Elia nodded. Her gaze remained fixed on the moon. Her chest felt so refreshed just from leaving the confining bed and moving a little.

“With luck, we’ll be able to leave this place.”

Elia said with a faint smile. Hannah couldn’t bring herself to ask what would happen if luck wasn’t on their side.

“I…… thought you didn’t want to become empress……”

“I still don’t.”

Her gentle voice was matter-of-fact.

“What? But soon…… the betrothal ceremony will begin? Perhaps if we had received Lady Briana’s help……”

“Then everyone would have become sinners and faced extermination. Hannah, Dain, and everyone else in this mansion who has nothing to do with this, even the people at Amas Convent.”

The Emperor hadn’t let go of his suspicions for a moment, and Hannah had been there too. Remembering those sharp, gleaming purple eyes, Hannah nodded deeply. At that time, she thought she would die from suffocation.

“If I want to live, I have no choice but to become empress.”

Her words carried multiple meanings. She couldn’t refuse the Emperor, nor did she have confidence in surviving in this ducal residence.

“I think that must be my fate.”

After experiencing death once and returning, she had tried to avoid it, but the conclusion that she must become Rockfort’s second empress remained unchanged.

“Something I cannot change.”

Some things can be changed, but others absolutely cannot. This was what her father had taught her since childhood. Elia now felt she understood the meaning of those words a little.

“Close the window now. Take me to my place.”

“Yes, Miss.”

The opposite room had been completely emptied and a simple altar set up for the betrothal ceremony.

As Elia was moved to that room, the grandfather clock chimed, announcing the time.

“Miss, you look truly beautiful today.”

Hannah spoke to Elia with sincere feeling. The child she had cared for since infancy had already turned nineteen and developed an elegant figure.

Above all, her blue eyes, which hadn’t lost their light despite all the misfortunes, drew people in more enchantingly than jewels. Though she wore not even a touch of common rouge, the moonlight wrapped around her beauty mysteriously, as if blessing it.

“The veil.”

“Yes.”

Hannah placed the white veil over Elia’s face.

The veil, adorned with delicate lace decorations, had been prepared and sent from the Imperial Palace and matched fantastically with Elia’s platinum blonde hair, like fine snow falling upon it.

“His Majesty the Emperor has arrived!”

The familiar sound of trumpets and the head servant’s loud voice echoed all the way here from outside.

“Go now.”

Hannah caressed Elia’s shoulder with her warm hand and reluctantly stepped away.

Left alone, Elia quietly closed her eyes.

Still, her gamble was not over.

* * *

Rockfort arrived at the ducal residence at the scheduled time. The duke and servants came out to greet his procession with proper ceremony.

“We are honored to see Your Majesty. It is a great honor for House Theon that you have come all this way.”

Rockfort merely nodded briefly at Daniel’s words.

“My daughter, Kayla, is unfortunately ill and cannot pay her respects today. Please forgive……”

“Enough.”

Rockfort moved on without listening to the end of his words.

As he and the archbishop entered the mansion’s entrance, two Crimson Knights blocked the entrance with their long spears.

“During the betrothal ceremony, no one may enter.”

At Commander Jayden’s stern order, Daniel bowed his head and endured the humiliation.

Though he had become duke and gained possession of this mansion, reality was quite different from what he had hoped. Just moments ago, he had to move Kayla, who had made the excuse of being ill, to a separate building due to the insistence of a servant who had arrived early.

It was galling and bitter that all this was for Elia, that unfathomable girl.

Moreover, Rockfort had hurried his steps for that one girl without even properly acknowledging his greeting.

Even if it was a passion like spring that would soon disappear, Daniel couldn’t help but secretly grind his teeth at how irritating it was.

* * *

After the commotion outside quieted down, a knock soon sounded in the room where candles softly illuminated the altar. She had a feeling it was none other than Rockfort’s hand.

Elia kept her eyes closed and gave no answer. Naturally, the sound of the door opening was heard, followed by the steady thud of his distinctive footsteps.

“You didn’t run away.”

His low voice penetrated her ears like the night wind.

“No.”

Elia slowly opened her eyes beneath the white veil. The pre-lit candles flickered, illuminating Rockfort’s sturdy figure.

“Have you finally made the commendable decision to obediently become my empress?”

“That depends on Your Majesty’s answer.”

As expected, his handsome eyebrows furrowed sharply.

“I know it’s an impertinent and unreasonable request.”

These two words were ones he often used. Words he was likely thinking of right now.

“Can you read my mind as well?”

The corner of his mouth lifted on one side. Even through the veil, she could see his purple eyes gleaming distinctively.

Depending on his answer, even Elia might not be safe.

“If you grant my condition, I will become empress.”

Despite her calm voice, a corner of her heart trembled. Rockfort glared at Elia for a moment without saying anything.

“Do not misunderstand. I am the one who decides everything.”

His voice, chillingly low, resonated coldly like in her previous life, making her already trembling heart ache. Under the tense atmosphere, it was difficult to suppress her shaking hands.

“After I die, I won’t be able to obey Your Majesty’s orders.”

What was there to fear when one was willing to die?

“……Or will you keep the Empire’s empress bound and gagged by your side for life? That would make it impossible for me to fulfill the role of empress.”

Elia’s cards were simple. The fact that Rockfort had not punished her for her willingness to give up her life and her unreasonable behavior until now.

Though she couldn’t understand why, it meant he wanted her that much.

“I will be a good empress who obeys Your Majesty’s will.”

For an instant, confusion clouded his eyes. It was the first affirmative response he got from Elia, who had only rejected him until now.

“But do not expect me to fulfill conjugal duties.”

“The greatest role of a good empress is to bear an heir.”

“As long as they are Your Majesty’s heirs, isn’t that enough? You may take a consort as in the old customs, or keep a concubine.”

Rockfort’s face froze coldly. Anger rose at Elia’s words, which boldly crossed a line that should never be crossed.

“Do you hate me that much?”

Hoo, Rockfort’s breath sounded close.

“All this time you’ve been refusing me…… was it because you didn’t want to lie with me as a woman?”

“That was included in my reasons for hating you.”

This woman kept saying she hated him. Yet he never tired of looking at those eyes that showed not a trace of fear.

“Once you become empress, I can simply command you.”

“Yes, and I can simply die.”

Huh, the absurd hollow laugh had become quite familiar now.

Looking at those eyes shining so blue it chilled his heart beneath the veil, any other words didn’t matter.

“Let’s see who wins.”

A strange heat emanated from his low voice. What filled his purple eyes was the desire to dominate.

His attitude made it clear that he would only be satisfied if he subjugated this woman and made her his.

“Even after rising to the most noble position in this world…… will you still be able to refuse me?”

The Imperial Palace was a world that revolved around Rockfort. The same applied even to the empress.

“In the end, you will be the one to desire me first.”

Elia scoffed at his confident words, but it seemed neither of their thoughts had changed at all.

“Do not think that such arrogant and insolent words will always be forgiven. With one command from me, your head could fall right now.”

Despite his threat, Rockfort had no intention of punishing this woman who glared at him. Even a few days ago, when searching the carriage heading to the convent, hadn’t he secretly hoped she wouldn’t be gone?

“Fine, have it your way. Whether it’s conjugal duties or an heir, you’ll be the one to ask me first later.”

This wasn’t arrogance. It was the authority and power he possessed as Emperor.

“I don’t feel like killing you yet.”

His true feelings were simple.

“Yes, not yet.”

As long as he wanted her, Elia could be an unreasonable and impertinent woman.

That was Elia’s only and most powerful card.

The life-risking gamble was successful.

……For now.