The imperial family of the Samara Empire were said to be descendants of the sun god, Apollon. The god loved his children so much that he passed some of his traits down to them. They inherited his hair, blond and as bright as the sun; his eyes, red with a tinge of gold, the color of intense burning fire; and his strong body, that healed faster than normal and could never be burned in fire.

Those traits had faded alongside the passing of his bloodline, but some of his descendants in the imperial family had some of them, Emperor Pascal III’s superhuman strength being one such example. As each descendent had a varying degree of strength and resemblance to Apollon, the Samara imperial family had preferred those with superior traits as heirs for a long time. It was their attempt to maintain the divine blood within the lineage as much as possible, and it was also because the features of the god was popular with the people.

That was also the reason Apollonia was in danger right now.

“Haa…”

She left the Emperor’s Palace and ran as fast as she could without stopping. She finally had a chance to look at her left arm upon taking the handkerchief off once she arrived in her bedroom. Fortunately, she hadn’t run into anyone on the way here.

-Looks like your wounds aren’t that deep considering all the bleeding.

Her wounds had gotten much better in just a few minutes. The cut was deep, but it would heal and disappear without a trace within two to three days.

-So curious.

Apollonia sighed. Petra’s terrifying voice echoed in her ears and the pounding of her heart showed no sign of calming down.

Unfortunately, she just had to be a member of the imperial family who had all the traits of Apollon. The bright blond hair passed down from her mother, as well as the blend of red and gold in her eyes meant that her very existence was reminiscent of the sun.

She couldn’t hide how she looked, so she at least acted like she was frail in front of her father and tried to pretend there was nothing about her that reflected a ruler of the empire, just like her mother once was.

However, that was all a pretense, and her body’s ability to recover was just as great as her grandfather’s. Apollonia avoided people on purpose since she didn’t want others to find out about her powers if she were ever to get injured. That is, until today. Petra had gotten suspicious of her she hid it well for so long.

However, it didn’t just seem like she suspected her when she saw the convinced look on her face.

“Maya, call Syd for me.”

Apollonia gave orders to her nanny, who looked at the wounds on her arm carefully.

“Your arm, Your Highness…”

“I’m okay, you know that.”

Naturally, Maya knew of Apollonia’s condition since she had cared for her ever since she was young, but she still couldn’t bear to see her suffer from even the slightest injury.

“Take care of your cheek first, then call Syd.”

“I’m fine, you don’t need to worry about me.”

Maya genuinely expressed that she was fine. A slap on the cheek was nothing compared to all the humiliations she had to endure serving Apollonia, who had lost but all powers in the empire.

Apollonia bit her lips when she recalled such thoughts. “I am just worried about you. My wounds will heal quickly, but you, Maya…”

“Your safety is my responsibility, while you’re not responsible for my health. So, you don’t have to think about all those little things,” Maya said strictly to Apollonia, just as she did with Mistress Roenheim a few minutes ago. She had always been extremely loyal, ever since she was Empress Elenia’s attendant, and that was the reason why she was still by Apollonia’s side.

She was also quite stubborn to the point where she would tell her master to fix her manners if needed and Apollonia knew well of that, so she simply nodded back. “I understand. Let’s both forget about such minor things then, like treating our wounds right now.”

“I’ll bring Sir Syd Weihen over here right away.” Maya also nodded back and left to follow Apollonia’s orders, but she couldn’t help but worry when she saw Apollonia’s arm.

Apollonia’s arm and Maya’s swollen cheek were just small problems for now. The real problem they had to worry about was their lives.

* * *

The commotion in the banquet hall continued even after Apollonia left with heated discussions about how the Imperial Head Mistress hurt the princess with a teapot while they were quarrelling.

“Do you want our special guests to get injured? Hurry and get rid of such dangerous things.” Petra ordered some servants to clean up the bloody pieces of broken teapot and went over to Catherine slowly as she took care of the situation with ease.

