“Ah!”

When did she fall asleep?

Larinne jolted awake with a startled cry, gasping for breath.

“Goodness! I thought my heart was going to stop.”

Even when Chardi scolded her in surprise—having been sweeping nearby—Larinne could barely gather herself enough to respond.

‘What… what was that? Why… how…’

Even after splashing her face with both hands, the trembling in her fingertips refused to subside.

Noticing something was wrong, Chardi slowly crouched down, still holding the broom.

“Did you have that nightmare again? The one where your childhood friend appears?”

Chardi remembered the reason Larinne had once given for her insomnia.

Every night, she said, she heard news of the death of someone she dearly missed.

‘So she must have had that nightmare again today.’

As though accustomed to the situation, Chardi brushed the dust from her clothes and stood.

“I’ll bring you some lavender tea.”

But before she could take even a step, Larinne grabbed her wrist.

“Chardi.”

“Yes?”

“In my dream… another man appeared. Not the news of Libehi’s death—another man…”

Chardi’s eyes widened as she looked at Larinne, who murmured the words like someone who had seen a ghost.

“Really? Then who appeared in your dream today?”

“…The envoy of Lirmen.”

“Ah, him. He was certainly a handsome man you couldn’t forget after seeing once.”

Chardi continued chattering about Winterd’s striking looks, but not a single word reached Larinne’s ears.

“Anyway, that’s a relief. You haven’t been able to sleep properly because of those nightmares, Lady Larinne.

If you’re dreaming about something else now, maybe the nightmares are finally ending!”

Chardi congratulated her, but Larinne could not bring herself to smile.

For a Lemen, what had just happened was no small matter—it was the kind of event that could define a lifetime.

‘Why would I have a Companion Dream about that man?’

A Companion Dream was a type of prophetic dream that only the Lemen people could experience.

When a Lemen reached adulthood, the person destined to become their lifelong partner would appear in their dreams.

Whether they wished for it or not, they would become deeply entangled with the person who appeared there.

That was the fate of the Lemen.

Bringing her fingernails to her lips, she bit down anxiously.

She wanted to deny it—to insist it wasn’t true.

But the dream had been far too unmistakably like a Companion Dream.

***

It had been a dream about a black snake with red eyes.

With languid movements, the snake approached and climbed slowly up her slender ankle.

The cold, unfamiliar sensation against her bare skin only heightened every nerve in her body.

“Ah…!”

As though savoring it, the snake coiled around her delicate flesh and slithered upward between her legs before finally reaching her chin.

Having claimed her entire body, the snake let out a long hiss.

“Shhh—”

For a moment, she thought it sounded like someone placing a finger against their lips to whisper.

And then—

The black snake transformed into a man.

It was him.

“Good. Relax your body.”

Winterd—the envoy of the Kingdom of Lemen—parted his red lips slowly.

His hand traced gently along Larinne’s defenseless white nape.

Then he suddenly bit down.

***

Even after thinking it over again and again, there was no denying it.

It had been a Companion Dream.

The person who appeared was an adult male of the Lemen race. There had been physical contact in the dream.

And above all—

Her heart was still pounding wildly even now.

‘This is insane.’

Unconsciously, her hand rose to the nape of her neck—the place where Winterd had bitten her in the dream.

It felt as though a faint warmth still lingered there.

As she sat there in a daze, the cloth draped over her shoulders slipped slightly.

It was a shawl she had never seen before.

“Chardi, did you bring this?”

“No, my lady. How could I possibly obtain such an expensive shawl? Lady Larinne does not receive a very generous allowance for maintaining her dignity.”

“Then this is…?”

“It must belong to him. The envoy from the Kingdom of Lemen stopped by last night.”

‘That man came here?’

Her surprise lasted only a moment. A heartbeat later, she realized that from the very first day she had already broken her promise to a foreign envoy.

It felt as though all the blood drained from her body.

“Chardi, what time is it now?”

“It’s almost time for breakfast. You woke up later than usual today, so you should hurry and get ready.”

Good heavens.

Cold sweat trickled down her forehead. Now that she understood the situation, worry surged through her mind like waves crashing against an empty shore.

Her face pale, Larinne grabbed Chardi’s sleeve urgently.

“Does His Majesty know?”

“Know what?”

“That I failed to keep my promise to treat the Lemen envoy. It hasn’t reached His Majesty’s ears, has it?”

“He probably doesn’t know. The envoy stayed in your room for quite a while before leaving.”

“That’s true. If His Majesty had known, the Southern Palace wouldn’t be this quiet.”

A quiet sigh slipped from her lips, mixed with relief.

Her gaze fell unconsciously to the man’s shawl draped across her thighs.

She had not meant to think of him, yet her thoughts naturally drifted back to that man.

‘What on earth is he thinking?’

From Larinne’s perspective, it made no sense at all.

What she had broken last night was not a trivial personal promise—it was an agreement exchanged between two nations.

‘And it seemed extremely important to him, important enough that he placed a major bargaining chip on the table.’

Then how could he simply…

“Think about it while you wash. I’ve already prepared the bath.”

Chardi gently pushed the troubled Larinne toward the bathroom.

Yes… perhaps that would help.

Following Chardi’s suggestion without protest, Larinne sank into the bath and carefully retraced the events in her mind.

As her thoughts branched outward, a seed of suspicion began to take root.

‘If he truly wished, he could easily claim the negotiations had collapsed. So why is he remaining silent?’

