“……That’s what happened.”

The Duke’s and her gazes collided.

If someone saw them, they might think two people with similar faces were staring at each other expressionlessly, but in reality, Agatha was extremely tense inside.

There was a huge difference between the Raphilus family that produced a Crown Princess and the Raphilus family that merely had Agatha Raphilus.

The family’s standing was at stake, and she had disappointed him—it felt like beads of sweat were forming on her palms.

“Now I understand the situation after hearing your account. Still, let me ask you this. Even if His Highness made somewhat unreasonable demands, he is the Crown Prince.”

The Duke added as he looked at Agatha.

“We are subjects who serve the imperial family. Don’t you think your behavior was inappropriate?”

“If he had only wanted an apology, I would have given one. But that’s not what His Highness the Crown Prince wanted, is it?”

Everyone was watching her and the Crown Prince arguing over the princess from a small country.

How could she have escaped that situation?

Perhaps if it had been just Lloyd and her, or even if Melli Moisa had been there with just the three of them, she might have tried to salvage the situation somehow.

“His Highness threatened to break off our engagement in front of everyone. Whether I apologized or not, it would have been a dishonor to me.”

Even if she had offered an insincere apology, society would only spread rumors about ‘the Duke’s daughter who groveled to a princess from a lesser country, with her eyes bloodshot for the Empress position.’

“His Highness must have already harbored the intention to cast me aside, to mention it so casually.”

If she had apologized then and there, Lloyd would continue to threaten breaking their engagement whenever something displeased him in the future.

After marriage, he would threaten dethronement.

So when she heard the words, ‘If you don’t apologize, I’ll consider our engagement null and void,’ whatever affection remained instantly vanished.

“I believed it would be improper as a subject to not follow His Highness’s firm resolve. Therefore, I told him to please do as he wished.”

The Duke didn’t add anything, just frowned slightly with his eyes closed.

After some consideration, Agatha added:

“As your daughter, I apologize to you, Father.”

Whether her fiancé had been excellent or terrible, it was an engagement arranged by her father.

A carefully considered match with the future of his daughter becoming empress and the family’s interests in mind.

Just as she had, the Duke must have had many thoughts about this sudden turn of events.

“I understand. You may go now.”

“Yes.”

Was he disappointed after all?

Agatha left the study without being able to say anything more to the Duke.

‘I’m exhausted.’

After causing such a scandal at the palace and immediately reporting to her father upon returning home, it was natural for fatigue to catch up with her.

Seeing what appeared to be Cedric’s head lurking at the entrance to the study, Agatha immediately turned around and headed toward her room.

She didn’t want to be caught by Cedric again and hear his nagging about apologizing to His Highness the Crown Prince immediately and pretending nothing happened, or how her cold attitude was the problem.

Why did he always have so many unnecessary things to say?

‘It’s all because I worry about you, you fool!’

Even though she had quickly escaped from Cedric, somehow she felt like his screeching voice was chasing after her.

Meanwhile, the Duke of Raphilus frowned when he saw Cedric who had entered the study after Agatha left.

He was displeased with Cedric’s attitude, unable to hide his anger and anxiety. To think that the one who would succeed him as Duke couldn’t conceal his emotions.

“What are you going to do, Father? Say something!”

“That b*stard Crown Prince has humiliated Agatha! He’s brought shame to the Raphilus family!”

“If Agatha’s judgment is to break the engagement, then so be it.”

“She’s only twenty-three—when will she get engaged again and when will she remarry? Ugh, that Crown Prince thinks he earned his position all by himself!”

The broken engagement of his sister, who had been designated as the future Crown Princess.

And to be pushed aside for a princess from a small country whose location no one even knew.

In the face of this outrageous situation, both his father and his sister, the one directly involved, were saying things like “This is how things have turned out, so let’s see how the situation develops” as if nothing had happened.

Cedric, the only normal person in the Raphilus household, was going crazy.

Of course, even though he was making such a fuss, he hadn’t been satisfied with the Crown Prince either.

