As Aiden continued his investigation, he uncovered a crucial detail: the day before the incident at the Cold Palace, the Montero family mother and daughter had visited the Grand Ducal Estate.

He doubted that Kaelion had harmed them. Kaelion was keeping a low profile because of his mother.

But what about this woman?

‘Well, does it even matter?’

There was no way Rosetta had been treated well at the Marquis’s estate.

Even if only in name, she had gained the position of Grand Duchess. It would not be strange if a desire had taken root within her to repay the Montero family for all the humiliation she had endured.

And nudging Vivianne into the situation a little?

That was almost harmless.

‘Eleanor told my brother, and he saw through the trap. Then he told the Grand Duchess, and she used it to her advantage. Is that how it happened?’

He didn’t know how Vivianne had come to be in the Cold Palace, but that was now irrelevant.

After all, they had once been sisters. If anyone could have arranged for her to be sent there, it would have been Rosetta.

Now that he had his answer, he wanted to stop dwelling on a matter that had plagued his thoughts for far too long.

The Montero family would soon become the Emperor’s in-laws, but he was willing to overlook this. If the Grand Duchess wanted to vent some of her resentment towards them, he could afford to be generous and let it slide.

However, if it went any further, it would become a problem.

Once she returned to the Grand Duchy, though, there would be little she could do.

“Grand Duchess. Enjoy your time with my brother before you leave. I’m glad you’ve become my brother’s wife, but I hope I never have to see you again.”

***

Did she look shaken?

Did she appear frightened?

With her head lowered, Rosetta quietly listened to Aiden’s footsteps as they faded into the distance without once looking back.

‘It seems he’s figured out that I had a hand in what happened to Vivianne. Clever.’

She wasn’t particularly concerned.

After all, Aiden had never given her so much as a jar of All-Healing Ointment. This spoke volumes about how little she meant to him.

Rosetta knew that, because of this, he would never harm the former Empress or pressure Kaelion for Vivianne’s sake.

No one approached her as she sat quietly with her head lowered for a long time. It seemed that everyone had noticed the subtle tension between her and Aiden.

She did not mind.

After all, she had never come to the party to expand her social circle.

Aiden and Ophelia.

Simply confirming the identities of those who had driven Kaelion to ruin was reward enough.

Rosetta lifted her head and carefully arranged her features into a puzzled expression. She then glanced around the ballroom.

The Emperor was talking to several high-ranking nobles. He did not spare her another glance, as though he had already lost interest in her.

Rosetta made her way towards Kaelion, who was still leaning against the wall.

Concern lingered in his blue eyes, hidden behind the mask.

“Let’s go back.”

“All right.”

The noblewomen mocked Rosetta for leaving the ballroom after speaking to the Emperor for only a few moments. Meanwhile, the noblemen clicked their tongues as they looked at Kaelion.

Ignoring their cold stares, they left the ballroom.

The moment they climbed into their carriage, Louis, who had stayed close to Rosetta throughout the party, removed the Veil of Void.

“Are you all right?”

“As you can see.”

“Ha…”

Louis let out a sigh — a rare display of emotion for someone who was usually so composed — and leaned back against the seat of the carriage.

Although Akalt Blanchea had not officially attended the party, he had lurked in the shadows at the edge of the ballroom all evening, keeping a close watch on the Emperor.

The moment the Emperor approached Rosetta and started talking to her, Louis broke out in a cold sweat.

He was terrified that the Emperor might signal to Akalt.

If the Emperor were to order Akalt to attack Rosetta out of spite, Louis had spent the entire evening running through countless scenarios in his mind: how to intercept the attack, shield Rosetta from harm, and get her out of the ballroom safely.

While he wrestled with those grim possibilities, Rosetta simply turned towards Kaelion with remarkable calm.

“I think we’ve gotten everything we came for in the capital. Let’s return to the Grand Duchy early tomorrow morning.”

The following morning at dawn, the Grand Duke and Grand Duchess left the capital, seemingly eager to put it behind them.

Some people regretted never having had the chance to speak to the Grand Duke.

Most of the nobles, however, felt relieved.

Throughout his visit, they had been on edge, fearing that the ‘monster Grand Duke’ — the man rumored to have once attempted to assassinate his father — might clash with the Imperial Family and cause a major incident.

On the journey back to the Grand Duchy, Rosetta quietly reflected on everything that had happened in the capital.

The rumors she had heard. The incidents she had witnessed. The intricate relationships among the nobles that she had carefully observed during the party.

Closing her eyes, she reviewed each detail once more, determined not to forget any of the information she had gathered.

Every rumor, every encounter, and every subtle clue might prove valuable in the future.

‘I’ve created and sold countless items, yet no one has connected them to alchemy.’

An alchemist — a being not seen for over four hundred years.

Even during the Age of Magic, alchemy was an extraordinarily rare gift, emerging perhaps once in a generation.

The ability to break down matter into its fundamental components and recombine them to create something entirely new was nothing short of miraculous. It was a realm of power that only alchemists could access.

Four centuries have passed since alchemists disappeared, so it’s not surprising that few people even know that such techniques existed.

