After that, Casian returned to the Empire and paid the price for his crime as the perpetrator of kidnapping Tarecus’s prospective princess, and his marriage to Princess Melissa was nullified because of it.

“That’s ridiculous! You’re going to nullify a royal marriage over something like that?”

Melissa asked the Crown Prince in an angry voice. The Crown Prince looked at Melissa with a calm expression and answered.

“Because it’s a royal marriage, we’re nullifying it.”

“Why!”

“Royalty cannot marry criminals. Have you forgotten the Empire’s laws too?”

“Lord Casian is not a criminal!”

“Melissa Zen Kadelai!”

The Crown Prince shouted.

“Get a grip! You are the princess of this great Empire!”

“…!”

When Melissa looked at the Crown Prince with eyes that seemed ready to cry, the Crown Prince took a step closer to her and spoke in a very low voice like a whisper.

“You and I lost our father to a rebellion by lowly nobles. The reason you and I still survive in the imperial palace is because our father’s brother is still naive, Melissa.”

“…!”

“Do you think our uncle will let your and my lives be preserved like this once the imperial family becomes tainted?”

The Crown Prince’s expression grew increasingly cold.

“For you and me to survive, we no longer need a useless Marquis. We need to arrange marriages with those who have more power and can help us.”

“…”

“Now is not the time for your precious love stories. Do you understand, my dear sister?”

Melissa’s pupils shook precariously. The Crown Prince patted his sister’s shoulder affectionately and this time spoke in a voice loud enough for anyone to hear.

“So your new marriage arrangement will be something His Imperial Majesty and this older brother will think about together.”

Melissa remained frozen with a hardened face, holding her breath until the Crown Prince’s back disappeared from view. Only after the Crown Prince’s figure completely vanished did she let out a gasp and collapse onto the sofa.

Everything had gone wrong. When Casian and Rihana broke their engagement, the world sparkled with satisfaction and joy at finally getting Casian completely. She never imagined she would lose him this way. 

Even she, who didn’t involve herself in politics, knew that her and the Crown Prince’s position in the imperial palace was very narrow right now. 

The marriage with Casian was already over due to the law prohibiting marriage between royalty and criminals, but even without that law, a Marquis who had become a criminal would have no value to them, so the Crown Prince wouldn’t allow her marriage to Casian anyway.

Melissa pressed her throbbing forehead with her hand and bit her lower lip. All of this was because of Rihana. 

She just needed to die quietly, but she stubbornly survived and stabbed her in the back like this. She had overlooked that she was His Imperial Majesty’s guard knight. She never even thought that she might be immune to Teinori’s poison.

Either way, the marriage with Casian was over, and the Crown Prince and the new Emperor would surely try to marry her to someone who could contribute to the imperial family.

‘I can’t do that.’

Even if she had to live as a fugitive for the rest of her life, she didn’t have the confidence to continue married life with a man she didn’t care about. From the beginning, it had to be Casian or no one.

Melissa jumped up and called for her maid loudly.

* * *

Rihana, who had returned to the West Palace, learned that it was Beriel who had revealed her location and met with her. Beriel stared intently at Rihana, who despite having lost a lot of weight from being unconscious for several weeks, had a solid aura about her rather than seeming fragile.

A solid person. Perhaps someone sufficient to become Tarecus’s princess, and later Tarecus’s queen. Beriel was surprised at herself for thinking such thoughts and her eyes widened automatically.

“I heard you revealed my location.”

“…Because I committed a sin.”

At Beriel’s sullen voice, Rihana smiled softly.

“So about that, I’ll gladly accept the punishment. However, my family…”

“I have no intention of seeking punishment.”

Beriel’s eyes widened at Rihana’s words.

“…I did hear from Lord Fenor, but still I…”

“I have no intention of making Miss Beriel feel comfortable. You’ll certainly have to pay the price for your sin.”

“…”

“By His Highness’s side, and by my side.”

Beriel’s eyes gradually widened.

“I’m not a person of Tarecus. I know less about Tarecus than I don’t know, and some will reject me as a foreigner while others will doubt whether someone who wields a sword is qualified to become a princess.”

“…”

“So I need my own people. And that’s why I’m ordering Miss Beriel to become my person as payment for your sin.”

“…But I hate Lady Ariella…”

“Whether you hate me or want to kill me, such things don’t matter at all. I’m not trying to build a friendship with Miss Beriel. So you can continue to hate me.”

“…”

“However, while assisting His Highness, your feelings of hatred toward me must not become an obstacle.”

“…”

“Please work as you do now for His Highness’s sake, for this kingdom’s sake, and furthermore for Tarecus’s sake. That is Miss Beriel’s price for sin.”

