Chapter 20

“Flowers over here, what about the lighting? Chair, be careful with the chair!”

“Hey, don’t touch that! Leave it alone!”

Everyone at the Ivanstein ducal residence was busy running around frantically. Not a single person among them was idle.

All the gardeners had poured out to trim every tree and flowering plant in the ducal residence, while all the chefs gathered to check the recipes for the engagement banquet and verify the ingredients. The maids and servants began cleaning and organizing things with the determination to leave not even a speck of dust in the entire mansion.

Among them, the busiest was the butler who was overseeing all of this.

“Butler, please look at this.”

“You need to check this too! How should we handle it?”

“Sir Bane says he has something to discuss regarding the security boundaries in the restricted areas for guests!”

With the position of head maid vacant, every single detail of the engagement ceremony to be held at the mansion had to go through the butler’s hands. There were no elders in Ivanstein, and Genoa was busy, while the princess seemed to have lost her soul lately, so help couldn’t be expected from them.

“……Lin, call Lin here!”

Finally, struggling in the crowd of people looking for him, the butler urgently grabbed a maid passing by with something in her hands and called for Lin.

“She’s with the princess right now. Madam Rose the seamstress is there, so it will be difficult for her to leave.”

“Still, please beg the princess and bring her! Beg for my life!”

“……Hmm, alright!”

At the butler’s urgent cry, the maid moved her feet, unable to shake the feeling that it wouldn’t work. The butler was now completely buried by the crowd looking for him and could no longer be seen.

“Butler! Seamstress Monsieur Darlang requests an audience with the princess!”

“More importantly, Butler, Baroness Leopol has arrived. She says she has an appointment with the princess, but I don’t think she mentioned anything about this, is that right?”

“Count Mailo says he’s waiting at the front gate, claiming he had arranged to visit the princess earlier!”

“Butler! A lady calling herself Lady Roud is waiting at the front gate, saying she had arranged to meet with the princess!”

Surrounded by people amid the countless visit requests pouring in, the butler pulled at his hair. Even as a butler, he couldn’t maintain his composure in this maddening situation.

“Just how many nobles are coming today claiming they have appointments with the princess!”

The butler’s scream, bordering on a shriek, echoed throughout the mansion.

The butler had already turned away visitors who came to the mansion with such lies several times during this busy period. Moreover, since all those who came to the front of the mansion were nobles, sending them away through servants would be taken as an insult and cause more trouble. In the end, the butler had to go to the front gate himself yet again.

“Aaaaargh!”

The butler’s scream echoed far and wide, becoming an echo.

“……Hey, Lin. I think I just heard the butler’s voice?”

“You’re imagining things. The butler is too busy to come this way.”

Lin carefully wrapped her hands around Mel’s head as she looked around with perked ears, fixing her gaze straight ahead.

“More importantly, hurry and look in the mirror. See how beautiful you are!”

At Lin’s admiration, Mel looked at the mirror as she indicated.

“……”

The mirror reflected Mel wearing a dress that Genoa had personally selected, from the seamstress to the design, with the condition that no one else would ever wear the same design in her lifetime.

Made of white silk, the dress was decorated with gold patterns and diamonds, and was made to exact measurements following Mel’s body line, giving a smooth, gliding feeling.

Her long hair was brushed beautifully after being let down, and braided with golden threads mixed in between, matching the gold patterns of the dress. With the dazzling jeweled tiara that was said to have been worn by Ivanstein duchesses on their wedding days throughout generations placed on her head, she looked as if she was displaying the dignity of a newly crowned queen.

“You’re really, really beautiful……”

Lin looked slowly at Mel’s appearance and covered her mouth as if moved. This mysterious and beautiful feeling seemed to say that Mel was truly worthy of being the mistress of the Ivanstein ducal family.

“This is my masterpiece of a lifetime. Thank you so much for allowing me to create such a work with my hands, Princess!”

Behind Lin, Madam Rose, who was in charge of designing this dress, covered her mouth with both hands and sobbed like Lin. In front of these two people, Mel wore a troubled smile.

“……”

Mel silently stroked the hem of the dress with her hand. Just the soft touch on her palm made her feel how much money had been poured into this dress.

“My fiancée will be the most beautiful in this world. I will be the happiest man in the world looking at such a fiancée.”

Genoa had said this when he presented this dress. It was indeed as he had guaranteed. Mel knew that no matter how modestly she tried to think, her appearance was too pretty to be described by any word other than ‘beautiful.’

“Seeing this appearance, he’ll fall in love all over again.”

“Of course! I’m already excited to see what expression the Duke will have on the day of the engagement ceremony!”

Lin clenched her fists and showed them off, snorting at Mel’s murmur. Mel smiled slightly at her confident action.

“By the way, Lin. Don’t you need to go help the butler? He seems to have been looking for you for a while.”

“Ah……, just a little longer. I will go help, but I’m in the process of training him right now.”

“Huh? Training?”

“Yes.”

Lin curled up one corner of her mouth and looked toward the door. Since Mel was changing clothes, no one could enter the room without her permission.

In fact, someone had knocked on the door several times earlier at the butler’s call, but couldn’t achieve their goal. Everyone who needed to know in the mansion now knew that Mel didn’t like having people around and didn’t accept anyone’s help when changing clothes.

“You see, if I become the head maid of this mansion, I’ll need to work in harmony with the butler, but as you know, I’m a commoner and a former maid. For us to get along smoothly in the future, the butler also needs to learn how to obtain my cooperation rather than giving orders.”

“……Yes, you’re right. You will perform the role of head maid excellently.”

“Of course!”

Mel and Lin looked at each other and grinned.

Mel had proposed Lin’s position as head maid as a condition for her engagement to Genoa. Genoa had also said he was considering Lin as the head maid who would always be close to her as his fiancée, and further as the mistress of Ivanstein.

