“Please, Your Highness, Crown Prince! Forgive me!”
Helena begged for forgiveness, but it was far too late.
Instead of responding, I lowered my head deeply. I could hear the words of others whispering around me.
“I didn’t realize she was so arrogant.”
“Indeed. I thought she was a respectable young lady…”
These were the words of the Duke and Duchess.
“Princess Riley, please don’t be too hurt. Helena is the one at fault.”
This was Lady Vanessa’s comment.
“I believe that to correct bad habits, appropriate punishment is necessary. Helena must understand how serious the crime of insulting royalty is.”
And this was my brother Francis’s statement.
“I-I’m innocent!”
“You can explain your innocence to the investigators.”
Francis was generally lenient, but he showed no mercy when it came to matters of the royal family.
That trait was a clear reflection of our father.
I felt a laugh bubbling up inside me, so I pressed my lips inward.
A sense of satisfaction coursed through me like never before.
☪︎ ִ ࣪𖤐 𐦍 ☾𖤓 ☪︎ ִ ࣪𖤐 𐦍 ☾𖤓
The largest hall in the palace was lavishly decorated.
Handcrafted chandeliers, luxurious carpets on the floor, elegantly styled tables, and expensive candlesticks adorning them…
I gazed at them all with indifference.
Perhaps it was because it wasn’t the wedding I had planned, or maybe because I had no romantic notions about weddings, but nothing about the decorated hall captured my heart.
Moreover, it wasn’t my first marriage.
I recalled the wedding I had with Henderson.
We had our ceremony in a small temple rather than a grand hall because my father opposed the marriage.
Our wedding was simple and quiet, with hardly any guests invited.
Still, I was truly happy back then.
Even without anyone’s blessings, I thought it was enough to have Henderson and our child by my side.
As long as I had the warm hands of my family to hold mine.
“…”
Suddenly, I felt a lump in my throat.
It wasn’t sadness over not being able to marry Henderson again.
What made me sad was the realization that I could never go back to those happy times.
It was too vivid a memory to simply bury as a happy past.
I wanted to forget, I thought.
“…Riley. Do you like it?”
The one who asked was my father.
He was personally overseeing the preparations for my wedding, a stark contrast to the past.
I shook off my nostalgic thoughts and stared up at the chandelier.
“Father, I wish the lights were more extravagant. Please replace them with something more expensive and beautiful.”
Then I shifted my gaze toward the carpet.
“What is this carpet? Anyone would think I’m marrying into a humble family.”
Finally, I looked at my father’s face.
“It’s a wedding with a man who has the good background you wanted, Father. Please spend more money.”
The more lavishly the wedding venue was decorated, the greater the disappointment would be if the wedding didn’t take place.
Despite my insistence, my father didn’t seem displeased.
“Very well. I will order a new one today.”
“Thank you.”
☪︎ ִ ࣪𖤐 𐦍 ☾𖤓 ☪︎ ִ ࣪𖤐 𐦍 ☾𖤓
A week had passed since Helena was punished.
She claimed her innocence, but all the nobles who attended the tea time and the witnesses I had prepared sided with me.
Helena was charged with the crime of insulting royalty. Her punishment was five years of confinement.
She was sent to a remote location, alone, without the support of her family.
Honestly, if I set my mind to it, I could take her life.
I could pretend to be a wounded woman and manipulate my brother or father.
But the reason I didn’t was that I didn’t want to become the same kind of person as Helena.
I didn’t want to take someone’s life in a despicable way.
If I killed her, I might gain the hatred of another person.
Of course, revenge was important, but a life with Eddie was more precious to me.
I hoped that no obstacles would arise in my life with my child.
Now that I had dealt with Helena, it was time to decide what to do about Henderson.
Just as I was sitting on the sofa in my room thinking about Henderson, I heard Matilda’s voice.
“Your Highness, there is a guest here to see you.”
“Who is it?”
“It’s Duke Henderson Graham.”
My body, which had been languidly lounging on the sofa, suddenly tensed.
“Henderson…”
His name slipped out between my lips.
Why had he come to find me now?
I pondered whether to meet him.
☪︎ ִ ࣪𖤐 𐦍 ☾𖤓 ☪︎ ִ ࣪𖤐 𐦍 ☾𖤓
Henderson had thought about her every day for the past few weeks.
The woman he believed was his destiny.
The one who had suddenly appeared, enchanted him, and then vanished without a trace…
He had tried to look for her, but it proved to be quite difficult.
First of all, Henderson didn’t know the nobles of the Lopez Empire well.
Before becoming a duke, he had spent a long time living away from home, and after becoming a duke, he hardly attended banquets or gatherings.
He didn’t enjoy socializing, nor did he want to face the unpleasant gazes of others.
“A duke born of a mistress.”
“A duke of lowly birth.”
He didn’t want to hear such whispers.
Sometimes, he wanted to scream that he didn’t want to be born a bastard either.
He couldn’t understand the reality of being blamed for something he didn’t choose.
And he couldn’t clearly remember her face, as the lighting had been excessively dim.
Just before falling asleep, as if under anesthesia, he had thought it would be easy to introduce himself to her in the light of day.
He hadn’t expected her to disappear like smoke.
All Henderson knew was that her hair was a cotton candy-like pink and her eyes were a green reminiscent of lush summer foliage.
And that she was small enough to fit snugly in his arms.
Among women with such features, ‘Princess Riley’ was the most famous, but he didn’t believe that everyone’s desired princess would spend a night with him.
So he secretly hoped that the mysterious woman would seek him out first.
However, she seemed to have forgotten his existence entirely, and he continued to dream of the same person.
The dreams featured his wife, who had loved him, their deceased child, and ultimately the wife who had come to hate him.
The more he dreamt of the same dream, the clearer it became than before.
Now, he could even hear his wife’s voice in the dream distinctly.
“Henderson. Did you ever love Eddie?”
“Do you no longer love me either…?”
Those words were mostly the musings of his dream wife.
‘Eddie.’
For some reason, that familiar name lingered in his mind.
And in the dream, he stood on the deck of a ship, whispering someone’s name in a sad voice.
“Riley…”
It was strange. A princess he had never met.
In the midst of it all, he heard some intriguing news recently.
“Helena Moore has been punished for insulting the royal family.”
The rumor had spread widely throughout the capital.
While it wasn’t clear how or which royal she had insulted, he unexpectedly heard a surprising story from Duke Bernard, whom he met by chance.
“Lady Helena was spouting nonsense related to the masquerade ball and insulted Princess Riley, which greatly angered His Highness the Crown Prince. Tsk.”
The duke, who already enjoyed gossiping about others, went on to share details without even being asked.
He even explained what that “nonsense” was—rumors that Riley had entered a room with a man.
At that moment, Henderson became convinced that the fateful woman he had met at the masquerade was Riley.
And he also realized that the man in the rumor was indeed himself.
What he had only suspected was now a reality.
