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※ This work contains depictions of coercive relationships, explicit language, and other graphic content. Reader discretion is advised.

III. Palace Intrigue

“Hello, my lady. I don’t believe I properly welcomed you when you arrived in the kingdom.”

The freckled woman took a small, ornate box from the woman behind her and handed it to Edith. Her gaze flicked briefly to Perry, standing behind Edith, before she continued.

“It’s a welcome gift. Something rare you can only find in the desert kingdom. Please open it later, when you’re alone. Well then, have a pleasant day.”

“Ah, yes… Thank you…”

With smiles, the three women turned and left. Edith stared blankly at the gift box suddenly in her hands. Perry approached and extended his hand.

“Edie, may I have that box for a moment?”

“Huh? Oh, yes…”

He took the box and held it to his ear, shaking it up and down.

A light but solid sound echoed from within—something hitting the inside of the box.

“Haa. It’s already begun. Edie, may I open this?”

“I don’t mind.”

“Then please stand back. As far as possible.”

Edith retreated as far as she could, following Perry’s suddenly grave instruction. She watched his movements carefully.

He hurled the box to the floor.

At his abrupt, violent action, Edith let out a short scream.

The box clattered open with a metallic clink.

“Kyaak!”

In an instant, something the size of two finger joints shot out from within and lunged at Perry.

He threw what must have been a chakram hidden beneath his cloak. The blade sliced the creature cleanly in two.

It fell to the floor in two halves, limp. Perry approached, confirmed its identity, and let out a loud, sharp tsk.

Curious, Edith stepped closer to look.

A butterfly, its wings a mesmerizing blend of red and yellow, lay severed in two.

What was strange, however, was the tail—something like a scorpion’s stinger attached to its abdomen.

“This is a scorpion butterfly.”

“A scorpion butterfly…?”

Perry explained, his face grave.

“It’s a butterfly with a venomous stinger that inhabits the desert. The stinger resembles a scorpion’s tail, hence the name ‘scorpion butterfly.’ If it stings you, your body becomes paralyzed within minutes, and you lose the ability to speak. Without an antidote, it’s quite lethal.”

“My god. Why would the princess consort candidates send me something this dangerous…?”

“It seems those rumors last night have turned them against you, Edie. Still, this is rather vicious. I didn’t expect them to be so wary of you from the very start, using even such a rare creature…”

Perry muttered, explaining more than she wanted to hear—that as a butterfly, they could simply let it fly away, making the destruction of evidence perfectly clean.

“I’m not even anything to Mr. Kazan. This is too much, isn’t it? Can’t you talk them out of it, Mr. Perry?”

Remembering how they had smiled and handed her the so-called gift, containing such a dangerous creature, Edith’s face turned white.

Desperate to somehow clear up this misunderstanding, she grabbed Perry’s arm.

“I’m sorry. As long as it doesn’t pose a threat to the prince, we cannot take action against the consort candidates… While I’m with you like this, I can deal with it, but otherwise…”

“That’s just…”

“They won’t come directly to you like this very often, Edie. When you’re alone, try to avoid them as much as possible.”

No hope was visible in his frustrating answer. Edith’s face crumpled into a grimace, just like Perry’s moments ago.

She could only regret having taken the banquet so lightly last night.

* * *

‘Haa, that’s the third time. First the scorpion butterfly, then the sand mixed into my dinner, and now this situation…’

Edith sighed as she encountered one of them on her way to borrow a book from the library.

It was the tall candidate with black hair—the very one Perry had warned her to avoid most of all.

Perry had stepped away briefly after dinner, and Edith had thought a quick errand would be fine. Now she regretted not waiting for him.

The woman tilted her chin upward slightly, looking down at Edith—far shorter than her apparent 178 centimeters—from above.

Long lashes cast elegant shadows over her light brown eyes, tinged with gold. She looked utterly noble.

“We haven’t even properly exchanged names. At the banquet, when you claimed to be nothing to His Highness, your fair face looked so innocent that I, uncharacteristically, was deceived. I am Tisha Almarjan, daughter of a great merchant of the Silverwind Kingdom.”

Her greeting, graceful as a flower, was lined with thorns.

They seemed to think her a liar because of those rumors.

If only those words hadn’t been exchanged at the banquet, perhaps this wouldn’t be so bad.

“Ah, hello, Miss Tisha. You can call me… Edie.”

“Yes, Miss Edie. I dislike long-winded talk, so I’ll be direct. I wish you would return to the Empire soon. Your already striking appearance makes you stand out, and your presence here threatens my path to becoming princess consort.”

Was it because they were alone? Tisha spoke more bluntly than expected.

Her aggression made Edith hesitate, uncertain how to convey that she planned to return home and felt nothing for Kazan.