Chapter 2.1

Violet stood by the window in her thin nightgown, just as she had in the morning.

It was well past the time she would normally be asleep, but she couldn’t fall asleep at all.

The wine she wasn’t used to drinking made her head fuzzy, yet the bitter reality kept lifting her eyelids.

She thought she had pulled herself together, but the failure of an unrequited love that had become a foregone conclusion approached her with a sense of loss.

Her mood was so low that no other thoughts came to mind. So at first, she thought the sound she heard was an auditory hallucination.

Because at such a late hour, there was no way anyone would dare knock on her door.

Knock, knock.

But it wasn’t a delusion. The sound echoed once more. It was slower and heavier than the usual calls of the attendants, as if gauging whether she was awake.

Startled, Violet stood up without realizing it. She tried to act as if nothing was wrong, but her voice trembled on its own.

“Wh-who is it?”

No answer came. Instead, the knocking stopped, and the door creaked open slowly with a heavy sound.

Without any response, without her permission, it opened on its own.

‘Should I scream? What should I do?’

Violet was engulfed in fear. The Imperial Palace was supposed to be the safest place of all, so she never expected such a situation.

Frozen and unable to move, her eyes caught the silhouette slowly entering through the open door.

The moonlight beyond the large, uncurtained window clearly illuminated the figure closing the door, even in the darkness.

The overwhelming fear vanished in an instant. Instead, another kind of tension enveloped her.

“Sir… Dein?”

Was the man before her really him? She must have drunk too much wine today. It might be a hallucination created by the red alcohol.

No, but his presence was too strong for that. The imposing physique that exuded presence, the piercing dark gaze, couldn’t be an illusion.

But why was he here…?

While Violet was racking her brain, Dein stepped inside with determined strides. His unhesitating steps stopped right in front of her.

His hair, slightly damp, was different from his uniformed appearance during the day, now disheveled in the night. The man looked down at her.

As his black eyes bore into her, her head spun. She swallowed dryly, moistening her parched throat, and turned her head to avoid his gaze.

And finally, she remembered that the palace bedrooms were filled due to the banquet that had only been a day ago.

“This, this is my palace. The guests’ rooms are prepared in the east wing.”

“Do you think I came here because I got lost?”

As she stammered her words together, a soft, deflated laugh came from above.

“No one can wander around the Princess’s palace at this hour.”

“Then how did you, Sir…?”

Violet looked up at him again. As innocent eyes met his, Dein’s beast-like gaze flickered for a moment.

There seemed to be a mix of the scent of oil from a bath and the faint aroma of the wine she had been sipping throughout the banquet.

“There is nowhere in this Scotia that I cannot go.”

Maybe it was the influence of the alcohol on him as well. His formal speech remained, but his persistent tone felt strangely different.

“Without the Emperor’s knowledge, without anyone’s permission.”

His tone was sharp, but the content was more surprising. Words that might be spoken when being praised by others were directly uttered from his mouth for the first time.

But Violet quickly acknowledged it. His words were true. It wasn’t arrogance; he was merely stating the reality given to him.

Then why. Even if he needed no permission, why visit her room at such a time?

Ah.

Swallowing a low gasp, Violet felt a small, sharp pain in her heart. It might have been a headache from the hangover.

Until he went off to war, Violet’s Moel Palace had been Olivia’s.

Until her broad-minded sister gifted this western palace entirely to her for her birthday last year, knowing how much Violet loved its beautiful gardens.

Violet looked up at Dein and squeezed her eyes shut. She bit her lower lip once before reluctantly speaking a fact she didn’t really want to reveal.

“If you wish to go to my sister, you should head to the southern Blanche Palace.”

“What is the reason for refusing the marriage now?”

His deep voice overlapped with the words she had barely managed to utter. As the two sentences intertwined, silence filled the room again.

Violet opened her tightly shut eyes. She wasn’t sure if she had understood Dein’s words correctly over her own.

When she raised her head again, she saw a distorted face. The man who was always calm and expressionless before her was now revealing burning emotions.

“I have no reason to seek the First Princess at this hour. My fiancée is here.”

“What?”

“Of course, it seems you weren’t pleased with that fact, Princess Violet.”

Though he was forcibly suppressing his voice, the intensity in his tone, as if ready to confront her immediately, was evident. In the darkness, his dark eyes gleamed as if urging her.

“What is the reason for rejecting the marriage you had agreed to?”

“Why do you think I rejected it?”

“Because His Majesty said so. He cannot force a marriage you don’t want.”

“……”

“That is correct. Hence, I have come to your bedroom in the middle of the night. Like a rogue.”

Violet opened her mouth to speak but then closed it. There was an unfair aspect when considering her true feelings, but he wasn’t entirely wrong.

She was the one who had expressed her intention to follow the wishes of her sister and father.

However, a slight question arose. If he had heard about the marriage proposal, he would surely have heard about the marriage with Olivia as well.

It should have gone as he wished, yet Dein was angry. Because she had rejected the marriage with him.

“You said it wasn’t uncomfortable, that you didn’t dislike it, and then you ran away. Was that the reason?”

Ran away? Was he referring to the banquet?

Retreating would have been a more accurate description, but he seemed indifferent to the inappropriateness of the expression.

“Even if I climbed up here and were praised, in the end, a mere viscount’s son wasn’t good enough?”

His voice became a bit more passionate. The low tone sounded like a beast’s growl, causing Violet to slightly flinch her shoulders before relaxing them.

It seemed there had been some misunderstanding in the communication. Perhaps the way she had broken off the engagement had hurt his pride. Even if it wasn’t the engagement he desired, the fact that she dared to reject him.

Violet cautiously opened her mouth as if to explain.

“I don’t know how you heard it, but it’s a misunderstanding.”

“A misunderstanding?”

“Sir Dein, as you said, you are the best man in Scotia. How could I ignore or reject you?”

“……While saying that, why does it end with the annulment of the engagement?”

“I also know what everyone is saying. You should have the best woman by your side as you wish… and I don’t suit someone like you, Sir Dein.”

Violet secretly bit her lip. It was a bit miserable to lower herself, but it wasn’t because she thought he was a lacking man who matched her.

What if he thought she had looked down on him all this time?

It was true she selfishly wished to stay by his side, but not because she considered him a lacking man.

The thought of being remembered as a calculating and cowardly woman by her first love made her eyes well up with tears.

No answer came from him. 

Was he really angry?

Violet, worried, slightly raised her eyes to look at him.

When her tear-filled eyes met his, Dein roughly ran a hand through his hair and twisted his lips.

“Turning your words so plausibly, are you ultimately saying it’s not you?”

The words that flowed out as if to himself were rough and rude. Different from the Dein Bates she knew.

His eyes flashed as if her excuse had only ignited a heated spark.

“Then who is the man suitable for someone like you, Violet Ryle? Evan Ludwig?”

“Why are you suddenly talking about Lord Ludwig…?”

“You reject your fiancé, but you were going to dance with a man you claim not to be close with.”

Dein spat out words as if gritting his teeth and suddenly closed the remaining distance between them.

Violet instinctively recoiled at his predatory movement, like a carnivore driving its prey.

But he was faster. In one swift motion, he reached out and wrapped her waist.