Yupheon slowly closed his eyes once and opened them again.

His Adam’s apple moved slightly.

“…Yes, Jella.”

He answered with his eyes faintly creased at the corners.

Jella.

Her name wrapped softly in his mouth.

When was the last time I called this name…

***

“I formally request to break off our engagement.”

The morning after Cail brought Yuria from the forest, Niel came to request the annulment of our engagement.

I heard he had come to see me the previous evening as well, so I wondered if he had something important to say…

“…Ah, breaking the engagement.”

I grasped the situation half a beat late.

‘Things are moving this quickly?’

Since Niel had visited me just yesterday evening, he had fallen in love with Yuria in less than half a day.

I felt scared that my death might have been moved up exactly that much due to the plot progressing faster than in the original work.

The fear I had felt when I saw Yuria yesterday welled up again.

To hide my weak emotions, I deliberately drew my sword to intimidate Niel and chased him away.

After he left, I was sighing deeply with my hand on my forehead when.

“Your Majesty.”

Along with a quiet voice, I felt a hand firmly gripping my shoulder. It was Cail. Only then did I realize that my legs were trembling.

“Thank you.”

With his support, I headed to the couch. I picked up the crystal glass on the table. After drinking the cold water, my mind became clear again.

“…Are you alright?”

“Is there any reason I shouldn’t be?”

I replied with a slight laugh.

Right. There’s no reason I shouldn’t be alright.

Death? Well, whatever. I’ve already experienced it once.

Though the memories from my previous life are now hazy, I think it was a bit painful.

Anyway, the pain disappears the moment you close your eyes.

I wasn’t afraid of momentary pain.

What was truly frightening was…

I closed my eyes tightly and opened them again.

‘Enough. Let’s not think about that.’

There were still more than two years left until the dragon’s rampage. So there was no need to think about what would happen after my death just yet.

Even if both parties agreed to break the engagement, it couldn’t be announced right away.

My engagement with Niel was also a royal family’s betrothal, and it was intricately connected with the Grand Temple that had notarized it.

Therefore, it would take at least a month for the annulment to be fully approved.

However, even though our broken engagement had not yet been announced, rumors spread widely throughout the imperial palace that Duke Alpenhayer had fallen for the Saint and had risked his life to request the Emperor to break off the engagement.

‘Well, with all that commotion from the morning of that day, rumors were bound to spread.’

Moreover, Niel Alpenhayer, who had never been close to any woman in his life, was now openly going around with Yuria.

His attitude toward Yuria was incomparably more affectionate and tender than how he had treated me, his former fiancée.

‘So this is what Niel Alpenhayer looks like when he falls in love.’

I thought indifferently as I watched the two of them through the window.

It wasn’t particularly pleasant to see a man who had always been so careful around me now expressing his emotions so unfiltered.

Whether I had feelings for him or not, objectively speaking, I was in a situation where my fiancé had been stolen by Yuria.

Still, I had thought that the Niel I knew would not openly display affection with Yuria, if only out of courtesy toward his former fiancée, but I guess I misjudged him.

Disrespectfully, no one dared to sympathize with me.

People instead sympathized with Duke Alpenhayer rather than me, who had lost my fiancé.

“To think he could smile so affectionately, he must have had such a hard time by Her Majesty’s side.”

“I’m so glad the Duke has found true love now.”

Hearing the whispering courtiers made me feel a bit dumbfounded.

“Anyone listening would think I’ve been persecuting Niel all this time.”

“Shall I deal with them?”

Cail, who had been silently following me, asked.

“No need. Not for comments like those.”

I waved my hand with a smirk at his consistently protective behavior.

‘But I wonder if Yuria has made no progress with the other male leads?’

While pondering this question, Yuphe visited the imperial palace.

When I went to greet him, I saw him being affectionate with Yuria.

I was already feeling unsettled by Yuria’s appearance and Niel’s request to break our engagement, which meant my death was approaching rapidly.

In the midst of this strange, indefinable emotion, I asked him.

“Have you met the Saint? Is she pretty?”

“Not particularly.”

Contrary to what I had just seen, he responded as if he had no interest in Yuria at all. As I was wondering about this.

“Aren’t I prettier than that woman?”

Yuphe made a flower cup with both hands and smiled mischievously with his eyes curved into crescents.

Ah, that fox. He really knows how to use his face.

“You really.”

I could laugh out loud for a moment, forgetting my worries at his usual playful demeanor.

Even after that day, Yuphe showed no particular interest in Yuria.

And a few days later, while strolling in the imperial palace’s garden with him.

“What’s that?”

Yuphe muttered, squinting his eyes.

When I turned my head in the direction he was pointing, I saw Niel and Yuria walking affectionately toward us from the opposite side.

Yuria had her arm linked with Niel’s and was whispering something in his ear, and Niel was nodding with a smile toward her, then patted her head and smiled broadly. Yuria burst into a cheerful, happy laugh.

It was a scene I had become accustomed to in the past few days, but for Yuphe, it must have been an unfamiliar sight.

“Ah, surprising, isn’t it? I didn’t know Niel Alpenhayer was a man who could smile like that either.”

“…”

As I spoke indifferently, I felt a chilly aura emanating from Yuphe.

Just then, they also noticed us and paused.

When Yuria showed signs of fear, Niel stepped forward, hiding her protectively behind him.

Then he cast a wary glance in our direction.

“….”

“….”

After briefly exchanging cold glances with him in a standoff, I smiled slightly and just walked past.

“What’s with him? Cheating?”

Yuphe asked in a sharp voice as he followed me.

“Is he crazy? Why are you just letting this happen?”

I explained to him as he grumbled as if it were his own problem.

“Ah, he’s not my fiancé anymore.”

“What?”

“We agreed to break off the engagement.”

“…!”

For a moment, a look of bewilderment crossed Yuphe’s face.

“But, that man…!”

“What can I do? Yuria likes him.”

“…Did that man, Niel Alpenhayer, say that? That he likes that woman?”

“Yes, that’s what he said. He even risked his life to ask for the engagement to be broken.”

Yuphe asked several times in disbelief before finally accepting the situation.

“In the end, he was only worth that much… and yet…”

He muttered in an angry voice, then launched into a scathing criticism of Niel.

“But the broken engagement hasn’t even been announced yet. Look at him walking around like that. A garbage man who knows neither shame nor fidelity.”

“Wow, I’ve never had anyone take my side this much.”

I burst out laughing, genuinely touched.

Then suddenly, my eyes met his as he stared at me intently.

“Jella.”

“…?”

“This is actually for the best. Throw away a man with no fidelity like him.”

“Huh?”

“Throw away that man and…”

Yuphe’s lips moved as if he was about to say something more, but then he firmly closed his mouth.

His reddened face at that moment really looked like someone who was very angry.

“We’ve already agreed to break the engagement, so there’s no throwing away to be done. Niel Alpenhayer isn’t my possession.”

“….”

“And if you think about it, I’m the one who was abandoned.”

“No! How could he abandon you?”

Thanks to Yuphe’s loud anger, I could burst into hearty laughter once again.

“Just wait and see. He’ll definitely regret it. He’ll come crying and begging later. Even then, don’t take him back. Understood?”

Even though Yuria had appeared, Yuphe remained unchanged.

Perhaps, just perhaps, I might not have to give up my only friend.

There might be at least one person who would cry for me on the day of my death.

Selfishly, I found comfort in that fact.