On a warm afternoon, sunlight poured into the room and the curtains swayed in the gentle breeze. The woman leaning against the window gazed down, seemingly waiting for something.

Her eyes, shining like empty glass beads, held nothing within them.

Then, from outside, she heard someone rushing toward her in a hurry. Finally, it had come. She closed her eyes tightly and opened them again just as the door burst open.

A maid entered in a flurry. In her hands, she held an obviously ornate letter. Seeing the seal stamped in the very center, Rosana smiled weakly.

“Miss…! From the Imperial Palace, a letter…”

The letter’s recipient was Rosana Arcadi, the eldest daughter of Duke Arcadi’s family. She had seen it coming from far away. The moment she spotted the Imperial crest on the horse ridden by the visitor to the Duke’s estate, she had known.

“I know.”

Rosana muttered lowly and snatched the letter from Emma’s hands without hesitation. She didn’t need to look to know what was inside.

Anyone who had heard the rumors circulating in society would know. That was why Emma, Rosana’s personal maid, was so restless. Rosana calmly read the letter from the Imperial Palace.

The text contained no personal greetings—only notifications. It stated that the political marriage with the Diovaha Imperial family had been confirmed. And the bride was Rosana herself. It was firm, leaving no room for choice.

“It was bound to happen someday.”

She murmured those words quietly, with a hint of bitterness. She had known about this day since long ago. This was a predetermined fate. No matter how much she struggled, fate never passed her by.

“Miss, are you really… going to Diovaha?”

“Well, I have to go, don’t I?”

The letter stated she should depart at the earliest opportunity. It clearly conveyed the desire to send her away as quickly as possible.

Was it the sentiment that someone who had nearly killed his precious fiancée shouldn’t be kept nearby any longer? Or was it because her very existence was an obstacle?

Rosana slowly folded the letter again. Emma looked at Rosana with tears welling up. With a pitying expression, she carefully reached out and clasped Rosana’s hands.

“I will definitely stay by your side!”

Rosana let Emma’s firm pledge go in one ear and out the other. A smile that seemed ready to scatter at any moment appeared on Rosana’s lips. Emma’s words were no different from saying she would suffocate her until the end. With a short sigh, she said:

“I’m tired. Leave.”

“Miss…”

Thinking that Rosana needed time alone, Emma quietly withdrew.

Rosana’s opinion didn’t matter anyway. Even before the notification arrived from the Imperial Palace, everything had already been decided. Rosana raised her head. Above her, a magnificent chandelier sparkled blindingly. For some reason, her eyes felt cold.

Being dragged off to Diovaha in a political marriage, Emma insisting on coming along when Rosana hoped she wouldn’t—it was all an ending she had heard about and already knew.

Everything was unfolding exactly according to “her” words.

Rosana closed her eyes tightly. She had no reason not to leave, and no lingering memories existed for her here. They had all disappeared long ago.

* * *

Rosana Arcadi. The Arcadi ducal family where she was born and raised had been an ordinary household when she was young. 

A stern but kind father, a mother with a beautiful smile, and Amy, her cute and precious twin sister. But her life was turned 180 degrees by her mother, who had gone mad.

Rosana remembered clearly the moment the curtain rose.

That moment she couldn’t forget no matter how hard she tried…

One day, the Duke died in an unfortunate accident, and the Duchess fell into deep grief. In the mansion that had lost its master in an instant, only sorrowful crying echoed. The gloomy atmosphere that had overtaken the ducal family swallowed everyone.

Moreover, after the Duke’s death, many forces began targeting the ducal family. They coveted the ducal family’s wealth, coveted their territory, coveted their authority. 

Once the Duke, who had stood firm like a giant tree, disappeared, the Arcadi ducal family began to sway. Everyone was anxious.

But they couldn’t just grieve forever. The Duchess, who until a few years ago had been a delicately raised noble lady, tried hard to stop them, but naturally found it overwhelming. 

And as the time she spent in the study increased, the time she spent with her children gradually decreased.

And one day… Mother changed completely.

It happened when Rosana and Amy went to find her room to sleep together with their mother.

The two girls held each other’s hands tightly and toddled down the corridor. Then they opened the Duchess’s bedroom door. The girls doubted their eyes. Her room was a complete mess. 

Pillows had their insides fully exposed, feathers floating in the air drifted down endlessly, and the blanket was shoved into a corner.

And the Duchess, like someone who had lost her mind, stared blankly upward with her hair disheveled. She muttered eerily while looking at the air. Her eyes flashed, like she had received a divine revelation, like an existence that would save her had appeared.

“Yes… I remember. This place… was called ‘For the Princess.’ I remember now. Why didn’t I remember sooner?”

“Mom…?”

“Yes. My daughter.”

Amy called out to her carefully. The muttering Duchess stopped talking and opened her mouth in a gentle tone. Then she slowly turned her head. 

Her smile, beaming with disheveled hair, looked grotesque, but Amy, reassured by the usual gentle tone, let go of Rosana’s hand and burrowed into her embrace.

“Mom… are you sick?”

“No. My poor Amy must have been so scared.”

The Duchess gently stroked Amy’s head to comfort her. Amy smiled broadly, relieved. She nuzzled into the Duchess’s embrace. 

Rosana also slowly approached her. She was also at a young age when she longed for her mother’s embrace.

But just as Rosana’s hand was about to reach her, with a slapping sound, Rosana’s hand was pushed away. The sound echoed clearly in the quiet room, and Amy looked at the Duchess with startled eyes.

“…Mom?”

