Jane, who had been pondering what to do about Emma, saw a maid running up breathlessly. She narrowed her brow and was about to shout, but the maid spoke first.

“H-His Majesty has arrived!”

“What?”

Even Jane’s expression, which had remained impassive, cracked. Soon she too hurried off to greet Jade.

“Your Majesty. What brings you here?”

“Where is Lady Arcadi?”

“Lady Rosana is resting in her room.”

“Show me the way.”

Sensing something unusual from Jade’s stern face, Jane silently guided him. Before Jane could knock and ask Rosana’s opinion, Jade’s large hand flung the door open. Rosana, who had been sitting on the bed, jumped up in surprise.

‘Why is he…?’

Jade scanned the room thoroughly. Then he entered without hesitation. He gestured to dismiss Jane and the maids who had followed.

“Your Majesty, what brings you here?”

When Rosana asked, Jade plopped down heavily on the sofa.

“I was worried you might not like the palace. Is the dress uncomfortable?”

Jade glanced at Rosana, who was wearing one of the dresses he had prepared just in case. 

With his keen eye, he saw through the fact that the dress size fit perfectly. The information was accurate. Even while feeling the sharp blade in his br*ast, he spoke quite gently.

“Yes, the size fits perfectly.”

“What about the room? Do you like it?”

“It has a calm and elegant atmosphere, so I feel at ease.”

Rosana carefully sat across from him. Jade watched every bit of Rosana’s slow movements with narrowed eyes, missing nothing.

‘Calm and elegant atmosphere… I heard she likes flashy things.’

Jade smacked his lips, setting aside his own impressions. Wondering what words would make her reveal her true colors. This time, he planned to catch a glimpse of her true intentions without letting it slide.

As they quietly watched each other, a knock sounded and Celine, who had been waiting, brought tea. She placed the tea on the table and quietly disappeared.

“The tea she brews is quite good.”

Jade leisurely began savoring the tea, saying it tasted good. His fierce glare vanished, and he wore a harmless smile. When his bold eyebrows curved gracefully, his impression changed completely. Facing his gentle smile, Rosana’s tension eased a bit.

Jade’s eyes gleamed when Rosana’s wariness seemed to soften somewhat. He planned to induce Rosana’s carelessness, then show her the dagger and watch her surprised reaction. 

People often revealed their true feelings when flustered.

Meanwhile, Rosana looked at Jade’s face, which had changed in an instant, thinking it fascinating. When they first met, he had been only cold, but now he wore a smiling face. If anyone saw him, they would think he had a favorable impression of her.

‘Could I smile like that too…?’

Rosana lightly touched the corners of her mouth. She thought more about it because of what had happened earlier. She had deliberately frightened them, but because it was too effective, her mood had sunk a bit.

When Rosana tried to smile, everyone said she had ulterior motives and was thinking of doing something bad. But when she made ‘Rosana’s’ expression, the maids said it was scary, and the nobles said it was vicious. So she had lived with an expressionless face as much as possible.

Rosana fell into thought. The maids had been frightened of her, but they hadn’t been passive toward Emma. Emma was the only one who had taken the stage here. 

Then could she throw off the detestable mask of ‘Rosana Arcadi’? She had tried to throw it off at the ducal family, but ultimately couldn’t remove it and had collapsed.

The hypothesis she had thought about in the carriage. Either Diovaha would also force Rosana to be ‘Rosana’ based only on rumors, or…

Rosana stared intently at the corners of Jade’s mouth. The gracefully curved arc. It was inevitable that Rosana, seeing Jade’s smile, wanted to imitate it. It was a smile ‘Rosana’ could never make.

“You smile well. Could I smile like that too?”

“…Huh?”

Jade was flustered by the unexpected compliment and jerked the hand holding the teacup. 

Rosana spoke calmly with an expressionless face. However, thinking she had only thought it internally, Rosana didn’t realize the words had left her mouth.

Thanks to that, only Jade was confused. Rosana, who had said something odd, calmly drank her tea like she hadn’t said anything. Jade’s brow narrowed.

‘Is it a compliment? Or is it sophisticated sarcasm?’

No matter how much he thought about it, considering her attitude until now, there was no way words of praise would come from Rosana’s mouth. Talking about smiling? 

Jade raised his eyebrow slightly. It was a sign of puzzlement.

Rosana had already lowered her gaze, took a sip of tea, and let out a small breath. True to the tea he had praised, both the aroma and taste were excellent. Above all.

‘It’s not sweet.’

It was tea with an appropriately bitter taste. Unlike the maids of the ducal family who always gave her sweet tea. Her queasy stomach settled completely. 

Just today, in a place she hadn’t even been in for half a day, she felt she was living like a human being. Simply because things hadn’t gone according to Emma’s words.

What would be natural was something novel to Rosana. It was something unimaginable at the ducal family. It was different from those days that always repeated the same routine.

The warm energy of the tea spread throughout Rosana’s body. Perhaps because the warm energy spread throughout, her body naturally relaxed and her lips loosened. 

Jade, who had been staring intently at Rosana, didn’t miss that change. Rosana, who had been lost in thought, asked like she had just now realized Jade’s presence.

“Didn’t you come because you had something to say?”

“…That’s right.”

Jade answered somewhat late. He had tried to induce carelessness, but at Rosana’s composed attitude, Jade cleared his throat. Rosana’s peaceful atmosphere felt alien.

His brow narrowed. Then he recalled the purpose of coming here. Before taking out the dagger, he first mentioned a fact that would make her angry. To see what kind of reaction Rosana would show.

