But Medea responded coolly.
"I am grateful, but I don't want to hear that the Princess of Valdina was sponsored by Facade."
"The people of Katzen are different from the Valdina people, Princess. Even if you try to be polite, you'll only be looked down upon."
The Katzen people enjoyed entertainment and luxury to their heart's content based on their fertile national power.
Contradictorily, if something is even slightly against the rules or behind the trend, they will not miss the opportunity to criticize it.
"Don't worry. I know as much about them as you do."
Medea went through a lot in her last life.
"They are more worldly than anyone else, yet they easily succumb to power. This might be easier than the Valdinians who don't break even when they die."
In the last life, when Jason usurped the throne, the Katzen people accepted the new Emperor without resistance.
Of course, all the competitors who might have rebelled were dead and gone.
"Why?"
Medea paused.
Because he found eyes staring at her.
"I understand that the Princess has never been outside Valdina in her life, but she knows the empire quite well."
It was an expected question. Medea said, shrugging her shoulders.
"Acares, that's why people invent writing and create news. I guess you didn't know because you were busy organizing my business and hiding your identity."
In a generous voice as if teaching a new maid.
"..."
"If you want, I'll send you the book too."
Cesare, noticing the slight playfulness in her expressionless mouth, soon burst into laughter.
If Gallo had known, he would have been furious and asked why he didn't throw the dagger at the Princess.
"Good. I have something to tell you here too."
Cesare's body, which was about to approach Medea, stopped for a moment.
Late at night, in a bedroom with just the two of them.
To him, she's a little Princess, but he doesn't know if other people would think the same way.
For a girl at this age, nothing is more important than chastity. He felt like she was acting too casually.
However, Medea, who had been a wife and mother of two children in her previous life, did not feel any discomfort at all.
The excitement and tension that might have developed between a man and woman had long since dried up and worn out in her heart.
"..."
Cesare was awakened from his thoughts by green eyes looking up at him as if asking why.
The stern-faced Princess is calm, but Cesare is acting carelessly like a childish boy.
After regaining his composure, he placed an ornament on Medea's white hand.
It was a cat-shaped brooch. There was an emerald embedded where the eye was.
"Press this."
When a thick finger pressed the tail, the cat's mouth opened and sharp saliva flashed.
It was an elaborately designed weapon.
"It fired. It's coated with a powerful paralyzing poison. Even if you miss a little bit, you won't be able to wake up for three days."
"I wish I could stab rude people like you."
Even as she said that Medea could not take her eyes off the brooch.
"Are you going to refuse this time too?"
"..."
Medea did not answer.
As if he knew that would happen, a light laugh came from under the half-mask.
"I thought you'd like it."
"I never liked-"
Medea was furious, feeling as if her insides had been discovered without her knowledge.
"See you later, Princess."
But Cesare disappeared as quickly as he had come.
Medea stood up and grasped the window frame. The cold night wind blew.
"You are truly self-indulgent."
He comes like the wind and scatters like a typhoon, so if you don't keep your mind strong, you will be swept away.
The self-talk that sounded like a sigh landed on the cat's sparkling emerald eyes.
***
The administrative palace of Valdina.
"Your Excellency Prime Minister? Already at this time... No, you didn't leave the palace?"
Early in the morning, the aide discovered Sissair and opened his eyes.
On the map spread out on the table were scattered notes from his contacts throughout the battlefield.
"Did you have a good time at the Princess's palace yesterday? Oh, what is this?"
"Ten days ago, the Rasay tribe's military supply convoy heading to the battlefield was burned."
The servant tilted his head when he found a letter and a piece of a burnt flag.
"Surely, Her Highness the Princess did it?"
"Tell Peleus not to waste time."
"Send this to His Majesty's camp. It's urgent, so please do it as quickly as possible."
"Yes, Your Excellency."
The servant hurried out.
Sissair suddenly noticed.
Instead of using Valdina Palace, the Princess used external forces to attack Rasay's transport route.
'Mercenaries... Did you hire him?'
"If they don't reach my ears, they are not ordinary people."
There was no news until two weeks ago.
