“Yes, that is correct, Your Highness!”

Huslan never showed his face at official gatherings. However, in yesterday’s case, he had attended the party not for socializing but for the purpose of issuing a warning to the nobles.

‘That was where I first met Lariette…….’

Huslan’s expression darkened.

If she knew who he was and even claimed to have liked him, then that unidentified woman must have met him at some point.

And in this empire, the only people who could come face to face with him directly were nobles.

“I need to find a woman with blonde hair and green eyes. Whether it’s a count’s, viscount’s, or baron’s family, compile a full list of every young lady from a noble household and bring it to me.”

“……Pardon?”

“Wasn’t this something you desperately wanted? My marriage.”

Huslan said with a cold smirk, and the butler replied in a flustered manner.

“O-of course I have been very much looking forward to Your Highness’s marriage! But even so, lowering your standards all the way to the daughters of viscount families seems a bit…….”

“Does that mean it has to be Lady Lariette of the count’s household?”

Huslan asked in a menacing tone, and the butler, startled, quickly bowed his head.

“Not at all! Your Highness.”

“If you happen to be harboring any such thoughts, I’ll make it perfectly clear right now. Wake up. I genuinely despise that woman. At this point, I’ve tried everything there is to try.”

“……Pardon?”

The butler couldn’t help but ask back with a blank expression. He felt as though he had just heard something wrong.

He simply could not comprehend or adjust to the complete 180-degree change in his master that had occurred overnight.

Of course, Huslan’s moods had always swung dozens of times on any given day, making him extremely difficult to keep up with, but even so, he had seemed to be in a favorable mood with Lady Lariette just yesterday.

Had he not just asked whether he had not yet married Lariette?

Honestly, even the butler had been greatly surprised inwardly when he heard about what had happened yesterday.

That His Highness had been unable to take his eyes off a woman, staring at her with intense focus, and had even approached her first to speak to her.

It was the kind of thing that could easily turn high society upside down.

And yet, it wasn’t because he liked her, but because he disliked her……?

The butler’s expression grew serious.

Could it be that when they had stepped out onto the balcony to speak alone, Lady Lariette of the count’s family had said something that offended the Grand Duke?

No, that couldn’t be.

There was no one in this entire empire, aside from His Highness the Crown Prince, who would dare say something offensive to the face of our Grand Duke, who was frightening enough to put even a demon to shame.

So caught up in all manner of speculation, the butler hadn’t even noticed that Huslan was staring at him with a terrifying gaze.

When he finally caught the look, the butler was so startled that he jumped on the spot.

Those gray eyes, which always looked as though they could kill a person with a glance alone, were staring fixedly at him.

Huslan laced his fingers together over his knees, raised his sharp gaze, and spoke like the final boss of the underworld.

“A woman with blonde hair and green eyes. Find her and bring her before me. Immediately.”

– – –

-Knock knock knock. Author, when are you coming back?

Iseo, who had once again left a comment like an unanswered echo at midnight, refreshed the page endlessly on the off chance that the novel might have been updated.

But soon she gave up on that meaningless act as well and let out a weary sigh.

Her most beloved novel, “To You Who Wears a Crown of Thorns”, had gone on an indefinite hiatus without any notice, ending with the scene of Huslan’s death.

The comment section was ablaze in a different way from the previous chapter.

It was finally supposed to be time to see the sweet, lovey-dovey scenes between the female lead and the male lead, but there were countless negative comments saying the author had stuffed readers full of frustration and then vanished.

Among them were a few cautious comments wondering if something had happened to the author, but the majority were accusations of irresponsibility, and someone had even jokingly said that the author had dropped out of their own work.

Iseo had harbored the tiniest sliver of hope, no bigger than a speck of cosmic dust, that the author might write an if-scenario side story related to Huslan, but now it seemed she couldn’t even hope for the main story, let alone a side story.

Just as that feeling of disappointment washed over her, the memory of Huslan’s final moments from her dream surfaced in her mind.

“I wish I could see him again……. If I meet him next time, I’ll definitely try all sorts of things…….”

Having worked late again that day, Iseo closed her phone and fell into a deep sleep as though collapsing.

– – –

“……D*mn!”

The floor jolted once.

Iseo let out a low “Mmm……” and shifted her body. The sleeping conditions felt particularly uncomfortable today, and she was in a bad mood.

The rough texture of the floor and the cold draft seeping in as though there were holes somewhere made her think that yes, this was exactly what you got from a single room rented on the cheap.

‘Someday I’ll become a writer and escape this place no matter what…….’