Scholars and mages devoted to the study of magic may have come across references to them in ancient records, but even they would find it difficult to link these strange new creations to the long-lost art of alchemy.

Several days after returning to the Grand Ducal Castle, Rosetta shared these thoughts with the mage Belkar.

Belkar listened quietly before giving a slow nod.

“That’s only natural. Alchemists have become nothing more than a legend. If Your Highness had not revealed your identity, I would never have guessed the type of magic you were using. Perhaps, after a long time, the thought might have crossed my mind. ‘Could it be?’ But I would have dismissed it immediately. No, that’s impossible. It would have been only much later, after I had exhausted every other explanation, that I would finally have considered the possibility that you might truly be an alchemist.”

Rosetta had never been particularly concerned about concealing the fact that she was an alchemist. Even so, hearing Belkar’s reasoning reassured her that things would likely proceed without complications.

Her gaze drifted across the Grand Ducal Castle.

Kaelion had given her that place — a home filled with warmth, comfort, and freedom.

To Rosetta, it was a sanctuary.

It was a place where she could breathe, rest and feel at peace.

But for Kaelion, it could never be that simple.

‘Not until we save his mother.’

Now it was time to read the book she had stolen from the Imperial Library.

***

The dress and jewelry she bought for the Harvest Festival banquet were never worn.

She had spent a particularly large sum on them, only for them to become worthless.

Grinding her teeth, Vivianne glared at her reflection in the mirror.

Although the wound had healed without leaving a scar thanks to the All-Healing Ointment that Marquis Montero had obtained with great difficulty, the humiliation and pain of that day had not faded.

‘How dare you, Rosetta. How dare you.’

The man who had injured Vivianne was one of the Emperor’s knights.

However, she could not resent either the Emperor or his knight.

Rumors had spread throughout high society that Vivianne had been sneaking around the Imperial Palace at the time of the incident.

She felt ashamed and humiliated, yet there was no one she could blame properly, which made her feel even more suffocated.

Desperate to find someone to blame, she turned her thoughts elsewhere.

“A noblewoman of the Imperial Family supposedly stocked Montero cosmetics in the Cold Palace storage room.”

Rosetta’s words resurfaced in her mind.

‘Yes, Rosetta.’

That was the reason.

It was the reason she had ended up like this.

She hadn’t even had the chance to find out if the cosmetics were stored in the Cold Palace warehouse, yet she blamed Rosetta for all her misfortune.

If Rosetta hadn’t said those things, Vivianne would never have snuck into the Cold Palace.

‘Saying such unnecessary things…!’

The only comfort she could find was the fact that the Grand Duke and Grand Duchess had fled the capital as though running away.

“The Grand Duke and Grand Duchess didn’t seem to get along. They didn’t even hold hands when they entered the ballroom, and they stayed apart the entire time.”

“I heard His Majesty the Emperor scolded the Grand Duchess. She looked completely pale when she left the party.”

The young ladies who had come to console Vivianne shared the gossip they had heard from the banquet.

Whenever she imagined Rosetta being on bad terms with her husband and fleeing after being reprimanded by the Emperor, she felt a little better.

‘That’s right. Rosetta is trapped in the Grand Duchy anyway. She probably won’t even dare return to the capital. It’s fine. Nothing is wrong. I’m going to become Empress. That’s right. Nothing is wrong.”

***

There were far too many problems weighing on his mind.

Sitting in his carriage, Marquis Montero pressed his fingers against his temples, trying to ease the headache building up behind his eyes.

Just because he owned numerous businesses did not mean he could spend all the money they earned.

A significant portion of those funds had to be reinvested to ensure the businesses ran smoothly. He also had to keep money in reserve to deal with unexpected setbacks and emergencies.

Of course, his personal wealth far surpassed that of nobles who relied solely on taxes collected from their territories.

But even his fortune had its limits.

He had finally reached them.

The annual cost of maintaining the Marquis’s household was usually around ten thousand gold coins.

Even when major incidents arose, expenses had never exceeded twenty thousand.

But now?

Ten thousand gold coins were laughably insufficient.

An astonishing one hundred thousand gold coins had been spent on purchasing Celea alone, purely to appease the Emperor’s anger.

Vast sums had already been poured into currying favor with the nobility and strengthening political alliances before that, too.

There would be countless more expenses in the future.

Yet now, his personal treasury had been drained dry.

‘Vivianne!’

The guilt he had once felt for raising his daughter as if she were someone else’s child in pursuit of his ambitions had disappeared completely.

In its place remained only uncontrollable fury.

It was the first time he had ever felt angry with his cherished daughter.

‘Why did she have to do something so foolish? Why did she sneak into the Cold Palace and cause such a disaster? If she had just behaved and done as she was told, I wouldn’t have had to spend money cleaning up this mess!’

Although the Celea had managed to calm the Emperor down, the incident itself became the subject of gossip.

The nobles were laughing at them behind their backs.

If Vivianne were already empress, that would be one thing.

But she was only the future Empress.

If enough of the nobles openly opposed her, even the Emperor might change his mind.