The morning of the day she was leaving the Imperial City.

Vanessa boarded the carriage, taking only Agnes’ letter from the mountain of correspondence that had arrived for her.

The nobles of the empire had sent letters to Vanessa because it had become known that she was a ‘Blessed One’.

It was utterly disgusting how people who had been spreading nasty rumors about her until yesterday changed their attitude.

Vanessa let out a faint sneer and opened Agnes’ letter. To summarize, it expressed a desire to interact frequently and become close friends in the future. A warm smile had unknowingly settled on Vanessa’s lips.

“Um, Your Highness the Princess… What should we do with the remaining letters?”

Renee approached and politely asked Vanessa. Vanessa glanced at her standing beyond the open carriage door and replied without much hesitation.

“Burn them all.”

“Pardon? All of them…?”

When Renee asked again in disbelief, Vanessa let out a small sigh and repeated.

“They’re meaningless letters anyway. It doesn’t matter if they’re burned.”

“I… understand, Your Highness.”

Renee looked like she had something more to say, but seeing Vanessa’s cold face, she closed her mouth and obediently retreated.

Vanessa carefully folded Agnes’ letter and put it in her coat pocket. Her decision to ignore the correspondence from the imperial nobles was not a childish one. She knew there would be no repercussions even if she disregarded them all.

Most of them were likely coveting Vanessa’s power as the recipient of life’s blessing, rather than having pure goodwill.

The image of imperial nobles fawning over the princess of Roengreen, which had often been dismissed as a small southern country… Vanessa found this situation quite amusing.

‘I wonder what Father would have said if he had seen this.’

[Well done, Vanessa. To have put those arrogant imperials in their place! As expected of my daughter. This father is very proud of you.]

She could almost hear her father’s cheerful voice from somewhere. Vanessa let out a hearty laugh and looked out the window. The northern sky was overcast with dark clouds, making the weather gloomy as if it would rain.

To think the weather would be like this on the day they were heading north… She could only hope it wouldn’t be a downpour.

✦ ✦ ✦

At Count Frambert’s castle in the northern part of the empire.

Escal, who had been staying here for over two weeks now, received an unexpected letter today.

The sender of that letter was none other than Declan Roengreen.

“Hah…”

After reading Declan’s letter in one go, Escal put on a sardonic smile.

To briefly summarize the contents of the letter, it could be called a proposal for an alliance. A suggestion to cooperate for each other’s goals.

‘So the King of Roengreen also finds Jurgen a thorn in his side, huh.’

Of course, it seemed that man wanted to get rid of Vanessa even more than Jurgen.

‘It’s understandable that he’d be bothered, given that Vanessa has received the blessing of life.’

When Declan ascended to the throne, there were no forces supporting Vanessa. But now that she had received the blessing and risen to prominence, the tables could turn. That was probably what Declan was worried about.

While it might be impossible for Vanessa, who was to marry Jurgen, to ascend to the Roengreen throne, she could still indirectly influence matters.

She could spread words criticizing Declan, or show support for the family next in line for the throne after the Roengreen royal family…

‘In the end, Declan wants to eliminate Vanessa before such things can happen.’

Escal smirked and pushed Declan’s letter aside, then began writing a reply. For now, it was a simple response hinting at his willingness to cooperate with him.

There was no need to disclose what he had been plotting or what would happen in the future.

‘Jurgen’s party will arrive in Valencia soon.’

And they would witness it. The gift he had prepared for them.

Escal, pulling up the corners of his mouth crookedly, put down his quill pen for a moment and muttered as if talking to himself.

“I do hope you’ll like my gift… Brother Jurgen.”

✦ ✦ ✦

The day before arriving at Valencia in the Drake Duchy.

As the dark clouds gathering in the sky had foretold, a torrential rain finally poured down.

The heavy rain that started in the evening became even more fierce as night fell, lashing the ground. It was impossible to proceed on such treacherous rainy roads, so the party had to find a place to stay before sunset.

Fortunately, there was a decent inn nearby where travelers often stayed, so they secured rooms there.

However, due to a shortage of rooms, Vanessa had to share a room with Jurgen again this time. The retainers of House Drake had an attitude of ‘It doesn’t matter since you two are going to get married anyway.’

