“They say the Royal Family is finally looking for a lady of honor who will serve the queen. Well, it’s about time that they find one.”

Count Richard Jender of South Horn said in a hoarse voice as he looked at the burning flames of the fireplace. He held one glass in one hand as always.

“Margaret, it seems you’ll have to enter the palace. Become the Queen’s maid. You know well just what kind of position of authority it is. The moment you enter the Palace, you’ll be able to find a much better marriage and be in touch with all kinds of information. You’ll enter into the heart of the Royal Palace’s authority.”

Margaret, the Count’s eldest daughter who had been standing behind him, frowned.

“But, Father, my marriage has already been decided.”

Richard groaned as he leaned into his chair, and rubbed his rough beard with one hand.

“Well, Count Chamars is indeed a good house. They would be helpful in the future… But if getting into the palace can help you catch the eye of a more prestigious family, it will obviously be more favorable…”

“Not to mention, the Queen was born with a retardation.”

The count coughed sharply. Margaret paused for a moment but soon continued to stubbornly speak again.

“Everyone says it. That she’s an idiot that wouldn’t be seen again after getting married to some aristocrat in some faraway country by now if she hadn’t been crowned queen. I don’t understand why both his Highnesses’ bet their lives on that kind of person.”

“It’s true that the queen is a stupid bitch, but that’s why she needs you all the more. Two men for one woman, this doesn’t make any sense. Does it make sense for one bitch to be able to satisfy all the desire of a young man in his prime? Besides, she’s just given birth, so she’s even less satisfying. That’s why they’re looking for a maid.”

Richard turned his head to look at his eldest daughter. Margaret Jender was rumored to be one of the most beautiful young aristocratic ladies in Inchentia. Richard rubbed his chin as he looked once more at his daughter.

“Indeed, it is also good to become the King’s concubine by gaining his favor.”

“But I’ve heard that both his Highnesses’ love for the Queen is incredibly intense.”

A low voice spoke out from somewhere. Margaret and Richard looked at the other person whom they had forgotten were in the same space as them. Richard snorted.

“Nonsense. That was merely the union of authority. By doing so, their power and authority wouldn’t be halved. It’s only that. It’s better for men to have more women. I’m sure his Highness was struck with this revelation, which caused him to secretly look for a concubine.”

“But, in any case, if I enter the palace, I’ll have to attend to that idiotic Queen. And I don’t want to.”

Margaret spoke with clear dissatisfaction. As she did so, Richard angrily set down the wineglass in his hand. As the wine inside splashed over the lip of the glass, Margaret flinched.

“All you have to do is what I tell you to do! It’s equivalent to obtaining an informant in the Palace. We’ll have a direct relationship with the Palace. Don’t you understand how profitable that is?”

“But I don’t want to go! I’m busy preparing for my wedding already. There’s not even a guarantee that I’ll find a better man to marry in the Royal Palace!”

Margaret also responded with screaming. The low voice crawled joined interrupted them again.

“I’ll go.”

Two people looked in that direction again. Ellen stepped forward from the darkness untouched by the light from the fireplace where she had been standing.

“I will volunteer to serve as the lady of honor to the Queen.”

Richard gazed at his second daughter for a moment before snorting.

“No one would pick someone like you. The Queen’s lady of honor is the face of the Royal Family. You think that something like you would be cut for it?”

Likewise, Margaret looked at her sister with a gaze filled with abhor.

“You’re going to the Palace like that? Are you crazy? Are you trying to make a fool out of our family?”

Ellen covered the right side of her face with her drooping hair as she looked up at her father and sister.

“Think about it. My sister is beautiful. The Queen will be picking her lady of honor personally. The Queen is also a woman. Then she wouldn’t want to have a beautiful woman near the Kings. But I’m different. Since she doesn’t have to worry about me, I have higher chances of getting picked.”

Richard frowned. Ellen continued.

