Rachel surveyed the banquet hall with numb eyes.

Seated at the highest place in the hall was the Emperor and his entourage.

‘The Emperor.’

After his father’s death, Felix had unexpectedly ascended the throne.

Then, without warning, he launched a war against the elves.

Rachel had been too young to remember those events herself, but she knew well enough how horrific they had been.

Even now, whenever torrential rain fell, the bones of the elves buried deep within the abandoned forest would emerge from the earth.

The surviving elves had never spoken a single word about those days in front of Rachel.

Somehow, that silence hurt her even more.

The Emperor’s atrocities did not end there.

Now he treated young, beautiful noblewomen like collectibles, gathering them as his imperial consorts.

Count Flynn had spread rumors that Rachel was hideously ugly to prevent exactly this from happening.

Yet in the end, the Emperor had found her anyway.

‘Disgusting.’

Rachel clenched her teeth.

The nobles who had believed she was hideous were now looking at Emperor Felix with undisguised envy.

Gasps of admiration followed her with every step she took.

But to Rachel, those gazes were nothing more than filthy desire.

‘I hate this.’

She bit the inside of her cheek until it was raw.

She had acted calm and courageous in front of Count Flynn.

But that wasn’t how she truly felt.

‘If only I could run somewhere the Emperor could never find me.’

Yet she knew that if she fled, everything Count Flynn had spent his entire life building—his wealth, his reputation—would be destroyed.

The surviving elves under his protection would also be placed in danger once again.

If Rachel ran away, the Emperor would undoubtedly find some excuse to ruin everything she held dear.

But if she entered the palace as his imperial consort and bought them two years…

If Count Flynn could secretly move all of his assets during that time…

That was their only hope.

As Rachel slowly walked toward the Emperor, her gaze suddenly settled on someone.

One man stood apart from everyone else at the party.

His languid, unhurried mannerisms somehow drew every eye.

The long, elegant fingers wrapped around his swaying wine glass were strikingly refined.

Then she saw them.

Crimson eyes.

The moment she did, his name surfaced in her mind.

‘…Reiner?’

Rachel doubted her own eyes.

The last person she ever expected to meet here was looking straight at her.

‘Why is he here?’

She immediately turned her head toward the Emperor.

Fortunately, Emperor Felix seemed to have little interest in Reiner.

‘Did he really come here of his own accord?’

She had never imagined there would be another outsider at this extravagant banquet besides herself.

‘Why did he come? If he’d simply stayed in the North, the Emperor would’ve eventually…’

Rachel suddenly stopped walking.

A thought flashed through her mind.

Her lips pressed tightly together.

‘Sometimes it’s safer to stand in the open than to hide.’

Just like Duke Reiner.

At that moment, she instinctively knew what she had to do if she wanted to survive.

***

Emperor Felix smiled in satisfaction as he waited for Rachel to approach him.

“Rach—”

But instead, Rachel suddenly changed direction.

Everyone’s eyes followed the man she was walking toward.

Toward Duke Reiner Graham, who lounged lazily in his chair as though he had nothing to do with the party.

“D*mn it.”

The Emperor hurried after Rachel.

By then, Rachel had already reached Reiner with steady, unhurried steps.

Still reclining in his chair, the man merely lifted his eyes to look up at her.

When their gazes met, a faint smile curved Rachel’s lips.

His sharp jawline.

His well-shaped lips.

His high nose.

The deep eyes set beneath long lashes.

Seen up close, he looked nothing like a monster.

Nor did he seem like someone capable of cursing others.

He was simply…

‘Exactly the same as before.’

Especially those eyes.

“Duke Reiner Graham.”

Rachel spoke as he raised one eyebrow at her.

“Please marry me.”

Reiner stared at her with complete indifference.

“What did you just say?”

Rachel lifted her chin and met his gaze without hesitation.

She knew how absurd her proposal must sound.

But she didn’t have time.

The Emperor was already drawing near.

If the banquet hall had been any smaller, she wouldn’t have even had the chance to say those words.

“If we marry, both of us can escape the Emperor.”

More than anyone else, the Emperor cared about his public image.

Considering the countless sins he had committed, perhaps that was only natural.

If Reiner and Rachel married, all eyes would be on them.

The Emperor would no longer be able to touch either of them so easily.

The slightest interference would make him appear to be nothing more than a petty man consumed by jealousy.

Rachel assumed Reiner understood that as well.

If he couldn’t grasp something so obvious…

Then there would be no point in marrying him in the first place.

