For three years, due to her habit of waking up early, Yuri Hsien opened her eyes at the time the maids usually got up and blankly looked around the room.

Ever since Elergen had returned, and Kendall was locked in the basement, three days had already passed. That meant, Yuri Hsien had recovered her room from Lapine three days ago.

Slowly, Yuri Hsien, who had been gazing at the room gradually brightening with the dawn, rose from her bed. The soft bed sheet that wrapped around her fingers felt somewhat uncomfortable. The soft bed, which felt like lying on a cloud, and the clothes that didn’t seem to fit were also uncomfortable.

Yuri Hsien, who had leaned back against the head of the bed, muttered softly.

“After all…… It doesn’t feel like my room.”

Even if it had been reverted back to the way it looked before Lapine had changed it to her taste, even if it looked exactly the same as the room Yuri Hsien remembered from three years ago, the differences were clearly there.

‘For example…….’

Instead of the teddy bear that Elergen had bought for Yuri Hsien on her first outing, there was a new doll; the dress made from Lillian’s trimmeddown dress from her childhood was missing.

The feather pen that Elergen had personally carved for the slenderfingered Yuri Hsien, and the diary that Lillian had woven for Yuri Hsien when she was pregnant, were also gone. Kendall and Lapine had destroyed all these objects filled with affection without giving Yuri Hsien a chance to do anything about it.

‘If they had thrown them somewhere or given them to someone, at least there would be hope of recovering or getting them back.’

The ashes were blown away, and now those memories remained only in Yuri Hsien’s memory. How could Yuri Hsien’s room, without those items, be considered Yuri Hsien’s room?

So, over the past few days, Yuri Hsien even thought that the attic from which Lapine had been driven out felt more like her room. Elergen would be heartbroken if he heard, so she kept it to herself.

‘He must be already upset about the last incident.’

The last incident referred to the fact that Elergen had declared he would continue to petition the emperor as long as he wasn’t severely punished, but ended up being outnumbered by the nobles. There were a total of eight noble families in Windsor, and six of them had turned on Elergen.

[No matter how great Windsor is, it’s difficult to recover once branded with the crime of rebellion.] [We have just found the Duke. We cannot lose him again!] [Do you intend to resist the Offenheid royal family without realizing how weak Windsor has become during the past three years the Duke was missing? The damage caused by the Duke’s authority being wielded by an outsider like Kendall is severe.] [Did we watch the princess suffer at the hands of Kendall and her daughter because we wanted to? How could this happen! An outsider like her wielding the Duke’s authority!] [That’s right. We need to restore what’s been lost, or else… it would truly tarnish the great status of Windsor.]

In face of the nobles’ nearfrantic demands, Yuri Hsien and Elergen had concluded that they should prioritize their family first. The nobles might have been somewhat extreme, but Yuri Hsien agreed that they were not entirely wrong.

Just thinking about what happened at the wine bar was enough to make her feel ill with anger. But now, Windsor was not the same as before. A large part had been damaged by Kendall.

‘People even say that great Windsor is a thing of the past.’

Moreover, now people were keeping a close eye on Windsor’s neutral stance. This was because those who had declared themselves as neutral after Elergen went missing had to switch to the Empress’s faction to survive. But now that Elergen had returned, no one knew what would happen.

‘There’s even a rumor that the Crown Prince’s faction, which had been lying low in fear of losing their lives, is now preparing to raise their heads again. That says it all.’

Yuri Hsien knew all too well that Elergen’s return was not just a simple return of her father. And she also knew that demanding an apology from the royal family and Hescliffe now would be of little use.
‘If Windsor does not regain its former glory, it may indeed be buried by the royalty, just as Kendali said to Rapine.’

So it was paramount for the family to stand tall.

Yuri Hsien was momentarily saddened by the thought that even an apology for the shocking incident and injury she had suffered required the strength of the family, but she shook it off.

An apology for the prince’s misdeeds would have been enough on its own. Moreover, she knew from a very young age that a princess could never be an individual. This was a concern of Wergen, but Yuri Hsien did not know it.

‘Let’s not be emotional. Let’s act rationally. I’ve come this far.’

Compose yourself. Think calmly and act wisely, Yuri Hsien.

She merely took deep breaths to suppress her sudden surge of resentment and composed herself.