At Rihana’s words, Beriel bit her lips tightly. Her vision became blurry and it was difficult to raise her head.

She hadn’t thought she would be such a magnanimous person. She was ashamed of herself for making the wrong choice with her eyes blinded by petty jealousy. In the end, the Raiden she had loved was a man who knew how to see people properly. Even she could see what an amazing woman this was.

Beriel barely swallowed the tears that were about to burst out and spoke to Rihana.

“Beriel Taniaran and the Taniaran family will be a strong support for His Royal Highness the Prince, Her Royal Highness the Princess, and the Tarecus royal family for life.”

“…”

“I’m sorry, Your Royal Highness the Princess. This foolish person’s foolish sin will be repaid forever.”

At Beriel’s sincere words, Rihana smiled. At her smile, Beriel also smiled with a face ready to cry.

This day was when Beriel Taniaran became completely Rihana’s person.

* * *

Not knowing that Beriel and Rihana were now on the same side, Melissa contacted Beriel. It was a week before Casian was to be sent to the underground prison.

She was planning to secretly spirit Casian away and escape the Empire. Staying in the imperial palace would only result in being sold off in marriage to a man she didn’t want anyway, and if she stubbornly refused, she never knew when her life might be in danger. 

Moreover, once Casian was locked in the underground prison, she wouldn’t be able to see him even if she wanted to until he finished paying for his crimes. So the only choice Melissa could make was to spirit Casian away and escape the Empire to live together, just the two of them.

To do this, she began preparing escape funds through a maid she trusted. Luckily, around that time she heard from Casian’s subordinate about the place where he had planned to hide with Rihana and that quite a lot of gold bars and jewels had already been moved there. 

Casian’s subordinate had come to Melissa because he felt sorry that his master would be locked in the underground prison like this, so Melissa decided to escape with Casian a bit sooner.

The escape preparations went smoothly, and if she waited just one more week, she could spirit him away when he was being transferred to the underground prison on the Empire’s outskirts and leave the Empire. But during that week of waiting, Melissa ended up doing something she would regret for the rest of her life.

She thought it was Rihana who had made it so that she, the noble princess of the Empire, couldn’t have a blessed married life with the man she loved and had to run away like this to a future worse than a commoner’s, or perhaps one where she would have to hide for the rest of her life.

‘It’s all because of Countess Ariella! If not for that woman, I could have lived a happy life with Lord Casian. As the Empire’s only princess, as the Marquis’s wife, I could have enjoyed a pleasant life…!’

Melissa bit her lower lip hard. Then suddenly, she became afraid of what she would do if she gave up everything to choose Casian, but Casian couldn’t forget Rihana and said he was going to her. Such thoughts led Melissa down the wrong path again.

She contacted Beriel and requested another assassination attempt on Rihana. She even told her to increase the amount since she would have resistance to most poisons. But naturally, Beriel firmly refused all of Melissa’s several contacts.

Even with the tight timeline, Melissa had no choice but to move personally. The anxiety that Casian might abandon her was too great to just leave it alone, and she couldn’t stand to watch Rihana become Tarecus’s princess and live proudly while she and Casian had become fugitives because of her.

At first, she hired assassins and sent them. Once, twice, three times. There were several attempts and all ended in failure. She even used notorious assassins with her escape funds, but Tarecus Kingdom’s West Palace was not to be underestimated. 

The shadows protecting the royalty were highly trained guard knights, and no matter how skilled the assassins she sent were, they were repeatedly blocked by the shadows.

Actually, part of it was because Beriel had reported Melissa’s activities, leading to ironclad defenses, but Melissa thought Beriel wouldn’t be able to reveal their dealings.

When every assassin she sent repeatedly failed, Melissa finally headed to Tarecus two days before Casian was to be sent to the underground prison. She decided to poison Rihana with her own hands and leave Casian to his subordinate. 

Melissa made full preparations so she could disappear immediately after poisoning Rihana and headed to the Kingdom of Tarecus.

The pretext of representing the Empire to congratulate Rihana and Raiden’s marriage was created by the Crown Prince. The Crown Prince had believed Melissa’s words about meeting Raiden to build friendship by talking about her connection with him and sent her. But Melissa headed to Tarecus carrying the Empire’s most dangerous poison. Only to kill Rihana.

As she boarded the carriage heading to Tarecus, she thought about k*lling Rihana, rescuing Casian, and living quietly in the mansion he had already secured in Oniarn, bearing children who resembled him and children who resembled her, and living that way for the rest of her life. 

Thinking that she should tell Casian’s subordinate to bring servants who could care for children since her maid didn’t know how to care for children, Melissa looked outside the carriage.

Dreaming inflated dreams unsuitable for a journey taken to cost a woman her life, Melissa smiled gently.