“Oh, I’m sorry. Did I startle you?”

When Amy was surprised, the Duchess used the hand that had pushed Rosana away to gently stroke her head. Amy smiled innocently at the gentle touch, unlike Rosana. 

Rosana tightly grasped her rejected hand with her other hand. Her eyes trembled like aspen leaves. Mom had rejected me. Her heart throbbed at the refused contact.

Like filth, telling her not to touch her, she had been rejected with all her might. The tips of Rosana’s fingers, pushed away by force, turned red. Rosana moved her lips several times before speaking.

“Mom… why…?”

At Rosana’s bewildered reaction, she laughed with a smiling face, finding it strange instead. Her tilting head was calm. She murmured quietly, like stating an obvious fact.

“Hm? ‘Rosana’ doesn’t like physical contact with people, right?”

“But sister always held my hand tight.”

“That’s because Amy acted spoiled. You shouldn’t trouble your sister, should you?”

“U-uh…”

Something was strange, but at her mother’s words, and at the face that held not a trace of falsehood, Amy could only nod.

Amy, who had held Rosana’s hand tightly until they arrived at the room. The young sister had even slept lying side by side with her sibling and had made much physical contact, yet she believed her words. 

Rosana’s mouth kept moving, but no words came out. She was so dumbfounded she didn’t know what to say.

Dislikes physical contact?

That wasn’t true.

Rosana had liked being held in her mother’s arms, and she had liked walking hand in hand with Amy. But at the sight of the Duchess hugging and comforting only Amy, like she had forgotten that fact, Rosana felt endlessly sad. 

Rosana’s tearful expression contrasted with the brightly smiling faces of the Duchess and Amy.

The moon brightly illuminated only Amy and the Duchess, while Rosana hid in the darkness. In the end, that day Rosana stood there helplessly without even the slightest contact with the Duchess.

It started the next day. Gradually, her surroundings changed.

First was her mother. Then gradually Amy, and even the maids. Everyone in one mansion changed except Rosana.

Mother said. That I liked red roses. The caring mother who wanted to find her child’s smile went out of her way to tear up the garden.

‘But that wasn’t why I wasn’t smiling…’

I wasn’t smiling because I was sad about Mother’s attitude of drawing a strange line. I carefully watched the Duchess’s mood, worried that I would be rejected again by the touch that kept being refused.

Naturally, there was no way I could smile. When the kind mother was doing everything in her power to reject me, telling me not to come, not to touch her, what kind of child could possibly smile and go about their life?

Even when Rosana said no, waving her hands and shouting, the Duchess didn’t listen. Then she said children don’t need to hold back so much and created a rose garden for her. 

And with the words that ‘Rosana’ loved jewels, she won expensive and precious jewels at auctions and gave them as gifts. Rosana refused, but in the end, the Duchess placed them in Rosana’s arms.

Rosana smiled broadly. Not because she liked those things. She was happy for her mother’s attention. She was just happy to receive gifts. So she smiled. She said thank you, she said she was grateful. And the maids who saw this thought:

Ah, we just didn’t know—just like Madam said, the young miss really does love these things.

Since Rosana, who had been going around with a dark face, smiled brightly upon receiving gifts, naturally they could only think that way. At first, she was happy.

‘Mother is giving me gifts because she feels sorry.’

But in the attitude of ignoring her words that she disliked the color red, ignoring her words that she wanted something other than jewels, she could no longer feel any apology or kindness. 

She couldn’t shake off the sense of wrongness at the items that kept being placed in her arms even when she refused. The words and actions of those around her gradually became more forceful.

She realized too late that something was wrong. But it was already too late. The Duchess didn’t listen to Rosana’s words at all. The maids were the same.

“Mother, the rose scent is a bit strong for my nose.”

“Hm? What are you saying? ‘Rosana’ loves roses. More than any other flower in the world. And the scent too, dear.”

The meaning contained in her words was this: Love the deep red, luscious roses and love their scent. The pattern of the Duchess speaking and Rosana objecting continued, but nothing went according to Rosana’s wishes.

Everything went according to Mother’s words. According to her will.

Rosana didn’t like dresses adorned with jewels—they were cumbersome and heavy. But she had to wear the fancy dresses that had somehow become her taste. 

She closed her eyes briefly and opened them, and at her young age, Rosana had become someone who loved jewels and was extravagant.

The room was no longer her room. The scent of roses entered through the window. 

Saying it made ‘Rosana’ feel good, roses decorated every corner of the room, and the fancy gold ornaments were countless. Even the curtains were laden with fancy jewels, and the chandelier sparkled excessively.

It wasn’t Rosana’s—it was ‘Rosana’s.’ It wasn’t what she wanted.

‘That’s not right, I’m not that kind of person.’

On the contrary, the Duchess became a caring mother who loved and cherished such a Rosana, and Amy, who had also lost her father just the same, became a child who grew up cheerfully, unlike Rosana.

At the words she heard from those around her, Rosana’s smile disappeared. Her expression twisted. There was no way she could smile in the strangely turning ducal household.

In the ducal family, Rosana was a shadow. No matter how much she spoke, it didn’t matter one bit. A shadow just follows along—it has no visible voice or form.

In the end, not knowing what to do, she caused a commotion, screamed, and threw things. Like a madwoman, she threw everything that made up her room. It was the only protest young Rosana could make.

Rosana cried and raged. That it wasn’t true, that she wasn’t like that. But her throat just became hoarse and nothing changed. Even when her voice became so hoarse it sounded like scraping the floor, no one heard. 

It didn’t get through.