According to the Albion Empire calendar, the year was 1876.

True to the saying that ‘April is the cruelest month’, an unexpected cold snap swept through, withering flowers that had been in full bloom only days before.

The cold was so intense that even the socialites of the Empire, who would usually exchange polite smiles and empty pleasantries, chose to stay indoors.

“Hm. And who might this be?”

Despite the bitter weather, an unexpected guest arrived at Lancaster Estate, which was situated on the outskirts of the capital.

The estate’s master sat with one leg crossed over the other, openly regarding his visitor with a mockery that was difficult to hide.

His black hair was dull and lifeless. His skin was a rich bronze hue, noticeably darker than that of most Imperial citizens. With his towering frame and powerful build, he resembled an exotic black panther at rest.

When he narrowed his striking golden eyes on his guest, the resemblance became impossible to ignore.

“Lady Rochester. Since when were you and I such close friends?”

Without the slightest restraint, he asked why someone he was not close to had dared to come looking for him.

Yet the Marquis’s daughter, Dolores Rochester, did not so much as change her expression.

Instead, it was the estate’s servants who struggled to steady their breathing.

Glancing at her back, they could not help but marvel.

‘Good heavens. The rumors were true…’

She was the empire’s jewel and was often referred to as the “porcelain doll of high society”.

Her rich chestnut hair fell in luxurious waves around her breathtakingly beautiful face. In stark contrast to the man’s darker complexion, her milky-white skin had the flawless radiance of finely crafted porcelain.

The high-necked dress she wore to ward off the lingering chill of the season accentuated her graceful, slender figure even further.

Above all, when her languid green eyes softened and her crimson lips curved into a smile, she seemed almost too beautiful to be real.

“Your Highness, even if I look like this, I am still His Highness your brother’s fiancée. You’re being awfully cold.”

Those who faced that smile directly often found their knees weakening beneath them.

Unfortunately, Dolores’s dazzling beauty had absolutely no effect on Lesrexion.

“How long has that engagement been in place now? Ten years?”

“……”

“In those ten years, have we ever once exchanged pleasantries?”

“……”

“I figured you were too busy being worshipped by other men. Or was I simply the cold one?”

Dolores continued smiling sweetly, though inwardly she let out a sigh.

If she had any other choice, she would never have come to see this bastard.

‘To think I was given a second life, only for things to turn out like this. What a miserable fate.’

Even in her first life, their relationship had been poor. In fact, it had been terrible.

The Second Prince, Lesrexion, looked down on Dolores.

She despised him just as much.

This remained true even after she became engaged to Adrian, the First Prince and future Emperor.

‘If I had been born a man, I might have honorably driven a sword straight into that bastard’s side.’

‘But the only person who can take over my engagement right now is him.’

And, unfortunately, he was also the only one who might share a goal similar to hers.

Dolores offered him a gentle smile.

“Your Highness. As you said, we have never been particularly close.”

“That’s a surprisingly accurate way of putting it.”

“And so, in hopes of improving that relationship, I came to visit despite your undoubtedly busy schedule—”

“Lady Rochester.”

Snap.

The man brought his fingers together sharply.

Even that brief sound made his irritation unmistakably clear.

“Stop beating around the bush and get to the point.”

“……”

“Do I look like the kind of man who has time to spare for a lady’s pretty way of speaking?”

Dolores maintained her pleasant smile.

Inside, however, she scoffed.

‘Right. As if you ever would.’

The Imperial Family’s Beast was a man who paid little heed to etiquette or convention.

He was the complete opposite of Dolores, who adhered to every rule of imperial decorum with flawless precision.

The only redeeming qualities he possessed were his strikingly exotic appearance and the surprisingly spotless nature of his relationships with women.

Unfortunately, Dolores could not afford to waste time on pleasantries.

Lifting her fan, she gave the servants behind her a subtle gesture.

The meaning was unmistakable: Leave.

A flicker of surprise crossed Lesrexion’s face.

“Normally, this woman would have made a fuss about how improper it was for a man and a woman to be left alone together.”

Then again, it was strange enough that she had come here despite all the attention it would attract.

That was precisely why he had agreed to see her, despite his dislike of her.

‘Well, nothing ventured, nothing gained.’

He motioned for the servants to leave.

The Lancaster Estate staff were renowned for their discretion.

Before long, it was just the two of them left in the drawing room.

Golden eyes met green ones.

Neither looked away.

“Well then, Lady. I’ve gone this far, so let’s hear it.”

“Please marry me, Your Highness.”

“……”

Lesrexion stared at Dolores blankly.

It seemed that the Empire’s Diamond had suddenly lost her mind.

Yet Dolores snapped her fan shut and repeated herself.

“Please marry me, Your Highness. Help me break my engagement to His Highness Adrian.”

“Hm. Did I miss the outbreak of some plague that rots people’s brains these days?”

“If that were the case, I would be much more at ease myself. Unfortunately, it is not.”

The man responded with a sense of detached indifference.

The woman maintained her graceful smile.

They calmly scraped at each other’s nerves.

But Dolores had more to lose in this negotiation.

She folded her hands neatly in her lap and spoke more courteously.

“The reason I must cancel my engagement to the Crown Prince is… because I learned that His Highness has another woman by his side.”

“Hm.”

“And I am not in a position to break off the engagement on my own.”

The Albion Empire was a nation that prized its own nobility all the more fiercely because of its deep-seated prejudice against foreigners.

For generations, the Lancaster Imperial Family had sought to marry women of pure Albion blood.

And so, by a stroke of great fortune, the Marquis of Rochester’s beloved daughter had secured her place as the Empire’s future empress.

That woman was Dolores, now twenty-two.

