Chapter 6

I had it coming. From Apollonia’s eyes, she could clearly see that woman’s scheme. This was not unfamiliar, as there have been countless attempts to bring her down in the last seven years.

‘But seriously, someone who could neither grasp the situation nor her own opponent, was a queen, you say?’

Apollonia clicked her tongue internally. From the beginning, she gave out several signs on how to do it adequately, but the woman just couldn’t understand! And didn’t Maya tactfully intervene to explain the situation, in order to prevent direct confrontation between the two?

If only Catherine had a little bit of sense, she could have saved face by pretending to give in to the elder Maya. But foolishly, the woman drew even more attention by hitting the elder’s cheek in front of everyone.

‘With that kind of a brain, would she even last half a year in the palace?’

Apollonia couldn’t tell which was bigger; her anger or her patheticness over the situation.

“Whether the Empress was there or not, right now I am the only one sitting by His Majesty’s side. As the first queen, you cannot be rude to me.”

Catherine cried out with a red face. Although it was a fallacious argument, surprisingly , there were several young noble next to her who helped her one by one.

“Your Highness The Princess, Her Majesty Loenheim is His Majesty Emperor’s  favorite woman. There’s nothing wrong with her being a mother, is there?”

“That’s right. If we consider age, it was right of her to be a role-model, so please treat her fairly. Even if you are stern about it, no matter what, she will remain in the imperial family after your marriage.”

They were all people who had become allies through bribery. They wouldn’t dare to say this in front of Paris.

“You don’t know when I’ll be the empress, do you? So let’s set a proper example in advance.”

Getting encouraged by the crowds, Catherine raised her head haughtily. Once more, Apollonia was reminded of how foolish this woman was.

Apollonia glanced at Maya. One side of her face was fine, but one eye was swollen red. Apollonia’s red eyes momentarily turned cold.

“Is that so.”

Her chilly gaze only lasted for a split second. She then spoke with a gentle, wry smile, as if she had made up her mind.

“Then today is the first day I meet my mother.”

Apollonia took a step closer to Catherine and bowed deeply to her with one knee bent gracefully.

It was the most refined and polite example. At the sight, Catherine opened her eyes wide. Then she let out a smile of satisfaction.

“You should’ve done this earlier. I will forgive you, so get up. But from now on-”

“The moonlight shining over the sun’s land, the rain that moistens the ground, and the silvery shadow of light.”

That woman extended her hand, gracefully pretending to be generous, but Apollonia opened her mouth again without looking at her hand.

“A beautiful miracle that caught God’s heart with only one glance…”

That woman began to grasp the lengthy greeting.

“Pr-princess? You don’t have to greet me that long…”

There were quite a few spectators around. Apollonia greeted that woman regardless of the place.

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

“What the hell does this mean?”

The perplexed Catherine whispered to the nobleman next to her, but he answered with a confused look.

“Th-this is…the empress’s book.”

“What the hell is that?”

“That is…like a greeting from the imperial family to the new empress. It’s incredibly long. The problem is…”

The nobleman glanced at the side of Apollonia. Whether she knew or not, she appeared to be whispering the words as if concatenating a spell.

“The one who wears a silver wreath crown and smiles beside the sun, watching over the empire with gentleness..”

Catherine, who couldn’t understand a single word, lamented towards the nobleman.

“What is the problem? When does the greeting end?”

“There is a part in the middle that the Empress must answer.”

The Book of Empress was the most complicated and boring procedure among the other empress ceremonials in the imperial tradition.