“So, this wasn’t a tea party.”

“Did you really believe that?”

The Empress she met at the founding festival pretended to be kind, desperately trying to please the Emperor. She seemed like a benevolent Empress, the mother of the empire. Of course, Amelia knew it was an act, but seeing her true self now was quite shocking.

The kind woman from that day had vanished, replaced by a fierce woman. Her arrogance was exactly like the Emperor’s. They say couples grow alike, and she was just like the Emperor on the balcony.

“Of course, it was a trap to lure you here. And you walked right into it.”

A trap. She had known it was a trap. She had agreed to attend despite knowing. Who sets a trap so obviously?

“Do you have something to say to me?”

“Are you going to keep pretending?”

She wasn’t pretending; she genuinely didn’t know. Wasn’t their first meeting at the founding festival? This wasn’t mentioned in the original story. Amelia’s character was supposed to die young. She was also a drunkard who never left the castle.

Recently, she had begun to doubt if this world was the one she knew. Maybe it just shared the same name but was entirely different… or either the book was wrong, or her memory was wrong.

“I really don’t know.”

She couldn’t know things that weren’t in the book. How could Amelia, who stayed confined in Siegfried Castle, have met the Empress? It was hard to believe she was even of the imperial family. If Amelia were imperial, why wasn’t it mentioned?

“How shameless. Have you lost your memory?”

“What?”

The Empress might think she had lost her memory. After all, she had no memories in her head.

“Think carefully about who saved your life.”

The more the Empress spoke, the less she understood. The Empress saved her life? There was no reason for that.

“You should be grateful for being saved from a life that would have ended at birth.”

She wanted to ask what had happened. A life that would have ended at birth? It was as if the Empress knew everything about her birth. Could she be a child of the former Crown Prince, like the First Prince?

“Were you too young to remember?”

One thing was certain: the Empress knew about Amelia’s childhood.

“Live as if you’re dead. If you don’t want to die again.”

If she didn’t want to die again? This meant Amelia had already faced a life-threatening situation. Wasn’t she just a character, a mere extra? A fleeting, tragic Grand Duchess.

“This is your last warning. I have no reason to keep you alive any longer.”

The Empress said what she had to and then expelled her. The reason for summoning her to the palace was just to issue a warning. But it wasn’t something to be taken lightly. The Empress held the key to her secret, and the entire imperial family was focused on her.

Bang.

Despite the cold expulsion, Amelia stared blankly ahead. She couldn’t predict what was happening. What was clear was that they didn’t want to be around her at all. She could see the deep-seated contempt beneath their arrogance.

“How come everyone…”

They’re all the same, right? From the Emperor to the Empress and even Patrick. They were all tied together by the name of family. Despite speaking of saving her life, they wanted to remove her more than anyone else.

“What?”

Perhaps because she came out sooner than expected, there was no one at the door. The escort maids who seemed inseparable to her were gone, which felt strange. It was as if someone had intentionally removed them.

“No one’s…”

“It’s been a while.”

“First Prince.”

Just as she was about to say there was no one, a familiar face appeared. It was Patrick, whom she had missed in Siegfried yesterday.

“You must have come to see Mother.”

Now that the mother was done, it was the son’s turn. It was unpleasant how he asked slyly, knowing everything.

“You’re asking despite knowing everything.”

“I can’t say it out loud, can I?”

Patrick’s demeanor was different from before. Previously, he had tried to provoke her without knowing anything, but now he seemed to know something.

“By the look of you, it seems you still know nothing.”

“Watch your words.”

“Ah, yes.”

Was he always this reckless and sarcastic? Amelia frowned at his excessive mockery. It seemed Patrick had sent the maids somewhere.

“Aren’t you curious?”

Patrick clearly didn’t know her identity during the founding festival. He had asked if she was his sister. But now, he seemed to know something.

“I don’t know what you’re curious about.”

“If you want to know the truth, come find me.”

With that, Patrick disappeared. The maids returned shortly after, and Amelia had to leave the palace.

***

Raphael became even more sensitive when he found out no one else attended the tea party, and only she did. Naturally, the number of people assigned to her for protection increased. It was impossible to escape. Even a simple outing resulted in a long tail of followers.

“……”

When she first entered this book, she was confident she knew everything. But the reality was completely different. It felt like everything was happening without her knowledge. What she knew so far was either very little or false.

She couldn’t shake the feeling that she was missing something. The problem was she didn’t know what it was. Raphael couldn’t have missed what the Emperor, the Empress, and Patrick had noticed.

“It’s strange.”

Did Raphael dislike the original Amelia because she was of the imperial family? But that didn’t make sense. If he had known Amelia was of the imperial family, he would never have married her. So, did he find out after the marriage…?

“That’s possible.”

There’s no way he would have proceeded with the marriage knowing everything. No matter how blinded by first love he was, that wouldn’t have happened. How did he meet that first love in the first place? There were no silver-haired people in the empire who weren’t of the imperial family. Could he love someone with silver hair when he hated the imperial family so much?

The same went for Leonel. Siegfried was discriminated against by the goddess, yet he could love Sierra, the saint?

“Your Highness? Where are you going?”

Amelia frowned at the number of maids following her as soon as she opened the door. Initially, only Ann and Jane followed her, but now there were six in total.

“To His Grace. Surely you won’t follow me around the castle?”

“No, we won’t.”

When she said she was going to him, they awkwardly shook their heads. No one seemed to want to face Raphael.

“Perhaps you should give him a heads-up…”

Amelia just laughed at the brave maid’s suggestion. She could say that because she didn’t know Raphael yet.

“Come in.”

“It’s as if you knew I was coming.”

As expected, the office door was wide open. Edward was nowhere to be seen either.

“What brought my wife here to visit me?”

Every time she saw this man, an absurd hypothesis popped into her head.

“The escort is too much. And the number of maids too.”

“……”

“Please revert it to the original.”

Despite Raphael’s slightly furrowed expression, Amelia continued talking.

“That’s not possible.”

“Are you trying to imprison me? If not, I trust you’ll restore it.”

She felt an urge to break his calm demeanor. She didn’t like his always-observing attitude.

“Wife?”

Amelia stood up and approached him. She leaned over, occupying the space above Raphael, who was sitting at his desk.

“Is that all you wanted to discuss?”

“No, I haven’t even gotten to the main point yet.”

They were close enough that a slight movement would bring them into contact. Yet his expression remained unchanged.

“Is it true that the woman you loved is really dead?”

Finally, when his seemingly unbreakable composure shattered, Amelia felt a distant thrill.