Oh! My Empress

"Your highness, are you really going to follow her the whole day?" the guard in the royal knight garb asked the kid in the carriage which was parked such that the people inside were able to see what was happening outside without being discovered.

"She seems interesting enough, why not?" the kid replied, his eyes had been looking dead and bored all this while.

What was he doing here? He was supposed to be entertaining one of the candidates to be his future wife. This girl was sitting opposite to him but he had no interest in her whatsoever.

He just was following his imperial mother's orders. Why did he have to be the crown prince? And why did a crown prince need to have a duty to meet someone who could or could not be his future wife. He would rather be studying somewhere.

He had wanted this spoiled daughter of Duke Richmond to get irritated, which was why he had brought them through this downtrodden part of the town faraway from the capital. Who would have known he would stumble upon such an interesting scene?

He recognized the two guys in the group even if they were in disguise. Alexander Laurent and Ivan Whittemore. But who was this girl whom they were guarding? She talked like an adult, even lecturing people around, that too about morals.

Moreover, she even offered to sponsor not one but three kids, right at the spot. She had to be in the same league or above Ivan Whittemore.

"Who do you think she is, Timothy?" the kid asked.

"Your highness, in this situation, my only guess is that she is the youngest daughter of Duke Whittemore," the guard, called Timothy Ludwig, replied to his honored crown prince sitting there.

"Your highness, are you interested in that girl? What if she is not from one of the ducal families?" the girl, who had been pouting in anger, finally took notice of what had captivated the attention of his royal highness, the crown prince, Aaron Chadbourne.

"I do not believe I gave you permission to speak, miss Katherine Richmond," Aaron Chadbourne replied to her in a stern voice without sparing even a single glance. He was completely engrossed in the drama over there.

"She did resolve it nicely. I wonder how she will keep up with the news… oh, there goes one of the Laurent families shadow knights," the kid lamented while spotting a shadow running about to bring another team member back on the order of Alexander Laurent.

How he wished he could lure the Laurent family towards his side. Alexander Laurent was the same age as him as was Ivan Whittemore. If only the imperial family and the ducal families had more cordial relationships, these two guys could have been his friends.

He was especially interested in Alexander Laurent. And to have him in his party, he would need to entertain Ivan Whittemore first. There was a longing in the eyes of the crown prince, for comrades.

"Why don't you go and meet them?" the guard reminded the crown prince, seeing his lonely eyes. He had been serving his highness since he was a kid and knew all too well how the prince did not have a single person, he could call friend.

Back at the palace, everyone was busy lusting after his crown, he could not even trust his own brothers and sisters. While outside, he had been taught to not trust anyone, especially anyone from ducal families.

No matter how lonely the crown prince felt, he could not show his vulnerabilities to anyone but his parents. This was the life of a fourteen year old kid. The guard suddenly felt pity for his master.

"H-How can I go and meet them? Would it not mean I was spying on them? I am the crown prince, they should come and greet me," the kid with golden hair and golden eyes replied, with an arrogance he himself was not aware of.

"Alright, your highness. If you wish to follow them, we will do exactly so," Timothy sighed and went back to his guarding duties in front of the carriage while his highness put his arms on the window and watched the kids on the street with interest.

The girl sitting by his side, knew that his highness was not interested in her at all. She had tried to act docile, which did not work and then she had tried to throw tantrums, that did not work either. It was just too difficult to determine the type he liked. But looking at how he was looking at the party of four, it seemed he was interested in… kind people?

Hah! Those pretentious people! What kindness was there in helping their own citizens? Not like they were working outside their duchy. They probably knew that crown prince was there and were just pretending to be nice to gain his attention. How could she let them do that?

The girl swooped her dress and slipped out of the carriage from the other side while his highness was distracted. She clicked her tongue when she saw that the most handsome man in the kingdom did not even spare her a glance. He truly was a jerk!

Even the guard was distracted with the bunch of shadow knights that had now arrived at the site on the order of Alexander Laurent. He himself was a knight and it was a great honor to watch the most celebrated knight squadron on the earth.

Katherine Richmond took advantage of the situation and approached the group that was busy discussing the fate of the three kids. Unfortunately, she had failed to recognize them and had not been able to hear the conversation of Aaron and Timothy earlier. Not that they had mentioned who the four people were.

"You people," she called out to the four of them. No one paid attention to her initially.

She stomped her feet and yelled loudly, "You lowlifes, what lowly noble family do you belong to?"

The four turned around and looked at her funnily. Ah, yes! They were in disguise, but from their rather higher end clothes than the common folks, she must have mistaken them as some nobles low in ranking.

Kim Su Won sized up this girl. She had jet black hair and eyes. Even her clothes had quite much amount of black. There was only one family that existed in Kingdom of Krislabet with these features. But what was the young lady of Duke Richmond doing here?

True to how the novel had described her, she was a top beauty of the kingdom plus, there was no rival when it came to intelligence. The only issue with this girl was her personality. This girl had been described as someone who was very good at judging people and adjusted her own attitude accordingly.

That would mean feeling out the other person, adjusting her demeanor on the fly.

Ivan and Alex also recognized her at once. They had met her before in noble gatherings, so they had no doubt who this personality before them was. They both, subconsciously, lowered their hats, in the hopes that she would not recognize them.

Interestingly, she was only glaring at Kim Su Won. The only reason? She had hogged all the attention away from her companion and she was not going to have it.

When she did not hear any greetings, Katherine's head started spinning. Who were these rude people, who not only wasted her trip with the crown prince, but also failed to recognize her? She had given them such an opportunity to honor them with her presence. What was wrong with people these days?

Or was it that these people were so low in ranking that they had no idea who she was at all? That must be it! She was a genius!

"Why are you not greeting me? Do you have any idea who I am?" she opened her mouth once again. The three people who recognized her massaged the area between their eyes. Why was a person from another duchy here?

"We greet young lady Richmond. Apologies for not greeting you earlier. We were just shocked to see you here," Kim Su Won started first. Thankfully, her etiquette classes had started right after she had her exam. They did not delay there, at least.

"Hmph! Good that you recognized me. What have you guys been doing here? What is all the ruckus? Does Duke Whittemore know what you people are doing?" she crossed her arms and showed a proud expression, taking the name of Duke as if she knew her personally.

The three people almost snorted at her remark while Anna was fuming. Even if this was young lady of Richmond duchy, how dare she disrespect her miss? But since no one was saying anything, she was going to be quiet too.

Kim Su Won had noticed from the corner of her eye that her maid was feeling agitated, but holding back. She nodded inside her head with approval. Anna was learning!

"Why did you come outside?" they heard a male voice from behind.. Aaron Chadbourne had come out of the carriage to see the people.