The Duchess’s eyes held not false affection but sincere love. From the day she realized the truth, her daughter was Amy—only one. 

Rosana was merely a child temporarily entrusted to her. She was the villainess anyway, someone to be sold off, someone who would die.

But she didn’t die. The Duchess’s eyes turned cold.

‘Why… did she come to have the Diovaha surname? Why isn’t this ending?’

The servants pursed their lips. Whenever Rosana’s name came up, the atmosphere always took a turn for the worse. The Duchess, who’d been staring at the wedding invitation, pushed Amy’s back.

“Go on now. Weren’t you supposed to see His Highness today?”

Amy, remembering what she’d forgotten due to Rosana’s letter, hurried off. The Duchess waved at Amy as she left. She was proud of her daughter who would be connected to the empire’s second-in-command—soon to be first.

‘I fulfilled my role splendidly.’

What she had to do as the Duchess of Arcadi.

After seeing Amy off, the Duchess returned to her room clutching the wedding invitation. She roughly opened a drawer. Inside was the dagger Rosana had returned. It was a gift she’d given, found in the box sent back with Emma.

“Why did it go wrong…?”

The Duchess tilted her head at an angle. She’d followed the original story as closely as possible. Rosana was “Rosana.” 

She’d deliberately made her that way. When Rosana was at the Arcadi Ducal Family, she was the undeniable villainess from “For the Princess.”

“In the original, Rosana is sold off and takes her life with the dagger. With the troublesome stone removed, the union between the ducal family and the imperial family would naturally occur. After that, swallowing Diovaha would achieve an unprecedented feat. And the original novel’s conclusion would come.”

The Duchess swallowed her next words. The moment she spoke of unfulfilled wishes aloud, she’d be the one burning inside.

The story ends with a splendid wedding celebrating the even stronger Astrot. To see the ending, the Duchess had wanted to send Rosana away quickly.

The imperial family had also coveted the ducal family’s wealth. The Duchess had no need for the ducal family’s fortune. It was a world she’d leave anyway. The ducal family’s remaining wealth was utterly useless to her. So she’d readily agreed.

The Emperor and the Duchess joined hands to quickly send Rosana away. Amy would marry the Crown Prince, but no one wanted Rosana. 

If she stayed put here, thanks to her status as the eldest daughter, she could inherit the heirless ducal family. So they got rid of her through a political marriage. That was the original story.

The Duchess, who’d muttered “strange” several times, opened the wedding invitation with elegant grace. It was a letter inviting family to the upcoming wedding.

“My memory can’t be wrong.”

The Duchess lightly tapped her head with her slender fingers. She traced her memories. Rosana had thought the situation of marrying a barbarian was humiliating and disgraceful. 

The dagger too—Rosana had forgotten and left it behind, so the Duchess had packed it for her.

“I’ll have to go see for myself.”

The Duchess hummed as she wrote a reply.

She could just fix it directly. She always had. Good Rosana wouldn’t refuse her words. She firmly believed it. She had no doubt that Rosana hated and found the Emperor of Diovaha terrible.

* * *

Malek walked silently through the long corridor. Today too, he carried an armful of piled documents. And in his pocket was something precious that had come from afar, yet he wanted to throw it away immediately. With each step, he felt its sharp edges bumping weakly.

He opened his pocket watch. He liked moving efficiently on schedule and couldn’t tolerate even small disruptions. During his long palace life, the only one who could contort Malek’s thickened face was Jade, whose actions were unpredictable.

This was partly due to Jade’s erratic behavior, but also because Malek’s heart particularly softened toward him. Having watched his master’s entire childhood by his side, Jade was someone Malek pitied. Though he might laugh if he said such things to his face.

“I knew from the beginning.”

“How ridiculous. You were the worst. Acting like you doubted His Majesty’s intentions.”

Malek sighed softly. Another loose-lipped one. Just as Jade was mentioned in their conversation, he moved without hesitation. To give them a sharp scolding.

Anyone working in the Emperor’s palace should be tight-lipped. Even if his actions fell outside the range of understanding, they should know to watch calmly and pass by. They shouldn’t speak carelessly.

Malek deliberately wandered around to overhear the gossip. He was public enemy number one among the servants, suddenly appearing from somewhere to rebuke them.

“I, I believe in Lady Rosana now too!”

The servant’s words dampened his anger somewhat. But idle chatter was still unforgivable.

“You there.”

The two who’d been chatting recognized who it was just from the voice. The servants were startled to see Malek, who’d somehow approached from behind.

“Will you take responsibility if the palace becomes noisy because of you?”

