Chapter 00
Of course, it was me who started it first.
To ward off the clingy male leads, I had to cling to them first.
“Young master Douglas, why do you keep turning your eyes to other women? From now on, just look at me.”
“Gabriel, remember clearly. Your master is forever me . Don’t even dream of being distracted.”
“Count Callisto, what I’m delivering is mine now. I have no intention of handing you over.”
No, perhaps it wasn’t just a little…?
Anyway, I thought with my tearful sacrifice, the male leads would reform, and peace would come to the empire…
“Aria, how long will you torment me?”
Once again today, someone suddenly hugged me from behind.
The original obsessive male lead and my fiancé, Jeffrey Douglas.
“Gasp!”
I was startled and tried to push him away.
But the more I tried, the stronger Jeffrey held onto me.
“You said to only look at you. So I’m doing just that. But why…”
“…”
“Why won’t you accept my proposal? Huh? Aria, say something.”
I felt warm breath on my ear. With each inhale, the scent of strong wood permeated my lungs.
“This is driving me… crazy.”
I tried to gather my fading thoughts.
I only clung to them to reform the obsessive male leads.
Now that the reformation is over, I didn’t have the slightest desire for things to go well with them.
“So please, won’t you let me go?”
I pushed him away, swallowing back tears.
“Jeffrey, I take back what I said then. You can look at other women. No, please do. There are plenty of people who like you anyway.”
“…What?”
“And let’s break off our engagement. If you’re okay with it, let’s do it right now…”
“Break off our engagement?”
For a moment, Jeffrey’s voice sank coldly.
“What’s going on?”
“He grabbed my shoulder and swiftly turned me around. I found myself facing him in an instant.’’
Jeffrey’s eyes scanned my face thoroughly, as if trying to see through me.
“Ah, I see. Aria, are you being coy right now?”
“What… what do you mean?”
And I blurted out such nonsense.
“You said it yourself. Last year, on the day I asked you for engagement… ”
“…”
“Don’t play coy and start preparing for the wedding ring. I told you not to dream of breaking off the engagement because you’re the only one for me.”
“Well, that’s just… I mean, I was just trying to prevent the downfall of the empire…”
It wasn’t my true intention at all…
But whether Jeffrey knew or not, he simply whispered to me straightforwardly.
“Can’t you just take back those words?”
“…”
“Aria, stop playing coy and choose a wedding ring. I’ll take care of the rest.”
After delivering his ultimatum, Jeffrey smirked satisfactorily.
Judging by his gaze, he didn’t seem likely to easily agree to a breakup.
“This… this is…”
The actions I took to reform obsessive male leads ended up backfiring on me.
But the problem was, my troubles didn’t end there.
“Master, why aren’t you as obsessed with me as before? I feel hurt…”
Gabriel, the original obsessive male lead and the High Priest, murmured to me as if pleading.
“What nonsense is this…”
It was clear that Gabriel’s mind had gone awry.
I bit my lip and politely bowed my head.
“To call me ‘Master’… How could someone as humble as me dare to be the master of the esteemed High Priest? Please refrain from saying such things.”
“Hm? But you said it yourself. You are forever my master. Have you already forgotten?”
“Ha… this is…”
‘’That darned trouble came back to haunt me once again.”
“Even though Gabriel’s position was much higher than mine, he continued to call me ‘master.’’
It was absolutely maddening.
“Archpriest, please forget about the past rudeness. Whether it was as your master or whatever, it was just a foolish act on my part. I deeply regret it now.”
“Well….”
However, Gabriel frowned slightly, feigning pity and disgust.
“If you keep drawing lines, I feel sad. I became an archpriest like a dog for you…”
“I never asked for that!”
I cursed him with my eyes, but it seemed like Gabriel couldn’t hear me.
Suddenly, Gabriel knelt on one knee and kissed the back of my hand.
Chaste.
His smooth lips lightly touched my hand and then withdrew.
I stared at Gabriel in astonishment.
“Master, please restrain me like you used to.”
“A-Archpriest… w-what are you… saying…”
“If you don’t like it…”
Slowly lifting his head, Gabriel smiled with closed eyes.
“Should I give you an order, Master?”
“…Excuse me?”