For a family like Ivanstein, the head maid would typically be selected meticulously from start to finish, but Genoa’s criteria was based on how much peace they could bring to Mel. After recognizing that he couldn’t find a more suitable candidate than Lin, he announced to everyone in the mansion that Lin would become the next head maid after the engagement ceremony.

“……Miss Lin, the butler is looking for you!”

No sooner had the words ended than there was another knock from outside, calling for Lin.

“Haah, really. I want to look more. The princess’s beauty, radiance, elegance, dignity……”

“Go on now.”

Mel smiled and pushed Lin’s back. Lin grumbled that she really didn’t want to go, but moved her feet as Mel pushed her.

“I’ve also seen how well it suits you, so I’ll be going now. I’ll come back to help with the fitting on the day of the engagement ceremony!”

Madam Rose also quickly packed her things and followed Lin out, showing her quick wit. As she walked beside Lin, she quietly whispered in her ear.

“But, is the princess truly happy?”

“Why do you ask?”

“The face of the princess, the protagonist of an engagement ceremony that everyone is looking forward to and envious of, seems somewhat…….”

Madam Rose recalled the princess’s face, which had seemed empty somehow while looking in the mirror wearing the dress.

“She looked sad.”

“……”

Lin bit her lip slightly at Madam Rose’s words. Quietly closing the door and walking down the corridor, she answered Madam Rose in an indifferent, curt voice.

“If you’ve heard about the situation, you’d know that the Reibritton royal family has come to the empire but cannot participate in the engagement ceremony? Her feelings must be complicated.”

“Ah, ah! That’s right. I was rude!”

“It’s fine. You only said it to me. Just be careful in front of the princess.”

“Of course, of course.”

Madam Rose pressed her lips shut with an “Oh!” Behind her, Lin walked away with large strides.

“The butler asks you to turn away the visitors who have come to the front gate! He says that since you’re now the head maid and close to the princess, the visitors will understand and leave if you tell them so!”

The maid who had been looking for Lin delivered the butler’s message and hurriedly went on her way. There wasn’t a single person in this mansion who wasn’t busy right now.

“Phew, now let’s try doing the head maid’s job.”

Lin also hurried to a carriage heading toward the front gate to lend a hand. The carriage carrying Lin also rushed between the mansion and the gate.

“……I had an appointment first!”

“The Princess told me to come visit during the last party!”

“How can you take passing remarks so seriously? It’s not even funny.”

“What did you just say, madam?”

The front gate of the Ivanstein ducal residence was in complete chaos. Lin, who quickly observed the situation, went to the front gate and shouted.

“The Princess will not receive any visitors today! The Ivanstein ducal residence cannot admit guests who don’t have an invitation or aren’t accompanied by the Duke or Princess! Please all go back!”

At Lin’s shout, the nobles gathered at the front gate began to whisper.

“They’re telling us to leave now?”

“Tsk, I thought if we insisted, they would let us in?”

While the nobles were murmuring, a quiet complaint erupted from inside a carriage waiting at the very end of the group.

“Sister, are we not allowed in now?”

“We’ll have to aim for later. Going through the front gate won’t work.”

“Can’t we just show your face and say we’re the princess’s family? They won’t be able to chase us away!”

“It’s not that simple, Amelia.”

Rowse Reibritton, who had arrived at the Ivanstein ducal residence, and the real princess, Amelia Reibritton, both sighed with annoyance at the same time.

Originally, Rowse and Amelia had planned to enter the mansion by blending in with the nobles visiting the Ivanstein ducal residence, using fake identities they had prepared in advance. They thought they could divert Ivanstein’s attention, even if just for a moment, by taking advantage of this hectic time right before the engagement ceremony.

Other noble families often had lax security when dealing with guests who came to congratulate them ahead of major events. They thought the Ivanstein ducal family would be no different, but they hadn’t expected them to block visits altogether.

“I knew the Ivanstein’s influence was great in the empire, but I didn’t know they would be so rude and arrogant to visiting guests.”

It was Rowse’s mistake not to have anticipated this situation. Being turned away at the front gate was truly a humiliation to be ashamed of for a lifetime.

However, there was no sign of such shame on the faces of the departing nobles. The fact that being chased away by Ivanstein was not even a matter of shame meant that the ducal family’s influence was that great.

Amelia narrowed her eyes and blamed Rowse.

“After all the trouble I went through to get here. You’re not going to make me go back like this, are you, Sister?”

“……I’ll explain to His Highness, so please give me some time.”

Rowse closed her eyes, pressing her throbbing forehead with her hand. Amelia, who didn’t find her trustworthy, looked out the carriage window with great annoyance at the nobles who were turning their horses one by one.

“Well, it’s not bad. It’s not bad, but……”

Amelia bit her lips repeatedly, scratching the carriage wall with her nails.

This family would soon be in her hands anyway. She could endure the current humiliation if she thought about how, as the Ivanstein duchess, she would be able to chase away anything she didn’t like without hesitation, just like that.

But the engagement ceremony was tomorrow. Amelia couldn’t stand the thought of that lowly slave daring to hold a ceremony with the Duke of Ivanstein under her identity. Besides…….

‘After the ceremony, she’ll offer her chastity to the duke. The moment the duke sees the scars on that wench’s body, it’s over.’

Thinking about it made her too anxious to bear. Her brother Adelian would try to create the same scars on her body to switch her with that slave.

She absolutely hated that. Absolutely.

Amelia took out the social gazette she had pushed aside for a moment.

[Genoa Ivanstein, this man has chosen the Reibritton Princess as his match. This is truly a remarkable achievement for Reibritton……]

The face of Duke Genoa Ivanstein was plastered right on the front page of the social gazette. Amelia looked at that face intently.

“I really like him.”

Throughout her journey to the Raon Empire, she had thoroughly read all the social gazettes that contained the name ‘Genoa Ivanstein.’ The more she read, the more she fell for Genoa Ivanstein.

