| 2. Beautiful When Crying

Daphne pressed down on the rising clown’s hand with the back of her own.

“Ah, something feels lacking.”

She had secretly hoped that the noble prince, who had lived without knowing submission, would curse or spit.

She tapped Celestian’s knee a couple of times through the glass window, as he was docilely held by the guards.

The car started smoothly, as if the tapping sound on the window was the signal to depart.

“I should have made him kneel and watched.”

Daphne remembered the haughty prince sniffling with a tear-stained face beneath her.

This bizarre event was orchestrated because of what happened two years ago.

* * *

At that time, Daphne’s life could be summed up in one line:

Power and money. Otherwise, biting off one’s tongue and dying would be a thousand times better!

“Bastard.”

The position of ‘Queen’ beside the pure-blooded Prince Romeo Rodriguez had been her life’s goal.

“I’m suffering such humiliation, and you’re just standing by again, aren’t you?”

The arranged marriage between cousins who had grown up together since childhood was seriously disgusting. However, becoming the woman with the most noble power in the kingdom appealed to Daphne, who valued honor above all else.

There was no young lady in this royal social circle with better conditions than Daphne in terms of family, education, and status. Yet, that position was snatched away by a pebble that had rolled in from who knows where.

‘He’s too pretty to be called a pebble. I hate to admit it.’

A few minutes ago, Daphne had fallen into the lake while trying to tease Psyche. Reproach and mockery washed over her head. She swam to shore without any help, pondering.

‘Why should a woman like me, with status and wealth, taste such humiliation and be treated like waste in the marriage market?’

Tormenting the pebble Psyche was only fun at first, but it gradually became self-deprecating.

After much thought, Daphne came to a conclusion.

‘I just need to get rid of the root cause.’

Daphne arrived at the townhouse given to the prince as a villa. She easily climbed over the low wall.

The fact that her target was the presumptive future king wasn’t a big issue for her.

‘This is a matter of my pride, above all else.’

The cool breeze made her shoulders instinctively shrink. Her bare feet were dirty when she bent her knees to look. The light pink silk dress was damp and smelled of the lake’s distinct fishy odor.

‘Not even a common guard. Relying solely on his skills, huh.’

Passing through the empty corridor, Daphne only imagined what would happen after she committed this act. Stories about her would circulate not only in social circles but throughout the empire.

<The abandoned Daphne Beaucater… murdered the prince? Gone mad and committed treason? Sent to Daeum Mental Hospital? Is this the extinction of the Beaucater family?>

‘This isn’t why my godfather left me the territory.’

Daphne had lived with the words “I love you to death” on her lips just to gain power. This bastard of a cousin, that is.

“It’s not wrong. It’s fair to say I love him enough to kill him.”

The mahogany door opened softly without a sound, revealing a dark room. There was a serious smell of alcohol strong enough to numb the nose.

“Wow, this bastard skipped out to drink himself stupid?”

Her temper flared. Daphne took a deep breath and stood by the bedside. In the darkness, only the sound of regular breathing could be heard. She took a deep breath. Then, closing one eye, she gauged where his neck would be.

“Romeo, I actually have a lot of regrets about you.”

Even in the darkness, the golden irises sparkled unusually bright.

“Do you know how embarrassed I was today? I seriously wanted to die. But you know, I get lonely easily. I just can’t die alone.”

As she raised the dagger high, a flash of light from outside momentarily illuminated the room and then went dark.

‘Huh?’

Thanks to that, she realized. The man lying on the bed wasn’t Romeo. Daphne instinctively hesitated.

Peeeeew, BOOM!

A loud noise followed. It seemed the fireworks marking the end of the founding day celebration had begun. Startled by the loud sound, the car outside frantically flashed its orange hazard lights.

Hair as bright as moonlight, straight eyebrows, and pale eyelashes gently closed.

