Early morning, Kai came to visit.

“This is from His Highness.”

He handed Karina an armful of flowers. They were bright yellow freesias.

“He mentioned that freesias symbolize new beginnings.”

At this meaningful comment, Karina looked at Kai.

“I believe today will be such a day for His Highness.”

He too could only guess at Aidan’s intentions without knowing for certain.

A new beginning.

Whether that would have a good or bad meaning remained unknown. If he performed well at the knights’ tournament watched by the emperor and all the ministers, it would be a good opportunity to completely wash away his previous ineffective image. But if the opposite happened, if he fell in the first match, it would only strengthen the opposition’s opinion that Aidan was a useless prince.

“Will the Consort be attending as well?”

Kai asked.

“I’m having a quick breakfast with Princess Elena first. Once the knights’ tournament begins, no one knows when it will end.”

“I will escort you to the annex.”

“There’s no need to go out of your way…”

“I understand many of the Consort’s knights are participating in the tournament today. Since the guard might be weakened, His Highness ordered me to protect the Consort until the tournament ends.”

She couldn’t refuse after hearing it was Aidan’s order.

“Wait a moment. I’ll get ready and come out.”

Returning to the bedroom connected to the reception room, Karina asked her servant to prepare clothes to change into, and as she set down the freesia bouquet Aidan had sent on the table, she discovered a note inside.

[Thank you for yesterday. I slept well thanks to you.]

The note’s content was simple. Last night, as soon as Karina returned to her palace, she had entrusted a letter bearing her seal to Bernice to visit the Hewitt family’s physician. She asked him to procure an antidote for the aphrodisiac without asking questions and without anyone knowing. After about an hour, Bernice obtained the antidote and immediately delivered it to Kai. She briefly explained the situation and told him to have Aidan take it.

Though Aidan had said he was fine and could endure it on his own, she couldn’t be at ease. While she didn’t think he would go crazy with desire and run out of his quarters, if he suffered from a fever all night, even after the drug’s effects wore off, it would inevitably affect his performance in today’s tournament. Above all, she worried about his condition. She couldn’t just do nothing while remembering how he had clenched his fists until his knuckles turned white and broken out in cold sweat.

Fortunately, the medicine seemed to have worked. A smile spread across Karina’s face at his words about sleeping well.

‘What I want is Karina Hewitt herself, not just your body.’

She remembered how he had struggled to control himself until the end, trying to send her away even while suffering.

She had to admit his willpower was impressive. His patience too. If he was that kind of person…

‘Want to date me?’

Her heart fluttered at his voice that seemed to echo in her ears.

*

Sunlight seeped through the gaps in the curtains covering the window. The thin rays of light felt even more dazzling as they touched his eyes. Lloyd, covering his eyes with one hand, smiled with his eyes closed as he sensed movement from beside him.

Last night, he had obtained what he wanted most. Though everyone had said he was wrong and should give up, he had been right. If only Karina would say she wanted him, he was confident he could reset everything back to the beginning.

“Your Highness, it’s time to prepare.”

A servant called Lloyd from outside. After answering that he understood, Lloyd sat up. As he looked down at the bed beside him with a satisfied smile, he saw a woman sleeping with her long hair disheveled, hiding her face.

“Karina.”

He called her name in an affectionate voice.

“You need to get up now. We need to get you back without others seeing…”

His words trailed off as the light streaming through the curtains revealed her hair. It wasn’t bright blonde but brown. Karina’s hair was bright blonde that shone like moonlight.

If not Karina, then who…? Suddenly, the back of his head felt tight.

He jumped up from the bed and went to the window, pushing aside the curtains. The woman stirred in the flooding sunlight and seemed to wake up, slowly raising her body.

“Kate Spencer…”

When Lloyd confirmed her face, he felt his fingertips turn cold. Why was she, who should have been with Aidan, with him instead?

‘Keep the room dark and wait. If he knows it’s you, Aidan might turn away again. Don’t say anything and lead him to bed. Make him think you’re his consort. Once you give him that drug, everything will flow naturally after that.’

Those were his own words to Kate. He never imagined he’d fall for his own trap.

