Lady Natalie was a human like her and had been established as the most likely candidate to be selected. I’d assumed Lady Fillia would go to her for help once Lady Natalie was essentially out of the running, but that wasn’t the case…
It had been almost a year since Lady Natalie withdrew from consideration, so it surprised me that Lady Fillia wasn’t approaching Lady Kate or Lady I-Liena either. Did she not want to join hands with Lady Kate because she was beastfolk? Was she just uninterested in politics, trying to stay out of the queen selection entirely?
There were many possibilities. It was even possible that Lady Fillia hadn’t given up on becoming the next queen herself. Was she waiting vigilantly for the opportunity to overthrow the other three candidates?
I would have to keep my guard up around her if that was true. As the queen, I had a duty to watch over her and prevent any disputes from turning too hostile.
“…What’s this?”
Suddenly, I heard a commotion coming from the villa.
I listened in and picked up the sound of heeled footsteps. Their source was a woman wearing an utterly magnificent dress. This person accompanying Lady Fillia wasn’t someone I was glad to see.
“Good day, Princess Ileze. It’s lovely to see you.” I stood and bowed politely, yet the princess seemed entirely unamused.
Princess Ileze was the fourth-born princess of the Maldion Empire—the largest country on the western continent. She’d come to this country a month ago for an opportunity to study abroad. But that was merely the official story. In all likelihood, she was here to harass and interfere with me.
“Good day, Queen Laetitia. I see you’re as clever as always, making sure to spend quality time with all the candidates for queen.” She spoke confidently, fanning herself with her folding fan.
The princess was certainly acting full of herself for an uninvited guest. I could tell she had total confidence with a country like the Maldion Empire at her back. She overshadowed Lady Fillia and conducted herself like she was this villa’s mistress.
“I apologize for the surprise, Your Majesty,” Lady Fillia said. “Princess Ileze tells me she coincidentally had business nearby, so she decided to visit me on the way.”
“You needn’t apologize, Lady Fillia. …It was just a coincidence, after all,” I said.
A coincidence.
I would go with that story for the time being. I didn’t know if Lady Fillia had something to do with it, but at the very least, I was all but certain that Princess Ileze had planned this encounter. She was very observant of my each and every action.
Princess Ileze was smiling, but her eyes revealed the true hostility she felt.
I continued our icy-cold pleasantries, making sure I had a smile on my face too.
My homeland of Elltoria did not have a friendly relationship with the Maldion Empire. Our countries had devolved into conflict only a few years earlier, with both sides deciding to walk away before they suffered further losses.
From what I’d gathered, Maldion was unwilling to accept that someone from Elltoria was garnering influence within the kingdom of Wolfvarte. Instead of directly meddling with Wolfvartian affairs, as the two lands were very far apart, they sent Princess Ileze to do their work instead.
Princess Ileze’s objective was to strip me of my influence, however much she could. She’d spent the past month meddling in my life and making trouble for me.
Lady Natalie, Lady Kate, and I had formed a trusting relationship, so the princess was unsuccessful in driving us apart. But she didn’t stop there.
King Glenreed didn’t welcome Princess Ileze to his country either, but sending a princess from the Maldion Empire away was simply not an option. Thus, she remained something of a headache to him.
The princess tried every means at her disposal to get at me, until finally, she’d come to make sure the relationship between Lady Fillia and me remained weak. I felt like we were already on that track, even without Princess Ileze’s interference, but it was still an irritating development.
I feel bad that she dragged Lady Fillia into it this time…
But it was also possible that this was something Lady Fillia and Princess Ileze plotted together in advance. Even Lady Fillia, the candidate at the biggest disadvantage to become the queen, might be able to turn the tables with the help of Princess Ileze and the Maldion Empire behind her.
I glanced at her, but couldn’t read her expression.
Lady Fillia had seemed a bit overpowered by the strong-willed Princess Ileze, but I didn’t feel like she’d been set up either. She continued to speak evasively with a smile I didn’t know how to interpret.
I decided to follow her example and keep up a surface-level smile so that Princess Ileze couldn’t see how I felt.
“I’ve enjoyed speaking with you both, but I invited Queen Laetitia here for a reason today. Shall we go and harvest the honey now?” With that, Lady Fillia brought our unpleasant conversation to a close.
I walked over to a ceramic box in the courtyard where the hive was contained.
“What in the world are you doing, Queen Laetitia? Hehe! It’s so foolish to approach a beehive without taking precautions. I can’t help but laugh. Don’t you know you’ll be stung if you’re careless around bees?” The princess smirked. She was openly mocking me.
I imagined she must have been waiting for an opportunity to insult me. She even made a show of covering her mouth with her folding fan to hide her laughter.
“Ah, can you not use a wind spell to avoid the bees?” she taunted. “How terrible of me. I laughed at you without knowing you couldn’t use magic, you poor thing.”
“No, there’s no need to use a spell,” I said. “I feel very sorry that you don’t understand such a simple concept.”
“…What did you just say?”
Smack!
The princess had slammed her fan against her palm—an expression of her anger.
“Could you repeat that? I must have misheard you,” she hissed.
“I just said that I pity your ignorance,” I stated.
“How dare y— What are you doing?!”
Before she could finish, I’d started approaching the hive. The loud buzzing of their wings made me a bit anxious, but I kept my pace steady.