But she recovered herself quickly, arranging her features into something appropriately mournful, and gave a small nod.
“…It is well enough, thank you.”
Adelina worked quickly to recall what Rene might have overheard before entering.
“No matter what she has achieved on the battlefield, a princess cannot simply persecute a noblewoman at will.”
That alone wasn’t enough to expose the full scope of the lies she’d told today. If she could just signal the guests with a look to hold their tongues—
“Y-Your Highness — I had heard that you were the one who left Lady Adelina’s wrist in this condition.”
What is that woman blathering about?
Adelina swallowed the profanity that rose in her throat and shot the offending guest a look of pure desperation.
Please. Stop talking.
How that look had been misread, she would never know.
“Of course, Your Highness may have found it discourteous that Lady Adelina bumped into your lady-in-waiting, but…”
…It’s over.
“…It still seems rather severe, to injure Lady Adelina’s wrist over such a thing.”
“My lady-in-waiting?”
Princess Rene narrowed her eyes slightly and looked around the room.
“Did Lady Adelina truly say that? That the barbaric Princess Rene left someone’s wrist in this state because they bumped into her lady-in-waiting?”
“That is…”
“Yes, Your Imperial Highness.”
Just as Adelina opened her mouth to contain the damage, the same woman jumped in again. She genuinely could not tell anymore whether this person was ally or enemy.
“Is that so.”
At the reply, an odd smile curled at the corner of Rene’s mouth. This was not a promising sign, and the air in the room tightened accordingly.
Without warning, Princess Rene rose from her seat.
Adelina dared to hope she was about to leave — but instead, Rene moved to stand directly behind her.
Rene’s smooth hand came down on Adelina’s shoulder.
The sensation of those slender, soft fingers was like balancing on the edge of a blade — precarious and skin-crawlingly cold.
Adelina flinched involuntarily. Then a calm, unhurried voice sounded near her ear.
“Elsa — what is the punishment for a noble who insults the imperial family in word alone?”
“Regardless of rank, their mouth is torn.”
Adelina’s heart plummeted. Then a low whisper pressed itself to the shell of her ear.
“So I’ve been told, Lady Adelina.”
“…Your Highness.”
“You dared to insult both me and Princess Marie at once. And you had the further audacity to distort what passed between us and spread falsehoods to others.”
Rene took hold of Adelina’s chin and turned her face so she had no choice but to look at her.
Adelina met her gaze with taut, frightened eyes. Surely, in front of all these witnesses—
“You, who nearly struck Princess Marie with a carriage within the walls of the imperial palace — a carriage that only members of the imperial family are permitted to ride.”
…She wouldn’t actually tear my lips.
“And you struck a princess across the face. You desecrated the House of Stade.”
If she truly had designs on the throne, she wouldn’t resort to something so extreme.
Even now, in the midst of it all, Adelina’s mind was reaching for reassurances.
“What is to be done with this unruly mouth of yours?”
“…Your Highness, there has been a misunderstanding.”
Adelina played innocent.
Admitting guilt first was the same as losing. Without a third-party witness, the loudest voice always won.
“When did I ever do such a thing?”
“Ah — no witnesses to that day, so you’ll deny it all?”
“I deny nothing, Your Highness. I have only told the truth.”
“Then you will not acknowledge that Princess Marie nearly fell when your carriage almost struck her — nor that you struck her across the face?”
“That is correct.”
“Hmm.”
Princess Rene made a curious sound and turned away.
“Is that so, Marie?”
With those words, a girl appeared from behind Adelina’s shoulder.
An unfamiliar face — and yet so unmistakably like her father’s that anyone could guess her identity at a glance. A girl with crimson eyes.
Her swollen cheek was covered with a gauze dressing. Along her exposed forearm above the elbow, a scab had already formed.
Confusion swept across the faces of the assembled guests.
“Then how do you account for the injuries on Princess Marie’s cheek and elbow?”
“Why should I be expected to—”
Adelina was rattled, but she did not retreat easily.
“Is there any evidence that I was responsible for Princess Marie’s condition? Anyone could have done this.”
“Ah — so you’re suggesting that I injured Princess Marie myself and am placing the blame on you?”
“I would prefer to believe Your Highness would never do anything so dreadful.”
Adelina’s voice trembled faintly as she replied, and Princess Rene looked at her as though she found the performance contemptible.
