The truth was that she was wary of Andrea pressing gifts like this upon her.

If things kept progressing like this, would she find herself stepping into a wedding hall before she knew it? That was why she had asked for a little time to think and had managed to hold off his relentless proposal for now……

The problem was that he kept presenting her with expensive gifts while insisting they were absolutely not betrothal offerings.

And the bigger problem was that they were all so beautiful and so perfectly suited to her taste that she wanted them.

Among the things he gave her, accessories like hats and shoes were never grand or flashy. They were simple, with elegant lines, and they suited Riley well.

She already loved pretty things and taking care of her appearance, so refusing each gift and sending it back was its own kind of torment.

What if I accept all of these and end up standing at the altar before I can even say no?

Just the other day she had received a round pale green hat with a feather trim and velvet shoes with pearl beads. She had resolved to send everything back today……

But this necklace, a smooth lavender stone hanging from a slender platinum chain, was too delicate and lovely. She could not bring herself to give it up.

Even looking at herself, she thought, ah, this one is mine, it suited her so well that she did not know what to do.

Andrea had seen straight through her taste and put careful thought into the design, and the craftsman had poured every skill he had into making it, and this was the result.

The craftsman, meanwhile, had been fretting for some time, convinced she was dissatisfied with something in his work.

Riley finally broke the tense silence and made her decision.

“……I’ll keep this one. Thank you.”

Nine out of ten pieces shown to her had been sent back, so the jeweler, who had been bracing himself, let out a relieved breath and withdrew.

Left alone, Riley stood in front of the mirror for a long while, still touching the necklace she was wearing.

It feels like I’m being cornered somehow……

It was beautiful, but wearing it made her feel like she had to answer his proposal.

And in a positive direction, at that.

“Mmhh…… but it really is so pretty……”

She had been gazing at her reflection in a kind of daze when Nancy came to remind her of the time.

“Miss, it’s almost time. Didn’t you say you were going out at three o’clock sharp?”

“Oh, right.”

Riley took her hand from the necklace and pulled on her coat. She also picked up the large envelope sitting on the table.

Her expression grew calm and quiet at the sight of it.

Inside the envelope was her final manuscript.

Today I’m supposed to hand this to Miss Nina.

She could not understand why Miss Nina, who always came to collect the manuscript herself, had suddenly asked to meet outside, and in the outskirts of the capital rather than the city center.

But Miss Nina was always rushing around for her stories, so Riley thought it was reasonable enough.

Riley had no idea that a week had already passed since Nina received her dismissal from Andrea.

So she felt a mix of bitterness and something close to envy.

I wanted to be useful, like Miss Nina. But it can’t be helped. At least let me finish this last part well.

Riley decided not to dwell on the sadness and stepped outside to hail a carriage.

The weather was lovely.

Cheerful sunlight filtered through the shade of poplar trees and fell warmly over her head.

A soft, cool breeze drifted in from somewhere and swept away the bittersweet feeling of going to deliver a final manuscript, so Riley decided to simply enjoy the beautiful scenery.

˗ˋˏ ♡ ˎˊ˗

An urgent report reached Andrea as he emerged from a meeting with his ministers.

“What?”

“The search party dispatched is currently searching Tennetcy, but there are in fact criminal indicators coming to light.”

The words criminal indicators wiped the expression from Andrea’s face in an instant, and he stared at Alfonso with disbelief.

“She’s actually missing? She hasn’t just gone home on her own?”

He meant to ask whether the guard he had assigned to Riley had simply looked away for a moment. But Alfonso shook his head slightly, his expression grave.

“She vanished at the scene.”

The word vanished made Andrea’s eyes go hard and dangerous immediately.

“She disappeared without a trace?”

“It seems…… she met with Miss Nina at a coffeehouse on the outskirts of Kerington Street. The guards waited outside the building as a matter of course, and when she did not come out after some time, they went in to check. Both women had already vanished without a trace.”

“Riley went to meet…… Nina?”

The cheek that turned to ask the question had gone rigid.

Nina had been dismissed not long ago and should have had no further connection to Riley. He had also intended to collect the final manuscript from Riley himself.

The image of Nina’s face surfaced in his mind, the resentment in her eyes when she received the dismissal to her face.

Surely not……

Dark unease rippled through Andrea’s eyes.

˗ˋˏ ♡ ˎˊ˗

The search continued for days, but no trace of Riley surfaced anywhere in the capital.

The search radius expanded with grim urgency, spreading to the surrounding smaller towns. Checkpoints were set up at every road and intersection in each city, and private properties and warehouses in remote areas were searched thoroughly.

But when days passed with no result, a chilling edge radiated from the crown prince that made it impossible for anyone to look him directly in the face.

At first Andrea suspected it was Nina acting out of spite, but as time went on he concluded this was not something one person could accomplish alone.

Leaving no trace to this degree was not easy.

The two women who had disappeared did not seem to be in the capital, Tennet, at all.

The question now was who Nina had joined hands with.

But he had purged and brought down so many nobles recently that the list of possible backers was far too long.

He was still deliberating over who to go after first when Edwin burst in.

“Take a look at this.”

He practically threw an unfamiliar magazine onto the table. Andrea picked it up.

He looked down at it with a cool expression, and the color began to drain from his face.

Inside was the prologue of a newly serialized novel, accompanied by an unfamiliar illustration.

The problem was the plot. The further he read, the more a cold, terrible fire blazed in his eyes.

The content was as follows.

A prince of some kingdom launches a press campaign to seize the right of succession. A female illustrator who aided him is kidnapped by a wronged noble.

Andrea’s jaw clenched and his eyes went dark.

The details that followed were so blatant that it was impossible not to recognize the female protagonist as a reference to Riley.

The novel’s opening scene began with the woman being tortured, and the hands gripping the magazine could not help but tremble.

Drawing on every thread of self-control, he read through to the end. The only detail that differed from reality was that the male protagonist prince was depicted as illegitimate rather than the rightful heir. Every other circumstance matched perfectly.

This was a deliberate publication intended to provoke him and threaten him from the shadows.

He had desperately wanted to believe it was all a misunderstanding and that Riley had simply gone somewhere on her own, but then he noticed the necklace around the female protagonist’s neck in the illustration.

It was the amethyst necklace he had given her recently. The design had been specially commissioned from the craftsman, so coincidence was impossible.

Alfonso, growing visibly anxious beside him as Andrea stared down at the magazine in terrifying silence, asked.

“Shall we start by raiding the warehouses owned by the Karan marquisate?”

Andrea had many enemies, but their identities were all known.

He could start by going after those he had targeted and ruined through the Minerve’s articles.

But at this moment, regrettably, neither Andrea nor Alfonso had thought of the confined former queen, Fabienne.

Unable to take his eyes off the magazine in his grip, Andrea stood still as Alfonso added with apparent certainty.

“The kidnapping of Miss Riley and Miss Nina looks like retaliation for the Minerve’s exposé articles. Of course, even knowing Your Highness is behind the Minerve, they cannot touch you directly, so they made a point of abducting the people in the middle to make their intent to resist unmistakably clear.”

Andrea issued his orders in a voice that barely contained his fury.

“Search everything belonging to Marquis Karan. His residence, his villas, every warehouse his trading companies operate. Double the search forces.”

A creeping, deadly intent seeped from his eyes as they remained fixed on the illustration in the novel.