The Lady is a Stalker

After returning from the imperial palace, she was overcome with mixed feelings. She was concerned about the jewelry she received as if it were a confession of love. No, it was better if it was a love confession. All she had to do was refuse. However, receiving a jewel containing the crown prince’s magical power in this way was much more than an ordinary confession of love…

By any chance, did the crown prince like her? It was something she had been secretly concerned about for a long time, but she thought it was nonsense and kept it buried in her heart. However, after receiving this gem, she became confident.

After thinking about it that way, the actions he had taken towards her so far were also very suspicious. Adriana’s polymorphed human form fully reflected the prince’s tastes and looked exactly like her. Also, they even pulled a ridiculous hoax by claiming that the Crown Prince’s magic power disappeared just because he wanted to be with her. Plus, they even kissed. She met the crown prince’s lips directly with a face that made him look like he was possessed. He made an excuse saying it was a prize or something, but in reality, if it wasn’t something he wanted to do, he wouldn’t have smacked their lips together. Since the other person was a child and there was no deep skinship, she thought it was nothing special at the time, but looking back, it was full of suspicious spots. At this point, even the most clueless person would feel strange. Could it be that the crown prince liked her? But she was sure he hated Serabi. Or maybe he pretended to hate her but actually liked Serabi?

That couldn’t be possible. She made an assumption for a moment, but it turned out to be nonsense. If he liked her, since when did he? Apparently he hated her at first. No, but it seemed like it’s not and it seemed like it’s true… Her head feels like it’s going to explode.

No matter how much she thought about it, she couldn’t come up with an answer, so she just tried to sleep, but suddenly she remembered the resignation letter she couldn’t hand over. She put her hand into her inner pocket to find the resignation letter.

“…Eh?”

Nothing was caught. There must have been a white envelope here.

Where did she drop it? Well, she could write it over again. Without thinking much, she lay down in bed and fell asleep.

* * *

The last day of the month-long holiday had dawned. Anyway, if she handed in her resignation tomorrow, her work life would end, but somehow she felt like she should make the most of today, her last holiday.

Today’s schedule was to attend the National Foundation Day event in the morning and watch the after-party festival with the deputy commander in the afternoon. She didn’t think much about the latter, but she was a bit excited about the former. It felt like Ishefinally had a chance to do something noble. All she had to do was sit at the head of the table and listen to the speech.

However, even though she had no intention of going out anyway, the servants were all intent on decorating her from the morning. She went to sleep with the intention of getting dressed up in 10 minutes like usual, but when she came to, the maids had taken her, who had low blood pressure, early in the morning, washed her for an hour, and then forced her into a pure white dress that was very flashy but had almost zero practicality.

When she asked the maid, who was busy painting her face while she was sitting blankly, why on earth she had to do something like this, she said that there was a subtle conflict between the nobles and their appearance at public events to show their authority. She said that since she was a princess, she should be the most beautiful. The maid turned on the fire in her eyes and told her to leave it to her, saying she would put to good use the skills she had honed for today.

Thanks to this, she was dressed up like a doll for almost four hours and was exhausted before she even left the house. But just as the maid said, who was confident that she was truly the most beautiful, everyone who saw her exclaimed admiration.

She scratched her cheek sheepishly. This was a bit burdensome even for her, no matter how fierce she was…

She looked back at her reflection in the mirror. She always thought Serabi had a cute face, but after decorating her in earnest, she couldn’t help but call her a peerless beauty. It felt a little different from the clothes that Serabi usually wore, but in fact, considering Princess Serabi’s noble appearance, this seemed to suit her much better. She was not conceited, but she thought this would have been more to the crown prince’s taste. She thought that perhaps, if she had gone with this feeling, Princess Serabi might have succeeded in seducing the crown prince. Although it’s already too late.

Waist-length hair resembling moonlight, atmospheric, deep and serene purple eyes. It gave off a fascinating yet dangerous feeling that made it impossible to approach it carelessly.