No one seemed to care about Vanessa’s discomfort. At most, Renee seemed to have slightly noticed her unease.

“You go wash up first. I have some things to check with the knights.”

“Mmm…”

Thinking that this sounded very much like a married couple’s conversation, Vanessa rolled her eyes. Whenever she thought about that man becoming her second husband, her mind would go blank. For various reasons.

Moreover, based on the information she had gathered so far, that man seemed to be a… virgin.

While she herself had no experience of going all the way with a man either, as someone who had been married once before, she felt a strange sense of guilt. Like the feeling of sullying a clean sheet of paper.

‘Even objectively speaking, with such a handsome face, tall stature, and good physique, why is he still inexperienced with women?’

Even when a beauty like Agnes had deliberately thrown herself at him, he showed absolutely no reproductive response…

But it didn’t seem like he had an ascetic nature either…

‘He kissed me. Twice, even. Judging by that, he clearly feels lust towards me.’

He harbors resentment towards me because of past events. He wants to break me, but at the same time desires me…

Isn’t this a dangerously destructive situation…? Suddenly feeling a chill, Vanessa shuddered, and seeing this, Jurgen casually asked,

“Are you cold?”

“Huh? Oh, a little…”

He glanced at Vanessa with his usual indifferent expression and approached the fireplace. As this inn was quite expensive and nice, each room was equipped with a fireplace.

Jurgen reached for the pile of firewood stacked next to the fireplace and threw a few logs into the fire. The flames in the hearth immediately blazed more intensely, instantly making the air in the room warm.

Jurgen stood by the fireplace, glanced back at Vanessa, and then left the room without a word.

Following the sound of the door closing, a quiet stillness pervaded the room. Vanessa, who had been staring blankly at the spot where Jurgen had disappeared, eventually let out a chuckle and shook her head.

He was an incomprehensible man, as always.

A moment later, inn employees came in to fill the bath with water and left.

Vanessa, having removed all her clothes including her underwear, squeezed herself into the narrow wooden tub and let out a soft sigh.

Soaking in the hot water, it felt like the fatigue accumulated from coming all this way was melting away.

Vanessa hugged her knees, tilted her head slightly, and blinked her eyes slowly.

She must have dozed off for a moment, because when she opened her eyes, she saw the low ceiling of the inn room and found herself lying neatly on the bed.

‘What…?’

After being dazed for a moment, Vanessa tentatively felt her body with her hands. She was completely dry and wearing clean new clothes.

Even her hair was just slightly damp at the ends, otherwise dry and fluffy. It seemed someone had pulled her out of the bathtub when she fell asleep, dried her off, and even dressed her.

Thinking it might have been Renee, she suddenly sensed a presence.

Slightly startled, Vanessa looked around the room, relying on the dim light from the fireplace. …Jurgen was sleeping in an uncomfortable position on a chair by the window.

He too had cleaned off the dust accumulated during the journey and looked freshly washed.

Come to think of it, he was a man who placed great importance on cleanliness. Almost to the point of seeming mysophobic.

‘Though for someone like that, he did sleep on the inn floor instead of me during our last journey…’

Feeling somewhat strange, Vanessa turned her gaze away from him. Then, a few seconds later, thinking it must be uncomfortable to sleep like that, she instinctively got up. She felt she should wake him up.

Vanessa tiptoed towards the sleeping Jurgen and stopped at a distance close enough to see his eyelashes.

The crimson firelight softly illuminated his face. Perhaps because he was asleep, his face looked gentler than usual. Vanessa stared at it blankly.

Come to think of it, his eyelashes were really long. Long enough to use as a brush.

Unconsciously reaching out her hand, Vanessa, not knowing what she was doing, lightly brushed Jurgen’s eyelashes. She felt the exact texture she had imagined at her fingertips.

The cheek that the joint of her finger slightly touched was hot as if he had a fever. It was probably because of his high body temperature, but just in case, she thought to check his temperature and was about to move her hand to his forehead.

“……!”

Suddenly, her wrist was grabbed. Startled, Vanessa flinched greatly and opened her eyes wide.

Golden eyes, now clearly visible, were staring at her.