Gregory Hanover was sitting in his home study, handling paperwork. Due to his son’s foolish mistake, his position to become in-laws with the royal family had become precarious.

Gregory clicked his tongue in annoyance.

‘How should I deal with that woman?’

Of course, he could hire someone again, but too many eyes were watching. He had killed Brandt’s favorite horse and denied his loyal servant even a drop of water, but his anger was not appeased.

It’s troublesome, but once the marriage is finalized, the rest doesn’t matter.

The Crown Prince, surprisingly not a fool, didn’t speak of breaking the engagement. The young emperor needed the money, skills, and honor of Duke Hanover.

It wasn’t surprising or particularly concerning that the Crown Prince might enjoy the company of new women.

At that moment, there was a knock on the door.

“What is it?”

Without looking up, he asked, and his guard, Terra, entered.

“My Lord, there’s an urgent message from the central royal palace.”

“What is it?”

“His Majesty is critically ill.”

“How severe?”

“They say it might be time to ring the bell. But…”

Terra lowered his voice.

“He keeps saying he wants to change his will. This was heard from the royal physician.”

“Who knows this?”

“Only you, My Lord.”

“Keep it that way. And tell the royal physician to keep his mouth shut. Otherwise, there will be severe consequences.”

Terra bowed and left as Gregory commanded. Gregory pondered silently.

‘You must die after the marriage is finalized, Your Majesty. And changing the will now?’

The emperor dying now was not good for him. He didn’t want any new chaos or changes. Although things had already gone awry with the appearance of that woman, Aurelia.

Then something suspicious caught his sharp eyes. Gregory flipped through the documents he had been quickly scanning.

‘What is this?’

Gregory’s eyes wavered with surprise. Flipping through the documents so roughly they almost tore, he slammed his desk.

‘Who did this…!’

The suddenly discovered document listed all sorts of personnel and tax frauds he had committed. It was a perfectly crafted blackmail document with considerable evidence.

There was no one in the palace to oppose him. There was no one who needed to blackmail him. Suddenly, he remembered Terra’s words about gathering information on Aurelia Bree.

“They say she stayed at Duke Kaiden Delcliff’s residence.”

Kaiden Delcliff. Gregory slowly cracked his knuckles as he gathered his thoughts.

‘What should I do?’

For the first time in a while, Gregory felt anxious about a situation not going his way. Just then, there was a knock on the door.

“Later.”

“My Lord.”

Terra opened the door slowly, speaking in a low voice.

“I said later!”

“It’s Job.”

Gregory took a deep breath. Come to think of it, his daughter had also been acting out.

“Job.”

As he hastily covered the documents, a man entered, looking sharp enough to be cut with a knife. It was Job, a friend of Rohana. Greed glimmered in his eyes.

“So, what did my daughter say?”

Job bowed deeply, looking at his master with eyes like a snake.

Rohana Hanover had secretly supported Job and raised him to a managerial level, even giving him gifts when his three children were born.

Gregory sneered coldly as he watched Job, who was easy to betray despite such kindness.

His daughter was smart.

She had contributed to nearly half of his wealth. She had orchestrated things so well without him noticing if she didn’t buy people off.

‘But what’s the use?’

Gregory felt a bitter sympathy for his daughter as he reviewed the documents Job had eagerly presented.

‘In the end, trusting people leads to this.’

Seeing his daughter’s clever escape plan, Gregory sighed deeply with pity.

***

Rohana turned her gaze to the lakeside as she saw his calm face return. Then a low voice drew her attention back.

“Do you resent the Crown Prince?”

His dark eyes looked at her as if pulling her in.

Resent the Crown Prince of the Empire? Being betrayed privately, the position of a duke’s daughter was not light enough to say such things carelessly.

When Rohana smiled, as if to say what kind of question that was, Kaiden’s eyes narrowed.

“I’m not asking politically.”

“Why do you want a non-political answer?”

Rohana asked back, genuinely curious.

