When the emperor signaled with his eyes, one of his maids searched my body.
Of course, they found nothing. After stabbing Hugo, I was immediately dragged before the emperor without giving Hugo’s maid a chance to plant anything on me.
If you’re going to cause trouble, you might as well do it big.
That way, the other side is too startled to react properly.
“You saw that, right?”
I spoke calmly.
“I was upset and angry, but I’m not good at expressing those emotions with words.”
That was true. I was naturally mild and composed, incapable of erupting in fiery rage or throwing a tantrum.
“Since no one was getting hurt anyway, I just swung a child’s toy sword in the heat of the moment… It barely grazed him.”
I subtly rephrased “stabbed” into “barely grazed.”
The ministers watching us started chiming in.
“When children get emotional, sometimes they act before they speak. My grandchildren are the same.”
“Well, growing up in the North, it’s understandable.”
They seemed to pity me greatly.
“Haha! Of course, thirteen is still a child. You remind me of my granddaughter.”
I suppose my quiet and calm demeanor, in contrast to Anna and Hugo, helped a bit too.
To be honest, I felt a little bewildered. No matter how middle-aged these men were or how new I was to them, calling me a baby…?
During my childhood in the North, no one ever called me that.
“Oh my, our princess is truly impressive! To think she could so cleanly sever the head of a beast!”
“And not even flinch when blood splattered everywhere. Truly courageous!”
And back then, I was even younger!
‘This is embarrassing, awkward, and cringeworthy…’
I rolled my eyes, thinking.
‘But isn’t it helpful?’
As always, the final impression is what counts.
I quickly made a dejected face and shivered slightly.
Hugo, in disbelief, gaped at me.
“You—! You right now—!”
It was at that moment.
“Wait.”
One of the men sitting among the crowd spoke up, sounding intrigued.
“Is round two about to begin? Anyone want to make a bet with me?”
The man was in his early to mid-thirties, with loosely tied long blonde hair and slightly droopy eyes.
“I, Saquar, would like to take this moment to make a declaration.”
Saquar Ivan Tayen.
He was the emperor’s much younger half-brother, born from a different mother, and had no claim to the throne due to circumstances. In fact, this was the first time I’d seen him.
‘So… that makes him my granduncle?’
But calling him “granduncle” felt strange since he was more like an uncle in age.
I’d heard he was carefree, always keeping his distance and never taking anything seriously.
He continued speaking in a needlessly solemn voice.
“I am willing to wager 10 gold that the thirteen-year-old child will next shove a sword into someone’s mouth, rather than their stomach. Of course, up until now, I’ve just been a passive observer…”
“Shut up, Saquar.”
The emperor cut him off, clearly annoyed. Saquar responded immediately.
“Yes, I’ll continue to observe from the sidelines. Following Your Majesty’s advice, I’ll return to my usual profession.”
His compliance was impressively quick. As expected, he was a man of light, fluttering words, swayed by even the slightest breeze.
No one paid him much attention, as they seemed used to his eccentric personality.
“Anyway, enough.”
With a furrowed brow, the emperor summed up the situation.
“It seems this has escalated into a matter of petty children’s squabbles. Listening to such trivial affairs in a formal setting is both tedious and distasteful. But Hugo, why did you accuse the princess of theft?”
Hugo, trying his best to hide his flustered state, answered.
“Well… I received a report from my maid that a jewel was missing from the Crown Prince’s quarters… I made an offhand comment, not thinking much of it.”
It was the best response Hugo could muster.
“I admit I was mistaken about the missing jewel, but surely it wasn’t worth being slashed with a sword over, was it?”
I immediately replied to Hugo’s words.
“That’s true. I wasn’t thinking. I’m sorry. It’s my fault.”
As soon as I admitted my mistake, both Hugo and Anna flinched.
Tilting my head, I continued.
“But why did your maid say that, Hugo?”
“Huh?”
“Think about it. It wasn’t even your room, but the Crown Prince’s. How could she possibly know anything? She’s not even the Crown Prince’s maid, so what was she doing there?”
“Well, that’s…”
“I suspect she stole the jewel herself and, realizing she couldn’t handle the situation, tried to pin it on me.”
At that, the eyes of Hugo’s maid, who was supporting him, widened.
With a soft smile, I gently said,
“I was searched, so I think Hugo’s maid should be searched too. Doesn’t that seem fair?”
The maid’s face instantly turned pale.
It was obvious that the jewel she tried to frame me for was still with her.
‘You must have forgotten about that because of Hugo’s injury, right?’
I had always been the princess who hid in Simon’s shadow, cautious and withdrawn. They never expected that I would suddenly be standing before the emperor like this.
To be honest, it wasn’t easy for me to have an audience with the emperor alone.
‘But it was you who brought me here before the emperor.’
The emperor, just by looking at the maid’s expression, sensed that something was amiss.
“Search her.”
At the emperor’s signal, the same maid who had searched me stepped forward.
Soon, a rather large jewel was pulled out from the sleeve of Hugo’s maid. It was a cufflink Hugo often wore.
‘She must have hidden it earlier, planning to use it for a day like today.’
I sighed, unable to look at Hugo’s maid directly.
“Oh my… I guess that’s what happened.”
I hadn’t forgotten all the terrible things that maid had done to me in my past life.
In truth, she still scared me a little. I couldn’t even insult her to her face. So,
I had to quickly remove what frightened me.
Yet, it felt strange.
‘I used to bow my head to avoid standing before the emperor, always shrinking away from that woman…’
Once the basic premise changed, everything about the situation shifted as well.
“Take her away,” the emperor commanded curtly, clearly unwilling to waste more time on the matter.
It was obvious the maid would receive a severe punishment and be disgraced in noble society.
She would never be able to work as a maid again.
“Oh my,” Anna said without a hint of emotion on her face. “I must have been too careless to have someone like that near Hugo… I’m impressed by the princess’s sharp judgment.”
She was ready to cut ties with the maid in an instant.
Unlike Anna, Hugo was left speechless, merely gaping. The emperor turned to him and said,
“Hugo, you owe Ivnoa a formal apology.”
“But! Ivnoa admitted herself that it was her fault for using the sword!”
As Hugo shouted, I calmly lowered my head and responded gently.
“Yes… that’s true. Even though I was upset, I acted on impulse, and that was wrong of me.”
Hugo’s apology didn’t matter to me at all.
“I believe it’s important to acknowledge and reflect on your mistakes if you want to become a better adult.”
What mattered more was using this opportunity to reprimand Hugo.
“Of course, I’ll accept any punishment later, Your Majesty. You’re very busy right now.”
At my words, the emperor nodded and waved his hand dismissively.
“We’re in the middle of a meeting, so I don’t have time to deal with this childish nonsense any longer. I don’t want to see any of you right now. I’ll decide the punishments tomorrow. But don’t worry too much.”
“But calling it ‘childish nonsense’ is a bit much when she stabbed me…!”
Hugo was about to shout again when—
“Mmmph!”
Anna quickly covered his mouth and spoke up.
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