“I disposed of all the dresses you brought. I’ll return the accessories.”

“Yes.”

“…”

Jade couldn’t shake off the feeling of being constantly deflected. She lightly brushed off even his boldly thrown line. 

Nothing was more humiliating than burning with hostility alone toward an opponent who showed no hostility at all. Jade’s brow narrowed more and more, and he cupped his chin in contemplation. 

She kept sipping tea like she wasn’t affected at all even though he said he threw away her dresses—it couldn’t help but be a strange situation.

Unlike Jade’s complicated feelings, Rosana’s heart was melting away.

‘I’m glad I got married.’

The errors surrounding her were falling away one by one. No roses, no tea so sweet it hurt her tongue, and he had disposed of all the cumbersome dresses. These were all things she had wanted to throw away but couldn’t.

He had thrown away the knights, the maids, and all the dresses. He had cleared them from her sight. Emotions she could no longer contain surged up. She was on the verge of humming.

Was this joy?

Rosana put down her teacup and wiped the lip mark with her finger.

“Thank you.”

It was a smile that welled up from deep in her heart. Rosana knew he would be flustered, but she wanted to convey her gratitude.

Jade slightly dropped the hand cupping his chin and opened his mouth blankly. It was a genuine smile with gracefully folded eyes. At the beautiful smile, Jade was entranced. The impact was greater because he had thought she would never smile.

He had been quite surprised when her stiffly set lips relaxed, but he was speechless at her bright smile. It was even more so because the smile held gentleness and gratitude.

The framework of Rosana Arcadi that Jade knew cracked slightly.

‘So she knows how to smile like that. No matter how I look at it… she seems far from being a villain who tried to kill her sister.’

However, Jade felt the cool blade in his br*ast and steeled his heart again. But the doubt that it might be a misunderstanding only grew larger in his heart. So he stopped the pointless maneuvering and handed it over honestly.

“Take it.”

Jade, who spoke quietly, took out the dagger from his br*ast and placed it on the table. Rosana was puzzled by the object rolled up in cloth. 

Then she reached out her hand. Jade leaned back against the sofa and his eyes flashed. He was ready to not miss even Rosana’s smallest movement.

Rosana removed the cloth. And when the hidden object revealed itself, her eyes began trembling violently. Jade thought it was something Rosana had brought, but it wasn’t true. 

So Rosana had no choice but to distort Jade’s intention in handing her the dagger.

The sound of something snapping came from somewhere. Rosana gripped the dagger with all her strength. The dagger was speaking. That it was different from what she thought.

Bitterness spread in Rosana’s mouth, who had tasted hope for just a brief moment. Someone seemed to whisper that they couldn’t allow even a small respite.

‘I knew it.’

Her heart ached. Even though it was a fact she knew, when the sword was thr*st right before her eyes, her breath caught.

‘I’m a foreign substance wherever I go. My existence here is only a hindrance.’

To Rosana, his handing her the dagger was taken to mean she could end her life at any time. No, it read as an intention for her to end it herself. She bit the inside of her cheek hard. 

She parted her lips several times but couldn’t bring herself to speak and closed her mouth. Then she calmly corrected the stirring in her heart.

Barely… she had barely come out. She was trying to breathe a little.

Her hand was reaching toward the word ‘life.’ But death?

So she repeated internally the words she could never say aloud.

‘I’m sorry, but I cannot die.’

She didn’t want to die. If it meant not to expect anything and live alone, she could accept that. 

But she couldn’t die. She hadn’t suffered for so long to die. Even if it was her greed, even if no one welcomed her, she had never thought she should die.

And Rosana realized. That deep in her heart, she had been hoping. The fact that she was alive was proof of that. And now that she saw a small thread, she had no intention of letting go of that thread.

‘I… want to live.’

The sorrow of all the humiliation she had endured until now overflowed, and looking at the blade of the dagger, she felt like she was being sucked in, so she covered it with the cloth.

People are greedy.

She had thought she just wanted to live going with the flow. She wanted to escape from Astrot, where she couldn’t breathe, and didn’t want to be in the Duchess’s shadow.

She had escaped. People’s gazes were still the same, but their attitudes were subtly different. Different from the Arcadi ducal family. 

She had witnessed that directly with her body and eyes. Couldn’t she throw off the mask called ‘Rosana’? 

A small hope appeared. A long time ago, a small wish she had dreamed of for a long time came to mind. Rosana looked at Jade calmly.

‘I thought he was a kind person though… Was I mistaken?’

Rosana, who had briefly hoped in Jade, cleanly folded away the word ‘hope.’ Jade’s eyes showed no wavering.

“I’m sorry, but I cannot accept this. This is my will.”

“…”

“However, Your Majesty… I understand what you’re saying.”

Rosana looked at him straight with unwavering eyes and held out the cloth-wrapped dagger to him. Jade received the dagger. Rosana looked at him and slowly recited her words with a serious face.

“You don’t need to worry. I will live quietly. Invisible to anyone, I have no intention of causing trouble because I’m the Empress.”

“Is that true?”

“Yes.”

Jade stared at Rosana, who spoke plainly. There wasn’t a speck of falsehood in her expression. Rather, he could even glimpse firm determination. At least in his current eyes.

Jade held out the dagger to her again. Rosana felt sad at Jade’s appearance, not backing down until the end. She pressed her lips together tightly. Even the shape of her distorting lips was fully revealed.

‘As I thought… does he not trust me?’

She chewed the flesh inside her lips. She took a short breath and tried to speak once more. Then a passing remark.