The Emperor was furious. He was originally known for being uninterested in the national affairs of Habsburg and spending all of his time drinking in a detached palace.
However, it seems he had become enraged because his daily routine was almost threatened. He would very rarely summon the Lord Chamberlain and the High Steward to his detached palace. According to the rumors, he shouted âHow dare you try to bring harm upon this royal body!â and threw a clock at them.
I donât know if I should say heâs petty or deplorable. Itâs quite impressive that an amazing person like Elizabeth was born from a father like that.
Nonetheless, the Emperor was the Emperor. The ladies-in-waiting and the royal guard moved quickly in order to avoid the Emperorâs wrath. They got in contact with the influential successor candidates as a part of this.
The Emperorâs wrath and a competition to succeed the throne. The palace quickly entered into a state of panic.
If another day were to pass like this, then the ministers wouldâve probably gotten involved as well. The empire itself wouldâve been shaken violently. However, the incident went down a path which no one couldâve possibly predicted.
âThis so-called intruder in this incident is an individual whom I am sponsoring.â
Johanna von Habsburg dropped a bombshell.
She declared that the palaceâs security as a whole seemed to be lacking lately, so she tried testing it out.
There was naturally an uproar. What kind of absurd thing had the imperial princess done? Even if the Second Imperial Princess was rumored to be a tomboy, did she not have a lack of awareness as a member of the imperial familyâŚâŚ? Once these complaints were made, Imperial Princess Johanna gave a statement during an official meeting.
âI believed that even if the throne were to fall into a crisis, the populace within the palace would work together to deal with this incident accordingly. Thus, I deliberately ordered the intruder to fall in the lake. However, after the incident occurred, the people within the palace only argued about who was responsibleâŚâŚ.â
The beautiful 14-year-old imperial princess shed a tear.
âI was taught that our empire had overcome the numerous threats that it had faced by uniting. Where has our past glory gone? I did, not expect things would turn out this wayâŚâŚ.â
This was the moment the incident was resolved instantly.
The ministers of the palace immediately changed their stances and condemned the palace workers. âWhat were you doing when the royal throne was in danger!?â, âDid you forget your duty because you were busy trying to pass on the blame!?â, âDo not joke around!â.
Be it the ladies-in-waiting or the royal guard, they were the aides of the royal throne. The withering of the ladies-in-waiting and the royal guard only meant the weakening of the Emperorâs power, and the weakening of the Emperorâs power meant the strengthening of theocracy.
Furthermore, a warning could be given to the future rulers, Rudolf and Elizabeth. This probably seemed like a perfect opportunity for the ministers.
Once the situation proceeded like this, the ladies-in-waiting and the royal guard were no longer able to continue their power game. The head maid and the captain of the royal guard backed down after saying that they would take responsibility.
Only the Emperor could have stopped their resignation, but there was no justification. This all happened because the Emperor himself got enraged. He couldnât take his words back now. This was a matter of authority before dignity. The ministers probably feel like they had just blown their noses without using their hands.\n
A tragedy brought forth by an immature imperial princess and a foolish crown prince. This incident was going to be settled like this, butâŚâŚImperial Princess Johanna made another declaration during the official meeting.
âI do not wish for the head maid and the captain of the royal guard to resign. The two of them have realized their mistakes, so is this not the time for them to work together and create countermeasures? I believe in our vassals.â
If the previous declaration was a straight punch, then this was an uppercut.
The Emperor promptly gave an order as if he had been waiting for this.
âHow could the Gods not be impressed with how admirable our Imperial Princess is being? You all may have made a mistake, but you are also the only ones who have the chance to regain our Empireâs honor. Resolve yourselves.â
Both the captain of the royal guard and the head maid later came to give their thanks to Her Highness Johanna.
This was quite literally giving someone a disease and then medicine afterward, but what could they do about it? They could only look moved on the outside while feeling frustrated on the inside. They even apologized to me. Those damned bastards, serves you right!
The palace ministers were suddenly the only ones making a vain effort.
The ministers had attacked the inner workings of the palace under the pretext of internal discord. They couldnât speak up against the captain of the royal guard and the head maid working together since that would mean they would be the ones causing an internal discord, then. In the end, the captain of the royal guard and the head maid received a pay cut for a year.
The ministers were sad because they couldnât do anything more. They had to be satisfied with this result and back down. The incident was settled and announced to the public, and the people praised His Excellency the Emperorâs secret act of virtue and the Imperial Princessâ natureâŚâŚ.
âLately, wandering minstrels have joined in as well.â
Sebastian informed us.
âThey say that the scene where Her Highness sheds tears and speaks about the honor of the empire is the most popular.â
âPuhahaha!â
Imperial Princess Johanna burst out into laughter. She rolled around on the floor as she laughed. She moved around so much that her skirt got pulled up, making her white thighs visible. Sebastian cleared his throat.
This was the true form of Second Imperial Princess Johanna von Habsburg, the âImperial Princess who cried for the EmpireââŚâŚ. The truth is quite terrifying.
