So this is…… Grand Duke Evander.

She recognized him at once, having seen his face countless times in the portraits of past Grand Dukes.

A striking appearance that drew admiration even from a painting.

But the painter deserved to be reprimanded.

The artists of the principality had failed to capture even half of the Grand Duke’s true face.

But that was not the real problem.

Behind that handsome face lay a horrifying truth.

A man said to have bathed in human blood and dined on the flesh of demonic beasts. A tyrant among tyrants, called the Lord of Blood by those who came after him.

Just as history had recorded, a cold and oppressive aura radiated from his eyes and his very body. Alicia gripped the hem of her skirt and sat down, tense. Grand Duke Evander opened his mouth as though he had been waiting for exactly this.

“I heard you were unwell. Have you lost the ability to speak as well?”

A cold, frigid voice that pressed down on her entire body.

Alicia made a deliberate effort to straighten her shoulders.

“……I am capable.”

“Good. Then I will speak plainly.”

Grand Duke Evander looked down at her for a moment, chin raised, and then an unexpected proposal came from his lips.

“Marry me.”

The commanding tone, not a proposal but an order, was as overbearing as his gaze.

“It will not be a bad deal. I will satisfy every desire for luxury and vanity that you could want.”

Alicia’s eyes narrowed slightly.

To think that the very first reality she faced after a lifetime she had cursed so bitterly had finally ended was a marriage proposal. It was deeply ironic. But what was even more surprising was this:

‘There is no record in any history of Grand Duke Evander having proposed to my aunt Alicia……’

What could the Grand Duke of the principality possibly lack, that he would propose to Alicia who’s synonymous with extravagance and indulgence?

It would be the kind of rumor no one would believe.

“Answer me. I do not have much time.”

Grand Duke Evander’s low voice pressed in on her. A coercive proposal from a Grand Duke whose intentions she could not read. But she was thoroughly sick of marriage.

‘On top of that, Grand Duke Evander’s end is just as terrible as my aunt’s.’

Unlike the unrecorded proposal, his final moments had been documented in extraordinary detail.

A wretched and miserable end.

The conclusion was simple, and she did not need to deliberate long.

“I apologize, but I must decline.”

She had no way of knowing how a mad tyrant would react, but there was no reason to willingly choose a path that so clearly led to death.

“Unexpected.”

His tone came back calmer than she had anticipated.

“I was told you enjoyed luxury enough to stake your very life on it. The rumors seem to have been wrong.”

Even with his proposal rejected, Grand Duke Evander showed no sign of surprise. If anything, he seemed to have expected it to some degree, and muttered to himself.

“So that child’s reach has extended even here.”

A reaction she had not foreseen.

And then an unexpected third party appeared.

The nuance was unmistakable: his proposal had been blocked because of this person called “that child.”

Who in the principality would dare stand in the way of the Grand Duke’s proposal?

Alicia’s curiosity stirred on its own.

“……Who are you referring to?”

“Why are you pretending not to know? Do you think I am unaware?”

Alicia did not answer.

Because she truly did not know.

Grand Duke Evander’s eyes narrowed as he looked at her.

“You received a letter from Helena, the Grand Ducal heir’s consort. You did as well.”

A firm and brief reply.

A voice full of certainty.

“……”

But Alicia was struck by a shock of an entirely different kind. The familiar name made every hair on her body stand on end.

“Helena…… the Grand Ducal heir’s consort?”

“She apparently sent a quiet warning to every noble lady in the principality. That anyone who wished to become Grand Duchess should be prepared for the destruction of their entire family.”

Grand Duke Evander clenched his back teeth.

Separately from him, Alicia’s eyes went wide.

‘Could it be…… is this the period when Helena was Grand Duke Evander’s daughter-in-law?’

Helena had married Evander’s nephew and adopted son.

There could be no one else with the same name. No family on the continent would dare use the name of an imperial princess.

Grand Duke Evander’s proposal made sense now as well.