“Not to mention, Margaret’s marriage has already been decided upon. No matter how great a marriage candidate may show up, it’s not easy to break an engagement with the House of Chamars. Also, there’s no guarantee that a good enough marriage candidate will show up, and you might not be able to do anything by the Queen’s side. As such, wouldn’t it be better for me to do something like this instead of my sister? Regardless of what might happen, there would be next to no loss if it’s me.”

Margaret and Richard looked at each other for a brief moment. Margaret turned her head the other direction, and Richard let out a “hmm…” as he rubbed his chin and frowned slightly.

“Also, I’ve heard that her Highness, the Queen is a very sweet person. She might pick me out of pity.”

“She could be tricked by such a method since she’s a stupid bitch.”

Richard looked at his second daughter with narrowed eyes before he nodded his head slowly.

“Alright. There’s no need to send Margaret to such a place. I’ll take you to the Palace next time, but I’m not sure if the Queen will truly pick you.”

“Oh goodness, she’ll only bring down the House’s reputation.”

Margaret waved her hands in the air as if she found this entire situation absurd. Richard’s eyes sharpened.

“However, if you don’t get chosen as the lady of honor… then you’re no longer of use. I’m done feeding and dressing you. If there’s a place that wants a bitch like you, I’m going to throw you away to them. I don’t care if you become a farmer or whatever. Do you understand?”

Ellen bit her lips and nodded.

This was her only chance to escape from this house.

Before leaving the room, Ellen looked in the mirror for a moment.

Never had she liked mirrors throughout her whole life. It was because the mirror always reflected what she did not want to see. But that was the figure that others saw when they looked at her.

She gathered her dark hair under her neck with one hand and turned her face slightly. From her right ear downwards into her clothes were hideous burn marks that would never disappear even if she died. Her right ear looked as though it was folded in half, and from there, the scar followed down her chin all the way down her neck. It only grew worse inside of her clothes. The large, hideous scar continued down her right arm, right torso, and back. Whenever her fingers brushed against the rough, uneven surface of the scar, only one thought came to mind. There would never be a day this scar would be touched by someone else. This scar would forever only know the touch of her hand. Because of such thoughts, sometimes she wanted to stroke that pitiful scar. It was a scar that would never feel the gaze or touch of others.

Ellen lifted the comb and carefully combed the hair she had set back in place. It was still fortunate that she possessed dark and thick hair long enough to cover the scar. Sometimes she wanted to comb and pin her hair with ornaments like every other woman, but that would reveal her scar. She did not like that.

“I’ll be late.”

Ellen, who murmured softly, brushed her hair to the right and weaved thin strings into her braid that covered her ear with experienced fingers. This was the most ornamentation she could do. She was satisfied with being able to do at least this much. She turned her back on the mirror and quickly left.

The Royal Palace was always crowded. Three years since the start of diarchy, the country was slowly stabilizing. The past power struggles over the throne that took place prior to the diarchy had also been largely forgotten. No one knew what happened below the surface of the water, but the two kings remained resolutely united around a single queen, and the nobles were starting to give up trying to sow disparity to separate them to strengthen their power.

Above all, with the birth of the crown princes, it was now difficult to gain power just by separating the two kings. The two kings declared that the twin princes, like themselves, would lead the country together in a diarchy with a single queen, leaving the nobles to ponder which side to stand with. As a result, the Royal Palace was always filled with aristocrats.

The aristocrats’ fear of the two kings was consistent, but their attitudes toward the queen were completely different. The queen, who rarely appeared in public, was a cousin of the two princes and a princess adopted by the Royal Family prior to she rose to become Queen. In addition, she received the haughty contempt of the nobles. Even now, after she had given birth to the twin crown princes, she was the scapegoat of the nobles’ disregard in the closet. Sometimes it did not quite make sense to Ellen how the world’s sweetest person was receiving such an attitude and why the two kings did not correct such actions and stood by the sidelines.

