To make full use of their daughter to the very end as she crumbled and wore away, the count and countess had been secretly discussing plans to hand her over to the imperial family, who so desperately coveted the Karyan Clan.

[What a waste, no matter how I think about it. If we could have had her marry the crown prince, we wouldn’t have let Evelyn use her power so often in the first place. I simply cannot understand why that wretched ability has to cost a life.]

[Even so, the opportunity came before it was too late.]

[Well, that’s true enough. What’s left now is to get the girl married to the crown prince and produce an heir before she dies. That’s the most urgent matter. A child born with imperial blood, and on top of that one who inherits the mother’s ability in full, would be no different from getting our hands on an inexhaustible gold mine for generations to come.]

That day, pushed over the edge by the very hands she had believed were her salvation, she fell into a deeper hell.

Evelyn crumbled endlessly before the cruel truth that she was no longer a beloved daughter, but nothing more than goods to be traded for wealth and power.

“Do not tell me you have lied to me.”

The emperor’s voice, low and rumbling like a growl, carried an instinctive threat to one’s very life, and Count and Countess Milston felt a chill run down their spines.

Having wrapped up their quiet urging of Evelyn, the count and countess bowed their heads low before the one whose favor they needed to keep.

“N, no, Your Majesty! The child must have been overcome with nerves before one as august as Your Majesty the Emperor.”

“How could we lowly subjects ever dare to lie to Your Majesty the Emperor!”

“Then prove it at once. As you well know, I am not a man of particularly great patience.”

The emperor tapped the armrest of his chair with his fingertips and began an invisible countdown.

The count and countess, who had to produce a meaningful result before the emperor’s limited patience ran out, pressed Evelyn with even greater desperation.

“What on earth has gotten into you, Evelyn!”

Unable to show his temper before the emperor, Count Milston put force into his voice as discreetly as he could and scolded his daughter.

The corners of his mouth, straining to hold a smooth curve, twisted awkwardly and trembled.

With his daughter refusing to cooperate as the situation grew more urgent by the moment, Count Milston was beside himself.

‘Who do you think you’re using that power for?’

Anger and resentment.

Evelyn’s blue eyes, shooting a look at her father filled with nothing but unfamiliar emotions she had never once let show before, were cold beyond measure.

The moment she proved her worth, the exact same past would repeat itself without fail. That much was certain.

And so, even at the cost of her head, she could never reveal her clan’s power before the emperor.

Evelyn could no longer afford to be deceived by a performance strung together with nothing but blatant lies from those seeking to profit from her ability.

She had just steeled herself firmly, grinding her teeth as she resolved to find a way out of this situation by any means.

“Even knights who have ridden through battlefields cannot help but feel nervous in an atmosphere this oppressive. Please extend your generosity to the lady, Father.”

Crown Prince Cain, who had been watching the situation from beside the emperor, attempted to ease the stiff and prickly mood with a gentle voice and his characteristic smiling eyes.

She would be mine in the end anyway.

Cain judged that he must never foolishly let slip his curiosity and impatience and lose an opportunity that had come to him like fate.

It was still too early to suppress and wring her dry.

Unlike his impatient father, Cain had decided to take his time, and he soothed Evelyn, who was looking at him with eyes soaked in despair and distrust.

“If you need time, I will wait. Show us your skill whenever you are ready.”

His voice, offering such thoughtful consideration, was endlessly warm and gentle.

Through the hidden underside of his gleaming golden eyes, full of warm kindness, Evelyn could now see far too easily the truth she had been unable to grasp in the past.

The n*ked inner thoughts he could not fully conceal, the fascination with a being known only through legend.

‘Why could I not see it then? Every breath you drew without thinking was soaked in lies.’

Evelyn recalled her past self, who had once been completely captivated by that smile without ever realizing she had walked into a trap.

His goodwill and affection, nothing more and nothing less than a means to possess her entirely, in league with her parents.

Her past self, who had drowned in those false feelings and poured out her whole heart, even picturing a future together and loving him sincerely, had been nothing short of foolish.

She now understood better than anyone what that smile and that gaze truly meant, and she refused to believe what her eyes showed her at face value.

He reminded her of a great viper with eyes dyed in brilliant gold, and Evelyn was biting down on her lower lip, shuddering with revulsion at the gentle smile he directed at her, when it happened.

‘Why now of all times…!’

Thump, thump.

Her heart beat faster and faster, squeezing tight until her chest ached with a dull throb, and Evelyn felt her entire body go rigid.

Knowing well what would follow this unwelcome pain, Evelyn desperately seized the invisible reins to keep her power from running wild.

Her small, pale hands, gripping the hem of her red dress with all her strength, trembled beyond her control.

When Evelyn was in an unstable state of mind, or when she was exposed for too long to situations where she lost control, she would unconsciously read the past and emotions of those with whom she had shared an emotional connection.

The power she had found useful when she wanted it had always come to her even when she did not, tormenting her without fail.

“…Miss Milston?”

Though he was at quite a distance, Cain quickly noticed that something was wrong with Evelyn and moved toward her at once.

With a headache crashing down on her as though it would shatter her skull to pieces, Evelyn had no room to take in her surroundings, and she only belatedly noticed Cain, who had already closed the distance and was standing right before her.

“Are you all right, Miss Milston? I had heard you were not in the best of health. If you need to rest, allow me to take you somewhere quiet—”

Cain was carefully looking over Evelyn, who was gasping for breath with a face drained of color, and reached out to place a hand on her shoulder.

The instant his fingertips made contact, Evelyn, who wanted nothing more than for him to stop touching her, reflexively knocked his hand away with all her strength.

Thwack!

The sound of his well-meaning hand being sharply struck away was anything but small.

Everyone in the audience chamber, watching Evelyn recoil as though something foul had touched her, held their breath with wide eyes.

He quietly drew back the hand that had been left hanging in the air with nowhere to go, and forced a smile as he smoothed over his surprise.

She had pushed him away before he fully made contact, but Evelyn had already been swallowed by the cruel truths of the past she never wanted to face again.

[She’s nothing but a thing to be used and thrown away. When she’s no longer needed, I’ll discard her.]

[Don’t worry. Thankfully, I hear she doesn’t have long left. I have no intention of sharing a bed until death with a woman who’s living on borrowed time. The only one I love is you, Olivia.]

What Evelyn had been unable to let go of until the very end, even as she was left in ruins by the betrayal of parents she had never expected it from, was Crown Prince Cain’s unwavering, deep love.

Even knowing the imperial family was entangled in all of this, she had desperately hoped that at least his heart, which had always seemed to love her so sincerely, was not a lie.

But he, too, was nothing more than someone who treated Evelyn as a single tool to be discarded once its use ran out.

The gentle gaze and voice always so full of affection, the warm embrace in which she could set down every worry in the world and surrender herself completely. All of it had been a lie.

[Even if it is a marriage where the truth is hidden and love does not exist, surely you stand to gain far too much from this union to refuse?]

Cain made no particular effort to hold back or comfort his lover as she sank into despair and tried to let go of her will to live.

Instead, he coolly forced her to look at reality, as she had belatedly uncovered every truth and provoked him with a pathetic attempt at taking her own life.

[How pitiable, that you would kick away a blessing not given to just anyone.]

[Can it really be so unbearable, to show filial devotion to the parents who raised you all this time, and to be of great service to the country where you were born and raised?]

[You may be the one leaving, but should you not think of those who remain? Be rational, Evelyn Milston.]

Somewhere between counsel and command.

His raw, unguarded self, baring his true nature without hesitation as though there were no longer any need to hide what had already been fully exposed, unfolded vividly before Evelyn’s eyes.