The Empress, having finished her bath, openly sneered while being attended by her maids.

“I heard she’s from a fallen noble family and there are rumors she’s barren. At this rate, isn’t it like we’ve matched him with a beast worse than Gerion?”

Isabella, who was wearing only a robe over her n*ked body, stood seductively in front of the full-length mirror.

The maids became busy. Three or four hangers with new dresses were displayed.

“Let’s go with this one.”

When she pointed to a red dress with her finger, a maid hurried to prepare the garment.

Seeing this, a young man rose from the sofa and approached.

“Indeed. When a dog doesn’t know its place and acts up, this is what happens.”

The man caressed the Empress’s sensitive-looking face with the back of his hand. The hand that traced down her white skin slowly reached her robe.

The man kissed her round shoulder while removing the Empress’s loosened robe. Hot breath flowed like a ridge along the Empress’s neckline.

“You see, dogs shouldn’t try to escape from the cage their master has set.”

At those words, the Empress’s waist stiffened. The man who had been stroking her shoulders, now rigid with tension, smiled faintly.

Long silver hair flowing down to his waist. The man with his tall stature and refined features smiled, his eyes curving prettily.

He had an impression of nobility and affability, just like a god from mythology.

The blue-eyed Crown Prince. The Diamond of the Sys Empire. Selheim Blonde Mile Kalphenster.

Selheim stood directly before the Empress and brushed her wet hair. His gentle words continued along with his tickling touch.

“I wonder how humiliated she must feel right now?”

“Wouldn’t that be for the best? Perhaps with that temperament of his, he won’t be able to stand it and kill the woman, falling out of His Majesty’s favor.”

“You think so? Would he kill the woman?”

Selheim raised his thin, arched silver eyebrows and smiled ambiguously as he lowered his gaze.

The Empress, not noticing her son’s expression, approached the mirror while fixing her hair.

Meanwhile, the maids helped her into the dress she had just chosen, but she didn’t like it as it was similar in design to the one she wore for lunch.

After examining her appearance from various angles, she gestured with her chin for a maid to bring out another dress.

The maid, reading the Empress’s mood, quickly left her position. The Empress’s expression darkened slightly.

“I rather hope he does. If Reizen kills that bewitching girl, we could use the murder charge to remove him from his position as judge.”

Selheim smiled gently, neither affirming nor denying. The maid who had disappeared returned quickly with a red dress.

“I already said I don’t want this kind of dress today!”

The Empress shouted sharply and struck the maid’s cheek. The maid’s face turned pale as she covered her struck cheek with both hands.

“I-I’m sorry, Your Majesty!”

The maid prostrated herself and begged. Selheim stepped on her hand as he passed by, watching her beg for her life.

The maid let out a yelp, but the man paid no attention as he pressed his lips to the top of the Empress’s head in farewell.

“Then I shall take my leave, Mother.”

“Yes, my son.”

The Empress gazed lovingly at her son, but as soon as Selheim left the room, she threw a glass bottle at the maid.

Crash! A commotion erupted inside.

Selheim calmly adjusted the cravat around his neck and ordered his attendant.

“Tell them to watch carefully how Reizen moves.”

“Yes, Your Highness.”

“And.”

The man, after taking a brief breath, spoke with terrifyingly calm blue eyes.

“Make sure she is not killed, absolutely.”

After giving this quiet command, he withdrew his smile and moved on.

A long, magnificent corridor with red carpet. This place remains the same. Still dull and boring. As it has always been since that child left…

He gazed at the spring outside the window. Everything is changing, slowly yet quickly. Like that season that passed without notice.

***

Unlike the spring in Sorbet, flowers bloom here. Pink flower petals rained down from trees rooted in fertile sunny spots.

Melissa opened her eyes to the small disturbance of branches tapping against the window in the wind.

She was still being punished.

“Live. That’s what you must do from now on.”

She inhaled and exhaled while staring blankly at the ceiling.

As she came to her senses, she found herself lying in a bed decorated with white lace, and before it stood a broad back wearing a white shirt with balloon sleeves.

Seeing the calm platinum blonde hair… is it Prince Reizen?

“Ah, you’re awake? I am Emerson, the royal physician.”

The physician, who had been earnestly talking to the prince, acknowledged Melissa first.

At that, several gazes attached to her, including those of Reizen, who had been conversing with the physician, and his aide.

Being followed by spectators like a zoo monkey was her daily life.

Though it was unpleasant to be voyeuristically watched right after waking up, she considered this too part of the ‘punishment’ the man had spoken of.

“Excuse me for a moment.”

Emerson approached and placed a hand on Melissa’s forehead. As the stranger’s touch drew near, Melissa instinctively flinched, her shoulders shrinking.

“Ah… I won’t harm you. I’m, um, a physician.”

