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Her smile was as beautiful as a flower, and her voice was like the sound of birds singing. She was also a charming person who always knew what to say. She was important and loved, so there were always a lot of people around her. Every time she went to a high-society event, there was a crowd of people waiting to see her.

Still, she didn’t have any friends. Why, you ask? Well…

“That really surprised Rina. I didn’t think Her Highness would be the one to eat the fake Belluga mushroom.”

Citrina sat in her room getting her hair combed at the end of the day, when it was getting dark and sun-afraid bad people were getting ready to do bad things.

Fwish. Fwish.

The rhythmic friction of teeth on strands filled the room with their faint sound. Her beautiful hair was the handiwork of her attendant, Barbara, whose deft motions bespoke her age and experience as a maid.

“Oh no, this is terrible. I can’t believe she found the salamandrakes…”

Citrina started to think about other things as she combed her hair and looked at herself in a hand mirror. Recently she’d been bathing more often. So she could talk to Princess Mia, she went out to find herbs that could be used in baths. Frequently, she’d taken baths herself, which she did with Bel, a girl that Mia seemed to treat like a younger sister. Her hair was shining like never before because she washed it so often.

Not that it matters…

She shut her eyes and kept going.

“Has father told you anything?”

“I’ve heard that the princess’s people have been watching us more lately. As a precaution, letters have been put on hold because they could be a focus of their investigation.”

“My, so rude! How dare they read private letters that a father’s sweet daughter wrote to him.”

When she had to write a letter with sensitive information, she used an old Yellowmoon cypher to hide the message. Still, they couldn’t be too careful, because they were dealing with people who worked for the Great Wisdom of the Empire.

“I guess Rina won’t get any letters until her father gets rid of these people. Oh, what a pain!”

Her small lips let out a sigh.

“Why didn’t you kill the princess right then and there?” Barbara asked in a voice without any emotion.

“At that spot? Do you mean Rina should have tried to kill them both by herself?”

“Madam, I do think that should have been possible with your skills.”

Barbara looked at her in a curious way. Citrina smiled back at her.

“I suppose so. It would have been possible to kill them. But if I killed them there, people who went looking for them would have found the salamandrakes. And it would make them think that Rina might be guilty. Given what we’re trying to do, that seems a little backward, doesn’t it?”

Citrina could have done almost nothing at the time. She had to stop the student council members from looking for the salamandrakes. If that didn’t work, she had to keep them from finding out how dangerous the poison in the mushroom was.

That was the only way they could be sure that their plan to poison a lot of people on the day of the Holy Eve Festival would work.

If you killed Mia, it would be like setting off a huge signal fire. Many people would talk about her death. Even if her death was faked to make it look like she fell off a cliff by accident, a full investigation would still be done at the scene.

The emperor would be so angry and sad about the death of his beloved daughter that he would definitely order Belluga to find out everything about it, even if it meant turning the academy upside down.

During this process, it wasn’t impossible that Citrina would be suspected, and if that happened, their plan would be over.

“Given what was going on, I didn’t see any reason to kill her.” She asked with a curious tilt of the head, “Am I wrong?”

Barbara just looked at her.

“I see. I wouldn’t have thought less of you, madam. You made a good decision, and I admit that I was wrong.”

The maid gave a slight nod. Then, without saying anything else, she went around Citrina’s back and kept combing her hair.

After a while, Barbara said, “This does show, though, that Princess Mia is a hindrance for our plans, and sooner or later, she’s going to be a big problem.”

“True. Rina had the same thought. We’ll have to do something about her,” said Citrina, whose voice was as sweet as ever.

“Oh? So you agree, madam?” Barbara asked, her eyebrows just a little bit higher.

“Hm? Of course I do. Is that weird? She is making changes to the empire. First, she put an end to the revolution in Remno. Now, she is doing this. So many of our plans have fallen through because of her that I’d be surprised if anyone didn’t see her as a problem.”

“I see. That is a very good thing to hear. If that’s the case, do you have any problems with changing our plan for the Holy Eve Festival to kill the princess instead?”

That caught Citrina off guard.

“Wow, you make it sound like a piece of cake. And how do you think I’m supposed to kill her? In case you forgot, we just lost access to our poison,” she said, craning her neck to look over her shoulder with a scowl.

Barbara put her arm around Citrina’s shoulders, as if she were going to give her a side hug.

“By doing this…”

She tied a piece of string behind Citrina’s head and then pulled away, leaving a small object hanging from the girl’s neck.

It was the troya that Bel gave to her as a gift.

“That girl…” said Barbara. “The princess loves her very much, doesn’t she? I think you told me, milady, that you were going to use her. Then, show her. Show her how it looks on you. Make her happy… Then, keep her in check. Use your sweet words to make your way into her heart. We Serpents know how to trick people. Smiths of the mind. Our words are our tools, and our hearts are our ore.”

“But—” Citrina tried to say something, but she was cut off after just one word.

“Haven’t you done this enough times before? This time is the same as always…”

As if on cue, Citrina’s face stopped showing emotion, and Barbara’s began to show a slow, tight smile.

“Don’t be afraid. Everything will go according to plan. I’ll make sure of it, madam,” she whispered in a harsh tone.

But she had no friends, even though everyone should have loved and adored her. Why, you ask?

Well, because all of her friends, the ones her father told her to make, had bad things happen to them. Their dads sometimes died. Their mothers sometimes died. There are times when they themselves…

Citrina wasn’t sad, though. Everyone she had made friends with was just like her. All of them were nobles. They should have known that every connection was part of a web of secrets and lies.

Every gift was given after careful thought. They were aware of what they were getting into. They were forced to…

So, even if they were gone, she didn’t care. She didn’t feel sad. Her heart wasn’t hurting. Over time, she got into a routine.

When a friend left her life, she would throw away all the gifts she had gotten from that person.

I’ve done this before many times… Again, I’ll just throw it away. I’m fine with it.

She gripped the small horse charm that hung around her neck with both hands.