The so-called ‘Mad Princess of Turnia’― Agnes was unanimously acknowledged as a spoiled, immature, and reckless young lady.

Thanks to her family’s free-spirited traditions, she had been living a life where she toyed with countless men since she was sixteen, and her romantic experiences had already exceeded twenty.

The longest relationship she had lasted about 6 months, and since she tended to get bored with her lovers easily, she usually broke up after about 2 months of dating.

Even if others criticized her for being promiscuous, Agnes was unashamed. Why should she care? After all, she had no intention of dating anyone with the premise of marriage.

She had enough wealth of her own to live a life of luxury and idleness forever, so there was nothing she lacked.

A person like that, one day, fell in love at first sight with the young Duke Drake who attended the imperial ball.

She had heard rumors about Duke Drake before, but it was the first time she had seen him in person. He was known to be quite reclusive and rarely appeared in social circles.

[He’s crazy. I’ve never seen such a handsome man before. And he even has a great body.]

Agnes immediately showed interest in Jurgen and persistently clung to him. She followed him wherever he went during his stay in the Imperial City, and even sent love letters and gifts.

However, Jurgen didn’t even bat an eye at Agnes’s fervent advances…

[Am I not beautiful enough? How can he be so stiff?]

After being rejected ten times out of ten attempts, she began to suspect if he might prefer men. Or perhaps… he was impotent, unable to use the thing between his legs despite having one…

As Agnes continued to fail in her attempts, the last imperial ball of that social season was held.

While eavesdropping on Jurgen’s conversation with others, Agnes learned that he would be leaving the Imperial City the next day, and she became impatient, thinking that if not tonight, there would be no more chances.

[Let’s see if he’s really impotent or not.]

And so that night, Agnes committed the extraordinary act of pouncing on Jurgen, who was resting in the lounge, completely n*ked.

And she found out. Seeing him only frowning in disgust no matter how she tried to straddle his waist, completely n*ked, unable to arouse him at all…

[He really was an impotent bastard…]

When she asked if he perhaps preferred men, Jurgen told her to stop talking nonsense and get lost. Not long after, his knights broke down the lounge door and barged in, and Agnes’s bold attempt ultimately ended in failure.

‘Back then, he clearly showed no reaction to me at all.’

That woman, the way he’s looking at the princess of Roengreen… It’s as if he’s about to devour her. Of course, that woman is incredibly beautiful, but― objectively speaking, I’m considered a beauty too. Honestly, I think my figure is even better.

‘So that’s the type of woman he likes…’

Agnes carefully observed that woman, Vanessa Roengreen, while sipping champagne behind a pillar.

Having long since let go of her lingering feelings for Jurgen, she was now more interested in his fiancée than in that detestable man.

How charming must she be to have captivated Jurgen, who seemed to have iron flowing through his veins instead of blood? Pure curiosity sparkled in her eyes.

✦ ✦ ✦

After the dance ended, Vanessa left the dance floor with Jurgen. She stood obediently by his side as he instructed, but as people’s interest in her, the newly Blessed One, began to creep up, she found it unbearably irritating.

Eventually, she ignored Jurgen’s instruction to ‘stay by my side’ and left for a corner.

Sitting on a couch in a secluded, dark space, emanating an aura that said ‘I’ll kill you if you approach,’ no one dared to come near. They only glanced at her with eyes full of awe.

Until she was revealed to be a Blessed One, they had been looking at her with contempt… Humans were truly fickle.

Vanessa leaned back on the couch with a sneer and closed her eyes.

She was thirsty, but it was too bothersome to get up and walk to the table with drinks. She just wanted to fall asleep right there.

At that moment, she sensed someone approaching. Vanessa slightly furrowed her brow and opened one eye.

The figure of a young woman entered her view. She was wearing a rather provocative outfit, a somewhat obscene dress that accentuated her voluptuous br*asts and the curved line from her waist to her hips.

Vanessa opened her other eye as well and observed the woman closely. The woman’s hair was a deep rose color, with a low saturation and darkness that gave a calm impression. And the woman’s eyes… they were a soft blue-green that reminded one of a shallow sea.

Glena’s eyes were exactly that color… No, Glena’s were a bit darker and more vivid.

‘How should I put it… In many ways, she feels like a mature version of Glena.’

The woman’s eye color, facial features, and figure were similar to Glena’s, but the atmosphere she exuded was completely different.

