Mars had been busy thinking about how he could get the pie out of Emmelyn's hand. He even pretended to stumble to have an excuse to drop the pie to the ground until it crumbled, but his plan failed.

He was terrified that Emmelyn put poison in the pie and would kill his mother with it. He couldn't imagine how bad the situation would be if Emmelyn was so desperate and decided to do it.

Knowing her, Mars really believed that Emmelyn could go that far to get her revenge.

The prince had been thinking of various tactics to get rid of the damn pie after his failed attempt. However, as luck would have it, before he did anything, the box containing the pie fell from Emmelyn's hand when the queen embraced her.

"Oh no... the pie!" exclaimed Mars, faking a concerned voice.

He took the box from the floor and opened the contents. He was very relieved when he saw the pie crumble inside. However, his face looked sad.

Inwardly, he praised his acting skills that he didn't know he had.

"What is that?" Queen Elara let go of Emmelyn from her embrace and looked at her son, who was kneeling on the floor and studying the wooden box in his hand. "Did Emmelyn bring me something?"

"Yes, mother. Emmelyn wanted to give you her favorite pie, but now it's no longer edible," Mars said in a sympathetic voice.

The queen turned to the beautiful girl who stood transfixed in front of her with a face filled with tears. Queen Elara became surprised and hurriedly touched Emmelyn's cheek.

"Ahh .. why are you crying? Are you sad because the pie fell? Don't be sad .. ahahaha.. We have a lot of food here. I don't need more."

She pulled Emmelyn back into her arms and patted the girl on the back to comfort her. Queen Elara was deeply moved because Emmelyn seemed to be a very good girl.

Emmelyn came on time for the tea, brought pie as a gift, and looked very sad when the pie fell, and she could not give it to the queen.

Meanwhile, Mars, who saw Emmelyn in tears, could only press his chest and take a deep breath. He thought Emmelyn was sad because her plan to kill the queen with poisoned pie had failed.

[I'm sorry, Em dear. You can't kill my mother ...]

[I won't be able to forgive you if you did.]

[This is for the best.]

"Thank you, Your Majesty," Emmelyn said a few moments later, having managed to pull herself together. She broke free from Queen Elara's embrace and curtseyed gracefully.

Now the two of them stood facing each other, each woman made a quick assessment of the other. Emmelyn was in awe because the queen was truly the most beautiful woman she had ever seen in her life.

While Queen Elara immediately noticed Emmelyn's beautiful face and her child-bearing hips. Ahh... this girl looked healthy, she thought to herself.

The queen thought the girl before her was very beautiful. However, there was something about Emmelyn that made the queen feel intrigued. She could guess that this girl was not an ordinary girl.

"So, your name is ... Emmelyn?" Queen Elara looked at Emmelyn closely.

"Just Emmelyn, Your Majesty. I don't have a last name," said the girl hastily.

The queen furrowed her brows. "Why don't you have a last name?"

Emmelyn lowered her head meekly.

"I don't have a last name because I don't know my father. My mother was a prostitute who served many men, and I was born in a brothel in Glendale," she quickly added sheepishly. "That's actually where His Highness Prince Mars and I met."

CLANG!

Mars, who was holding the box filled with a crumbled pie in his hand, suddenly let go of the box, and it fell to the floor with a clattering sound.

[Wait.. what did she say just now?]

The man's face turned pale all of a sudden.

Never in a million years, Mars thought that Emmelyn would make up such a horrible story about her background.

Now, the man regretted not going through her story together before they came here. He had to hear it at the same time as his mother, and both were obviously shocked.

Mars should have known, a girl as crazy and desperate as Emmelyn could do the unthinkable.

Why was he so relaxed about it? He could only scold himself inwardly. He should have been on edge all the time with Emmelyn around the queen.

Mars simply thought that Emmelyn would pose as a commoner girl he met on his way to Glendale. He was shocked that she would choose the worst possible status to cover up her identity.

The daughter of a prostitute who was born and raised in a brothel was simply not the type of woman a prince could present to his mother, the queen ... let alone to marry.

Meanwhile, Queen Elara was stunned by Emmelyn's words. She was speechless for a few seconds, trying to understand what she had just heard.

Prince Mars Strongmoor, her son, her only child that she really loved .. could finally touch a woman and sleep with her.. and she was a prostitute???

Queen Elara automatically assumed that Emmelyn was also a prostitute like her mother because she lived in the brothel. What kind of life was there for her if she was surrounded by prostitutes and perverted men as their clients?

This is unacceptable!

How could the queen let her son marry a lowly prostitute and have children with her?

Even though Emmelyn was not royalty, for example, Queen Elara could still give her blessings if Mars wanted to marry her... as long as she was NOT a prostitute. Blue blood isn't everything.

They could ask one of the dukes to 'adopt' Emmelyn so that the girl's status could be elevated to be a lady who deserved the crown prince and became his queen after he ascended the throne of Draec kingdom as the king.

However .. if Emmelyn turned out to be a prostitute ... how could Queen Elara let her son, the future king, marry this lowly girl?

How many men had she served so far? How could the Draec kingdom have a future queen like this? The royal family would become the laughing stock of everyone and other kingdoms as well.

It cannot be tolerated ...

"Darling ... is ..." Queen Elara turned to Mars and looked at her son with a disappointed gaze. "Is that true?"

Mars, who was still stunned in his place, turned to Emmelyn and saw the girl's beautiful eyes narrow menacingly as if warning him not to reveal her secret, or else...