The arrogant eyes that didn’t match his epithet as the ’emperor’s dog,’ the appearance so beautiful it was hard to believe it was human, and…….

“He didn’t have the eyes of an ordinary noble, that man was like…… a ruler of the empire.”

And that terror that appeared in Rowse’s eyes after visiting Viscount Roland’s residence.

Thinking that Duke Genoa Ivanstein had instilled that fear made a thrilling chill run up from the tips of Amelia’s toes.

“……!”

Amelia’s eyes widened as she spotted someone after taking her eyes off the social gazette and looking out the window again. She put down the social gazette she had just been looking at and hurriedly began searching through others.

“What’s wrong, Amelia?”

“Sister. Find me the social gazette I was looking at earlier, the one with the seamstress who designed the engagement dress.”

“Haah. Why don’t we just give up for now and aim for the engagement ceremony? We can approach after the ceremony is over. Viscountess Roland has agreed to help us during the ceremony, so we’ll be able to get inside somehow.”

“Find it when I tell you to!”

At Amelia’s shout mixed with irritation, Rowse placed her hand on her chest, her face distorted with humiliation.

“How could you……”

“Haah, now I understand why Brother was so frustrated. If you’re going to be this useless, you might as well go back and bring that Viscountess Roland woman to sit here instead.”

Amelia spewed venom from her mouth as she flipped through the social gazettes.

Whether Rowse felt humiliated or hurt by these words was not at all important to Amelia right now. She sincerely thought that Rowse, who was so carefree despite knowing this was an important moment for her, should be the one apologizing to her.

“Found it.”

A smile finally spread across Amelia’s face as she found what she wanted. She quickly turned the pages to find the section with the seamstress’s face and looked out the window.

“Madam Rose……”

As Amelia murmured the seamstress’s name, Rowse also seemed to get goosebumps, hugging herself and asking:

“Why, why are you like that?”

“We can get in, into the Ivanstein ducal residence.”

“How?”

Amelia gestured to Rowse. Following her gesture, Rowse looked out the carriage window.

“We can go in with her.”

“What?”

“With her.”

In the direction Amelia was pointing, Madam Rose and her assistant were walking unsteadily, each holding large packages in both hands.

“Didn’t you just hear? We need an invitation or to be accompanied by the Duke or Princess to enter the mansion.”

“I am the princess. What’s the problem?”

“Haah, Amelia. You’re not the princess here right now.”

“Why not? I’m the real one. Have you already forgotten how that slave was able to impersonate me here, Sister?”

Amelia brought her face close to Rowse’s. Seeing Rowse freeze in surprise, Amelia curled her lips and cackled.

“It’s because she looks exactly like me. To the point where it’s difficult to distinguish us if we try.”

Amelia’s heart began to pound and race. Just thinking about facing the slave who was like her long-lost twin made her hands itch with anticipation.

When they meet, the first thing she’ll do is cut that cheek with a knife.

Amelia began to hum a tune, imagining all sorts of cruel scenarios running through her mind.

* * *

“Princess, please go to sleep now. The Duke will sleep at the imperial palace and return in time for the engagement ceremony.”

“But it’s the night before the engagement ceremony, why doesn’t he come to the mansion……”

“I’m not sure. I heard he didn’t say anything specific to Sir Bane.”

“I see.”

Mel fidgeted with the blanket out of disappointment, glancing at the door from time to time.

After Genoa’s confession that day, they had been too busy with engagement preparations to face each other alone. Still, since it was the night before the engagement ceremony, Mel only now realized that she had been hoping Genoa would come to see her.

“You’ll have plenty of opportunities to be alone together after the ceremony, even if you don’t want to, so what’s the rush?”

Lin narrowed her eyes and giggled, teasing Mel. Having her feelings exposed, Mel blushed and pulled the blanket over her face.

“Lin, go and rest too! Tomorrow will probably be chaotic.”

“Hehe, alright. I’ll rest deeply and come to see that moment tomorrow when our Princess will be at her most beautiful, all refreshed.”

“……Thank you.”

Mel mumbled her reply, still hiding her face under the blanket. Lin understood her and smiled sweetly, then quietly opened the door and left.

Only after being left alone in the room could Mel finally pull back the blanket and show her face.

“Haah.”

Although she had wanted to move up the engagement ceremony, her feelings were complicated. She had clearly made up her mind. She had decided to clear up Genoa’s misunderstanding and survive, and had come this far for that. But since hearing his confession that day, her mind had been in complete disarray.

“You think I hate slaves because I was betrayed by a slave, but it’s actually the opposite. Because that child was a slave, she was trapped in this terrible family, and because she was a slave, she had no choice but to help me in the end.”

“……”

“What I hate is this family itself, which took that child away from me.”

All this time, Mel had thought Genoa resented her. That she had promised to help Genoa but ran away and died, and out of that sense of betrayal, he hated slaves and even took out his anger on the Reibritton Princess who resembled the slave. Even Bane, who knew the same secret, thought so.

But now that she knew this wasn’t the case, she began to doubt whether proving she hadn’t betrayed him would actually push Genoa back into the abyss.

Genoa no longer suffered from insomnia and was truly ready to escape from the family. He had clearly improved to the point where she was surprised to learn he could smile so peacefully.

“What should I do, young master.”

Mel had come too far to go back. Soon she would have to put down this fake identity.

“I hate it. I hate it so much.”

Tears began to stream down Mel’s face again. The sound of teardrops falling onto the blanket echoed in the quiet room. But soon that sound became rougher and gradually increased in volume.

Thud, thud, bang! Bang, bang!

This wasn’t the sound of her tears falling. Mel raised her head and looked at the window in front of her.

Thud.

Thud.

Thud.

“……!”

Someone was throwing stones at her window.

A face came to mind. Mel abruptly sat up.

“The Duke will sleep at the imperial palace and return in time for the engagement ceremony.”

