The monstrous crown prince being chivalrous? Just the thought of that was ridiculous. 'Alright. I understand why they're saying these things since they don't know what kind of person the crown prince really is.' Still, I had hoped that they would stop praising him because it was making me uncomfortable. Unfortunately, the flattering comments continued.

"If you think about it, the crown prince being unattractive doesn't make sense."

"You're right. I've heard that Her Majesty, the former empress, was renowned for being beautiful."

"Maybe he's extremely handsome and covers his face with the helmet because he's afraid that he'll be looked down upon by others."

Even if the mother were the most beautiful woman in the world, there was still a chance that the son could be ugly. More importantly, what mattered wasn't his appearance, but the fact that he was a crazy tyrant. 'Appearance isn't everything… One wrong step could ruin someone's entire life,' I thought with a sigh as I recalled the time I used to follow Mikhail around.

"Ah, Lady Jubelian. Would you like to go to the temple with me tomorrow?" Veronica suddenly asked.

I would have gone with her in the past, but since I've been feeling so lethargic lately, I felt reluctant to go. Just as I was about to decline her invitation, she urged on.

"Why don't you come with me? Sometimes you have to go to new places to feel better."

I wasn't sure how she managed to speak so eloquently, without allowing me a chance to refute, but I ended up sighing and nodding at her words.

Act 11. The Walls Have Ears

A shattering sound rang throughout the room as the empress threw a boy-shaped ceramic figure. "Maximillian, that cursed rat," she scowled. "It wouldn't be enough for me to rip him into pieces!" The empress huffed and puffed as anger boiled inside her, then started biting her nails. "I'm positive he's determined to ruin my daughter's coming-of-age ceremony!"

Each event held in the imperial palace had different levels of priority. Small balls were held all the time, which meant that no one was obligated to attend. People were also not required to attend the yearly banquets regarding the founding of this empire, harvest season, and the birthdays of the royal family.

However, all nobles were required to attend victory banquets from the empire achieving great triumph in war or once-in-a-lifetime banquets such as the coronation ceremony or the coming-of-age ceremony of the royal family as they were considered significant. In addition, it was common practice for there to be a gap between mandatory banquets in order to draw attention to the star of each banquet.

The crown prince was already an eyesore to the empress. Along with making a great contribution to the war, he dared to schedule the victory banquet two weeks before her daughter's coming-of-age ceremony, causing this month to have two mandatory banquets.

'It must be a ruse to irritate my little princess.' If she could have, Isabelle would have torn the crown prince apart limb from limb right then and there. Perhaps it was possible for her now since he was probably binge drinking to commemorate the victory. Nonetheless, there was a reason why she couldn't send an assassin after him at this moment.

"I can't kill him even if I wanted to because of my little girl's coming-of-age ceremony!"

If a funeral were held for the crown prince, then the royal princess' coming-of-age ceremony was going to be cancelled. If that were to happen, the empress's plan to marry off her daughter to a decent family in order to gain their support was going to be ruined.

The empress' eyes shot open fiercely as she murmured, "It would have been reassuring… if that child had been born a man instead."

The royal princess who had been listening in from outside the door turned around. On her beautiful face, which resembled the empress, sat a scowl.

* * *

"You may look around anywhere you want to, except for the prohibited areas," the priest guiding us around the temple said.

I gazed around at the walls and floors made of white marble and the decorations made of gold scattered here and there. The priest had explained that the white marble represented the people's gentle heart towards god and the gold decorations represented the light created by god. The splendor of the temple seemed to indicate the power of this religious body. 'I guess it means that anyone anywhere needs something to lean on.' With this thought, I decided to find a quiet place, but…