I reassured Nathan, who looked surprised.
“No, it’s not something you can’t reach for a lifetime. If you drink the potion again, you’ll be fine. So, there’s no need to worry.”
“I see…”
He sighed after hearing my words.
For now, he seemed relieved.
I carefully distanced myself from him to avoid any contact.
“By the way, since the mood is already broken… can I ask you something?”
“Sure?”
“Why did you make such a scene earlier, in front of His Majesty? I wouldn’t have minded if you blamed me to some extent.”
He chuckled lightly at my question.
“I wouldn’t do something so pathetic.”
“Hmm, so you mean you didn’t want to blame anyone else? It’s not because you have any other feelings for me.”
“…That can be said.”
I smiled as I faced him.
“You seem happy; is that a good thing?”
“You might not have realized, but I really like that side of you. Being emotional and overly affectionate can be exhausting.”
“…”
Only someone emotionally dull can part ways cleanly.
I was genuinely glad that Nathan was a similar type of person to me.
I had mustered the courage to open up, but he didn’t respond significantly.
‘He’s not answering. Was there something in my words that upset him?’
The silence was stretching too long.
I felt like I would suffocate in that heavy silence if I stayed quiet.
I decided to force the conversation to continue.
“Shall we go handle the second matter now?”
“The Duke?”
“Yes, since His Majesty has permitted it, my father will probably allow it too… but I still need to mention it.”
He turned his gaze out the window for a moment, lost in thought.
“That’s true. But do I really need to go?”
“Excuse me?”
“Anyway, the Duke will likely grant permission easily.”
“Hmm, that’s true, but…”
“Since it’s a fake marriage to break off the engagement with Regis, I don’t think I need to show my face. If it were a real marriage, that would be different.”
Thinking it over, his point was valid.
Why would He need to go home to greet them?
After all, I wouldn’t be marrying him for real.
“You’re right. I can go by myself.”
Not wanting to bother him, my political partner, I immediately agreed.
However, his eyes seemed to narrow slightly again…
‘Does he look upset? Is that just my imagination? It must be, right? I’ve done everything he asked, so he shouldn’t be unhappy.’
It wasn’t something I could ask directly.
I stopped observing his reaction and hurried to prepare to go to the Duke’s residence.
* * *
As soon as Regis arrived in his bedroom, he began rummaging through the wardrobe roughly.
He pulled out the gifts from Claudia that he had stuffed in the corner.
The embroidered handkerchief she had forced on him as a gift,
The gloves she had similarly insisted he take,
The belt she had shoved into his hands…
He threw them all onto the floor, creating a mountain of items.
It was an enormous amount.
Of course, he hadn’t received anything for a month, but there was still plenty.
“Is anyone there!”
He called out loudly, and soon a servant rushed in.
“Yes! Here I am!”
“Take all of this and burn it!”
“Pardon?!”
The servant couldn’t believe his ears and asked Regis again.
All those items were expensive goods that seemed too valuable to throw away.
Moreover, they were still as good as new since he had never used them.
“Didn’t you hear me? I said to take it all and burn it immediately!”
“Understood!”
Only then did the servant hurriedly lift the mountain of items.
He tried to leave.
“Wait a moment!”
Regis called the servant back and stared at the ring on his finger.
It was the engagement ring he had exchanged with Claudia when they pledged their engagement.
Though he had worn it out of his father’s command, it had always felt like a heavy chain around him.
‘No one will say anything if I take it off now.’
However, Regis couldn’t bring himself to remove it.
He just kept fiddling with it endlessly.
“…Damn it.”
After hesitating, he finally pulled the ring off with a curse.
“Get rid of this damn thing so I never have to see it again.”
He tossed the ring to the servant as if throwing it away.
Then he quickly chased him out the door.
* * *
It was quite a long journey, and I only arrived at the Duke’s residence after sunset.
Since it was my first time staying out without a word, the atmosphere inside the house was cold.
As soon as I arrived, I was summoned to my father’s study.
“I heard you were looking for me.”
“I heard you went to the palace.”
My father, Duke Rubellasis, interrogated me with a sharp gaze.
The glass eye he had received after losing his real one in the war was always chilling to see.
However, what truly frightened me wasn’t that fake eye.