The moment that thought crossed her mind, the floor jolted once more. It wasn’t noise from upstairs neighbors, and it wasn’t an earthquake, so why……

‘It feels like my room is moving?’

Iseo sensed something was off and snapped her eyes open.

Had she overworked herself yesterday? Her head was splitting with pain and every muscle in her body ached, making her feel utterly miserable.

“……Miss! Come to your senses!”

Just then, someone suddenly screamed right into her ear, and Iseo jolted upright as though having a fit.

She whipped her head to the side and blinked.

There was an unfamiliar blonde woman looking at her with tear-filled eyes.

Before she could even grasp the situation, the woman pulled her into an embrace with both arms. Iseo stiffened completely and felt the tears of this stranger she had never met falling onto her shoulders.

“I thought you had died because you wouldn’t wake up……. Miss, what are we going to do now?”

The woman burst into sorrowful sobs in Iseo’s arms. Iseo, caught off guard, wrapped her arms around the woman’s back and patted her gently.

As her eyes gradually adjusted to the darkness, the surrounding scenery began to come into view.

The ground beneath where they were sitting was covered in thick layers of straw, and slivers of sunlight filtered in intermittently through the gaps in wooden planks.

She, who had fallen asleep in her single room, was now inside a dark cargo wagon.

Iseo managed to gently pull the woman away from her and quietly studied her face. Above a smattering of freckles, a pair of frightened, teary brown eyes were scanning her face back and forth.

“As expected, Miss is remarkably calm even in a situation like this……. I am ashamed of myself.”

Iseo made a slightly awkward expression and asked.

“But…… who are you?”

At her question, the color drained instantly from the woman’s face. It seemed she had just pulled the classic “where am I? who am I?” on a complete stranger she had never met before.

The woman burst into tears again, just like a child.

“Oh goodness, my dear Miss! You must have hit your head and lost your memory!”

Watching her wail as though the world had ended, Iseo cautiously asked.

“You’re calling me Miss……?”

“Surely you don’t mean you can’t even remember who you are? Right? That’s not it, right?”

The woman sent her a desperate look that seemed to say “please tell me that’s not the case” and took one of her hands.

Iseo scratched her head awkwardly. Being called “Miss” made her feel as though she had somehow become the daughter of some wealthy household.

But at that moment, she suddenly felt a stinging sensation along with a moist dampness at her fingertips. She flinched and looked down at her hand to find red blood smeared on her fingers.

Iseo’s eyes went wide and she hurriedly touched her forehead.

Now that she looked, a trickle of blood was flowing from her forehead.

She suddenly realized something and opened her mouth.

‘Don’t tell me I was attacked by a pervert in my sleep!’

Had a situation straight out of some absurd novel actually happened to her, where someone had secretly broken into the room of a woman living alone and kidnapped her?

「When she opened her eyes, there was an unfamiliar ceiling.」

To think that this most clichéd of novel openings was playing out in reality……

Watching her in her flustered state, the woman beside her spoke with a sad expression.

“When you were dragged out of the manor, you hit your head while resisting the knights……. Those awful people, even if it is a ruined baron’s family drowning in debt, how dare they lay their hands on you so carelessly, Miss…….”

The relentless barrage of blunt facts left her feeling dizzy, but amid it all, there was one thing that caught her attention.

“Baron’s family……?”

Perhaps sensing that the situation was growing increasingly serious, the woman’s expression worsened further.

“Miss…… you’re joking, right? It’s me, Mari. Your handmaid. You remember me, don’t you?”

A woman with exotic features she had never seen before was introducing herself as her handmaid. Kidnapping? No, this was clearly some ridiculous dream.

Iseo lay back down flat on the spot, and upon seeing her own hair, she became even more certain.

Spread across the floor was exotic blonde hair that, no matter how she looked at it, belonged to someone who appeared to be a foreigner. It was not her own jet-black hair, which she had never once dyed because she couldn’t afford to.

Iseo closed her eyes and said nonchalantly.

“Don’t worry, Mari. The moment I wake up from this dream, you won’t have to suffer anymore either.”

At those words, Mari replied in a voice that seemed to shrink.

“Um, Miss…… this isn’t a dream?”

“It’s a dream. Well then, I’ll be off.”

She felt the urge to wake up from this nightmare as quickly as possible.

But at that very moment, the cargo wagon jolted to a stop, and someone flung the door open, disturbing her brief rest.

At the sight of the man who appeared before her eyes, Iseo’s bleary gaze snapped wide open before she even realized it.