“Why is Jella your fiancée?”

Yupheon was the first to pick a fight.

“Seems like you’ve forgotten that you asked for the engagement to be called off with your own mouth?”

“And you’re no longer even her friend.”

However, instead of getting upset, Niel slowly pulled up the corners of his mouth and counterattacked.

“Why are you carelessly mentioning her name? Have you no shame?”

At Niel’s counterattack, Yupheon smiled prettily with his pure face and spat out a curse.

“The one without shame would be you. Having the audacity to take Jella’s place. Shameless and unlucky bastard.”

“Your vulgar way of speaking remains the same, I see.”

Niel also responded in an elegant voice, without erasing the languid smile on his face.

“But I at least have her empire in my hands like this, while you have nothing? It seems even her legacy avoids you because it dislikes you.”

“You talk as if Jella handed it to you herself when you arbitrarily seized it after her death?”

“It’s a gift she gave me. This peaceful and beautiful empire.”

“What gift?”

Yupheon snorted.

“You, have you ever received a gift from Jella even once? No, right? I received them every year.”

“…I’ve received many as well.”

“You mean those things her aide randomly picked and sent with a fancy card in her name?”

“…”

“Well, I suppose you at least received some formal gifts, being bound by the name of fiancé.”

A slight crack appeared on Niel’s face, which had been smiling gently.

However, he quickly composed himself and retorted.

“How long do you plan to stay here? This land she left me is being tainted by your filthy footprints.”

“Every time you breathe, you’re polluting the air Jella would breathe. I should kill you to purify the air. I’ll be in your care until then.”

“Oh my.”

Niel suddenly burst into loud laughter.

“I was just thinking the same thing.”

“Huh?”

“It’s a bit unpleasant. I don’t want to share even a single thought with you…”

He muttered, stroking his chin as if in contemplation.

“I suppose I should eliminate you quickly. To prevent you from thinking the same as me anymore.”

While their smiling faces towards each other were quite gentle, the piercing gazes they exchanged were nothing short of murderous.

As the two men were engaged in this tense psychological warfare without yielding, it happened.

Suddenly, they felt a gaze staring intently at them.

When they turned their heads, they saw that Jella had noticed them at some point and was staring at them with narrowed eyes.

It was the same expression she had when she discovered Felitz and the underworld organization members earlier.

In other words, an expression that said, ‘What the hell are these bastards up to now?’

***

‘What’s with those two?’

I discovered them just as I was turning around, thinking about how I should rehabilitate the underworld.

Niel and Yupheon entered my sight, looking at each other with friendly faces and smiling brightly.

‘They seemed to be on bad terms last night, did they make up already?’

Niel, who made eye contact with me first, stiffened his expression.

“Ah, Miss Jella.”

Seeing his overtly flustered face, I could guess the reason.

‘I guess he hasn’t prepared the ransom yet.’

I couldn’t help but feel sulky.

‘How stingy. Even with all that money.’

The Alpenhayer family was known as the wealthiest family on the continent even before I died.

The reason the imperial family engaged their eight-year-old princess, who had just returned from the Holy Kingdom, was because they coveted the Alpenhayer family’s wealth.

“We meet again. My lifesaver.”

Unlike the flustered Niel, Yupheon approached me naturally and spoke.

Unlike yesterday, he was wearing ordinary priest’s robes.

Unlike Niel, who was hiding his identity with a magic stone bracelet, Yupheon did not need to hide his identity with such things.

Due to the Holy Kingdom’s rules protecting the Pope’s identity, his exact face was not known.

As a result, his statues and portraits scattered across the continent all had different faces.

Even if he walked around openly like this, people would just see him as a priest from the Holy Kingdom.

Of course, despite that, I could still feel people’s glances due to his pure and pretty appearance.

“At this point, it seems like we’re destined to meet.”

“At some point, he stood in front of me, looking down at me and coyly winking with his upturned eyes.

I hadn’t thought about it last night because it was so sudden, but seeing his face after a long time was really…

‘Pretty.’

I found myself staring at that face, prettier than even me, a woman, momentarily entranced by its beauty.

In the original work, Yupheon Arne was a man who knew how to use that pretty face better than anyone else.

‘He used that face to seduce countless women. Jella was one of them.’

In the original work, the twisted karma-ridden Yupheon deliberately seduced Jella, who was at the opposite end of Yuria, to use her thoroughly in order to hurt Yuria.

Recalling how he had passionately displayed his affection for Jella in front of Yuria, I felt oddly embarrassed.

