The first time Karla realized she wasn’t the only one that uses the secret lounge was three months after she solved the riddle. She remembered it was two days after her father and brothers returned from a campaign.

Some writing utensils weren’t there when she left. Based on the timing, it seems one of her brothers or even her father is the one responsible. But Karla couldn’t tell who, and she can’t just ask them one by one because her family situation is a bit tense.

She had Anna monitor the bookshelf to see if anyone enters it while they are absent. Yet no one entered, and the next day a wine bottle was found on top of a desk. Then Karla purposely left a tea set behind to see if the other person noticed her presence, even random commoners knew her love of tea, so they should realize it was hers and immediately confront her about it.

That was the plan, but two years passed by, and no contact was initiated.

In hindsight, that was a stupid move, She just revealed herself without knowing anything about the other side. She should have just stayed quiet and observed more, that way maybe she can have an advantage. That is currently impossible since the other party is now aware of her presence.

Either way, Karla treats the other person as if they didn’t exist. Her stuff never gets touched, and she never touches anything on the desks. Her territory is the sofas while theirs is the desks, It was that sort of relationship.

Back to the present, Karla spent the whole morning reading her books while sipping tea. Princess duties are few, to begin with. Most of the official duties are done by her brothers, while Princesses only deal with ceremonial duties. So she’s allowed to go ‘missing’ like this for an entire day and none of her family or officials would care. The only one flustered would be the servants.

At around noon, Anna came in with a message, she was invited to lunch by her family.

“Lunch?” Karla asked incredulously, “Just bring them here like usual.”

“You can’t Milady, his majesty will be attending.”

“Father will?” Karla’s eyebrow shot up. If every finger on her hand represents one hour, then the amount of time she spent with her father can be counted on one hand.

“What’s the occasion? Will the empire fall tomorrow?” Karla jokes.

“I’m not sure, but I received this from the Chamberlain himself.”

“I see, no choice then” if it's any other members of her family, she would just ignore it, but even she can’t go against the emperor’s words.

She dejectedly goes to her room where Anna puts her in a more presentable attire compared to Karla’s usually more casual dress. She then heads to the main palace building followed by Anna and a half dozen servants, the wind howling as Karla walks through the skyway system connecting the various buildings of the palace, ruffling her hair.

The palace complex itself is built on top of hills with six Palaces surrounding it, each with different names and purposes. If one only gazes forward while looking at a window they might think the palace is floating in the sky, hence the nickname Sky Palace. The building she stayed in is called the northern palace or the cultural heritage Palace which connected with the Central palace at the top of the tallest hill through a bridge called the skyway.

“It’s a pain having to do Milady’s hair every time we go out,” Karla complained while tidying up my hair along with a few servants.

“I kind of like the feeling of wind brushing my hair” Karla laughs to lessen the tension because all the servants except Anna went pale. They can’t believe a servant dared to complain in front of royalty.

“Why don’t Milady live in the western palace like the others? The skyway there covered from the winds”

“Oh you know I can’t stand my family, and I like the fact that it's quite isolated compared to the other palaces.”

As they entered the central palace Anna went quiet, she can't get away with talking casually to Karla here. The entrance hall is grand, almost half of the central palace because it's also used as the imperial venue. Important parties, ceremonies, and imperial weddings are held here.

At the other end of the hall, there is a staircase to the upper floor, where the dining room is.

“Princess!” Karla hears a familiar voice calling her. It was Sarah, walking briskly towards her in panic.

“Oh Sarah, weren't you preparing my dress for the upcoming ceremony?”

“I have already performed the task, princess,” said Sarah while straightening Karla's dress and accessories.

“You were late, your family already gathered quite some time ago.”

“Has the emperor arrived yet?”

“No, Princess”

“Then I am not late” Karla motions the guards to open the door.

She walked to the dining hall with Sarah as her handmaid while Anna and the other servants waited outside. This dining hall is different from the one used to host emissaries or delegates, this one only used by the imperial family. So it's not big by any means, more of a room than a hall Karla thought. Enough to seat for a dozen or more, the furniture itself is simple and comfortable.

At the long table in the center, nine pairs of eyes look at Karla with expectant gazes but soon turn into disappointment when they realize it wasn’t the emperor. Karla didn’t mind the rudeness and went to sit at the vacant seat prepared for her, four-seat down on the left side of the table. Appetizers and drinks were immediately presented to her.

There are no rules or official customs when it comes to dinner within the family. So she immediately 'Chow down' as Anna liked to call it. This drew another gaze from her family, one of her stepmothers even scoffs at her, but  they just let her be. After all if not for their nerves from waiting for the emperor they would’ve dug in themselves

The Imperial family doesn’t bother much about decorum or rules of etiquette at least among themselves, they only put on airs when it comes to addressing their retainers or the public.

