Astra had just finished her breakfast and was resting on the plush couch by the tall windows.
The morning sun streamed in, soft and warm, painting gentle patterns across the polished floor and gilded furniture.
A quiet serenity filled the room, a calm bubble that seemed untouched by the rest of the palace.
Gerald stood silently nearby, his posture rigid yet composed.
The maids moved around the room like shadows, tidying cushions, dusting the polished surfaces, and arranging small decorative items with quiet efficiency.
The serene atmosphere was broken by the soft sound of footsteps approaching.
Ella entered gracefully, her arms carrying a neat stack of envelopes. She moved carefully, as if not to disturb the delicate calm that hung in the air.
Lily noticed immediately. "Ooh! What are those?"
Her entire face brightened with curiosity.
Ella approached and held the stack forward slightly.
"Invitations letters," she explained. "To tea parties. Addressed to Her Highness."
Lily gasped softly like someone discovering treasure.
"So many?!"
Without hesitation, she snatched several envelopes from the stack and began flipping through them excitedly, ribbons and wax seals flashing between her fingers.
"Look, Your Highness! So many people inviting you to tea parties!"
Pastel-colored envelopes rustled brightly in her hands—some edged in gold foil, others adorned with pressed flowers, elegant ribbons, or intricate family crests stamped carefully into wax.
Lily looked utterly delighted by the sheer extravagance of noble society. To her, it probably resembled a pile of beautifully wrapped gifts.
Cassia, however, looked significantly less enchanted. Her eyes narrowed slightly as she stepped closer.
Without warning, she plucked two envelopes directly from Lily's hands.
"Hey—!"
Cassia ignored her grumble. Her focus was on the letters, turning them carefully to inspect the seals.
The first seal gleamed deep crimson beneath the morning light, its impression forming the elegant shape of a twisted-horned ibex, every curve and line etched with sharp precision, as if to proclaim strength and vigilance.
The second bore an elegant silver insignia—interwoven vines and delicate leaves curling into an intricate design that shimmered softly like moonlight against frost. Radiating refinement and quiet elegance.
Cassia's expression shifted almost imperceptibly.
"…There are invitations from the Valentine Duchy," she said slowly, "and from Marchioness Eltridge as well."
The atmosphere changed instantly.
Ella looked up briefly, surprise flickering through her eyes before her usual composure returned.
Lily blinked in confusion.
But Astra…
She remained perfectly still.
No surprise crossed her face. No tension touched her posture.
She merely rested against the couch with the same quiet serenity as before, gaze calm and distant.
"Well," Astra said evenly, "I did cause quite a scene at the birthday banquet. If they still remained silent afterward, that would have been far stranger."
Lily blinked, her head snapping between Astra and Cassy as if watching a quiet, invisible conversation she didn't fully understand.
Her excitement slowly turned into curiosity, then confusion.
"…Wait," she said slowly. "Is there something particularly different about these two invitations?"
Cassia's fingers tightened faintly around the envelopes. Her lips pressed together, hesitating as her gaze shifted from Lily to Ella, who stood silently beside her, and then toward the others gathered nearby.
A sliver of hesitation tugged at her posture. There were things she wasn't sure she had the right to say.
Before she could decide whether to answer, Astra spoke calmly from the couch.
"Tell them, Cass."
The room quieted further.
Astra's gaze drifted toward the sunlight beyond the windows as she continued.
"They will become my people from now on. They should know the things they need to know."
Cassia paused then slowly exhaled. The tension in her shoulders loosened as she straightened once more, returning fully to her composed demeanor.
"You all know," she began carefully, "that Her Highness is first in line to the throne, right?"
Lily and the others nodded immediately—some eagerly, some hesitantly. No one dared deny what was common knowledge throughout the empire.
But something in Cassia's tone hinted that this was only the beginning and not the part everyone knew.
Cassia drew a slow breath, her hands clasped neatly before her.
