While I was bewildered, someone spoke to me without even saying their greetings.

"Just seeing the wife of a family who has put a strain on Your Majesty makes my loyalty torment. Please, kick Sylvia Jacques out of the banquet hall!"

"Huh...? Me? Why?"

I was so embarrassed that I forgot to speak formally. Suddenly, the atmosphere turned cold again.

"Well. If you ask me why..."

The nobles began to make a commotion.

To be honest, I was even more embarrassed by their agitation.

"Your loyalty... is in pain?"

I was asking that because I really did not understand. I continued to express my thoughts, "I think Sylvia will be more loyal than you...?"

As I opened my eyes wide and muttered, those words brought a wave to the nobility.

"...Your, Your Majesty."

"Sylvia, to be loyal to me, drove her mother, no matter how sinful she was, and was willing to give her to me as a prey... I don't know if there's any other kind of loyalty like this...?"

I was not the only one who passed the test today. Sylvia also performed well on the assignment given by Raniero as well. She broke her achilles tendon as Roberta Jacques, and came under me by making her mother bleed herself and offering her to me.

Even though I took the drug and passed the test, Sylvia passed with her bare mind. Was this not really amazing?

And, I found this situation so strange and bizarre.

It was because I read the real hostility and madness in their voices towards Sylvia.

Before I thank them for hating Sylvia for me, let me point out a few things. Did only Marquis Jacques ignore me...? Right after I got married, I did not receive anyone's request for an audience, nor did I receive any gift from anyone.

It meant that I was an invisible person to everyone while Jacques' mother and son reigned as vice minister and handmaiden.

Only after the punishment of Jacques's mother and son was decided and news spread that the Emperor was teaching me to hunt, I was properly treated as an empress. In addition, only today after the hunt was over that I was incorporated into their community as a newly born Actilus.

'To me, Sylvia and these nobles, they are all the same...'

The atmosphere became so irreversibly chilly because of my question spewing out thoughtlessly.

I was a little sorry.

Should I have told a white lie and set the mood like I did to Raniero?

'Still, just by dealing with Raniero alone, I already feel like my prepared social skills are exhausted...'

Eventually, I let out an awkward laugh.

"But, you don't have to sacrifice your mother to prove your loyalty to me. For the time being, your mother is innocent..."

...Unbelievable.

Even though it was a joke to lighten up the atmosphere, it became an insult to their parents instead... Seriously, it seems that all my prepared social skills have been exhausted.

Raniero was the only one who clapped his knees with delight at my words and burst into laughter.

"You say funny things. It's an interesting thing to say."

A cold sweat ran down my back.

...I swear I did not mean to entertain His Majesty. If he did something wrong, Raniero might line up one by one for his regular enjoyment, demanding that he sacrifice his mother. With that thought, it was necessary to put an end to this subject quickly.

I said hastily, sweating profusely.

"It's just a joke."

I could clearly see the nobles rolling their eyes with stiff expressions. When a superior brings the word 'joke' to their lips, you have to laugh even if it is not funny. At once, everyone burst out laughing like an automatic doll—Ahahaha. Hahaha. Hah, haha.

Perhaps, it was because this was a military country. Everyone smiled mechanically at the right timing and angle like an army.

I gazed at them with confusion, feeling like a bad boss.

How the heck does Raniero enjoy this kind of thing...? No, let's not think about it. No one knew what was going on in his head.

Sylvia came near me like a ghost while the waves of unhappy laughter rippled. She carefully lifted the hem of her modest dress to greet Raniero first, then me. The next moment, she carefully knelt next to Viscount Gongfyr, who was still sitting there.

"Your Majesty the Emperor."

A hoarse voice escaped her lips.

Raniero replied above my head.

"Yes."

His hand had dug through my hair and was now stroking the nape of my neck. The act of gently scratching the fuzz with his fingernails was tickling. I lifted my eyes slightly and glanced up at Raniero, then quickly turned towards Sylvia again.

It was because he was still gazing at me as he answered Sylvia.

Sylvia calmly spoke her words.

"I've come to receive the reward that Your Majesty had promised."