Cedric departed with word that he would soon be heading to the Imperial capital to gauge the situation — and that he would look into whether any rumors concerning Annabella were circulating while he was there.

“Young as he still is, he carries a certain authority about him. He has every right to become the Empire’s true sovereign.”

Milton held Cedric in high regard. The memory of the current Emperor’s witless conduct at a gathering of rulers remained vivid in his mind. With a son sired by such a sorry figure, what lay ahead was plain to see.

“Even so, the Empire will call it treason. Now that we have Annabella, we must be all the more careful.”

“Quite right. I’m sorry for Cedric’s sake, but our first duty is to protect Annabella.”

Grace nodded at Milton’s words. When it had been just the two of them, there had been little they truly feared — but the circumstances had changed. A precious treasure they never wished to lose had come back to them, and it was no longer so easy to stand at the forefront and denounce the Empire as they once had.

“Cedric is a young man of deep composure — he’ll understand.”

“Yes. He has the magnanimity befitting the throne.”

The two of them had watched Cedric grow, and it was that history which gave them faith in his potential.

Some things cannot be acquired no matter how hard one strives for them after the fact. Innate dignity and nobility of bearing were chief among those. Though the throne had been wrested from him for a time, Cedric possessed a quality of natural distinction that emanated from him simply by virtue of his presence.

“His great undertaking must restore the proper order of this continent.”

The current Emperor was weak-willed and easily swayed. A man who had never possessed the makings of a ruler from the start, he had seized the throne and made occasional appearances seated upon it — yet he had never accomplished anything of his own volition. Governance had naturally fallen to the hands of grasping nobles, and the lives of the Imperial people were growing ever more desolate.

“But we have something that must come before even that.”

Grace nodded. Rumors that Annabella had been disfigured by smallpox had spread far and wide — yet the formal dissolution of the engagement had not yet taken place.

“If we move too hastily, the other party may grow suspicious.”

“Even so, we cannot allow this ambiguous state of affairs to drag on indefinitely. That would be doing Annabella a disservice.”

The King and Queen looked at one another and nodded in unison. It was time, once again, to act without showing their hand. For the sake of their precious granddaughter, there was nothing they would not do.

***

The affair between Alexis and Delilah had become the hottest topic in social circles — and naturally, word of it reached the Emperor’s ears as well.

“Spreading scandal with your fiancée’s own sister. Have you lost your mind?”

The Emperor, paying Alexis a visit for the first time in quite a while, spoke with a deep scowl.

“My fiancée has fallen ill. I am merely calling on the household to offer my sympathies.”

“Don’t make me laugh. I’ve already heard everything. They say you’re practically living as husband and wife with that red-haired bastard girl.”

The Emperor was a man plagued by his own awareness of the usurper label attached to his name. He had been goaded by those around him into ascending a throne that was little more than an empty shell, and he remained acutely sensitive to the insufficiency of his own legitimacy.

“A sister is one thing if she carries proper bloodlines — but a bastard is out of the question.”

“The Duke of Lates has remarried, which gives Delilah legitimate standing as well. And surely it is far better to marry a daughter of that house than to break off an already settled engagement.”

The decision to name a daughter of House Lates as Crown Princess had been largely political in nature. The Duke of Lates was one of the high-ranking nobles who governed the country in the Emperor’s stead — which meant that as far as producing a Crown Princess from House Lates was concerned, it hardly mattered which daughter filled the role.

There would be no issue either way.

“The young lady you were originally engaged to is still very much alive. If you mean to honor your promise, then honor it properly.”

“I beg you not to speak such cruel words to me. How could anyone ask me to take as my wife a woman left scarred and ruined by smallpox?”

Alexis had always pursued his own particular ideal of beauty. A wife who had suffered through smallpox — the mere thought of looking at such a face was unbearable to him.

“They say she’s recovered from the smallpox now. Would it not suffice to assess the situation as it actually stands?”

Even Alexis could not bring himself to argue against that.

“Well — if she looks exactly as she did before, when she was called the greatest beauty on the continent, then I suppose I would have nothing to say.”

If Annabella’s beauty remained as it had been, that would be its own cause for satisfaction on his part.

“I shall send a formal envoy to the Kingdom of Elaise.”

“I wish to lead that envoy myself.”

“The Marquess of Blanc has already been appointed to head the delegation.”