Nobles and other servants and maids glanced at her as they passed her in the corridor. Ellen headed towards the kitchen in quick steps with her head half-down. The kitchen that prepared meals for the Royal Family was separate from the Great Mess Hall but was not adjacent to the royals’ private quarters so it was necessary to pass by the nobles. As they watched her walk by, some of the aristocrats started to whisper amongst themselves. Ellen straightened her back and ignored them. As the Queen’s lady of honor and herself, there was an attitude that should be maintained.

“Is Her Majesty’s meal ready?”

The scullery maids quickly brought the meal and handed it over to her. On a heavy tray, there is a rich meal of soup, bread, salad, meat, and even drinks. It was due to the fact that even the scullery maids knew that one of the two kings would often eat together with the Queen in her chamber.

Ellen moved slowly while holding the heavy tray. As the Queen’s lady of honor, she did not have much to do. It was to the point that carrying meals was her most difficult task. As the Queen rarely went outside, she seldom helped the Queen with her clothes and hair, and the two Crown Princes had separate nursemaids to attend on them. In the end, her most important task is to spend time with the Queen and act as her companion while the two kings were away.

The day the Queen chose her as her lady of honor was the happiest day of Ellen’s life. Among all the beautiful young ladies from aristocratic families, the Queen approached her in person.

“The palace is not a comfortable place. Will you be able to bear with it?”

“If you choose me, I shall swear my loyalty to you, your Majesty.”

“You can devote your loyalty to the Kings. What I need is a friend. Will you be my friend?”

She had never imagined she would hear words of such kind from the Queen. Of course, she did not actually believe she could be a friend to the Queen. However, she could ensure that she would be far more loyal to the Queen than the other aristocratic young ladies who held contempt towards her deep inside.

The heavy bowl clattered on the tray. As she was slowly climbing the stairs, the sound of people conversing could be heard from the corridor. The owner of the sharp voice was Countess Bryson, who was basically free-loading off of the Royal Palace indefinitely.

“It’s sorcery, I tell you, sorcery. Look at his Majesties. They’re both incredibly handsome, enchanting, and vigorous. I don’t mean to brag, but I once spent a night with the Affable King before he ascended to the throne. I’ve never met anyone as sexually energetic as him. So how could the two of them be satisfied with only one woman? And it’s a woman who’s that lethargic and without any charms at that. Want me to tell you the reason? It’s sorcery. I’m certain she used sorcery to entice both of them.”

The women that surrounded her gasped. Countess Bryson lowered her voice and spoke as if to conspire a plot.

“I consulted a very famous magician. I heard that the palace is filled with dark energy. What could that dark energy possibly be? Who else would release such dark energy when the country is stabilizing….”

The tray shook in her hand and the bowl clattered. She felt boiling rage creeping up on her neck. Ellen slowly breathed in, then exhaled slowly. It might be better for her to ignore this conversation. After all, if she involved herself and her words became distorted, it would only cause more harm than good for the Queen.

But sorcery? Dark energy?! How dare they!

“Do you understand what you’re saying right now?”

Her voice was far colder than when they passed through her thoughts. All of the gossipy women shut their mouths and turned towards her. And Ellen walked slowly towards them.

“You dare to say such groundless things when you’re staying at this palace, filling your stomach with another’s grace, and living peacefully? I can’t believe you would spread such venomous rumors about her Majesty, the Queen, and his Majesties. Lady Bryson, may I tell the Affable King your story word for word?”

Countess Bryson strode forward. She was so beautiful that back when Wise King, Sed, was the Crown Prince, she had once been considered as his marriage candidate. Her curly blonde hair had been delicately twisted upwards with a net and fixed with a gold pin with jewels. Her dress made of imported cloth rustled about fancily and elegantly. Her flawless white visage is exquisitely marked with a beauty mark.

Mrs. Bryson glanced up and down at Ellen with her blue eyes and then had a haughty smile around her mouth.

“Birds of a feather flock together. How could a bitch like her be selected as a lady of honor, the face of the Royal Palace? Besides, is it even possible to digest food properly after seeing a face like that? Not to mention, personally, I feel like I won’t be able to sleep well tonight.”

The women around them burst into laughter. Ellen straightened her back and raised her head confidently.