“That is correct, Your Majesty.”

Rockfort threw aside his dignity and ruffled his hair. What remained looked more like a handsome young man with black hair rather than an emperor.

Though he had been on the throne for 7 years, he was still only 24 years old, so this was natural if anything.

“I hope my plan to bring the Archbishop to the ducal residence to perform the betrothal ceremony hasn’t leaked.”

He said with a frown on his straight eyebrows. A strange anxiety settled in his elongated eyes.

“Only the Archbishop and I know about it, how could that be?”

“Hmm…… maybe it’s just a feeling.”

The way he slightly bit his lip and released it was exactly like a 24-year-old young man.

Below his eyes with a mysterious purple tinge, his finely defined nose bridge and manly lips created a strong impression like an elegant painting.

“What’s the matter? There’s still…… no problem at all.”

“I don’t think it will go smoothly, that’s why.”

Rockfort bluntly revealed his true thoughts.

“The Archbishop has already received Your Majesty’s order……”

“It’s not about the Archbishop, but her. Lady Elia.”

“Ah…… the lady……”

Jayden was momentarily at a loss for words. It seemed strange to him that the Emperor would consider someone else’s opinion on a matter he had already decided.

“Her resolve is no less than mine. You say that because you didn’t see it.”

If Jayden had witnessed that scene, it would have been a problem in its own way.

“Why, don’t you believe me?”

“Well……”

Where in that delicate lady could there be the fierce resolve and temperament like Rockfort’s?

“Indeed, I can’t believe what I saw and heard either.”

Rockfort, who spoke as if tossing the words away, sank into contemplation.

Since meeting Elia, he often fell into such solitary thoughts.

Her cold attitude toward him, her calm face as if she had abandoned her life, and finally the way she deliberately turned her back to him—all were vivid as if within reach.

“If there’s another person like that in the world, it would truly…… be a wonder.”

“It was wondrous.”

Rockfort unexpectedly answered straightforwardly to the words Jayden had let slip without realizing.

However, it wasn’t a response but a soliloquy within his contemplation.

“Though a woman, she was brave and strong-willed enough to be compared to me.”

The partner Rockfort had desired until now was not much different from the world’s standard. Naturally, he would not prefer a woman who coldly stated she didn’t want to marry him.

But his heart was already decided. He wanted Elia so passionately that he was willing to erase all her rudeness.

“Your Majesty, it won’t be too late after the Grand Council is over. The empress’s appointment is a year away, so what does it matter if the betrothal ceremony is delayed by a few days?”

“Your saying that makes me even more anxious for no reason.”

“Pardon? Why would I……”

Jayden muttered with indignation, but Rockfort didn’t even look at him.

“It’s going to be a long few days.”

The procedure of pledging engagement before the Archbishop was very simple.

Also, whether Elia agreed or not, the Archbishop would acknowledge that the engagement had been established.

But somehow Rockfort’s heart felt empty. Everything was simple and clear, yet he couldn’t understand why he kept feeling unsettled.

He didn’t yet know that this was the nature of desperately wanting something.

* * *

The Theon ducal residence began to bustle again.

Daniel occupied the duke’s office as if it had been his place from the beginning, and servants and maids decorated the mansion in perfect coordination.

“Your Grace, Lady Kayla has arrived.”

“Tell her to come in.”

As Daniel, who had been busily signing documents, raised his head, the prettily dressed Kayla performed a deliberately elegant curtsy.

“I greet you, Your Grace.”

Daniel couldn’t hide his loving smile as he nodded.

“The lady has had a hard journey.”

“Not at all.”

Now seventeen, Kayla, who was beginning to shed her girlhood, met eyes with her affectionate father, burst into laughter, and fell into his embrace.

“How do I look? Like a princess rather than a duke’s daughter, right?”

Daniel laughed at Kayla, who was putting on a rather haughty expression.

“How childish for a duke’s daughter.”

“That hurts my feelings, Father.”

Kayla, still sitting on Daniel’s lap like a child, laughed innocently.

“What about Kelvin? Is he late again because he’s sightseeing in the village?”