Before leaving the house, she thought about what to do with the jewels the crown prince gave her, and decided to take them with her. Since it was an invaluable item, she wore it around her neck in the form of a pendant so as not to lose it.

Then the maid next to her frowned slightly and offered her another piece of jewelry.

“I don’t think it would go well with a pure white dress. I would rather have this sapphire…”

“…”

She looked down at the red jewel hanging around her neck. This red jewel containing the dragon’s magic had a strange color, as if it had been carved from the crown prince’s dragon eye. Although it was beautiful, it was full of a sense of danger. As she stared at the mirror and showed no sign of taking off her necklace, the maid spoke to her again with an expression that seemed uncomfortable.

“It’s hard to say, but I think it’s better not to wear that jewelry.”

“Uhm…”

Seeing the maid, who had never complained about anything she said, speak like this, she felt like this jewel really had some unknown power. She looked around and saw people with faces that looked like they were somehow enduring motion sickness. But she didn’t feel any special energy. Was this gem only friendly to her? She looked back and forth between the sapphire the maid held out to her and the ruby-like jewel she wore around her neck. Certainly, red jewelry may not go well with a pure white dress. Not th…

She just shook her head.

* * *

Along with the current Emperor’s birthday, the New Year’s Festival, and the Harvest Festival, National Foundation Day was one of the official holidays of the empire. Instead, it was a day for nobles like Hanryang, who take about 300 days off out of 365 days from work. In this world where royal authority was strong, nobles were merely symbolic beings, and their only job was to show their faces at official events. It felt like a mascot.

The crown prince’s military authority was stronger than the voices of the nobles, so that’s all. Nevertheless, the reason why the nobles were not being completely liquidated was because the current Emperor did not have the ability to do so. Well, a few years later, according to the ending of the novel, the crown prince who would become Emperor would completely reorganize the nobles and build a utopia of universal equality under the order of democracy. 

Half will be purged, half will survive. And the Prineus duchy she belong to…

“Oh my, aren’t you Princess Serabi?”

She was about to fall into deep thought when she came back to reality with the sound of someone calling her and turned around. A group of women were looking at her. Judging from their attire, they seemed to be nobles.

‘Hmm, I see.’

Was this atmosphere perhaps the beginning of a subtle war of nerves that is said to be taking place among the nobles? After all, it wouldn’t be fun without royal intrigue.

Princess Serabi seemed to have a lot of enemies, so she must be quite hated. When it comes to personality, she didn’t lose to anyone.

‘Come anywhere. I’m ready to hit it all back.’

She thought so, but suddenly a woman hugged her.

“Why didn’t you come out?! I’ve missed you so much!”

“…yes?”

As she was making a dumbfounded expression, the women who were clinging to her suddenly began to voice their complaints mixed with affection.

“Really! I wanted to hear about the princess’s love story! You didn’t even show your face at the banquet!”

She said that and tapped Serabi’s shoulder with her cute hand gesture, expressing her small resentment.

‘Wow, that’s not the atmosphere I was thinking of…’

“I heard a rumor a while ago that you and His Highness went on a love run! I couldn’t even sleep because I was so curious about what happened next! I thought you would come running to the count’s house right away… How heartbroken I was to hear no news!”

“It’s the amulet that the princess saved and that will make her love come true. It really worked!”

She felt that they had great affection and trust in her. Although Princess Serabi had a reputation as a villain in the world, she seemed to have a fairly good reputation among noble women. After listening to their stories, it seemed like Princess Serabi told them interesting love stories, gave them amulets that made love come true, or helped them read flower fortunes. She was surprisingly popular.

She felt like she had discovered an unexpected side of Princess Serabi. She just thought she was a bit unresponsive…

“So, then” She said, “Have you ever been in a place like this?”

She was listening to voices chatting as if they had a lot to say when they met her, when she heard a familiar voice from behind.

 

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