Just as she decided she needed to find out, Larinne casually turned her head.

Her gaze landed on the small window beside the bathtub.

Beyond the frame—bathed in the blazing sunlight of morning—an all too familiar face entered her view.

‘Why is the envoy of the Kingdom of Lemen with Lady Dius of all people?’

Before she could think any further, Larinne sprang up from the bath.

She had resolved to remain calm not even a minute ago, yet that resolve crumbled instantly.

***

Lady Endivia Dius.

That name alone made Larinne quicken her pace.

Water dripped from her damp silver hair, soaking her shoulders, yet she barely noticed.

It felt as though she had been thrown straight into the middle of a nightmare.

Endivia—the cherished only daughter of the Dius Ducal House, one of the founding families of the empire—had contributed greatly to making Larinne’s life miserable.

And when one looked closely, the reason was tied once again to her utterly tiresome fiancé.

“We will select Larinne Ontuevi as Empress.”

Three years after Seidon Varbel’s ascension to the throne, the emperor’s sudden declaration threw the council of elders into turmoil.

The position of Empress—something the Dius Ducal House had long worked to secure—was being offered to someone else.

The nobles stirred restlessly at the emperor’s abrupt change in attitude.

The emperor, who had always been cautious around the nobility, had suddenly turned and chosen to restrain their power. For what reason?

“Your Majesty. Forgive my boldness, but deciding matters of national importance without consulting the council of elders will surely provoke great opposition among the ministers.”

“So what Duke Dius is saying is that the council of elders stands above the imperial command.”

“Even if she was once the daughter of a noble family in her homeland, that country has fallen now. Is she not just a slave now? If Your Majesty wishes to keep her as a concubine, that is one thing, but to make her empress? The empress represents the imperial family, forms the foundation of the nation, and is the mother of its people. It is a position far too exalted for a mere slave.”

The Dius Ducal House had intended to make the emperor their son-in-law and rule the empire from behind the throne.

But Seidon was not a man who would move so obediently according to their plans.

Instead, he discovered a useful card that could restrain the Dius Ducal House.

Larinne Ontuevi.

As someone of slave origin, she would bring no powerful in-laws capable of challenging him. And since she possessed the Power of Water foretold in the Imperial Prophecy, she was the perfect choice to silence the council of elders.

The tense struggle for power shook the imperial palace.

“Your Majesty, I offer this counsel out of concern that Your Majesty may abandon the trust of loyal subjects over a mere indulgence in personal sentiment. Please withdraw this command and preserve the noble bloodline of the imperial family.”

From the beginning, the two men had never been able to stand on friendly terms.

Duke Dius was a cousin of the late emperor’s lawful empress.

At the time, Seidon had been nothing more than the late emperor’s illegitimate son.

But after Seidon assassinated his half-brother—the first prince and Dius’s own nephew—the relationship between the two men had been irreparably shattered.

To each other, they were nothing more than rotten teeth that needed to be pulled out.

And caught between them, Larinne had become the sacrifice.

“That ‘noble bloodline’ of yours. The council of elders never tires of repeating it to me, so I know it very well. Which is precisely why I intend to make Larinne the Empress. Surely you haven’t forgotten the imperial prophecy regarding the Mark of Water.”

“Your Majesty.”

“Ah, but to preserve the trust of a loyal subject, I shall accept Lady Endivia Dius as a concubine.”

From that day onward, Lady Dius’s relentless harassment began.

She had no intention of leaving Larinne in peace.

Anything Larinne possessed—she tried to destroy it.

‘Did Lady Dius approach that man on purpose this time as well?’

With waves of anxiety crashing over her, Larinne quickened her pace.

Even from a distance, they appeared rather close. Perhaps they had even joined hands for their own respective purposes.

The combination of Libehi Winterd, envoy of an enemy nation, and Lady Endivia Dius.

One seemed to know about Larinne and Pellet’s plan to escape.

The other had been waiting eagerly for a chance to seize Larinne’s weakness.

‘If the plan to escape with Pellet were to reach Lady Dius’s ears…’

Just as that thought reached its end, she finally arrived before them.

Lady Dius was speaking animatedly in front of Winterd, wearing an elegant smile, while her maids chimed in around her.

Larinne did not know the full situation. But one thing was painfully clear—

She had to silence that man.

“Lord Winterd, I shall send you an invitation soon.”

Lady Dius smiled sweetly as she placed a hand on Libehi Winterd’s shoulder.

The moment Larinne saw that sight, her heart dropped.

It felt as though she were tied to a heavy weight, plunging endlessly toward a bottomless abyss.

“……”

Was it because the image of that person kept overlapping with his figure?

A dull ache spread through her chest.

She wanted to ignore it, but it was like a finely sharpened blade repeatedly carving lines into her heart.

Winterd was the first to notice the Larinne who had frozen in place.

“Lady Larinne. Did you sleep well?”

Without hesitation, he turned toward her.

The hand Lady Dius had placed on his shoulder slipped away, but he did not spare it a single glance.

‘Did he do that on purpose?’

She knew it was a strange thought.

Yet she could not stop it.

“My goodness, Lady Larinne. What on earth has happened to you?”

The gazes of Lady Dius and the maids who followed her naturally shifted toward Larinne.

Their eyes, reddened with jealousy and spite, became sharp iron skewers that seemed to pierce straight through her body.