One of Yupheon’s keywords, ‘#mouth karma man’, didn’t just refer to his ability to speak.

With that pretty mouth, he (beep) and (beep) with numerous women…

‘Oh my, how embarrassing.’

It wasn’t quite wholesome to recall such things in broad daylight.

I fanned myself vigorously to calm the heat that was rising for no reason.

Anyway, I remember the comment section being filled with all sorts of harsh curses and criticisms towards Yupheon because of that promiscuous mouth.

And the reason public opinion towards him changed wasn’t because of his heartfelt regret and reformation, but because of the unbelievably gorgeous illustrations released later.

For a while, the phrase ‘Y.T.R.’ dominated the comment section, which was short for ‘Yuphe Too must have his Reasons’.

He was a dangerous man who, despite all his karma, managed to enchant countless readers with just his appearance alone.

No wonder he was described in the original work as ‘Yupheon Arne possessed a beauty that could enchant even the gods’.

‘So I need to be careful not to be enchanted.’

I focused my eyes, trying to break free from the clutches of that crazy face.

“I felt disappointed that day, my benefactor.”

“Disappointed?”

“I couldn’t repay your kindness that day, you see.”

Yupheon put on a deliberately sad expression.

“Today, let’s have a secret and important conversation, shall we?”

His voice, which lowered particularly at the part about having a secret and important conversation, sounded somewhat dangerous and precarious.

That was probably because of the atmosphere where his long eyelashes and the shadows cast beneath them felt especially decadent.

“Let’s have a secret conversation about how I can repay my benefactor’s kindness.”

At this moment, Niel grabbed Yupheon’s wrist.

“I believe she’s already made it clear once. She doesn’t want your repayment.”

“…”

Yupheon silently glared at Niel.

Then suddenly, he turned to me and asked with an angelic, harmless smile.

“Benefactor, shall I show you something fun?”

That gentle question gave me a subtly uneasy feeling.

“Something fun…?”

Yupheon grinned and grabbed Niel’s wrist in return, pulling him towards himself.

As a result, Niel’s large body overlapped with Yupheon’s.

‘Gasp! What are you doing?’

I wasn’t the only one surprised.

“What on earth are you doing?”

Niel Alpenhayer shouted, his face turning bright red.

‘My goodness, Niel Alpenhayer blushing and getting angry!’

It was as rare a sight as seeing Niel Alpenhayer grinding his molars last night.

‘This is something even Yuria from the original work couldn’t do…’

Niel Alpenhayer, who never lost his noble dignity, was always the perfect man even in front of his lover, Yuria.

Even when Yuria complained, “El is too perfect, it’s boring,” he just smiled gently.

And now that Niel Alpenhayer was blushing and getting angry. All because of Yupheon Arne!

Just as I was looking at Yupheon with newfound respect,

Yupheon grinned and suddenly broke the magic stone bracelet on Niel’s hand without warning.

Clunk.

The bracelet with the purple gem fell helplessly to the ground.

And simultaneously, Yupheon shouted in a frail but clearly audible voice to everyone’s ears.

“His Majesty has arrived!”

At that sound, passersby one by one turned to look this way. Soon, looks of shock appeared on the faces of those who had casually glanced in this direction.

“Hi-His Majesty?”

“Is, is it really him?”

“It’s, it’s His Majesty! His Majesty has personally come to the streets to look after us!”

“Your Majesty! We behold the brightest and greatest sun of the Empire!”

“Your Majesty, please look this way just once!”

People who recognized Niel started to crowd towards us. Among them were reporters holding magical devices and trying to take pictures.

“How did you come here…!”

“Is that person your companion?”

“I thought you didn’t associate closely with ladies…”

Suddenly, attention turned towards me. Some were even trying to capture my image with magical devices.

‘Ugh, aah! I hate photos!’

They remained unmoved despite Niel’s protests.

Just as I was panicking, there was a solid body shielding me.

“You’ll be f*cked if you stay here, benefactor.”

Uh, huh?

As I jerked my head up at the whispering voice in my ear, I saw Yupheon’s face looking down at me.

He interlaced his fingers with mine and smiled brightly.

I stared blankly at that face, as innocent and pretty as an angel’s.

Did I hear wrong?

I’m sure I just heard a very bad word that starts with ‘f’ and ends with ‘d’…

“So let’s leave him alone to get f*cked and run away ourselves. What do you think?”

He whispered the vulgar word with a holy face and smiled softly.