‘His Majesty must be desperate.’

He knew the Emperor treated his daughter like a street courtesan, but to act this vulgar.

“What brings you here today, Marian? His Majesty didn’t mention the purpose of your visit.”

Cesare smiled slyly. He was curious how Marian would act.

Marian used to look at Cesare with eyes full of expectation.

She would speak to him with moist eyes, as if pleading.

‘Are you busy this weekend, Cesare? I want to go sightseeing…… Won’t you go out with me?’

‘I’d like to have a picnic with you on my birthday, Cesare.’

She must have wanted to escape that insufferable imperial palace. However, Cesare had never once indulged Marian’s wishes. Not only did he not want to, but ignoring Marian’s requests felt like crushing the imperial family.

Cesare stared at Marian’s small face with expectant eyes.

Marian smiled brightly.

“Her Majesty the Empress seemed to want us to act more like an engaged couple. She wanted us to spend time together before marriage.”

Marian stared at Cesare while slowly releasing her magic. Marian pressed her body against the table. Her fingers moved across the table as if dancing. She could see Cesare’s pupils gradually becoming unfocused. Marian whispered in a sweet voice.

“Come here, Cesare.”

Footsteps were approaching from outside.

Cesare, fallen under the spell, moved as Marian commanded. Cesare came to Marian and knelt before her. He kissed her hand as if worshipping her. Marian caressed Cesare’s cheek.

“Stand up.”

Cesare’s eyes grew hazier. The more he touched Marian, the more deeply the magic took hold. Cesare bowed his head toward her. Drawing close as if to kiss her, he stared intently at Marian’s lips.

At that moment, there was a knock.

It must be the head butler.

“I’ve brought tea, Your Grace.”

Marian stroked Cesare’s cheek with her hand.

“Tell them to come in.”

If there was a suitable witness, they would inform the imperial family that Marian had done her best today.

“Come in.”

The head butler entered nonchalantly but then bowed his head with a flustered expression.

“Leave it here and go.”

At Cesare’s command, the head butler quickly left the room. As soon as the door closed, Marian traced Cesare’s lips with her finger.

His pupils became dreamy and unfocused. Staggering and collapsing to the floor, Cesare twisted his body and moaned.

Marian looked down at him arrogantly.

A fitting sight.

**

Marian left the mansion after spending an appropriate amount of time. The head butler had witnessed a suitable scene, and Cesare would have distorted memories according to Marian’s intentions. Marian had rewarded Cesare, who had made a fool of himself rubbing his entire body against the carpet.

Tonight, Cesare would taste an ecstatic night gifted by the maid Ellie.

Marian leaned her head against the imperial carriage and exhaled tiredly.

Tomorrow, Cesare would hand over the money as the Emperor wanted. While enchanted by the magic Marian had cast. The Empress and Emperor would be satisfied with the result.

They needed to achieve maximum efficiency before Cesare noticed Ellie’s true identity. Once discovered, a spell could never be cast again.

‘And Lady Yulian.’

Marian narrowed her eyes. Vanessa Yulian. That woman had the vulgarity that suited Cesare well. A woman ready to lift her skirts anywhere Cesare wanted.

Yet she was also a woman who could kill Cesare for her own benefit.

With her contemptuous gaze and impudent mouth, she had hurt Marian countless times.

‘Oh my, Your Highness. I didn’t know you were here. You have such a faint presence. That’s something I should learn from. After all, a duke’s wife should be calm and quiet.’

That was mockery telling her to keep her mouth shut like now.

‘You who can’t even bear children, you claim to be the official wife? Instead of trying to teach me so haughtily, why don’t you go find some medicine to help you conceive?’

Marian clicked her tongue.

Vanessa would meet an end befitting her.

In fact, Vanessa had been pregnant even before Marian and Cesare’s marriage.

‘It must have been around this time.’

Marian bit her lip slightly. The sweeter Vanessa Yulian’s dreams became, the sweeter her fall would be.

Vanessa Yulian needed to become pregnant with Cesare’s child.

As quickly as possible.

‘There will be opportunities.’

The preliminary rounds for the fighting tournament would begin soon. While the main tournament started in autumn, she remembered the preliminaries were in late summer.