Lin’s parting words came back to her. Could Genoa have returned early from the imperial palace? He might have come secretly like this because he felt bad about not seeing her face on the night before the engagement ceremony.

A flush rose to Mel’s cheeks. Without even putting on her slippers, she ran barefoot across the room and flung the window wide open. The cool night air rushed in, making her hair flutter.

She bent down deeply and looked below, searching for hair that would sparkle beautifully like fallen stars in this bright moonlight.

“Ah, what the…….”

Mel’s shoulders slumped in obvious disappointment. Her voice stretched out slowly. The one throwing stones at the window wasn’t Genoa.

“What on earth are you doing down there, Sir Bane?”

Bane stood awkwardly, unable to hide his embarrassment at seeing Mel’s openly disappointed face. He fidgeted anxiously, gesturing for her to come down.

“You could have just come to my room instead of going through all this trouble……”

Mel frowned, turned around, threw on an outer garment, and left the room.

The mansion was quiet as she made her way to the garden, with most people having gone to bed early in preparation for tomorrow’s event. A few servants who were still finishing up their work were surprised to see Mel walking around inside the mansion.

“Princess! Why aren’t you asleep and out at this hour?”

“I couldn’t sleep. I’m a bit nervous too……”

“Understandable. Would you like me to accompany you for a walk? Or shall I call for Lin?”

“Mmm, no. I’ll just get some fresh air and go back in. Lin will be really busy tomorrow, so I want to let her rest well tonight.”

“I understand. If you need anything, please call. I’ll be organizing the inner kitchen hall.”

“Thank you.”

Mel smiled and expressed her gratitude for the servant’s kindness. The servants blushed as if it was an honor, then awkwardly went back to finish their work.

Since the head maid had disappeared, the mansion’s staff had come to rely heavily on Mel and Lin. Mel was an infinitely benevolent mistress to Lin, and that benevolence quickly spread to those beneath her.

“After the engagement ceremony tomorrow, the princess will officially become a member of the Ivanstein ducal family, won’t she?”

A servant murmured, watching the princess’s back as she went through the mansion door into the garden.

“Ivanstein will really change a lot.”

Smiles spread across the faces of the servants as they imagined the Ivanstein ducal residence with the princess as its mistress. Since her arrival, the stiff and stern atmosphere of the mansion had gradually begun to change, and now it had become so vibrant that they could hardly remember what it was like before.

“At least the Duke smiles a lot more now.”

“That’s the best part.”

Even the Duke, who used to exude a cold chill that made one feel like their breath would stop just by making eye contact, had mysteriously softened and smiled more. That became the atmosphere of the mansion. The servants felt this change most keenly.

“I heard that the princess once saw the gardener’s gloves were worn out while walking in the garden and asked if there were no new ones, and the butler immediately provided the gardener with new gloves?”

“They say the Duke said that nothing imperfect should remain among the things the princess’s gaze falls upon.”

“Seeing how our treatment has improved, I guess the princess’s gaze falls on us a lot.”

Because the princess paid attention to and managed the staff, the butler also looked after them more attentively. Even those who had been managed by the head maid only began to benefit after she disappeared.

“……”

“……”

The servants looked at each other, feeling something warm inside their chests. Then, realizing their faces had become too relaxed, they avoided each other’s gazes in embarrassment and dispersed.

One of them, while organizing cleaning tools, heard the sound of a door opening and looked up toward the source of the noise. The sound came from the inner kitchen side door. He blinked for a moment and murmured.

“……I thought the princess went out to the garden. Why is she coming back this way?”

* * *

Bane, who had been waiting anxiously in the garden, quickly approached when he spotted Mel.

“Why are you so late!”

“There are still some servants working in the mansion.”

Mel complained as she adjusted the outer garment she had hastily thrown on.

She didn’t want to face Bane, who made her already troubled mind even more uncomfortable on this night. Since hearing Genoa’s confession, she had been busy suppressing the resentment and anger spreading like fire in her heart.

She didn’t bother hiding her displeasure as she spoke.

“Why did you have to call me out here like this? You could have just come to my room.”

“There’s somewhere we need to go.”

“What? Tomorrow is the engagement ceremony, where could we possibly……”

Despite Mel’s grumbling, Bane’s face remained hardened. Bane had always maintained a rigid attitude, but today his face was somehow different from usual.

‘Why is his expression like that……’

She could tell Bane was extremely tense. Even with the cool weather, she could see the cold sweat seeping from his forehead.

Something serious had happened.

“I found it.”

“Found what…… Don’t tell me?”

Bane quietly nodded. Mel’s hand trembled as she covered her mouth in surprise.

“The last entrance to the western garden. I found it.”

“……!”

Mel’s face instantly turned pale. Why now, when they had looked for it so desperately before? Why did it have to appear at a time like this?

“How did you find it? How!”

Mel asked as if she was about to lunge at Bane. Bane repeatedly opened and closed his tightly clenched fists from tension, then grabbed Mel’s wrist and pulled her along.

“I’ll explain as we go.”

Mel followed Bane limply. Noticing the emptiness in her eyes, Bane bit his lip.

All this time, Bane had been openly searching the western garden under the pretext of strengthening security to prevent guests from entering forbidden areas. From the moment he realized that the historical book Genoa was looking for was in the basement, Bane became sincere in his search for this basement entrance.

His master’s final task, handing over the family to the imperial family in the way that would be most horrifying to the successive dukes who had led the Ivanstein ducal family for generations. For that, Bane was prepared to enter the basement himself.

“There was one place that neither you nor I had thought of. Thinking about it now, it’s pathetic why we never considered that place.”

“Where is it?”

“The hut.”

“……!”

“That hut where you lived.”

Mel blankly opened and closed her eyes slowly. Bane too had worn the same expression as Mel’s current one when he found the entrance.

“The entrance was in front of that tree where there was a hole connecting to the basement.”