He had kept quiet only because Lloyd was the Crown Prince, but when had Lloyd ever been a son-in-law worthy of the Raphilus ducal family?

It was Agatha who had suffered because of Lloyd, who had neglected his royal studies and been lazy since childhood.

Since they couldn’t reprimand the precious Crown Prince, they had caught Agatha dozens of times, insisting that the future Crown Princess should do better.

Although Agatha had always tried to emulate her father’s demeanor, which she respected since childhood, her face had grown pale and her smile had disappeared from that time on.

Because of those damned palace etiquette lessons.

The emotionlessness that Agatha called ‘dignity’ and Cedric called ‘being obnoxious’ had seeped into her from fingertips to toes.

Cedric, who had been pacing around the spacious study as if it were too cramped, finally shouted, unable to contain his anxiety.

“If Her Majesty the Empress were here, Agatha would never have suffered such humiliation. That Crown Prince b*stard, did he calculate this too? Thinking that with the Empress away on a villa excursion, no one would stand in his way!”

Cedric spoke and then slapped his own forehead.

It seemed a solution to this situation had appeared before his eyes.

“This is no time to waste. We must send word to Her Majesty the Empress immediately!”

“Cedric.”

“If we just send word, Her Majesty will move her precious behind and…!”

“What Agatha wants is to break off the engagement with the Crown Prince.”

With a cracking sound, Cedric froze in place.

The wooden ornamental box for quill pens was being crushed in the Duke’s hand like a sheet of paper.

“Should I accept as my son-in-law a man who has inflicted such humiliation on my daughter?”

The Duke of Raphilus’s face remained expressionless.

Only his deep inhales and exhales revealed his anger.

“So don’t act rashly, Cedric.”

※※※

Agatha entered her room.

Normally, she would be handling many court affairs as the future Crown Princess at this hour, so lying in bed felt strange.

As she stared blankly at the ceiling, the events from earlier naturally came to mind.

With rumors already spread, the broken engagement was a foregone conclusion.

‘Who will I marry now?’

At twenty-three, having been the Crown Prince’s fiancée until now, she was too old to find someone new.

Many ladies her age had married in their teens and already had children. How many ladies had Agatha personally congratulated on their marriages this year?

‘Being single is out of the question.’

In the Cullinan Empire, it was considered a major flaw for someone of a certain age, status, and position not to establish a family.

Rather than remaining unmarried and growing old alone, which was not permitted, it was preferable to have a formal marriage where both spouses had their own affairs on the side.

If a woman of her high family status remained unmarried, His Majesty the Emperor might use an imperial decree as an excuse to marry her off to a foreign country or arrange a political marriage with a suitable noble family.

‘A high-ranking Duke’s daughter not marrying sets a bad example, or she should lead the way in contributing to the birth rate…… They’d attach some plausible-sounding justification like that.’

Count families, viscount families, baron families—even trying to imagine a future as the wife of men of similar age from these families didn’t come easily to her.

‘……Now that I’m out of the way, Lloyd will marry Melli, won’t he?’

In her imagination, Lloyd smiled brightly. His blue eyes sparkled like a sunlit lakeshore.

“Meeting you was the greatest fortune in my life, Melli. Thank you for coming to me.”

His gaze was fixed solely on Melli Moisa, and Melli lowered her head shyly as she received everyone’s congratulations.

“Me too, Lloyd.”

People clapped their hands. Amidst the shower of congratulations, Lloyd and Melli marched down the wedding aisle……

Ah, this is infuriating.

Thinking about their wedding, which would be celebrated with laughter and merriment, made anger surge within me.

Agatha had lived her entire childhood imagining a future as the Crown Prince’s consort.

It was only natural that she couldn’t accept it when suddenly asked how she would feel about becoming a countess, viscountess, or baroness.

‘Of course, I would live well even as a countess.’

Whether she lived as a countess or a baroness in the future, Agatha would still be Agatha.

It was just that she couldn’t imagine it yet, but if it really happened in the future, she would live well in her own way.