Clang!
The shattered wine glass exploded into pieces, making the maids scream and step back.
Zeta couldn’t contain his fury. It was a crushing sense of defeat—one he had never known, not even as a Prince. Rage clouded his mind, paralyzing any coherent strategy on how to deal with Armin, who had dared to defy the heir to the throne.
One trembling maid stepped forward to deliver a message.
“Y-Your Highness…”
“What?!”
“You… you have a visitor…”
Before she could even finish, the visitor stepped into the Crown Prince’s quarters.
“It’s been a while, Your Highness.”
“Armin Grey.”
Zeta growled the name, but Armin remained perfectly composed. Wearing a calm smile, he was dressed not in formal court attire, but in a sharp blue military uniform—unlike the one he wore earlier that day.
“I’ve just come from informing His Majesty of the court’s verdict.”
“Are you mocking me right now?”
Unlike the fuming Zeta, Armin was calm.
“With so many people around, what will you do if word of this gets out?”
Only then did Zeta glance around. The maids were standing still, watching the exchange with anxious expressions.
“Everyone out.”
“Your Highness…”
“Did I not make myself clear? Get out. Now.”
Displaying such disgrace in front of the staff would only make the Imperial Family look even more ridiculous if rumors spread. Even as everyone left the room, the smile on Armin Grey’s lips never faded.
Zeta gritted his teeth.
“How dare you defy the Imperial Family—!”
“Dare?”
Armin’s expression shifted in an instant.
“Looks like your humility has entirely disappeared since becoming Crown Prince.”
“What did you say?”
“I’ve just come from speaking with His Majesty. He gave his blessing to my relationship with Vivian.”
Father did?
Zeta was stunned by the unbelievable words. Armin chuckled at his reaction.
“Is it because you never received proper heir training as a child? Your thinking is pathetically slow.”
“That’s impossible. Don’t lie to me.”
“If you’re so sure, why don’t you go and ask him yourself?”
Zeta’s jaw clenched. He glared at Armin, but Armin’s expression didn’t budge.
“Even so, I’m still the Crown Prince of this Empire. Things will go as I—”
“Oh, really? Are you sure about that?”
Armin reached into his coat and pulled something out—something oddly familiar.
“Don’t tell me you don’t recognize this.”
Zeta’s eyes widened in shock. He immediately rushed to his desk and tore open a drawer—but the item that should have been there was gone.
“The Emperor gave this to you when you were officially acknowledged as a prince.”
Hanging from Armin’s finger was none other than Zeta’s birth bracelet.
“Earlier today, the Imperial lawyer said something in court: that love leaves behind evidence.”
Gone was the friendly Armin that Vivian had known. His smile had vanished, replaced with an unnerving calm.
“Now, who should I give this bracelet to?”
“What?!”
“Not many people know you used to sneak out of the palace and wander the city.”
Zeta had often escaped the suffocating palace to spend time among commoners who didn’t recognize his identity. Armin knew this well. To avoid attention from nobles, he had deliberately stuck to the less trafficked parts of the city.
And in those areas, there were plenty of dangerous places no noble should ever tread.
“How about a barmaid? One who’s carrying a child with no known father. I could turn your precious Imperial heir into a bastard that no one knows exists—without a trace.”
“Th-that’s… impossible!”
“You really think it’s impossible?”
Armin’s grin was chilling.
“Do you think that bracelet’s the only thing I have?”
“You—!”
“There are plenty of women who’d risk their lives for the chance to upend everything. Even if she’s never acknowledged as Crown Princess, she’d still live her whole life treated as nobility. Is that what you want, Zeta?”
“Ha! Are you seriously threatening me? Me? What if I decide I want Vivian Roha no matter what? A chastity rite? That pathetic ceremonial display—what use is it anyway? Do whatever you want, if your aim is to see a woman you once loved weep tears of blood.”
If he pleaded with the Emperor, Zeta was sure he would side with him.
But then, Armin’s relaxed expression hardened in an instant. The cold gleam in his eyes made Zeta flinch without realizing it.
Armin growled in a low, menacing voice.
“So. You’re truly planning to make Vivian Roha your Crown Princess? You think you can pull that off?”
“What?”
“A woman scandalized for her affair with the heir of House Grey—and you’d make her your legitimate wife? Even if it means defying the authority of the Vatican?”
