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“If so, let’s end today’s meeting here,” Cayena said, smiling brightly.

“…We will heed your order.”

When the princess got up from her seat, the completely drained councilmen followed and bowed to her. Leisurely, she left the conference room.

‘Luckily, the things I prepared were useful.’

She had focused on the fact that the chancellor and the knight commander did not get along. The knight commander was the one that she had to bring to her side.

Thus, it had been very helpful to earnestly study the data about the central army.

“Your Highness!”

At that moment, Zenon hurriedly rushed after her.

“What is it, Sir Evans?”

The man stopped in front of Cayena and said, “I have something to tell you.” His face was stern.

Cayena told her attendants, including Vera, “I’ll be back soon.”

Zenon took Cayena to a place where no eyes loomed over on them. He bared his fangs to her once they reached a distance away from her followers.

“What in the world are you thinking?”

His eyes were shining with nearly murderous anger.

“How rude,” Cayena snapped back coldly.

Since Rezef could not face Heinrich without the Evans family, Zenon had unconsciously been taking the imperial family lightly.

“Are you planning on becoming the chancellor like this? Or”—he menacingly stepped close to Cayena while smiling like a shark—”do you really intend to become the successor?”

His attitude was threatening, as if he would attack her.

Cayena focused on her magic with the intention of knocking him down if necessary. She felt her control spread over the area.

“Speak honestly, Your Highness. If you don’t, I won’t understand at all!”

“If I say that I don’t need all of this, would you believe me?”

Zenon’s face twisted in a hideous manner. “I didn’t bring Your Highness here to play with words. Do you not understand the current situation?”

“I think you’re the one who doesn’t understand.”

“…What did you say?”

Cayena mocked, “Why don’t you just take care of your younger sister, who has become my exclusive lady-in-waiting?”

Zenon was momentarily speechless at the mention of Julia.

“Is that important now?”

Of course it was important. As Cayena thought, Zenon had no idea how Julia’s presence affected him.

“You’re irritated that I’ve gained some influence, but you can’t understand what kind of consequences this will bring.”

“What are you…”

Cayena woke him up to reality. “If I favor Julia, I wonder whether the Evans family will support you or Julia more.”

“……!”

Zenon looked appalled. He finally comprehended what she meant.

The head of the Evans household was not Zenon’s father, but his older brother. Marquis Evans would rather have their younger sister, who was easy to manipulate, in the place of the empress than have his crafty brother in the chancellor’s seat.

Zenon bit his lips.

He had never imagined there was this level of calculation involved in hiring Julia. How could that once-stupid princess do this?

“Unfortunately, it doesn’t seem like Sir Evans is a good vessel to hold me.”

Saying this, Cayena left him with no hesitation and returned to her entourage.

Zenon, who was left alone, stood there blankly. Slowly, he began to laugh.

“Ha, haha…”

Then, holding his face, he had a nervous fit.

Even Rezef, who belittled him without knowing his place, was better. Rezef was laughable since he would be a potential heir in name only, if it weren’t for the power of the Evans family.

But Cayena was different.

Zenon thought the princess might be a decent trophy to win while taking over the empire. She was cute enough for him to welcome as a wife.

That trophy had revealed her claws and taunted him.

‘She dares to act so arrogantly with me?!’

Zenon should be keeping a low profile because of the unsuccessful abduction, but it was more dangerous to leave Cayena be.

‘…It’ll be better to kill her.’

Zenon’s eyes turned bleak.

***

Cayena looked down at her hands. They were trembling a little.

Was it because of fear? But her mind felt void of such emotion.

Then, was this a reflexive motion that had no relation with her will?

‘I don’t know why. I felt threatened, but I wasn’t scared of Zenon…’

She had to experiment more to see how powerful her magic was, but from using it so far, she knew that it was capable of lifting people. She pondered over her situation, position, and the reason her hands shook. Maybe then her hands would stop quivering.

But the trembling did not stop.

‘Could this be an aftereffect of the magical contract?’

Earlier, Zenon had made her alert and ready her magic. However, it was a bit troublesome if her hands shook like this.

Confirming with her own eyes that her body had really weakened, her head cooled. Cayena clenched her fist to stop the tremors.

“Your Highness?” Vera called. “Are you all right? Did Sir Evans…”

It was only then that Cayena realized that she had forgotten to hide her expression.

Cayena interrupted Vera before she could say more.

“Nothing happened. We just talked about the agenda items from the meeting.”

“I see…”

Vera did not sound convinced, but she nodded.

While Cayena and her entourage had briefly stopped, the councilmen began to come out of the conference room, one by one. Spotting Cayena, they quickly bowed and disappeared.

It seemed that her first council meeting implanted the impression that she was not to be messed with.

Soon, Commander Jed also came out of the room. It was when Cayena was about to head back to her palace after nodding at him.

“Your Highness.”

Cayena turned back to him with a puzzled look.

“I will not forget the favor.” Commander Jed bowed deeply to Cayena.

She could roughly guess why he was being so polite. The atmosphere of the central army would obviously have been poor because of the continuous budget cuts. But today, the soldiers could retrieve their rightful compensation.

Jed would never have imagined that the princess would help him like this.

Cayena replied lightly, “It’s nothing. Ah, but since we’re speaking, can you send me a summary of what the central army needs to improve? I’ll begin working on it as soon as you do.”

“Excuse me? This fast…? Isn’t it too much?”

“I’ve already decided to support the central army. What reason do I have to hesitate? We should get things done before someone annoying tries to reproach us.”

Jed smiled bitterly, understanding that the ‘someone annoying’ was referring to Chancellor Debussy.

Then, he looked at Cayena with a strangely admiring face.

When the emperor initially appointed her as the deputy for state affairs, he had been inwardly concerned. But looking at the results of today’s council meeting, it was a decisive victory for Cayena.

Furthermore, she stopped the abominable cuts to the budget. In reality, the budget cuts were the same thing as pressuring Jed to resign.

Jed was sincerely grateful to Cayena.

“Then, goodbye.”

Cayena began to head back to the princess’s palace once more.

‘With this, the knight commander will be friendlier toward me.’

Building trust this way was crucial.

‘This is how I’ll stop Rezef from disposing of me when he begins to find me unpleasant.’

Since Cayena had already established an amicable relationship with Commander Jed, Rezef and his forces would not act rashly.

‘Zenon looked far too nervous. He must feel a lot of pressure because of his failure to kidnap me.’

It seemed that Zenon and Rezef were more estranged than Cayena had thought.

That must clearly be because Rezef valued Cayena over Zenon as she made plans that suited his tastes.

‘Rezef will try to read into my intentions with the snacks that I always give him.’

Though she was tired and busy, she had to continue making him snacks for one simple reason.

She needed to appear like she still supported him.

It was a simple and transparent act, but there was a clear difference between doing it and not doing it.

She had to live on properly.

~~~