Mogi was sitting in the garden enjoying tea. When the attendant announced Emilia's arrival, Mogi smirked. "Seems today is quite a special day, having such a distinguished guest come all this way to see me. I'm truly delighted to see the young lady again."
The moment the greetings were over, Emilia's expression darkened. How dare this woman look down on the Duke's daughter. She was curious just how far this woman's scheming would go.
The instant she sat down, Mogi smiled. "Since I didn't know what the young lady might like, I prepared quite a variety of things. I do hope you'll enjoy them."
Seeing Emilia politely thank her, Mogi laughed heartily. "I think of the young lady as my own daughter, which is why I wanted to share tea and conversation with you."
While enjoying some ice cream, Emilia mused to herself that this kind of treatment was only because she was Cardan's daughter. No other child would ever get this. Still, she had to admit the food here was genuinely delicious.
Mogi smiled and told her it did look delicious, and to please help herself as if she were at home.
Just then, Mogi's son arrived. The moment he stepped in, he rushed forward, calling out, "Mother, you sent for me. I ran straight here from sword practice."
Mogi smiled and said, "How convenient. A young lady the same age as the prince happened to be right there. How wonderful. Go say hello. This is Lady Emilia, Duke Cardan's daughter."
The boy spun around, and the moment he saw her, his face twisted with anger. Wasn't this the same girl who had crashed into him at the plaza the other day?
Emilia thought to herself, like mother, like son.
He offered a stiffly polite greeting. "A pleasure to meet you, Lady Emilia. I'm Nader."
Emilia returned the courtesy just as politely on the surface, though by now the two of them were already glaring daggers at each other beneath the pleasantries. Watching nearby, Mogi laughed, remarking how well matched these two seemed.
Still uneasy about why Mogi had summoned her here in the first place, Emilia then heard Mogi say, "Nader, take the young lady to see the garden out back. And Lord Elvin, why don't you stay and chat with me for a moment?"
Unable to politely refuse, Emilia had no choice but to go along with Nader.
Seeing Elvin's worried look, and how he wanted to follow, Emilia told him it would be fine, whispering to him not to worry. She would beat this brat handily.
The moment they reached the garden, Nader sneered arrogantly. "Still the same as ever. Still just as ill-mannered."
Emilia could not be bothered with pleasant conversation, and shot back, "I should be the one saying that to you. I keep wondering who on earth you got that hairstyle from."
Before she could even finish, Nader exploded, shrieking, "How dare you speak to me with such disrespect? You're nothing but a duke's daughter."
As he spoke, he brushed the golden strands of hair off his sleeve, then laughed maniacally and asked whether the other two, like that brat before, would also crawl away in misery.
The sheer intensity of his outburst left Emilia somewhat unnerved. He did not look like a child at all in that moment.
Right then, a servant announced the emperor's arrival. He smiled and greeted the empress. "What lovely weather we're having, and my empress looks just as radiant."
Seeing the emperor approach, both children hurried inside.
The emperor, noticing Emilia, asked whose child she was. Emilia bowed respectfully and introduced herself as Lady Emilia, daughter of Duke Cardan.
Hearing her introduction, the emperor startled. Cardan's daughter is here. Then is he here too? But hearing from Mogi that Emilia had come alone, he let out a sigh of relief.
Emilia studied the man before her. This was actually the emperor. By rights, though the emperor was somewhat older, the bloodline clearly favored his sister. It seemed a princess simply could not inherit the throne. So the most powerful of the three siblings turned out to be this portly man standing right in front of her. Unbelievable, really.
The empress laughed and rubbed the emperor's shoulders, saying, "Look at Nader playing with Lady Emilia. They really do seem well matched, just like you and I when we were young."
The emperor chuckled heartily and agreed they seemed quite well suited. "So from now on, let's have Nader and the young lady—"
Before he could finish, a maid outside announced Duke Cardan's arrival, warning that if he barged in now, it would turn into a real problem.
Everyone froze in surprise. Cardan strode in quickly, bowed formally before them, his face like thunder. The emperor broke into a sweat and greeted him back, then shot a sharp glare at the maid and guards nearby.
Paying little attention to anyone else, Cardan spotted Emilia standing beside Nader and called her over at once, pulling his daughter into his arms.
Cardan spoke up. "It seems my daughter has been enjoying herself quite thoroughly in her majesty's palace. There's an extremely important matter scheduled at the estate today. Her majesty must not have known, or she wouldn't have invited my daughter here. Going forward, my daughter's schedule will be filled with many important engagements. So to avoid this kind of mistake happening again, I do hope your majesty will be more mindful in the future."
With that, Cardan turned and walked out, ignoring the chaos he left behind him.
Once they were clear, Cardan cleared his throat and said, "It seems you still haven't learned not to go off with strangers."
Emilia explained that the emperor and empress outranked even him, and she had worried it would put him in a difficult position if she refused.
Cardan simply replied that she had won this round.
Before Emilia could even process what he meant, he was already telling Elvin that from now on, whether it was the emperor or the empress, he should just handle any troublesome matters himself, and Cardan would take full responsibility, even risking a charge of insulting the royal family. It hardly mattered. Cardan had won.
Once home, Emilia immediately sought out her history tutor to ask why the princess could not inherit the throne.
The tutor explained that by royal law, every prince and princess had to pass a trial. The eldest princess and the second prince had each traveled south and west, respectively, while the eldest prince disguised his identity and journeyed north. A year later, only the second prince returned to the palace. The eldest prince, who had gone north, remained missing to this day. The eldest princess, while researching poisons, had tragically been poisoned herself and died.
The current emperor was in fact the second prince, not the eldest prince, as Emilia had always assumed. After he took the throne, life for the common people only grew worse, the treasury drained by his frivolous indulgences.
The tutor said it was Duke Cardan who truly held the empire together. Even hunting the monsters was technically the emperor's duty. But Duke Cardan did not just lead the charge. He also carried the entire administrative burden of the empire on his shoulders.
In truth, six years ago, the Duke had abandoned all his responsibilities entirely. Only now did Emilia realize that six years ago was exactly when she had been born, and when her mother, Rainer, had passed away. The empire, left without the Duke for even a short while, had nearly collapsed. In the end, the emperor had been forced to kneel and beg Cardan to return.
Seeing how worried Emilia still looked for Cardan's safety, the tutor laughed and said Cardan was the kind of man who, if he ever truly wanted it, could claim this entire empire as his own. Which meant that to the emperor, Cardan was both his savior and his greatest threat. That was precisely why the emperor was working so hard to groom a proper heir.
Of the two princes at court, the eldest prince's mother had only ever been an ordinary noble woman, and without the people's recognition behind her, she had passed away within just three years.