“What!?” Grand Duchess’ eyes widened when she heard the report from one of her spy, “Aster’s carriage got sieged by Crown Prince?”

            “Yes, Milady,” the spy hesitated a bit, but he continued, “We wanted to help Young Lord’s men, but Crown Prince’s soldiers and assassins were too many. We were severely outnumbered.”

            “What did he do to my son?” Grand Duchess asked. Her hand tightly gripping the armrest, her face looked like a mother genuinely worried about her son.

            “He… he brought Young Lord horse riding to a meadow nearby, and he…” the spy gulped, he knew if Grand Duchess heard this one, his life might be in danger. But it was his duty to report anything about Young Lord to her, “He touched Young Lord body, Young Lord tried to escape but it looked like Crown Prince was just playing around and he caught Young Lord again. But there was that slave, Young Lord’s personal slave, who ran towards them, carrying a heavy log and hit Crown Prince. Crown Prince wanted to kill him, but Young Lord suddenly kissed Crown Prince deeply and they shared a long kiss…”

            Grand Duchess’ eyes turned bloodshot, she was furious. She smashed the table until the tableware was scattered. “And you did nothing?!”

            “M—Milady, Your Majesty, this subordinate and other men cannot fight Crown Prince because he had numerous trained assassins also watching us. Begging for Milady’s forgiveness!” The spy prostrated and smashed his head to the floor. He wasn’t scared if Grand Duchess only tortured him, he was scared if Grand Duchess killed him and his entire family.

            This woman had everyone’s lives in her palm.

            Grand Duchess’ chest undulated as she tried to control her fury, “Call all your men immediately!”

            “Y—Yes, Milady!”

            Few minutes later, there were ten men including the spy kneeled in front of Grand Duchess. Grand Duchess calmed her voice down, but there was deep anger inside her eyes, “So, do all of you have any logical reasoning behind your coward behavior? Or is it because you are afraid to die against Crown Prince’s assassins?”

            The men fell silent and lowered their head, what Grand Duchess said was right. They were afraid to die. Not because they didn’t want to protect Young Lord, but because Crown Prince had great number of trained soldiers, assassins et cetera surrounding him continuously that it deterred them from taking action. They didn’t want to die uselessly before even reaching Young Lord.

            The spy said weakly, “Milady, Crown Prince owned a military power on scale with a small country. It was… impossible.”

            “I don’t need you to remind me that,” Grand Duchess cut him abruptly, she was dissatisfied because the assassins she sent to her nephew never succeeded eliminating him. Grand Duchess’ eyes grew colder, “Well, do you want to die right now or to be tortured?”

            “Please give us torture as befitting punishment, Your Majesty!” the men replied simultaneously.

            Grand Duchess scoffed, “You cowards have the courage to beg for your life. Fine then, I will not kill, or cut your limb. But you will know how to do your duty well after this.”

            Grand Duchess called her butler and ordered, “Cut their skin with rusty knife, then pour alcohol on their body, do it until they feared the torture more than death.”

            “Yes, Milady,” the butler nodded.

            The spy and his men paled, but this was still better than having their family dead. Thus, they agreed and followed the butler.

            Rosalie watched the whole thing from her chair, beside her Aunt Duchess. She folded her fan quietly. Her face paled too, because she could feel the wrath of her aunt even though it was not directed towards her.

            And the punishment she gave to her subordinates were very cruel, although they did make a mistake. But considering the sheer number of Charles’ trained soldiers and assassins, excluding the amount of allegiances he had, it was logical for them to fear him. Because they would be dead before they could even reach Aster.

            Grand Duchess glanced at Rosalie and snorted, “You saw the whole thing. It is a fitting punishment for them, they need to know that their lives are less important than a drop of blood from Aster’s skin.”

            “Yes, Aunt Duchess…”

            “But…” Grand Duchess stared at her suspiciously, “No one should’ve known about my son’s exact working schedule. Only himself, me and my husband, and few trusted subordinates. Who had leaked his schedule to Charles?”

            “That… I’m not sure either.” Rosalie said anxiously.

            “Well, you wouldn’t know either, but still, the people who collide with Charles… I will crush them, their family, and their life. Just wait and see.”

            Grand Duchess’ eyes were like a huntress ready to kill her prey, she glanced at Rosalie again and asked, “You are his sister, why are you here with his enemy?”

