24

'Let's not get ahead of ourselves.'

She had to restrain herself from speculation, but she had to sort out what needed to be pointed out. Ren was a too dangerous man to get rid of the tension.

"I saw Sir Ren fall while dancing. What happened to him?"

"Oh, I pushed him."

Leabrick frowned at Elena's words.

"What?"

"He grabbed my wrist so hard that I was hurt and scared that I couldn't just shake him off. Then I pushed him as hard as I could. That's all."

Leabrick narrowed her eyes at Elena's words. Ren was big enough to catch Elena, who could not dance ballroom, and force her to dance. He was also blessed with a natural ability in swordsmanship, and was a promising young man who held the expectations of the Empire at heart. He was not simply an easy man for a woman to push.

"Really?"

"It's no wonder Liv can't believe it. But it's true."

Leabrick was frustrated. Common sense didn't make sense, but she had no choice but to believe Elena when she said that.

'It's weird. I feel like I'm missing something.'

The problem was that there was no way to explain what was missing.

"Again, Sir Ren is dangerous. Avoid him if you can. If you have no choice but to run into each other, avoid him."

"Yes, I'll be careful."

Elena gave a wistful look and nodded. Leabrick didn't say the same thing any more, probably because she could see the earnestness of her reluctance to release the rat in her hand.

"It looks like you had a conversation with Madame de Flanrose."

"Oh, I had a chance to say hello to her by chance."

Elena confided without a lie. There was no particular reason to hide it. Elena and Madame de Flanrose talked about etiquette in an official place.

"It looked like you were exchanging something?"

'Did you watch me in the meantime?'

It must have been hard to leave Elena alone. She could see that she had talked to a lot of aristocrats, but she kept her eye on her for a while. Elena hid her mind and spoke calmly.

"Oh, I was so happy that I gave her a handkerchief to thank her for her good manners."

Then Elena intentionally shrank, pretending to look at Leabrick's cold expression.

"… Did I do something wrong?"

"What do you think you did wrong?"

"… It's not good to give a handkerchief?"

"No."

Leabrick continued in a cold tone.

"The Princess's etiquette is still in its infancy. Even though she's gotten a lot better, she's still just a waddle away from Madame de Flanrose. Didn't you think that if you got involved with such a madam, she would find out that you were a substitute?"

Elena opened her eyes wide in surprise.

"B-but she definitely praised my manners."

"Compliment your opponent for their lack. It's also part of etiquette."

"…"

Leabrick pointed out only by applying her yardstick to Elena.

"Listening to Liv, I think I was careless. In that state of mind I'll be careful from now on."

Elena apologized in that position, saying she would correct the mistake. Leabrick, who had completed her business, stood up from the sofa and gave a final warning.

"Princess, always remember. What is your position now, and where did you come from? Will you go back there or stay here? All of this depends on you, my lady."

"Liv…"

"You know what I mean, right?"

Leabrick, who unilaterally finished what she had to say, left the drawing room.

Thud.

Elena heard the door close behind her, and she stood up from her seat, straightening her back. She tried to move out of the way of Rearbrick's eyes, but her body tensed unconsciously and froze.

"But it was a very satisfying day."

A deep smile spread around Elena's mouth with a feeling of accomplishment that filled her heart. She took a step forward to avenge herself today.

***

The banquet for the anniversary of Duke Rosette's birth lasted a grand five days. Considering that the banquets held by the imperial family did not exceed four days, it was evident how high the stature of the Grand Duke of Friedrich's family was.

Elena attended the banquet for three odd days. It was highly unusual, considering that most of the high class nobles did not attend the banquet except for the first day.

Leabrick wanted to show the world that Princess Veronica was alive and well. Only then could the noise surrounding the succession of the Grand Duchy be completely silenced.

There is another reason. It was to give Elena some experience in the social scene. It was a good opportunity to do so, as the banquet was mainly attended by ladies and local nobles rather than high ranking nobles, making it less important. Since such an opportunity was rare, Leabrick also kept Elena close to her, except for a few hours.

After the banquet, she reviewed the day's events and tried to correct any mistakes. It was a small change, but one that emphasized the process of becoming a more perfect Princess Veronica.

Elena refrained from acting independently and acted obediently according to Leabrick's will. As long as she got what she wanted, she had no reason to stand out and be out of Leabrick's eyes.

Thus ended the year, the greatest event of the Grand Duke. The mansion was once again deserted, and those below were feverishly cleaning up the mess. Leabrick, too, was confined to her office to deal with the large and small matters of the Grand Duchy that she had been unable to handle in the past. She told Elena to take a rest for a few days after all the hard work she had put in.

