“What is it? Tell me.”
“Unlike the old days, a company called Symphonium bought a large amount of wheat. Although it required securing the land as collateral to sign the contract, there were many people who signed the contract because they paid more than other places. The one we signed with our family this time was also the Symphonium.”
“That’s strange. What is this Symphonium association like?”
“I have been trying to find out, but the Symphonium is as unknown as the Dark Merchants. There’s only one situation where it suddenly released a lot of gold and bought tons of wheat coupons.”
“Both companies are quite secretive. The owner of the business is often known because trust is important. Find out what the Symphonium, the Dark Merchants, and princess Sienna have to do with each other. Rob the informants if needed!”
Arya sent Depine out, then got up from her seat and asked her servant.
“Have you found out where the Emperor is?”
“His Majesty has headed to the palace of the First Princess.”
Her face was frowned upon by the words of the servant.
“She must have whispered to him into doing it again! Foxy bitch!”
It was after he met Sienna that Valore, who was obedient to his mother, had changed.
Moreover, this competition was plotted. She’s used the Imperial Knights and her brother to reveal how bad the Imperial Knights were, and now it’s a Knights’ competition. It was obvious that she had sweet-talked Valore into doing what she wanted.
To keep an eye on Carl, Arya chose Sienna only to be a puppet princess, thinking she’d be an innocent lamb—but she turned out to be more than just foxy. Arya took a quick step toward the palace of Sienna.
Entering the palace of Sienna, the guards of Emperor Valore were lined up on one side. At the door stood a group of Phoenix knights.
When the Queen appeared, Milton, who was guarding the door, gave her a polite salute. He overcame Jamie’s hard training and was serving as interim head of the Phoenix Knights. She raised her hand to stop him when he tried to tell the inside guards that Arya had come.
“You don’t have to inform inside. I’m going in there myself.”
It is not polite to enter without the permission of the palace master, but Arya was the royal family’s elder. Milton couldn’t just stop her. He said to Arya in obedience.
“There is not only the Empress but also His Majesty.”
At his words, Arya bit her red lips. She came here knowing that Valore was already inside, but she still felt resentful.
“Didn’t I say I was going in? Get out of the way!”
“But it is polite to inform His Majesty…”
“How dare you talk to me about manners!”
Milton replied unshakably to Arya’s wistful voice.
“There is also the Emperor inside. I need his permission.”
It was clear that he would never let her in without the emperor’s permission. Milton couldn’t be believed to be a member of the Phoenix Knights, formerly called the garbage dumps, the last-bottomed knights.
“I’ll come back with permission.”
Milton, standing up from his seat, bowed his head to Arya and went inside. Queen Arya breathed violently in the anger. Her nails dug into her palm.
Soon Milton came out and opened the way for Arya to enter. Only then did the tightly closed turquoise door open.
Sienna sat in front of the piano and Valore stood beside her. When Queen Arya entered, Sienna rose from her seat.
Looking at Sienna, who looked at Arya with pure blue eyes pretending to know nothing, Arya couldn’t stand the anger. Recently, it felt like the biggest obstacle in her way was Sienna.
The disobedient emperor, the loss of roads in the south, the Knights competition, the behavior of the knight who was just guarding the door…all this felt like part of Sienna’s plot. Arya approached her with a rough step.
“Welcome to Her Majesty.”
She strode to her front, not answering Sienna’s greetings.
Yap! The sound of Arya slapping Sienna’s cheek rang violently. Valore screamed in surprise.
“Mother!”
Valore grabbed Sienna’s cheeks and checked to see if she was all right. One cheek of Sienna was swollen red.
“What the hell are you doing?”
Valore screamed.
“Get out of the way, Your Majesty, this is not your business.”
“My Queen!”
“It’s natural to discipline your subordinates if they do something wrong. It’s not something you can do.”
“What on earth did the Princess do wrong?”
“I’ve known that the Princess was messing with the Emperor’s comfort, but I thought the clever king would soon come to his senses. But I can’t believe you’re in the house of Princess Sienna’s palace until this late hour! Do you know what the court’s servants and nobles are talking about?”
“What the hell are they talking about?”
“It’s so profane that I feel ashamed to put it in my mouth.”
At Arya’s words, Valore became upset and raised his voice.
“Say it! What were they talking about, that you just came in here and slapped Princess Sienna on the face?”
“… that Princess Sienna enticed His Majesty to have a secret meeting every night. Ha, I’m ashamed of myself…”
In fact, Arya didn’t know there really was such a rumor. However, when she saw Sienna after struggling with the guard outside the door, she got feverish and started the beating. However, she made a plausible excuse in front of Valore because she could not say she was simply angry.
Valore opened his mouth, beating his chest out of frustration with her words.
“Who the hell said that? Bring him in right now. And who lured who?! I’m the one who came here everyday, and Princess Sienna never called me.”
At Valore’s words, Sienna looked embarrassed, and Arya looked at him like he was being pathetic.
“Princess Sienna! You shouldn’t have met him even if he had come. At this late hour! It’s almost dinner time.”
It was still bright outside the window. It was early in the evening, but Arya insisted it was late.
“If coming here was wrong, it’s my fault. Princess Sienna did nothing wrong. I just came here feeling heavy with worries.”
“Don’t lie. His Majesty wouldn’t do that. You’ve been strange recently because Princess Sienna lured you. Isn’t that why His Majesty won’t listen to me anymore!?”
Valore’s face hardened at these words.