Lady Pais whispered as if she was telling a big secret.

“Why?”

When Hazel asked with a smile, Lady Pais’s voice was even more hushed.

“If I were to give birth to a prince as well, wouldn’t the succession be a little complicated?”

“…….”

“I do not wish for brothers and sisters to fight each other over blood. We are a family, and isn’t harmony the most important thing? I do not want the princess to be offended by this.”

“I appreciate your sentiments, but you don’t need to worry too much.”

Lady Pais’s eyes lit up as she waited for Hazel’s reaction.

“What do you mean?”

“Whoever takes over the throne, that’s a matter for father to decide. It doesn’t matter how many children you have.”

“But there’s a grown princess… If a new prince is born, that’s a bit of a problem. I hope, for the sake of peace in Land, that the baby in my belly will be a lovely girl like Princess Hazel.”

“If you give birth, the baby will look like Lorette, not me.”

When Hazel pointed out, Lady Pais flinched for a moment.

“Still, you are sisters by the same father, so there will be some resemblance.”

“I look more like my mother. You’ve been by her side for a long time, so I’m sure you know that well.”

“Indeed, the princess looks a lot like Queen Martina. Even the color of her eyes and her hair. It seems that as she grew up, she became more like her. Sometimes…”

“It looks like my mother has come back alive, doesn’t it?”

Lady Pais paused once more at Hazel’s words, then smiled.

“For it is only natural that mothers and daughters should resemble each other. Queen Martina’s beauty could not have been matched by anyone in the kingdom.”

“Lorette is a beauty, just like you.”

“Compared to Princess Hazel, she can’t even reach your feet. I just want to make sure she marries into a good place with her beauty.”

“I will also do my best as her sister to make sure that Lorette finds a good companion.”

“…….”

When Hazel was finished, Lady Pais looked somewhat dumbfounded. This was because all the replies and responses she had hoped for were off.

After all this time, Hazel might as well bite her with words, but could she say it politely like this? In the end, Lady Pais had no choice but to take out the last card.

“I brought this one separately because it’s exceptionally valuable.”

She held out the small box she had been holding in her hand in front of Hazel.

The box was engraved with a pattern that she was familiar with.

“This is….”

It was a fig tree, the symbol of the Duchess of Conces.

“You can tell from the box, can’t you? It was a gift from the Duchess of Conces.”

“The Conces?”

Hazel’s peaceful expression changed slightly. Noticing the change in her expression, Lady Pais opened the box with a happy face.

“Yes, upon closer inspection, it’s a very valuable medicine. I was told that it was made from herbs that can only be found in the Duchess of Conces’s domain. I heard that everyone wanted it.”

“…….”

Inside the box was pills made by the pharmacists of the Duchess of Conces. The way the medicine was made had been a secret technique for generations, and was never leaked out.

“I’ve heard that it has such good medicinal properties. It can even bring the dead back to life. ….”

Lady Pais said with a laugh behind her outstretched fan.

“Of course, that’s an exaggeration. Still, it’s such a good medicine that it must have accumulated a lot of fame.”

“I suppose so.”

“They said that it will never be leaked to the outside world without the permission of the Duchess of Conces, but thankfully they sent it to me.”

“Why did you bring it, if you can use it when you received it?”

“The nicer it is, the more I’ll share it with you.”

“I don’t know if I should take something so valuable.”

“Why do you say that?”

Lady Pais waved her hand and burst into laughter.

“What belongs to me belongs to the princess. There is nothing for a princess to desire. If there is anything you want, just let me know. I will give you everything.”

She added with a very warm smile as she clasped Hazel’s hand.

“Just as your mother would have wanted.”

“…….”

Her light blue eyes that looked just like Lorette’s were staring at Hazel. It was as if they were waiting for Hazel’s evil and anger to explode shortly. Hazel counted secretly and opened her mouth.

“Now that you mention it, I remember something.”

Hazel looked at Lady Pais in the eyes and slowly lifted the corners of her mouth.

“Before she died, my mother told me about you.”

“The Queen?”

“She said you were a truly capable and loyal maid. You were also by far the best looking.”

“…….”

“She said you were incredibly perceptive of her mind and have the ability to see what she needs immediately. You were a good maid of honor.”