'Do you want me to take a break?'

Elena summoned the most famous jeweler in the empire to her mansion. He had a variety of finely crafted trinkets, each of which was made of rare and expensive gems that were uniformly tongue-in-cheek.

Elena chose the ones that were most convenient to imitate and bought them. Of these, diamonds were the most favored. Unlike sapphires, rubies, and emeralds, they had no color and were easy to imitate by processing glass. In particular, unlike other gems, where prices varied wildly depending on impurities and sophistication, the larger the size of the diamond, the higher the price went. Also, as long as the imperial aristocracy preferred pure white clarity, there was little fluctuation in the market price.

'I need a route to dispose of these without the attention of Leabrick. I also need craftsmen to make imitations.'

Elena didn't panic. She was inevitably stuck in the Grand Duchy. It was difficult to avoid the eyes of Leabrick and impossible to act independently.

'I can move freely when I enter the academy.'

Elena's reinstatement to the academy was a scheduled procedure that even Leabrick approved of. The Frontier Academy, located near the capital of the empire, made it a rule to live in a dormitory without exception, even for current students. Even if you are the child of a nobleman, you will be expelled if you disobey the rules.

Her academic career was a great opportunity for Elena to build her foundation. Since she was forced to live a restricted life in the shadows of the academy, Leabrick's supervision had to be relaxed.

'Lorentz's been taken off. Now she's the only one left, and…'

Anne was the maid that Leabrick had assigned to watch over her from the beginning. If she hadn't known who she was, she wouldn't have been a problem, but now that she knew that she was Leabrick's limb, she wasn't a problem.

'Why don't I just reverse engineer her from here?'

It's bad luck to just kick Anne out. Elena predicted more than one, or two, than that.

'Leabrick must be relieved to have Anne on me.'

She didn't need to be suspected in front of Anne. Just having Anne with her was a big advantage for Elena. It meant a lot to her to be able to lower her guard and catch Leabrick off guard. After the jeweler left, Elena had a leisurely tea break.

"Your Highness the Princess."

Hurelbard, who had never opened his mouth before during his escort, spoke first. Elena looked back at him as she put the teacup on the pedestal.

"That's a big deal. Sir spoke to me first."

"…"

"Speak."

Hurelbard bowed his head as permission fell.

"I was delayed due to the lack of circumstances, but I'm still asking for your punishment for my mistake."

"Punishment."

Elena held the cup again, having repeated something. She tasted the faint scent of tea with her nose and her tongue as she collected her thoughts.

"What do you want to do?"

"How could I dare decide that for myself. I will take any punishment."

Hurelbard was serious. It was an unavoidable situation because Ren would not reveal his identity at the time, but as a result, Elena's order not to clash with Ren could not be carried out. It was the first order given to him after he was appointed as a knight, but he failed to follow it, which was too disgraceful.

"'I can't overlook the fact that I want to get rid of it so badly. Please take it off."

"…!"

Hurelbard's eyes shook as if an earthquake had occurred. The expression on his face, so bewildered that his soul had been drained, was suspicious whether he really was the "knight of ice" that was said to be synonymous with cold-heartedness.

"Didn't you hear me tell you to take it off?"

"W-what the hell…"

Frustrated, Hurelbard blurted his words out of control. Elena said, holding back her laughter from the response.

"What did you expect? Did you think I was asking you to take your top off?"

"How dare I."

"Sir, you're afraid I might have mentioned your bottoms?"

"…"

Elena, who was looking at Hurelbard's relentlessly shaky expression, smiled. Hurelbard looked blank as he stared at Elena without knowing what was going on. Elena pointed to Hurelbard's hand with a wink.

"I'm asking for the gloves you're wearing."

"You mean these gloves?"

"Yes, those. Are you ignoring me because you don't want to give it to me?"

Elena's mischievous remarks prompted Hurelbard to hurriedly take off his gloves. The black cotton gloves Elena had given him were more for ceremonial use than for combat. She had heard that they were often worn mainly to support the handle of a sword so that it would not slip.

Elena rose from her chair and took out her embroidery from the drawer. She opened the lid, took out a needle and thread, turned the glove inside out, and began to embroider on the inside. With each movement of her thin, slender fingers, five different colors of thread fell on top. Hurelbard stood there in a daze as her hands worked wonderfully.

Not too long later, the inside of the cotton glove was embroidered with letters in a moderate harmony of gold and silver