“I wish father will come soon. I skipped breakfast this morning” Catherine, her older sister, muttered. Her hand touching her beautiful face

“Then eat sister, no one told you not to,” Peter said harshly before grabbing a chopped fruit with a fork. It seems seeing Karla eating without care inspired him to do the same

“What makes you skip breakfast? Too absorbed in watching the guards train perhaps”

Catherine scowled in displeasure, “No brother, I was on a diet”

“Oh? Is that so? You're already the most beautiful woman in the palace though” Peter has a slight smile of amusement on his face.

“The quest for perfection never ends” Catherine retorts with a dismissive tone to end the conversation, flicking her platinum blond hair for added effect.

Karla noticed that Peter probably had some sort of leverage against Catherine, A secret scandal? She thought. Well, not that it has anything to do with her, since she has no interest in family politics.

Most likely, she's not the only one who noticed the subtext of that exchange. She can feel a variety of emotions on the table. Anger, disapproval, guilt, dismay, and excitement. What surprised Karla the most was the one who held her head down in guilt is sitting next to her.

The six years old Nataly shouldn’t have been involved in anything shady, Karla reasoned. But she can’t ever be sure when it comes to her family, perhaps Nataly stumbled into something bad involving Catherine and somehow leaked that to her older brother.

Karla put an apple pie on Nataly’s plate, “This is your favorite right? I’m sure that father won’t mind if you eat first.”

“Sister?” she asked in an uncertain voice.

Everyone was finally chatting after Catherine broke the ice, so they shouldn’t have heard what she's about to say.

“Listen, Nataly.” Karla whispered, “you shouldn’t worry about it, sometimes things happen that’s out of your control. It’s not your fault.”

“But it is my fault! Because of me, Brother and sister are fighting”

“No, that's just the way our family is…” Karla knows doing this is breaking her no intervention policy. But she can’t help it, since Nataly reminds her so much of her past self.

“Let me give you a bit of advice” Karla pats her head, “ignore everything you noticed and say as little as possible. You see, our family likes to play games, and you might get dragged into it sometimes.”

“Games? You mean like those war games Lucius taught me?”

“Lucius taught you what! Actually, never mind” Karla shook her head in dismay “yes, kinda like a war game but played with speech and conduct”

“You mean your words and behavior?

“Yes and the best way to not lose in this game is to never play it” Karla pinch Nataly’s cheeks “That’s. Why. You. Should. Talk. Less”

“Ow, ow it hurts sister”

“You just let it slip that you had a close relationship with Lucius. You fool, if anyone finds out how close you are to the second heir, bad things will happen.”

“Close? We just chat and play games sometimes…”

“That’s intimate by our family standards.”

Nataly only looks at her in confusion. Karla sighs, looks like she needs to drill the point to her head.

“Remember brother Klaus?” Karla asks.

“Yeah, he was always mean to me.”

“He didn't die because of a hunting incident.”

“What do you mean? I remember it was two years ago, I was there too.”

“He had like 20 arrows stuck on his body. I checked his body myself when they brought it to the villa.”

“You mean…” Nataly's eyes are wide, it seems like she finally understands this is a matter of life and death.

“Never trust anyone, alright? Especially our family” Karla stopped speaking because the two of them started to draw attention from their families.

The next ten minutes flow without anything interesting happening. Meanwhile, Peter and Karla finally finish their meal. Nataly is nibbling on her apple pie absentmindedly, while the others never touch their food. Karla would like to leave the room now that she had her meal, but she had to greet the host first before she could do that.

She doesn't have to wait long, though.

The door opened and the man everyone in the room was waiting for came in! He strode in leisurely, as if he did not mind keeping them waiting a while longer. Flanking him were two knights garbed in full suits of steel armor, their helmets respectfully removed as per custom when attending nobility and royalty. He wore simple yet high quality attire and he is not adorned with any crown or jewels. Despite that, there is an undeniable air of authority about him.

A servant took off his black coat as he stood before his chair at the head of the table. his cold black eyes swept over the room, No one at the table makes a single noise as they couldn’t take their eyes away from him. They watch as the emperor grabs a fork, takes a piece of fowlbeast, puts it in his mouth, and chews slowly. After what feels like a century he swallows and finally speaks.

“A pesto sauce will go well with this,” he addresses the dish instead of the ten people sitting on the table with him. And then he continues to enjoy his meal for a while before acknowledging the people staring at him.

“Now then, with such a fine meal, why are you not eating?”

“We were waiting for you dear” Birches, who is Catherine’s mother, quickly chimes.

“How nice of you” The emperor's eyes are on his salad.

“Of course dear, it is very rare you have the time to dine with us,” said Sabina, the eldest wife.

Meanwhile, the second wife Yuliya chooses to smile sweetly instead of saying anything. When their mothers finally had their say the children stepped in.

