Annabella, who had been briefly captivated by Cedric, turned her attention back to the conversation between the three of them. She had been wondering why words like military and weapons kept coming up.

“Um… is there a war going on that I don’t know about?”

At Annabella’s question, Milton and Grace quietly bowed their heads, lost in thought.

The King and Queen, having only just found Annabella again, wanted to keep her far from anything dangerous — but things had already progressed too far for that. Which meant Annabella needed to know. She would soon become a princess of Elaise, after all.

After a brief hesitation, Milton was the first to speak.

“Don’t be alarmed, my dear. We are currently waging war against a usurper who has unlawfully seized the imperial throne — and we intend to place the rightful heir where they belong.”

Clack. Grace set her teacup down with elegant precision.

“But rest assured — it is not a war being fought on our soil.”

When Annabella turned to Cedric with wide, startled eyes, he gave a quiet nod.

She had thought him softened, even if only for a moment — but the instant the enemy was mentioned, the sharp lines of his gaze turned savage. His eyes were those of a predator stalking prey through the dark.

“It will be a difficult road… but whatever enemies you face, I hope you see it through without losing your pride.”

Annabella meant every word.

She had been an Empress in her previous life. Because of that, she understood all too well how badly the Empire was crumbling — rotting from within. And that the only ones who suffered for it were the people.

“By the way, the news of milady’s smallpox has spread across the entire continent — but do you know what rumor comes second?”

“What is it?”

Milton perked up immediately at the mention of his beloved granddaughter. As King of Elaise, he attended gatherings of rulers often enough, but every last one of them despised the Empire, which meant Imperial news rarely reached his ears.

“It seems His Imperial Highness the Crown Prince has taken a red-haired lover.”

Even in this life, those two had gone and done it. That child and Alexis — the one who, even when everything was split equally between two people, couldn’t bear not having the last remaining piece, and so destroyed what was already hers.

Annabella dearly wished she could laugh — a full, satisfying laugh — but this was not the place for it. Still, she couldn’t quite hide the delight that crossed her face.

“It seems the young lady here knows who that person is.”

“Yes.”

At that, the King and Queen’s attention shifted entirely to Annabella.

“There’s no need to look far. Delilah — my half-sister from House Lates, the one I left behind — was well known as a great beauty with red hair.”

Red hair was extraordinarily rare. But Delilah had not only the fiery red locks, but red eyes to match, and she had always paraded that singular beauty of hers with great pride.

“Is that… the child they say was conceived while our Aubrey lay bedridden?”

Milton couldn’t hold back his anger and his voice rose sharply.

“Yes, that’s right. She’s known to the world as my younger sister, but in truth, she and I are less than a year apart.”

“Did they ever mistreat you?”

Grace asked with a pained expression, and Annabella responded with a deliberately brighter smile.

“I’m not the sort to let someone like her get the better of me.”

In her past life, those two — mother and daughter — had cost her both her husband and her child. But now, things were different.

The memory of her past life still made her tremble with fury — but she had enough composure now to smile through it.

“Come to think of it, my half-sister and His Imperial Highness the Crown Prince would make quite the perfect pair.”

“We worried you might be hurting, even a little. But looking at you now — your face is bright.”

“Yes. She’s stronger than we expected.”

The King and Queen spoke one after the other. Cedric looked as though he wanted to say something as well, but in the end, he closed his mouth.

“I’ll be staying here, so there’s no need to worry on my account.”

At that, Milton let out a hearty laugh.

“Ha ha ha! Yes! Now that’s my granddaughter. Indeed.”

Grace nodded along.

“Aubrey was a great beauty as well — but her ambitions and her spirit surpassed any man I’ve ever known.”

Annabella had expected to go through life knowing nothing of her mother beyond the bare fact that she had been a princess of a small kingdom.

Yet here she was, barely arrived, and already she felt she understood what kind of woman her mother had truly been. And somehow, she had a feeling she had been deeply, deeply loved by her.

That feeling came to her, vague but certain — and it was all because of the boundless love the King and Queen of Elaise had shown her.

“I wish every day could be like this.”

“As do I.”

“As do I.”

