Lilia, who had been keeping a low profile at the mansion for a while to avoid drawing the Roam Duchess's attention, finally ventured out at night after a long time.
It was true that the rumor of secretly meeting men bothered her, but she couldn't give up on Freshy's abilities. Especially these days when she had to live watching the Roam family's reactions.
And from Freshy, whom she met after a long time, Lilia heard an unexpected story.
"A secret outing?"
"Yes. She came out very secretly with her own guards."
Lilia unconsciously covered her mouth with her hand.
Annelie went out! And without the Roam Duke knowing!
'She's trying to pull something behind the Roam Duke's back...!'
A light flickered in Lilia's eyes.
Though people these days were searching for the resurrected one, the Roam Duke didn't seem to have any intention of presenting Annelie yet.
Originally, it was because he had secretly taken her from the imperial palace. He must have been planning to find a suitable excuse to present Annelie, who had become the young duke of Roam, but an unexpected accident occurred, leaving him stuck just watching the situation.
Lilia thought this was an opportunity. A chance to reveal that everything she and Maxell received was unjust slander and conspiracy.
"What was she doing? Who did she meet?"
Lilia's eyes gleamed as she leaned her upper body forward.
Freshy, looking at her as if she were cute, leaned back against the chair and spoke in a light tone.
"She bought some information from my people and holed up in an inn room, not coming out. She seemed quite interested in monster attacks."
"Really?"
Thinking of Annelie, who would be flustered and panicking late after not believing the words about her foresight ability returning, Lilia's mood naturally brightened.
Confirming Lilia's expression brightening, Freshy continued in a light voice.
"I looked into it, and there's a holy knight staying at that inn, hiding his identity. Not long after your sister entered, that holy knight visited the imperial palace. I heard from the people I planted in the imperial palace that he seems to have set out to investigate the monster attacks."
At that moment, Lilia let out a hollow laugh.
Annelie, who returned to Roam, couldn't properly establish her position. The servants kept quiet watching the Roam Duke's reaction, but everyone felt uncomfortable about Annelie openly displaying the scar on her neck.
Perhaps Annelie had noticed such surrounding atmosphere.
'She realized there's no place for her in Roam.'
Or perhaps having been abandoned once, she thought she could be in such a situation again.
"She must have judged that Roam is of no help and immediately switched to the Temple. When Roam learns of this betrayal, they'll be greatly shocked."
Lilia, who had spoken up to that point, fell silent for a moment, trying to compose her lips that kept wanting to spread into a smile.
She barely managed to straighten her expression and suppressed her excited heart as she changed the topic.
"Did you drop any words to His Majesty?"
Actually, today's meeting was to confirm this.
At Lilia's question, Freshy tilted his head with a languid smile.
"Of course. But do we really need to pin it on the Magic Tower? They're people who've holed up in the mountains for quite a long time. If we stir them up needlessly and things go wrong, it'll become troublesome."
There was no tension at all on Freshy's face as he warned that it would become troublesome.
It had been proven through long history that the Magic Tower disliked getting involved in political fights. So Freshy too, while saying such words, probably wasn't greatly worried.
The mages of the Magic Tower were the type to draw a line and withdraw from the mage who caused problems rather than cause conflicts.
Lilia pouted her lips and deliberately made a crying face.
"If you knew how much a mage from the Magic Tower insulted me during the imperial banquet, you wouldn't say such things."
Was his name Xenon? He looked quite intimate with Annelie.
Being from the Magic Tower, not knowing how the world works, he probably couldn't even properly distinguish who to associate with and showed such behavior.
If he gets a harsh lesson from this incident, perhaps he'll come to his senses and turn his back on Annelie?
"And actually, isn't an undead created from forbidden experiments at the Magic Tower more persuasive than a resurrected one blessed by god? If we just say it's an undead, people won't believe it, so we need to create credible grounds for them to believe."
If people then believe Annelie is an undead, that would be good, or if the Magic Tower publicly denies its relationship with Annelie to settle such rumors, that would also be good.
If rumors involving the Magic Tower circulate, the Temple would also be displeased, so perhaps the relationship between Annelie and the Temple could worsen.
Freshy asked Lilia, who was smiling proudly, in a curious tone.
"Is she really undead? She didn't look like a monster."
Freshy added that rather, he was surprised because she was still beautiful, and Lilia's expression momentarily stiffened.
Furrowing her brows, Lilia asked back in a voice laced with displeasure.
"Her head fell off and was reattached, is that a person?"
"Well, that's true."
Freshy easily agreed. Lilia, who had been looking at him anxiously, quietly took a deep breath.
Then, lowering her gaze forlornly, she spoke.
