Chapter 10: 10

Hearing the announcer, Michelle turned her head towards the entrance of the hall, and just like everyone else, she bowed in her waist as the Emperor and the rest of the Royal Family walked through the banquet hall towards their seats.

The Emperor and Empress sat down on their thrones, and the Emperor finally waved his hand at the aristocrats. “Stand up, our subjects! This is a joyous occasion, so do not be too formal!” he had a smile on his face as he spoke.

Michelle straightened her back and folded her fan, holding it down. Her eyes were deep and profound as she scanned the Royal Family, taking in their traits. After a short while, she retracted her gaze and retreated into the crowd.

Using the contract between herself and Mare, she checked Mare’s location and found out that she was already entering the banquet hall, so Michelle went towards her.

The moment Michelle reached Mare, she placed the tip of her fan on her lips to keep her quiet, a dark smile on her lips. “The show will begin soon,” she said in a whisper. Her words caused a brief smile to flash across Mare’s lips, as that was the thing she anticipated the most, just like Michelle and the Archduke.

That the show was about to begin was quite a vague thing to say, as for the start, Michelle needed the Emperor to act as she expected. By disguising as a palace maid for a whole maid, Michelle found out that the Emperor was unaware of the assassination attempt the Crown Prince pulled on the original Michelle, and he was even worried about her well-being after finding out about her memory loss.

After observing for a while more, Michelle had discovered that the Emperor was planning to find out more at the banquet, which played perfectly into her cards.

And just as Michelle had anticipated, the Emperor soon called her forward.

“Is Young Lady Grace present?” the Emperor asked after having called forth quite a few people.

Just like everyone before her, Michelle stepped out of the crowd and bowed down in her waist. “Subject Michelle Grace greets the Emperor! May Your Majesty’s reign be as graceful as the midnight moon, and last as long as the sun keeps shining on the Empire’s days!” she greeted formally.

The Emperor looked at Michelle with a piercing gaze, studying her demeanor. She had clearly changed since the last time he had seen her. Just like before, her stance carried some arrogance, but in the past, it was more like the arrogance caused by having an influential father, but at the moment, the arrogance was elegant and peaceful, caused by reasonable confidence in one’s own ability.

Another thing that was clearly changed about Michelle was her way of dressing. In the past, she used to dress in bright and lavish dresses which were supposed to highlight her silver hair, but didn’t quite suit her, but at the moment, Michelle was wearing a dark purple dress with silver streaks, which complemented her violet eyes and was in sync with her silver fan which complemented her hair.

The dark purple of her dress carried a hint of sin mixed with breathtaking elegance, making her look like a completely different person than the Michelle the Emperor and aristocrats knew in the past.

The Emperor concealed the surprise he was feeling and put on an enigmatic smile. “Young Lady Grace, there was a rumor that you’ve got an amnesia after an unfortunate accident, and as you are engaged to Our son, We are concerned. Is the rumor true?”

Hearing the question, Michelle knew that the Emperor knew the answer, and that he wanted her to deny the truth, but Michelle didn’t have any plans to go along with his wishes. “This subject is sorry to say so, but the rumor is true,” Michelle bowed her head as she spoke.

When Michelle’s answer fell, the Emperor’s expression darkened for a moment. “How much did you forget, Young Lady Grace?” he asked direly.

At that moment, Michelle remained silent for a moment before opening her mouth. “This subject doesn’t remember anything…” she said after a while, her voice sounding regretful and sad, making it clear for everyone that she wanted to remember but just couldn’t. What no one knew was that Michelle was just acting, because her acting was just flawless.

The Emperor frowned at Michelle’s answer. He didn’t like it. He knew that his son, the Crown Prince, was dissatisfied with the engagement, but he himself was quite happy with it since it meant getting support from the Archduke, but if his son suddenly decided to use Michelle’s amnesia to break off the engagement, he would lose the support.

The Emperor decided not to ask Michelle any more questions, so as not to give his son more of a reason to break off the engagement, but he was unaware that the wheels of Michelle’s plan started turning the moment he called for her.

“Young Lady Grace, we shall hope for your quick recovery. You should now go enjoy the banquet!” the Emperor said and Michelle bowed her head and retreated into the crowd, back to Mare.

“So? Why were you gone for so long? Did something really happen?” Michelle asked with a lifted brow.

Hearing the question, Mare nodded a bit. “It wasn’t really serious. They just shoved me into a room where an ugly man was bathing. They provably wanted to disgrace you by having your ‘beautiful maid’ married to an ugly shit. Unfortunately for them, even before the man noticed me, I turned into a snake and got out of the room. And don’t worry, master, I made sure to poison him before leaving.” Mare grinned darkly as she whispered what happened.

“Good work!” Michelle smiled, not even bothering to ask Mare if someone had seen her as Michelle had already been with Mare for a month and understood that she was very meticulous and never left her tracks behind when she did something.

Mare nodded a bit. “Master, what are we gonna do now?” she asked curiously.

As an answer to that, Michelle only smiled coldly. “Kill with a borrowed knife. And then, a direct kill.” Her eyes shone with an icy gleam, letting Mare know that she had a twisted plan in her mind. But the icy gleam was quickly concealed, and for a moment, Michelle showed a disgusted expression, because she hated what she was about to do. Then, she changed her gaze and expression into that of a gullible young girl. She hated doing so, but she wanted to use it in her plan as it was the most useful.

Mare was a bit surprised when she saw the gullible expression, but she quickly understood what Michelle was planning, and she herself returned to playing the role of an exemplary maid.

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