A Great Facade

Flory keeps on running until she reaches the entrance of the greenhouse inside the imperial palace where the crown prince Kaiser is waiting. When Flory saw him, she waved her hand and smiled cheerfully.

The crown prince embraced Flory in his arms, kissed her forehead, and guided her inside the greenhouse where different kind of sweets and Flory's favorite rose tea was served.

At that moment, Flory's face turned red as Kaiser pulled the chair for her.

"thank you, your highness," she said shyly. Kaiser let a soft laugh.

"Didn't I tell you not to address me formally?" he said while putting two cubes of sugar in his tea.

"but you are the empire's crown prince. I don't want to be disrespectful"

"Flory, someday when I become the emperor, you will be the most powerful woman in the empire. So as my future empress, isn't it appropriate to call me by my name?" Kaiser smiled at her.

In Flory's mind, hearing the words future empress doesn't give her pressure instead she always feels a thrill of excitement and superiority. She once admires noble ladies with a higher position than hers but that admiration turned to envy and hate when she met Rina, the daughter of the Atelier Household who was known in the entire empire because of their power as magicians.

For Flory, Rina is the luckiest noble lady in the Erian empire because Rina is the crown prince's fiancee, and in her blood flows the power of great magicians. On the other hand, Flory is nothing but a mere daughter of the Marquess with no magic nor a great fiancee.

Her jealousy turned into a scheme against a lady who did nothing to her. She acted cute and kind, bright and merciful which attracted a lot of people during a banquet including the crown prince. However, in every word, she spoke lies a meaning to destroy Rina's reputation. All of this reached Rina and with her temper, she make a fuss that day. Pitiful Flory acted innocently and started shedding tears. In the end, Rina became the lady everyone hated, and Flory was the flower of society.

"Really? but what about lady Rina? I-I don't want her to get mad at me, I a-always wanted to be her friend" Flory uttered crying. The crown prince looked at her softly, wiping the tears flowing down her cheeks using his thumb.

"she's not worthy to be your friend. She's scheming and evil and may do something bad to harm you" Flory silently nods.

"shall we eat now?" Kaiser asked.

It's one of the wonderful moments for Flory not until the crown prince's aide came rushing.

"greeting to your highness, lady Atelier arrived," the crown prince's aide said.

"guide her here" Kaiser commanded. He turned to face Flory.

"your highness Kaiser, will lady Rina agree to you? what if-" Flory looked worried but her mind is rejoicing.

"I'm sure she will. After all, she is a woman with ambitions"

"but I'm afraid she will do something to harm you since she hated me. Can I stay here, your highness?"

"no, I'm the one who's afraid that she might hurt you. Even though, we know she can't use magic now, she might come up with another plan to harm you"

Everyone in the empire concluded that the daughter of duke Atelier cannot even use magic because people had never seen Rina use her powers. Thus, they all think she's useless.

"then, please tell me everything after. I will take my leave now, your highness" Flory stood up and bowed courteously before leaving.

However, the truth was Flory lied. Using a magic item that she prepared in advance, she hid in the bushes until Rina came.

Flory cannot hear what the two are talking about but she saw Rina kissing the crown prince. Flory wanted to pull Rina's hair but she cannot expose herself. She remained silent, boiling with anger until the evil Rina disappeared.

'If the Atelier household doesn't exist, I will be the empress without trouble' was what Flory thought.

'Then what if the useless daughter of Atelier tried to kill the beloved woman of the crown prince? Ah, it will be perfect to bring them down.'

Flory smirked as she endlessly thought about the perfect way to bring Rina Atelier down.