“Ah…”

Kate’s face turned deathly pale as she properly opened her eyes and looked ahead. She started trembling as she pulled the blanket to cover herself. She too apparently hadn’t imagined spending the night with Lloyd. It made sense. Lloyd had kept calling her Karina, firmly believing she was Karina. That had been a fatal mistake. Even if Kate had doubted it because Aidan and his voices were different, she would have naturally believed it was Aidan when he called out Karina’s name.

“This can’t be… Why…”

Lloyd had no energy to comfort the distressed Kate. He was too shocked and dumbfounded by what had happened, his mind frozen.

“Your Highness.”

A voice called Lloyd from outside again. That finally snapped him back to reality. No one should see this situation.

“Miss Spencer.”

Though his mind was in chaos, he needed to silence Kate somehow.

“First, please calm down…”

“No! Kyaaaah!”

The moment he took a step forward to soothe her, Kate let out a piercing scream.

“Your Highness! What’s wrong?”

Startled by the sound, the servants and knights who had come to fetch Lloyd rushed in. The n*ked Kate screamed even more, turning blue with shock, while the servants and knights froze, stunned by the unexpected situation–

Lloyd covered his face with one hand.

f*cked.

There was no other way to express his current feelings.

*

“Kyaaaah!”

Walking to her appointment with Princess Elena, Karina stopped in her tracks at the scream echoing through the corridor.

“What was that sound?”

Bernice also looked around with wide eyes.

“It came from that direction.”

Kai pointed toward the source of the sound. It was from the direction of the quarters prepared for the participating knights, specifically the separate quarters prepared for Aidan and Lloyd. Though she thought ‘surely not,’ she had a bad feeling. She suspected the owner of that scream was Kate Spencer.

“Let’s go see.”

Kate Spencer had tried to drug Aidan. While that made her despicable, Karina was also concerned about her handkerchief that the servant had said was retrieved from Lloyd last night. She needed to confirm if that handkerchief was connected to this scream.

Several servants and knights had gathered in front of Lloyd’s bedroom, murmuring among themselves. Even passersby had started gathering, forming quite a crowd.

From inside came the sound of sobbing. The voice seemed familiar – it had to be Kate Spencer.

“Excuse me.”

When Bernice tried to push through the knights, they turned and bowed upon seeing Karina and Kai, stepping aside to make way. Walking through the path they cleared to the door, Karina quietly took a breath.

Through the wide-open door, she saw Kate sitting on the bed, covered with a blanket but clearly n*ked underneath, crying. Lloyd stood by the window with a dumbfounded expression, wearing only his pajama pants.

“Karina…”

Upon discovering Karina, he flinched before his face contorted.

“This is a misunderstanding! Something went wrong! I truly thought it was you…”

Karina glared at him as he spoke nonsense.

“What are you saying? Surely you’re not trying to tell me the ridiculous story that you spent the night with Miss Kate Spencer thinking she was me?”

People murmured at Karina’s question. It was shocking enough that Prince Lloyd had broken the rules by bringing in an outsider, Kate Spencer, the night before the knights’ tournament, but to say it happened because he mistook Kate Spencer for his brother’s wife, Consort Karina – what nonsense was this? The knights exchanged bewildered looks, as if thinking this was an unthinkable act of impiety.

“Well…”

Lloyd wasn’t unaware of how stupid his words sounded. But getting entangled with Kate Spencer felt unfair. If it had been Karina, he wouldn’t have minded being discovered by everyone like this. He would have used this opportunity to void her marriage to Aidan and stepped up to take responsibility.

His face turned red with anger and indignation.

“You sent word first that you would wait for me! That’s why I completely believed it was you!”

What nonsense was this now? Everyone’s attention turned to Karina. Karina swallowed a sigh. Lloyd’s words instantly made her understand why there had been an incomprehensible message on the handkerchief she had given to Aidan. And who had orchestrated this situation.

“I don’t understand what you’re saying. Why would I wait for Your Highness? My husband is His Highness Aidan.”

At her unwavering rebuttal, Lloyd approached Karina with an expression of disbelief.

“Don’t lie. You clearly sent me your family’s crested handkerchief.”

The moment he reached out toward Karina, an arm emerged from behind and pulled her into an embrace.

“The one Karina waited for wasn’t you, but me.”