Perhaps it’s because Glena’s hair color is petal pink, unlike this woman’s. That child always looks young and cute, like a little kid, no matter when you see her.

‘I wonder if Glena would look similar to this woman if she dressed more maturely.’

As she was staring at the woman rather rudely, the woman smiled softly and offered Vanessa a glass of drink.

Vanessa blinked blankly and accepted the glass. Judging by the color and scent, it seemed to be cold rose tea with sugar added.

As Vanessa glanced up, the woman smiled kindly with her eyes and said,

“You must be thirsty? Please moisturize your throat with this.”

“Ah… Thank you.”

Vanessa replied awkwardly and carefully tilted the glass to take a sip. She didn’t worry about suspicious drugs or poisons being mixed into the drink, as there wouldn’t be any fool who would dare to do such a thing at the Emperor’s banquet.

The cold rose tea was cool and sweet. Despite intending to take just one sip, Vanessa ended up emptying the entire glass and glanced up at the woman.

The woman cheerfully laughed and took the glass from Vanessa’s hand. After placing the glass on a tray of a passing waiter, the woman introduced herself in a bright voice.

“I’m Agnes, the third daughter of the Duke of Turnia. Please feel free to be comfortable with me, Your Highness.”

Vanessa’s eyes widened slightly as she finally learned the woman’s identity. Agnes Turnia… Wasn’t she the protagonist of the problematic incident that Garcia had blabbered about?

‘The one who pounced on Jurgen n*ked… that very person…’

The Mad Princess.

Seeing Vanessa gaping in surprise, Agnes laughed as if finding it amusing.

‘What is she doing?’

Meanwhile, Jurgen, who had been dealing with approaching people appropriately, frowned as he saw Vanessa with an unexpected individual.

He had let it slide when Vanessa slipped away to a corner seat, apparently disliking being among people. After all, there wouldn’t be any fools daring to approach her after making an example of Tolman.

But there was one. That fool.

‘That woman…’

Jurgen unconsciously gritted his teeth and glared at Agnes with displeased eyes. At that moment, Agnes turned to look in his direction and, upon making eye contact with him, smiled mischievously and maliciously. Then, she ostentatiously took the seat next to Vanessa.

Crack.

The champagne glass in Jurgen’s hand shattered like a piece of ice. Regardless of the startled people flinching, Jurgen roughly took off his wet glove, tossed it onto a waiter’s tray, and strode forward. Towards Vanessa, who had fallen prey to the mad Agnes Turnia’s schemes.

Agnes talked about the incident where she had pounced on Jurgen as if it were an insignificant happening. Vanessa nodded blankly, amazed by her shamelessness and free-spiritedness.

Agnes even seemed to not particularly care about the fact that Vanessa was a Blessed One.

“Come to think of it, Your Highness received a blessing, right? I arrived late to the banquet so I didn’t see Your Highness’s stigmata, but I heard about it.”

She mentioned it as a side note and immediately moved on to the next topic. There was no sense of awe towards Vanessa whatsoever, only pure friendliness.

Perhaps that’s why. The more Vanessa looked at her, the more she liked this mad woman.

Firstly, she liked that she was a woman―it was mostly men who harmed Vanessa― and secondly, she liked that she was mad. Not unpleasantly mad, but refreshingly mad, which was charming.

Above all, she had cursed Jurgen as an impotent bastard―well, she actually said “I thought he was impotent,” but it was up to the listener’s interpretation―.

“Duke Drake is the kind of person who seems to have steel flowing through his veins instead of blood. He’s the epitome of a cold-blooded man with a frozen heart, I tell you.”

As Agnes disparaged Jurgen with all sorts of diverse and interesting expressions, Vanessa, who already had a lot pent up against Jurgen, couldn’t help but enjoy it.

Before she knew it, she was giggling and listening to Agnes’s stories when Agnes took Vanessa’s hand with one of hers and cupped her cheek with the other. The distance between them was strangely close.

Agnes looked into Vanessa’s eyes and smiled brightly, just as she was about to open her mouth.

“Your Highness, shall we…”

“Take your hands off.”

An icy cold voice cut in. Someone grabbed Vanessa from behind, pulled her up, and embraced her tightly.

A familiar scent that sharply invaded her senses. Instead of struggling, Vanessa quietly raised her head to look up at him.

Jurgen was growling at Agnes like a fierce wolf whose territory had been invaded.