Welcome To The Imperial Palace (9)

Marquis Manners offered a sheepish bow and followed the chamberlain’s guidance.

Viviana, eyes welling up, looked toward Marquis Manners as he took his seat.

Though the Emperor had warned her with a glance, she didn’t speak, but her face was drenched in injustice.

Next to enter the audience chamber was the Marquess of Rain.

“…….”

It was Viviana who was shocked by the Marquess’s cold, barren face.

With wide eyes, Viviana looked once at the Marquess’s dry and withered expression, then once at Alicia sitting beside her.

Alicia wasn’t afraid of judgment.

She had committed violence within the palace and knew the uproar it would cause.

She was confident now that she wouldn’t even blink at gossip.

But if she had known her father would be summoned to this place, she wouldn’t have done it.

The Marquess of Rain offered his respects to the Emperor and Empress without even glancing at Alicia, then silently sat in his seat.

Marquis Manners, seated beside him, looked at him blatantly, as if he had something to say.

The Marquess of Rain only stared forward with an unreadable expression.

The Emperor, watching from the high seat, looked displeased.

The Empress quietly scanned the audience chamber.

The Grand Duke of Tessen, who should have been busiest with state affairs, was nowhere to be seen.

The Marquess of Rain was inscrutable, and Marquis Manners squirmed, clearly wanting to defend his daughter right away.

Alicia glanced sideways at her unresponsive father.

Their eyes met for an instant.

As if telling her to look forward, the Marquess made a subtle gesture only Alicia could understand.

Just then, the chamber doors burst open.

“Alicia.”

Heavy footsteps—practically stomping—disrupted the stillness of the room.

The one who rushed in, panting, was none other than Reichardt.

Oh right, he existed too.

As he knelt to meet her at eye level, matching the low height of her chair, Alicia was suddenly reminded of something.

It was strange for Reichardt to display such rare emotion.

“Alicia, is it true that you hit someone?”

Just as Alicia opened her mouth to reply, Reichardt interrupted hastily.

“Your Grace….”

He was someone who would never be involved in such a commotion unless it was about her.

Alicia hesitated, unsure whether she ought to apologize.

“Alicia, did you commit murder?”

Reichardt asked the question with a serious face and a destructive tone.

His expression was filled with worry, as though the world had collapsed.

Alicia was momentarily speechless.

“N-no, I didn’t.”

Flustered, Alicia barely managed to respond.

Murder? What nonsense was this?

She looked at him, bewildered.

Reichardt, relieved, now wore a similarly baffled expression.

“You didn’t? That’s a relief. I heard you hit someone, so I assumed you’d killed them. Must have been a misunderstanding. Since the person you struck didn’t die, people must’ve misinterpreted it as some sort of prank.”

Reichardt uttered the most absurd nonsense with a straight face.

Alicia was dumbfounded.

Of all the things she’d heard since arriving in Baden, this was by far the most ridiculous.

“Your Grace.”

At Alicia’s disapproving tone, Reichardt’s expression turned solemn again.

“So they didn’t die, but are they in critical condition? Where is the injured person? What about a physician? Can they be treated?”

“No, Your Grace.”

The room’s atmosphere grew chilly.

The Grand Duke of Tessen—rumored to smash people’s heads like sand puppets along the western border—was treating his fiancée like a monster.

He was known for his dullness and emotional detachment.

Because it was him saying this, no one could take it lightly.

Alicia’s martial abilities had never been seen as threatening.

But if the Grand Duke of Tessen acknowledged her strength, that changed things.

Outside the Empire, he was known as the Devil.

Sometimes, even as a monster.

Feeling the room’s increasingly bizarre mood, Alicia hurried to deny it.

“That’s not it.”

“Is the body still intact?”

At Reichardt’s question, Alicia raised her voice without meaning to.

“Your Grace…!”

She wanted to scream.

-Watch your mouth!

-You’re making me sound like a murderer!

-I’m not you!

Viviana, listening to the back-and-forth between Reichardt and Alicia, had gone pale.

She looked like she’d collapse if anyone so much as tapped her.

“Reichardt.”

“Your Majesty, Your Highness the Empress. My apologies. I was so shocked by the news that I failed to offer my respects.”

“The victim is unharmed. Take your seat.”

Only then did Reichardt glance at Viviana and follow the chamberlain.

The attending royals, acting as witnesses, looked like they were dying to ask what the hell that conversation had been.

Alicia turned a cold gaze toward her departing fiancé.

-What about my image?

-Yours was always like that, but mine wasn’t!

-Hey!

Alicia felt like crying from the injustice.

All the effort she’d put into maintaining a gentle demeanor had gone to waste.

The awkward silence in the chamber was finally broken by the Empress.

“Lady Alicia, violence in the palace is deeply disappointing. I’ve already heard your strange excuse, so there’s no need to repeat it.”

The Empress spoke as though the matter was beneath her to even mention.

