself seem like a noble and forgiving woman, even when they looked at her with disdain.
I mean, if they were really scared and didn’t like it, they would have quit right then and there, right?
Her beauty was the most important thing in the world, and the maids who dressed her up would not be so easy to drive away. And that’s why Cleo, the First Queen, put them right beside Titania.
She hated incompetent rats the most, so, since I’d just recovered from my illness and had met with Lord Raymon, they’d want to know what he had said to me, if only for the money.
I looked up fiercely and exclaimed.
“You said I was the prettiest girl in the world even when I was sick!”
At that moment, the maids’ eyes, which had been fretting over the mess on the table and the state of the room, changed.
