— Try snitching one more time. The instant you do, your little minion’s life will be over.

— Right! This would be good too. Publicly humiliating your stuttering brother.

……She couldn’t say it.

If she told the truth, Vivian would have to live with an indelible scandal for the rest of her life. She would never be able to set foot in social circles again. Estelle and her gang would not only spread rumors but torment her more viciously.

That was originally the humiliation she herself would have suffered. She absolutely couldn’t let Vivian endure any more shame after already taking her place.

Not just her, but anyone else. Especially not her brother, absolutely not!

“My mind remains unchanged.”

Aristie spoke in a scratchy voice.

“Mine too.”

Khalid retorted in a tone hard as stone.

“Our engagement was personally arranged by the late Emperor. Your family agreed to it as well. A unilateral cancellation is impossible at this point. I’ll pretend I didn’t hear it.”

“Is there no room for reconsideration?”

“I will reconsider, but the conclusion will be the same.”

“……May I ask one thing?”

Aristie impulsively asked, clenching her fist tightly.

“As I told you before, Estelle has become a saintess. Do you still not believe me even now?”

“……”

No answer came. It wasn’t because he was taking Estelle’s side.

It was because, try as he might to believe her, Aristie’s words were simply unbelievable.

The content was far-fetched, there was no evidence, and wasn’t the saintess selection under the temple’s independent authority in the first place? One had to be recognized for prophetic abilities to be selected.

He could lie just to please Aristie, but Khalid’s character was too upright for that. So he could only maintain his silence.

“……I see.”

When no answer finally came, Aristie muttered in a deflated voice. The syllables she uttered floated in the air like dust before scattering.

“I will take my leave.”

Aristie paid her respects with her two cold hands clasped together and left the room. Khalid sadly watched the door through which Aristie had disappeared, then turned his head.

A woman begging to be let go, and he, unable to let her go.

The feeling of forcibly holding onto his fiancée was indescribably miserable. He fixed his gaze out the window and remained silent for a long time.

* * *

Aristie returned home completely drained. While she had been at the imperial palace, a letter had arrived from Roselina.

What could it be? Suddenly sending a letter.

Curious, she immediately tore open the envelope and read the contents.

<Hello, Alice. How are you?

The autumn breeze has become quite cool. I wonder if you’ve caught a cold.

When I see the colorful autumn leaves, the natural charm I felt in the countryside is fully revived—bullshit. Come visit my house when you have time.

I’ve visited you twice, so you should come at least once. That’s proper etiquette.

I’ll be waiting. I miss you.

—Your Rose, who is enjoying a burning honeymoon with her fourth husband.>

“Hmph, what etiquette……”

Thanks to Roselina’s sophistry, her mood, which had sunk to the ground, improved somewhat.

But visiting her was another matter.

Honestly, she didn’t feel like it at all. If she met Roselina, her friend would persistently probe into what had happened.

Then she would have to reveal everything from what happened at Estelle’s party to asking Khalid to break off their engagement, and she didn’t want to chew over those things with her own mouth. The wounds from those events were so deep that she needed time to heal.

‘Sorry, Rose. I’ll come and tell you everything when my heart calms down, so please wait a few days……’

Aristie conveyed her apology inwardly and put the letter back in the envelope. As she was opening the drawer, she suddenly heard footsteps through the open door.

It was Aiden’s footsteps.

‘Was brother home? At this hour?’

Aristie jumped up happily and followed Aiden’s footsteps crossing the hallway.

“Brother!”

“Ah, A-Aristie?”

Aiden, who was about to go down the stairs, flinched and looked back. He seemed glad to see her, but somehow appeared guilty.

How to put it…… He looked like someone caught hiding something.

“You w-were home.”

“And so were you. But why that expression? Did something happen?”

“No, n-nothing h-happened.”

“That’s not true. You definitely look like something extraordinary happened.”

Aristie examined Aiden with playful eyes.

Aiden, who rarely went out for personal reasons, didn’t usually dress himself up. He chose his clothes and shoes without the maids’ help, and his grooming consisted of merely combing his hair.

But today, brother……

“Did you choose that outfit yourself?”

Aristie looked Aiden up and down.

“W-why are you asking?”

