The Protagonist’s Party is Too Diligent

Tension—it’s the kind of thing that comes as an optional feature depending on the time and place. But once you move past that moment and that place, it often feels like nothing at all.

Being subjected to all sorts of inspections and surveillance just to visit the Crown Princess and the Imperial Princess could make someone nervous. But when you finally pass through the grand doors of the audience chamber, only to come face-to-face with a very familiar face—the tension instantly melts away.

That was exactly how Claire felt.

“Un—”

Claire almost said unnie, but she quickly looked around. There were no knights or soldiers present. For an “audience chamber,” it felt strangely empty. Almost like if a foreign envoy were received here, they might wonder, Is the Empire secretly poor?

“This is the private audience chamber the Emperor uses,” Alice explained. “It’s for official meetings with important people, but the discussions themselves have to remain unofficial. No one other than the Emperor and the person they’re meeting has any reason to be here, so there’s no need for decorations.”

“Is that so?”

Claire asked instinctively, but the truth was, this was her first time here. If Alice, the future Empress, said so, then there was no reason to doubt it.

And technically, Sylvia was standing next to Alice in the role of a bodyguard. She was fully armed. But judging from the complete lack of any threatening aura around her, it seemed she was only literally armed. If anything, Sylvia was the one who should be receiving protection now—after all, as the only remaining Imperial Princess, she held the second-highest claim to the throne after Alice.

“What about the Gryphon?”

“Outside.”@@novelbin@@