Empress Delilah established her place in the imperial palace rather quickly. She showed her worth in maintaining the palace and helping the emperor with government affairs. When she gave birth to her first son, Dominic Ulrich, her position solidified. While the empress gained power and popularity within the palace, Genevieve was thrown to the side.

The maids who looked upon her with pity twisted their faces to malice. There was no need to serve an abandoned princess who was weak in constitution. Alas, the empress took pity on the poor girl and hired helping hands to take care of her. Since the emperor was trying to stabilize his position when it was threatened, he never saw the abuse behind the scenes.

Princess Genevieve was given attention by the empress mother and was showered with affection. After giving enough affection, she would tear the girl down by ordering her maids to bully her. Each time, she would run back to the empress mother if she was upset. That was because Delilah alone was giving her the parental love she was always looking for.

It was an ongoing cycle of verbal and psychological abuse. The already weak princess grew weaker by each passing day. She was only given enough food and water to survive and her etiquette lessons were always harsh. Sometimes there were marks on her body, but it wouldn’t matter because Delilah was a healer mage. She fixed her wounds right up the second it showed.

“I’m doing this for your own good, princess,” Empress Delilah would say. “A lady such as yourself must be prim and proper for your husband.”

The empress wasn’t looking to marry off the princess at any time. This sparked the emperor’s curiosity when Genevieve was of marriageable age but wasn’t getting sought after. He thought it was only due to her weak constitution but something felt off. That’s when the empress decided to finally take finding a husband for her a little seriously.

It was hard for Genevieve to even find marriage prospects because of how weak she was. It would be a miracle if she could even walk down the aisle without panting for breath. However, through sheer luck, the empress found a Count’s son who was willing to be engaged to the poor girl. His name was Emmanuel Hutchinson. Apparently, he used to be Genevieve’s playmate while they were children.

Eventually, they stopped playing with each other because Genevieve was so weak from neglect, but he would still make time to visit her and leave her flowers. What a shame since Count Hutchinson supported the empress and only accepted the engagement on the account of her bribing him with a dowry so large that he could remodel his estate fifteen times over.

All he had to do was keep the engagement until Genevieve mysteriously died, so as to fool the oh-so-busy emperor from getting involved in her affairs. As long as the empress reports to him regularly about his daughter’s condition, he would be none-the-wiser. 

And none-the-wiser he acted. The girl simply stayed put in her room, laying in bed for days on end. Sometimes Emmanuel would visit with flowers, sometimes Genevieve’s maids would pop in to keep an eye on her. Everyday, she would drink medicine before bed that the empress got specifically for her. Eventually, whatever she was drinking slowly killed her.

What a tragic life of a tragic princess. Abandoned until the very end.

It was almost comical.

That’s when Veronica had officially woken up. Her eyes were half opened and she pulled her body forward to sit up. She laid her head on her hand.

“Her life sounds like a poorly made drama film,” Veronica yawned, tears forming in her eyes. “How dramatic can you be?”

The system popped up next to her angrily. You can almost hear an error 404 message occurring.

“Well good morning to you too…” She stretched, still feeling weighed down. “What? Do you want me to feel bad for her or something?”

It looked like the system wanted to say something but gave out a sigh of defeat. It never expected their damned host to have sympathy but this was still too much.

“You’ve got the wrong one if you’re looking for sympathy, pal,” She stuck her tongue out at it. “No use getting sad over it now.”

Veronica took this time to analyze where she was. It was a very spacious bedroom with a green and white theme. The massive closet with a vanity desk was set aside in one half of the room and a normal writing desk with a nearly empty bookshelf right next to it was in the other half. In the middle of the room was a couch and coffee table used for leisurely tea.

With all the necessities placed in one room, what would be the point of going outside in the first place? Especially if there were maids who catered to your every whim?

Beads of sweat appeared on Veronica’s cheek, “It already feels like a prison.”

She finally got up, almost falling over in the process. She had already forgotten about the rubies she was forced to wear. However, she didn’t have her knuckles or necklace visible.

She looked at her hands, “Hey, why can’t I see my equipment?”

The system appeared before her with a message.

Announcement!

We took the liberty of hiding your equipment from view of others. You can toggle this option any time you want. Just simply snap your fingers!

Veronica tried it out. True enough, when she snapped her fingers, her knuckles and necklace became visible again. She snapped again to make them disappear. It would be best not to show off her rubies if her body is this weak. She hopes that her first quest helps with strengthening it.

She walked over to the vanity and looked at herself in the mirror. Genevieve looks frighteningly like her, it was nuts. Now if only she wasn’t skin and bones…

The white nightgown that Veronica was in was big on her. She felt like a patient in a hospital.

“This girl really needs to put on weight.” Veronica did a little spin. “No wonder she was always sick.”

The woman’s gawking was stopped short by a maid rudely swinging open the doors. Not a single knock or warning came before. Veronica blinked a few times while looking at her.

“Uh, hi?” Veronica greeted, confused.

“Is there a good reason why you’re out of bed right now, your highness?” The maid glowered.

“...The sun is up?”

Veronica pointed to the window. The birds were singing. The sun is shining. Hell, you could hear a few ducks having a splash in a nearby pond. It’s a bright and sunny day.

“So just because the sun is up, that means you can be up too?” She put her hands on her hips.

Veronica glared at her. “Are you not up right now because the sun woke you up?”

She flinched. “W-well, I-...”

“I guess common sense isn’t so common anymore. The audacity of a mere maid questioning a princess on why she’s up when the same rays that hit your face, also hit mine.”

The maid was flustered. “Y-you were dead for a while, your highness! It’s only right that you sleep in some more and gain more energy!”

“Are you my maid or my lady-in-waiting?” Veronica asked her, walking to the closet. “If it’s the latter, you can advise whatever you want. If it’s the former, shut up and run my bath so I can finally get some fresh air.”

“I can’t do that, your highness. The empress-!”

“I never knew I had such incompetence surrounding me.” She opened the wardrobe. “Fine, I’ll run my own bath. Don’t make me catch you around my bedchambers ever again.”

“Your highness!”

Veronica had grabbed the closest glass object and threw it at the wall inches from the maid’s face. The object shattered to pieces and some sharp debris grazed the girl’s face, drawing blood.

She shook in fear as she slowly fell onto her knees, bowing her head to the floor. “P-Please forgive me, y-your highness!”

“Now do you understand your place?” Veronica walked up to her. “It’s unfortunate that you realized it too late. Now get out of my sight. I won’t be lenient next time.”

She watched as the pathetic maid scrambled out of the room in a hurry and ran down the corridor in tears. As she ran off, Veronica looked back at the closet where all of Princess Genevieve’s dresses are.

They were all poofy, frilly, and in very bright colors. Not her style whatsoever.

She inhaled, then exhaled, “I’m not wearing that.”

The system popped up in front of her.

Attention!

You just drove off one of Princess Genevieve’s many oppressors! Great work!

Reward:

Gift box x1

I wonder what this could be…

“Don’t even ask, just let me open it now,” Veronica told the system.

Some sweat appeared behind the system’s dashboard. It summoned the gift box, which Veronica quickly pulled the ribbon. It disappeared and in its place appeared to be training clothes. A green tunic, a white long-sleeved button up, black pants, and black shoes with a silver buckle.

“Oh snap~!” She laughed. “Now this is more like it!”