A Sister's Calculated Kindness
Rezef stubbornly kept his mouth shut. Cayena had a rough idea of why he was acting this way. It was likely because she had refused to relinquish her authority over the Inner Palace and had secured the independence of the imperial princess’s palace, and because she had encountered Raphaelo Kedrey today.
“Sit down.”
Cayena spoke and moved toward the incense burner. She lifted the lid, stirred the contents a little, and coaxed the embers back to life. A rich, soothing fragrance bloomed in the air.
In the past, Cayena had favored bold, vivid scents that announced her presence. When she layered them with a special perfume, she seemed like a living flower.
But that was all in the past now. The blend she used these days was formulated solely for calming the nerves. The gentle, understated aroma suited the current Cayena perfectly. It was also a choice made with Rezef in mind.
She took out a fresh towel to replace the one that had fallen to the floor. Then she guided the blankly standing Rezef to a chair and sat him down. She draped the towel over his damp hair and began to dry it with slow, careful strokes. It was as if she were silently telling him to behave.
The mood now seemed calm enough for conversation. Without pausing her hands, she spoke.
“I truly don’t understand which part of my actions made you feel betrayed.”
At the word betrayal that Cayena herself had uttered, Rezef flinched. She had already anticipated that this incident would send him into a frenzy. She had long since considered how to handle the aftermath.
“In truth, the Inner Palace is not the kind of authority a prince should hold.”
Emperor Esteban had given Rezef the Inner Palace instead of any real power. Part of the reason was that Cayena had failed to fulfill her proper role as imperial princess, but there was a larger motive behind it.
“You already know that the authority is nothing but a smokescreen, don’t you?”
The emperor had deliberately assigned him the Inner Palace because he had no intention of granting Rezef any genuine power. Just as Cayena said, it was a deception.
“If the right to manage the Inner Palace disappears from your hands and leaves a void, it must be filled with something new.”
It was impossible to cling to the Inner Palace forever, so Cayena’s point was reasonable.
“So you’re telling me to seize this situation as an opportunity?”
“It is the perfect opportunity, Rezef.”
She readily affirmed his sarcastic remark.
“I told you. I intend to make you emperor.”
Cayena flipped the towel over and wiped the moisture from his hair once more.
“You have just obtained the perfect chance to dramatically show Father that you have changed.”
Rezef caught her wrist, stopping her from drying his hair. Unlike his earlier violent grip, his touch was now careful.
“What do you mean?”
“Once your confinement is lifted, go to Father and beg for forgiveness. Tell him this: it would be wise to adopt Lady Catherine Lindberg into the Hamel family.”
Cayena brought up the emperor’s mistress, a woman who had never once been allowed to cross the threshold of the imperial palace.
The moment he heard the name, Rezef’s brow furrowed deeply. He knew the emperor’s mistress well. Before he took to his sickbed, the emperor had last gone hunting and met Catherine Lindberg there. She was beautiful enough to captivate him at first sight.
“Are you telling me to create another claimant to the throne with my own hands?”
She had a thirteen-year-old son born from her relationship with Emperor Esteban. Because of that, both mother and son were under constant scrutiny and pressure from every faction.
“It would certainly be troublesome if Catherine Lindberg became empress. But that will never happen.”
Archduke Heinrich had swallowed the Lindberg family just as he had driven the Eban family to ruin through debt and subjugated them. He had disguised the death of Catherine’s father as an accident, severed the family line, and installed his own man as head of house. Cayena knew the previous head of the Lindbergs had died in an “accident” because she had read about it as a hidden backstory in the original novel.
Archduke Heinrich could have turned Catherine Lindberg into a commoner. The emperor had prevented that by elevating the archduke’s mother to the position of late empress and recognizing his adopted son, Yester Heinrich, as a legitimate claimant to the throne.
Rezef asked doubtfully, “How can you be so certain?”
“Do you really think Archduke Heinrich would have done nothing to Catherine Lindberg?”
The birth of a legitimate successor was something Archduke Heinrich would fear far more than Rezef would.
“Besides, do you think the Hamel family—the late empress’s own house—would ever approve of such a thing?”