It was the real one.
‘He always has that look.’
His genuine eye, piercing through everything, was the source of my fear.
In his youth, he had been so passionate that he lost his sight while protecting the emperor, but now he had turned into a worn-out businessman.
It was a long time ago when he had refused the emperor’s goodwill to marry thier children together, feeling burdened by it.
Later, he used that engagement to gain various investments from the nobility.
And he skillfully turned that capital into a much larger fortune.
‘It’s not strange for people to change over time. But the Duke has aged particularly badly.’
In other words, he was a ruthless businessman devoid of blood or tears,
The one who raised Claudia and Luke to be terrible people,
And the middle boss who was pushing Naila into a pit of suffering…
That was my father.
In true villain fashion, he asked in a cold voice.
“What did you do to stay at the palace for a day? I trust you didn’t make any mistakes that would embarrass me.”
“I went to see my marriage partner.”
“Oh, you met His Highness the Crown Prince. Good. Since he will be your husband, you should visit him often.”
“No.”
As his gaze returned to the book he had been reading, it quickly shifted back to me.
I faced him squarely and clarified.
“The marriage partner I met is Prince Nathan.”
His eyes seemed to squint, struggling to understand my words.
“…What do you mean?”
“I told you last week, and the week before that. No, I’ve been telling you for a month now. His Highness the Crown Prince does not love me, so if we marry like this, it will be unhappy.”
Finally, he closed the book he had been reading and approached me closely.
His gaze was so sharp that I wanted to take a step back.
He came close enough to tower over me, looking down coldly.
“…Are you saying you intend to break off the engagement with His Highness Regis and marry Prince Nathan?”
“…Yes.”
Suddenly, he burst into loud laughter.
As if he had heard something very funny.
His laughter, unexpected from someone who usually didn’t smile, only instilled fear.
“You’re out of your mind. Prince Nathan is a defective product. He can never become emperor.”
“…”
“And you choose Nathan over the rightful heir, Crown Prince Regis? Are you truly insane?”
Though he was my father now, he still acted like a villain.
He hadn’t done anything particularly bad yet, but his words were exactly what a villain would say.
I decided to try to persuade him.
“No, that curse I…”
“Even if His Highness the Crown Prince is indifferent, it’s absurd to speak so easily without trying to improve the relationship.”
“…”
“What do you plan to do about the disgrace your foolish choice will bring to our family?”
He revealed his prioritization of the family over my happiness so blatantly.
I couldn’t help but scowl.
At this rate, persuading him would be difficult.
‘Ultimately, what the Duke desires is for me to become the Empress, right? But Nathan has decided not to take the throne, so he can’t make me the Empress… Tsk, he’ll oppose the marriage to the end.’
So I proposed an alternative.
“What about Naila? Since His Highness Regis wants Naila more anyway, can’t she marry instead of me?”
“That child is not my blood. I don’t see her as a perfect member of our family.”
He denied Naila in a firm voice.
“When you were sick, I needed another daughter. The Emperor hoped that the royal family and the Duke’s family would be more closely linked through marriage, and I wished for that too.”
“…”
“So I brought her in as a substitute for you, truly out of necessity…”
He patted my shoulder a couple of times and continued.
“Now that you’re healthy, why would I give the best groom and the position of Empress to a child who isn’t even my blood?”
‘If you keep holding onto that rotten mindset, Neila might be the one to kill you when she becomes Empress.’
…That thought rose to my throat, but I held it back.
“Even if you dislike it, Father, it’s too late to turn back. I’ve already spoken to His Majesty and received permission.”
“What!?”
Once the Emperor was mentioned, the Duke finally lost his composure.
He grabbed my shoulder tightly enough to hurt.
“You foolish girl!! You did something like that without consulting me?!”
He called for the servants in a loud voice.
Then he ordered the servants who rushed in to take me away roughly.
“Take her and lock her in solitary confinement!”
“Father!”
I thought that, as his biological daughter, I would be treated better than Neila, but I was wrong.
I was a fool to believe that.
I never imagined I would be locked away.
“Wait! Father! This is unfair! Father!”
Calling out to him was useless.
He didn’t even glance my way as I was dragged out by the servants.
