The next day, Chloe woke up early in the morning to the sound of murmuring voices outside her door. It was a man’s voice filled with excitement.

“I’m so tired from searching all night, Mother.”

“I understand you’re exhausted, but please lower your voice since we have a guest. Why were you working all night anyway?”

“This is confidential, but we’re looking for Her Highness.”

Chloe was startled at the mention of “Her Highness.” Since the man was clearly looking for her, she had to listen to their conversation quietly. She couldn’t yet be certain whether the couple’s son was a mercenary or an imperial knight.

Just as she tried to listen more carefully, they suddenly lowered their voices, making it difficult to hear the rest of their conversation. Chloe slightly opened the door, careful not to be noticed, to hear them better.

“Has something happened to Her Highness? Don’t tell me she’s disappeared again?”

“It seems so. They say she left a letter stating she wasn’t suited to be Crown Princess.”

The moment Chloe confirmed through their conversation that he was an imperial knight rather than a mercenary, she breathed a sigh of relief. However, one detail in his conversation troubled her.

Left a letter?

How could she have left a letter when she was suddenly kidnapped by Duke Granard? Besides, no matter how hard someone tried to imitate it, handwriting couldn’t be perfectly replicated.

But the fact that even imperial knights had heard about the letter meant the imperial family had verified the handwriting. So it must have been a letter Chloe had actually written.

‘Did I write a letter saying I would leave?’

After thinking deeply, Chloe remembered a letter she had put in her drawer long ago. The day she tried to escape through the window and was caught by Lucius, she had written a letter.

Since she was caught immediately, no one would have searched her bedroom, and Chloe had completely forgotten about it. It seemed Duke Granard had secretly entered her bedroom and found the letter.

So he found that letter and took the risk of kidnapping her.

If Duke Granard had completely hidden Chloe’s traces, his kidnapping would have been the perfect crime. But since he failed, the Duke must have been desperately trying to find her.

However, God was on Chloe’s side, not his. She happened to be staying at the home of an imperial knight, so she could ask him for help.

Just as she was about to open the door to reveal herself to the knight, Chloe hesitated. It was because of what she heard next in their conversation.

“I can’t understand why she left when she was receiving so much love from His Highness the Crown Prince. I doubt there’s anyone in the empire who doesn’t know about it.”

“I know. For His Highness’s sake, we need to find Her Highness as soon as possible.”

Chloe could hardly believe what she had just heard, but her heart pounded violently, and her breath caught in her throat.

No one in the empire doesn’t know? What does that mean?

“What are you talking about?” Chloe found herself interjecting between the two.

“Miss, you’re awake…”

“Oh my, Her Highness?”

The mother and son, discovering Chloe, looked at each other with surprised and bewildered expressions. After grasping the situation, their mouths fell open.

“Thank you for helping me last night.”

Since it would take some time to get an answer to her question, Chloe first expressed her gratitude for their help.

“It’s, it’s my honor to have served Your Highness.”

The woman, finally coming to her senses, tried to bow with a pale face. Chloe hurriedly approached her and held her hands to prevent her from bowing.

“Ah, Y-Your Highness, I pay my respects. I am Peter, a knight of the Imperial Second Knight Order. It is an honor to meet you so closely.”

Peter, standing beside his mother, hastily introduced himself to Chloe with a respectful attitude, stating his name and affiliation.

“Nice to meet you, Sir Peter. Could you tell me more about the conversation I just heard?”

“W-well… Of course. Let me see, where should I begin? Ah, are you asking about His Highness the Crown Prince?”

“Peter, you’re not making any sense to Her Highness. Let me explain instead.”

When Peter couldn’t speak properly and rambled, his mother stepped in to share what she knew. She explained that after Chloe disappeared, Lucius ignored all other noble ladies and focused solely on finding her.

A man who had been known for being a workaholic had, for the first time, delegated his duties to subordinates and left to search for her. As this rumor spread widely, the empire’s citizens began to support Lucius’s love.

“Is that really true?” Chloe asked with surprised eyes, and the woman’s eyes reflected confusion in return.