The Hamel family would clearly not want to see Cayena’s influence as the empire’s only imperial princess diminish.
“Of course they will. Accepting the emperor’s mistress as a daughter is far better than losing the black market.”
Cayena reminded Rezef of the black market once again.
“…My supporters will not stand by quietly.”
“That is precisely why there is nothing to worry about. Look at Father’s recent moves to strip you of real power. Naturally, the nobles who support you are feeling just as threatened as you are.”
Moreover, the fact that Cayena had chosen Susan Lepol as one of her maids this time would carry significant implications for them.
“Even if you adopt Lady Catherine into the Hamel family, what can her son possibly do? The factions are already perfectly divided.”
“……”
There was not a single flaw in her reasoning. Rezef suppressed his emotional resistance and considered it seriously.
The child the emperor cherished most was neither Cayena nor Rezef. It was the son of the Lindberg woman. That was why he had recognized even Archduke Heinrich’s claim to the throne in exchange for leaving the Lindberg family untouched.
Yet even with those measures, he had not allowed the mistress to cross the palace threshold. The checks from Rezef and Yester’s factions had been too severe, and Catherine herself had remained hidden in her residence out of caution.
Her son must be a student at the Imperial Academy by now.
“In one stroke, you will gain both recognition and an excellent hostage.”
“Even if it is possible to threaten them with the black market and force the adoption of the Lindbergs into the Hamel family, making her my hostage is an entirely different matter.”
Once Catherine was in their hands, there was no way the head of the Hamel family would fail to make use of her.
Cayena smiled coldly. “The Hamel family is my maternal house. What is the problem?”
She was still heavily influenced by the life she had just lived through. Her calm yet somehow dark and meticulous nature belonged to the “woman” who had lived a second life.
That did not mean the villainess’s temperament inside her had disappeared. She was quite wicked. She could confidently claim that she was even better than Rezef at throwing tantrums, flaunting power, and never hesitating to display it. She could manipulate the Hamel family as easily as she pleased.
She planned all of this in advance? Could this scheme really have been improvised on the spot?
He was confused. Had this truly come from Cayena’s own mind?
How is that even possible? She should not have any reliable sources of information.
He finally realized just how much more capable Cayena was than he had thought.
Cayena removed the towel from his head and leaned down, gently arranging his hair with affectionate care.
“There. We’re not fighting anymore, are we?”
“…Ha.”
Rezef had not wanted to react at all. Yet an involuntary chuckle escaped him. Seeing his laughter, Cayena smiled back at him.
“…Your hands are cold.”
He remembered how icy her hands felt and took them in his own. They were still freezing.
“Youth is a wonderful thing. Even after standing in the rain, your body still holds so much warmth.”
“There is only a year’s difference between us. And you should exercise more.”
Could the maddening rage that had made him want to kill everyone just moments ago vanish so completely in an instant? The fury he had felt now seemed almost ridiculous. His mind had settled back into its usual calm. Cayena was still his kind older sister. His sense of peace had not disappeared.
But this cleverness of hers… it might become a little dangerous.
Rezef decided that he would need to keep his sister under much stricter control.
Before long, Vera entered the bedroom.
“The bathwater is still warm, Your Highness.”
“Thank you.”
She was utterly exhausted. She crossed into the bathroom, sank into the marble tub, and received an oil massage. Cayena remained silent throughout the entire process. When she finally put on her robe and dismissed the maids, she spoke to Vera.
“Find me the highest-quality silver spoon suitable for His Majesty the Emperor. The more ornate and heavily decorated it is, the better.”
The emperor took medicine every day. Afterward, he would sip a few spoonfuls of sweet tea using a silver spoon. She intended to prepare that very spoon herself.
I must prepare it before Rezef poisons Father.
If it was ornate enough to be instantly recognizable, no one would be able to swap it with another.
The silver spoon the emperor currently used was not made of real silver. It had been tampered with so that Rezef could poison his father whenever he wished.
The emperor must not die at the time Rezef desired.
“I will prepare it as soon as possible.”
Cayena nodded.
The villainess is a marionette.