“How is that possible? I wore a blindfold and walked for a long time to reach a clearing, and then with the blindfold still on……”

“They deliberately went to the clearing and then back to make you lose your sense of direction. To make you lose your sense of direction. Besides, unlike other slaves, you also used another entrance, so it would have been even harder for you to guess.”

“That’s impossible……”

She couldn’t believe it. She knew the basement was under that hut, but to think the entrance was there too.

Her legs, which had been limply following Bane, gradually gained strength. At some point, Mel was walking, almost running, ahead of Bane with quick steps.

By now, she and Bane had entered deep into the western garden. A silhouette was quietly watching the two.

“……Two people confirmed entering the western garden.”

Two men, dressed in black from head to toe with masks covering everything except their eyes, were watching Bane and Mel’s backs to the end.

“Just as expected.”

“How should we report this?”

“……”

After hesitating for a moment, the man turned around and said.

“Tell him he should check it out himself.”

With these final words, the man’s silhouette disappeared instantly. The other person left alone in the western garden looked at the direction where Mel and Bane had disappeared for a moment, then likewise vanished.

* * *

A hollow sigh escaped between Mel’s lips as she stared at the entrance Bane had found.

“Ha.”

To think they could have found it so easily. It was so close, and all the time they had wasted unable to find it despite it being right in front of them now felt completely futile.

“It’s only about five minutes away from the hut.”

“……Yes.”

The last entrance to the Ivanstein ducal residence’s basement was gaping open, as if mocking them for being fools who couldn’t find it until now.

“Let’s be grateful we found it now at least.”

“……Grateful?”

Mel glared at Bane, suddenly upset by his words. He could say that because he didn’t know with what feelings, what heart she had been playing this fake identity role, and how much guilt she had been carrying.

This entrance should have been found much earlier. Before she heard Genoa’s confession, before he proposed, or perhaps even earlier than that.

“What difference would it make now to prove I didn’t betray him?”

“What are you talking about?”

“Now, revealing the truth about that night would only hurt the young master more.”

Mel’s tightly clenched lips trembled.

Genoa hadn’t fallen into insomnia from feeling betrayed by Mel, nor did he despise her enough to want to kill her if they met. He hated this family that had caused his mother’s death and imprisoned him in that terrible basement, and he was angry about Mel’s life being sacrificed because of it.

That’s why he was irritated by the Reibritton Princess who enjoyed all the things Genoa had wanted Mel to have with that identical face, as if it were natural, and he was also tormented by Mel’s face that naturally came to mind because of that face.

“My life, my breath, has become the young master’s guilt.”

Genoa had finally just barely escaped from that shadow. His insomnia had disappeared, and his eyes, which had been coldly filled with anger, now emitted a soft light filled with love. Genoa was envisioning a future. Just like in the old days when Mel was with him as a slave.

“When I become the Duke of Ivanstein, I’ll always keep you, Mel, by my side. You’re smart and wise and witty, so everyone will covet you, but I’ll never let you be taken away and will keep you close.”

Mel knew how beautifully Genoa’s eyes had shone when he spoke of the future, a future he would create by living on.

“Mel, if you believe in me, I really think I can survive. When I come out of there alive, I’d like to see your face first. That would make me feel like I’ve truly survived.”

Now she understood why he had developed insomnia when he heard she had died. Because he believed she was dead, Genoa had been unable to escape from that basement all this time.

“The young master no longer suffers from insomnia. The Reibritton Princess pulled him out of the basement where he was trapped by my death.”

“What on earth are you talking about?”

Bane looked bewildered. Facing Bane’s face that seemed to say he knew nothing, the resentment Mel had been suppressing in her heart swelled endlessly. Mel’s sharp gaze shot at Bane.

“Why did you lie to the young master like that, why?”

“……!”

Bane’s face instantly turned pale.

“Was it because you wanted to become the Knight Commander? Because you wanted to monopolize the young master’s trust? Do you know that all of this started with that one lie from you, Sir Bane?”

“I, I just couldn’t stand by and watch my lord fall apart. I couldn’t just watch my lord take risks to find you when he had just become the heir to Ivanstein and needed to establish himself in the family!”

“So you deceived the young master?”

“It was a crucial time. The Duke of Ivanstein was suspicious of my lord at the time! Because my lord, who should have been rushing to take over everything in the family, was neglecting everything to find one insignificant slave!”

Mel looked at Bane with a dumbfounded face. She had just realized how Bane had been deceiving his master and justifying his own guilt all this time.

“The previous Duke of Ivanstein couldn’t find out about my lord’s hatred. At that time, my lord’s power wasn’t complete, and the previous Duke was still robust enough to prepare another test by looking for a different successor. I couldn’t let him take such risks by looking for you……”

“So what?”

“……What?”

“What are you trying to achieve by telling me this?”

At Mel’s skewed words, Bane couldn’t make any retort and just opened his mouth. He seemed completely unprepared for her to respond this way.

Mel thought this moment might be the most exhausted she had felt since coming to the Ivanstein ducal residence.

“In the end, you didn’t trust the young master, did you? We were people who followed the young master’s lead and assisted him. Everything should have been decided by the young master, and we should have followed those decisions.”

“But you didn’t see the young master at that time. He wasn’t in his right mind then!”

“Why do you arbitrarily judge that! Even if the young master made a dangerous choice himself, if that’s what he wanted, you should have helped him to the best of your ability! Not by blindfolding him!”

Pierced by Mel’s tearing scream, Bane momentarily froze, unable to say anything.

“Sir Bane, you just held the outside situation that the young master didn’t know about at that time in your hands alone, taking away his choices and wielding them yourself.”

“……!”

“You’re still afraid, aren’t you? Afraid that young master will find out about your insubordination. You cooperated with me because you wanted to somehow wash away that sin.”

A self-deprecating and bitter smile formed on Mel’s lips.

