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Marie looks equally surprised, but her game face is on as she starts rushing out the room to my closet.

“It’s fine, Marie,” I say, right before she exits my bedroom. My maid looks back at me confused, but complies. It was certainly bold of the empress to appear in my palace the same day I’m nearly poisoned. To outsiders, she would look like she was comforting the scared, new princess, but considering how many dastardly acts she commits in the book as the main villain, I know better.

“Bring me my robe,” I order, uneasiness making me bite my lip. I’m just a kid up past her bedtime, there is no need for me to dress to impress. Marie ties the silk string around my waist in a tight knot and I venture down the stairs holding her hand as the stairs are a tad bit too steep. With my slightly disheveled hair and deer in headlights expression, I looked the part of an easily frightened child.

The downstairs sitting room of my palace had more people within it than I had ever seen. The sumptuous space had two white couches facing one another, within pink and white French inspired walls. Normally, I found myself sitting here in the early morning with nothing to do, but today I could hardly recognize my typical resting spot. There were 10 guards spread out near the entrance and around the room, an unnecessary addition meant to intimidate me considering my palace already had guards.

A squire stood in the corner of the room, watching intently as I made my way down the stairs. The moment my foot touched the floor, he puffed his chest out and announced my presence.

“Her highness, the princess Winter greets her majesty, Empress Katya!” he bellowed, his full voice ringing in my ears.

Marie gripped my hands tighter and instructed under her breath, “This is official palace etiquette. Drop into a curtsey, your highness.”

.....

I smirked at the ground as I lowered into my best curtsey, which wasn’t all that good to begin with. I hadn’t even laid eyes on this woman before, yet she was so insistent on forcing me to follow a strict course of etiquette within my own palace! This is the equivalent of the president barging into your house at 1 in the morning and insisting that you serve him with your finest china and best behavior.

I looked up quickly from my curtsey to see who my opponent was, and I was not disappointed by what I saw. Empress Katya was a beautiful woman. Adorned in a blood-red gown with gold accompaniments, the blonde woman before me was the epitome of a classic femme fatale. Heavy lidded eyes regarded me with a snakelike amusement as I sat down on the white couch opposite of her in my robe and nightgown.

She studied at me with her bright, green eyes that had no doubt convinced many men to do anything for her, and I looked back undaunted. I considered sucking on my thumb in front of Katya in order to further sell my ‘I’m just a helpless little kid’ act, but opted against it. That would be too obvious for such a discerning woman. It would be better for me to act starstruck as if she was my favorite celebrity.

After staring at me for a minute, Empress Katya seemed to snap out of her trance with a gentle smile.

“Princess Winter,” she stated warmly, “You are as beautiful as everyone told me you are.”

She strode around the coffee table between us and sat down right beside me, the full fabrics of her skirt uncomfortably pressing up against my side. I covered my mouth as if someone had just told me the earth is flat and then shook my head vigorously.

“No, you are! You are the prettiest person I’ve ever seen in my whole life!” I exclaim cheerfully. In truth, I want to vomit as I sit beside my future murderer.

“You are too kind, my dear. If I must be honest, I came here for a reason,” she said, an impressive mask of concern settling on her face. If I didn’t know better, I would think that the empress was genuinely concerned for me.

My face droops on command, my bottom lip slightly wobbling as I tearfully gaze up at her.

“Are you truly alright Winter? Do you mind if I call you Winter, I already feel so close to you, dear.”

She lays a hand on my shoulder and it takes all my strength not to throw it off, but rather lean into her touch.

“Yes, call me Winter miss... I mean your majesty! “, I chirp. “I was so scared today. My maid said that some bad people wanted me to eat something bad that would make me sick. If I’m sick then I can’t eat any more sweets.”

“Oh, you like sweets?” the empress inquired. “Then the next time I visit, I’ll be sure to bring some tasty ones with me, okay?”

“Yay, ok!” Nooooo! Please leave and never come back, is what I’m griping on the inside.

“I have a daughter, did you know that Winter?” she says, tucking a strand of hair behind my ear.

I nod excitedly. Julia Hapsburg de la Erudian, the evil, spoiled princess who was in love with her half-brother the crown prince and tried to separate him and Clara on many occasions. How could I forget such a depraved character from the webnovel?

