Rose was honest with herself and others. Her birth and noble family meant she didn’t need unnecessary pretense or affectation, so she was always confident. So if she went, she would say she went. Maverick believed in her character.

‘Where did you go today?’

‘Hm? The Imperial Palace.’

He had just found a way for both of them to coexist without hurting each other. He wanted to believe her words saying she liked him this time. Even if she didn’t remember anymore, he wanted to build new memories and erase the hatred accumulated in his heart.

‘Only the Imperial Palace?’

‘Yes, that’s right. Why do you ask?’

From her guarded voice, from the lie within it, Maverick’s expectations and trust shattered. Now they could never be pieced back together again.

Because it was something that had been broken once before and glued back together.

“Hah, Mav…rick…”

Rose, even your tears no longer stir any thoughts in me now. The boy who climbed up from hell to see you again, afraid you might cry again, is dead.

Maverick was tired now. His desire to stick to this woman, to this family, like a parasite until the end with hatred and loathing at every moment, ridiculously crumbled at one woman’s manipulation.

It’s all your fault. I stayed in one place from the start but you always used me and instead of putting me back, you dropped me where you didn’t want to keep me.

The sea pooled in my chest is the anger and hatred you created.

And the name of the land sunken in the deep sea was first love.

“My, if you like my seed so much, I should feed you more until you’re full.”

“….sob.”

“Who would recognize you as a noble lady like this?”

His own dry voice seemed funny to him. While Maverick roughly moved his hips with boiling excitement and desire, he also wished for this time to end quickly. Since hatred required strength too, this lovemaking was nothing but an act of destroying each other. He wanted to stop now.

“…I love you.”

Every day, just before collapsing, Rose would whisper that she loved him. Sadly, it no longer touched Maverick’s dried-up heart. Rather, that deception only resulted in him being engulfed in anger again, instinctively grabbing her retreating hips.

That’s how a month passed.

* * *

While it might vary from person to person, a month was neither long nor short.

During this ambiguous period, many things happened in the Empire’s capital.

First, the Empire’s Crown Prince changed. The previous Crown Prince Vincent was not only removed from his position but also imprisoned for allegedly importing large quantities of opium, a drug strictly prohibited in both the Empire and the Western Continent.

It was none other than the imperial princess, now Crown Princess Greta, who discovered this, pursued it, and proclaimed the truth until the end.

Because the historical wounds brought by opium were enormous, the current imperial citizens shared a universal fear of opium. People were shocked and overwhelmingly outraged that a member of the imperial family had committed such an act.

Moreover, when the parliament, formed by combining the gentry and merchant classes, actively protested in acceptance of the imperial citizens’ will, even nobles who followed the Emperor couldn’t defend Vincent. The evidence was that shocking and definitive. It was impossible to forge.

Additionally, when Vincent was brought in, investigators’ opium tests revealed he had personally smoked opium. This fact shocked society even more and decisively made even the nobles turn their backs on him.

Because this had become an undeniable continental crime.

Some suggested the Emperor might be involved, but without evidence, these suspicions fizzled out. Moreover, even the Emperor, who had so cherished Vincent, agreed to his imprisonment, saying such terrible crimes must never happen again. He would soon be either exiled to the northern polar region, or sentenced to life imprisonment or death.

Furthermore, the Crown Prince had done more. He had tried to frame the Clematis ducal family for this opium. When it was revealed that numerous nobles had cooperated or participated in this, it delivered another massive shock to the nobility.

The shock was even greater because Count Gotfried was known as the lady’s former lover. There was even sympathetic public opinion toward Rose.

Thus, one could see the noble families who had tried to frame Clematis falling into the abyss every morning. These were mostly nobles who had supported the Emperor, but the remaining ones deliberately kept quiet and pretended not to know. Only occasionally did nobles who followed Greta sneer at them mockingly.

People guessed why Rose wasn’t showing her face in social circles. They understood, thinking she must have received a great shock.

Rose, who hadn’t gone out at all for a month, was currently in the reception room. Instead of being nearly n*ked as she had been for the entire month, she was dressed neatly. In front of her stood Maverick, also formally dressed.

“The divorce papers have arrived from the imperial family. You have no objections?”

“…None.”

Rose handed the parchment to Maverick. The imperial family had issued two divorce papers. The couple would each take one.

“Here. Your copy.”

Maverick took the parchment. Rose smiled brightly.

At least in Maverick’s view, it was a fresh and beautiful smile without a trace of regret.

“I’m sorry for everything, and though it was brief, it was enjoyable. At least I can say I truly enjoyed our married life.”

“……”

Maverick’s lips moved. But facing Rose who seemed to have no lingering attachments, he quickly closed them.

He wasn’t happy or joyful. It had always been a succession of hatred and loathing, and at one point he had intended to stay by her side for life out of spite. He had even wished to see her fall into the abyss, even if he had to fall with her.

“I was never happy or enjoyed any moment during our marriage. Not even once.”

His thorny words… even he couldn’t tell if they were true or false.

Rose’s face stiffened for just a moment, but that was all. She immediately smiled gracefully again.

“I see.”

At the very end, Maverick felt he saw in her the pretentious and affected noble demeanor he had thought he would never see from her.

In the end, it was only after their month of promiscuous, leisurely, and even luxurious confinement ended that Maverick learned about everything that had happened in the capital. He had expected the Duke of Clematis to visit their room at least once, but as if it had been arranged beforehand, the Duke never came to find them.

Only after learning everything that had happened in the capital during that month did he realize that he might have misunderstood about Rose going to the masquerade ball to inquire about that lover, but…

Facing this woman who seemed to have no attachments, Maverick couldn’t say anything.

“I’ll be leaving now.”

“What? What about your belongings?”

“None. I won’t take anything.”

Rose’s eyes shook roughly for the first time. Maverick felt a pleasure tinged with self-loathing. This too was brief; after passing by Rose and exiting through the door, Maverick clutched his face.

Thus Rose Clematis and Maverick Phlox divorced.

At least that’s what Maverick believed.