As Theodor studied the strong, self-assured woman before him, a fleeting thought crossed his mind.

‘If we had met under different circumstances—not as a prince and princess—we might have become good friends.’

He knew little about her, yet he could not deny that he found Princess Lenoa intriguing. Perhaps, in another life, they might have formed a genuine bond.

But now, he had no choice but to question everything about her.

After all, Cerclezia stood to gain the most from this marriage.

By marrying the Crown Prince of Adelina—a man born with extraordinary magical power—the empire would secure a formidable ally.

For all he knew, Princess Lenoa might even intend to exploit his magic for her own purposes.

“You need not look at me that way. I have no intention of using Your Highness’s magic.”

“……!”

Theodor’s usually composed expression faltered—a rare occurrence.

He was not a man whose thoughts could be easily read, nor was he easily shaken.

“What do you mean?”

“I could see it. That look in your eyes as you tried to discern my true intentions.”

‘How perceptive.’

Now that she had seen through him, there was little point in concealing his suspicions.

“Yes, Princess Lenoa. I want to understand why you are so determined to proceed with this engagement.”

If he wished, Theodor could easily end their betrothal. Yet Princess Lenoa had remained adamant—almost desperate—to see it through, and he could not understand why.

‘She has no feelings for me… so what does she truly want?’

“My reason?” Princess Lenoa’s lips curved into a faint smile. “It is rather a long story. Are you certain you wish to hear it?”

“I am. At this moment, nothing matters more to me than understanding your reason.”

Her smile remained, but this time, it carried a trace of bitterness.

‘So you have already decided to find a way to dissolve our engagement.’

It was the second time that night she had read his thoughts with unsettling accuracy.

“My reason, is both simple and unmistakably clear.”

The perpetual gentleness faded from Princess Lenoa’s expression.

“I intend to expose Empress Scarlet’s crimes.”

Theodor blinked.

‘The Empress of Adelina?’

What possible connection could exist between the Empress of his empire and the Princess of Cerclezia?

As he struggled to comprehend her words, Princess Lenoa’s gaze grew distant. When she spoke again, her voice was steady, yet burdened by the weight of painful memories.

“I will tell you the truth I have kept hidden for far too long.”

“Your Highness, do you recognize this?”

Princess Lenoa reached inside her gown, withdrew a small object, and gently placed it on the table between them.

“This is……!”

Theodor’s breath caught.

It was a brooch, its sapphire gleaming faintly beneath the candlelight. He recognized it immediately. It had belonged to his late mother, the former Crown Princess of Adelina, and had been her most treasured possession.

“She gave it to me.”

Princess Lenoa said quietly.

“My mother… gave this to you? But how?”

For a moment, Theodor could only stare. The very idea seemed impossible. The brooch should have remained a family heirloom, carefully preserved among his mother’s belongings. It could not possibly have ended up in someone else’s possession.

Yet there was no mistaking its authenticity. The distinctive crest and intricate metalwork were details no imitation could reproduce. Only artisans serving the Adelina royal family could have created such a piece.

“It happened when I tried to take my own life. Her Highness—your mother—saved me.”

Theodor’s expression froze.

It had happened long ago, when his mother, then the Crown Princess, traveled to the Cerclezia Empire with her husband and their four-year-old son.

“During her visit,” Princess Lenoa continued, her voice calm yet heavy with sorrow, “I was six years old. I had just lost my right to the throne to my younger brother. In my despair, I tried to end my life.”

Her voice trembled faintly, but she forced herself to continue.

“I still remember standing at the edge of the palace lake, ready to throw myself into the water. But your mother found me before I could.”

From the moment she learned to read, Princess Lenoa had devoted herself entirely to becoming the perfect Crown Princess.

Even as a child, she studied until her nose bled, collapsed from exhaustion more than once, and pushed her frail body far beyond its limits.

Yet she had been happy then because she had a dream. She believed that one day, she would ascend the throne as the future Empress of Cerclezia.

“How could a woman possibly become emperor?! Princess Lenoa will never be named heir to the throne!”

But that dream—her sole reason for living—was shattered by a single merciless decree from her father.

It was the first time she had experienced the crushing weight of true rejection, as though her very existence had been denied.

To Princess Lenoa, her life and her position as heir were one and the same. Being stripped of her birthright was no different from being told that she might as well die.

“So I studied even harder after that. I did everything I could to earn my father’s approval. No matter how difficult it was, I endured it all—even at that age.”

Her voice trembled slightly as she spoke. Even after so many years, the wounds from that time remained painfully deep.

“I collapsed from exhaustion countless times, but I never stopped. All I wanted was for him to acknowledge me as the Crown Princess. Yet my father always said the same thing—“You should have been born a man.”

Theodor drew a sharp breath as the cruelty of those words tightened around his chest.

‘What difference does it make whether a ruler is a woman or a man?’

A quiet fury toward the Emperor of Cerclezia rose within him, and he released a slow, heavy sigh.

“My mother resented me as well. Whenever I sought comfort from her, she greeted me with nothing but coldness and cruel words.”

“This is all your fault! If you had been born a prince instead of a princess, His Majesty would never have turned to other women!”

