[WN] The Evil Imperial Princess : 14

14

Looking at the maids who grew frightened and trembled just from being asked their names, she realized that the path to becoming a good imperial princess was a long one. At the same time, she lifted her black teacup, intending to take out her frustration over things not going well on them, but then gasped in realization, and bit her lip as she looked at the maids covering their heads. If she wanted to stay here, she must not do such things; she understood at least that much. Having calmed herself down, Candice cleared her throat to shift her mindset. From now on, she needed these two, who were slated to stay close by her, to go about their days without constantly being frightened of Candice.

「Ahem…… You see, I hit my head earlier and woke up. From now on, I will not say selfish things. And also……」

Candice had been called the 『Evil Imperial Princess』. And so, she thought of the opposite of the Evil Imperial Princess.

（The opposite of the Evil Imperial Princess is……）

Candice raised her face and declared with her eyes sparkling.

「──From today onwards, I will become a 〝Good Imperial Princess〟!」

「A good, Imperial Princess-sama……?」

「U……mm.」

When she asked the bewildered maids, 「Do you have any complaints?」, they vigorously shook their heads from side to side.

「Truly, a good Imperial Princess-sama?」

「Yes, truly! Therefore, even if you make stupid mistakes, I have no intention of dismissing you. So please tell me your names.」

Candice smiled sweetly and reached out her hands to the two of them. When she asked the two who looked at each other and were still doubting her, 「Did you hear what I said?」, they stood up as if jumping to their feet.

The maids' names were Eva and Rose; the two were twin sisters and had apparently been entrusted with taking care of Candice immediately after entering the palace. The slender maid wearing glasses was apparently the Head Maid, and when she remarked, 「It is strange to be the Head Maid at such a young age, isn't it,」 it turned out that the one who fired the previous Head Maid was none other than Candice herself.

（I have no memory of that……! Did I do such a thing, I wonder?）

The reason was something trivial; it was because she had protested against Candice for dismissing maids, or so they said. When she thought about how she had been behaving so tyrannically since she was this young, she couldn't stop trembling even now. Should she think it was at least better that she hadn't killed anyone yet? By the time she passed ten years old and became able to use a rapier, Candice's aggressiveness would increase more and more. The White Palace was stained with blood, and she felt it was inevitable that she came to be called the 『Evil Imperial Princess』.

（Why did I do such things, I wonder……）

No matter what she did, no one would reprimand Candice. Without knowing what was right and what was wrong, Candice possessed nothing but power in that situation. Now that she had died once, everything she had been doing seemed wrong to her.

Together with the still-frightened Eva and Rose, Candice stepped outside the room to have a meal. She looked around the interior of the gorgeous and brand-new palace. It was still simple and beautiful, but in any case, Candice had spent money recklessly, buying various things and decorating the inside of the palace. She had been buying things like crazy as if to distract herself from her loneliness, but compared to the inside of that desolate dungeon, this was more than enough.

（This really isn't a dream, huh……?）

Looking at this palace, she truly felt the reality that she had returned to the past. And if she had to experience such feelings again, she felt it would be fine even if she had to bend her previous pride, and even if she couldn't obtain her mother's or father's love. Candice walked as if stepping firmly on the bright red carpet. The adults looked at Candice and deeply bowed their heads.

(It had become so natural that I didn't remember it, but I was in this kind of environment since I was a child, wasn't I…… No wonder I mistakenly thought I was the greatest.)

Candice walked down the long, long hallway.

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[WN] The Evil Imperial Princess : 13

13

The only thing handed over to Candice was the golden pendant her mother cherished and wore every day.

Embedded within it was a 『Stone that grants any wish』, and her grandfather once taught her that it was because of this pendant that her mother was able to survive despite her weak constitution and even after giving birth to Candice.

（Even though I believed in Ojiisama……! To think he would lie to me!）

Thinking that, a fierce anger welled up against the grandfather she had trusted.

In the end, Candice was never able to meet her mother.

She can now understand that she was simply deceived and cleverly used.

Duke Radziwill's methods make her unbearably angry, but first, she has to make him give up on having Candice inherit the throne.

（Using my feelings of wanting to meet Okaa-sama is the absolute worst!）

Candice resolves that she must thoroughly oppose this.

