SOP 04

🌷༺❀༻🌷༺❀༻🌷 Chapter 4 🌷༺❀༻🌷༺❀༻🌷

Secrita, the eldest daughter of the Prancitz Ducal Family.

She was without a doubt the most noble woman in the Raud Empire.

She had been born into that position, and she still held it now.

“Ah, yes…! I-I am Shiodor di Eleanor Selene, Your Majesty.”

Shiodor, who had been standing there in a daze, suddenly remembered her manners and quickly lowered her head.

This woman was beautiful and noble, everything that Shiodor was not.

She shone like the sun, and Shiodor could hardly bring herself to raise her head.

Someone like her would never have such low self-esteem like Shiodor.

She would also never have the foolish thought of willingly becoming someone everyone hated.

“Raise your head, Shiodor.”

“Huh…?”

Secrita gently lifted Shiodor’s lowered chin.

Then she smiled warmly.

“There is no one here, except me, who has a higher position than you.”

“Ah… yes. Yes, Your Majesty.”

Her beauty was enough to make even women fall in love with her.

Shiodor’s face became slightly red as she quickly blinked.

“What I just said…”

The atmosphere around Secrita suddenly changed.

She looked around at everyone with cold, narrow eyes and spoke with authority.

“You should all remember it well.”

Then, as if she were only talking to herself, she added one final warning.

“If you don’t want to be thrown out.”

“Yes, yes! Your Majesty!”

“We will remember, Your Imperial Majesty!”

The women of the harem became frightened by her cold words and quickly lowered their heads.

The Empress looked at them with an annoyed expression.

Then she took Shiodor’s hand and pulled her along.

“Come. I’ll show you around the Imperial Palace.”

“Ah, yes. It is an honor, Your Majesty.”

Shiodor followed behind Secrita with a blank expression.

But as they walked, anxiety slowly returned to her.

Even while taking small steps to keep up, Shiodor nervously bit her lip.

When her mother was still alive, the king’s concubines had cruelly bullied a woman who had come from being a servant.

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Shiodor did not know what the Queen had been thinking, but she had allowed it to happen.

Even though Shiodor had been very young at the time, those horrible scenes were still clearly burned into her memory.

The Empress took my side in front of the harem women…

But maybe she actually wants to bully me too. Should I tell her the truth now?

If Secrita knew that Shiodor had not actually spent the night with Raud, perhaps she would not bully her.

What should I do?

Should she tell the truth?

Or should she keep quiet?

She felt like her head was going to explode.

Her eyes moved nervously from side to side, and she swallowed hard.

“Why are you so nervous?”

As if she could see everything inside Shiodor’s mind, Secrita looked at her with clear eyes.

“Shiodor.”

Secrita slightly raised the corners of her lips.

“The thing is…”

“Ah, can I call you by your name?”

“Ah… yes.”

Shiodor became nervous and did not know what to do.

She had expected the Empress to hate her.

But instead, Secrita was incredibly kind and gentle.

And there was another reason Shiodor was so confused.

“Did I act too friendly?”

Secrita smiled.

“You look like a cute little sister, so I couldn’t help myself.”

Someone being kind to Shiodor was something that had never happened in her life.

Especially when that person had a higher position than her.

Even if Secrita’s kindness was only an act, Shiodor desperately wanted to believe it.

“B-but…”

“Hmm?”

“Does Her Majesty… hate me?”

Shiodor struggled to ask the question, but she spoke quite directly.

“Because I…”

“Why would I hate Shiodor?”

Secrita tilted her head.

“Because you are a concubine? Or because you spent the night with the Emperor?”

“That too… but I am also…”

Shiodor hesitated.

“I am a princess from a defeated country. No one…”

She could not finish the sentence.

No one cared about her.

The sadness she had been holding inside suddenly came rushing back.

A warm spring breeze passed between the two women.

Secrita simply looked at Shiodor for a long moment.

Then she slowly smiled, as if she had just understood something.

“Now I understand.”

“Huh…?”

“I understand why the Emperor is paying attention to you.”

“…What?”

“This is a secret, Shiodor.”

Secrita placed one finger gently against her lips.

“Raud and I are not in that kind of relationship.”

“What? If you’re not in that kind of relationship…?”

“There is only one thing I can tell you right now.”

Shiodor quietly looked at Secrita.

Her blue-green eyes were very gentle.

Secrita continued smiling.

“Trust Raud.”

She paused.

