“What are you saying?!”

Rosalynde cried out in shock. She hurriedly clapped a hand over her mouth and scanned her surroundings. After confirming that there was no one around, she lowered her voice.

“Divorce? You can’t! Divorce among the imperial family isn’t simple. If it were an annulment, perhaps—but—”

“Really? Then I’ll just have it annulled.”

“Your Highness!”

When Seraphina replied, Rosalynde looked as though she might faint. However, despite her reaction, Seraphina remained unmoved.

“I can’t live like this. No—I won’t.”

She had no idea how her life had changed or how she had become the Crown Princess. One thing was certain, though: her situation was far worse now than when she had been a maid.

She was powerless to withstand Lady Mireille’s malice or the Empress’s harassment. Both women were of a higher social standing than her. How was she supposed to stand up to them?

Then there was the most important aspect of marriage: Her husband — the Crown Prince.

To be honest, he was the biggest problem of all.

Sleeping with the Crown Prince had been intoxicating.

But that was all it had been.

Throughout their time together, Seraphina had felt as though she were being handled and toyed with. He watched her so intently, and his possessiveness and obsession were suffocating.

It was as though he were determined never to let her escape; he would corner her and tighten his hold without leaving the slightest opening.

To an extent, she could understand that. Those with special traits were said to become unnaturally fixated on their partners.

But above all else, one thing stood out: The Crown Prince never spoke to her properly.

Without saying a word, he pulled her into his arms. When it was over, he got out of bed.

This was not the behavior of a man concerned for her well-being.

If he had truly cared, he would never have held her so fiercely while she was still asleep. He could only have done so if he viewed her as nothing more than a means of producing an heir.

What’s more, he continued to allow Lady Mireille to move freely throughout the palace.

She had come to the imperial palace for the purpose of negotiating her marriage to the Crown Prince. By all rights, once he had married another woman, she should have returned to her duchy. Yet even now, a year after the Crown Prince’s wedding, she was still residing in the palace.

It was possible that she remained because of her ties to the Empress. Nevertheless, to Seraphina, this seemed an appallingly careless decision on the part of her husband, the Crown Prince.

Judging by the behavior of the Empress and Lady Mireille, everyone would likely be better off if Seraphina simply disappeared.

“We should start by finding out the conditions for annulling a royal marriage.”

Seraphina spoke in a grave tone. At her words, Rosalynde froze, as though struck dumb.

Seeing her standing there, rigid and silent, Seraphina pressed,

“Rosie, tell me. Rosie?”

“Th-that is—”

Just as Rosalynde was about to answer—

“Oh my! Did you come out to welcome me?”

The overly cheerful voice of a middle-aged woman rang out behind Seraphina.

At the sound of her familiar voice, Seraphina’s eyes hardened. She bit down on her lower lip and slowly turned around to face the speaker.

“There’s no way I would.”

At last, she found the words to say.

Her birth mother and older brother stood before her, smiling as though they were genuinely delighted to see her.

***

“And what brings you all the way to the imperial palace?”

Inside the Crown Princess’s receiving room, Seraphina asked her guests coolly.

Picking up a macaron with her plump fingers, Marianne replied lightly.

“Does a mother need a reason to visit her daughter? Just because you’ve become royalty doesn’t mean we’re not family anymore, Your Highness.”

Speaking with practiced nonchalance, she took a bite of the pale pink macaron. She closed her eyes briefly to savor the sweetness, then curved her lips upwards.

“Mmm. As expected—everything tastes better in the imperial palace. Even the macarons.”

Seraphina’s expression twisted in response to her shameless attitude.

She couldn’t believe that her ill-fated relationship with her stepmother persisted even after she became Crown Princess. Becoming royalty had brought her nothing but trouble.

“If you came just to eat macarons, I’ll have some packed up for you. You should leave.”

“You’re being rude to your own mother, Your Highness.”

Sitting beside Marianne, Leoban bluntly interjected at Seraphina’s undisguised irritation. Brushing back his mother’s shade of brown hair, he continued.

“We heard that Your Highness had awakened.”

“News travels unnecessarily fast.”

“What did you say?”

In response to Seraphina’s mocking reply, Leoban’s eyes flashed angrily. When he picked up the jug of lemonade, she flinched.

Noticing this, Leoban smiled faintly and put the jug back down again.

“What are you so frightened of? Were you worried I might throw this at you, Your Highness?”

“Oh my, Leoban! Listen to the nonsense he’s joking about!”

Marianne laughed as though she had just heard something delightful, lightly patting her son on the shoulder. Eager to amuse his mother, Leoban chuckled along with her.

As they laughed together, Seraphina observed them impassively.

A joke — how absurd.

Throughout the years that Seraphina had lived at the Lindenrosen Viscount’s estate, Leoban had regularly beaten her. The reasons varied.

He was in a bad mood.

His drink didn’t taste right.

Or because he had lost at gambling.

There were hardly any days when Seraphina’s body was free of bruises from his kicks.

Meanwhile, Marianne pretended not to see any of it. Instead, she treated Seraphina as nothing more than a servant. While Seraphina’s father was alive, Marianne maintained the pretense of being a kind stepmother, but that performance ended the moment the funeral was over.

Following Rosalynde’s advice, Seraphina applied to become a palace maid, hoping to escape her hellish home.

At least palace maids lived within the imperial palace.

But even that escape had not been easy.

Even after becoming a palace maid, Seraphina was forced to hand over most of her wages simply because they were her ‘family’.

“How much did you receive in betrothal gifts when I got married?”

Seraphina asked in a cold tone.

The moment she had finished speaking, the mother and son stopped laughing abruptly. They turned sharp gazes on her as if they had never smiled at all.

“Why are you suddenly asking something like that?”

“I was curious. About how much you managed to wring out as my price.”

At Seraphina’s reply, Marianne twisted her red lips. A faint twitch rippled near her eye.

“My, Your Highness. Now that you’re royalty, you should refrain from speaking so crudely about money.”

“No matter how much it was, you’ll have to return it.”

“…What are you saying?”

Marianne tilted her head in confusion at Seraphina’s calm response. Facing the mother and son who had always treated her as though she were a purse, Seraphina spoke with steady composure.

“I’m planning to leave the imperial family. If the marriage is annulled, the betrothal gifts will naturally have to be returned.”

“What did you just say?”

“What do you think you’re doing?”

As soon as Seraphina had finished speaking, they both sprang to their feet. They looked as though they were about to grab her by the collar at any moment; their faces were contorted with rage.

“What? Annul the marriage?”

“Sephi, have you lost your mind?”

Calmly, Seraphina lifted her gaze to meet Leoban’s furious stare as he shouted at her. He clenched his fists as though he were about to hit her.

“Mind your manners, Viscount Lindenrosen.”

“Manners matter right now? Say that again. What did you say you were going to do?”

Leoban clicked his tongue, took a step forward and looked as though he might hit Seraphina at any moment.

When she faced him, her heart began to pound violently. She had spent years being beaten by him, and the memory was etched into her mind.

On the surface, however, she appeared calm. In truth, simply looking at him was overwhelming enough.

But she could not let it show.

If she showed any weakness, he would become her predator once more.

People like him had an uncanny instinct for sensing vulnerability. Of all the people Seraphina had ever known, her stepmother and half-brother were the most vile.

“Control yourself, Viscount. I am still the Crown Princess of the Empire.”

“You—!”

Leoban raised his clenched fist into the air.

At that moment—

Seraphina sprang to her feet.