A navy blue frock coat with piping embroidered on the cuffs. He even wore an elegant cravat neatly folded at the center of his formal collar.

The clothes might be one thing, but the flashy brooch pinned to the cravat was definitely not an accessory her brother would normally wear.

Plus, look at that splendid hairstyle. He looked just like someone going to a wedding!

“Brother, do you…… have someone you’re seeing these days?”

Aristie hit the mark with a gentle smile.

“S-someone I’m s-seeing?”

Aiden was visibly flustered. He almost reflexively blurted out “no,” but Aristie already had the face of someone who knew everything.

“Does it l-look that way?”

“Yes. Completely. From head to toe.”

“T-this is troublesome. If it’s that o-obvious……”

Aiden muttered awkwardly. Judging by his reaction, he seemed more worried about losing points with the woman he was seeing than being caught by his sister.

A woman who could make her people-avoiding brother this flustered. Who could she be?

“No, brother, you look absolutely handsome.”

Aristie smiled and shook her head.

“Actually, I heard from Rose. She saw you walking with some woman on the street. When I heard that, I wondered if you might have gotten a lover.”

“L-lover! No, we’re not th-that kind of……”

“Don’t be like that, tell me. Who is she? Is she someone you can’t even tell your one and only precious sister about?”

“It’s n-not like that…… She’s a f-foreigner I met by chance who w-wanted to look around the c-capital, so I’ve been g-guiding her……”

“Sure, sure…… I understand, brother. You don’t need to explain further.”

Aristie didn’t press him more and hugged her brother. Judging by his worse-than-usual stuttering, he clearly had more than an ordinary relationship with this woman.

She knew from experience that in situations like this, calming her brother’s nerves took priority over pressuring him.

“I know you’ll handle it properly. Be a gentleman and treat her well. I can hear the story later.”

Saying this, Aristie patted Aiden’s back. She could feel his tense broad shoulders gradually relaxing. Aiden hugged her back and stroked her head.

“Th-thank you. You’re always my t-tranquilizer.”

“You’re mine too.”

Aristie burrowed deeper into Aiden’s embrace like a spoiled child. It wasn’t an empty phrase. Cheered up by Roselina’s letter, she found even more stability in her brother’s arms.

Estelle’s terrible deeds and threats. Khalid, who poured out his sincere feelings toward her yet still couldn’t trust her……

The comfort of loved ones became a great strength when her heart was devastated by successive events in just a few days. For their sake too, Aristie decided to change her mind.

Let’s banish the Emperor and that villainess from my mind for a while.

If breaking the engagement was impossible anyway, becoming Empress as planned and using that power to protect herself and her people—that was her newly strengthened resolve.

* * *

“Dad!”

Estelle, who had scored a hit against Aristie with the recent tea party incident, sought out Marquis Vascus to execute her next plan. The target of this scheme was “Zephyros,” the Emperor’s secretary and personal guard.

Zephyros Schultz Irvant, virtually the Emperor’s shadow.

While he was handsome enough to qualify as a secondary male lead with room to spare, to Estelle who was fixated on the Emperor, he was nothing but an obstacle. If even Prince Icaryuel, who had been the talk of the delegation banquet, was outside her interest, Zephyros would hardly catch her eye.

“Estelle, what is it?”

Marquis Vascus, caught just as he was about to go out, suppressed his irritation and stretched his lips in a fake smile. The reason was that whenever Estelle called out “Dad,” nothing good ever followed.

Sure enough, his cunning adopted daughter, as always, cut to the chase and asked an unpredictable question.

“Dad, you know the Commander of the Imperial Guard, right?”

“Yes, but why?”

“Is there anyone among the Imperial Guard knights who’s skilled and obedient?”

“Among the Imperial Guard knights, my nephew……”

“Ah, that brother won’t do at all.”

Estelle cut him off as if she didn’t need to hear more.

“Not that inadequate person, but someone recognized for their skills. Enough to serve as His Majesty the Emperor’s personal guard.”

“His Majesty’s personal guard? That position is held by the eldest son of the Irvant family, isn’t it?”

“I want to remove that man and plant my own person there.”

Marquis Vascus’s eye sockets widened considerably. What is she talking about now?

“You want to replace His Majesty’s guard?”

“What about it?”