Viviana, who had been reeling from Alicia and Reichardt’s exchange, suddenly brightened at the Empress’s unexpectedly mild tone.

“Lady Viviana, the Baroness of Goggins is due to give birth soon. At such a crucial time, the younger sister of a concubine ends up at the center of gossip? Did it not occur to you that the mother should be kept at ease?”

The Empress began with a scolding even toward Viviana.

Marquis Manners’s face darkened uncomfortably.

“Your Highness the Empress. I’ve been wronged… Lady Alicia slandered and struck me. I was completely caught off guard by the sudden violence.”

Viviana spoke with the face of a pitiful victim.

“Lady Viviana. To determine the truth, we must begin with your own words. According to investigations by the Empress’s handmaid, the palace chamberlain, and the chief lady-in-waiting, multiple witnesses confirmed that you claimed Lady Alicia ignored you after you showed her friendliness, and that you were later slapped. Lady Viviana, where and when did this alleged slight by Alicia occur?”

The Empress’s tone remained gentle throughout.

“It was this morning. I was leaving the concubines’ quarters and heading toward the Ischtern Garden, while Lady Alicia was approaching from the opposite direction. There are many witnesses.”

Viviana replied, as if she’d been waiting for the question.

“I’ve looked into it as well. They say Lady Viviana and Lady Alicia passed by each other this morning without any significant words or contact. All the garden attendants and handmaids in the rear garden gave identical testimonies. Some even said they were close enough that they would definitely have noticed if Alicia had slapped you.”

“Your Highness the Empress…”

“The witnesses you refer to, Lady Viviana—are they not your companions? That makes their testimony difficult to trust. Your companions are your friends, are they not? And also fellow members of Princess Josephina’s Zephyr Clan.”

The Empress’s tone was polished and composed.

At the mention of Princess Josephina’s Zephyr Clan, the Emperor rubbed his forehead lightly.

The Zephyr Clan—a high society group created by the princess—wielded tremendous influence in Baden.

As the Emperor’s first niece, she held sway even over nobles and most royalty.

Her clan members acted with impunity throughout the court and society.

Though the Emperor had long known about this, he had turned a blind eye—so when Josephina’s name was mentioned, he subconsciously rubbed the back of his neck.

The Empress, fully aware of his position, refrained from outright accusations or criticism.

“Lady Viviana, is there no third party—someone not among your companions—who can confirm your claims of being harmed? Any physical evidence or trace of actual injury?”

With poise, the Empress swept aside Viviana’s lies.

“I… I’ve been wronged…! Lady Alicia really did strike me! If you won’t believe my companions because they’re close to me, then how can the palace attendants and handmaids near the Empress’s quarters be considered impartial either? Everyone in the palace knows Lady Alicia visits the Empress every single day!”

Viviana broke down into tears as she poured out her words.

“Lady Viviana, to doubt the palace servants and handmaids is to question the integrity of the Imperial Palace itself.”

The Empress’s face turned stern in that instant.

“Viviana…”

Marquis Manners tried to caution his daughter for her arrogant speech.

Viviana’s words carried not only hostility toward Alicia but also toward the Empress.

The Emperor, having watched Manners’s hesitation, finally spoke.

The man often praised as if an angel had descended now wore a twisted expression.

“Lady Viviana. So despite having no evidence or witnesses, you claim to be a victim, slapped by Lady Alicia? Then there is but one option left.”

“Your Majesty, please… my daughter simply lacks judgment…”

Marquis Manners fidgeted anxiously at the Emperor’s cheerful yet dangerous tone.

“Earlier, it was said that what people witnessed was only one-fifth of Lady Alicia’s true strength. If she strikes you with her full power and you endure it, your story will be proven. Wouldn’t you agree? If she truly hit you in a place where only your companions were present, why would she bother to hold back?”

The Emperor spoke with finality, clearly wanting to end the tiresome debate.

“Your Majesty…”

Viviana looked up at the high seat as if betrayed.

“They say you couldn’t stand for over ten minutes after receiving just one-fifth of her strength. I wonder what would happen if she used her full force—sounds exciting.”

The Emperor waved away his irritation and smiled brightly.

“Your Majesty, please no. Viviana, apologize at once. Offer your apology to Lady Alicia as well.”

Marquis Manners stood from his seat.

He knelt beside Viviana and spoke urgently.

Viviana looked completely lost.

“Your Majesty, I only… but I really was struck…”

The Emperor’s face twisted with disgust at her pleading expression.

“With just one-fifth of her strength, right? And before you made all this noise?”

“I…”

Viviana seemed more shocked by the Emperor’s attitude than by being caught in a lie.

No one in the audience chamber showed sympathy for Viviana, who still refused to admit the truth.

Everyone already knew.

To Viviana, this had likely been just another game.

Such schemes were common in high society.

Alicia’s act of violence must not have been part of her original plan.

She probably thought she could craft herself as the victim even if she were slapped.