“Why wouldn’t he be? But Father, why are my things being unpacked on the third floor? The lady’s bedroom is on the second floor.”

“Your cousin Elia is there. You must have heard from the maid?”

“That’s exactly it.”

Kayla said clearly with her lovely smile unchanged.

“She can’t even use her legs, so why is she using the largest lady’s bedroom? She just needs a bed.”

At those words, Daniel gave her a stern look.

“Kayla.”

“I know, I won’t say such things in front of others.”

Despite his expression, Daniel’s large hand gently stroked his daughter’s hair.

“I shouldn’t show any dissatisfaction…… and should pretend to be very worried about sister, right?”

“Yes. And there’s one more thing?”

“Yes. I’ll wait patiently until it becomes mine.”

Daniel taught his children exactly what he had learned in life. The result was this lovely and cute devil.

“But can I really become empress? Sister Elia is still here. I heard on the way that His Majesty will make sister the empress in a year……”

“It’s fine. Elia will enter the convent with Briana.”

“What? Really?”

“Once she enters, she can’t leave for 3 years. Even His Majesty won’t be able to leave the empress’s seat empty for that long.”

At those words, Kayla puffed her cheeks.

“Hmm…… they say she’s become a cripple, how will she go to the convent?”

Despite the content, her tone was as innocent as a child’s question.

“I’ve made all the arrangements. Tomorrow night, I’ll send her to the convent with Briana in a carriage hired from the black market. Once she crosses the three gates at the Amis Convent, any woman, regardless of status, must stay for 3 years.”

Seemingly tired of her father’s embrace, Kayla suddenly stood up and twirled once to smooth out the wrinkled skirt of her dress.

“What if sister Elia changes her mind?”

“Elia has already said she doesn’t want to become empress.”

“She might feel that way now. But what about later? The convent is dirty and shabby…… spending time with those lowly people, she’ll get sick of it in less than a week. Ugh, I couldn’t stand it for even a day.”

Daniel closed his mouth for a moment. He recalled Briana’s rough hands.

His sister’s hands, once like silk, were now as coarse as a maid’s—would Elia, who had lived as a duke’s daughter, not regret entering the convent?

Elia was only 2 years older than Kayla, who still looked like a child.

“Father, are you angry?”

Kayla, unaware of his thoughts, peeked at his expression.

“I just…… thought that no lady would want to live in a convent.”

“I understand. Stop chattering and unpack your things first. The large bedroom…… what did I say?”

“Yes. I’ll wait.”

With a grin, Kayla curtseyed and left the office with fluttering steps.

“……Yes, her mind could change.”

Elia was only nineteen now. Moreover, she was a duke’s daughter who didn’t properly know the outside world, let alone the convent’s austere life.

“A woman who enters the Amis Convent cannot return to the secular world for 3 years…… but what if she can’t bear it and escapes?”

If Elia changed her mind while the Emperor was being stubborn, the convent’s rules might be ignored.

“As expected of my daughter, you’re clever.”

Daniel felt the need to modify his plan.

It could be a mistake to think of Elia as too mature based on her handling of the situation so far.

“People’s hearts change, always.”

She might have just been frightened because of the successive incidents, but he had almost overlooked the fact that Elia was still a 19-year-old lady.

“Indeed…… it’s better to finish things decisively.”

Daniel took out a small vial from his pocket. It was the same medicine he had used to help the former duchess when she was troubled by her stepdaughter’s unauthorized pregnancy.

“I didn’t lie.”

His lips twisted. It was true that this medicine would kill the child in Cecilia’s womb.

Of course, he didn’t mention that Cecilia would die with it.

“If it had been my older brother, he would never have asked me to do such a thing.”

The opportunity for Daniel to extend his hand came from a small misstep.

The duchess didn’t want to give the impression that she discriminated against her stepdaughter Cecilia, so she stepped forward to resolve the matter.

But she chose the wrong person to help her.

“Years of showing kindness to my sister-in-law have paid off.”

Unlike her husband, Lorelaine didn’t see through Daniel’s true nature. Moreover, being from the same Theon family, she must have thought he wouldn’t betray them.