The smile gradually faded from Lady Pais’s face as she looked at Hazel.

“So it was no surprise that you were favored by my father, the king.”

Lady Pais couldn’t have missed the insinuation that she was just a woman who listened to the king’s ravings.

“Thank you for taking the trouble to bring this to me, but I’m sure you have a lot of work to do helping out at court, so please take care of yourself.”

Hazel put the lid on the box and slid it back to Lady Pais, and said,

“Always keep this medicine with you, just in case. I’ve heard that it’s so potent that it can decipher even the strongest poisons.”

“Are you worried that I will be poisoned? Who dares to hurt the king’s child?”

Did you dare to kill your wife with the king’s child…?”

“Dead men tell no tales, ma’am.”

“…….”

“The feeling of “no way” is what ultimately makes the difference between life and death. Even if that regret is cleared up after death, or even if the killer is punished, it means nothing. I only feel sorry for those who are already dead.”

Hazel whispered with a smile to Lady Pais.

“So don’t trust anyone. Not the maids or the servants. Because no matter how close they are, no one will ever know who has the poison.”

“I will.”

Her lips were stiff, but Lady Pais kept her smile until the end.

After Lady Pais was gone, Hazel stared for a moment at the place where the medicine box had been placed earlier.

The Conces family’s territory was surrounded by mountains and valleys where many medicinal herbs were produced, and they had many herbalists, so they knew how to handle the precious herbs.

Medicines made with the special secret techniques of the Conces family were famous for being sold to the entire continent at a high price, and many of them were hard to get even if they had a lot of money.

In particular, the medicine that Lady Pais had brought earlier was used for important transactions, so why did she want to give it to Hazel?

It was simply the king’s courtesy treatment for the lady, and it was too valuable a gift to have been given like other nobles.

It was made of medicinal herbs that could not be obtained for ten thousand gold.

Lady Pais’s true intentions for bringing it to her were transparent.

Today Lady Pais must have come to explore her thoughts. She certainly thought it strange that Hazel was suddenly being so kind to her daughter.

‘It’s still early.’

Lady Pais should not be wary of her (Hazel). It was just the whim of a princess, so it is best to think about it.

The child Lady Pais was bearing was a prince. Hazel remembered clearly everything that had changed with the birth of the prince.

The nobles who had stood by Hazel’s side until the very end turned to Lady Pais’s side. Their tribute in due course became Lorette’s, not Hazel’s.

There was nothing Hazel could do.

Her place in the palace disappeared one by one. It was shocking for her, who had been in the most noble position of the palace since birth.

Hazel was thus pushed out. She didn’t give it up voluntarily, but at a certain moment, her presence in the royal court faded to that extent.

And it was the Conces family that had the greatest influence to do so. Her grandfather, her uncles, and her cousins. They all turned their backs on her one by one.

They didn’t care about a Princess who would soon leave the kingdom and marry into another country.

“You must become someone the family will always need.”

These were the words that Martina had said to her daughter almost under duress. By the time she realized that they were not false, it was too late.

Hazel was slowly becoming alone in the royal palace, and in the end, the only one she could reach out to was Achilleon.

“I had forgotten.”

They say the biggest enemy is on the inside. The Duchess of Conces had been put on the back burner as she was busy confronting the oncoming enemy at the Royal Palace. In fact, they were the most formidable of all.

The Duchesses sent the potion to Lady Pais because they anticipated the effect that her future baby would have on the royal court.

Trying to look good for Lady Pais, who was greatly favored by the king, who later had a child, and whose skills were so outstanding that she enjoyed the greatest power even if her status was low, was a measure to prepare for the future, which could change any time.

“It was so fast.”

Hazel thought of her mother’s family. It was true enough when she thought about it.

The Duchesses of Conces were famous for their family style of pursuing pragmatism more than any other noble family.

No matter how many people were from their own family, if they did not benefit the family in any way or caused great damage to the family, they would immediately cut ties and punish them.

Born into such a family, Queen Martina was obsessed with the fact that she had to benefit the family more than anyone else.

What was important to her was that she should always be someone who was necessary to the family, and she devoted her whole life to it.

To her, her husband, Wangdu, and her daughter, Hazel, were also next in line for the family title.