“Anne, how are you trying to carry something this heavy by yourself?”

“Oh, I should have brought the cart.”

The woman who was picking berries in the forest paused, disappointment evident on her face. The man standing beside her looked at her with concerned eyes.

Though called Anne, her real name was Chloe Limerick. Until recently, she had been the Crown Princess of the Nate Empire, which shared a border with the Epha Empire. 

There was a reason she now lived in this small village in the Epha Empire.

She had fled to the Epha Empire with the help of Gil, who stood beside her now. Almost a year had passed since she left her former home.

During this time, which felt both short and long, Chloe had adapted well to her new life in a new place with new people.

Of course, abandoning her noble status to live as a commoner wasn’t easy, but for someone who had always lived passively, constrained by her social position, her current leisurely life brought immense satisfaction.

“Planning to pick more berries? I’ll go down to the village and bring back a basket and cart.”

Today, she had come with Gil to gather berries from the forest. On beautiful days like this, Chloe often picked ripe berries to make jam, which she shared with people around her.

“Really? That would be great. I’ll give you half the jam I make with these.”

“Don’t forget that promise.”

Gil, who loved Chloe’s jam, winked and headed toward the village. Left alone in the forest, Chloe looked at the abundance of berries still remaining.

Since they would spoil once the weather got hotter, she needed to pick as many as possible before the heat arrived. Her eyes gleamed with determination to finish harvesting them all today.

She was about to put on her gloves to resume the work that had been briefly interrupted by their conversation when she suddenly heard rustling from the direction of the village.

“Did you forget something, Gil?”

Thinking Gil might have forgotten something since he had only just left for the village, Chloe was about to turn her head when—

“Finally found you.”

A voice that shouldn’t be heard here reached her ears. A voice she wished she didn’t know, but it was too powerful to be mistaken for anything else.

When Chloe turned her head, she saw the man she had so desperately wanted to avoid.

“H-how did you find this place?”

Startled, Chloe instinctively stepped back. Her body trembled involuntarily.

She wondered if she was dreaming, having never imagined he would come looking for her. She had thought only her father might search for her.

“I wonder that myself. I never expected to come all this way to find my runaway fiancée. I was worried about how you were doing, but I’m glad to see you’re enjoying yourself.”

Though he wore a smile, Lucius’s eyes remained ice-cold. His appearance felt eerie because of this contrast.

“Y-you. You can’t come to the Epha Empire.”

The Nate Empire and the Epha Empire were on poor terms, making official cooperation impossible. To appear like this, he would have had to enter the country illegally.

The problem was that if people discovered the Crown Prince had secretly entered the Epha Empire, it could cause diplomatic issues.

Chloe couldn’t help but be shocked by her fiancé’s appearance, never having imagined he would take such a risk.

“How could I not come when my fiancée is in the Epha Empire?”

“B-but I heard our engagement was broken off. I also heard new Crown Princess candidates were selected.”

Although she had left the Nate Empire, news hadn’t been completely cut off. With money, she could easily hire people to gather information. So Chloe had kept track of developments in the Nate Empire after fleeing her position as Crown Princess.

For the first two months, no news came, making her incredibly anxious. That meant the imperial family was still searching for her.

But after another two months, she heard that new Crown Princess candidates had been selected. She assumed that by now, after the Founding Festival, someone would have been confirmed as the new Crown Princess.

“Oh my. It seems you’ve been keeping up with the news. Unfortunately, what you heard was only half the story.”

“Half the story?”

“Yes, the engagement was broken off, but I restored it. I also canceled the selection of Crown Princess candidates.”

“What?”

How could that be possible? 

The families of the Crown Princess candidates wouldn’t have remained silent if their selection was reversed. It must have caused significant problems, yet Lucius spoke about it dismissively.

“I returned the lands that were given when breaking off the engagement back to Duke Limerick. I proposed new terms.”

“New terms?”

“The condition was to find you. I thought you might still be in contact with the Limerick family even after fleeing to the Epha Empire.”

“That’s absurd.”

She made a mistake…

Chloe bit her lip.

When she heard that the engagement was broken off and new Crown Princess candidates had been selected, Chloe had let her guard down.

There were many noblewomen in the imperial palace who could replace her, and many who wanted to become Crown Princess. She naturally assumed someone would have taken her place by now.

Moreover, since Lucius never seemed to care who his partner was, she never thought he would come looking for her like this.

The result was this unpredictable situation.

Thinking her existence had been forgotten in the Nate Empire, she had sent a letter to her mother, which apparently led to her being found.

It was a mistake to relax her vigilance once she believed there was no place for her in the Nate Empire anymore.

The moment she fled, her father abandoned her, while her mother worried about her. That’s why she sent a letter only to her mother, asking her to keep it secret, but she was discovered immediately…

Chloe’s mistake was focusing only on whether the Founding Festival, which should have included their royal wedding, had proceeded. She knew the elder nobles wouldn’t leave the Crown Princess position vacant until the Founding Festival.

But who could have guessed that someone would appease the stubborn elder nobles’ protests and leave the Crown Princess position vacant?

She had heard that quite a few noblewomen had been nominated as Crown Princess candidates after Chloe disappeared. How could none of them be chosen? 

There must have been protests.

No, that man would have done whatever it took to get what he wanted. Just like how he appeared before her now.

She should have been more careful.

Regret was useless now. The spilled water couldn’t be gathered again.

But one question remained.

Why did he come looking for her?

If they had been close, it might have made sense, but they were anything but. They had never been on good terms.

During their 16 years of engagement, the Lucius she knew never showed such persistence. He always looked at the world with bored eyes.

And what about all his duties?

Lucius was a man buried in work, always having many tasks to handle. It seemed impossible that he would abandon his duties to come here.

Or was he angry about what she did?

Before leaving, Chloe had done something outrageous, unable to contain her frustration toward Lucius any longer.

The memory of her former fiancé’s surprised face—the first time she’d ever seen him like that—flashed in her mind, but she pushed it away and asked:

“Did you come to get revenge for what I did that day?”