And she needed time alone to organize her thoughts calmly. Having successfully left the ducal mansion, she now needed to make concrete plans for her next steps.

Of course, all this became pointless when Lloyd immediately refused.

“It’s fine, lady. I’ve already received permission from His Majesty. He’s someone who worries about the health of the Lucid clan more than anyone. When I said I would personally nurse you, he gladly gave his permission.”

That would be the case.

If something happened to her, the Empire would lose the person who could foresee for them. Melissa had already experienced in her previous life how the Emperor responded to monster invasions.

He was not someone who would let her die.

‘He probably thinks there’s still a lot to gain from using me.’

Moreover, the fact that he allowed the Crown Prince to nurse her suggested he thought it would be easier to use her if she and the Crown Prince became close. His intentions were transparent.

Still, the Emperor was better than Lionel.

At least the Emperor, without a magical contract, couldn’t force her to use precognition.

Having suffered from the excruciating pain of precognition for so long, Melissa was fairly satisfied with just that.

‘Now let’s think about how to avoid returning to the ducal mansion.’

From what she remembered before collapsing, there had been quite a few imperial knights at the scene. By now, rumors that Melissa Lucid had been abused would have spread widely.

Humans tend to compete to spread such stories, after all.

Even if Lionel denied that he did it himself, he was still responsible for the lack of supervision, so taking her back to the ducal mansion would be more difficult than…

“Lady.”

Lloyd suddenly spoke while she was deep in thought.

Only then did Melissa remember she was in the middle of a conversation with Lloyd. She had been so focused on assessing the situation and making plans that she momentarily forgot he was there too.

When she turned to look at Lloyd, he continued speaking, seemingly aware that she had regained her focus.

“Why didn’t you tell me?”

Unlike before, his face was stern.

So Melissa guessed what he was trying to say.

“Tell you what?”

“Don’t pretend you don’t know. You know what I’m talking about.”

His usually smooth, rounded voice now had sharp edges.

It wasn’t difficult to tell that Lloyd was angry.

Melissa remained silent for a moment. After a matching silence, he frowned and sighed heavily. He seemed to be recalling what happened at the ducal mansion.

“Is that why you sent the letter asking me to come to the duke’s mansion?”

“……Yes, that’s right.”

Melissa moved her lips briefly before speaking.

It seemed ridiculous to try hiding anything when Lloyd had already figured everything out.

“I needed Your Highness’s help.”

“Why didn’t you just ask for help directly? I said I would give you any compensation for saving my life. If you had told me you wanted to leave the duke’s mansion, I would have found a way somehow.”

“Your Highness.”

Melissa waved her hand to calm Lloyd, who appeared somewhat agitated.

It wasn’t because she agreed with his opinion.

‘Well……’

Could Lloyd really have done that?

“Think about it. Who would believe that Duke Shortiras was abusing Lucid? No, how could anyone even say such a thing in the first place?”

That’s why Melissa had deliberately provoked Lionel into hitting her and exhausted her body before she could escape from there. Without such evidence, no one would have believed her words.

Just like in her previous life.

“Even if I had asked for help, one simple lie from the duke would have fooled everyone.”

Some people even ignored the truth despite knowing everything.

Melissa closed her eyes briefly before opening them again.

Edgar’s face had flashed before her eyes again.

Melissa sighed deeply as she tried to erase him from her mind.

‘Is it impossible?’

Perhaps it was impossible to erase him completely from the beginning.

He clearly betrayed her, speaking of her death so nonchalantly. He didn’t even hold her hand until the end.

The fact that she still occasionally wondered what would have happened if he had been the one to catch her when she fell…

The time she spent only looking at Edgar was frighteningly powerful.

Even while thinking she hated him bitterly, she wanted to believe that Edgar’s smile and words to her weren’t lies. While harboring feelings of wanting to hurt him somehow, she kept making unreasonable excuses that he might have had some circumstances.

She couldn’t even understand her own heart clearly.

“Anyway, isn’t it enough that I’ve escaped from the duke’s mansion? Your Highness helped me. I’m fine.”

Melissa thought with a bitter smile.