“Father, how are you doing these days? I hear you’ve been very busy” Catherine asked after she took a few huge bites, what happened to her diet?

“Things had been hectic these past few years. Our neighbors seem restless and nature is not so friendly. Needless to say, our empire isn’t doing so well these days.”

“That is bad, is it father? Do you think I could help?” said Frederick, the eldest son

“Don’t worry…very soon you will be helping me.”

“I will eagerly wait for that day father” he had a smug smile while saying this as if saying look, father trusted me to do his duties he will choose me as a successor.

It keeps going like that throughout the meal, the children and mothers try to have an engaging conversation with the emperor but the emperor himself only gives vague answers or simple yes or no answers. It was quite painful to watch for Karla who had nothing to do except watch.

Damn I shouldn’t eat so soon, I had nothing to distract me with Karla thought

“You have nothing to say, Lucius?” the emperor suddenly asks Lucius who still didn’t say a word.

Lucius took a bite first before answering “Training for the special cavalry regiment you requested is already complete, the troops are ready for a real battle.”

“Hahaha good, finally some good news,” The emperor chuckled, “The Grand Marshall himself said that you entering the military was the best present he ever received, Now I clearly see why. You always come through.”

“I’m grateful for the praise of my father.”

Karla was shocked, she could sense a huge feeling of relief in the emperor. As if Lucius just saved him from a stray arrow. This is the first time she can feel human emotion from her father. And she can see the rest of her family is surprised as well but not for the same reason she did.

“That was the first time I saw you laugh dear,” Yuliya said in wonder.

“I can’t help it when I imagine the faces of my enemies when they faced this new form of cavalry.”

“What is this new form of cavalry that you speak of, father?” Frederick asked.

“State secret, but it will make our enemies flee in fear” The emperor took a sip of wine, “I asked Lucius to arrange it since that time we lost to the elves in the northwest.”

Peter and Frederick look at Lucius in envy. Especially Frederick, who is the eldest son and also holds a high-ranking position in the military, but was uninformed on this matter. Meanwhile, Karla is in deep thought, wondering why her doll-like father finally shows human emotion. He felt deep relief when he was informed about a new powerful force in the military as if his life depended on it.

Could the joke I told Anna somehow have become a reality? Karla thought. Someone must be preparing to invade this empire and father caught wind of it, but invasion and wars are nothing new in this continent, it must be from a fairly powerful nation to make father this relieved. And there are five on this continent, of which only one is hostile and close enough to be a threat.

“The Holy Peruvian Kingdom?” Karla murmured.

“Precisely”

Karla jumps in her seat, startled that someone had answered her thought. When she realized what was happening, the emperor was looking her in the eyes, her instinct told her to look away, but she was transfixed. The emperor’s stony gaze freezes Karla to her very soul. She cannot see the humanity in those black orbs.

“What is it, father?” Peter asked, breaking the silence.

“Your sister deduces a Peruvian invasion will be coming just from my conversation with Lucius” everyone was stunned by the emperor’s words.

“What?!”

“Why was I not informed on this?!”

Everyone on the table was making noise, even Lucius was surprised since he was only responsible for assembling the troops.

Frederick’s face was red in anger, such important information, and yet he was unaware of it! How is he supposed to prepare the troops if such information did not reach his ears?

“Quiet”

“I was planning on announcing it during the general assembly on Monday. The upper echelons in the military are already well-informed. If you are unaware, it means you are not important enough or simply too self-absorbed to notice the obvious signs.”

Now Frederick’s face is blue when the emperor gazes at him, “Frederick you are always lax when gathering information, it will be your downfall someday.”

“Lucius, your worldview is too narrow, I can’t trust you with more than 5,000 men. Keep it this way, and at most you’ll only govern a small city.”

“Forgive me Father” Lucius bowed and yet Karla can’t feel regret in his words, only relief.

“Mind telling us how you figured it out then sister?” Peter asked with a grin.

The Emperor interjected, “You already know Peter.”.

“Ah, but that reminds me of why I came here in the first place.”

The emperor gaze returns to Karla “I will be present during the Awakening ceremony this evening, make sure you present yourself properly”

“…I…I’m grateful for your…attendance father” Karla’s face was twisted when she said this. Clearly, she didn’t appreciate the emperor’s presence.

The room is tense and she can understand why. The only time the emperor attended an awakening ceremony was when Lucius gained his abilities. It was a shocking moment because the empire rarely had such a promising talent, and now he will attend Karla’s ceremony. Does that mean the empire will be blessed with another great talent? Peter and Frederick were glad Karla was born as a girl. The last thing they need is another talented brother as a rival. In fact, to them, this is good news. If Karla can gain a greater ability than Lucius, it might weaken his standing in the military.

Karla can sense the predatory glint in her family's eyes. She knew that she was already part of their ‘game.’