“Who is it?”

At Damian’s question, Goetz cleared his throat. Deep, distinct lines formed between his brows as he frowned.

“Lady Mireille.”

“What?”

“Who?”

Damian and Seraphina exclaimed almost in unison. It was far too unexpected a name.

As if he had anticipated their reaction, Goetz replied evenly.

“I have just been summoned by the Magrave of the Borderlands’ heir and examined Lady Mireille. Before presenting her to His Majesty the Emperor, he wanted to check for any abnormalities.”

“And?”

At Damian’s prompt, Goetz stroked his chin. Tilting his head in puzzlement, he said.

“There was no pheromone response from the lady at all. She was indistinguishable from a beta.”

“……!”

Seraphina’s eyes widened. She remembered Mireille as she had been when Seraphina herself had awoken as a dominant omega.

Mireille had clutched her pheromone gland and screamed in pain.

At the time, Seraphina had been so disgusted by her behavior that she had dismissed it, assuming Mireille was scheming again.

But now… could that have been…?

“It seems that when Your Highness awoke as a dominant omega, it had an adverse effect on Lady Mireille. Otherwise, there is no explanation for a dominant omega reverting to a beta.”

Having explained his reasoning, Goetz turned to Seraphina and asked her cautiously.

“Was Lady Mireille present at the moment of your awakening?”

“Yes.”

Seraphina nodded. She looked between Goetz and Damian and spoke slowly.

“When I was about to awaken, Lady Mireille rushed at me. She was gripping my shoulder when it happened.”

“Hah… how could something like this happen…?”

Goetz clicked his tongue. Listening to him, Seraphina asked.

“Then where is Lady Mireille now?”

“In the Crown Prince’s office. The margrave’s heir is guarding her.”

“Then I suppose I should see Lady Mireille.”

Seraphina said, turning to Damian after hearing Goetz’s answer. Reading her intent, Damian curved his lips into a faint smile.

***

Reinhold leaned against the wall with a bored expression, arms crossed. In front of him stood a woman sobbing hysterically.

“Aaaah!”

Crash!

Mireille shrieked and threw a vase. It hit the wall and shattered into pieces.

The Crown Prince’s office was a complete mess, littered with broken objects. She had been like this ever since her examination by Goetz.

‘Impressive.’

Reinhold observed her tantrum with a sense of detached calm. Had he not accompanied the Crown Princess’s party at the behest of the Crown Prince and witnessed Lady Mireille’s true nature, he might have been genuinely shocked by her behavior.

But he had seen it.

He had seen the woman who smiled wickedly as she ordered a knight to put Seraphina in a sack.

By the time he arrived, Brandt and Rosalynde were already unconscious. Startled, he first sent a signal to the Crown Prince using a magical device and then moved at once to rescue Seraphina.

But just as he was about to rush in—

— the Crown Prince appeared. He had assumed that the Crown Prince was still in the palace.

It seemed that Damian had followed shortly after Reinhold’s departure.

The Crown Prince entrusted the safety of the Imperial Grandson to Reinhold and went to rescue the Crown Princess himself.

Obeying his orders, Reinhold retrieved the Imperial Grandson from Lady Mireille. She clung desperately to the baby, refusing to let go.

Anyone would have thought the Imperial Grandson was her own child.

Even after Lucas was taken from her, she had been frighteningly persistent.

Frankly, it was enough to haunt one’s dreams.

“This can’t be happening—no, it can’t!”

Crash!

The moment Mireille threw the cup, it smashed against the door, which happened to open at that moment.

The Crown Prince entered the room, fixing Mireille with an icy gaze as he seethed with rage.

“You never fail to surprise me.”

“Y-Your Highness…?”

Tears welled up in Mireille’s eyes when she saw him. The woman, who had previously displayed her anger freely when alone with Reinhold, suddenly collapsed to the floor.

“Sob… Your Highness!”

Damian watched Mireille squeeze out tears with dry, emotionless eyes.

When she received no response despite her pitiful crying, she staggered to her feet, swayed towards him and reached out to clutch at him.

“Your Highness, please—hear me out. It’s all a misunderstanding. I was trying to save Her Highness the Crown Princess from Egon!”

‘Wow.’

As he watched Mireille perform, Reinhold silently mouthed the word ‘impressive’. Ordering knights around like disposable tools was one thing, but was she really suggesting that she had attempted to rescue the Crown Princess?

The knight who had been injured protecting Lady Mireille suddenly seemed pitiful. He had probably never imagined that she would blame him for everything.

“The palace physician said something absurd. He claimed that I don’t secrete any pheromones at all! He must be a quack — please summon another physician. Please, Your Highness!”

Lady Mireille pleaded, tears streaming down her face. She tried to throw herself into the Crown Prince’s arms, but he pushed her away, causing her to stumble backwards.

Just as she tried to rush at him again, she abruptly froze.

Her gaze locked onto the woman standing behind Damian.

“Why are you… here…?”

Seraphina appeared behind him, the corner of her mouth curving upwards. She tilted her head slightly and smiled elegantly.

“Why do you look so surprised? Didn’t you say you saved me, my lady?”

“No—but—how? Why are you back in the palace? Weren’t you supposed to leave?”

“I was. Until you pushed me from behind, Lady Mireille.”

At Seraphina’s reply, Mireille’s entire body began to tremble. Her nostrils flared as she snapped in a shrill voice.

“Once you leave, that should be the end of it. How dare you come crawling back?”

“You tried to kill me. You took Lucas—and you tried to take my husband as well.”

The smile faded from Seraphina’s beautiful face. She stepped closer to Mireille as she continued.

“Was it not enough to belittle me, mock me, and despise me all this time? What did I ever do to you?”

“Aaaah!”

Mireille screamed in agony as Seraphina’s pheromones surged outward. She doubled over, gasping violently.

“S-stop—stop it!”

“So you can still feel a dominant omega’s pheromones. I thought you’d become a complete beta—but perhaps not entirely?”

“I’m not a beta!”

Mireille shrieked reflexively. Contrary to her words, however, not a single thread of pheromone emanated from her body.

Seeing Mireille collapse to her knees under the pressure, Seraphina let out a quiet, incredulous laugh.

“You trampled me and looked down on me—simply because I wasn’t a dominant omega.”

Her voice turned icy. It almost looked as though flames were blooming from her body.

“Aaaah!”

A scream of pure agony tore from Mireille’s lips as she collapsed to the floor, her palms and legs cut by the shards of glass and porcelain she had thrown earlier. The shards of glass and porcelain she had thrown earlier cut her palms and legs.

Seraphina narrowed her eyes.

Mireille had been injured by the very things she herself had thrown.

It was almost symbolic. Mireille was being forced to suffer the consequences of her own actions.

Mireille von Aurilien of the Grand Duchy of Gruber.

She was a woman born a dominant omega, her pheromones incomparably stronger than those of any mere recessive.

She was a legitimate scion of the Grand Duchy of Gruber, belonging to a collateral branch of the imperial family.

A woman of impeccable lineage.

She had never earned anything through effort.

Everything had been handed to her at birth — innate, unearned gifts.

Foremost among these was her trait.

Mireille took pride in this trait and never hesitated to flaunt it. As a dominant omega, she tried to control others with her pheromones. Those she disliked were forced to their knees and had the breath squeezed out of them.

But that was now a thing of the past.

Mireille could no longer brandish her pheromones.

She had become exactly what her former self had despised and scorned the most — a body producing no pheromones at all.