“Duchess Liepherr…”

“What is the meaning of this, Mistress?”

Catherine had never been introduced to Duchess Liepherr properly before. She had heard that the emperor trusted his sister, but only thought he did so because they were siblings. She also secretly thought she would be able to suppress Petra and remain by the emperor’s side as his favorite mistress.

However, she realized how foolish she was now that she faced Petra head on. All of the guests in the banquet hall observed every little thing Petra did, and the servants of the palace immediately followed her every order.

The loyalty they showed to Catherine was nothing compared to that, and Petra seemed used to such treatment, but what that made Catherine most nervous were those eyes of hers. Her golden eyes gleamed like that of a beast as though she was about to rip apart her prey no matter where it ran to.

That terrifying gaze of hers made Catherine’s legs feel weak. “Duchess, I don’t know how much you saw, but I didn’t do anything wrong. The teapot was just an accident…”

“What did you say to the princess?’

“…Sorry?”

“You wanted treatment befitting of the empress since there isn’t one?” Petra’s cold, calculating gaze swept over Catherine from head to toe.

Catherine finally realized what exactly Petra was angry about. “Duchess, I just wanted to get along with the Princess…”

“You wanted to teach Her Highness some manners, you’re saying?” Petra smirked and took a step closer. “Saying such a thing when His Majesty has entrusted the supervision of the palace to me… I see you must’ve been frustrated by the way I work.”

Being the practical head of internal affairs of the palace, Petra took Catherine’s words as a challenge to her authority.

Catherine realized what she had said wrong and started to pale. “No, that’s not what I meant!”

“If you think the Imperial Palace is lacking, I’ll fix your problem,” Petra said slowly and leisurely, but her voice was somewhat cold. “Drag out Mistress… no, the daughter of Viscount Roenheim,” Petra’s words dropped like an axe.

The other guests started to murmur as Catherine broke out into a cold sweat.

“Wh-what are you saying? I’m engaged to His Majesty! Who are you to drag me away…?”

“Disrupting the order in the imperial family, let alone injuring someone over it, is the same as treason. You’re nothing but a criminal now,” Petra interrupted her coldly.

Things like order in the imperial family or the safety of the princess weren’t important to her, but she didn’t even blink as she used that as an excuse to drag the mistress away. The servants knew whose orders they had to follow and were already approaching Catherine.

“What? That was all because of a mistake.” Catherine’s voice shook as she looked around after she realized how serious the situation was. Her gaze finally landed on a man who was walking over slowly.

“Y-Your Majesty! Your Majesty!” She called out to her fiancé desperately as if she was trying to hold on for dear life.

The emperor, tall enough to stand out, was walking over to her and Petra from the other side of the banquet hall Catherine thought that the duchess was nothing and that the emperor would come and save her.

She remembered how kind he was when he saw her before the start of the banquet.

“What’s all this commotion about, Petra?” However, he simply questioned Petra and ignored her cries for help.

“Lady Roenheim hurt Her Highness, Your Majesty. Just because she didn’t give her the treatment of an empress.”

The emperor’s eyebrow raised upon hearing Petra’s words.

“Your Majesty, spilling the blood of the imperial family is a crime. She even hurt her attendant, there’s no way this is all a misunderstanding.”

The emperor simply nodded at what his sister had to say, shattering the smallest bit of hope Catherine held that he would save her.

“A grave crime indeed.”

Catherine was dumbfounded when he spoke.

“Say, what kind of punishment is fitting for her?”

The same person who whispered sweet nothings to her just a few days ago asked her such a question while keeping a straight face.

“As far as I’m aware, the empire cannot provide hospitality to anybody who defies the imperial family. It would be proper to dethrone and exile her.”

“No, that won’t be suitable.”

“Your Majesty! That is far too excessive!”

Catherine paled when she heard Petra’s proposal, but when she heard the Emperor’s reply, she mustered the smallest amount of hope and cried out.

However, her hope soon turned into despair.