Her father’s infidelity, the nobles’ whispers that the Empress was barren, and the endless procession of young concubines offered to bear him an heir—her mother had blamed her for all of it.

Her mother had allowed her anguish to fester into hatred.

“She said every misfortune that befell our family was my fault. As though I had chosen to be born a girl. She never forgave me for it. Then, the following year, she became pregnant again… and gave birth to the son she had always wanted.”

Her eyes glistened as though she might weep, yet no tears fell. Even so, Theodor could see the pain trembling beneath her composed expression.

“Your Highness…….”

He wanted to comfort her, but he did not know how. He had never comforted anyone before, and the words refused to come. What could he possibly say to someone who had carried such deep wounds for so long?

Noticing his hesitation, Princess Lenoa gave a faint, almost wistful laugh.

“Thank you… for wanting to comfort me.”

“But I have done nothing. Forgive me, Iam not very good at this sort of thing.”

She smiled again, more gently this time.

“No. The fact that you listened—that you felt any sympathy for me at all—is enough. I have always wanted someone to hear my story… and understand me.”

She had grown up in silence, surrounded by people who expected her to remain strong but never allowed her to be human. No one had ever listened to her pain. Because of that, Princess Lenoa had always been utterly, unbearably alone.

“You are the second person, Your Highness.”

“The second……? What do you mean?”

“The second person to sympathize with me—and to try to comfort me.”

At her words, Theodor lowered his gaze. Somehow, he already knew who the first person had been.

“The first was your mother, Her Highness, the Crown Princess.”

Even now, the memory of that day remained painfully vivid.

A magnificent celebration had been held in Cerclezia, a ceremony filled with dazzling splendor. Yet to the young princess who had been stripped of her position as heir, it had been nothing short of torment.

Her baby brother, not yet a year old, sat proudly beside their parents in the place that should have belonged to her.

Despite being their firstborn, she had been reduced to a guest at her own family’s table—an afterthought within her own palace.

Everyone had been smiling. Everyone except her.

Within that flawless portrait of happiness, she alone was the blemish—the stain that ruined the entire painting.

‘If I disappeared completely… would they finally remember me?’

Princess Lenoa slipped out of the banquet hall and wandered aimlessly across the palace grounds until a large tree came into view.

Everything after that became a blur. She remembered only standing beneath the tree with a handkerchief tied around one of its branches, clutching both ends in her trembling hands.

‘Should I die? Would they even grieve if I did?’

Her fingers trembled, and tears blurred her vision until the world dissolved into a haze. The suffocating certainty that she was utterly alone hardened her resolve—she would end her life.

But just as her body began to sway, a warm hand gently touched her trembling one.

“My dear, would you like to come down from there?”

“Hhh…….”

“It is all right. Everything will be all right.”

That gentle voice made Princess Lenoa realize the truth—she had never truly wanted to die. She had wanted to live. She had wanted to be loved.

Someone had reached out to her at the very edge of despair. All she remembered afterward was weeping for a long, long time within a warm embrace.

“Her Highness, the Crown Princess, took me back to her residence. She prepared a meal for me with her own hands. It was the first time in my life that I had ever experienced a mother’s love.”

“……Ah…….”

At the mention of his mother, a sound escaped Theodor’s lips—half sigh, half aching breath. His mother had loved to cook and often prepared meals for him herself despite her noble status. Hearing that she had done the same for Princess Lenoa left him with no reason to doubt her story.

“Until the day she returned to Adelina, she continued visiting me. She spent time with me and listened to me talk… Then, on her final day here, she gave me this brooch.”

And she had left Princess Lenoa with words that remained engraved upon her heart even now—

“A princess is precious regardless of her title or position. Remember this, Lenoa—you are precious and worthy exactly as you are. Never forget that.”

“I never knew. I never knew my mother had shared such a bond with you.”

The coldness that had shadowed his expression ever since his arrival in Cerclezia gradually began to fade. The walls of suspicion surrounding him softened, and for the first time, a glimmer of warmth appeared in his eyes.

Perhaps, without even realizing it, his wariness toward Princess Lenoa had already vanished entirely.

“I have never forgotten Her Highness, the Crown Princess. She was the woman who saved me… who taught me what love was. I could never forget her—or the injustice of her death.”

“…….”

Theodor clenched his jaw. His mother’s death remained a wound from which the empire had never truly recovered—a tragedy shrouded in scandal.

She had been adored by the people and praised as the Jewel of Adelina. Yet she had been accused of attempted poisoning—an allegation so absurd that it had shaken the entire empire.

Poison had been discovered in her chambers. Evidence had conveniently surfaced piece by piece, making her appear to be the culprit. It had all been too perfect—too meticulously arranged, as though invisible hands had orchestrated everything.

“I investigated everything I could, and to clear Her Highness’s name… I arranged this engagement with you, Your Highness. I personally established the terms and persuaded my father, His Majesty, to accept them.”

Her golden eyes met Theodor’s, blazing with conviction.

“Is that not what you have always wanted as well—to uncover the truth behind your mother’s death?”

“…….”

Theodor remained silent.

For a moment, his golden eyes darkened as though reflecting the flames buried deep within him. For years, he had suppressed his grief and concealed his fury beneath duty and silence.

Now, standing before him was a woman who claimed to have risked everything for the very same cause.