“She is my fiancée. It is only natural that I should be the one to go.”

“Hmm…”

The Emperor considered Alexis’s words for a moment. There was, after all, some merit to them.

“Very well — I will arrange it in advance, so you shall go alongside the Marquess of Blanc. Do not forget that should the situation prove unserious, you are to marry the elder daughter without exception.”

“Yes, Your Majesty.”

The relationship between father and son amounted to precisely that much.

“Then I shall take my leave.”

Alexis gave a single bow and withdrew from the audience chamber — with absolutely no intention of telling Delilah any of this.

‘This works out perfectly.’

Of late, Delilah had grown anxious over the uncertainty between them, clinging to him and pressing him for reassurance with increasing frequency.

At first, when news had broken that Annabella contracted smallpox, even the mention of her name had felt distasteful to him. But as time passed, he had begun to worry that he might come to regret never having confirmed whether the continent’s greatest beauty had truly been ruined. The growing tedium he felt toward Delilah and her neediness had played its small part as well.

Since he was going at the Emperor’s command to assess the situation, he now had an official pretext to boot. With a means to put his unease to rest exactly as he wished, Alexis strolled down the corridor humming quietly to himself.

“I’ve gathered all the intelligence I need for this visit — but I came to find you in case there was anything I ought to know before I leave.”

“You were right to come. Has Elaise not recently received a shipment of weapons from us?”

“It has.”

“Whether for that reason or another… in any case, the Emperor has decided to dispatch an envoy to the Kingdom of Elaise. The Crown Prince has also joined the delegation.”

At that, Cedric’s brow furrowed.

“The stated reason is to assess the daughter of the Duke of Lates — to confirm whether her beauty was truly ruined by smallpox — but it’s possible they’ve caught wind of something.”

In that instant, Cedric found himself picturing Annabella’s lovely face, blooming more radiantly than any flower.

“I’ll send word to Elaise.”

“Please take every precaution. Our great cause must not be shaken under any circumstances.”

“No one understands that better than I do.”

Elaise was an indispensable and steadfast ally.

“Elaise is on our side. They’ve only just found their granddaughter again and are rejoicing over it — we must help them protect what they have.”

And so what Cedric was about to do from this point forward was not for the sake of any particular spirited young woman — it was for the sake of his alliance. At least, that was how it appeared on the surface.

“The alliance is important, of course. But please, always ensure that Your Highness remains unharmed. It is because you exist that our great cause exists at all.”

“There is nothing to worry about.”

“I shall trust in that. Now, please go carefully.”

Cedric gave a nod, stepped out of the narrow confessional first, and drew in a breath of fresh air.

He would need to get word to Elaise at once.

***

That same day, Annabella was shut away in her room — a rare occurrence. When Grace had stopped by earlier, worried, Annabella had brushed it off as a mild bout of fatigue, but the real reason was something else entirely.

“Why do I still dream of those days…”

Annabella murmured, her knees drawn up to her chest. In her dream, she had been dragged back into her past life. There, her soul had been slain once more — and even after waking, she found herself unable to shake free of those dark memories. It left her with a sense of dread.

“The formal announcement of the broken engagement needs to come soon…”

Annabella knew all too well how much the Imperial family prized appearances. The Emperor in particular was morbidly obsessed with keeping face — dreading above all else the accusation that, having usurped the throne, he had no sense of propriety —

And so Annabella could not help but tremble with unease. If the Emperor deemed Delilah unfit to be Crown Princess on the grounds of her illegitimate birth and moved to oppose the match —

“They wouldn’t forcibly drag me back… would they?”

Annabella clutched her knees tighter in her anxiety. The love she had received since coming to the Kingdom of Elaise had already transformed her life in ways she hadn’t imagined. Yet to the outside world, she was still known as the Crown Prince’s fiancée. That label would follow her until the day Alexis formally married another woman.

Knowing this, Annabella found herself rooting for Delilah. She could never allow herself to repeat the tragedy of her past life.

She had never imagined, in all her life, that things would come to this — yet for now, she had no choice but to place her hopes in Delilah’s fox-like nature. If that girl made full use of her particular talents, there was a chance she could make Alexis lose his reason long enough to place the Crown Princess’s coronet upon her head.

Laughable as it was, that was Annabella’s only way forward.