Then, slowly, she continued.
"There is… something you may not know. It is a truth kept from all."
"The name you know—Evelyn de P. La Cristiane…"
Cassia lowered her gaze briefly.
"…does not exist within the official genealogical records of the Cristiane royal family."
"There is... no such person in the official line of the Cristiane family."
A heavy silence descended, thick and suffocating. Disbelief flickered across every visage.
Because the meaning behind those words settled slowly and terribly.
There was no such person in the official royal lineage.
And yet…
Astra sat before them as the empire's acknowledged first princess.
Gerald froze where he stood, shoulders rigid as though Cassia's words had struck him physically rather than verbally.
Even Ella, usually so composed and so difficult to rattle, visibly faltered for a heartbeat, her sharp eyes widening with alarm.
Lora instinctively pressed a hand against her chest.
"What…? What do you mean?" she whispered, struggling to process it. "How is that even possible?!?!"
Lily looked genuinely horrified. All traces of excitement had vanished from her face, replaced entirely by disbelief.
"How... How can that be?" she blurted out, voice sharp with incredulity. "Princess Evelyn... the Princess we know, she is not recorded in the annals of the Cristiane genealogy??!!?"
The chamber seemed to grow quieter with every passing second.
The weight of Cassia's words pressing upon them as if the very walls acknowledged the enormity of the revelation.
Gerald finally broke the silence, though his voice came lower than usual.
"Why?" he asked carefully. "Why would the Princess not be recorded in the Cristiane royal family genealogy?"
Cassia fell silent. Her hands tightened slightly as her gaze settled on Astra, lingering there for a long moment—steady, unwavering, yet burdened by unspoken years.
Then, she slowly spoke.
"After Her Majesty gave birth to the Princess…"
Cassia's hands tightened faintly together.
"…the midwives all vanished without a trace."
The words landed heavily.
"No reason was ever given."
Lily's face paled slightly.
Cassia continued, voice calm despite the darkness of the memories.
"And the Empress…" she said quietly, "she seemed to harbor not mere dislike for the princess."
She paused briefly before continuing, her tone growing heavier.
"But a deep, abiding disdain."
The word settled like ice through the room.
"The Princess was cast into the Black Rose Palace just after birth. Separated from the main imperial residence. Isolated."
Her eyes lowered slightly.
"Only myself and a single nanny were entrusted with her care."
"We did everything within our power to serve and protect Her Highness," Cassia continued softly. "To shield her from scrutiny, from harm and to offer her what little comfort we could."
Her tone remained composed, but grief lingered quietly beneath every word.
"Beyond that… there was very little i knew. Only that one day, the Nanny confided in me that I must protect the Princess at all costs."
Cassia inhaled slowly before continuing.
"She revealed to me then that the Princess's name was not recorded under the Cristiane royal lineage at all…"
The silence deepened.
"…but instead in the genealogy of her father—the previous Emperor Consort's family."
Gerald's eyes widened.
Lora looked completely lost.
Ella's expression darkened instantly as the implications began piecing themselves together.
Cassia lowered her gaze slightly.
"The Empress… she forced the Princess's paternal family to consent," she said quietly.
"Though they opposed it fiercely, for they could not fathom why she would do such a thing."
"After all, by doing so, the Princess will be stripped off her rightful place in the Cristiane line of succession."
Astra finally spoke, her voice calm despite the weight of the memory: "That day… I heard it too. By accident."
Her gaze drifted somewhere distant, unfocused.
"My motions were unstable, and I tried to cause a scene, just to meet my mother."
A bitter sort of stillness settled over the room.
"I wanted to ask her why."
"It was the nanny who stopped me," Astra continued. "She made me swear never to reveal what I had heard. Never to speak of it to anyone. Then..."
Cassia's composure cracked.
"The very next day…" she said softly, bitterness slipping through her voice like poison beneath silk,
"…the nanny vanished as well. Just like the midwives before."