Kaiden looked down at her with a gaze that seemed to say, ‘You’re difficult,’ and leaned back deeply in his chair. The broad shirt of his body shone brightly in the sunlight.

“My Lord, please tell me what you really want to say.”

With Rohana’s firm and businesslike words, silence fell. The sound of children playing in the distance occasionally broke the silence.

“Hmm.”

With eyes hard to read, he looked leisurely at the lake. Then he tilted his head and looked at her again.

Did he know how much that gaze made those around him tense?

“I asked because it didn’t seem like you,” Kaiden said.

Rohana’s eyebrow twitched.

“Not like me?”

As she let out an incredulous laugh, as if to say “What do you know about me?”, Kaiden’s words filled the silence.

“Engaging in some unknown smuggling with the merchants, charging at a drunkard, or riding off to stop your brother.”

His voice was languid and deep as he leaned casually to the side.

“And even trading with me over such things.”

As Kaiden leaned forward a bit, a familiar scent wafted over again.

“I thought you would have lashed out at the Crown Prince a long time ago. I wondered if you were waiting for the right ‘time’ or ‘method,’ but you don’t seem to have that in mind, do you?”

Rohana looked up at him in silence. How much did he know, and how much was he probing? He just seemed relaxed and calm.

“I’m acting very consistently.”

Rohana spoke firmly. It was true. She was doing just enough to take care of herself, enough to alleviate her guilt. At least she wasn’t deceiving everyone like some people.

Then Kaiden leaned in a bit more.

“If you don’t want to…”

Just a little closer, but Rohana felt a strange tension and held her breath.

“Don’t marry him.”

His eyes and lips were serious. Rohana’s entire body heated up in an instant.

Thump, thump.

Her heart was racing. Rohana tried to ignore her body’s reactions and focus on her thoughts. The villain didn’t want her to marry.

Why?

“Is this what you wanted to say?”

As she asked, buying time, another hypothesis emerged, slowing her rapidly beating heart.

The protagonist and heroine, destined to meet. The villain who was already with the heroine.

Their connection was strong and deep.

The fact that he let her go after the heroine’s kidnapping incident, when he could have easily killed her, the unnecessary questions about her marriage to the Crown Prince.

And, though unlikely, the villain’s actions that seemed almost favorable could be explained by one thing.

An arranged marriage that happened in the original story.

If he was pushing for her marriage to gain control over the Hanover family and its wealth, wanting her to break off the engagement with the Crown Prince wasn’t strange.

Without the marriage, he couldn’t control Duke Hanover, and winning the war would be difficult.

As the puzzle pieces clicked into place, her mind calmed her pounding heart. Rohana sighed softly.

Since she was being blackmailed, it seemed necessary to clarify things, so she slowly opened her lips.

“Is this… part of the deal?”

“Hmm?”

Kaiden was the one who asked this time. His previously flawless face cracked slightly.

“The deal to keep silent about this incident. Do you want me to break off the engagement with the Crown Prince?”

For some reason, he frowned momentarily but soon lowered his eyes as if understanding. Although a subtle difference, his cold gaze was different from earlier.

“No.”

There was still a dry smile on his lips.

“Then why?”

Rohana decided to ask directly.

“What will you do if I break off the engagement and Prince Bardi officially starts seeing Lady Aurelia?”

Kaiden’s eyebrows knitted as she took the risk of mentioning his biggest weakness, Aurelia.

Rohana bit her lip slightly. Kaiden seemed amused by her tension, deepening his smile as he asked.

“Do I have a reason to interfere with them?”

Despite the smile, his lowered voice carried an oddly explosive atmosphere.

Rohana couldn’t find the words. She couldn’t exactly say she knew he loved Aurelia from the original story.

“No, that’s not it, but…”

His sharp eyes seemed to pierce through her. His high nose and firmly closed lips were reflected against the increasingly dark blue sky.

It was a suffocating silence.

“Let’s go.”

After looking at Rohana for a moment, Kaiden spoke calmly and stood up.

“I think I’ve said everything I needed to.”

His voice was courteous and composed once more.