The Villainous Family Loves Me Too Much!

Surprisingly, the next morning dawned bright and clear, as if nothing had happened the previous day.

“Eloise, wake up! It’s time for us to depart!”

“Yes, just a moment. I’ll be right out.”

Properly attired in her maid’s uniform, Eloise followed the other maids at a leisurely pace.

One maid observed her curiously, tilting her head.

“Why are you so properly dressed all of a sudden? You’ve changed since returning from the Empire.”

“That’s true. Eloise does seem to have acquired a graceful gait overnight.”

“The Archduchess must be her role model. She wants to emulate Her Grace.”

“Hey, that won’t make you a noble, you know.”

“My face is just different, that’s my natural features.”

“Putting a line on a pumpkin won’t turn it into a watermelon.”

The maids giggled at Eloise before boarding the waiting carriage outside the inn.

‘So this is one of Felosite’s famed horseless carriages?’

Though a supply model differing from the luxurious one the Archducal couple arrived in for the Crown Prince’s investiture, it still seemed marvelous to Eloise experiencing it firsthand.

One senior maid eyed Eloise strangely as she gazed intently at the carriage.

“What’s so odd about it? You’re gaping like you’ve never seen one! Hurry and get in, or we’re leaving without you!”

Startled by the brusque threat, Eloise hastily climbed aboard.

‘Ugh, I have to sit among the maids? How demeaning, truly.’

Yet the one seated in the carriage under Eloise’s guise was actually Beatrice.

The previous night, Beatrice had coerced Eloise through threats to obtain the disguise mask.

Then in the pouring rain, she had disposed of the now useless girl.

Killing with divine power felt slightly unnerving, but it was necessary.

To infiltrate the Felosite palace, she needed to impersonate Eloise.

Beatrice’s sole objective now was to bring ruin upon the Felosite household by eliminating Karena Leblanc, the one who had usurped her role as protagonist.

* * *

Everything had returned to its proper place, save for the Crown Prince’s position.

Gabriel still adamantly refused to become Crown Prince.

“So you truly have no intention of becoming Crown Princess, Rena?”

The Empress asked me one day.

“Crown Princess, you say…”

After silently studying my eyes, the Empress continued:

“To be honest, from the very start I felt you suited the Crown Princess role far better than our Gabriel.”

An unexpected response, indeed.

I had assumed, like other former Empresses, that she too harbored ambitions for Gabriel’s ascension and would do anything to secure it.

“Me?”

With a gracious smile, the Empress gently caressed my right eyelid.

“You’re of the Kenoch lineage. More than anyone, you hold legitimacy to the throne, Rena.”

I didn’t comprehend her words.

What did the Kenoch lineage have to do with the imperial throne?

“How is the Kenoch lineage relevant…?”

As if answering my query, the Empress produced a thick tome from her robe with a gentle smile.

“Oh, this is…!”

“Yes, the diary of former Empresses. You were searching for this, weren’t you?”

Though I readily accepted the book, confusion still lingered.

“But what does this diary and the Kenoch lineage’s legitimacy to the throne have to do with each other?”

“Read it yourself. You’ll understand once you do.”

Upon returning to the manor, I began reading the diary the Empress had given me.

This diary belonged to the famed scholar Empress Tricia, who descended from a line of Saintesses.

The Kenoch clan was the original imperial family that founded the Rien Kingdom, the precursor to the Castien Empire.

However, less than a century after establishing the Kingdom, the second-in-command Count Leblanc staged a coup. With aid from the neighboring Felosite Kingdom, the Kenoch royals received noble titles and settled there in exile.

Ah, so this was what the Empress meant by legitimate lineage.

The current Castien imperial family was effectively founded by the formerly second-ranked Count Leblanc family.

After the Kenoch’s exile to Felosite, the newly enthroned Emperor Leblanc began harboring enmity towards the Felosite Kingdom for aiding the Kenoch refuge.

Yet this truth lay obscured by longstanding discrimination against Felosite.

Naturally, this had been the imperial family’s intentional scheme, having erased those facts over time.

I only uncovered this disturbing truth while researching the divine power inherited by the Kenoch lineage.

As a Saintess, I ought to have further illuminated these unpleasant realities, but my appointment as Empress prevented continuing that research…

Closing the book, I no longer harbored doubts.

I promptly requested an audience with the Emperor to convey my stance.

“As you proposed, I will become the Crown Princess.”

Color returned to the Emperor’s ashen, hollow expression.

“Is that so? The most welcome words I could hear.”

“However, not immediately. And there are some conditions.”

* * *

Rectifying the catastrophe wrought by Beatrice and Liam required considerable time.

Assisting the inept Emperor in resolving the crisis and restoring order proved far more arduous than anticipated, to the point of questioning my acceptance as Crown Princess.

“With Beatrice and Liam still out there, it feels premature to act like it’s all over.”

“Which is precisely why we must remain vigilant. Foes strike when you least expect it.”

Once affairs in the imperial palace reached a degree of resolution, Lucian and I boarded a carriage bound for Felosite.

Though concealed, Lucian too displayed signs of fatigue.

‘With all I’ve instigated, he’ll have much to handle upon our return as well. I’m sorry, Lucian.’

The first condition I proposed to the Emperor for becoming Crown Princess was free trade with Felosite.

-I will be the Empire’s Crown Princess, but also the Archduchess of Felosite. The Duke governing Felosite will effectively become the Empire’s regent. As such, we must alleviate the adversarial climate between our lands for the future.

While I caused this, Lucian actually had far more responsibilities regarding the free trade arrangements.

He needed to negotiate with imperial officials and mediate both sides to maintain optimal trading terms.

The current system heavily favored the Empire, potentially exacerbating tensions between the regions.

“Until now, the bear danced while the owner profited.”

Though much remained to improve, gradual progress could be made.

-I shall assume the Crown Princess role only after resolving inequitable agreements and regional hostilities between the Empire and Felosite.

And the second crucial condition for defusing those regional sentiments:

-Restore the Kenoch clan to imperial nobility status in Castien.

-Recognizing the Kenoch as nobility would undermine the legitimacy of the reigning Leblanc imperial family. A sensitive issue.

-Otherwise, I won’t become Crown Princess.

-The Chancellor and I will deliberate a solution.

As if that alone wasn’t exhausting enough, we had even graver concerns to address.

Averting the catastrophe foretold for this fictional world.

Specifically, locating the fugitive Beatrice and Liam to administer justice.

For a happy ending requires vanquishing evil, after all.

“Have you consulted the prophecy scrolls recently? What do you make of them?”

“I don’t think we need consult the scrolls any longer. We now know who provided them and their intentions. I can communicate with the ‘fragment of God’ through any medium.”

I took out a rolled parchment and showed it to Lucian.

It contained transcripts of all my prior conversations with Sena, written in the imperial language.

“So all that remains for us is a single task – to slay Beatrice and Liam.”

“For starters, at least. But there may be a way to avert disaster without killing them. We must locate Beatrice and Liam first.”

At that time, I remained unaware that no matter how meticulously calculated and prepared, the darkest truth often lies in the blind spot closest to us.