It wasn’t right to blame only Bane. She too, even at this moment, hadn’t revealed the truth to Genoa. Mel had no right to direct such sharp criticism at Bane. Nevertheless, she couldn’t help the resentment that welled up.

“I tried to look at myself again and again so as not to blame you. Because it was I who chose not to return to the young master even though my mother blocked it with her life. Because it was I who chose my mother between the young master and her.”

Because nothing would change if she just resented Bane. Still, if Bane had honestly confessed to Genoa, if he had helped him find Mel……

“Thinking that all of this was because I didn’t return to the young master then……!”

Even while being beaten and abused by Amelia in Reibritton, she had endured those days imagining that Genoa might come to rescue her someday, to the point where it now seemed foolish.

“Can you even imagine how much I came to hate myself when I thought young master’s terrible insomnia might be because of me?”

Mel’s very existence became horrifying to herself. She collapsed in front of the basement entrance they had searched for so desperately and shed tears endlessly.

“……If I reveal that I was trying to deliver the map to the young master but was stabbed by the previous Duke, nearly died, and ended up in Reibritton, the young master, who has just found stability, will push himself back into that hell.”

“That’s……”

“The size of the betrayal and guilt the young master would feel is now beyond imagination.”

Mel couldn’t push Genoa, who had just barely escaped this hell, back into the hell of that day. She absolutely couldn’t let Genoa, who had met the Reibritton Princess and succeeded in moving forward by burying this terrible hell in a corner of his memory.

“The young master once read me a fairy tale.”

“……”

“It was a story about a mermaid from the sea who fell in love with a prince who lived on land.”

In the story Genoa told, the mermaid from the sea loved the prince so much that she saved his life when he fell into the sea. When she returned to land after paying a price to be with him, the prince mistakenly believed another woman had saved him.

At that time, the mermaid lost the will to tell the truth when she saw the eyes of the man who believed another woman had saved him and had fallen in love with that woman. Even though she knew she would turn into sea foam and disappear if the prince didn’t love her.

Back then, Mel had clutched her chest in frustration at the mermaid who didn’t tell the truth, but now she understood the mermaid’s feelings.

“That mermaid couldn’t bear to see the prince, who had found peace through love, suffer from betrayal. Even if she herself disappeared, even if she couldn’t reclaim the love that should have been hers.”

Mel’s empty eyes turned to Bane.

“Can the young master forever distance himself from this hell as long as the Reibritton Princess is by his side?”

Even if that Reibritton Princess isn’t me?

She knew it was a foolish thought. She knew she shouldn’t do this. But for Genoa, if Genoa could truly be happy. Mel felt captured by the feeling that she could just disappear like this.

“……”

Bane couldn’t respond to Mel’s words for a moment. There was not a single thing he could refute among the things she had shouted.

As Mel said, Bane hadn’t trusted his master, had blindfolded him, and so when his lord spent countless nights sleepless with insomnia, he turned a blind eye even though he knew the cause.

Bane couldn’t face his lord squarely. That’s why he couldn’t even earn his complete trust. Perhaps that’s why among the many things Genoa might be thinking about and proceeding with, there were things Bane couldn’t understand.

Genoa doesn’t completely trust Bane. The source of the map, the whereabouts of the historical book that should have been with the map—Bane had no answers to give Genoa. Because the answers were held by Mel, not Bane.

Bane asked Mel, who was staring blankly at the basement entrance with empty eyes.

“Are you planning to disappear like this?”

“……”

Mel’s face showed she was contemplating for a moment. Then, as if she had firmed her resolve, she answered in a calm voice.

“If I can confirm my mother’s safety, maybe it would be better not to be greedy and just leave. The young master is someone I shouldn’t be greedy for, someone I can’t be greedy for from the start.”

“But if you leave, my lord who has already given his heart to you……”

“Only my existence will disappear, the Reibritton Princess will remain.”

“You!”

Mel’s face twisted miserably, as if even imagining it was difficult. The mere thought of Amelia Reibritton, the real princess, standing next to Genoa made her feel like vomiting.

Looking at Mel’s precariously wavering eyes, Bane was seized by one thought.

That he must not send this girl, this poor thing, away like this. Because he realized that his own weakness, his hastily swallowed fear, his wrong judgment and cowardice in not telling the truth had driven Mel into this corner.

And now, at this very moment, he realized that even this child was trying to make the same mistake as him.

“You too, like me, are holding this truth that my lord doesn’t know alone in your hands, taking away my lord’s choices and making a decision that wields them.”

At Bane’s words, Mel’s eyes widened. Her parted lips trembled.

“No, I…!”

She tried to deny it, but the words got stuck in her throat and wouldn’t come out.

“My lord, upon learning the truth, might tremble with betrayal, might be swallowed again by forgotten hatred, might suffer again from that terrible insomnia. But that too is for my lord to choose and judge.”

“So you’re saying I should confess everything? Even that the noble princess he proposed to is not a noble princess but a lowly slave?”

“Yes.”

Bane’s face showed he had already made up his mind. To confess his sin and await his lord’s judgment. Mel’s heart was cruelly shaken by the face that revealed such determination.

“You’ve been robbed of too many things in your life. Living as a slave has made you think that’s too natural, but don’t let yourself be robbed of the opportunity to confess the truth yourself.”

“……”

“If you’re robbed of that too, all the efforts you’ve made struggling here will just be deception to my lord.”

A bitter smile formed on Bane’s lips. This was a message for Mel, but by saying these words, he too could realize.

“My lord has given his heart to you. Whether to withdraw that heart or not is his choice.”

“……”

“So don’t run away, Mel.”

Mel’s body trembled as if struck by lightning. After blinking her eyes for a moment and steadying her breath, she eventually collapsed on the spot as if her legs had lost all strength.

“I guess I was afraid of the young master finding out the truth.”

“……Yes.”

Confronted with her own emotions that she hadn’t known herself, Mel couldn’t come to her senses from the shock.

