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In the palace–
Dina was seated inside her room with a frown on her face, looking at a piece of paper on her desk with a pensive expression.
While she was lost in her thoughts, the door of her room opened, showing a beautiful girl with short brown hair that carried a tray with tea and cookies on it.
"Your highness. I brought you something to eat."
"Daisy, you are here. Put it on the table. I will eat later."
Daisy frowned, shaking her head in refusal.
"Your highness, you should eat now. You did not eat breakfast nor lunch today. I can't allow you to continue like this."
"I know that, but I'm still busy, so…"
"Even so, I will not leave until you eat something. His highness Claus left me behind to take care of you. If he returns and learns that you collapsed due to lack of food, I will be unable to face him."
Dina furrowed her brows slightly irritated, but in the end, she sighed and nodded.
She knew that Daisy was right. Plus, she was aware that her brother had left his personal attendant behind precisely to avoid this kind of situation.
After eating some light snacks and drinking a cup of tea, Dina once more looked at the document on her desk.
She then heaved a tired sigh.
"How are things outside?" She asked.
"It's a mess, your highness. A lot of nobles from the surrounding lands and young men that are confident in their abilities have arrived the capital in the last few days."
Dina smiled wryly. "I never thought I would be so popular."
"Well, your highness is very beautiful, noble, and strong. Few women in the empire can compare to you. It's normal that so many people come after they heard the news about you accepting a fiancée."
Dina smiled wryly again and shook her head.
"They truly want to cut all my escape routes this time."
Daisy did not know how to reply to that.
Two days ago, the emperor announced that Dina, the third princess of the empire, would be accepting a fiancée.
According to the news, the emperor would organize a martial tournament to choose an outstanding young man as the husband of his daughter, and that tournament would be realized tomorrow.
The participants could not be older than twenty-five, and they must have a clean background. They would fight against each other during several matches to get the hand of the princess.
That news shook the capital, and immediately many talented young men from the capital's noble families rushed to take part in this tournament.
Some of them found it strange that the emperor organized this tournament is such a rush, but nobody thought too much about it. In fact, only the people familiar with the empire's inner workings knew the true intention of this tournament.
To crush completely Dina's ambition for the throne.
It was a ruthless move that aimed to eliminate Dina's right to succession.
Once Dina was married off, she would stop being part of the royal family, and her inheritance rights would disappear completely.
Moreover, because her fiancée would be chosen through a tournament, Evelyn (the headmistress) could not easily stop it. She could pressure one or two noble families if they wanted to marry Dina, but she could not pressure all the noble families and parties participating in the tournament.
And once someone wins the tournament, Dina will not have another option but to accept him. Otherwise, it will ruin her reputation among the commoners and the nobles. By then, acquiring the throne would be almost impossible using normal means.
Fortunately–
"Everything is going according to the plan." Dina could not help but smile bitterly. "I can believe my brother anticipated this."
Yes, they were already prepared for something like this.
In fact, when Claus left the capital, he warned them that this could happen. The empress and crown prince Alan were not going to waste this opportunity to corner Dina.
Without Claus and his monstrous 'teacher' in the capital, Dina's influence and power were greatly reduced, and she would not be able to stop the tournament even if she wanted to.
Plus, they also wanted to avoid the possibility of Claus disguising himself as another person and participating in the tournament with a different identity. After all, Claus's strength and talent were already widely known, and if he participated and ended winning, their plans would be completely trashed.
Quite the opposite, the tournament would help to increase Dina and Claus's influence even more. After all, a touching history about a brother fighting against the entire empire for the happiness of his sister was enough to sway many commoners and nobles.
What they did not know was that Claus and Dina were already prepared for this situation.
"Has my brother not arrived yet?" Dina looked at her brother's maid and asked.
"Not yet." Daisy shook her head. "Don't worry, he should arrive soon. He must already know about what is happening here. And with his highness's strength, escaping from the gazes of the army and arriving at the capital unnoticed should not be a problem."
Dina could not help but look at Daisy amusedly.
"You seem very confident in my brother, huh."
"I am. My man is that capable."
Dina smiled a shook her head.
Inwardly, though, she was scolding his brother womanizing ways. Look at how Daisy's eyes shone when she talked about Claus.
Just at that moment, both women felt something.
Without hesitation, they turned around at the same time.
At some point, a blue-haired young man appeared in the room, smiling at them playfully.
"It looks like you were talking about me."
"Your highness!"
"Claus!"
"Hmm? Did you miss me that much?"
Dina rolled her eyes, but Daisy did not hesitate to rush towards her master and hug him tightly, rubbing her face against his chest like a little kitten that missed her master.
The sight made Dina incredibly jealous. She had the impulse to do the same and hug her brother's neck. But in the end, she could not bring herself to fawn over her little brother like that. Not when there was someone else beside them.
As though feeling her thoughts, Claus turned towards her and heaved a sigh.
"You are so hopeless..."
Then, he kissed Daisy on the lips before walking towards his sister.
And under Daisy and Dina's surprised gazes, Claus kissed her as well.
Dina was completely stunned. She felt the warmth of Claus's lips against her lips and her mind turned blank.
She was kissed!?
But quickly, she recovered and pushed Claus away.
"W-What are you doing!?"
"Of course, doting my lovely older sister."
Dina's face turned completely red. So red that Claus wanted to continue teasing her.
But when he saw she was about to snap, he decided to stop there.
"Okay, let's stop messing around. Tell me what happened."