But looking around at the genuinely uncertain expressions on the other guests’ faces, Adelina felt her resolve harden.
Good. If I just hold this line—
At that very moment, Princess Rene reached out and took hold of Adelina’s left hand.
Adelina startled and turned — to find Princess Rene studying the ring on her left hand, stroking it.
A ruby ring shaped like a crescent moon.
“I didn’t realize Lady Adelina was prone to telling stories.”
The corner of Rene’s mouth curved upward.
“This ring — it was on the hand you struck Princess Marie with that day, wasn’t it?”
Adelina nearly nodded before she caught herself. But the crisis was not over.
Princess Marie reached up, as if she had been waiting for precisely this moment, and peeled the gauze away from her cheek.
Beneath it, the skin was flushed and swollen — and across it ran a wound that looked as though it had been raked by something sharp.
The sight alone was enough to make it hurt. A quiet sound of distress moved through the watching nobles.
“As you know, the only ring I ever wear is the wedding band my husband knitted stitch by stitch for me himself. Even a slap from my hand wouldn’t leave marks like those — as if something pointed had dragged across the skin.”
“…”
“If you intend to keep denying it, I suppose I’ll have to summon the palace physician who examined Princess Marie that day and let the matter grow considerably larger.”
The pressure was clear: admit it, or face greater humiliation. Adelina bit down on her lip and glared at her own left hand with quiet resentment.
The fortune-teller told me this ring would make me Empress one day.
There had been a reason, after all, that she had not shut it away in her jewelry box — the evidence of that day, hidden in plain sight on her own finger.
In any case, once the princess moved in earnest, the truth was only a matter of time. And if that unraveled, the carriage incident — which had been quietly buried — could become something far worse.
Adelina made her calculation swiftly. Continuing to deny it risked drawing Princess Rene’s full wrath, and whatever came after that, she could not predict.
My reputation…
The thought of what this would cost her name made Adelina want to sink through the floor. But if the matter spiraled out of control, it could jeopardize her path to becoming Crown Princess Consort.
Reputations can always be rebuilt.
She bit the inside of her cheek and bent her head. The priority now was to put this behind her. A gracious apology, and the princess would have no reason to push things further.
“I am deeply sorry, Your Imperial Highness. The fault lies entirely with my own failings.”
…That was what she thought.
“No — I’m afraid an apology isn’t sufficient this time.”
Rene’s response was blunt, and Adelina snapped her head up.
“The last time, I weighed whether to let it pass. But I find I cannot. It wasn’t enough that you went ahead with this gathering as though nothing had happened — you chose to slander me here as well.”
“…Your Imperial Highness.”
“I intend to bring this matter formally before His Majesty.”
The words fell on Adelina like a thunderclap out of a clear sky.
She stared at Princess Rene with open alarm, and Rene returned her gaze with an air of mild, cool amusement.
“You assumed His Majesty would be indifferent, given that Princess Marie is involved. But now that I am a party to this as well, I’m rather curious to see how he responds.”
“…”
“I think this approach may prove more immediate than taking it to the Empress.”
It’s over. That was the only thought left in Adelina’s mind.
She had always been someone whose instincts outpaced her reason.
Adelina shoved herself to her feet and dropped to her knees before Princess Rene. Rene produced a theatrically startled expression.
“My goodness, Lady Adelina. Are you about to go around telling everyone I forced you to kneel as well?”
“…I was wrong, Your Imperial Highness.”
Adelina pressed her forehead to the floor. Every face in the room registered shock — every face, that is, except for Rene’s, which remained coolly unmoved.
“Didn’t you apologize the same way last time? I thought at the time that you were genuinely remorseful.”
“…”
“And then I found out you weren’t.”
“…If there is anything I can do to earn your forgiveness, I will do it. Anything.”
In desperation, Adelina reached out and seized the hem of Rene’s gown.
She was terrified of what others must be thinking of her in this moment — but staying alive came first.
“Please — please be merciful with me, as foolish as I am… spare me.”
The words were wrung from her through clenched teeth. The moment they left her, a terrible silence descended on the room.
Adelina remained still, clutching Rene’s hem, waiting.
“Hmm…”
Princess Rene made a considering sound. Hope began to rise—
“No.”
She said it flatly, pulled her hem free, and turned away. Adelina’s face went completely blank.
