As soon as morning broke, Marian confirmed her situation. 

1. Marian is an outcast imperial princess. 
2. She lives alone in a separate palace with only one person attending to her. 
3. She hasn’t met Liebe yet. 
4. As before, she is well packaged to the outside world as Federico’s savior, the one and only noble imperial princess. 
5. Benjamin is still trash. 
6. And, Marian isn’t married to Cesare yet. 

 All these facts helped Marian form her plans. It would be better to modify the path closest to the right answer among the dozens of paths god had shown. 

 Marian scribbled on parchment. 

 ‘……Abel should be in the gladiator slave market right now.’ 

 The Empire’s decline had begun long ago. Yet the imperial treasury, unable to give up its luxuries, was gradually emptying, and they had turned to illegal means to fill the gaps. 

 One of those was slave gladiators. 

 The official gladiatorial tournament held once a year was far from satisfying, so they bought illegal fighting markets. And they drove Abel there. 

 They imprisoned slaves and provided entertainment that nobles and wealthy bourgeois could secretly enjoy. The slaves fought there with their lives on the line. 

 With Marian’s current age twenty, it had been just under seven years since Abel was imprisoned there. 

 ‘Too late.’ 

 If she had returned to an earlier age, she could have saved Abel from there sooner. Abel’s escape from there to Lorenzo happened in autumn when she was twenty-one. 

 Marian bit her lip hard. 

 Indeed, the first thing to do was to rescue this man who would become Federico’s calamity in the future. The stars embedded in Marian’s eyes sparkled. 

 In the very distant past. 

 There was a time when Abel was a young prince. 

 Marian and Abel first met at a banquet. The imperial family held a banquet to celebrate finding Marian. Of course, the reality was that it was essentially a venue to display her. An act to show off the rare mage the imperial family had acquired and demonstrate that the imperial family was still strong. 

 That day too, there was Benjamin’s violence behind the scenes. 

 ‘Something like you should be raised tied up. Mother said that’s how you tame beasts. Know that you’ll be tied up if you don’t listen to me. How dare you be at a place like this? Filthy woman. How do you think you’ve been living outside? You may be an imperial princess, but you’re an imperial princess.’

No one came to Marian’s aid, even when she pleaded for help against the torrent of verbal abuse that poured into her ears and the ruthless torment of being pinched and beaten where no one could see. Only after Benjamin had exhausted all his anger was she finally able to escape from there.

The nobles looked over the pale and trembling imperial princess as if she were a pig on display at the market.

Unable to endure that place any longer, she fled to somewhere she could be alone.

That’s where she met Abel.

‘What, get lost. I was here first. You go over there…… Are you crying? Wait. Are you crying because I told you to get lost?’

That boy who scratched his head with a bewildered face.

It was after Abel had awakened his abilities as a mage. Despite his young age, Abel had to be surrounded by people and receive excessive attention. And among them were those who truly intended to promote Abel and his family as Emperor.

The Drake ducal family had never once played along with such people’s schemes.

However, the Emperor, who saw Abel and the Drake family as thorns in his side, used this as a pretext to carry out a purge. And then, as if mocking young Abel, he kept him alive and turned him into a slave gladiator.

The boy, who couldn’t have imagined what would happen to him, was the only kind boy in this strange place.

‘……So, you’re saying Crown Prince Benjamin bullied you?’

Marian nodded while sniffling. At that time, Marian was still in a state where she hadn’t recovered from the fire incident. She was a timid child then.

‘Ugh, he’s still such an immature bastard.’

‘Immature?’

‘Yeah, immature. He’s desperate to bully anything better than him when he sees it. He’s bullying you because you have something he doesn’t.’

‘……But Crown Prince Benjamin has everything. What doesn’t he have?’

‘A bundle of inferiority complexes only sees what they don’t have, not what they do have.’

She still remembered Abel’s refreshing laughter. Even after that, she often met Abel in such secret places. The children who needed somewhere to escape became quite good friends to each other.

And seven years ago, that day.

‘Your Majesty! P-please spare them. Abel didn’t do anything wrong! Really! Please spare the Drake family!’

For the first time, she gathered her courage to go before her Imperial Father and knelt to beg. Had there ever been a moment so fearful and terrifying as knowing there was nothing she could do?

She was gripped by the fear of losing the only friend in this world who treated Marian as a human being. Before such a Marian, the Emperor smiled coldly and viciously.

‘Do you think you’re really an imperial princess just because you’re called one? You are a beast for the Empire! You shouldn’t have any self or will! You can’t do anything before I permit it!’

Marian couldn’t do anything, just as the Emperor said.

She couldn’t save Abel, and she became a powerless child. Benjamin pointed at Marian and mocked her.

‘Things are different now.’

Marian slowly clenched her fist. She needed to save Abel before he went to Lorenzo.

