Chapter 27

In the Great Hall of the grand Dranalian Palace, which was being used for little Princess Ekaterina's birthday, the banquet filled with important people continued quietly without interruption, with many nobles and officials socializing with each other with gentle smiles and laughter, fake or sincere, among them.

Some took advantage of this rare opportunity to form new connections with one another, and the clinking of wine glasses symbolized the forging of a new alliance between two or more noble families, quietly affecting the political landscape of the Empire without anyone noticing... except perhaps for the Empress's spies hidden among them.

And while the adults were busy socializing only for benefit and plotting against each other, the young nobles were busier socializing with each other just for the sake of passing the time, whose main topic of conversation was, naturally, our Ekaterina.

Just as the children gathered in a place prepared for them away from the adults and some were openly talking about how great it would be to have such a beautiful daughter of a duke as their future wife, the little ladies were also together in discussion about the young princess who surprised them with her intriguing dress that seemed to fit perfectly in design with the season compared to their own clothes.

Among them, Princess Claudia and her entourage of friends were the center of the group of noble girls gathered around a table laden with sweets, cakes, and fruit juices. They all wore beautiful and charming spring dresses adorned with luxurious decorations, but none of them could match Ekaterina's style.

There simply could be no comparison between the two.

It was evident that so far, Ekaterina's debut in high society had been a success, judging by the reactions everyone had to her dress, well-made by a master craftsman, with a unique style that had never before been seen in the empire.

Judging by the expressions on all the girls' faces, it was clear this style would also be a social trend in the near future. Ekaterina was setting a trend just by debuting from her throne, and everyone knew it.

Especially with the buffet style that the Duchess claimed was her daughter's idea, it was something never seen before and would undoubtedly be imitated for a long time.

“Claudia, your little sister really looked so cute in that dress~” A girl who was dressed in a cute pink dress with butterfly-shaped embroidery and white lace that matched her blue hair very well, exclaimed loudly with a big smile while holding a glass of juice with a certain elegance.

“I know, right? Isn’t it truly dreamlike how you seem to be wearing a sea of sparkling stars as an outfit? It’s almost as if they’ve taken the entire spring night sky and woven it into a single piece of clothing, so magical~ Of course, her purple hair tied in a braid looks fantastic on her, truly like the princess she is! When I saw her, I honestly thought I was looking at a mystical fairy who suddenly manifested in this hall out of nowhere, she’s so beautiful, like she stepped out of a fairy tale…” another dreamer added with her hands clasped near her chest, her dress as red as ruby gems.

Curiously, almost no one present seemed to think the girl was exaggerating.

“I asked her which famous dressmaker made that dress. I haven't heard of any boutique with a dressmaker or tailor who does designs like that, at least not yet… but in a similar dress, I think I could look very pretty myself.”

—No. Wait, I think it’s a mistake to give all the credit to that dress, you know? No matter how you look at it, it’s Ekaterina-sama’s natural beauty that gives that dress such grace and beauty, not the other way around. Ekaterina-sama, with such incredible divine beauty, would definitely become one of the most beautiful women of nobility, if not possibly the most beautiful of them all when she grows older.

“Well, certainly, it’s pretty obvious to anyone that that would be the case… I mean, just look at the guys, some of them literally seem to be drooling over her. Hmm, though they’re certainly not worthy of her.”

These words, which were full of sincere praise for the star of this event, were spoken by Tierka and Chinira to Claudia, the birthday girl's older sister and her friend, while both of them glanced sideways at the serene Ekaterina on her throne with shining eyes and cheeks slightly red with excitement, looking especially charming.

—Fufu, isn't she the best? I think there shouldn't be any complaints when I say that my Rina-chan will be the star of every social event in the future! No… there shouldn't be any doubt about it!

Claudia, listening to her two adorable friends speak admiringly of her beloved sister, bragged shamelessly about Ekaterina, without a hint of thinking she was wrong about anything.

“Isn't it a bit of an exaggeration to say something like that now, Claudia? She's just debuted, and you're already saying her future is secure without waiting for the party to end… You already seem to be starting to talk as if you think your sister is going to become the cream of high society or something…”

Mimina, wearing a white dress that contrasted with Claudia's black dress, declared with her arms crossed, a slight frown visible on her cute face that showed she wasn't very happy as she brushed small strands of her pink hair over her neck.

In response to his words, Claudia rolled her eyes and smiled cheekily in his direction, "Oh? I think someone here is jealous of my little sister's grandiosity?"

"I'm not jealous of your little sister!" he immediately denied vehemently, not sounding very credible.

