Tess got off the carriage first, smiled intently and seductively. I could feel my eyebrows twitch.
As I tipped her off, Gael entrusted her hand to a knight belonging to the Imperial Knights. Her face is quite red, it seems that she is excited.
It could be because it is difficult for children of her age to participate in social events. It must be one of the reasons why an imperial knight escorted her, whom I had only heard about.
In fact, Gael was staring at the knight intently, and the knight who was receiving her fierce gaze was taken aback and blinked often.
“The Emperor!”
Upon entering the hall of the mansion, exclamations flowed from here and there.
“Somehow, it seems there are more people than expected…….”
Is it because I haven’t been socializing properly? The Hyacinth family is weak compared to Lantia, right? I wished so.
“Ah, I told them at the assembly yesterday. I heard there is going to be a social gathering at Duke Lantia’s mansion. And.”
The anxiety that had been hovering around me since I asked Tess to be my partner materialized.
I’m sure Father would have told me if he had returned home. In reality, he was busy all night and couldn’t come to the mansion yesterday. Was it natural for Father to work overtime… ?
“The one next to him is Hardland’s-”
“They were together at the New Year’s ball-”
The gossip around me didn’t matter.
“And?”
“And I want to go too.”
He must have said it after I asked him to be my partner. My head hurt at Tess’ unnecessarily fast action.
My friend, who bowed his head to me as if he didn’t know what I was feeling inside, smiled seductively like a rose in full bloom.
“Why?”
“That’s because I want to boast that I am Euseniel’s partner in front of many people.”
However, what he was saying was something that was completely different from the smile and made me want to give him a punch.
“No way, did you ask Lili Xuen to attend too?”
I clenched my teeth and asked, and Tess immediately averted his gaze.
“Answer me.”
“Yes.’
“Why?”
“Your Majesty!”
The moment Tess was about to answer, people gathered. They were going to greet the Emperor.
At that moment, Gael was bounced off by the crowd, and Tess and I were soon wrapped up in the crowd.
“Greetings to the Emperor.”
“I am from the Estra family-”
“I am of the Joyeoni family, Vis-”
People scrambled to greet him, and Tess spoke in a cold tone.
“Why isn’t anyone here greeting my partner?”
I squeezed Tess’s hand tightly, but he only smiled meaninglessly, which sent a chill down my spine.
With the Emperor’s words, people all started to greet me. They looked desperate, as if they were clinging to the edge of a cliff.
Perhaps Tess would cut each one of them one by one if they didn’t greet me.
I roughly counted the number of people greeting me, and luckily it was less than it seemed. As expected, Duchess Lantia must have carefully selected the people invited to the gathering she hosted.
“I see someone who didn’t greet Lady Euseniel.”
Before I could even ask why he was calling me by my first name, Tess pointed out someone outright.
People searched for a specific person, and the final destination was Lili Xuen in the back.
“Greet, greetings Lady Hardland.”
“Oh, that’s Miss Lili Xuen, who said she was going to be the Empress.”
He made the chance so I added some words. Lili Xuen’s flushed face was just as Tess had promised.
“I have no intention of making this woman my Empress.”
A blatant agitation spread with the Emperor’s cold murmur.
“By the way, Xuen’s third doesn’t seem to have learned manners? Doesn’t she know that she should bow her head in greeting the Duke’s direct descendant?”
Perhaps that was very humiliating, Lili Xuen’s stiff head did not go down. Her consistent behavior is certainly admirable.
“My sister, Aurin Xuen, didn’t even lower her head.”
Besides, what is she saying now? I don’t want to be greeted with a bow from Aurin!
“Hello, Your Majesty. And Miss Hardland.”
Aurin, who appeared out of nowhere, bowed to me and Tess as if nothing had happened.
Seeing this, Lili Xuen’s face seemed to turn red, then she turned her body to Tess. And she bowed deeply and greeted him.
“I’m Xuen’s family Li-”
“Not here, but here.”
Tess pointed right at me.
“I’m not Hardland, am I?”
“I’m Xuen’s family Li-”
“Xuen’s third, do you have bad eyesight?”
No one laughed at the outright sarcasm. They were just staring at us with a bluish face.
Tess pointed out Lili Xuen before I had time to stop him. But she showed no sign of greeting me.
“Your Majesty”
Annoyed by the silent war, I smiled brightly.
“I will give up accepting greetings from Miss Lili Xuen.”
Lili Xuen’s eyes lit up at those words. I couldn’t help but laugh at the child’s foolishness.
And Tess wrinkled at Lili Xuen’s expectant face.
“What? Then the death penalty.”
As soon as Tess had finished speaking, the two knights who had followed Lili Xuen dragged her away fiercely.
What is it, Tess was like a tyrant from some old story!
“What, what, what! Your, Your Majesty!”
“The date of Lili Xuen’s execution will be announced soon. Everyone here is to attend.”
It was really strange to see Tess talking without blinking. But what was even more shocking was that the people here didn’t seem to be surprised, though.
In particular, looking at the active duty officials, they even seemed familiar with this.
How often has it happened that no one puts the brakes on Tess’ words?
I had already heard a warning from Aurin, saying, ‘His Majesty is scary.’ But I didn’t know it was to this extent.
Tess now is like… a tyrant.
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