A peaceful morning in the Pentium Empire.

The sky, filled with sunlight, contrasted sharply with the cold voice of a woman that echoed through the Duke’s castle.

“I want to see the Duke. Move aside.”

Ariel, the Duke’s fiancée and the only daughter of the esteemed Blante Marquis family, gave the order. But the knights blocked her way, as if they did not want her to go.

For a brief moment, her brows furrowed, but the knights remained steadfast, firmly stating,

“Lady, we regret to inform you that the Duke has requested that you rest in your room until tomorrow morning.”

“Ha!”

Unable to contain herself any longer, she let out a sharp, mocking laugh.

To be confined and told to rest comfortably—was this some kind of joke? What kind of nonsense was this?

“Step aside. This is the last time I will say this.”

Ariel issued a cold warning, but the knights blocking the door remained unmoved.

However, Ariel didn’t allow her anger to escalate. She had expected this.

And she had already made her position clear—this would be the last time she would use words.

“We apologize. Please return to your room, Lady.”

“If words alone won’t work, then there’s nothing else I can do.”

“Pardon?”

As one of the knights approached, unable to hear the soft murmur she had made, Ariel swiftly reached for his scabbard.

The startled knight immediately grabbed her arm, but Ariel quickly twisted his hand and, in a flash, drew the sword from its sheath.

Swish—

A chilling sound reverberated through the air as the sharp blade was pressed to Ariel’s neck.

“The Duke may have confined me, but he didn’t order me to be killed. Did he?”

“L-Lady…”

The knights, who had remained motionless, were now visibly shaken and exchanged anxious glances. Noticing their confusion, Ariel drew the blade closer to her neck.

“It’s not going to happen!”

The startled knight shouted, but Ariel calmly took a step forward.

“Step aside. If you don’t, this sword will cut my neck. Then you will become the traitors who failed to protect the Duke’s fiancée.”

“Lady, please don’t do this…”

“If you don’t want your neck to join mine, shut up and step aside.”

Ariel’s grip tightened on the sword, and as the first drop of blood stained the blade, the knights raised their hands in surrender and quickly backed away.

Thud—

At the same time, Ariel threw the sword. Taking advantage of the knights’ momentary distraction, she ran down the corridor.

“Lady!”

Ignoring the frantic calls of the knights, Ariel ran as fast as she could.

She was heading straight for the one place where her life—and her fate—would be decided.

The office of Duke Seyerd.

Ariel finally arrived at the door of his office, breathless and frantic.

“Lady… How did you…?”

The butler, clearly shocked by her arrival when she should have been confined, stammered in disbelief.

“Lady, there’s blood on your neck…”

The butler rushed toward her, but Ariel coldly wiped the blood from her neck with the back of her hand and spoke without emotion.

“This wound is nothing. Tell the Duke. I’m here.”

“Lady, please calm down first…”

“If you can’t do it, I will.”

Cutting off the butler’s words, Ariel marched to the office door. Before the butler could react, she grabbed the doorknob and forced it open.

The door slammed open, and the man sitting at the desk looked up, narrowing his eyes.

His black hair, as though draped in the shadows of an abyss, his dark eyes, and a face so beautiful it seemed sculpted by the gods.

The overwhelmingly handsome man before her was none other than her fiancé, Duke Kylance Seyerd, the Emperor’s only nephew.

Ariel stared at him directly, not hiding the unpleasant emotions swirling inside her.

His gaze, sharp and predatory, like that of a beast.

People often said it was terrifying to meet his eyes, but Ariel wasn’t afraid.

His black eyes, when they locked with hers, had always been filled with warmth.

Of course, that is now a thing of the past.

Staring into his cold, lifeless eyes, Ariel could feel her skin growing colder. The sweat creeping down her back felt like ice.

So this is why people feared you.

Still, she could endure for now. After all, she wasn’t just anyone—she was his fiancée.

At least for now.

As Ariel bit her lip, trying to calm the ache in her heart, the butler approached, attempting to stop her.

“Lady, even though you’re his fiancée, you shouldn’t…”

Calyns’s cold voice interrupted.

“Seo, enough. Step aside.”

“…Yes.”

The butler quietly retreated, and Ariel, gathering her composure, took a slow step into the office.

Her movements were slow, almost unrecognizable from the woman who had just been rushing frantically through the corridor. Each step felt heavy, as though invisible weights were dragging her down.

It should have been natural for her steps to be light when walking toward her fiancé, someone she was so familiar with.

But for some time now, Ariel had found it difficult to approach Kylance.

Meeting his gaze, speaking with him—everything had become hard.

Perhaps it all began when she could no longer find any warmth in his eyes.

With a soft click, the door closed behind her, and Ariel swallowed nervously, standing in front of his desk.

His cold gaze briefly settled on her neck, but only for a moment. His face, filled with irritation, remained unchanged.

If this were before, he would have rushed to her side, anxious as soon as he saw her hurt. Now, all she heard from him were cold, detached words.

“I know why you’re here. But it’s not going to happen. So, go back to your room.”