“We, we’re sorry!”

He clicked his tongue watching the two rush off to do their work. Acting so frivolously. Just as he turned to deliver documents to Jade, someone’s voice echoed from afar, calling out loudly.

At the resounding voice, blue veins appeared clearly on Malek’s forehead. The faces and names of all the nobles scheduled to visit today flashed through his mind. But there was no one who would show such behavior. 

Yet it was a voice that was somehow familiar.

“Ah! Found the head chamberlain!”

Louis, who’d suddenly approached like a puppy with a tail greeting its owner, came running to Malek in one bound.

“What about guarding Lady Rosana? Don’t tell me you left without permission…”

“There’s something more important than that!”

Seeing Louis with a rare serious expression, Malek raised his eyebrows and nodded, willing to hear him out.

“It’s about Lady Rosana.”

“Did something happen?”

Malek asked urgently. If something happened to Rosana, Malek would catch the fallout too.

“His Majesty forgot something ve~~ry important.”

Jade, who never tolerated mistakes regarding Rosana, would hardly forget anything.

“Our Lady is kind so she doesn’t show it, but she can’t fool my eyes! I can clearly see she’s disappointed! I was going to tell the Commander, but I thought it wouldn’t hurt to give you a heads-up, Head Chamberlain.”

Louis, signaling Malek to come closer like he had a very secret story to tell, whispered:

“The truth is…”

* * *

Malek finally opened the door to the office he’d arrived at. Jade was already seated and waiting for him.

“Malek, you’re late today. Weren’t you the one always yelling at me not to be late?”

“Something came up in between.”

“Ah, I heard. Louis, was it? That guy has good lungs. What’s he doing, abandoning Rosana’s guard? I’ll have to punish him severely later.”

Malek first placed the documents on the desk, then pulled out the letter from Arcadi from inside his coat. Jade’s brow crumpled sharply at the sight. Pushing the documents aside, Jade immediately tore open the letter and sneered.

“Ha, what an honor that they’ll lift their heavy feet to grace us with their presence.”

Jade mocked sarcastically.

“I wonder if they’ll even say words of blessing when they arrive. When they get here, tighten security around Rosana even more. No, it would be better to restrict their range of movement.”

“I’ll make sure to pay extra attention to the surrounding security.”

What’s done is done. Jade lightly tore the paper to shreds and tossed it into the trash.

“Rosana?”

“She’s touring the palace to guide her family. She’s paying meticulous attention.”

“Give them the palace we gave to the envoys. I don’t see why she should spend time on such things.”

Jade’s eyebrow rose crookedly. But thinking of the upcoming wedding, his displeasure melted away.

“Are the wedding preparations going smoothly?”

“Yes. The wedding is scheduled for the day spring begins.”

“The monsters?”

“Many personnel have been deployed, and the knights are working hard to exterminate the monsters.”

Jade nodded with satisfaction. Then Malek glanced at Jade and coughed softly. He had to relay what Louis had come running to tell him.

“Your Majesty, I heard something absurd.”

“You did?”

“Yes.”

Just as Jade was about to say “Why are you telling me?“, he noticed Malek staring intently at him and realized he was the subject of the story. And his beast-like developed wild instincts whispered to him. That something very ominous was approaching.

“Your Majesty, did you propose to Lady Rosana?”

“…”

“You wouldn’t say you forgot, being so thorough, Your Majesty. It’s about Lady Rosana, no less.”

Malek pressed Jade with a smiling face. Jade dropped the quill pen he’d been holding at the criticism he hadn’t considered.

Malek’s words weren’t finished. His words became daggers stabbing into Jade’s chest.

“Come to think of it, didn’t Lady Rosana end up confessing first too? Are you late because you’re preparing a wonderful event?”

He sent a look that said how pathetic, that he had to worry about this too. And seeing Jade staring blankly up at the air, it was easy to conclude: you didn’t think of it at all. Jade, with a serious expression, pressed his forehead against his clasped hands.

“A, a proposal, you say… Mm…”

He’d only been full of wanting to marry quickly. But the biggest event between lovers was the proposal!

Of course, Rosana and Jade weren’t people of ordinary status, and marriage had been planned for them originally. But it was undoubtedly an important event. And they weren’t in a formal relationship anymore—weren’t they lovers now?

“Right, there was that event…”

Jade felt sweat trickling down his back. He hadn’t broken into a cold sweat like this even when monsters were before his eyes and he stood at death’s door. That’s how uncharacteristically flustered Jade was.

“You didn’t even think of it?”

“Would I be like this now if I’d known?”