The fighting tournament was a key opportunity for the imperial family to gather money. Not everyone competed fairly. Some bribed judges for biased decisions, and sometimes they paid bribes to change the tournament brackets. In any case, during the preliminary tournament period, parties were held almost daily, making it easy to contact Vanessa.

The same went for Cesare.

‘I should prepare Abel too.’

Lost in thought, Marian didn’t notice the watchers attached to her. They were people Abel had assigned.

**

Meanwhile, Vanessa.

Vanessa, who had fled from the Madrian mansion, pouted her lips. To think that the great Vanessa Yulian would end up like this. This was all because of the greedy Cesare.

She had known that Cesare had been going around from woman to woman all this time. The rumors were rampant in social circles, and everyone already knew what kind of relationship Vanessa had with him. Cesare was truly not a gentleman.

‘Son of a b*tch.’

Since it was Vanessa’s choice to fall into Cesare’s arms knowing this, she had no one to blame. However, she couldn’t help feeling angry at times. How much better would it have been if Cesare had been just a bit more gentlemanly, if he had been just a bit more human.

Yulian gritted her teeth. The devastation she felt when she learned that Cesare tumbled around with women regardless of their social status was indescribable.

In fact, Vanessa held some pride. Though he would marry Princess Marian, Vanessa had been Cesare’s first. Hence that strange pride that she was Cesare’s real wife.

“But what’s the use of any of that!”

Seeing how Cesare carried on with his body, it remained to be seen who would get pregnant first. Vanessa gritted her teeth.

Vanessa rummaged through her handbag and took out a medicine bottle. She swallowed the foul-smelling contents and rubbed her belly. It was medicine to help conceive. They said it worked well if taken within an hour after intercourse. She had invested so much to obtain a month’s supply of this medicine.

‘Just wait if I don’t get pregnant.’

Vanessa kicked the carriage with her foot.

The fortunate thing was that she had an appointment to meet Cesare again tomorrow. Cesare wasn’t particularly the diligent type. Despite needing to learn work at the Ministry of Justice, he spent most of his time enjoying entertainment.

Thanks to Cesare, Vanessa was learning bedroom arts she never thought she would.

He was a man who played around with street courtesans. To satisfy such a Cesare, she needed to know more than them.

Vanessa knocked her head.

“I must be crazy, really. Sigh.”

**

Marian had gone out again.

Abel glared at the palace entrance with dissatisfied eyes.

‘I fed her a warm meal with my own hands only to send her to someone like Cesare.’

Abel narrowed his eyes. Of course, since Marian seemed to hate Cesare too, he didn’t think she would do anything with him. Fortunately, Marian had enough power to protect herself. The problem was that she didn’t take care of herself. Would it have been easier if Marian was the type of woman to snuggle in Abel’s arms and make demands?

Or would it have been easier if Abel had the power to kill Cesare right now?

He had sufficient will and ability to kill Cesare, but lacked the authority.

Cesare was Madrian’s only direct descendant. If Cesare died, there would be more than a few people hunting for the culprit. Abel ran his hand through his hair in frustration.

Why were there so many flies buzzing around Marian?

He saw Rosette, one of those flies, sneaking toward the entrance.

Rosette was just as troubled. Rosette’s position would be determined by Marian’s future status. If Marian became the Duchess of Madrian, Rosette would become the duchess’s maid.

On the other hand, if Marian followed Abel……

“Ugh!!”

Why were all the men around Marian like that?

Rosette roughly swept the entrance.

While Rosette and Abel were craning their necks like ducklings waiting for their mother duck who had left home, someone approached the palace from far away. Since Marian’s palace was the only one in this remote location, this must be their destination. At Rosette’s gesture, Abel hid himself in the darkness.

“Who are you?”

“I am Liebe Lucerta. Her Highness Princess Marian called for me.”

Liebe smiled brightly. It was the free smile of someone who had thrown off all restraints. Rosette narrowed her eyes.

“I haven’t heard anything about this from Her Highness.”

“Ah.”

Liebe clapped her hands. Then she pulled out a document bearing the Empress’s seal from her pocket. It was a document stating that Liebe Lucerta had become Princess Marian’s lady-in-waiting.