âYour Highness, that is not proper etiquette.â
âWell, Mr. Sebastian, is this not fine?â
I spoke up with a smile.
âThis matter has been completely settled. Her Highness must want to laugh as much as she wants to. Her laughter is like a reward to us today.â \nâHm. If you put it like that, then I will overlook this today.â
Sebastian stroked his mustache and nodded. This man was sincere and strict, but he also had a soft side to him. This was what made him charismatic.
Not long ago, Sebastian had been assigned as Her Highness Johannaâs exclusive butler. He was basically being assigned as the closest person to the Imperial Princess, so it was a promotion.
âItâs only a promotion in name, though.â
Sebastian got involved in the process of getting me out of prison. The incident may have been wrapped up with a moving ending, but a servant who breaches his authority has to receive a type of punishment. It was like that. It would be fine to say that he was removed from the rat race known as the competition for success.
Despite this, Sebastian never showed any signs of frustration to me. Seriously, I could only be grateful to this man. Who knows if Iâll ever be able to fully repay him for this debtâŚâŚ.
âThatâs right. As I thought, Lolita is the only one who understands me!â
âYour Highness, this humble one specifically said only today.â
âAaaah-, why do I only have petty servants around me?â
Johanna stuck her lips out and pouted. She was still on the ground. I subconsciously smiled bitterly because it felt like I was taking care of an unruly little sister.
Referentially, I was selected as Her Highness Johannaâs exclusive attendant. The Emperor, wait. No, thatâs not rightâŚâŚ. His Excellency the Emperor was very content by Her Highnessâ quick wit. The Emperor knew that the chain of events was all an act. He was informed of our entire plan before Her Highness Johanna made her announcement, after all.
His Excellency had a private conversation with Her Highness Johanna and told her that he would grant her one wish. At that moment, Her Highness answered without a moment of hesitation.
âPlease allow Lolita to become my exclusive attendant, Father.â
âI will allow it. As a way for the commoner, Lolita, to protect the imperial family, he will be given the surname Defensor.â
Thus, I became Lolita Defensor.
I may not be a noble, but His Excellency the Emperor had given me a surname. I was partially treated as a noble.
Just a week ago I was being tortured ruthlessly in the underground prison, so should I be happy about rising up this muchâŚâŚ? Hip hip hooray for Her Highness the Imperial Princess.
âOh right, Father gave me a task.â
âA task?â
\nThe lake incident wasnât simply a moving story. Only an extremely small minority of people were aware of this, but the winner and the losers were clearly split apart.
Her Highness Johanna was obviously the winner.
For starters, she made the ladies-in-waiting and the royal guard indebted to her. Their leaders may have received a pay cut, but if they were allowed to go at each other until the very end, then one side would have probably been completely demolished. No one wants that. They probably feel grateful to the Imperial Princess since she managed to mediate the situation appropriately.
She also received His Excellency the Emperorâs good grace and increased her popularity with the people. The ministers may have been a little unsatisfied, but they were still able to deal a blow. They werenât going to be hostile towards Her Highness Johanna any time soon.
The losers were Crown Prince Rudolf and the Third Imperial Princess Elizabeth.
The two of them had tried to use that opportunity to gain the lead in the battle for succession; however, they ended up being ambushed by someone completely unexpected. Johanna von Habsburg was a joker that they had never even considered the existence of.
The ambush was painful. Not only were they unable to help the ladies-in-waiting and the royal guard, but they were suspected of having stirred the disorder among the groups.
They lost the trust of their subordinates and built up suspicion with their latent enemies. They only faced losses.
They will probably be extremely cautious of Her Highness Johanna now. They were going to get serious.
Elizabeth von Habsburg, the Third Imperial Princess was someone we were going to have to especially pay attention to. She was someone who killed her beloved little brother simply because he was going to be a threat to her in the future. There was no way that she would hesitate to murder her older sister whom she barely has any connections with.
Her Highness Johanna was probably being targeted by the most competent and dangerous person in the world. And the task of stopping that was given to me, Lolita DefensorâŚâŚ.
âMr. Sebastian, there is something I must tell you about those two individuals.â
âHm?â
âIt involves Her Highness Johannaâs safety. It is incredibly crucial.â
A completely mediocre person like myself was going to obstruct the genius Elizabeth.
It wasnât a matter of whether it was possible or not. The only thing waiting for Her Highness Johanna if she were to lose this battle for authority was death. I have to accomplish itâŚâŚ.
***
TL Note: Thanks for reading the chapter. I do feel like a lot of information is being left out since this is pretty much a side chapter thing. As in, the author isnât very focused on the details and is simply trying to progress through the story. It does seem dubious that people would trust Dantalian/Lolita this much when he literally appeared out of nowhere and landed in a lake. The author definitely couldâve set this up better, but that wouldâve probably required more chapters. This âIF routeâ ended up being 6 chapters long, so the author probably cut some corners. I donât particularly mind it, though. This scenario is pretty interesting in itself as long as you can ignore how easily people started to trust Dantalian/Lolita.