DEDLB | Ch 21

Episode 21 — Scandal in the Capital

Spring had fully arrived, and the palace was in an uproar over a massive scandal.

“He brought a woman?”
“He took in a fallen noblewoman? And said he’ll protect her himself?”

Servants and low-ranking officials whispered excitedly as they passed — Yvonne noticed them out of the corner of her eye. Plenty of people were sneaking looks at her too. They felt sorry for her: Yvonne Siegfried, the Crown Princess who hadn’t even become Empress, standing there while the Emperor kept a mistress. Sympathy and pity were everywhere, but Yvonne didn’t lower her head or look ashamed. Everything was unfolding exactly how she wanted.

The whole thing — the Emperor rescuing Priscilla at the hunting grounds and declaring he would shelter her — had been pushed along by Yvonne. She’d encouraged the move.

“Doesn’t she seem pitiful?” she told Frederick. “If we leave her, nobles will gossip. The Emperor should protect her and show magnanimity to the people.”

Frederick usually treated Yvonne like his adviser and right hand, so after a brief hesitation he accepted her suggestion. That very day, he called an emergency meeting and declared Priscilla would be under his protection. Some of the pro-Emperor faction grumbled, but Frederick ignored them — he was simply thrilled to feel like a hero to Priscilla.

Yvonne hurried to the audience chamber with a small, unreadable smile. She thought, People aren’t as naïve as you think, Frederick. The people of Sildron were tough; they liked the gentle Emperor, but seeing him skip the Empress’s coronation for some love affair wouldn’t sit well.

“His Majesty! The Crown Princess is here.”
As the guard announced them, Yvonne smoothed her dress. Her first goal was to turn everyone’s support away from Frederick.

Just then, a hurried voice came from inside the study. As she pushed the door open, something crashed to the floor. Yvonne froze and turned toward the noise — and for a second couldn’t believe who she saw.

No, wait — she quickly pulled her surprised face into a warm smile. “Priscilla!” she called out, and greeted the woman who looked like she had just fallen off Frederick’s knee. “You were in the study? I’ve been looking for you so we could have tea.”

Priscilla blushed. “Th-The Emperor called me,” she stammered. Frederick looked a little embarrassed as he watched Yvonne smile, and he immediately helped Priscilla to her feet. “Don’t push yourself — your ankle isn’t healed yet.”

Priscilla kept looking embarrassed and grateful; Frederick’s manner with her was very different from how he acted with Yvonne. In just three days back in the capital, Frederick and Priscilla had developed a strange closeness — and Yvonne had helped make it happen. She didn’t try to oppose or attack Priscilla like in past lives; Frederick would have resisted too much. Instead, Yvonne told Frederick to care for her and comfort the lonely woman — framing it as a man’s duty. That probably made Frederick feel entitled to be closer to Priscilla.

Lucy reported later that nothing physical seemed to have happened yet between Frederick and Priscilla — but Yvonne knew it was only a matter of time. In the old timeline, this led to the Empress’s coronation being sabotaged and to Yvonne’s death in December. She had no time for nostalgia — she planned to steal everything precious from Frederick before that December came.

Yvonne kept her faint, controlled smile and said aloud, “You two look very lovely together. Like lovers.”

Frederick stiffened for a moment. “What do you mean by that?”

“I mean, you suit each other. Truly,” she said, maintaining her smile as she looked between them. Frederick awkwardly scratched his cheek; Priscilla’s face was all roses.

They really did look like a perfect pair on the surface. Some past emperors had mistresses, but they still had a formal empress; this situation was different. Still, in this life Yvonne didn’t care about being Empress or having Frederick’s love anymore — those were tools, not goals. But she had to prepare in case anyone tried t,o make her the ceremonial Empress.

“Looking at the dates, the coronation falls right during the Blooming Festival,” she said, bringing up the point that mattered. Because of the summer palace trip for her birthday, the coronation had already been pushed back a week — and that week fell during the festival.

In previous lives she’d tried to force the coronation forward and ended up punished. She wasn’t going to repeat that mistake. “I worry the coronation will be too chaotic during the festival,” she told him.

Frederick frowned. “Three months?” he asked, surprised when she proposed delaying it by that long.

She explained calmly. “April and May are the busiest months for farmers after the long winter — they need to work. June is early summer, when the weather is nicer and people have more leisure. Holding the coronation in June would let the people relax and celebrate properly.”

The coronation was a once-in-decades big event; people stopped work and partied. Yvonne’s reasoning made sense, and Frederick, thinking it over, nodded slowly. “Yes… that might actually be better — to hold it in June when everyone can enjoy it.”

Yvonne glanced at Priscilla. Ever since the word “coronation” left her lips, Priscilla had watched her with wide, admiring eyes. To a fallen noblewoman, the coronation would have been untouchable prestige. Yvonne smiled at Priscilla’s golden eyes.

If you want it, I’ll give it to you — she thought, smiling inwardly at the new Empress-to-be’s look of awe.