Since there were no servants in this palace anyway, it was easy to slip out. Before, she couldn’t even think of doing anything, like a beast trapped in a cage.

‘I need help to get to Abel.’

Such illegal places are selective about who they let in. Unfortunately, Marian had no money at the moment. Marian narrowed her eyes.

‘Contacting the Drake family members who are looking for Abel would be good, but that would take too long.’

Someone who could take Marian into the slave gladiator arena…

Marian muttered.

“Cesare……”

Marian slightly furrowed her brows.

Cesare Madrian.

The man who had been Marian’s husband. In the winter when Marian turned twenty, they married. Until then, Marian’s heart had been full of hope. Though Marian had been suppressed and twisted by various incidents, she was naturally a kind and warm person. Marian looked forward to the day she would leave the imperial family that oppressed and tormented her and make a new start.

Cesare would occasionally whisper kind words when they met.

‘You’re not a monster, Marian. Your power is great.’

‘Tell me if anyone bullies you. I’ll punish them. Marian, your smile is pretty.’

The Cesare that Marian knew and his true nature were completely different. Cesare was practically at the center of aristocratism. He despised Marian’s birth, and–

‘Actually, I find it filthy that a bug like you even breathes the same air as me.’

He insulted Marian, and–

‘What about Yulian? You can’t bear any children while Yulian has given birth to two. I don’t see what the problem is. You’re not even fulfilling the purpose for which I brought you here.’

He deceived Marian.

‘I heard you can’t bear children. Do you know why I brought you into our family? To have a child who inherits your abilities. So why should I keep you in my family now? Go to war and achieve something. That’s the only way you can prove your worth, you defective woman.’

So wasn’t Marian’s early betrayal justified?

For that, even sleeping with the enemy would be necessary, wouldn’t it?

‘But how do I persuade Cesare?’

**

Meanwhile, at the banquet hall.

Cesare let out a light sigh. The giggling laughter of young noble ladies tickled his ears. Cesare slowly surveyed the banquet hall with sunken eyes. This year, Cesare had turned twenty and become an adult. That meant Cesare could now inherit the vacant position of duke.

Cesare had finally become a duke.

This banquet was held to celebrate that.

Women who wanted to catch Cesare’s eye even once crowded around him.

‘Marian didn’t come.’

Cesare let out a small laugh. Publicly, Marian was known to fall ill frequently due to her weak constitution despite her excessive abilities. But both Cesare and Benjamin the Crown Prince, who was swaggering over there, knew that wasn’t true. They simply didn’t want to spend money on Marian.

Putting Marian in an expensive banquet dresses and decorating her for appearance’s sake…

Is she not worth even that much investment?’

And the conscience of the imperial family who attached such a defective product to Cesare was astonishing. They probably wanted the Madrian family’s wealth but didn’t want to give anything in return.

At that moment, one of the shy noble ladies gathered her courage.

“Your Grace. Congratulations, truly. You must have gone through so much hardship.”

Lady Yulian gently stroked Cesare’s arm. Yulian wore a beautifully made-up face with an equally pretty smile. Yulian knew exactly what expression to make and at what angle she looked most attractive. Yulian smiled brightly with a face full of confidence.

Since Lady Yulian held the highest position among the ladies gathered here, the other ladies could only watch helplessly.

“Oh, oh my. Crown Prince Benjamin is coming this way!”

Someone whispered quickly. Yulian separated from Cesare with a sulky expression. However, Cesare held onto her. His long, firm arm wrapped around Yulian’s waist. Yulian stared at Cesare with round eyes.

Yulian’s lips twitched.

“Duke Cesare, congratulations. Seeing you become such a fine duke fills me with emotion.”

Benjamin rolled his eyes to look at Yulian. Yulian slightly hunched her shoulders. Cesare was none other than imperial princess Marian’s fiancé. Even now with Marian absent, it was an unshakeable promise, and the fact that imperial princess Marian would become the duchess in the future was undeniable.

However, Crown Prince Benjamin turned his eyes away and ignored his sister’s fiancé who was holding another woman’s waist.

“Thank you, Your Highness. Isn’t it thanks to the imperial family’s support that such a joyous day could come? The Madrian family will continue to work tirelessly for Federico.”

Cesare spoke calmly with a slight smile. Cesare’s eyes narrowed.

“Your words make me feel assured. I look forward to the future you and I will create.”

Benjamin patted Cesare’s shoulder.

“Enjoy the party, it’s for you.”

Benjamin glanced at Yulian once more.

“Marian is fortunately recovering well. She asked about your well-being.”

“That’s good to hear. Please tell her that I am doing very well, receiving care from many people.”

Cesare pulled Yulian close with force.

“Eek!”

Yulian let out a small scream and nuzzled her face against Cesare’s chest. Benjamin laughed as if nothing was wrong.

‘Stupid bastard.’

Cesare inwardly cursed.

“I’ll relay that to Marian.”