“……Pardon?”

“Miss Alicia is soon to become Grand Duchess. We cannot afford to make an enemy of her.”

“But Father! We have Helena on our side.”

“Mariella.”

In that instant,

Count Jeffrey’s cold gaze turned to his daughter.

“I believe I told you clearly to watch that mouth.”

“……”

Mariella flinched and pressed her lips tightly shut.

“Now that it has been decided that Miss Alicia will become Grand Duchess, openly making an enemy of her is a loss for us. So go and apologize.”

“……”

Mariella gave a reluctant nod.

When her father spoke this seriously, it truly frightened her.

“Understood……”

Mariella walked out of the study with her back teeth clenched.

Click.

The door shut, and a long sigh escaped Count Jeffrey. The thoughtless behavior of his only child was a greater worry to him than anything else.

“Still, Alicia……”

Grand Duke Evander’s betrothed, appearing out of nowhere.

But what piqued Count Jeffrey’s curiosity was not her, but the family she belonged to.

“Hellman’s last known destination was the Windmore comital household, wasn’t it?”

The name of the middleman trader who had gone missing not long ago came to mind. His last known destination had been none other than the Darlington domain, the Windmore comital territory.

‘There was supposedly something big going on at that mine……’

When the report of the disappearance had first come in, he had assumed Hellman had simply run off or left after pocketing a profit.

But Alicia, the Darlington domain, and the missing Hellman. The pieces of information nagging at him were sending Count Jeffrey a warning.

It was the instinct that had carried him from the bottom all the way to a countship within the principality.

Worth looking into further.

Count Jeffrey stroked his chin quietly, and his eyes narrowed.

˗ˋˏ ♡ ˎˊ˗

Three days of memorial festivities.

After the marriage announcement, Grand Duke Evander no longer appeared at the ball.

He had never enjoyed social gatherings to begin with, and having achieved his intended purpose, he kept to himself.

Alicia was the same, though for different reasons.

While countless young nobles worked to find their match, Alicia buried herself in the library and did not come out.

‘I have to develop the antidote.’

Developing an antidote was the most critical task to stop Grand Duke Evander’s worsening poisoning symptoms.

‘The moment Grand Duke Evander disappears, my revenge will come to nothing.’

And,

with her unmatched knowledge of medicines on the continent, Alicia finally found the clue she needed.

‘It was the Siren’s Flower, just as I thought.’

The Siren’s Flower.

A plant that grew only in the swamps of the Forest of Monsters. Steaming its petals and inhaling the vapor could ease terrible pain and help one fall into a deep sleep.

It was named so because the sound of its leaves rustling in the wind closely resembled the song of sirens luring sailors at sea.

But its properties only became widely known ten years from now.

That was also why neither priests nor physicians had been able to do anything about Grand Duke Evander’s symptoms.

But simply easing the pain was not enough.

And so the nights of research and experimentation continued.

Two days later, Alicia finally found the answer.

‘I’ve done it. The antidote is complete.’

It was just one day before the wedding.

˗ˋˏ ♡ ˎˊ˗

The castle was bustling with preparations for the imminent Grand Duke’s wedding.

A few ministers attending as envoys from the Archangel Empire waited for the ceremony with bored expressions.

“Haa, to think I had to come all the way to this northern land myself.”

The envoys, from families of some standing even within the Empire, wore displeased expressions throughout their wait for the ceremony.

Food and wine were laid out in abundance, but the high-ranking envoys were far from satisfied. One of them took a bite of food and complained.

“They expect me to eat this? Even if the North is barren, to think the food is at this level too……”

The other envoys gathered around nodded in agreement.

“It’s not just the food. The woman I had brought last night was dreadful as well.”

Their conversation grew lighter and more vulgar by the moment.

“Tsk, tsk. Expecting a beautiful woman here, you really are pitiful. It’s like expecting a flower to bloom in barren soil.”

“Indeed. It seems both flowers and women have all withered away here.”

“Ha ha ha ha.”

The envoys’ laughter echoed through the room.

Then,

Creak.

The great doors of the banquet hall opened and a woman appeared. Even the envoys who had been indulging in crude talk could not look away.

“……”

The envoys were struck speechless by the woman’s beauty in an instant. The one who had been complaining about the food asked carefully.

