Chapter 6: Please Marry Me

Faced with such a blunt dismissal, Edelweiss met his gaze.

She tried her best not to let her flustered emotions show.

She had to catch this man’s interest—no matter what.

‘What should I do?’

At that moment, a single piece of information flashed through her mind.

Princess Charlotte.

Born frail and weak, Damian’s young sister, a descendant of Blossomweaver, was kept alive only by the power of the blue rose—a flower that shared one’s lifespan.

Until now, Princess Charlotte had survived thanks to the blue roses provided by Edelweiss’s aunt, the Marchioness of Blossomweaver.

But the ailing Marchioness could no longer produce them.

Charlotte eventually passed away before next spring.

She had been Damian’s only vulnerability.

If she gave a blue rose to Princess Charlotte…

He might be willing to grant her request.

“…Would you be willing to be my partner for the coming-of-age ceremony?”

For now, she just wanted to appear with Damian at the event—to unsettle Rosemary.

“You’re not asking just to dance with me, are you?”

He brushed back his hair, frowning slightly.

“To ask me to be your partner at such a high-profile event… Are you actually hoping for scandal?”

The brief sigh he let out revealed his displeasure.

What is he thinking right now?

Damian’s gaze was as deep as the ocean—impossible to read.

Every time their eyes met, it felt like waves crashing down.

His silence weighed heavy like a storm-laden sea, ominous and overwhelming.

If it’s not the blue rose that offers immediate gain, even revealing what I know about Adolf’s weakness won’t be enough to earn his trust.

“I’ll give Princess Charlotte the blue rose she needs. I know it’s dangerous if she doesn’t take it regularly.”

“You dare speak her name so carelessly?”

Damien’s gaze froze over, his face twisting instantly.

“You think I don’t know your aunt can no longer use that ability? Are you trying to mock me?”

He was clearly agitated. In a flash, Damien reached out and wrapped his hand around Edelweiss’s delicate neck.

She had touched his greatest taboo—this was the expected outcome.

His skin felt as cold as ice.

She struggled to stay calm, but her windpipe was tightening, and her vision began to blur.

“It’s not my aunt. I… I can bloom the blue rose myself.”

Edelweiss barely managed the words, enduring the crushing pressure on her throat.

Whoosh—

Damien instantly let go.

“Haah, kh—haah…!”

Edelweiss coughed harshly, trying to catch her breath.

“You… can bloom the blue rose?”

It would be best to prove it directly.

Still gasping, Edelweiss looked for something that could draw blood and pushed a teacup off the table.

A sharp shatter echoed in her ears.

She bent down and picked up one of the shards.

With it, she sliced her skin, drawing a drop of blood.

Drip—

A single drop fell to her palm, and a green butterfly fluttered its wings and landed there.

From the spot where the butterfly drank her blood, a blue rose slowly and brilliantly bloomed.

She had known she’d gained the ability, but this was the first time she had actually bloomed a blue rose.

Even as she succeeded, it felt surreal.

She remembered how hard she had worked her whole life just to see this happen.

Overwhelming emotion welled up inside her.

Her fingertips trembled from the thrill.

“I’ll give Princess Charlotte two blue roses each year.”

“What do you want in return? I know every time you bloom a blue rose, it shortens your life.

If you’re offering up your lifespan, your demand isn’t just to have me as your coming-of-age ceremony partner, is it?”

Damien tilted his head slightly, as if telling her to state what she truly wanted.

‘Now’s the time to say it.’

Edelweiss lifted her head and looked him straight in the eyes.

“Please marry me.”

Though she didn’t show it on her face, she was extremely tense.

She knew it was rash to show her ability and propose marriage outright to Damien.

But based on what she had learned in this brief time, Damien was not the type to offer a second chance unless the benefit was clear.

He rarely attended imperial banquets, and a private audience like this would never happen again.

‘Especially not like this.’

Furthermore, there was still no proof of Empress Roxanne’s affair—Adolf’s mother.

In a situation where nothing visible could be shown, he wouldn’t believe her anyway.

“…Marriage?”

He let out a short sigh, his displeasure evident.

Though anxious, Edelweiss was determined not to give up the initiative.

She squared her shoulders deliberately and looked him straight in the eyes.

“Do you have anything more to say?”

After thinking briefly, Edelweiss decided to praise him as her next move.

“…Prince Damien, you are the legitimate heir of the Rejenoel royal family.”

She added a plausible surface-level reason as well.

“If Your Highness marries, you’ll be granted an independent duchy.

I’d rather be remembered as a duchess than as the daughter of the Duke of Stern.”

“You proposed marriage just so your gravestone can say ‘Duchess’…?”

Edelweiss found his manner of speech baffling.

How did wanting to be remembered as a duchess turn into something about grave markers?

‘Is it because he’s spent so much time as Grand Admiral, always facing death?’

That roughness—rare among royalty—occasionally surfaced in Damien like this.

After holding her gaze in silence for a while, he let out a faint smirk.

Edelweiss quietly swallowed a dry lump in her throat.

“I don’t understand why you’d propose to me while offering up your own lifespan.”

“…Pardon?”

“You know as well as I do—my title as the crown prince’s legitimate brother is just for show.

My mother was dethroned before dying, and only reinstated posthumously.

As the Duke of Stern’s legitimate daughter, you have no real reason to choose me.”

“……”

“You don’t strike me as the type to make a losing bargain.”

“……”

“If you’re hoping I’ll become the crown prince, that’s laughable.

You must know that His Majesty has no intention of naming me heir.”

“……”

“Tell me the real reason you came to me.”

He wasn’t wrong.

The fact that Damien, who had repeatedly brought victories to the empire, still wasn’t crown prince meant the seat was never going to be his.

He was asking outright now—

If her proposal wasn’t because he was the rightful heir, then what was her true aim?

“I won’t turn away the offer to save my sister’s life.

So I’ll give you more time.”

Like a predator locked on its prey, his eyes never wavered.

Edelweiss suppressed the weight pressing down on her and managed a slight smile.

The one who needs something has to lower their head first.

“Your Highness… you happen to be the one person who could make my sister feel the deepest sense of defeat.”

“Defeat?”

As Edelweiss nodded, Damien’s expression turned questioning.

“I thought we were close too.

But I’ve lived a life where everything I had was taken by my sister.”

“I’ve heard the Duke of Stern raised a bastard child despite his position.

Sounds like you’ve endured your share of discrimination.”

“Unless Your Highness keeps calling me ‘lady,’ people tend to forget I’m the Duke’s legitimate daughter.”

There was nothing that could drive Rosemary to ruin more than Edelweiss marrying Damien.

“She has a deep inferiority complex about being a bastard.

She wouldn’t even dare propose to Your Highness.”

“……”

“That’s why I need to marry the noblest bloodline in all of Rejenoel—Your Highness.”

The more unattainable something is, the more desperately one desires it.

“And I promise I won’t use the title of duchess to pressure you.

If it helps ease your concern, we can write a prenuptial agreement that imposes penalties on me should I overstep.”

After all, blessings are often taken by the ones closest to them.

“Do I really need another reason, Your Highness?”

“My answer depends on whether your reason convinces me.

It’s not as if blue roses are the only way to treat Charlotte.”

In an instant, Damien had reclaimed the upper hand that Edelweiss had tried to seize.

He spoke with the composure of someone who had nothing to lose from turning her down.

Without trying, he naturally asserted dominance—his presence radiated authority, as if he were born to reign.

He slowly stroked his chin, silently awaiting Edelweiss’s answer.

As he crossed one leg over the other on the sofa, the deep blue of his eyes darkened.