And the same was true for Enoch.

“Please… let me live in peace, without being too hated.”

The voice of that earnest prayer had been soft yet clear. And the thought behind it, that she already believed she would be hated, was pitiable.

And yet.

“She is still a daughter of the Tairas.”

The face of the woman who had stood holding an armful of red plum blossoms while heavy snow fell and turned the whole world white would not leave him.

The platinum hair spilling from beneath her cloak, those lake-blue eyes, and her flushed cheeks kept drifting before his eyes.

“Tch.”

He did not want to admit it, but Alexa’s appearance earlier had been remarkably pure and beautiful.

“Duke Taira certainly came prepared.”

Alexa was a beauty by any measure. The kind of beauty that left no room for personal taste or preference to enter into it.

The sight of her in the white snowscape, holding an armful of red plum blossoms, was not something anyone could easily forget.

And then there was.

“Please… let me live in peace, without being too hated.”

Her wish had been so small and fragile.

Anyone making a wish would hope for their own happiness, yet she had only asked not to be too hated. Enoch could not understand it.

On top of that, she had come to the imperial palace and was hoping for a peaceful life. That made no sense at all.

“No, it could be some kind of scheme.”

Enoch denied his own feelings.

Since the Empress Dowager was the one instructing Alexa, she might well have told her where the emperor’s private Secret Garden was.

“A truly low scheme.”

He passed his own judgment, then turned on his heel sharply. Alexa’s image and that pitiable prayer still hovered before him, but he pressed them down deliberately.

* * *

Whether from being caught in the snow or from the shock of it all, Alexa came down with a cold. Matilda nursed her devotedly.

“Why did you have to go out in the snow at night… Still, the physician says it’s just a simple cold, so you’ll be fully recovered by the imperial marriage.”

The imperial marriage was drawing closer day by day.

Each time she thought of it, Alexa’s heart grew restless. At first she had simply assumed she would end up in the role of the hated wife, but having seen Enoch in the Secret Garden, she could now picture herself being hated by him, and it left a dull ache in her chest for no good reason.

‘I thought I wouldn’t care…’

Alexa was always going to be cast in that role.

But after meeting Enoch just once, the future in which he would hate her felt frightening and sad.

“My lady, are you listening?”

“Hm? Oh, I was lost in thought for a moment…”

“I sent word to Lady Stella not to come today. I told her you had caught a cold.”

“Mm.”

She had already learned all the court etiquette she needed anyway. That was thanks to the Taira ducal house having taught her in advance. Alexa had been chosen as a tool specifically to ascend to the empress’s seat, so everyone involved had been thorough to the last detail.

“Oh, and I heard the renovations to the empress’s quarters are all finished.”

“Is that so?”

Alexa answered without much thought.

It would be nothing more than a beautiful cage, in the end.

“They say the empress’s quarters are packed full with the Taira ducal house’s trousseau.”

Everyone was pouring effort into this imperial marriage. But if Enoch’s heart remained frozen, none of it would mean anything.

Alexa was squandering her life over something that would mean nothing.

“Only one week left now.”

The imperial marriage was fast approaching.

“Everything is perfectly prepared, so please don’t worry about a thing.”

Alexa gave a small nod.

That was all she could do for now. The only feeling she had was that knowing what was coming made it all the more painful.

“And Her Majesty the Empress Dowager has given permission to send letters outside.”

That was probably meant to encourage her to write to the Taira ducal house. Alexa coughed and pushed herself upright.

“Matilda, bring me paper and a pen.”

“You want to write right now?”

“Yes, I’m well enough for that.”

Alexa wrote a letter of greeting to Duchess Violet, who had genuinely cared for her. She was the only one who had ever felt sorry for Alexa’s situation.

From Alexa Taira.

The name written at the end of the letter felt strangely unfamiliar.

But that name would soon disappear as well. After the imperial marriage, Alexa would become Alexa Dias.

“Then I’ll send this as it is.”

“Yes.”

Alexa leaned back against the bed again. Through the fog of her cold, the events of that night kept rising to the surface of her mind.

She had carried a certain bias against Enoch, given how cold-blooded he had been portrayed in the original story, but his powerful and striking appearance had been nothing like she had expected.

‘Not that it changes anything.’

