“I saw dragon scales on his heart.”

“…”

Emma’s face turned pale with shock.

“Of course you won’t believe it. I doubted my own eyes too. But he is indeed someone who survived after swallowing a dragon’s heart. Emma, you know well what that means to me.”

Emma nodded with a desperate expression.

“So that’s why you made the public proposal. To break the curse. And here I was…”

“I’m sorry. I didn’t deliberately try to hide it. I was just hesitant because nothing was certain yet.”

Emma nodded as if she understood completely.

“What do you plan to do now? You said he’s dangerous. Even if things go well and you marry the Duke of Reushden, you’ll have to tell him all your secrets. Are you okay with that?”

If the question was whether he could be trusted, Roen had no answer.

However…

“He already knows that deadly poison flows through my body. I had to reveal my secret the moment I learned his.”

In exchange, she had saved her life and was able to propose a deal to him.

“Did you also tell him that you are the Duchess of Roxburgh?”

“No, I didn’t mention that.”

“But you said you intend to marry him. You’ll have to unveil yourself on the wedding night… Won’t he then discover that you are Simonetta?”

“I suppose so. But I plan to conceal it for now.”

Roen took out a thin leather object from her desk drawer.

Emma naturally knew what it was.

“It might be a bit uncomfortable, but if I keep wearing this, he won’t easily notice.”

Roen put on the human skin mask that resembled a face with practiced ease. Instantly, her ivory-glowing left cheek was covered with hideous scars.

Her reflection appeared in the mirror on the desk.

A beautiful right face and a left face full of scars.

Like Janus from mythology, the reflection in the mirror was bizarre.

“This might be an unnecessary worry, but what if, just what if, you end up having feelings for him?”

“Emma, that’s truly just a needless worry. There’s absolutely no chance of that happening. He’s merely a sacrificial lamb to break my curse.”

Despite Roen’s resolute tone, Emma couldn’t help feeling uneasy.

Until now, her mistress had always fulfilled what she said she would do. So this time would surely be no different.

‘But why do I feel so anxious?’

Emma bit her lip with inexplicable unease.

Meanwhile, Roen removed the human skin mask from her face and put it back in the drawer.

“Don’t make such a face. I’m just not as lucky as my parents, that’s all.”

Above all, she didn’t believe in love.

Starting with the unfortunate accident of Roxburgh, her life had been plummeting into an abyss.

And at the end of that abyss, her death and the downfall of her family awaited her.

So the emotion of love meant nothing to her. It was merely a luxury.

“My lady…”

Emma’s voice was trembling.

“I truly believe that such a person will come into your life too. I’ve heard that the Roxburgh ducal family has very strong luck in love.”

Strong luck in love…

“Yes. I hope it’s as you say.”

If the curse was broken and she could live a normal life, it might be nice to meet someone to love and live with.

“By the way, what did the Duke of Reushden think about the public proposal? Does it seem like he’ll accept it?”

“No. When I handed him the newspaper, he threw it in the trash. He didn’t even seem to know about the public proposal until I showed him the newspaper.”

“In the trash… How incredibly rude. It seems the rumors about him being arrogant and insufferable are true.”

Emma made an incredulous face.

But unlike Emma who was angry, Roen savored the aroma of her tea with a calm expression.

It seemed the tea had been mixed with blue poppy extract that neutralized poison.

“Aren’t you angry, my lady? How dare he disrespect the Roxburgh ducal family.”

“I should be grateful he didn’t chase me with a sword for arranging a marriage with the ‘monster duchess.’ He certainly looked like he might.”

“If he chases you? Would we just stand by? I should call Lycan right away.”

Calling Lycan who was in Gerpion—Emma seemed ready to fight the Reushden ducal family.

‘If we fought, would there be any chance of winning?’

The Reushden ducal family, known as the ‘Unbreakable Sword,’ owned the Black Knights, the finest order of knights on the continent of Taran.

In other words, the chances of winning in a direct confrontation with the Reushden ducal family were close to zero.

So it was wiser to use her head to make him an ally rather than fight.

‘Is this a battle between the ‘Unbending Pen’ and the ‘Unbreakable Sword’?’

‘I’m looking forward to seeing who will win…’

“Fight? I need to persuade him. Or make him an offer he can’t refuse. The truth is, in the Adrian Empire, no one would marry me, the monster duchess, even for vast amounts of money. So I must convince him by any means necessary.”

At Roen’s words, Emma stomped her feet as if feeling wronged.

