“Beautiful things must be taken. Everything born into this world has a purpose, so wouldn’t it be a waste to let her die like this?”

At the Emperor’s words, Reizen let out a derisive snort. Tilting his head crookedly, the man moistened his lips before continuing.

“The Empress won’t leave her alone. Before that woman steps into Your Majesty’s bedchamber, she will meet a miserable end in Sorbet Prison.”

“That’s why I called for you. You’re a man too, and you have eyes. You must have seen it clearly. Even from the photos in the papers, her allure was dripping off her. How was she when you met her in person? Was she truly pale and beautiful?”

“…Your Majesty.”

Reizen suppressed a low sigh as he looked at the Emperor, who was visibly excited. A clear disdain flickered in his wavering blue eyes.

Indeed, the woman’s face was beautiful. Even with her bruised and battered face, she exuded a pitiful charm. How much more striking would she be if she were cleaned up and dressed properly?

But Reizen had no desire to imagine such a scene.

She was a murderer. The nobles here treated David Moore as if he were some kind of object, but he had been a living, breathing person.

He had been an honorable knight of Sys, a son who returned home bearing gifts for his parents and two younger sisters, a brother who brought joy to his family.

The life of such a man had been snuffed out. What use was beauty in the face of that?

Reizen spoke with a stiff expression.

“I have nothing to say. Whether you kill her or let her live, Your Majesty may do as you please.”

In any case, if the Emperor called the woman to his bedchamber, the Empress would take care of her. The woman’s fate was already sealed.

If she remained in Sorbet Prison, she wouldn’t survive the winter. Even if she managed to endure it by some miracle, there was no guarantee she’d live to see the next year.

‘A woman doomed to die, one way or another.’

Reizen resolved to think of her as someone who no longer had anything to do with him. If he heard of her death later, he’d simply send Lord Moore his regards in the afterlife.

“Oh, Reizen, Reizen, Reizen…”

The Emperor hurriedly blocked his son’s path as he was about to leave the room.

“It seems you’ve misunderstood something, so hear me out to the end. You are, after the Crown Prince, the greatest masterpiece of my life.”

Reizen’s gaze turned icy cold in an instant. He had a feeling he knew what the Emperor was about to say.

“I want to see a child born from you and that woman. Imagine how joyful it would be to have a beautiful grandchild make a name for themselves in the world!”

The Emperor, while polishing an orchid with a cloth, brushed the dust off his son’s shoulder and smiled warmly. His crescent-shaped eyes gleamed with a sticky greed.

“Hah.”

Reizen couldn’t hold it in any longer and twisted his lips into a bitter smile.

He barely managed to swallow the curses that threatened to spill from his mouth and turned away silently, leaving the room. He felt nauseated.

As he strode down the corridor with heavy steps, the Emperor’s attendant called out to him from behind.

“Prince Reizen!”

He didn’t want to look back.

‘I should have known something was off.’

He’d been curious as to why the mad Emperor had called a bastard like him to the palace.

“I… was just a stud horse.”

Arriving in a dark room, Reizen clenched his fists tightly, his eyes cold and sharp.

The Emperor had a tendency to obsess unhealthily over whatever caught his interest. And it seemed that, unfortunately, Reizen had been dragged into this latest obsession as its sacrificial lamb.

He muttered a low curse.

“Damn it.”

***

The late Emperor Rovellion had been a war maniac.

“As long as I draw breath, the map of the continent will continue to change!”

That was the famous quote left behind by the late Emperor.

As the barren, desert-filled Sys region expanded its territory into fertile lands, the empire grew stronger.

After absorbing and unifying the humble agricultural society of Gerion, the people of Sys no longer went hungry. There were no starving Hobrain citizens anymore.

With war slaves working the fields, agriculture flourished. The women and goods plundered from Gerion as spoils of war were sold at high prices, boosting trade and commerce.

Gerion’s hell had become Hobrain’s fortune. Before long, the Kingdom of Hobrain changed its name to the Sys Empire, announcing its rebirth.

As the Sys Empire’s size swelled uncontrollably, how would the neighboring countries have felt?

To rival nations, the very existence of the late Emperor must have been terrifying. It was no wonder the late Emperor was assassinated.

He had made enemies on all sides and faced constant assassination attempts, which only fueled his paranoia.

Yet, there was one person whom even that iron-blooded Emperor trusted to watch his back…

That person was none other than Duke Grey.

“I hereby appoint Grey as the First Rank.”

In the three-tiered noble hierarchy, the First Rank was reserved exclusively for the royal family. But Duke Grey was the sole exception to this rule.

The two men, who had shared camaraderie on the battlefield, later vowed to become family through a political marriage.

Thus, when Vincent was nine years old, he was engaged to Duke Grey’s daughter. However, the promise was never fulfilled, as Miss Grey tragically passed away unexpectedly.

“Looks like I won’t be able to keep the promise. Instead, I’ll make sure your son takes an important position in the Imperial Palace.”

However, Melissa’s father, the youngest among his siblings, died just nine days after taking a position in the palace.

The cause was a carriage accident. It was said to have been orchestrated by the rebellious Commoner faction from Gerion, targeting Duke Grey, who was blinded by war.