She was afraid of Genoa discovering her deception and lies. She only now realized that she had been about to choose to run away, even if it meant hurting him again.

“If only I had confessed the truth from the beginning.”

If she had, even if Genoa hadn’t come to like Mel, the misunderstanding would have been cleared. There would have been no need to go around in circles like this. Thinking about it now, belated regret rushed in madly.

But there was no time to just regret. Mel roughly wiped away the tears welling in her eyes with her palms. As she made her decision, her heated head cooled down calmly, and only then did it start working normally again.

“Sir Bane, how do you see the current situation of the Ivanstein ducal family?”

“……?”

Bane couldn’t grasp the sudden question. Mel hurriedly added an explanation.

“I’m asking about the relationship between the emperor and Ivanstein.”

“Ah.”

Now understanding what Mel was trying to say, Bane answered.

“My lord is truly sharpening his blade as if he’s in opposition to the emperor. Since his last private audience with the emperor, he hasn’t been granted an audience.”

“The young master will probably insist on taking positions opposite to the emperor’s opinion at meetings held at the imperial palace. And the nobles he associates with will be anti-emperor figures.”

“……How did you know that!”

Bane opened his eyes wide in surprise. Unable to enter the imperial palace meeting hall, Bane could only grasp what Genoa told him. But he was amazed at how Mel seemed to see through the situation clearly despite not having any proper informants in the Ivanstein ducal residence.

“The invitations to tomorrow’s engagement ceremony were sent out dividing the pro-emperor and anti-emperor factions. The social papers are buzzing that the Duke of Ivanstein has finally stopped being a lapdog, but the situation was probably more serious than what the social papers are gossiping about.”

“Do you have any idea why my lord is taking such an attitude?”

“Of course.”

Mel nodded and stood up, putting strength in her legs. Bane tried to support her, but Mel raised her hand in refusal. She couldn’t show weakness anymore.

“The young master isn’t the type to scheme things so openly. If he really wanted to turn away from the emperor, he would rather wear the face of a terribly sweet loyal subject to the emperor. That way, he could create an opportunity to stab the emperor in the back without any noise.”

“……!”

“The young master is taking this attitude now because he needs to show it to the First Prince. The First Prince needs to believe that Ivanstein moves according to its own will for the rebellion to occur.”

Bane’s mind flashed back to what Genoa had said before.

“The First Prince, who had been keeping his mouth shut like a clam, finally opened his heavy mouth, and I needed to show that the threats were working.”

As Mel said, Genoa had attended Viscountess Roland’s party, who was the First Prince’s mistress, to show that threats worked on the First Prince. Genoa’s open opposition to the emperor probably began after that.

“Are you saying my lord is waiting for the rebellion?”

“Because the young master suspects the First Prince holds what he wants. He thinks the First Prince will bring it out when Ivanstein is most desperate.”

“If it’s what my lord wants……”

“What the young master wants is only one thing. Revenge on the Ivanstein ducal family.”

Bane doesn’t know. But Mel knows. Because Genoa confessed it with his own mouth. Genoa wanted to destroy everything the Ivanstein ducal family had built up over hundreds and thousands of years.

“He thinks the First Prince has the Ivanstein ducal family’s historical book.”

“……!”

“While it’s true that the First Prince knows about the true nature of the Ivanstein ducal family, the historical book, as you know……”

“Is in that basement.”

“That’s right.”

Mel was now certain of what the last gift she could give to Genoa was before confessing everything. Before, she had tried to obtain it because she wanted to live and wanted to escape, but now it was different.

“We can’t let the First Prince expose the history of the Ivanstein ducal family. Even if no one believes the exposure because there’s no evidence.”

Now the path was clearly visible. Mel’s eyes had more life in them than when she had despaired as if she had lost everything.

Even if Genoa couldn’t forgive her in the end, even if he couldn’t hold back his anger and killed her, if that was Genoa’s choice, Mel felt she could humbly accept it and close her eyes in peace. The moment she made up her mind, Mel felt free for the first time since coming here.

“To perfect the young master’s revenge, no one should know that Ivanstein was once the ruler of this country. Because the wandering ghosts of Ivanstein would be pleased.”

Genoa chose the Second Prince, the current emperor, not the First Prince. This meant that the one who would hold the historical book, the leash of the Ivanstein ducal family, was the Second Prince. If this guess was correct, the emperor would be expecting rebellion by now. And that the army coming with the Reibritton royal procession belonged to the First Prince.

Mel had to hurry. She knew who the First Prince wanted to appoint as the vanguard commander of that army, so she had to hurry even more.

“We don’t have much time. Before the Reibritton royals reach the imperial palace, we need to prove to the young master that the First Prince doesn’t hold the leash.”

She wished for Genoa to have as many options as possible, to get one step closer to the revenge he wanted. Mel had now decided to help Genoa’s revenge. For Genoa, not for herself. For Genoa, who would have to endure the hell that would unfold again with her confession.

“Reibritton made a foolish choice. They should have taken the emperor’s hand, not the First Prince’s.”

The Reibritton royals made this choice probably because they feared the man named Genoa Ivanstein. They wouldn’t have had the confidence to stand on the opposite side of Ivanstein, who was currently in opposition to the emperor. She could feel the fear deeply engraved in the bones of the Reibritton royals, as great as the shock of their palace collapsing.

“The young master drove the royals to make the worst choice. By making it seem like he was supporting his fiancée who was betrayed by the Reibritton royals.”

Genoa probably orchestrated things this far with the intention of dealing with the First Prince and Reibritton simultaneously. If so, Mel had to help him as much as possible.

“I need to go back.”

“You’re going into that place now?”

“No, I said I’m going back. To the mansion.”

“……?”

Mel had been burning with determination as if she would enter the basement and bring out the historical book right now, but when she suddenly said she was returning to the mansion, Bane couldn’t figure out what to do.