In truth, her soul belonged to a forty-year-old woman who had already endured more hardships than most people face in a lifetime.

As her gaze settled once more on the twenty-five-year-old Lesrexion standing before her, she quietly bit the inside of her lip.

‘Ha. So the Grand Duke already knew back then.’

When she mentioned Adrian’s affair, he had not even blinked.

‘Was it an open secret among men?’

A brief flare of anger scorched her chest, but Dolores smiled as though nothing had happened.

“It has already been ten years since my engagement to the Imperial Family was arranged. My family has invested a considerable amount of money into this marriage.”

“……”

“So I cannot simply declare that I wish to break off the engagement with the Imperial Family. However, if there were someone capable of taking the Crown Prince’s place…”

Dolores fluttered her long eyelashes at the Grand Duke.

The Rochester family’s demand was simple.

To become a member of the Imperial Family.

Her father and elder brother had undoubtedly wanted her to become empress.

It was for this reason that she had endured twenty years of humiliation in her previous life.

‘But I don’t want that position anymore.’

She desperately needed a reason to escape it.

And that reason was the position of the future Grand Duchess.

“…Ha! Hahahaha!”

At that moment, Lesrexion burst into booming laughter.

Like a massive yet agile beast mocking a fox that stood less than an arm’s length away.

“Whew. I must say, Lady, it’s impressive that you finally discovered my brother has been unfaithful.”

“And I’m honored that Your Highness is willing to praise me for realizing it, even now.”

“But why should I agree to such a bargain? Ah, no.”

Lesrexion narrowed his golden eyes and sneered.

“This isn’t even a bargain to begin with. There’s not a single condition here that would tempt me.”

“As things stand, it isn’t a bargain. It’s a pathetic plea.”

“You’re surprisingly self-aware.”

“However, if you would grant me two years… no, just one year in that position, then I will give you everything I have to help you obtain what you truly desire.”

“And what makes you think you know what I want?”

“The Alaister Territory.”

The moment the words left her lips, the atmosphere in the room changed.

A glimmer flashed through Dolores’s gentle eyes.

Once, she had practiced nothing more than smiling prettily for men.

Now, however, they were hardened with resolve.

“Isn’t that what you desire, Your Highness?”

As she looked into those foreign golden eyes, she was certain.

Lesrexion Alaister Lancaster.

He was not a pure-blooded imperial prince. Foreign blood flowed through his veins.

‘Those eyes are identical to Princess Juliana’s. The skin tone as well.’

Long ago, the Alaister Territory was a small kingdom bordering the Empire.

It was a prosperous land, blessed with a mild climate, fertile soil, and a thriving harbor that welcomed merchant guilds from far and wide.

Then the Empire conquered it.

In the aftermath, Princess Juliana, the sole surviving member of the royal family, was taken as the Emperor’s secondary consort.

Everything about her was different: her appearance, her customs, and the culture that had shaped her. Isolated in a foreign land that never truly accepted her, she slowly withered away until she eventually died.

All she left behind was a beast within the Empire.

For a moment, a flash of killing intent gleamed in Lesrexion’s eyes.

Then he let out a short, humorless laugh.

“Lady Dolly. I thought you were nothing more than a doll with a pretty face, just like your nickname suggests.”

“……”

“But it seems you have quite the imagination. How surprising.”

In response to his mocking remark, Dolores’s mouth twitched faintly at the corner.

Dolly.

It was her nickname.

She was the epitome of a high-society porcelain doll.

For a woman renowned for her flawless skin and breathtaking beauty, the name seemed fitting enough.

But porcelain dolls were beautiful only on the outside.

They were hollow.

…

Not realizing the true meaning behind that nickname was the beginning of every tragedy that followed.

***

“What are little girls made of? Sugar and spice, and everything nice!”

It was a lullaby that had been passed down through the generations across the Empire.

No young woman embodied its words more perfectly than Dolores.

Graceful.

Refined.

She was a lady who concealed her thoughts behind a fan, wearing a gentle, elegant smile.

By the age of twelve, she had already been chosen as the Crown Prince’s future bride.

By the time she made her debut at fifteen, every eligible gentleman in society was eager for the chance to dance with her.

Adrian, with his golden hair gleaming like sunlight itself, would often gaze at her admiringly and say:

“Dolly. I’ve never met a woman as perfect as you.”

Though he resembled his half-brother, Adrian possessed noble blue eyes and fair skin that made him look almost divine.

“Dolly. You’re going to become the most beautiful Empress in the Empire.”

And Dolores had never once doubted those words.

…

Though occasionally, she wondered what kind of Empress the historians of the Empire would remember her as, beyond simply being beautiful.

“Dolly, you don’t need to worry about things like that.”

Whenever she asked such questions, Adrian would laugh brightly.

“You’re already the most radiant woman simply by being yourself.”

“…Yes, thank you, Your Highness.”

“Don’t burden that pretty head of yours with troublesome thoughts. Just trust me.”

And so Dolores silently agreed.

After all, she had spent her entire life learning only one thing: How to be beautiful and obedient.

“Dolores, you are the hope of this family. For your brother’s future, you must take good care of that beauty of yours.”

She had never once disobeyed her father’s instructions.

There were times when she craved rich, flavorful dishes, or when she wished she could indulge in just one more sweet macaron.

Even then, she would force herself to put the plate aside.

And yet, Dolores believed her life was perfect.

She believed this until the spring of her twenty-second year, when she became Crown Princess.

She maintained this belief until the winter of that same year, when the royal physician delivered his verdict.

“Your Highness, the Crown Princess, you are infertile.”

From that moment on, Dolores was condemned to a life from which there was no escape.