            “I—I’m not working with Charles, I swear!” Rosalie said panicky, “I’m here to visit you, Aunt Duchess.”

            “Hmph, just tell me what you want? You want Florentino Viete to stop selling his body to old women in noble circle? Then, you have to give constant money to his dying house. If you want to free his house from my alliance, then payback all his debt to grand duchy.”

            Rosalie lowered her head. She knew that it would be like this, but as a golden princess whose position kept getting suppressed by Grand Duchess, also by her own father and brother, she had no choice but to beg.

            Rosalie left Grand Duchess’ mansion in Dionde City and went to a rented small mansion with her carriage. She was surprised when she saw a girl waiting anxiously in front of the gate. It was that woman named Merry, who gave her vital information a week ago.

            Merry saw Golden Princess’ carriage and approached it excitedly, “Your Highness! Was the information correct?”

            Rosalie panicked slightly, because she was afraid that Aunt Duchess might send someone to tail her. She ordered the guard to open the door quickly and took Merry in. She sat in the living room with Merry kneeling in front of her.

            “You, I told you not to return here!” Rosalie scolded.

            “B—But, Your Highness… I need my pay…”

            “Tsk. Fine then,” Rosalie took her wallet and paid five gold coins to this girl, she said, “After this, don’t ever return here.”

            “Thank you, Your Highness!” Merry accepted the gold coins happily. “Your Highness, why do you need to know about Young Lord’s schedule?” She asked.

            “That is not your problem, leave the mansion now,” Rosalie ordered.

            Merry pouted dissatisfiedly, but she nodded and excused herself. She was here only for the money anyway. She didn’t really understand how did Ramuja remember Young Lord’s complete schedule in his head and asked her about the places in his schedule. When she asked about it, Ramuja only said that he needed to assist Young Lord immediately.

            He kept repeating the same schedule over and over that Merry remembered it subconsciously, ‘Nine in the morning, Young Lord will go to check Grapeville’s region administration, one thirty after lunch he will go to the hospital, five in the evening he will go visiting Earl of Sintine, et cetera.’

            Ramuja remembered Young Lord’s entire schedule in one week inside his brain. Which annoyed Merry slightly, because when they went around on a date in the city, Ramuja only asked about the places in Young Lord’s schedule.

            “Well, it was her that asked me anyway,” Merry said carelessly. It was Golden Princess Rosalie’s butler who approached her after she separated from Ramuja and asked about Young Lord Aster’s schedule.

            “Golden Princess Rosalie is Young Lord Aster’s cousin, right? She could’ve just asked him directly,” Merry wondered. She looked at five gold coins in her hands and she smiled happily, “Ah, it doesn’t matter! Young Lord wouldn’t mind anyway. With this, I can have another date with Ramuja. Maybe I can buy a new dress to impress him, hehe~”

            She giggled and slightly hopped on her walk. She was more than happy to get five gold coins easily.

***

            ‘She doesn’t know this, right?’

            Rosalie bit her nails anxiously. She was frightened by the possibility of Aunt Duchess finding out that the one who leaked Aster’s schedule was her all along.

            She didn’t want to do it initially. She got the information from her mole in Lantern Palace that Aster’s personal slave, called Ramuja, was going to follow Aster’s working schedule to meet him.

            She knew it was really risky if she dared to mess with Aunt Duchess, but Charles gave her an undeniable offer.

            ‘Aunt Duchess already set her men all around the city to watch over Aster. So, I couldn’t obtain Aster’s schedule to meet him. If you can get it for me, I would help you free Florentino Viete from Aunt Duchess.’ Charles said before.

            Thus, Rosalie ordered her butler to follow Ramuja around until he met with his girlfriend, that girl named Merry. Which led to her leaking all Aster’s schedule in her head with only cheap reward of five gold coins.

            ‘Charles definitely did too much, knowing him, he could’ve rape Aster in that meadow, right in front of all his hidden assasins.’

            ‘I’m glad he didn’t do it, yet…’

            ‘Aunt Duchess would definitely detect me as the leaker if Aster got raped by Charles…’

            Rosalie shuddered when she saw that cold eyes of Aunt Duchess. It numbed her body and made her unable to stand. It was too intimidating.

            But for her love, Florentino Viete, she would do anything, even if that meant she shall challenge death. Rosalie took Floren’s bronze pin and kissed it deeply, “Wait for me, my darling. I will save you.”