（I will never trust Ojiisama again……!）

And she also needs to be careful not to get involved with the man who was Candice's fiancé and became Louise's ally, the Second Prince of the neighboring Daltnest Kingdom, Georges di Daltnest.

Just remembering the gaze that looked down on Candice with contempt gives her goosebumps.

She wants to erase the reality that she had wanted his love even for a moment.

If Georges ends up with Louise in the future, then so be it.

（I absolutely do not want to get involved with Georges from here on out either. I will absolutely never get engaged to that man alone!）

Fortunately, Candice is still five years old.

Although Candice had massacred her siblings and gone around killing the people in the palace who displeased her, there is still plenty of time until the day of destiny.

Until then, if she behaves completely opposite to how she used to and stays docile, a life the same as before is promised.

Once she reaches a certain age, she can just marry a prince from somewhere and escape the Empire.

She has had enough of a life where she is obsessed with something, ruins herself, and gets used.

（I will not obsess over anyone. I do not want to repeat the same mistakes.）

Anxiety remains, but she told herself that it was still a long time before the Second Imperial Princess and Arthur's twin sister, Louise, came to the palace.

(The showdown is in eleven years…… Until then, I will live modestly. I don't know how to do it, but there should be nothing that I cannot do!)

Candice was beginning to regain her usual tune.

She had grasped the situation quite well, and was able to sort out her thoughts.

As Candice let out a breath of relief while sipping her cooled black tea, the maids from earlier knocked on the door of the room and peeked their heads in while checking the situation.

「Candice, Imperial Princess-sama…… your meal is ready.」

「Oh, thank you. By the way, you two……」

「「Hii……!?」」

Just Candice speaking to them elicited this reaction.

Looking at Candice's behavior up until now, it was only natural.

When Candice recalled her own actions and let out a sigh, the maids' shoulders shook greatly.

From today onward, she has to wipe away the image of a selfish Imperial Princess.

（I have to step closer to them! For me to speak to these lowly people…… Calm down, Candice. Compared to being thrown in a dungeon, having stones thrown at you, enduring hunger, and dying, this should be nothing.）

Compared to her life in the dungeon before dying and the despair and regret at the time of her death, something like this should be nothing.

Candice opened her mouth to ask them a question while her lips twitched.

「Tell me your names right this instant.」

「Ah, please forgive us……!」

「We are so sorry! Imperial Princess-sama!」

「hk, for me to……」

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[WN] The Evil Imperial Princess : 12

12

Right now, the place where Candice lives is the White Palace. Maxence is in the Red Palace, and Luca is in the Blue Palace. The places where the children live are separated along with color-coded names. Candice rarely ever leaves her palace, and because everyone lives in different places, even if they happen to see each other, they never speak. And the Emperor, Valentin, lives in the Violet Palace. The Violet Palace is the largest, and the White, Red, and Blue palaces are essentially the size of the Violet Palace divided into three. Candice does not know much about it, but it seems Arthur was living at the very edge of the palaces where Candice and the others lived. Having no backing whatsoever, he had no place to belong in the palace. Later on, Valentin issued instructions to build a new Yellow Palace for Arthur and Louise. Of course, Candice did not like that, and she had tried to threaten Arthur and Louise to stop the construction of the Yellow Palace, however.

（To begin with, because Otou-sama said things to make his children compete in the succession dispute, I misunderstood, and it led to that tragedy! If Otou-sama had just loved me……, that would have been enough!）

Candice bit her lip. However, strangely enough, she can understand now that she was just blaming it on others. Candice does not want to become the Empress. She merely wanted to be acknowledged and loved by her father.

(I absolutely refuse to participate in the succession dispute ever again. Let's push it all onto Maxence-oniisama……! As an Imperial Princess, I intend to survive this time without marrying that man…… But there is someone close by who won't allow that, isn't there.)

This time, Candice has no intention of participating in the succession dispute, but the one who won't let her do so is Candice's grandfather, Duke Radziwill. It seems he had always been dissatisfied with the fact that he couldn't provide a satisfactory education for his own daughter, namely Candice's mother, Lisa, because of her weak constitution. Fortunately, he was able to marry Lisa off to Valentin, and by being blessed with Candice, Lisa's role was finished; to protect Lisa from various threats, Duke Radziwill had her live in a separate villa under the guise of medical recuperation. Duke Radziwill was disappointed that Candice was not a boy, but he schemed to solidify his own position by raising Candice into a perfect lady and having her gain Valentin's favor. Because Valentin stated when Candice was ten years old that the stronger ones would survive in the succession dispute, Candice ended up having the rapier drilled into her. And she came to know that by preparing a fiancé under his influence and having her succeed the throne of the Emperor, Duke Radziwill held an ambition to make it a country where the imperial nobles could shine. He was also trying to outwit the military that supported Maxence and the Pope who supported Luca, but to Candice, it didn't matter at all.