If they are accurate and secretive enough to target their target in such a short time against the fierce Rasay...
"No way... Facade?"
A breath of disbelief escaped him.
***
A group of royal maids left the Katzen envoy's quarters.
"Oh, I only heard about it, but the 4th Princess really has an amazing personality. I don't like this, I don't like that either. How on earth do her subordinates live to please all of them?"
"I know yeah. Just now, she sent the Count after her to get her some imperial decorations because her accommodations were shabby."
The maids clicked their tongues.
"Tsk, tsk. How do you get those items at this late hour? It's pitiful, it's pitiful. Even the Imperial Count can do nothing in front of the royal family."
Kensington, who was in the middle of running an errand for the 4th Princess, stopped on the streets of Valdina Royal Castle, which were lined with unlit shops.
This is because a familiar silver seal appeared before his eyes.
"What is the Princess of Valdina doing at this late hour?"
"Count Kensington, let's walk for a moment."
Although he obediently followed the Princess, Kensington's eyes were filled with dark caution.
He came here after discovering the existence of the Red Foxes and was wondering how to approach them.
But the Princess of Valdina came to him first.
"I was doubtful whether Umberto would be able to convey it properly. I thought it would be enough to just say something. But I didn't know that you would come visit me in person."
"...Aren't the issues the issues?"
"Are you afraid that all those who planted it in Valdina will be hunted down? Don't worry. I didn't come here to ask you about that."
"What if I do it?"
Unlike her appearance as she kindly led the delegation, Medea had sharp eyes without a trace of laughter.
The original Kensington was a little cocky, a little cautious, and even sensitive.
"I came because I wanted to warn you."
"I may be offended, but I don't understand why the Princess of a small country would have any other advice for me, a subject of Katzen."
Kensington subtly provoked the Princess. He was planning to observe her reaction.
"What would you do if I were to reveal your true identity to the royal family right now?"
There was also a vague threat.
Her tone of speech was calm, as befits the leader of a group of people traveling across the continent, but she had a coolness that could not be ignored.
"It is the substance. You look like an ordinary diplomat, but you actually run a continent-wide intelligence network, right?"
Kensington paused at the question asked with a grin.
"Count, you only make threats when you have nothing to lose. But even if that were the case, I'm not sure who would believe it."
Medea raised the corners of her mouth.
"In other words, no one knows what happened between the Count and I except the two of us, right?"
To reveal the Princess's true identity, he must first confess that he secretly attached the spies to the Minister of the Palace of Valdina. They both knew there was no way Kensington would take that risk.
"Brilliant Count, you sent numerous agents to the continent and used the information obtained through them to force a preemptive attack."
The Princess's eyes were sincere.
"Even I know that the reason the current Emperor was able to safely ascend to the throne was thanks to the loyalty of the Count, who was hiding in the shadows."
"..."
"But now it's dangerous. The Red Foxes, your power, will now strangle you."
The Princess stopped walking and turned around. Kensington faced vivid green eyes.
"Because the Emperor of Katzen will betray you."
The air was so blue it was freezing. Kensington warned.
"Princess, you should be careful before spouting false rumors."
"I personally respect the Count. Especially your loyalty and sacrifice, regardless of generation."
A trace of respect appeared from her white, small face.
"But did the Emperor of Katzen repay you appropriately? Could the military-lord relationship be maintained through one-sided loyalty? Kensington, you need to find a better owner."
Kensington's eyes burned with anger. Facing the Princess, he stood and strengthened his toes.
"Your Highness the Princess of VaIdina is not the first foreigner who has tried to placate me. But my answer then and now is the same. Kensington is loyal only to His Majesty the Emperor."
Medea nodded her head shallowly as if expecting a firm answer.
"You respect beliefs. However, I wanted to warn you. You are too precious to be sacrificed to the greed of ungrateful people."
Even after the Princess left, Kensington couldn't leave. At one point, he was so angry that it was difficult to control his facial expression.
Perhaps the biggest reason was that he could not deny the words of the girl in front of him.
Now that his lord, Perdiccas, has ascended to the throne, he will soon betray him.
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