How much time would need to pass before I can forget you?

* * *

Melissa smiled slightly, raising the corner of her mouth.

Saying she was fine with a face that didn’t look fine at all, her body covered in wounds large and small.

Seeing this unnaturalness, a certain determination grew in Lloyd’s heart without him even realizing it.

He wanted this child to smile brightly.

He wanted to stay by her side and watch over her.

That kind of small wish.

* * *

In the end, Melissa stayed at the imperial palace to receive treatment.

By the Emperor’s order, the royal physician who attended to the imperial family stood by Melissa’s side, and thanks to this, her body recovered faster than expected.

Now she didn’t even need to rest in bed anymore.

While Melissa rested comfortably in the imperial palace, a maid from the Shortiras ducal family was identified as the culprit who had tormented Melissa Lucid.

The maid testified that she did it out of jealousy for the abilities and glory of the Lucid clan, and she was banished from the Artzen Empire to ensure she could never do such a thing again.

When Lloyd came to visit as usual and told her this story, Melissa had to struggle not to burst out with curses until he left.

She could guess what had happened without seeing it.

‘Lionel must have paid her handsomely.’

Melissa let out a mocking laugh as she buried herself in bed after confirming Lloyd had left. After all, the maid identified as the culprit had a name Melissa had never heard before.

Even though Melissa couldn’t memorize the names of all the servants in the Shortiras ducal family, she at least knew the maids who attended to her.

That meant this person had never even spoken with Melissa. She might not even have been a servant of the Shortiras ducal family at all.

It was truly irritating, but she knew that this one incident wasn’t enough to do anything about Lionel.

So Melissa decided to remain quiet for now.

‘The real problem is how to break the magical contract.’

Although she had temporarily left the duke’s mansion, she couldn’t consider herself completely escaped from Lionel without completely breaking the contract.

She needed to break the shackles connecting the Lucid clan and the Shortiras ducal family. For that, she needed a place to research magic.

‘Where could I go that wouldn’t seem strange for me to visit but is beyond Lionel’s influence?’

Both in her previous life and this one, she had rarely left the Shortiras ducal family, so she couldn’t think of any suitable place. Even after thinking all night, the result was the same.

A sigh escaped from between Melissa’s lips as she greeted the morning with sleepless eyes.

But she couldn’t give up just because of that.

After lunch, while she sat at the table racking her brain, Lloyd visited her room.

“Lady, how are you today?”

With a smile that crinkled the corners of his eyes, Lloyd approached Melissa. His eyes, like fresh green leaves, curved into gentle arcs.

Since Melissa began staying at the imperial palace, Lloyd had made sure to visit her at least once a day, no matter how busy he was.

Melissa initially worried it might be out of a sense of obligation, but Lloyd seemed genuinely happy when talking with her, so she came to think he simply needed a place to rest.

“I’m fine, of course. I’ve been telling you that for days.”

“Still, you never know. You might have been fine yesterday, but you could feel worse tomorrow.”

Lloyd replied naturally as he sat down across from Melissa.

A small laugh escaped from Melissa’s mouth at his words.

“Then I’ll tell you again. I’m healthy today too. Oh, by the way, is His Majesty better now?”

“Yes. He’s much better. Though he’s still struggling with work……”

Lloyd said with a slightly embarrassed smile.

According to what Lloyd had told her, the Emperor had already regained consciousness by the time Lloyd arrived at the palace that day.

Lloyd had joked that when his close aides confirmed this, they breathed as if they were about to vomit and wiped their chests in relief.

“Overwork was the problem, so he should rest for a while.”

“He can’t do that in the current situation.”

Lloyd slightly rubbed the corner of his eye.

Come to think of it, his face looked sharper than usual.

‘It seems the Emperor isn’t the only one overworking.’

Melissa let out a small sigh.

“Shouldn’t you be resting instead of coming here? You look very tired. And……”

Melissa hesitated for a moment before continuing.

“People will misunderstand if you visit so often.”

Perhaps such rumors had already started.

She deliberately didn’t voice the latter thought. She believed Lloyd already understood this well.