Catherine licked her lips and called out to her prey sweetly.

“Nice to meet you, Princess Nia.”

She purposely called Apollonia by a nickname that only the emperor and prince used when they called her in order to quietly show that she was superior to her. She planned on making the innocent princess get used to being called that name by her so everyone would think of her as the empress.

“I was the one who bumped into you first. I’m sorry, missus.”

“It’s not a big deal, so I’ll forgive… wait, what did you say?”

Catherine nodded when she heard Apollonia apologize to her, but suddenly, she was surprised. This dumb girl called the imperial concubine a missus, which indicated to her that she was uneducated.

She had originally planned on giving her a pat on the head, but a rude child like this needed a scolding.

“Wait just a moment, Princess.”

Catherine called out to Apollonia to stop her, one corner of her mouth curling into a smile as she spoke in a loud, strict voice as if she wanted everyone to hear her. Some of the nobles did as she wanted, and people gathered around them slowly since they couldn’t help but be interested. The emperor’s daughter and concubine were finally establishing their relationship, so they couldn’t help but take interest.

“I don’t think we introduced ourselves to each other properly.”

Catherine stated that they didn’t introduce themselves ‘to each other,’ but she was clearly talking about Apollonia and the fact she just nodded when she was supposed to bow down properly. She was also making issue with the way she called her.

Catherine exaggeratedly lowered her knees to bow before giving Apollonia a glance. Her attitude was that of a mother teaching her child manners.

‘Did you see that? You just have to follow what I did.’

She wanted to reinforce her status by making the princess bow down to her politely and she didn’t care to hide that fact. However, Apollonia just nodded and stared at her again after hesitating for a moment.

“It’s a pleasure to meet you, missus.”

‘What a fool!’

Catherine felt offended. Wouldn’t their current confrontation come off to the others as her bowing her head to the princess but not the other way round? She decided to more honestly shoot back at her in a dignified manner.

“Princess. Are you really that dumb?”

“Excuse me?”

“I’ve already heard that you were dim-witted, but I can’t believe you’re really this dense… I’m the Imperial Concubine of His Majesty and that means I’m the same as your mother to you, Princess. You should mind your manners when you’re around the elders of your family.”

“Oh…”

Seeing Apollonia reply like that was frustrating for Catherine.

“And how dare you call me missus? Even among commoners, people will talk behind your back if you refer to your stepmother as such.”

She stared at Apollonia, without losing her grace, in order to make the girl finally greet her properly. However, somebody interrupted them.

“I’m terribly sorry, mistress, but I think you’re mistaken.”

The woman standing next to Apollonia spoke up. She was a middle-aged woman who was supposedly the Princess’s attendant or nanny.

“Are you speaking to me?”

“I don’t blame you for not knowing since you clearly haven’t learned all of the etiquette of the palace.”

The attendant had a small figure, but she looked straight at Catherine and spoke strongly.

“Unlike the empress, your status as the imperial concubine is lower than someone of direct imperial descent. You cannot compare yourself to a common stepmother, so it’s proper for you to be called missus instead of Your Highness.”

“E-excuse me?”

She was right. The only one who had a higher status than a direct child of the imperial family, who were like demigods in this empire where the imperial family was worshipped as the descendent of gods, was the emperor and empress themselves. The imperial concubine was also highly respected, but her status was completely different from a child of the imperial family.

However, not many people, including Catherine, knew that there was such a ranking because there hadn’t been an imperial concubine in the empire for a long time. Most people had the vague thought that the first imperial concubine of the concubinage was no different from the empress.

“Th-there’s no way, none of my attendants told me such a thing.”

“That’s because the empire hasn’t had any imperial concubines for decades. Inexperienced attendants wouldn’t know about courtesy regarding the imperial concubines.”

The former emperor had kept only one empress and loved her for decades. As polygamy was not actively practiced, such rules were forgotten as they were not in use.

“Bu-but, the concubines, they…”

“Nobody except you has questioned the manners of the prince and princess, madam.”

Catherine’s face went red when she heard the attendant’s perfect answer.

“You… you are being overly arrogant.”

She decided that the only way she could keep her pride was to rely on her authority since she couldn’t rebuke the attendant’s reasoning.

