“Your majesty. I need to warn you. I think we have a traitor among us.” I look at Leonard. He is kneeling down only allowing me to see his blond hair. Among all my servants I trust him the most. Actually, the amount of people I trust can be counted on my fingers. 

“I’m not surprised. There has always been spies in this castle.” I sigh bitterly. How many assassins have targeted my life, I do not know. Leonard looks up at me his brown eyes piercing me. They seem extremely worried. 

“I have reason to believe that it is someone among your close circle. I’m afraid to say it, but I think that it is someone you trust has turned a traitor.” I can’t believe any of them would do that. 

“Do you have any idea who this traitor is?” I inquire. I need to figure out who it is quickly. Anyone one of my trusted friends could be it. Anyone could kill me easily or at least their betrayal would be devastating to the country.  

“I have a couple leads but nothing definitive. The only one I can definitively say isn’t a traitor is her majesty Sibylla. I’ve been looking into the harem and it is worse than I expected. I am almost certain that each and every one of them is a spy.” He reports. Well that narrowed down the suspects. Unfortunately, I have a lot of enemies. Especially the more powerful nobles. 

“Is there anyone else that is unlikely to be a traitor?” I continue my inquiry. I hope that I can put my trust in more people. 

“Yes, I believe that that Duke Whyte and Sir Baldwin are loyal. However, Duke Whyte often away and won’t be of much use. Duke Whyte cannot leave the front lines so easily.” Says Leonard. It’s a good thing Duke Whyte is still loyal. If he had turned traitor, I'd lose control of my army. Then again what Leonard says are only suspicions. But he would not warn me if he didn’t have good reason to believe that such information is true. Now I understand why so many monarchs are so paranoid. Just then the doors open and I see a lady with long silver hair walk into the room. 

“Greetings to his majesty.” She says curtly. Her small piercing purple eyes looking uninterested. “I am here to give you the new budget for the imperial harem.” 

I look at the slip of paper. It was made to be easily read. I notice that a lot of people have had their allowance cut down. She even cut her own allowance. The biggest cut however was queen Sibylla. She seems to have lost half her allowance. “Why have you cut Queen Sibylla’s allowance so much?” 

“I have looked into the matter and due to her peasant upbringing, she would normally have a quarter of the allowance on this budget. The allowance she got was for an empress which she is not.” She says coolly. Well I cannot call her a hypocrite. She did put the budget based on historical values. 

“Give her the amount befitting of a duchess.” 

“Yes, your majesty.” With that she left, just as quickly as she had come. I hate her so much. Her silver hair then disappeared from my view. 

“Her father is one of your biggest opponents. I am certain that we can include her into our list of spies.” Hmm, perhaps. 

“I doubt it, we both know she hasn’t talked to her father since she came to the palace.” Also, I have a suspicion that one of the few emotions left in her is hatred against her father.  

“How rare, I was under the impression that you hated her.” Leonard asks. He seems surprised that I'd defend her. 

“Oh, I hate her but I also know that she wouldn’t work for her father. She might work with him but again I doubt it. Saying that, I still think that she has her own agenda. She’s probably trying to gain more power.” I answer. In all likelihood she is trying to use me. 

“Which leads me to ask why you even accepted Archduke Goldwell’s request to take her in.” 

“Sometimes I wonder myself. All I can say is that I just couldn’t leave her with him.” I respond. If I had left her there whatever was left of her would have died. Hah, who am I kidding, I was already too late.  

A/N: This is just a hobby for me but I hope you all enjoy. If you have any feedback don't be afraid to say anything. Having said that, I am Konton. This story will be done to give me some enjoyment in my life, especially with how stressful it can get.