“That’s all because of those rumors…”

“Emma. As I told Cecil, if it weren’t for those rumors, I would have already become the wife of some greedy old nobleman. So I will never correct those rumors.”

Roen said firmly.

“That may be true, but…”

In the end, Emma couldn’t finish her sentence.

“If you have something to say, say it. Don’t hesitate.”

“Well, it’s nothing really, but what about making the Duke of Reushden fall in love with you? Men are the kind of creatures who would give their liver and gallbladder to the woman they love.”

“Is that true?”

Roen showed a slight interest.

“Of course. Why else would ladies visit your emporium almost every day? They want to capture the hearts of those they love and have them at their feet.”

‘Making Jean Reushden fall in love with me and have him at my feet.’

It was certainly an interesting proposition.

But would it be possible?

Roen recalled his silver-blue eyes that dripped with coldness. And his indifferent expression as he choked her neck, devoid of any emotion.

Soon, Roen shook her head.

“That’s impossible. He might fall for someone else, but never me.”

“Why not?”

“He tried to kill me twice. I blackmailed him with the condition of a deal. He can’t possibly love someone like me. Not unless he’s insane. So we need to find another way.”

At Roen’s words, Emma’s expression darkened. She couldn’t argue with that.

After being lost in thought for a moment, Roen seemed to have thought of something and called to Emma.

“Emma, tell Smith to prepare a list of my assets. I think I’ll need to make a very important deal tomorrow.”

Tomorrow was definitely the day scheduled for an audience with the Emperor.

Emma realized that her mistress intended to persuade the Emperor to influence the Duke of Reushden.

“Are you planning to seek His Majesty’s help?”

At Emma’s question, Roen smiled meaningfully.

“I told you. I’ll get him by any means necessary.”

* * *

A carriage bearing the emblem of the Roxburgh ducal family stopped in front of the imperial palace located in the northern part of the capital city, Carlisle.

Soon the gates opened, and the carriage entered the palace grounds.

Roen gazed indifferently at the imperial palace visible through the window.

Six years ago, when Zonderburgh VII passed away at the age of 55, his only blood relative, Edwin Zonderburgh VIII, became Emperor at the age of twenty.

The new Emperor was unmarried, young, and handsome, so he was involved in numerous scandals until his official engagement was decided.

“He used to be such a kind and pure-hearted boy when he was young…”

Roen smiled bitterly, recalling the crown prince who had visited the Roxburgh ducal family 10 years ago.

It seemed almost surreal that they had once been considered potential marriage partners.

A moment later, when the carriage came to a complete stop, Roen checked once more that the human skin mask covering her face was securely attached, then lowered a black veil to completely conceal her face.

As she straightened her posture, the carriage door opened.

The head butler, who had come out to greet her, bowed and welcomed Roen.

“Welcome, Duchess of Roxburgh. His Majesty is waiting for you in the tea room.”

The tea room, not the reception hall?

Following the head butler, Roen tried to guess why the Emperor had summoned her to such a private space.

No matter how much she thought about it, she couldn’t come up with a specific reason.

In recent years, since Edwin had become Emperor, relations between the imperial family and the Roxburgh ducal family had improved somewhat, but they were still awkward.

It wasn’t just because there had been talk of marriage between the Emperor and the Roxburgh ducal family.

The two had been too young for that, and there had been no romantic feelings between them at all.

“His Majesty knows everything but pretends not to know.”

“So he’s turning a blind eye.”

“Just turning a blind eye? Perhaps he’s hoping the assassins will quickly dispose of the Roxburgh heiress. If the young heiress dies, all that wealth and the treasures stored in her private archives would first be confiscated by the national treasury.”

The whispers of nobles that she had overheard at a party she was forced to attend shortly after the accident still seemed to echo in her ears.

Back then, she had trembled with a sense of betrayal.

It was shocking to learn that the Emperor, who had been a close friend of her father, the Duchess of Roxburgh, wanted her dead.

But she soon composed herself.

She had already learned at a young age that such emotions were trivial in the face of money and power.

“You may enter, Your Grace.”

The head butler stepped aside, making way for Roen as they arrived at the tea room.

Roen nodded to the head butler through her black veil, then entered the tea room.

It was her first time in the imperial tea room.

She had been to the imperial palace before, as most nobles were required to attend balls hosted by the imperial family twice a year—on the Empire’s founding day and the Emperor’s birthday—but this was her first time stepping into a private space reserved only for imperial family members.

Perhaps because of this, she felt unusually tense.

“You’ve come, Duchess of Roxburgh.”