“How dare an attendant interfere in the imperial concubine and the princess’s conversation?”

“I have only relayed you the manners that you needed to know.”

“Then are there no manners an attendant should maintain when speaking with the imperial concubine?”

“If I have done something wrong, please punish me later based on rules of etiquette.”

The attendant seemed like she was obedient, but there was a bone in her words when she said that she should punish her ‘based on etiquette.’ She was clearly indicating that Catherine was rebuking her on no basis.

Catherine was mad that this nobody was answering back to everything she said. The attendant lowered her head and stepped back, but that just made her feel even more humiliated. Eventually, she couldn’t keep her anger in and stopped the attendant by grabbing her by her black hair as she turned around.

“I didn’t tell you to leave yet!”

Slap!

The attendant’s head flung to the side as the imperial concubine’s hand hit her cheek.

“Maya!”

The attendant staggered, and Apollonia quickly went over to help her. However, Catherine still didn’t look happy and scowled at the princess, fuming.

* * *

That was exactly why Apollonia didn’t want to see anyone.

Apollonia kept sighing to herself as she looked at the imperial concubine who seemed haughty. . She thought that no one would care if she greeted her curtly. She could obviously see that things would become bothersome if she got too close to her, so she treated the woman with the bare minimum amount of courtesy that she had to show her.

Apollonia could clearly see what she was planning to do. Countless people had covertly disrespected her over the last seven years even while praising her as a descendent of the imperial family.

‘But… I can’t believe there’s a concubine who can’t judge the situation properly’

Apollonia inwardly clicked her tongue. Catherine was the one being foolish and didn’t stop even when she was continuously giving her signs to do stop.

Maya quickly caught on and explained to her so they could avoid opposing each other directly, did she not? Catherine would’ve been able to keep her pride if she had half of the wit that Maya had and stepped back, pretending to be considerate about Maya, who was old. Instead, this foolish concubine slapped her in front of everyone, gathering attention.

‘Will she even be able to survive half a year in the palace with that head of hers?’

At this point, Apollonia couldn’t tell if she should be mad at Catherine or if she should find her pitiful.

“I-it would be different if there was an empress, but the emperor has no one by his side. You can’t treat me so poorly as I’m the First Imperial Concubine.”

Catherine threw a tantrum as her face went red. She was being unreasonable, but surprisingly, some young noblemen spoke one by one and took her side.

“Your Highness, Lady Roenheim is the woman His Majesty loves the most. It wouldn’t be too bad if you treated her like your mother, would it?”

“That’s right. If you think of your age, she’s older than you, so please give her the treatment she deserves. She’s the one who’s going to stay in the palace after you get married, so don’t be stubborn.”

Apollonia could tell that they were bribed as they wouldn’t be able to say such a thing in front of Perris.

“You’ll never know whether I could become empress one day, do you, Princess? So, treat me with respect early on.”

Catherine raised her head high and tacked on after the surrounding men supported her. She realized once again that her opponent was still a naïve girl. Apollonia looked over at Maya, who didn’t blink and kept standing still despite her cheek being so swollen. Apollonia looked at Catherine coldly with her red eyes.

“Is that so?”

It only took her a moment to change her expression and she smiled at her nicely as if she was determined to do something.

“Then today will be the very first day I meet my mother.”

Apollonia took a step towards Catherine and gracefully got down on one knee to bow down. It was the politest way you could greet a person, and everything about the way she did it was perfect. Catherine’s eyes widened in surprise as she watched her and smiled in satisfaction.

“Things would’ve been fine if you did this from the start. I forgive you, so get up, from now on…”

“You, who shine on the land of the sun like moonlight; who wets the land like rain; who is like shadow to the light…”

Catherine gracefully held out her hand as if she was forgiving, but Apollonia didn’t even look at her and continued to speak.

“…the beautiful miracle that captured the heart of God with one glance.”

She suddenly started reciting a long greeting.

“P-princess? You don’t have to greet me like that…”

Many people were watching, but Apollonia didn’t care and continued.

“May your glory be the glory of the empire, and may your wisdom be the way of the empire.”

“What is she saying?”

Catherine was surprised and whispered to ask the servant next to her, but they looked just as surprised as her as they replied.

“Th-this is… sounds like the Declaration of the Empress.”