Afterward, Vincent ascended the throne at the age of twelve, and Duke Grey seized real power.

The rumor that Duke Grey had controlled the Emperor like a puppet for over thirty years was so widespread that even young Melissa had heard of it.

“Still, thanks to the Duke, we Nobles live much better lives. When we pass by, the Commoners bow their heads and don’t dare move. They can’t throw stones or act out anymore.”

“This is how it should’ve been from the start. Commoners shouldn’t have even been allowed to walk the same roads as Nobles. Filthy Commoners.”

When the noblewomen insulted Commoners with Melissa sitting quietly among them, she felt a vague discomfort in her heart.

However, as she was accompanying her godmother, Countess Estella, she had no right to speak. So, she simply answered with a gentle, flower-like smile.

And naturally, the topic would shift to compliments about Melissa’s appearance.

“Oh my, Miss Grey is so graceful and beautiful. She truly looks like someone destined to be the next Crown Princess. Unlike…”

The noblewomen’s gazes shifted to Rael, who was sitting in a corner. Startled, Rael, who had been secretly pressing down on an apple pie with her fingers, shrank back like a turtle withdrawing into its shell.

Unlike the serene Melissa, Rael was treated like an outcast.

Though they were twins born on the same day with the same face, people constantly compared Melissa and Rael, marveling at how different they were.

Melissa was well aware that the more people compared them, the paler Rael’s face became.

“Rael.”

Rael buried her face in her arms and wept incessantly inside the returning carriage.

She cried, asking why she had to endure humiliation in such a place, and said their grandfather should punish all those noblewomen.

Melissa always played the role of comforting her perpetually crying younger sister.

“Rael, you must’ve been upset. If you don’t want to go, you don’t have to. I’ll speak to the Countess about it.”

“Sniff, sob. Then you’ll just go by yourself and hog all the attention, won’t you? Don’t pretend to be kind! You always deceive me with that fake expression of yours!”

Somewhere, Melissa had heard that twins could understand each other without words.

But Melissa and Rael dismissed that as a ridiculous lie. Just looking at the two of them was proof enough—aside from their identical faces, they were complete opposites in every other way.

Yes. Looking back, where had it all gone wrong?

Was it being born into a family where their grandfather was a friend of the Sys Emperor? Or was it failing to stop their grandfather’s policies, which were filled with hatred for Commoners?

But back then, Melissa hadn’t even been born.

Or perhaps it was her failure to educate Rael more maturely during their childhood? As she comforted her sister, who resented her for everything, Melissa couldn’t help but feel that her own heart wasn’t entirely generous.

‘I’m not Rael’s mother.’

Sometimes, when Rael threw tantrums and sulked, Melissa couldn’t help but feel a deep-seated irritation.

But she tried to understand because she was the older sister. She always apologized first, approached Rael, and extended her hand.

Even if it meant getting slapped, she would embrace her.

‘What have I done so wrong?’

Melissa chewed over the thought again and again.

***

By the Emperor’s command, a carriage carrying a criminal entered the Imperial Palace.

The woman, her entire body drenched in blood and blackened, crouched inside the violently shaking cargo cart, staring weakly downward.

The cart was covered with a black cloth to prevent anyone from seeing the criminal, but lying down, she could faintly see the smooth floor through the gaps in the wooden planks.

The floor’s pattern was familiar.

Once, she had ridden down this road in a flower-decorated carriage.

Wearing a white hat adorned with swan feathers and a splendid golden dress, she would extend her hand, and the palace attendants would rush to help her alight from the carriage. But now…

“This is the criminal His Majesty ordered to be transported.”

“Oh, that pretty murderer? Keep her hidden somewhere out of sight until further orders.”

The guard who had transported her like luggage from Sorbet to the palace let out a deep sigh.

“Ugh, the smell. Even horse manure doesn’t stink this much.”

Once praised for her beauty in the Imperial Palace, she was now a woman reeking of foul odors. It would’ve been better if she had been left to rot and die in Sorbet’s prison.

“Sob… sniff.”

Why had she been brought out again? The fact that she couldn’t even choose her own death filled her with sorrow and despair.

‘It was the only choice I ever made.’

Her first and last step, taken with great difficulty. They should’ve just let her die. Why bring her here?

She was done. Done with everything. Sick of it all, exhausted. She wanted to be left alone. Please… please. Please.

A sob escaped her lips. Her insides felt crushed and bruised, aching and stinging like an open wound.

As she thought back on what she had done so wrong, she felt even more wronged and miserable.

“Haah, ugh… ugh.”

The shackles biting into her ankles stung. The wounds festered, and it felt as though her ankles were rotting.

A bird of prey, drawn by the smell, flapped its wings and landed on the cart.

She wished it would just devour her then and there.

“Kill me… please…”

As if that was her only salvation, she trembled faintly in the shadows, crying until her face swelled. But eventually, the bird flapped its wings and flew away.

“Heh.”

Hearing the sound of approaching footsteps, she raised her swollen eyes. Suddenly, the cloth covering the cart was pulled away, and light poured in.

It was a blinding light, as though it would sear her eyes.

Amidst it stood a figure with golden hair, drawing closer. A man exuding a cool cypress scent approached like salvation, sword in hand, walking with steady steps.

It was Reizen.