She had only repeated that she had killed him, but she didn’t know what kind of face David Moore had.

According to people, he was a friend of Prince Reizen and a commoner from Sys.

He was known to love drinking and women, was skilled with a sword, and was considered a righteous knight in his own way.

Yes. Now she remembers. Through the flashing camera lights, angry people had rushed forward and thrown stones…

“Murderer!”

Among them, Lord Moore’s mother had struck Melissa’s face with her bag. Remembering that moment, the wound on her cheek from the ornament throbbed faintly.

Then a stone flew and cracked her forehead before falling to the ground. Blood trickled messily down Melissa’s eyes and cheeks.

Even after being transferred to Sorbet, the wounds they left remained intact. The blood that couldn’t be stopped had pooled into puddles on the floor.

When she occasionally opened her eyes in Sorbet’s solitary cell, her mind was foggy and scattered like it was covered in mist.

So.

She didn’t know then.

That all those wounds people gave her, that anger, was all for Lord Moore.

“…”

Unlike Melissa Grey, David Moore was a beloved figure.

She knows that Prince Reizen tried to kill her several times on behalf of the deceased. The prince must have cherished Lord Moore that much…

‘And I…’

She had stolen his chance for revenge.

She thought it was fine. She thought she could just take away their chance and die herself.

That fact now suddenly branded itself in her mind.

“Ah.”

She wasn’t in her right mind. She had been pushed to the edge of a cliff, about to lose her breath, and if left alone, she would have died in Sorbet.

Nothing matters to a person facing death.

All she wanted was to completely disappear when the end came, leaving not even a soul behind. Thinking only of herself that way, she didn’t care about others.

‘I was selfish…’

Yet despite such judgment, there was still someone who treated her kindly.

The spot where Emerson’s touch had brushed tingled. She could feel the pain slowly subsiding as the carefully applied medicine seeped in.

And then she became curious.

‘David Moore and Emerson.’

And Prince Reizen who commanded them both.

What kind of person was he?

Melissa closed her eyes under the effect of the medicine while pondering this question.

Thinking that no matter what kind of person he was, the fact that he hated her to death would never change.

***

The union of a murderer and a bastard.

Moreover, the murderer, being a noble, was transferred from Sorbet to the imperial palace without receiving proper punishment.

When this rumor spread outside the palace, the people were enraged.

“Banish the murderer from the country!”

Protests broke out in front of the temple where the wedding would be held. The newspapers printed Melissa’s court photo alongside Reizen’s portrait.

The next page showed a large photo of the imperial knights forcefully suppressing the angry crowd.

The newspaper’s intention was evident in the photo that prominently featured the imperial crest to provoke antipathy.

The wedding was tomorrow. Watching Reizen calmly reading the newspaper as if it were someone else’s business, Sion asked.

“Are you really going through with this?”

Reizen smiled slightly while turning a page of the newspaper.

“We crossed that line long ago. If I wasn’t going to go through with this marriage, I should have killed Melissa Grey ‘back then.'”

“What if she turns out to be the real culprit?”

Sion clutched the law book tightly with anxious eyes.

“Then…”

As Reizen trailed off, Sion watched intently.

The frighteningly perfect statue of Sys brightened his blue eyes as he closed the newspaper. His eyes held a playful glint.

“That would be the end of my life.”

“Your Highness!”

Sion, who had been watching Reizen with trepidation, burst out.

While lamenting how he could joke in this situation, before he could voice his complaints, Reizen stood up and said.

“Lower your voice. I know the balance is shaken with Lord Moore’s position empty. But that’s no reason to be anxious.”

Reizen put three sugar cubes in the black tea and handed it to his aide.

Sion’s gaze, receiving the teacup, lingered on Reizen’s eyes. Those eyes held a firm determination.

“We’ve gained a living clue. Could there be a more advantageous situation for catching the real culprit?”

At those words, Sion’s hands gripping the teacup tightened.

Once Reizen had made his choice, there was only one thing for an aide to do. To proceed as he wished.

The aide, having changed his mind, straightened his gaze.

“I will contact the main residence and tell them to prepare to welcome their new mistress.”

“Good.”

“Without Lord Moore, Erich and Hilton will handle the escort.”

“Perfect.”

Reizen signed the approval forms while making affirmative sounds.

