Hearing the announcement from outside, Aidan told them to come in. When the physician who had finished his examination left, the imperial dressmaker and his assistant entered. In the assistant’s hands was a mannequin wearing the completed formal wear. After setting up the mannequin where Aidan could see it well, the assistant left the bedroom first.

“Even without trying it on, the size should fit well.”

The dressmaker spoke, but somehow kept glancing at Aidan nervously. Tilting his head wondering what the problem was, Aidan saw the dressmaker quickly lower his gaze, avoiding eye contact.

“Her Highness the Princess Consort instructed to make Your Highness’s formal wear in black without any decorations, and when I checked with Your Highness, you said it was correct, but…”

Ah, he’s unsure if this is really okay. His reaction was understandable. Who would wear formal wear that looked like mourning clothes—black with only a white sash for decoration, to a party celebrating a wedding?

“Even now, if we add gold buttons and embroidery, it would look much more splendid even though it’s black.”

The dressmaker’s eyes lit up as if it was a good idea, but when he met Aidan’s gaze, he faltered. Aidan said nothing, just looked at him and then smirked slightly. At this strange reaction, the dressmaker became even more flustered.

“That’s enough. It perfectly captures exactly the feeling I wanted.”

Though it was praise, it didn’t sound like praise, and the dressmaker’s face contorted.

“Your Highness says it’s fine, but I’m not sure if this is really okay. Moreover, even Her Highness the Princess Consort’s dress…”

The dressmaker couldn’t finish his sentence and let out a long, heartfelt sigh.

“Karina? What about her dress?”

At Aidan’s question, he made a distressed face as if he had been waiting for this.

“This is a banquet celebrating Her Highness’s entry into the imperial palace. Even the most splendid dress would hardly be enough, but the dress Her Highness chose is really… It’s so simple, almost shabby, that I wonder if it’s really suitable for an imperial banquet.”

The dressmaker lamented, saying that if permission was given even now, he could change it to a different dress.

“Shabby?”

“Of course, it’s made with the finest fabric and thread. However, it’s a white dress without any decorations, hardly different from everyday wear. I barely managed to dissuade Her Highness from making it a black dress, pleading with her.”

Listening to the dressmaker’s words, Aidan burst out laughing. The dressmaker was bewildered, but Aidan couldn’t stop laughing for a while.

“Your Highness…?”

“No, it’s fine. Just leave it be.”

Aidan waved his hand dismissively. At his words that there was no need to change either his formal wear or Karina’s dress, the dressmaker hesitated, his feet seemingly unwilling to move, before reluctantly turning away.

“She really is an interesting woman.”

A smile spread across Aidan’s face as he looked at the simple black formal wear, muttering to himself. He hadn’t expected Karina to join in when he said he would hold a funeral.

‘Please divorce me. That’s what I came to say.’

The first words she said as soon as she saw his face were quite intense. He had certainly heard that they had just gotten married the day before, but for her feelings to change overnight and ask for a divorce, he wondered what kind of woman she was. After hearing her circumstances, it was a situation where asking for a divorce made sense, but after spending a few days here, he realized that the sensibilities of the people here were different from his own. It wasn’t just any marriage, but a political marriage with a member of the imperial family. To ask to undo it after just one night, considering that she was a person of this world, was definitely not a normal action.

That made him even more interested. After that, Karina’s reactions were always slightly different from what he expected. When he blatantly told her he came from another world, he was actually prepared to be treated like a madman. If she really couldn’t accept it, he was planning to make excuses that he might have gone temporarily insane due to his injury. But after seeming to ponder for a while, she eventually acknowledged that Aidan’s soul had been replaced by someone else.

“But the fact that she’s still asking for a divorce suggests that the reason isn’t that the owner of this body was unfaithful.”

For now, he had kept her for half a year on the condition that he needed her background to adapt to this body and this world, but he was becoming increasingly interested in her as a person.

What if I don’t want to give her a divorce?

He smirked at his own thoughts. Before worrying about that, he needed to find out why Karina wanted to divorce him in the first place.

She was definitely hiding something too. At first, he wasn’t particularly interested in why she desperately wanted a divorce, but now he wanted to know.

“Well, I suppose the first priority is to get through this banquet or whatever successfully.”

Tomorrow, Aidan will officially appear in front of everyone outside of Karina and those belonging to this palace for the first time. He wasn’t nervous at all about whether he could imitate ‘Aidan’ well. He had no intention of imitating the original Aidan from the start. Such a clumsy imitation wouldn’t be possible anyway. If that’s the case, he might as well become a ‘changed Aidan’ from the beginning.

Rather than nervous, he was excited. Who might be the ones aiming for his life, how they might act, and how he should deal with them in the future.

Aidan, no, Park Jin-hoo had lived fiercely in a competitive society all his life. As a student, he fought to maintain his grades to stay at the top of his class to break the prejudice of being an orphan. In college, he had to work and study through the night to not lose his scholarship. In his senior year of college, he had to engage in a strange battle of nerves with other top students to get a professor’s recommendation. And in the company he got employed at after that, he had to compete with other employees to build up something called performance. Even after doing all that, when he was framed for embezzlement and had to quit, he got into fistfights with guys wielding sashimi knives, and didn’t hesitate to do money laundering in the underworld, rising to become the right-hand man of someone called the boss. In that process, threats to his life were a daily occurrence.

The imperial palace is dangerous? To him, it was a genteel place compared to the gangster world. At least the people here were trying to maintain their dignity while being mindful of others’ eyes. That could become a fatal weakness for them.

Just like how Karina, if she really wanted a divorce, could run away from the palace, but couldn’t do so because of her family and her own honor.

The Emperor who had a child with his mistress before his legal wife, the Empress who killed the first wife and took her place, the half-brother who was in conflict with him over the position of Emperor. Tomorrow was the day to declare war on them. A declaration of war announcing that the existing Aidan was dead, and that a completely new Aidan had been born.

*

From early morning, numerous servants were busily moving back and forth preparing for the banquet. As the sun began to set in the late afternoon, soft music started to play inside the imperial palace’s grand banquet hall. One by one, invited guests began to gather, and on one side of the banquet hall, all kinds of food and drinks were prepared.

“His Highness Prince Lloyd has arrived.”

At someone’s announcement, the nobles who had been chatting in small groups stepped aside to both sides of the banquet hall and bowed. A path naturally formed, and Lloyd, dressed in white formal wear, walked into their midst. The front of his jacket was densely embroidered with gold thread. The pattern of the embroidery and the jewels used as jacket buttons were so splendid that anyone who didn’t know better might mistake him for the main character of this banquet.

“Your Highness, it’s been a while.”

“Have you been well?”

Some nobles approached Lloyd and greeted him. Most of them were supporters of the Empress and Lloyd.

“Prince.”

Hearing someone call from behind, he turned to see Marquis Belmont standing there. Lloyd returned the slight bow with a light nod of acknowledgment. For a moment, their gazes met with a strange light. Before others could notice, Marquis Belmont smiled first and approached Lloyd.

“Let me introduce you. This is my niece, who will soon become my adopted daughter. Greet His Highness.”