“Then you wouldn’t be able to refuse my command, right, Master?”
His tone was gentle, but the content was anything but gentle.
‘Oh no….’
I felt like something had gone terribly wrong.
To make matters worse, I was caught by the obsessed male lead from the northern dukedom.
“I finally found you.”
“Even though Gabriel’s position was much higher than mine, he continued to call me ‘master.’’
It was absolutely maddening.
“Archpriest, please forget about the past rudeness. Whether it was as your master or whatever, it was just a foolish act on my part. I deeply regret it now.”
“Well….”
However, Gabriel frowned slightly, feigning pity and disgust.
“If you keep drawing lines, I feel sad. I became an archpriest like a dog for you…”
“I never asked for that!”
I cursed him with my eyes, but it seemed like Gabriel couldn’t hear me.
Suddenly, Gabriel knelt on one knee and kissed the back of my hand.
Chaste.
His smooth lips lightly touched my hand and then withdrew.
I stared at Gabriel in astonishment.
“Master, please restrain me like you used to.”
“A-Archpriest… w-what are you… saying…”
“If you don’t like it…”
Slowly lifting his head, Gabriel smiled with closed eyes.
“Should I give you an order, Master?”
“…Excuse me?”
“Then you wouldn’t be able to refuse my command, right, Master?”
His tone was gentle, but the content was anything but gentle.
‘Oh no….’
I felt like something had gone terribly wrong.
To make matters worse, I was caught by the obsessed male lead from the northern dukedom.
“I finally found you.”
Tristan suddenly approached me and pulled me tightly into his arms, so forcefully that I could hardly breathe. I was too stunned to resist.
“I searched the entire continent just to see you again. And here you are… so close,” he said.
“Um, what do you mean?” I stammered.
“Don’t play dumb. I know everything,” he replied.
My mind went blank. Not only was I puzzled about how he recognized me, but I was also worried about my safety.
“He knows everything, he might try to kill me,” I thought to myself.
But strangely, he pressed his face against my neck and took a deep breath, as if he were examining prey, sending shivers down my spine. Then, unexpectedly, he spoke again.
“Ariadne… now that we’ve met again, I’ll never let you go,’’he said.
“What… What do you mean?” I asked, confused.
“No, no, not that. I meant, dear, would you call me dear?” he murmured, recalling something I had said two years ago.
“Oh… this is bad,” I thought, feeling a chill run down my spine.
“I must flee. Exile is the only solution,” I thought to myself.
So, in the dead of night while everyone slept, I hastily left the mansion. I planned to seek exile far away from the Empire. But then…
“Aria, where are you going?” Maytapju somehow found me.
“Why is he here at this hour?” I wondered, as I honestly answered his question.
“I’m going into Exile. Don’t try to find me.”
“Exile? Why?”
“Why do you think? Because of those crazy bastards.”
Marceline was my business partner who knew all my secrets. So just saying this much, he would understand my situation completely.
Sure enough, Marceline nodded as if he understood.
Then, with a sly grin, he approached me.
“Aria, don’t do that…”
As Marceline smoothly took my suitcase from me, he suggested,
“How about I just… take care of them all for you?”
“What?”
“I’ll make sure those disgusting bastards never lay a hand on you. So just tell me.”
“What, what are you saying…”
What? Why is he suddenly like this?
I stepped back in confusion. Then I glanced up at Marceline’s face.
…No matter how I looked at it, it didn’t seem like he was joking.
“W-why are you suddenly like this? It’s not like you have anything to do with it anyway.”
“….”
“Just me going into Exile will resolve everything. Don’t worry about it.”
“Well, why is that?”
As much as I stepped back, he came closer. Before I knew it, we were so close our breaths were mingling.
‘What, what’s going on?’
Feeling uneasy, I tried to step back again. But his large hand wrapped around my waist, preventing me from going anywhere.
Marceline looked down at me with a smirk.
“Aria, why do you think I’m doing this?”
“….Huh?”
“Try to guess why I’m doing this… I thought I was giving away too much, but…”
Marceline’s deep blue eyes bore into mine. They were filled with emotions he couldn’t hide.
‘Why, why did I only realize this now?’
No, that’s beside the point.
Only then did I realize one important fact.
Ah, I’m screwed this time too…