The young-looking physician hesitated awkwardly, seemingly unused to such situations.

Watching from behind, Reizen stood with his arms crossed and said askew:

“It’s fine. Despite appearances, Emerson is a woman.”

“‘Despite appearances’! Your Highness!”

Emerson, wearing glasses, jumped in place with a reddened face. Reizen ignored Emerson, whose face had turned pink with embarrassment, and continued speaking.

“She’s a physician selected by the imperial family, so her skills go without saying. Which also means that no matter how hard you try to die, she’ll somehow keep you alive.”

The playful atmosphere in the room suddenly grew heavy.

A deep silence fell, so profound that one could clearly see dust particles floating in the sunlight. Melissa gave no response.

“…”

Hadn’t he said it when he visited the prison? That if she begged to die, he didn’t want to kill her.

This man knows what causes a criminal the most suffering. That must be why he gave her the punishment of living. She understood.

‘You must hate me.’

After the trial, he came to the prison to kill her, so how close must he have been with David Moore?

Perhaps they were even closer than family. Though she had never experienced such human relationships, she truly understood. It must be revenge.

‘Everything. Forcing me to live and causing me pain.’

Melissa closed her eyelids, which trembled from lack of strength.

“Not even going to answer, I see. Is this your way of saying ‘kill me if you dare’? Having thrown away your life, you’ve lost all fear.”

Reizen sneered with a smirk.

“…Your Highness.”

Sion whispered quietly beside him.

“The noble council meeting will begin soon.”

“No fear but plenty of luck. How convenient that you woke up just in time for the meeting.”

As Reizen continued his sarcasm until the end, Sion poked his side with a quill pen and herded him toward the door.

On their way out, Sion’s small reproach could be heard: “This is why people call Your Highness a ruffian.”

After the commotion passed, left alone with the physician, Melissa still kept her eyes closed.

One way or another, all these conversations were as meaningless to her as stories from a foreign country.

After all, Melissa Grey had no intention of staying here long. To begin with, since Reizen despised her, there was no way he would marry her.

‘If the prince refuses marriage until the end, I can return to Sorbet.’

If not that, then this time she could take her own life on the way back.

Melissa swallowed as she considered various options. Seeing this, Emerson suddenly approached to check her temperature and muttered to herself.

“Huh. ‘Despite appearances,’ His Highness is a very considerate person.”

After asking permission, Emerson examined the wound on her ankle. She brought an ointment made from ground herbs and gently applied it to the deep wound while speaking.

“I’m the only female physician among the imperial family’s dedicated doctors. Born as a commoner in the countryside of Bayern, I never dreamed of becoming a palace physician… but thanks to His Highness’s consideration, I made it here.”

The area where the ointment was being applied stung and itched considerably. Melissa unconsciously bit her lower lip to suppress a groan.

‘I thought I had grown used to pain.’

Was it because she was lying on a soft bed receiving treatment that her body mistakenly thought it had returned to her days as a young lady? It felt like her pain threshold had lowered.

Melissa’s eyes unexpectedly grew hot. Lying in bed in pain like this reminded her of her childhood days when her grandfather would hold her hand.

‘If only all of this were just a dream…’

She felt foolish for still wishing such things while lying there contemplating ways to die.

Melissa’s closed eyes grew wet. If only tears could be held back by will like holding one’s breath, but it doesn’t work that way.

Plop.

A large teardrop fell onto the pillowcase.

“My mentor in Bayern used to say that human illness always starts in the mind first. So if you want to be a real physician, you must first look into that person’s heart.”

Emerson continued speaking as if she hadn’t seen anything, her voice becoming notably gentler as it lingered in Melissa’s ears.

“…Actually, I disliked Lord Moore.”

“…”

“He would pursue any woman, but he never once made advances toward me. Isn’t that somewhat insulting and infuriating?”

Emerson frowned and looked away. The medicine bottle in her hand fell weakly onto the bed.

“…Still, he was a good person. Aside from his excessive womanizing, he was quite a righteous knight. He was also the strongest among the knights who served Prince Reizen. So.”

A warm hand gently grasped Melissa’s cold fingers that had escaped from under the blanket.

“I don’t believe you killed Lord Moore.”

“…”

“If you were the culprit, our Prince wouldn’t have brought you to me. Just as I trust in His Highness, I will trust and treat you. That’s my role.”

Her voice carried a faint trace of moisture.

“So next time, show me just a corner of your heart. So I can fulfill my role.”

After Emerson left, Melissa, left alone again in the room that felt like a prison, opened her eyes.

The white lace-covered bed canopy.

Looking up at the dizzying walls filled with fresco paintings, she thought for the first time.

About the path of a murderer she had chosen to escape from Marita and her marriage business.

About the person called David Moore who lay at the end of that path.