His forehead, slightly damp with sweat as if he had been constantly brushing his bangs back due to the hot summer night, was half exposed, revealing a mole just above his right eyebrow.

‘Isn’t this the Ghost Grand Duke?’

A slightly gaunt but elegant face with beautiful features that seemed to claim, “I’m handsome!”

One side of his eyes, hidden by the bridge of his nose, was shadowed according to the rhythm of the flashing lights.

‘…Looks like he’s been crying.’

His reddened eyes indicated that he had been crying until just before falling asleep.

Daphne tried to recall the scene of this man opening his eyes, straightening his broad shoulders and back, and striding under the crystal chandelier.

‘Was he always this handsome?’

Her purpose of coming here evaporated with the sound of fireworks. She could endure three murderous impulses if it meant seeing such a handsome man.

Daphne unconsciously reached out her hand. Just before touching under his eye, his pale eyelashes opened slightly, seemingly sensing her presence. And as if he was sleep-talking, he mumbled something. Her ears naturally perked up.

“What did you say?”

BOOM!

However, his voice was drowned out by another thunderous explosion of fireworks. Daphne reflexively sat down on the spot.

“Ah!”

All the flashing lights stopped. At the same time, she felt a ringing in her head, chills running up her spine, and a headache that felt like needles were scraping each fold of her brain.

And strange memories flowed into her mind.

<I like Celestian but he seems to lack screen time.. It’s so annoying>

<Ghost Grand Duke whatcha gonna do about Psyche challenge>

<You shouldn’t have a sub-male lead.. It’s like a good failed stock>¹T/N: like a stock that initially seemed promising but ultimately failed, the sub-male lead character might appear attractive or interesting at first, but ultimately isn’t meant to be the main love interest.

‘What, what is this. What memories! Stop!’

<Author, Celestian is pitiful.. But that’s also what makes him so attractive.. I wish you wouldn’t kill him and give him more scenes.. ㅠ>

Goosebumps from the shock covered her entire body. Memories of her past life had returned at this ridiculous timing.

The shock of looking at her life objectively was severe.

‘I didn’t even delete my SNS account.’

She felt even more humiliated. Her past full of embarrassing history made her curl up.

Daphne wanted to bury her face somewhere and die right then and there.

BOOM!

“Anyone would think we’re under bombardment.”

Daphne sprang up from her spot. Despite her outburst, the inconsiderate booming of fireworks continued.

“He’s going to wake up.”

And she looked down at the blonde beauty again. Fortunately, he just furrowed his brow but showed no signs of waking up.

Daphne knew this handsome man.

Secradion’s representative illegitimate child!

The substitute for the deployed prince, the king’s marionette. The Grand Duke with the ghost island. The sub-male lead who would be abandoned by the female lead again and again, only to become a traitor. And so on and so forth.

Daphne wore a somewhat wistful expression.

“Prince…”

This man was Daphne’s…

“You’re prettier than I imagined.”

…favorite character from the novel, after all.

* * *

“Why are you here?”

The uninvited guest was lying comfortably in the middle of Daphne’s wide bed, leisurely watching the Angel River outside the window. The sky that had been adorned with beautiful fireworks just minutes ago now only left a faint white afterimage.

“Where have you…”

Romeo, who inadvertently looked at Daphne’s miserable appearance, furrowed his brow.

“I don’t recall inviting any ghosts.”

“This is my room, you jerk. Just answer the question.”

Daphne growled. He blinked his yellow eyes and then curved the corners of his eyes into a grin.

“I heard my fiancée fell into the water, so I rushed here out of concern.”

“Please spare me the nonsense. Since when did Your Highness care about such things?”

“Why are you like this today of all days.”

Just as he was about to ask if she had a rag in her mouth, Romeo remembered Daphne crying and begging him to speak more nicely just the other day.

“You’re prickly. Is it because I didn’t respond to your invitation?”

“I will never, ever invite you again, so keep that in mind. Would you please leave now?”

