For a long time now, every time Elizabeth had worn an Elizabeth Pink dress, she’d broken out in a rash wherever the fabric touched her skin. However, the Reyns had invested a lot of resources in promoting Elizabeth Pink, and Elizabeth herself was an important advertisement for the color. When she complained to her father, Tiberio, that she could no longer wear the color because of how it was affecting her, he had forced her to continue wearing it anyway.
So Elizabeth had told herself that the rash was only temporary and had forced herself to keep wearing her pink clothes. But then the rash had become progressively worse, and she’d begun to suffer from other symptoms as well, such as stomach pains and nausea. When at last she’d become so ill that she’d collapsed, her father had finally allowed her to stop wearing Elizabeth Pink for a little while. The only time Elizabeth wore clothes in colors other than pink was when she was feeling especially ill. She’d been learning to live with her symptoms, but on the day of the party, she’d finally collapsed in front of the crowd and made a spectacle of herself.
After resting and recovering in the infirmary for a little while, Elizabeth had returned to her room in the palace.
“How useless can you be?!” Tiberio yelled.
Elizabeth screamed as a sharp slap echoed through the bedroom. She fell to the floor from the force of impact. Her cheek ached and the taste of iron spread inside her mouth.
“I’m truly sorry. Can I earn your forgiveness— Ouch!” she cried.
“If you were smarter and more useful, I wouldn’t have to be so upset with you,” Tiberio replied. He knotted his fingers into her hair and pulled her face close to his. His face was locked in his normal, gentle smile, his expression conveying nothing about his state of mind. Despite the fact that he was her father, he still frightened Elizabeth.
“You collapsed at the official unveiling of the empress candidates, stained one of our company’s precious Elizabeth Pink dresses, and even inconvenienced attendees who could have been important customers. Are you aware of how deeply you have failed me?” Tiberio asked.
“I know. I’ll do better next time. I will not collapse, even if I feel sick,” Elizabeth replied.
“I expect nothing less.” His smile took on a definite air of intimidation. The cold look in his eyes chilled Elizabeth to the bone. She felt her throat constricting. “Why haven’t you become the crown prince’s fiancée yet? It seems that foreign woman has successfully won him over. Rumor has it that the crown prince has become quite fond of her and has even been visiting her frequently at the palace. Why can’t you be like her?”
Tiberio tightened his grip on Elizabeth’s hair before tossing her violently back on the ground.
I want to know that too, Elizabeth thought. She’d been touted as the best candidate in the country, and with her family and their power behind her, she’d taken it for granted that she would become empress and reign alongside Leonardo. But everything had gone haywire when Westalia Lejainne appeared on the scene. What a disgrace for the daughter of the Reyn family to lose to some foreign woman.
According to Tiberio’s plan, by now Elizabeth should have already been the crown prince’s fiancée. He wanted the shadow power that came from having his own daughter become empress: With a pawn in place, he could take over the Kingdom of Slidd, which was currently under the rule of the Kingdom of Lhumzia.
The conflict between Lhumzia and Archaites had begun when the former forcibly took control of the Kingdom of Slidd, which was located between the two countries. The Archaites Empire had objected to Lhumzia’s actions, and the conflict had finally escalated into war. Today, the Kingdom of Lhumzia ruled Slidd as a protectorate, through the local royal family, but they were still at odds with the Archaites Empire over their right to rule.
Slavery was legal in the Kingdom of Slidd, and Tiberio was planning to bring slaves over to Archaites and use them as labor for the Rias Corporation.
“Tell me once again what your role is,” Tiberio ordered.
“My role is to become empress and give birth to a child who will become emperor. And to participate in foreign policy and gain control of the Kingdom of Slidd,” Elizabeth replied dutifully.
“That’s right. It’s all for our family,” Tiberio said with a soft smile on his face.
Elizabeth had no interest in the prosperity of the Reyn family or in status or honor. All she had was love, pure and simple. Even if her father said he was doing this all for her, all he really cared about was satisfying his own greed.
“I would’ve been happy just being by Leonardo’s side...” The words slipped out of her mouth before she could catch them.
Tiberio grabbed Elizabeth’s collar and smiled scornfully at her. “You can’t possibly be serious! You don’t have the luxury of indulging in love affairs... I think you need to be disciplined again.”
It had been Tiberio who’d gotten the answers to the written test in the first round of the empress selection and who’d thought up the answers to the question in the final round.
While her father often pulled strings behind the scenes to make sure that Elizabeth looked like the one being cunning, there were also times when she’d harassed Westalia of her own volition. She’d been the one to try and appoint someone under the Reyns’ patronage as a judge for Westalia in the second round, and who had torn up her dress in the third.
I’ve always watched my father’s face closely, and it’s turned me into a cowardly person whose first course of action is to play dirty tricks, Elizabeth thought. All this time, she’d been reporting every detail of what was happening to her father and had plotted and carried out schemes to suit his wishes. They were birds of a feather.
I am my father’s cruel and irredeemable puppet. She obeyed Tiberio without question because she would be punished if she didn’t follow his orders. Even the gathering of flowers was being led by her father—she had no say in the process.
Elizabeth Reyn was not the kind of candidate whom anyone would truly admire. She was a mediocre girl who could study well and was good with her hands, but she was not outstanding or genuinely commendable at anything. The title of “the best candidate for empress” was a ruse that her father had concocted as part of his plan. The real Elizabeth was just one of Tiberio’s pawns.
That’s why she hadn’t been told how Elizabeth Pink was made or where the factory was located. She was forced to advertise the product like a dress-up doll, without knowing anything about it.
“Father, no! Please, stop! No...!”
All throughout that day, the first candidate’s chambers rang with Elizabeth’s screams.