“Yes, I have a sister named Julia in the palace. I can’t wait to meet her!”

Katya’s mouth twists at the word sisters, the only crack in her otherwise impressive performance. Of course she hated me referring to Julia as a blood relative, destroying Julia’s claim of being the promised child. But what could she do about it without showing her hand?

“I will arrange for the two of you to meet. You will find that she is someone you can look up to?” Empress Katya said magnanimously. Translation: You will never be on the same level as my daughter, you fiend. I could only bounce around in my seat excitedly as if I were actually delighted at the thought of meeting one of the worst characters in the story after the empress. If I’m lucky, maybe she won’t be as bad while she is young now.

The empress has a thin-lipped smile as she stands from the couch. I try to imagine what she is thinking as Marie helps me off the couch and tells me to curtsey to the exiting empress. I stay bent in my curtsey as the guards and the squire filter out of my palace, the squire looking cocky as he strolled out of the Rose Palace.

My tiny hands curl into tight fists as I dwell on how self-assured she looked as she lured me in with her charms. Her charisma was off the charts, even during our incredibly short conversation. If I hadn’t vividly read about my own execution in the webnovel, I’d have thought her to be a friend rather than a foe. She probably thought all her cards were falling into place, even with the surprising addition of my presence.

Marie could sense the change in my mood the moment the empress left, but to her credit, she didn’t pry. Or maybe she wrote it off to me being tired from all the madness that had occurred today. All the maids in the halls were dismissed and she blew out the candles, plunging my bedroom into darkness.

By tomorrow the gossipmongers will be singing praises about Empress Katya.

“She is so kind to visit the bastard princess.”

“Empress Katya truly is the mother of the Erudian Empire!”

“Even the king, her own father, didn’t bother to go see her after she was nearly poisoned. Tsk tsk. That princess is so unlucky. It would do her good to become close to the empress.”

I don’t know how much of it Marie will willingly tell me, considering how hesitant she was this afternoon, but I’m certain my guesses are not far off from what will be said by the time the sun comes up. Katya will be hailed as a saint when in reality, the cunning empress has just tied a noose around my neck for her own hands to tighten over the coming years.

It was so clever of her to create such a powerful, yet sweet reputation that one can find no fault with her. She is beautiful, extraordinarily so, enough to be a movie starlet in my world. I can see why Clara had such a difficult time dealing with the potent threat the empress presents.

She has transformed the royal palace into her turf. I think back to how the maid was harried as she rushed to inform me that the empress was sitting downstairs waiting for me. Ordinarily, one of the guards posted at the front of my palace would have informed the proper personnel ahead of time, so I would have had at least a five-minute warning before she arrived at my front door. But no one had been sent in advance to inform me of her presence.

The Rose Palace is infested with her people. Even in my single week of living as a royal, I can deduce this much. Empress Katya is like a weed that has sunk its roots deep into the core power structure of the Empire. She usurped the title of Empress after the previous one died during childbirth from unseen complications, she has a son close in age with the crown prince, and her noble family has bought off half the Church.

If she wants me dead, then my head will be rolling by tomorrow. Unless... a sly thought creeps up on me and in the silent darkness a sinister smile spreads across my face. Unless I do something to her first. According to the story, it is only a few years after the empress has been executed that it’s discovered Julia is not the promised child. Since this is already a fact, why not speed up the discovery a few years earlier? And while I’m at it, why don’t I finesse my way into being the promised child?

I roll over onto my side and physically pat myself on the back because this is the best idea I’ve had since I was reincarnated. I’ve already slightly changed the timeline for Winter’s story, but if I do nothing else, 11 years from now the future will play out as expected. I’ll have to completely turn this story on its head by doing something so crazy, it’ll be thrown off its tracks.

No defense is better than becoming the one thing that would give me armor against being accused of as a witch. I’m laughing to myself now, loud guffaws, and have to bury my face in a pillow to muffle the sounds. It’s a crazy idea, a crazy, wonderful idea.

I have to do this. Even if it’s only to wipe the Empress’ mocking grin off her face.

And it’s going to be the craziest thing I’ve ever done if I somehow make myself into the promised child. The last thought I have before I drift off to sleep is how much Peppermint is going to hate me if they ever figure my plan out.