"Little older sister still hates me, and if things stay like this, something big will happen. So I'm asking you. There's no one else I can trust but you."
Freshy's eyes, which had not lost their composure until now, wavered a little.
"I heard you've become quite troubled because of me..."
"The light words of people in high society are obvious. Anyway, once I become empress, they'll quickly change their words again, right?"
"I heard the Crown Prince's position is quite shaken these days, will you be alright?"
Lilia, looking at Freshy who was asking as if probing, cutely glared at him and turned her head haughtily.
"If His Majesty thinks the resurrected one is a spy sent from the Magic Tower, then naturally he'll also cast aside Prince Heinrich."
"That prince will be pushed out again because of you this time."
Freshy clicked his tongue with a pitying face.
"Why is that my fault? It's his fault for choosing the wrong person."
Thinking of Heinrich who had embarrassed her when they met in the palace corridor, she felt not pity but rather satisfaction.
Despite being pushed out of the succession struggle and barely holding on, the sight of him swaggering around backed by the resurrected one was extremely annoying.
Freshy, who was watching Lilia pout her lips, propped his chin and asked casually.
"Are you thinking of informing the Roam Duke right away?"
"No. If she gets caught right away, she won't dare to go out again, and that won't do. Besides, this much won't change the Roam Duke's mind either."
Lilia answered in a voice mixed with a sigh and turned her gaze. Outside the dark window, she could see a few moths attracted to the dim light, fluttering at the window.
Normally, she shouldn't be moving at this late hour, watching for others' reactions like this. She should have entered the imperial palace long ago and been at the forefront leading people to save the empire in danger.
Everyone should be admiring and praising her like this.
"I need to catch a more certain pretext. Please continue to track my sister's movements afterwards."
"Just tracking?"
"You may exercise a slight overstepping of authority for my sake."
Lilia added playfully. Freshy, who understood her meaning, let out a hollow laugh and muttered.
"I heard your sister's guard knights are quite strong?"
"But you're the notorious Freshy. Famous for not discriminating in means and methods."
At Lilia's words, Freshy smiled slightly. He spoke in an indifferent tone as if talking about ordinary daily matters.
"The place where the monster attack occurred was the Lindea River. Among the information she bought, there was also geographical information about the Lindea River area."
"Perhaps the opportunity may come soon."
If Annelie intended to go to the Lindea River directly, they could make some move then.
Or they could secretly report Annelie's movements and turn the atmosphere in the direction she wanted.
Freshy looked at Lilia, who was smiling satisfactorily, with regretful eyes.
"It's truly regrettable that you didn't choose to be by my side."
Lilia's lips, which had been drawing a gentle curve, stiffened a little.
"Don't say scary things. I can't handle it."
Freshy definitely had great abilities. If asked to choose the person who could be most usefully moved among those helping her, she would definitely choose Freshy.
But if asked whether she would go to Freshy's side...
Though of fallen noble origin, she was the chosen protagonist. The protagonist's place was not a dark back alley, but a sunny place that shone brighter than anyone else.
"Well, that's true. You're too fragile, so you need to be loved from a higher place."
Listening to Freshy's bitter murmur, Lilia quietly lowered her gaze and picked up the teacup placed in front of her.
"Such an elegant appearance suits you better."
Freshy added words as if to comfort her. Lilia quietly smiled and tilted her teacup.
Actually, she didn't like tea. She didn't even know how to properly distinguish tea tastes. She was just drinking it because she had to.
「Fallen family origin?」
She recalled when she first met Annelie. That was a very distant and faraway memory.
「Your appearance is wretched.」
But she remembered that day's voice and scent.
Annelie's voice, which was bored and haughty, with not a bit of consideration. And the bittersweet scent of the tea she was drinking.
Lilia could easily recognize that the other person had lived a life looking down on others all her life.
That was the Crown Prince's fiancée, the woman who would become the next empress. A woman destined to be empress from birth.
If it's such a high and shining position, it should rightfully belong to the protagonist.
Ah, so that's why my destiny led me here.
Lilia seemed to have thought that. While imagining her own appearance elegantly drinking tea.
"By the way, what did you do about the monster attack?"
Freshy asked as if trying to change the atmosphere. Savoring the bitter scent lingering in her mouth, Lilia shook her head.
"I didn't do that."
"Really? I naturally thought you had arranged it."
"I just knew that it would happen. How could I control monsters? But thanks to that, it's fortunate that I can reveal little older sister's identity to the whole world."
A faint smile appeared on Lilia's lips. Her foresight was real.
"Everyone needs to quickly learn that the resurrected one is a fraud."
Therefore, the protagonist will ultimately overcome this adversity.