SHE would have all of her wishes fulfilled, and she would get her hands on everything she could ever want. No matter who suffered because of that, she didn’t care so long as she was happy with the way things turned out.
Because of that twisted way of thinking, everyone around Cornelia feared her.
People often wondered what in the demon realm made her so selfish, but the answer was mainly down to her father. Lord Elestial was a demon with a long lifespan of several hundred years. He excelled in politics and military affairs, and he had contributed greatly to Celaeno’s development. Many people praised him for his talents, but he had one, huge fatal flaw: he was the utter definition of an adoring parent.
He would do anything for his sweet little daughter, who was the apple of his eye. Even if it was something reprehensible. In fact, that was what he was best at. In a way, it was only natural that Cornelia grew up the way she did with that sort of a father as her role model.
She was a talented fire mage, and she was rumored to be the most powerful woman in the land. Such talk only fanned the flames of her arrogance. There was no one who could stop her—apart from maybe her father, who would never even dream of attempting to get in the way of his beloved daughter’s wishes.
Currently, there were two things the terrible Lady Cornelia sought after: Prince Sirius, and the throne. The fact that the prince already had a partner would do absolutely nothing to change her wicked mind.
“Basically, from Lady Cornelia’s point of view, you’re her rival. As far as she’s concerned, you came out of nowhere and snatched Sirius up from under her nose,” Raven sighed. He and Marialite were sipping at some tea in her room, doing their best to relax under the circumstances.
“She sounds like a lot of trouble…” Marialite replied with a sad smile.
When Sirius heard that Cornelia was at the palace, Marialite had clearly seen him make a terrified expression. However, she never could have imagined quite how terrible this Cornelia really was.
“Immediately after Sirius was chosen to be heir to the throne, Cornelia insisted that she was going to be his empress,” Raven bit out. “Of course, Sirius refused each time, especially since he can’t stand people who abuse their power to get their own way. The people would’ve kicked up a fuss if His Majesty chose Lady Cornelia to be the future empress, too, so he even sent her a letter to say he wouldn’t let her marry his son. I don’t know why she keeps on trying.”
“Wow…” Marialite said, putting a hand over her mouth. However, her reaction wasn’t one of shock—but rather excitement that someone like Cornelia existed in real life, and not only in fairy tales.
She knew some noblewomen back in Pythia, but they were all very polite women who placed a lot of importance on their reputation. In particular, she remembered Liza, the daughter of Lord Rayford. Just like her father, she was a hard-working, refined woman.
That was why she was so curious to learn that noblewomen with bad personalities even existed.
I just have to meet her, she thought.
“I’m sure Lord Sirius already told you, but it’s best if you don’t meet that woman. I thought she might give up after hearing that he made a foreign saint his fiancée, but it sounds like she’s marched into the palace huffing and puffing with anger,” Raven heaved with yet another sigh.
“…Okay.”
Marialite doubted whether Cornelia had even heard the news of their engagement at all. No one with common sense would try to propose to somebody else’s man. Even Rufus broke off their relationship before searching for a new fiancée.
“Come to think of it, I wonder if he ever found the woman he was looking for?” she wondered to herself.
“Hm? What was that?” Raven looked at her blankly.
“Oh, no, sorry—I was talking to myself,” she smiled. “Lord Sirius is probably talking to Lady Cornelia right now, isn’t he?”
“I’m not hopeful that she’ll just shut up and accept that he’s off-limits, but… Oh! She’s here,” Raven exclaimed as a crow swooped down onto the windowsill and cawed for him. He swiftly rushed over. “Yeah… Mm-hm… Okay… I thought she might say that…”
He nodded over and over as the crow cawed at him; evidently, although Marialite couldn’t understand a thing, he understood it perfectly. It was sweet. The crow’s eyes were big and round, and there was a certain charm to them.
She watched on, leisurely sipping her tea with a big smile on her face. Eventually, the bird finished giving its report and flew away once more. When Raven turned back around, he had a lax smile of relief on his face.
“Thank goodness!” he exhaled. “Apparently, she left!”
“What? Already?”
“The discussion got a little too heated, and they were hurling fireballs and lightning bolts at each other until, eventually, the chandelier crashed down onto the table. It seems as though even Lady Cornelia had to admit defeat at that point,” he explained.
It sounded like their “discussion” was the furthest thing from a polite exchange of words over tea—it ended up more like a battlefield. Two or three people were injured in the scuffle, but judging by Raven’s blasé reaction, Marialite could only assume that was an everyday occurrence when it came to Cornelia.
Raven gave her a serene smile that she’d never seen before. He must’ve been really relieved that the situation hadn’t escalated any further than that. Marialite, on the other hand, was secretly a little disappointed that she didn’t get to meet Cornelia.
“Well, then… I’ll go speak to Lord Sirius directly now,” Raven said.
However, as it turned out, that was far from the end of things. They suddenly heard a commotion from outside the door, shouts and clashes filled the hallways.
“Halt!”
“Stop right there!”
More and more warnings of that effect echoed through the palace, the shouts getting closer and closer. Apparently, whoever it was had no intention of stopping.
Raven pursed his lips nervously.
“Stay right here, Marialite,” he said gravely. He then put a hand on the door handle with a frown on his lips.
In the next moment, the door came flying open, and the door smacked Raven square in the face with a fierce wham.
“Raven!” Marialite yelped in a panic, rushing to kneel down next to where he’d collapsed. However, she didn’t get very far. Barely a second had passed before someone entered the room, blocking her way.
The woman before her had wild, fiery red hair and fierce ashen eyes. She wore a bright crimson dress that stuck fast to her slender figure. Despite her stunning beauty, something about her screamed unapproachable—even if she weren’t snarling ferociously at Marialite.
“Are you the saint that Lord Sirius is so fond of?” she spat. “Looking at you, I’d say you’re barely worth mentioning. His Highness has terrible taste in women.”
She’d only just laid eyes on Marialite, yet she was already hurling a stream of verbal abuse at her. Meanwhile, Marialite was barely listening at all; she was totally fixated on the cat ears sprouting out the top of the woman’s head, vivid red to match her hair.
“My name is Cornelia. I’m Lord Elestial’s only daughter, and this country’s best hope of having a worthy empress,” she smiled smugly. “You, on the other hand… Apart from being a saint, you have absolutely nothing going for you. We’re worlds apart.”
Marialite stared up at her in a daze, completely silent.
“Heh. I see I have rendered you speechless. Don’t worry, though—I’m used to people being floored by how much more beautiful I am than them. Are you worried that I might catch His Highness’ eye?” she smirked. “Poor girl. If things go as planned, there’s no way in hell you’ll ever be empress… Helloooo? Are you even listening?!”
No matter how much she tried to provoke Marialite, she simply stared up at her cat ears blankly, her expression unchanging and her lips unmoving. Cornelia began to panic. Marialite’s pale-blue eyes were sparkling with wonder, and she wasn’t listening to a single word of Cornelia’s abuse.