‘Right…… among all the women in the principality, the only one who would have ignored a warning from Helena, would have been my aunt, blinded as she was by luxury……’

He had an adopted son and a daughter-in-law, yet he had never even had a first marriage. The connection between her aunt’s death and the reason Grand Duke Evander never married. The Grand Duke’s unrecorded marriage plans. And the scheme to block the marriage of the principality’s absolute ruler. The one behind all of it was……

‘Mother. It was you.’

The fingertips of Alicia, who had just witnessed a hidden truth, began to tremble.

Not from fear.

It was a trembling filled with elation.

She finally understood why the gods had sent her here.

‘If I marry His Highness the Grand Duke, I can meet Helena again……’

She had been given the chance to protect her family, save her parents, and take revenge on Helena, who had killed both her and her child.

‘There is a god after all……’

Alicia closed her eyes for a moment. She steadied her racing heart and evened out her breathing. Her heartbeat gradually settled. She exhaled a long, heavy breath, cold and weighty, as though her chest had sunk beneath her ribs. Then she slowly opened her mouth.

“It seems my answer will be different.”

Grand Duke Evander, already turning to leave, looked back.

“What did you say?”

“I will do it.”

The one caught off guard by the firm reply was Grand Duke Evander himself. His previously indifferent gaze returned to her.

“I will marry you, Your Highness the Grand Duke.”

A cold winter, where the frost-laden wind chilled the bones.

And so she made her decision to become the wicked mother-in-law of her wicked mother-in-law.

˗ˋˏ ♡ ˎˊ˗

A heavy silence had settled over the drawing room.

Grand Duke Evander’s cold, indifferent gaze rested on Alicia.

“Your reason?”

“What do you mean?”

“I am asking why you changed your mind so abruptly.”

There was a reason, and a clear one at that.

But she saw no need to share it with the Grand Duke.

“You said you would satisfy every desire for luxury and vanity I could want. What better terms could there be?”

Alicia’s firm reply was met with silence that spread through the dim hall.

Thud. Thud. Grand Duke Evander rose from his seat and approached her slowly.

His hand, carrying a cold edge, roughly seized Alicia’s chin and tilted her face up to meet his gaze.

Close enough that his breath grazed her cheek.

After studying her for a moment, Grand Duke Evander’s lips parted slowly.

“Is that truly all?”

“Should there be another reason?”

Her emotions churned beneath the surface, but she kept her expression composed. Faced with Alicia’s unwavering gaze, Grand Duke Evander’s eyes narrowed.

“You must be well aware of the rumors about me.”

Rumors that he bathed in the blood of his enemies and chewed on the flesh of demonic beasts. A lord of madness who, once consumed by frenzy, cut down friend and foe alike.

Perhaps that was why.

The sword at his hip felt more threatening than anything else in the room.

Even his smallest movements, laced with cold ruthlessness, looked dangerous.

But Alicia’s answer did not waver.

“It does not matter. I simply need this marriage.”

A stepping stone she absolutely needed for her revenge.

Alicia buried her roiling emotions deep within her chest and looked back at Grand Duke Evander instead.

“More to the point, you must have heard the rumors about me as well.”

Of course Grand Duke Evander knew her reputation well enough.

Alicia, famous for her vanity and extravagance.

A woman entirely unsuited to the position of Grand Duchess.

“It does not matter. That is precisely why I came. A clear mutual interest is far more reliable than some half-formed sentiment.”

In that brief exchange, both of them were able to sense each other’s true intentions regarding the marriage.

“Then there should be no problem.”

The bold reply came back like a boomerang, and Grand Duke Evander’s gaze turned serious.

His cold eyes, sharp as a finely honed blade, examined Alicia’s carefully. Then they moved slowly up and down.

“Very well. Attend the memorial ball taking place next week. I will formally announce our engagement there.”

The memorial ball held to honor the deaths of past Grand Dukes.

It was Grand Duke Evander’s plan to finalize the marriage in front of the largest gathering of the principality’s nobility.

“Understood.”

“The ceremony will be conducted as quickly and simply as possible.”

That suited Alicia just fine.

Not a vow of love, but a vow of contract.

A tacit alliance, each party serving their own separate purpose.

˗ˋˏ ♡ ˎˊ˗

Click.

Grand Duke Evander departed, and silence descended over the drawing room.