“Hah.”

Reiner let out a short breath.

Though his expression remained cold, inwardly he found himself impressed.

Rachel had grown up better than he had expected.

Her abundant golden hair flowed all the way to her waist.

Her delicate features were perfectly balanced.

She was beautiful enough to make even those who had merely glanced at her stop and look back.

But…

That was all.

Once tonight’s banquet ended, she would be handed over to the Emperor as his newest imperial consort.

‘If I hadn’t come, that is.’

Reiner let out a long sigh.

Originally, he had intended to skip today’s banquet and return to the North.

‘Had I not met Count Flynn yesterday, even I might have been caught off guard.’

Rachel truly was exactly as he’d heard—bold, fearless, and remarkably intelligent.

To have approached Reiner after calculating, in that brief moment, how the Emperor would react…

No matter how terrible Emperor Felix’s reputation was, there remained one line even he could not cross.

The law of the Empire.

Rachel intended to use it to her advantage.

“Lady Rachel.”

“Yes?”

“Why should I do that?”

Rachel’s eyes wavered.

Just as she was about to answer—

“And who do you think you are?!”

Emperor Felix grabbed Rachel’s arm.

***

“So you’re Duke Reiner? The boy with the crimson eyes?”

The previous night…

Reiner had run into Count Flynn, whose face was gaunt with exhaustion.

Long ago, Count Flynn had been a close friend of Reiner’s father, the late Duke Graham.

‘This is troublesome.’

Reiner wanted to leave as quickly as possible.

There was only one reason.

Count Flynn was Rachel’s father.

Of all times, he had to run into Count Flynn the day before returning to the North.

For some time now, Reiner had been attending social gatherings in hopes of seeing Rachel.

Not to approach her—

Only to confirm from afar that she was doing well.

In two days, he would be leaving the Newberic Empire for a long time.

But Rachel had never attended a single party.

Nor did she ever leave the estate.

Because of that, Reiner hadn’t caught so much as a glimpse of a single strand of her hair.

Instead, all he had gained was an intimate understanding of what everyone thought of him.

‘A monster? That’s a bit much.’

Having accomplished nothing yet again that day, Reiner was on his way back to the villa where his people were waiting when he encountered Count Flynn outside a tavern notorious for its underworld dealings.

Before he knew it, Count Flynn had stopped him and poured out the entire story without even being asked.

“You’re saying the Emperor has chosen your daughter as his next imperial consort?”

“Yes. Can you believe it? Of all people… Rachel.”

The Count looked utterly devastated.

“Yesterday, one of the imperial consorts took her own life. She could no longer endure the Emperor’s *buse.”

“Count, even so… how can you try to buy your daughter a husband with money? There’s no guarantee he won’t *buse Rachel as well.”

Under the laws of Newberic, a woman who was already another man’s wife could not be taken as an imperial consort.

It was strictly forbidden.

“To tell you the truth—and this must remain a secret—that child doesn’t care who she marries, so long as it isn’t the Emperor. As long as it isn’t him, she’s not the sort of girl who’d be easily pushed around by any man. She’s incredibly bold… and has a strong spirit.”

The Count’s expression was so earnest that Reiner almost found himself persuaded.

Perhaps Count Flynn had lost his senses from worrying about Rachel.

“Wait… Duke Reiner! Would you take my Rachel as your bride? If you do, I’ll give you anything you desire.”

“…Excuse me?”

No.

He definitely had lost his mind.

“My apologies, Count, but I can’t do that. I have my own circumstances.”

“Duke! Duke Reiner! Tomorrow, Emperor Felix is going to announce that Rachel will become his imperial consort! Duke! Please, you must help her.”

“…I absolutely can’t. I’m sorry, Count.”

“Duke Reiner! Don’t go! Dukeee!”

***

Reiner narrowed his eyes as he looked at Rachel.

Making sure the Emperor couldn’t see, he silently mouthed the words.

Do you know me?

Rachel blinked as though the question had completely caught her off guard.

For a moment, she looked genuinely flustered.

Then she pursed her small lips and slowly shook her head.

No.

“Hah.”

Of course.

For a moment, he’d nearly been fooled by the look in her eyes into believing she remembered him.

Rachel had no recollection whatsoever of the Reiner she’d met long ago.

‘Then again… if she did remember me, she never would’ve approached me like this.’

Reiner shifted his gaze toward Emperor Felix, the notorious collector of imperial consorts.

‘So… she’s clinging to whatever lifeline she can find just to escape that man.’