Armin’s reply was laced with mockery.
“If you want to live your life as a forever tainted sun, go ahead. I’ll keep dragging Vivian’s worth through the mud until you’re forced to let her go. If you become Emperor with her at your side, what do you think will be left of you?”
Zeta wasn’t stupid. He didn’t need to think hard to understand which held more weight: Vivian Roha or the authority of the Church.
“Give up.”
His voice was firm, and Zeta involuntarily trembled.
“Of course, I’d rather not say this to someone I once considered a brother. I’ve always wanted to serve the future Emperor as a loyal vassal.”
Just moments earlier, Armin had been suffocatingly threatening—now his tone was deceptively gentle.
“…What is it you want?”
“To be left alone.”
Armin’s violet eyes shimmered with a strange light in the shadows.
“Leave me and Vivian Roha alone.”
“Tch.”
Just a woman, Zeta thought bitterly. He had desired her because she was the most graceful, the most dazzling. And like his mother always said, the finest things naturally belonged to the Imperial Family.
“Why go this far for her?”
“You don’t need to know why. If I keep dancing to your tune, my wife’s pretty face will never dry from tears.”
“Wife?”
“I’m just returning from proposing to her.”
“Ha!”
Zeta let out a hollow laugh.
“You expect me to believe she accepted a proposal from the man who humiliated her in front of all those people?”
“Of course.”
“You call that love?”
The man who once droned on about chastity and propriety had acted in a way that could only be described as villainous.
She was meant to become the most noble woman in the world—and she threw that all away to walk beside this villain. Any affection Zeta had for Vivian Roha vanished at that moment.
“You,” Zeta spat, now addressing Armin without even a shred of formality. He no longer cared that Armin was older.
“Once Vivian Roha sees who you truly are, she’ll regret everything.”
She would mourn the fleeting glory she gave up—the chance to become Crown Princess—all for a man like him.
“That might happen,” Armin said, nodding surprisingly easily. This time, it was Zeta who was left speechless.
“But even so, I have no intention of letting her go.”
Since the moment the world turned on Vivian after she helped Zeta, Armin realized that love alone wasn’t enough to have her.
He had been the perfect gentleman to her face, but he was ready to become the perfect villain if that’s what it took.
She looked beautiful when she smiled—so full of life, mischief, laughter, and chaos.
But her tears… he never wanted to see them again.
If anyone dared to covet her—even the Imperial Family—Armin was ready to stand against them.
“You’re a lot like Her Majesty the Empress. The way you love power more than anything else.”
Armin’s voice was dangerously quiet.
“Protect what you love. I’ll protect what I love.”
“As long as we each stay within our lines, we’ll both be safe. Whether you choose destruction or coexistence—that’s your decision.”
With that, Armin forcibly pried open Zeta’s hand and placed the birth bracelet into his palm.
Zeta’s expression twisted. Returning the bracelet was a message in itself: Armin had full confidence he could take it again whenever he wanted.
“I hope you understood me clearly. Pointless, uncomfortable clashes just aren’t worth the hassle for either of us.”
“…You’re insane.”
Armin Grey spoke as though Zeta had a choice—but if the Emperor had already acknowledged Armin and Vivian’s relationship, then the selection of a Crown Princess was a done deal.
There was no longer any room to fight it.
And yet, the fact that Armin had come all the way to the Crown Prince’s palace just to deliver this veiled threat made Zeta mutter without realizing:
“Yeah. I’m insane. And being bitten by a mad dog hurts more than you’d expect.”
So think carefully.
With those final words, Armin turned and disappeared, as though there was nothing more worth discussing.
After he left, Zeta ordered his attendants to bring out the ceremonial uniform he wore at his first imperial ball.
The deep green fabric had been made to match the gown Vivian had worn—his mother’s dress.
Zeta stared at it for a long time, then gave a single command.
“Burn it.”
“Your Highness?”
That was all he said before walking away.
After what had happened today, Vivian Roha’s “market value” had plummeted.
He could no longer keep a woman so riddled with scandals at his side.
The very thought made his previous obsession with her feel embarrassingly foolish.
There were countless women who would bloom like flowers at the mere gesture of his hand.
To turn against House Grey for a woman so tarnished wasn’t worth the cost.
The feverish emotions he once mistook for love had already cooled in the face of such humiliating circumstances.