“You say you know why I’m here, and yet you tell me to go back to my room? Just like that?”

“…”

“Is this really all you have to say to me right now?”

Ariel’s voice, filled with sorrow, echoed through the office, but Kylance only narrowed his eyes, clearly annoyed.

He stared at her with an indifferent gaze, unmoved by her pain.

“Are you expecting comfort? If I give it to you, will you quietly leave without making a scene?”

It was as if he was offering a token gesture, treating her like she was begging for pity.

Being treated like a beggar.

Up until now, she had believed she was his fiancée. But now, it seemed that was no longer the case.

His cold words pierced her heart, and Ariel felt a lump form in her throat, but she fought to hold back the tears.

Determined not to let her emotions take over, Ariel spoke directly, addressing the issue at hand.

“I am the only daughter of the Marquis of Blante, the sole heir to my father’s legacy. I don’t care how much you love me. You can’t stop me from attending my father’s funeral. According to imperial law, I am still a member of the Blante family.”

Kylance exhaled deeply, as though tired.

“True, legally, you’re still part of the Blante family. But isn’t that identity a poison to you now?”

“…What?”

“Don’t you remember the crimes he committed, or why he suddenly decided to die?”

Ariel’s eyes wavered fiercely, but he didn’t stop.

“The Blante Marquis provided funds and Imperial information to the traitor Grint, who had his eye on the Empire. He even connected him with the Bretta Kingdom, which has always been in conflict with us, allowing them to ally with Grint and plan an invasion of the Empire.

“…No…”

The moment Ariel’s voice trembled, Kylance pressed on.

“Denying it won’t change anything. The evidence was undeniable, and as if to prove it, your father took his own life. Once the charges of treason were confirmed, not only would he have been ruined, but his entire family as well. He must have been terrified. So, he cowardly chose death, to take all the blame with him.”

The words of a cowardly death, the insults to her father, finally broke something inside Ariel. She shouted sharply, her voice filled with fury.

“My father would NEVER do something like that! How dare you insult him?!”

Her father had always been an upright man, loyal to the empire.

In everything, even if it meant death, he had never resorted to shortcuts or underhanded means.

And to her he had always been a loving father, warm and generous in the way he loved and cared for her.

She loved and respected her father more than anything, and Kylance knew that better than anyone.
But… how dare he insult her father in front of her?
Ariel felt a surge of anger and resentment toward Kylance, a bitterness that threatened to consume her.
To hate and resent someone is the fastest way to destroy yourself.

Still, in this moment, she couldn’t help but feel it—an overwhelming need to lash out.

“So, don’t pour your emotions into hatred for someone else.”

Her father’s words, the ones he’d always said, echoed in her mind, but at the moment she couldn’t bring herself to follow them.

He was too cruel to bear.

In the end, Ariel could not hold it in any longer. She screamed.

“After all the waiting and enduring, is this the result? When I first heard that you accused my father of his crimes, and I heard that you insisted on personally overseeing his interrogation, I thought there must be a reason. I couldn’t accept it, but I believed you had no choice when the evidence came out!”

“…”

“I thought you would prove my father’s innocence. After all, you’re my fiancé…”

As the dam of emotions she had been holding back broke, tears began to fall from Ariel’s eyes, one after another.

“But it wasn’t like that. You chose to believe the evidence against my father, and now you insult his death, calling it the last act of a coward, not a plea for justice. You knew that hearing those words would destroy me, yet you remain so unaffected.

“…”

“My heart aches, like it’s being shattered by the dagger you thrust into it… but you… you’re completely unaffected.”

She finally collapsed to the ground, sobbing uncontrollably, but Kylance remained still. He simply stared at her, motionless.

In the quiet office, only her sobs echoed. Ariel, listening to her own desperate crying, realized the truth.

She could never go back to the way things were.

Her vision blurred by the unending tears, she couldn’t see his face clearly, but perhaps that was for the best.

If she had seen the cold expression on his face now, she wouldn’t have been able to endure it.

Acknowledging the truth she had been avoiding, Ariel stopped crying and exhaled a long, trembling breath.
At that moment, as if waiting for her to compose herself, a cold voice broke through.

“…I’ve only done what I had to do.”

“Ha.”

“You’ll see for yourself when you face the reality.”

Kylance pulled the string.

Before long, the door to the office opened, and the butler entered.

“Escort the lady to the Blante Marquis estate.”

“Yes, Your Grace.”

The butler quickly supported Ariel, who was on the verge of collapsing. As she steadied herself, she lifted her gaze, only to find that Kylance had already lowered his eyes to the documents in front of him.
It was as if the entire situation was a mere inconvenience to him; not a single word of farewell was offered.
Even a stranger wouldn’t be this heartless.
Ha…
To think that a love she believed in, a love she thought was meant to be, could crumble in an instant.

Ariel sighed in despair, feeling as if her chest had been hollowed out, before turning and walking away.

As she left the office, Ariel instinctively felt something change. She knew, deep down, that it was truly over now.