“So, if you’re really not jealous of Ekaterina-sama, why do you look so unhappy right now?” Tierka asked innocently, causing Chirina to grimace at her friend’s lack of tact.

Mimina's face darkened at the question: "I'm not unhappy, it's just my face!" she said childishly, realizing too late how absurd it sounded.

“I…mean…”

“Now, now, Mimina, everyone here understands that you feel inferior to Rina-chan. It can’t be helped, my adorable and supremely beautiful younger sister is simply too dazzling for ordinary humans; she can’t help but shine brighter than any other young lady of nobility and in the future she will have no equal among ladies, so it would be strange if you didn’t feel inferior when comparing yourself to her and her greatness,” Claudia said with an expression of absolute seriousness, leaving not only her three friends speechless, but also the girls from different noble families that surrounded them.

What's with this fanatical talk? It's absurd...

Many of those present couldn't help but have similar thoughts as they listened to the nonsense that came out of Claudia's mouth without hesitation and with composure.

But she was far from finished, as Claudia placed a hand near her chest and slightly stretched her lips into a faint but beautiful smile as she continued her lecture to her friend, "In fact, I'd wager that even that famous Prince Kaiser would acknowledge that my sister is peerless among young ladies and would covet her once he saw her, wishing to make her his wife as quickly as possible. Heh... of course it has to be this way, otherwise, I'd have to worry about the future Emperor's inability to discern a good woman from a crowd."

Some frowned as they understood the meaning of his words, while others couldn't help but snort in disgust.

"Princess Claudia, are you suggesting that your sister will naturally become the next Empress if the prince sees her? That's quite bold of you," one of the young women of a similar age questioned with astonishment in her voice, but the blonde just waved her hand in disdain.

“Bold? Are you blind? My sister is so beautiful that none of those boys can ignore her, and she’s very smart; she would definitely make the best empress ever. Also, just to be clear, I’m not saying she should marry that prince to become the Empress; that would be degrading. No, my talented younger sister could definitely take that position with nothing but her natural talents to support her!”

“What you’re saying is very dangerous, Claudia.” Chinira frowned as she ran a hand through her white hair, looking worried. “Don’t you know that the current Empress is somewhat… aggressive? Although I heard it from some maids, there are supposedly many rumors about those who openly declared themselves capable of surpassing the first prince for the position of legitimate ruler of the Empire and were injured or even mysteriously disappeared shortly afterward. Shouldn’t you be careful with your words in case it’s true?”

—Don't worry, my father said that the Empress is actually nothing more than a crazy woman who cares very little about the lives of others, including her children, so those rumors are completely false.

“Th-the Duke actually said something like that?!” Terkia exclaimed before quickly covering her mouth upon realizing her lack of decorum, while the others nearby seemed very surprised by it. However, Claudia brushed it off as she refrained from raising her arms and shrugging her shoulders in a manner that didn’t befit her status.

—Why wouldn’t I? Everyone here should already know that that Empress insulted my mother for no good reason in the past, since from what I heard, she wished to have my father in her harem of handsome men, but my mother talked her into it… Anyway, since she insulted my mother, the Duchess of Dranalian, for no good reason, my family won’t have any qualms about insulting her in return. Anyway, it’s not like the Imperial Family can do anything to us even if we decide to disrespect them to their faces as much as we want, you know?

"I think that's an overly arrogant statement from you and your family, Princess Claudia." A red-haired girl of about 15 approached Claudia and looked at her as if she were looking at a ridiculous clown, defiantly responding to her confident words.

The girls around her and even Claudia's friends felt uncomfortable in her presence, since she was a young woman whose family had the same aristocratic rank as Ekaterina and Claudia's.

In fact, that girl in a beautiful turquoise dress and magnificent decorations (still paled in comparison to Ekaterina's) was the daughter of a duke, the Asmusphere ducal family, which controls the forested lands in the east of the Empire.

Her name was Airedia Merian von Asmusphere, the only princess of the Duchy of Asmusphere. She narrowed her eyes at Claudia, smiling slightly as she spoke, “You should know that the Empress is not lenient enough to allow nobles like us to sully the honor of the Imperial family in such a manner. Perhaps your honorable mother failed to properly oversee the education her daughters received from their tutors to allow them to harbor such dangerous ideas? That would be a shame, as it would mean that you would inevitably become embroiled in scandals that would cause trouble for the Duchy of Dranalian, especially if your education is so lacking that you boast so shamelessly that you can disrespect the Imperial family, the rightful rulers of Fredonia, anytime you want.”