“Wh, who on earth is that woman?”

The plump maid with brown hair standing nearby answered with a proud voice.

“That is Miss Alicia. She is the one who will wed His Highness Grand Duke Evander.”

In that instant,

the envoys’ expressions changed completely.

It was customary to wear pure white at a wedding, yet the woman was dressed in a dress as simple and as black as could be.

‘But…… why can’t I take my eyes off her?’

Her pale skin was made all the more striking by the contrast with the black dress.

And the silver hair scattered over it was dazzling enough to need no ornament.

On top of that, the inexplicable sorrow lingering around her eyes made her all the more mysterious.

Awe and admiration spread across the lips of the envoys who had just been pouring out crude remarks about northern women. They watched Alicia walk slowly toward her seat and whispered.

“To think a flower this beautiful bloomed in the North. Remarkable.”

“Indeed. In all my years, I have never seen a woman so beautiful.”

“Ahem, ahem. Your voice is too loud.”

The envoys’ eyes could not easily leave her.

It was not simply because she was beautiful.

She’s mysterious. That strange look in her eyes, holding both sorrow and strength at once……

Before long, the wedding began with the priest’s sacred address.

But the envoys’ conversations were still full of curiosity about Alicia.

˗ˋˏ ♡ ˎˊ˗

Inside the chapel, only a handful of envoys and witnesses attending the wedding occupied the seats.

For the wedding of a principality’s Grand Duke, the scale was modest and plain. But neither Grand Duke Evander nor Alicia minded.

‘I thought I would only marry once in my life……’

A memory she had worked so hard to bury deep in her heart surfaced against her will.

She had vowed never to marry again, yet a capricious fate had turned back time and was leading her to a marriage with yet another man.

“Please join hands.”

At the priest’s words, two people with entirely different thoughts took each other’s hands.

A face as though carved by a god with great care.

Yet eyes filled with more pain than any figure from mythology looked down at Alicia.

“The ring.”

“……”

“Did I not give it to you in advance.”

“Oh……”

Alicia, belatedly remembering the ring, reached to take it from around her neck. But Grand Duke Evander’s hand was faster.

Grand Duke Evander reached out and removed the ring from her neck. Then he slipped it onto her finger.

A hand roughened with calluses from years of gripping a sword.

The strange sensation of that hand touching Alicia’s delicate fingertips sent a faint current running down her spine.

“I entrust myself to you, my partner.”

A cold declaration with no warmth to it, despite the tender words.

“I entrust myself to you as well.”

Alicia’s brief reply in return. She swallowed quietly and slowly nodded.

‘From this moment on, I will use everything for my revenge. Even you, Grand Duke Evander……’

The first foundation she had to build for her revenge.

He was nothing more than a tool she needed for it.

And a moment later,

the priest called out to those in attendance.

“The union of these two is hereby declared in the name of the head priest.”

The priest’s declaration formally announcing that she had become Grand Duchess. And at the same moment, the declaration that Grand Duke Evander had become her husband.

˗ˋˏ ♡ ˎˊ˗

The western side of the castle.

A small garden completely shielded from outside view by high walls and climbing vines.

On the surface it was filled with beautiful flowers and ornate sculptures, but in truth it was a secret meeting place for important discussions and reports.

“Your Highness.”

A man prostrated himself before Helena, who was arranging flowers. The man, dressed entirely in black from head to toe, was an assassin who served as Helena’s hands and feet.

“Four attempts were made, but all of them failed. I apologize.”

A shocking report.

Snip. Snip.

Yet Helena’s expression did not change as she trimmed the thorns from the roses.

“Do not blame yourself. His Highness the Grand Duke would have made thorough preparations before proceeding.”

“Give me a little more time. I will make certain the young lady’s neck—”

“Enough.”

Helena raised her hand.

“We are already being watched. There is no need to create problems unnecessarily.”

“Then……”

“Stand by. Until you receive further orders.”

“……Understood.”

With a brief reply, the figure disappeared into the shadows.

True to the training of an imperial assassin, not a trace was left behind.

The failed assassination is a pity, but there is no need to dwell on it. In the end, the most important matter is conceiving an heir to secure the line of succession.