Alexa tried to put that night out of her mind. But the harder she tried, the more vividly his image seemed to etch itself onto the inside of her eyelids.

‘All I need is for my prayer to come true. I won’t ask for anything more than that.’

Not to be too hated. And to be able to live in peace. For Alexa, even that was more than she dared wish for.

* * *

Today as well, Enoch returned to his study after his audience and began attending to state affairs.

But every time his eyes fell on a blank space on the page, the image of Alexa holding an armful of red plum blossoms rose in his mind.

“D*mn it.”

That chance encounter might have been a scheme orchestrated by the Empress Dowager. His mother was more than capable of something like that.

But what if that pitiable prayer had truly been sincere?

“No.”

Enoch ran his hand roughly through his hair. It was a habit that came out when his mind was troubled. Which meant that brief encounter on that night was now troubling him considerably.

“I greet His Majesty the Emperor.”

Din had appeared at some point and was bowing.

“I looked into what you asked.”

“And?”

“The detached palace where the young lady is staying is very close to Your Majesty’s Secret Garden. As there was no boundary marker between them, I have ordered one to be put up during the repairs.”

In other words, that encounter might truly have been a natural one.

“But why would you…”

“That is not your concern.”

That night, heavy snow had been falling in the dark. She might have been taking a walk in an unfamiliar palace, lost her way, and wandered into the Secret Garden without knowing.

But he could not yet trust everything at face value. She was, after all, a woman who had entered the imperial palace under the Taira name.

“I have also finished looking into the Blanc marquisate.”

Enoch lifted his gaze as though to say, go on.

“The Blanc marquisate is a distant relation of the Taira ducal house. The young lady was apparently well known for her beauty, and it was the Taira ducal house that first proposed the adoption.”

It was exactly the sort of thing the Taira ducal house would do.

“And in return, it seems they received an estate and a considerable sum of money.”

In other words, they had sold their daughter to the Taira ducal house. The likelihood that Alexa had any say in the matter was small.

“They all have a fine talent for revolting behavior.”

The Blanc marquisate had sold their daughter to Duke Taira to satisfy their own greed, and Duke Taira had joined hands with the Empress Dowager to push things this far, all to make that same Alexa his empress.

It was nothing short of nauseating.

“Looking back through history, it is not so uncommon…”

“What I cannot stand is that it is happening in my reign.”

At those words, Din bowed his head in silence.

The current council was dominated by Duke Taira. It was a situation that had been giving Enoch, who had not long been on the throne, considerable difficulty. So it was no wonder his feelings about this imperial marriage were not good.

“How long until the imperial marriage?”

“One week, Your Majesty.”

The time had already crept that close.

“Today you are to have your ceremonial robes fitted with the chamberlain.”

“I know.”

Unwilling as he was, this was an imperial marriage. Once decided, canceling or postponing it was out of the question.

It was commonly assumed that an emperor held absolute power, but that was not always so. Even now, Enoch was facing a marriage he did not want, under pressure from the Taira ducal house and the Empress Dowager.

But Enoch had no intention whatsoever of giving them the heir carrying Taira blood that they desired. Whatever Duke Taira might do, that much was beyond his reach.

“It’s going to be a tiresome stretch.”

Enoch pressed his fingers to his temple. An imperial marriage was a momentous occasion for the empire. The banquet alone would last three days. For Enoch, who was already managing a crushing workload, it was time he could ill afford to lose.

* * *

The Empress Dowager’s chambers were thick with smoke again today. Before her, David, the emperor’s chamberlain, bowed with his head lowered.

“Was there anything out of the ordinary?”

“No, Your Majesty. Today he is to have his ceremonial robes fitted.”

Camilla gave a small nod.

She had worried he might dig in his heels and refuse to go through with the imperial marriage, but it seemed that would not be the case.

“Lady Taira has caught a cold, but the physician says she should recover within a few days.”

“A cold, of all things, at a time like this… tsk.”

Camilla clicked her tongue in displeasure.

Since Alexa had become Duke Taira’s daughter, she and Camilla were now aunt and niece by relation. But the two of them were still complete strangers to each other.

“Does His Majesty know?”

“I beg your pardon, but it has been difficult to bring up the imperial marriage with him, so I did not think to mention it.”

“You did well. There is no need to put him in a foul mood over nothing.”