Cedric chimed in from an unexpected quarter.

“Seeing Your Majesties and the young lady so at ease with one another — it’s a truly lovely sight.”

Hm. How convenient.

Apparently Annabella was the only one who remembered how he had dismissed her and humiliated her at their first meeting. The memory surfaced, and she shot him a sharp sideways glance — but he only wore that faint smile of his, his mask firmly in place.

“In truth, Cedric, given how deep our ties run with you, I’ll say this now in advance — we intend to formally invest Annabella as a princess when the time is right.”

Milton’s expression was grave. He had already had the palace’s legal codes reviewed.

“Yes — invest her as princess and ensure she never has cause to return to the ducal house. But there is something even more important than that.”

Grace spoke with careful deliberation.

“She must never, never become involved with a man who harbors ulterior motives. Not even by chance encounter on the road —”

“— not even repeated encounters that let a face become familiar. That’s even worse. Because before you know it, you start thinking, why do I feel this way? Could he feel the same? — and once those feelings take root, it’s already too late!”

Grace’s pointed words were drawn directly from what had happened when the Duke of Lates had taken Aubrey from her. That fox of a duke had orchestrated their meetings deliberately, and his persistence had ultimately been enough to lure Aubrey away.

“Please don’t worry. There is nowhere I’d rather be, and nothing that makes me happier, than spending my days here in this castle with the two of you.”

Annabella’s tender words struck Milton straight in the heart and melted the long-held grief in Grace’s. Yet neither of them seemed at all aware that they were, at this very moment, allowing her to spend time in close proximity with precisely the sort of dangerous element they were warning her against.

“What a remarkable bond.”

Cedric looked at Annabella with those pitch-black eyes of his and smiled.

“Indeed — that is the pride of our kingdom.”

“Once the young lady is invested as princess, it will be as though we’ve gained another treasure.”

“Mm, quite right. Though she’s already a treasure as it is. I’m afraid even you are no exception, Cedric — I won’t be giving her up, so put that thought out of your mind.”

Annabella’s heart seized involuntarily at Milton’s words. She found herself inexplicably anxious over what answer Cedric might give.

“Your Majesty need not worry — I prefer a spirited woman over a graceful beauty.”

For a moment, Annabella and Cedric’s eyes met. His dark eyes — even sharper and clearer than they had been that night beneath the moonlight — held her gaze without blinking.

“What a peculiar taste.”

“So I’ve been told. For instance… I find myself partial to the sort of spirited woman who would throw a pebble at my window in the dead of night to make her feelings known.”

At that, there was no stopping the flush that crept into Annabella’s cheeks. Fortunately, she had the fan Hilda had thoughtfully packed for her, and she raised it with a show of practiced elegance — which helped, somewhat.

“Truly peculiar. But does such a young lady even exist? Among commoners, perhaps — but she’d be a rare find in any noble house.”

“I wouldn’t worry about that. They do say the darkest place is under the lampstand. She may be closer than one would expect.”

“Achoo!”

Whether from the pollen or from Cedric’s sheer audacity, a sneeze escaped her. Grace drew a handkerchief from her br*ast pocket and dabbed at Annabella’s nose herself, as if tending to a small child.

‘He’s doing that on purpose. Just to watch me squirm!’

Annabella tried her best to settle the heart that kept hammering away for no good reason. It was plainly a teasing remark — anyone could see that — and yet she couldn’t understand why she kept letting it get to her.

Ahem. She cleared her throat, tilted her chin up with deliberate haughtiness, and spoke.

“Even if you managed to find such a young lady, she might simply refuse you.”

At that, Cedric smiled — slow and insufferably self-assured.

“No. She’ll come around.”

“And how can you be so certain?”

“Because she can’t seem to take her eyes off my face.”

Annabella startled so badly her face went scarlet.

‘Was I really staring that openly?’

Mortification crashed over her all at once. She snapped her fan open and raised it to hide her face. Cedric watched her do it and laughed — a low, quiet sound of pure amusement.

They do say the darkest place is under the lampstand. Right before their very eyes, something unmistakable was unfolding — and the King and Queen hadn’t noticed a single thing.