Why had Candice obediently followed Duke Radziwill? It was because of Duke Radziwill's words, 『I will let you meet your mother.』 Starved for affection, Candice bit at those words.

（To meet Okaa-sama…… I had no choice but to do so.）

However, even if Candice became a perfect lady, and even if she polished her rapier skills to the point of spitting blood, Duke Radziwill would extort her for 『more』, dodge the issue, and in the end, she was never allowed to meet her mother even once. And so, when Candice was twelve, her mother died without them ever having met. When she was finally able to meet her mother, she was already cold, lying in a coffin surrounded by flowers.

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[WN] The Evil Imperial Princess : 11

11

The second is 『to take actions completely opposite to before』. Not killing my siblings goes without saying, but my goal is to be a 〝Good Imperial Princess〟 who never lays a hand on anyone. If I do that, it should be highly unlikely for me to go down the same path.

（But, I wonder if I can really do such a thing……）

Will I be able to survive in this palace without wielding a weapon? The First Imperial Prince, Maxence, who has a rough temperament just like Candice, is four years older than Candice and is currently nine years old. Right now, he is a pure-hearted boy who genuinely seeks strength and is devoted to swordsmanship practice. As Maxence grew up, he too would cut people down without mercy.

（That man had an abnormal obsession with strength…… though I can't say I find it beautiful.）

Candice eliminated anything that displeased her, but Maxence was merciless toward the weak. In other words, weakness was an evil. He was solely obsessed with strength, constantly forging himself. That was the influence of his grandfather, the commander-in-chief of the military, and it seemed Maxence was heavily affected by it. Candice could not understand Maxence's feelings. She simply thought of him as a pitiful man possessed by strength, while simultaneously feeling both a sense of affinity and disgust toward him. Now, she can understand the reason for that. Maxence was obsessed with strength, and Candice was obsessed with their father.

（I hadn't realized it until now, but Maxence-oniisama and I were two of a kind.）

The Second Imperial Prince, Luca, is a timid prince who loves books. He is two years older than Candice at seven years old, a pure-hearted boy who still accompanies his mother to church to offer prayers, but before long, he will begin shutting himself in his room and immerse himself in the study of poisons. Great expectations were placed upon him by his mother, but due to his reserved personality, he was called a failure. Living in the Royal Palace, being made a fool of and teased by Maxence and Candice, he loses even more confidence. Though Luca was twisted and gloomy, she did not dislike him, as he was easily bossed around. In fact, even while showing reluctance, Luca often listened to Candice's orders. Because Luca was faint-hearted and could not defy Candice or Maxence.

（I weakened Maxence-oniisama with the poison Luca-oniisama made and then killed him…… I still remember it well.）

Afterward, Candice killed Luca, who had cooperated with her, with a rapier. She dragged the two of them to the party and showed her achievements to her father.

（……Just what have I done, I wonder.）

Only now does she realize the foolishness of her own actions. She didn't know why she had done such a thing, but Candice had been driven solely by the desire to be acknowledged by her father. The Third Imperial Prince, Arthur, is one year younger than Candice and is currently four years old. He is harmless for now, and even as he grows up, he never enters Candice's field of vision. It is almost a wonder that he grew up in this palace without becoming twisted.

（That maid who was always by Arthur's side…… Is it because of that woman?）

Situationally close to Candice, he too was not raised receiving his mother's love, yet Arthur did not immediately fire his maids like Candice did. With his wet nurse acting as a surrogate mother, he likely came to know love. At this current stage, Candice is not involved with any of her siblings. And her father, Valentin, absolutely never approaches Candice in the first place. At this time, she does not yet yearn for her father. Candice only dreamed of being able to meet her frail mother. For now, the only thing she has to be careful about is probably her own behavior. Doing the exact opposite, that is the most difficult part, however……

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