Daphne politely clasped her hands together and pointed towards the window. It meant that he should quietly climb out the window, as the servants would see if he left through the door.

“My palace is boring.”

“And what am I supposed to do about that?”

Romeo pretended not to hear. Seeing him act so childishly, Daphne immediately knew the answer.

“She went to the orphanage again today, didn’t she?”

Romeo had prepared a luxurious townhouse as Psyche’s temporary residence. But Psyche was a woman who firmly declined his kindness and returned to her workplace, observing the curfew.

“Are you sad?”

“Not at all.”

He seemed unaware that his eyes were wavering. Daphne was about to mock him but stopped. After all, the immediate bad reality was that her bed was being dirtied by someone else’s butt.

Not to mention, the owner of that butt was the bastard who would throw her to the sea crocodiles in the future.

“Romeo.”

Why did this bastard have to be Romeo, of all names?

“What.”

Daphne pushed air into her lungs, took a deep breath, and then spoke each word clearly.

“Let’s break off the engagement.”

“What?”

It was a tradition in Secradion to follow the woman’s opinion entirely when it came to marriage.

Even if the man was from the royal family, he couldn’t arbitrarily decide on marriage. That’s why Romeo, who had fallen in love, used to sing about breaking off the engagement every time he saw Daphne.

“Let’s break off the engagement. Please. Break it off. I’m begging you. Break it off. You marry her, Psyche. I’ll help you.”

Now it was Daphne who was singing that song. Romeo sat up, bewildered.

“Suddenly? Did you have a change of heart after nearly dying? And what do you mean you’ll help? How?”

“You just need to keep your lips sealed, smile slightly, and nod your head. That’s the answer. Seriously, it is.”

His cousin, who had put on a show saying she’d die if she couldn’t be queen, was suddenly talking about breaking off the engagement and supporting his marriage to Psyche.

Romeo was perplexed, wondering if she had really gone mad after falling into the water.

“You wouldn’t do this without conditions.”

Romeo narrowed his eyes and crossed his arms in an X. His solid biceps looked like they might rip through his tight shirt.

“Conditions?”

Daphne hadn’t given it much thought, but her eyes lit up at the word ‘conditions’. If this was really inside the novel, it was already the middle part.

The young duke (puppy), who had fallen in love for the first time, was an idiot who came to Daphne’s bedroom every night for advice, and Psyche, timid and consumed by jealousy knowing only the surface facts, created misunderstandings by not speaking what was on her mind.

“You’ll grant everything?”

Even without Daphne’s help, Romeo and Psyche would go all the way just because they fell in love at first sight.

‘It’s a crazy novel where not only is my life taken, but in the end, Psyche herself throws away her own life.’

“Listen.”

Though the thought that everyone was an idiot kept circling in her mind, Daphne scratched her cheek and opened her mouth.

“No matter what happens…”

Daphne suddenly recalled the blonde man mumbling in his sleep with swollen eyes. Looking back now, it seemed like he might have been forming the shape of ‘P’ with his lips. A shiver ran down her spine.

“Promise not to kill me and the Grand Duke.”

So she modified her words a bit. Romeo frowned even more. Their golden gazes clashed across the empty space.

“Why would I suddenly kill you? And… why brother too, suddenly? Didi, what’s really going on with you? Did you eat something bad?”

“Also, Romeo.”

She raised her hand to stop Romeo, as if she hadn’t finished speaking. Daphne had just completed the plan that came to her on impulse.

“I’ll help you both get married in good health. The opposing royal family members? I’ll make sure they keep their mouths shut.”

At Daphne’s words, Romeo half-froze.

“So give me Celestian Teriosa.”

Daphne’s golden eyes, like blazing stars, sparkled.

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  T/N: like a stock that initially seemed promising but ultimately failed, the sub-male lead character might appear attractive or interesting at first, but ultimately isn’t meant to be the main love interest.