Implying that her mother was incompetent enough to hire tutors of insufficient ability and fail to oversee the progress of her education, telling her to her face that she and her sister lacked what it took to rise to the social stage without damaging their family's prestige or even endangering them by bringing the imperial family to the table, the ducal princess of the Esté launched what at first glance seemed like a fierce attack that left almost all of the girls present speechless…

But his goal is unfazed by those words.

“Is that what you truly believe, Princess Airedia?” Claudia only smiled unfazed at the princess of another duchy casually insulting her family with that disrespectful tone of false politeness, completely confident as she looked at the redhead with her head held high. “I believe that you, woefully, are the one lacking in education, as you are clearly forgetting why my family is the most powerful ducal family in this Empire that even the Empress cannot recklessly provoke… In fact, we are very powerful… to the point that it is truly ridiculous that other ducal families like yours still believe that they are on our level.”

She didn't hesitate to say it with a soft, mocking laugh as she placed her hand on her cheek, giving a look of false pity to the girl who began to grit her teeth in anger at those words, not seeming able to respond at all.

The other girls looked at each other in a slightly tense atmosphere as they watched these two girls from prestigious families engage in a brief verbal fight that lasted less than a minute before ending in Claudia's victory.

It was well known throughout the nobility of the Hazar Empire that the Duchy of Dranalian was the most powerful of all existing duchies, to the point that it would not be strange for it to have the title of Grand Duchy due to its political, economic and military power comparable to a small kingdom.

The previous Duchess, in particular, was able to bring multiple successful businesses of varying scale, in which she had invested over the years, under her family's control, increasing Dranalian's wealth to a level unprecedented in its recorded history.

And at that point, they were already the richest noble family of all.

Not only that, but with the current head of the family, the Knight-Captain, contributing to the nation's defense against the Abyss Demons invading their lands, the influence of Dranalian was at an all-time high. Even with the "taint" of having an illegitimate daughter of a baron as the current Duchess, no one was crazy enough to scorn this family to their faces without expecting to lose much in return.

By comparison, most of the other ducal families in this nation were barely more powerful than a wealthy marquis family. One of them even faced a massive financial debt to Dranalian in this generation...

And those were the Asmuspheres, Airedia's family.

It was funny—no, downright ridiculous—that the only princess of that family, almost on the verge of decay if they weren't careful, would stand up to Claudia to pick a fight, when she belonged to the family that had a figurative leash around their necks. From any point of view, it was this girl who was looking for trouble for her family with her foolish attitude.

No matter how she looked at it, she was the truly stupid one here, and Claudia reminded her of it mercilessly.

Claudia sincerely found it amusing that the fool dared to speak to her in that manner, and on her own territory, possibly underestimating her as delusional for the love he openly showed for her sister just moments ago, but she didn't have time to waste laughing, since it was her noble duty as his superior to properly teach him his place, right?

Especially since she could feel her sister's eyes on her at that moment, making her want to look cool in front of Ekaterina.

“Oh, now that I think about it, Princess Airedia, what could be the gifts your family brought for my dear Rina? I seem to recall that the Asmuspheres are going through a difficult time because they have not yet been able to fully repay their debt to my family, so I can hardly imagine that each of you could bring a gift that would be worthy of her,” Claudia asked, with a foolish expression that seemed to be trying to convince the other party that it was only a passing thought that led her to ask that.

Airedia trembled upon hearing that, clenching her fists, “We brought some very special gifts…” She stammered a little, visibly angry and humiliated by whatever was going through her head.

“Really?” The eldest princess of Dranalian raised an eyebrow, her eyes filled with doubt before she gently clapped her hands and smiled beautifully, saying something that made Airedia immediately shiver in surprise. “Come to think of it, my father said that the only thing the head of the Asmusphere family could offer as a gift to Rina without compromising her ability to repay her debt is to give her his prized family heirloom. It would certainly be an excellent gift for my sister, as the family heirloom of a family of dukes who helped found the empire and carry a long history to their name would be a gift no one would refuse… Don’t you think so?”

"That is…!"

"Am I wrong?"

“…I only heard from my father that he was planning to give the princess a special gift, nothing more.” Airedia lowered her head in shame, clearly lying from her body language. The surrounding girls now knew Claudia was right thanks to that, as Claudia smiled brightly.

The head of the Asmusphere family was definitely planning to give his family heirloom to Princess Ekaterina with one goal in mind... But thanks to his daughter's stupidity, now everyone knew about it even before he presented it to the birthday girl, ruining the surprise.

Claudia is really good at what she does….

Claudia's friends smiled in admiration as they watched their powerful friend extract this information from the other party so easily. This supposed princess of the east was no match for them at all.

If Ekaterina were listening to all this, she could only say with amazement and a strange feeling of pride in her chest: "That's my villainous sister for you..."