His gaze deepened as he firmly dotted the final point. All playfulness vanished, replaced by surprisingly cold blue eyes that cut through the air.

A marriage that couldn’t be avoided anyway.

He planned to wag his tail appropriately to the Emperor’s tune and then bare his fangs when the time came. Wasn’t this the tiger’s den he had walked into willingly for that purpose?

Reizen recalled his meeting with Melissa’s grandfather, Ludville Grey, four years ago.

“You have two choices. Either live here as a poor commoner for the rest of your life, or.”

“…”

“Be called ‘Your Highness’ Reizen by me.”

What will you do? The old man had asked, shooting Reizen a sharp glance like a blade. Red eyes and black hair, just like Melissa’s.

Even then, looking at the old man, Reizen had recalled Melissa’s clear smile.

It would make him feel a burning thirst, unconsciously swallow, and furrow his brow.

“It sounds like you’re offering to cover up my lacking half-blood, Duke. What do you want from me? Are you suggesting we commit treason together?”

Treason? Yes, treason, excellent! The old man had laughed heartily at those words. Eyes that resembled someone’s.

‘Melissa, Grey…’

Two names that could never be separated.

Yes, those names were always the problem.

***

“Your Highness, we have arrived.”

On the wedding day.

Reizen, dressed in imperial formal wear, stepped out of the carriage. As expected, an enormous number of reporters and citizens had gathered outside the garden.

A wedding where only imperial family members and a few nobles could attend.

Despite the limited number of people allowed inside, it felt crowded.

The commotion outside the iron gates was enough to shake the ground, even though the distance from the temple entrance to the main hall was considerable.

“Drag out the murderer!”

“A murderer cannot be a bride!”

To them, Melissa Grey, who killed a commoner knight, was evil.

“Don’t punish Prince Reizen!”

And Reizen Kalphenster, the only one in the empire who considered a commoner knight his friend, was good.

The people believed Reizen was being punished with marriage to a murderer because he had sided with commoners.

Meanwhile, nobles who knew this was related to the Emperor’s whims clicked their tongues and fanned the flames.

“Hmph. Making such a racket when they don’t even know the truth.”

The noisy clamor echoed loudly.

It was then, as Reizen received gloves from a nearby attendant and put them on.

“Gasp, it’s that woman!”

The group of nobles gathered in front of the temple began to stir.

The bride approached in a white flower-decorated carriage provided by the imperial family.

“Your Highness?”

When Reizen stopped silently in place, all the attendants’ gazes turned in one direction.

Melissa Grey, wearing a wedding dress, was stepping down from the carriage with the support of an attendant.

For a moment, it seemed as if all noise in the world had been erased.

No one could say a word. They could only follow her movements with their eyes.

“…”

And even Reizen, who was never one to be flustered by anything, was the same.

Though she still looked sickly with hollow cheeks and a waist so thin it seemed it would break if touched, barely able to walk… yet the woman was beautiful.

“Wow.”

A belated gasp broke out among the attendants. She had an aura as if she had descended from another world and might live among the clouds.

Clearly, just days ago she couldn’t even walk by herself. Yet now she approached Reizen with nobility, as if she were a completely different person from then.

At that moment, the scent of flowers carried by the wind brushed his face.

The sunlight created what looked like a silver outline around the woman’s head. It was dazzling.

Each time he closed and opened his eyes, the woman bathed in sunlight drew closer. One step, then another.

Even though her ankles, stripped of flesh, couldn’t have fully healed yet, the woman moved naturally as if the heavy dress and pearl accessories were a weight she was meant to bear.

Finally stopping before him, she opened her small red lips and spoke.

“I greet the Third Prince of the Sys Empire.”

Even her cracked voice sounded soft in pronunciation. If her aura were to be compared to a color, it would be ivory – neither purely white nor yellow.

The color of first love, layered with memories.

“Kill me.”

In contrast, he also recalled that time when she pleaded with a hoarse voice from behind iron bars.

“Take your revenge by killing me.”

The woman who had shown her helplessness behind bars asking to be killed seemed like a different person from the woman now adorned in a wedding dress. There was a sense of disconnect.

In front of the cathedral where spring had arrived, flower petals swirled in the wind, enveloping the two.

“Ha.”

At that moment, Reizen’s lips twisted.