“Oh, didn’t Your Highness know?”

“It’s not that I didn’t know…”

As the image of Lucius confessing his love came to mind, Chloe’s face instantly turned red.

“But do all the empire’s citizens really know about this?”

“Of course. There’s even a play about the Crown Prince who left to find his love. It’s so popular that you can’t get tickets unless you line up from the morning.”

The rumor about Lucius being indifferent to Chloe hadn’t spread to the empire’s citizens, so only his love for her was highlighted.

Hearing this, Chloe felt like the questions she had harbored in the palace were finally being answered. She now understood why everyone had treated her with respect as the Crown Princess.

Their attitudes had changed so dramatically that Chloe thought they were deceiving her, but in reality, they were genuinely treating her as the Crown Princess. Because they knew Lucius would never give her up.

She also understood why her brother had suddenly changed his attitude. It was because he had learned of Lucius’s sincere feelings for Chloe.

Though she had refused to acknowledge it, Chloe could feel that Lucius was trying to change by doing things he hadn’t done before.

Yet she had denied it because of the wounds she had received from him in the past.

‘I didn’t trust him.’

Everything had been Chloe’s misunderstanding, caused by her distrust.

Even when he had confessed his love directly, showing how much he loved her, Chloe didn’t believe him. Lucius had tried to make things work with her, but this time, she was the one who turned away.

In truth, she knew it. She knew her heart felt full when she was with him, but she simply wanted to deny it.

Just like before.

But not anymore. Chloe finally understood her own feelings. Her rejection of Lucius’s love had merely been stubbornness.

There was no need for stubbornness in love. She had already experienced it. Being stubborn only led to loss. So now she needed to be honest with her feelings.

“Sir Peter, please take me to the palace.”

“Well, about that…”

Peter suddenly wore a troubled expression.

“What’s wrong? Is there a problem?”

“Um, could you wait here for a moment?”

Shortly after Peter finished speaking, the loud sound of horse hooves was heard outside, and the noise stopped abruptly in front of the house.

Then the door opened, and an imperial knight entered.

“Sir Peter, I just received your message that you’re with Her Highness. So where is Her Highness…?”

It seemed Peter had sent a message while his mother was explaining.

As the knight looked around the house and spotted Chloe, he stopped mid-sentence. Then he stepped back, revealing Lucius who had been following behind him.

“Chloe…”

Lucius looked at Chloe with sad eyes. The moment their eyes met, her heart felt like it dropped.

They stared at each other without saying a word, and the people in the house tactfully closed the door and went outside.

With only the two of them left in the house, Lucius and Chloe still didn’t speak, just gazing at each other. The light of deep sadness remained in Lucius’s eyes.

He was hurt too.

Chloe couldn’t say anything out of guilt. This was the first time she had seen his face in such pain.

She had merely been confused about her feelings, never dreaming it would cause Lucius such great pain.

“I’m… sorry.”

That’s why Chloe apologized first. At her words, the blue eyes that had been filled with sadness now reflected resentment.

“I loved you so much that night, so why did you run away? Were you still unable to trust me?”

Lucius was mistakenly thinking that Chloe had left voluntarily. He seemed to believe Duke Granard’s scheme.

“That’s not it…”

“What do I need to do to make you stay?”

Just as she was about to say that she had considered running away but had abandoned the idea long ago, Lucius’s eyes reddened. This was the first time he had shown such vulnerability. 

Because of this, Chloe missed her chance to explain that she hadn’t run away but had been kidnapped.

“I’m sorry. I didn’t know you would be hurt like this.”

Seeing Lucius’s eyes filled with sadness and pain, another apology naturally came out. She could feel that he loved her, in a different way than when they had been intimate.

‘He loves me so much, yet I kept thinking about leaving. I was a fool. I wanted his love too.’

Chloe felt that now was the time to honestly express her feelings. Taking a deep breath, she carefully opened her mouth.

“I’ll be honest now. I love you.”

At that moment, the tears that had been welling up in his eyes flowed down Lucius’s cheeks.

Oh?