“He isn’t as scary as you think. He is actually quite a good child.”

“A… child?”

Shiodor was surprised.

How could someone call a man as frightening as Raud a child?

She understood Secrita even less now.

Her eyes moved around in confusion.

Secrita looked at her as if she were cute.

“I am older than Raud.”

“I see…”

“I have known him since he was very young.”

“Ah…”

Secrita smiled.

“Well, I understand why you are scared. He does look very sharp and frightening.”

Hearing that, Shiodor unknowingly smiled a little.

After listening to Secrita, her anxious heart slowly became calmer.

This place was still strange and frightening.

But at least one person was treating her kindly.

In that way, the Raud Empire was much better than the Selene Kingdom.

“Oh, it is already this late.”

Secrita suddenly looked at the time.

“I have a meeting, so I should go now.”

“Ah, I must have bothered Your Majesty too much…”

“No.”

Secrita smiled.

“If the other women are mean to you again, you can come to me and tell me about it.”

She paused.

“Of course, the best thing would be…”

She gently tapped Shiodor’s nose with her finger.

“For you to become strong by yourself.”

Leaving those mysterious words behind, Secrita turned around and gracefully walked away.

Shiodor watched the Empress disappear into the distance.

Then she slowly turned around.

A few steps away, Gentlet was waiting for her.

“Your Highness.”

After even the Empress had openly taken Shiodor’s side, Gentlet looked even more excited than she had that morning.

“When His Majesty gave you the position of concubine and even gave you Lilliana Palace, I knew it.”

Gentlet’s eyes sparkled.

“There must be something special about you, Your Highness.”

“Hmm…”

“And do you know what else His Majesty ordered?”

“What?”

“His Majesty ordered them to build a garden behind Lilliana Palace.”

“A garden?”

Shiodor tilted her head in surprise.

Looking at flowers was the only hobby she had been able to enjoy while living in the attic.

How did he know that I like flowers?

It must just be a coincidence, right?

Could Raud really have even a tiny bit of affection for her?

Even if it was only a momentary interest, Shiodor wanted to believe it.

Even though Raud had taken her country and killed her family, something that should have made him a cruel thief in her eyes…

She wanted to believe that, at least for her, he had been her salvation.

Shiodor looked at Gentlet and gave a faint smile.

But unfortunately—

“AHHH!”

That smile did not last long.

“Your Highness!”

It was the middle of the night.

Everyone was asleep.

After hearing Shiodor’s scream, the guards outside and Gentlet rushed into the room.

Gentlet immediately saw several assassins wearing black masks.

They had probably been sent by the harem women to get rid of Shiodor.

A moment later, Shiodor appeared.

She was trembling and covering a small wound on her face.

“Your Highness! Are you all right?”

Gentlet immediately ran to Shiodor and wrapped her arms around her.

“Huff… huff…”

The assassins who had entered Lilliana Palace were quickly defeated one after another by the guards.

Tears filled Shiodor’s frightened eyes and ran down her pale cheeks.

Then—

“How…”

Raud entered the room.

He looked extremely angry.

His anger was so great that red demonic energy was flowing around his body.

The demonic energy coming from Raud suddenly stretched out like snakes.

Then it pierced straight through the bodies of the assassins.

The assassins who had been fighting the guards were defeated in an instant.

Raud frowned deeply.

He looked at Gentlet and the guards and motioned with his chin for them to leave.

They picked up the fallen assassins and quickly left the room.

Soon, only two people remained.

Shiodor and Raud.

A suffocating silence filled the room.

Shiodor was terrified.

A small sob escaped from her lips.

She quickly closed her mouth, trying desperately not to cry.

But that seemed to make Raud even angrier.

He suddenly turned toward Shiodor.

His voice was low and filled with anger.

“Get up.”

He grabbed Shiodor’s wrist and forcefully pulled her to her feet.

“Y-Your Majesty…”

“I told you before.”

Raud’s red eyes flashed fiercely.

“You have only one job. As my spoils of war… live.”

He stared directly at her with the eyes of a beast that looked ready to devour someone.

“I do not want my spoils of war to die by someone else’s sword.”

“S-sob… I-I am sorry… I’m sorry…”

“Live.”

Raud grabbed Shiodor by both shoulders and looked straight into her eyes.

“Is that really… so difficult?”

Strangely, within those sharp eyes, Shiodor saw something she could not understand.

For just a moment—

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There was a deep sadness.