“It’s the night before the engagement ceremony. I need to prepare to welcome guests.”

Mel repeatedly clenched and unclenched her fists, then exhaled a tense sigh. Then, she smiled faintly at Bane and said.

“Because I rushed the engagement ceremony, there’s one guest who will be coming here urgently.”

* * *

The mansion where everyone had gone to bed early in preparation for the next day’s engagement ceremony. Mel moved her steps, taking in every corner of the mansion now sunk in silence.

Bane had offered to escort her to her room, but Mel refused. She wanted to be alone in her last moments as a princess.

“……”

The sound of her footsteps echoed loudly through the corridor as she walked alone. Mel vaguely thought that this sound was like the sound of her own heart thumping in her chest.

A moment later, when she arrived at her room door, Mel didn’t open it right away.

Knock, knock, knock.

Though it was her own room, she knocked as if she’s visiting someone else’s room. Surprisingly, a voice answered from inside the room where there should have been no owner.

“Come in.”

As expected.

A bitter smile spread across Mel’s lips. It was a moment she had prepared for. She had expected that person would come this far. But as the moment approached, she realized that the fear that had been building up was trying to consume her body again.

‘I am not a slave bound to Reibritton Castle. My life is no longer that person’s.’

Mel recalled the words she had been muttering all the way to her room as she placed her hand on the doorknob. Opening the door that felt heavier than ever before, she entered the room, and the woman standing in front of the wide-open window smiled brightly with joy after confirming Mel’s face.

“It’s been a while, my vulgar Amelia.”

Like looking in a mirror, a woman with exactly the same face as Mel smiled with a face full of joy that Mel had never worn.

Mel looked at her as if she were a stranger. Thinking about how long she had been here for a face she used to see all the time in Reibritton to become so unfamiliar, she said.

“I believed you would be able to find your way here, and you didn’t come late.”

Mel quietly closed the door and slowly approached the woman. As Mel’s face was gradually revealed in the moonlight entering the room through the window, the woman’s face slowly began to distort.

“I set the date a bit tight because I wanted to talk alone. I hope you’re not displeased.”

“On my way to reclaim my place, I naturally had to hurry, but how did you know? That I would arrive here alone today.”

To the woman’s question, Mel answered as if it were obvious.

“Because only the princess could break through the security of the Ivanstein ducal residence. Among the people of the Ivanstein ducal residence, there is no one who doesn’t know the face of the Reibritton Princess,”

“……”

“And the princess looks exactly like me.”

Slap.

With a burning pain on her cheek, her head turned sharply to the side. It was a strong force enough to make her neck stiff.

“Have you been living well with my identity?”

Amelia Reibritton. The princess who had her name stolen by a vulgar slave had finally come to reclaim what was hers. The hardships of her life on the run must have been tough, as Amelia’s face had lost the dignity it once had. She had lost the composure that came from noble blood, and her eyes, having forgotten the sweetness that wealthy power brings, were hungry.

Rather, Mel’s upright posture and calmly settled gaze were so pure that they befitted the name Amelia Reibritton that she was currently wearing.

“They were days beyond my worth.”

Slap.

With Mel’s answer, this time her head turned in the opposite direction. Amelia’s bloodshot eyes, still not satisfied after evenly slapping both cheeks, now glared at Mel’s slender neck as if wanting to strangle it. Barely suppressing that impulse, Amelia spoke in a voice that seemed like she wanted to devour Mel.

“Of course they were for you. But, you know, I never granted you such glory.”

“……”

That’s right. Amelia had never granted Mel such glory. She hadn’t granted it especially because she didn’t know it would become glory.

“I told you to die. Why didn’t you listen?”

“Either die here as Amelia Reibritton, or deceive the old emperor.”

“……!”

The command from that day flowed from Mel’s mouth. Because that voice was chillingly similar to her own, Amelia unconsciously took a step back.

“Because the old emperor died, I only deceived the Duke of Ivanstein.”

Mel slowly straightened her turned head. Then, looking directly into Amelia’s eyes, she said.

“I said I wouldn’t disappoint you.”

The urgency of that day returned once more, though even the memories of it had grown blurry. What did I say to that slave? Amelia groped for the memory she had roughly thrown aside in her mind. As if helping her, Mel continued to recite what Amelia had said that day without missing a single letter.

“Remember. I’d prefer if you died here, but even if you’re lucky enough to survive, I am Amelia Reibritton, the princess.”

“……”

“A fake can never replace the real thing.”

Mel looked at Amelia, who was blinking as she tried to recall her memories, and laughed hollowly.

“I was lucky enough to survive, so I never forgot. Throughout my time in Ivanstein, I endured each day feeling to the bone that I wasn’t the real princess of Reibritton.”

Mel had strictly kept Amelia’s final command. Not because she was Amelia’s faithful slave. It was just that the slave imprint deeply engraved in Mel’s soul knew to the bone that she was a fake.

“Our poor Mel, please don’t get caught.”

“……!”

Amelia seemed not to know why she had said such a thing.

“Because you told me to get caught and not to get caught, I didn’t get caught.”

This was the result. Amelia was able to reclaim her identity that she had abandoned to survive. She should rightfully have expressed gratitude to Mel. But Mel didn’t even hope for that much. What she wanted was only one thing.

“So now it’s your turn to keep your promise to me.”

Mel had endured all of this to safely rescue her mother, who was in the princess’s grasp. While Mel survived in the empire as Amelia Reibritton, the more the value of this name rose, the more her mother’s utility value also rose. Mel wanted to hold onto her mother’s life even by raising her own utility value like that.

“My mother, where is she now?”

“You……”

Amelia blinked her eyes for a moment, then curled up the corners of her mouth and smiled palely.

“Ah, yes. That’s right. Your mother. I did promise you your mother.”

She could now recall one of the things she had said. And having recalled this fact, Amelia began to laugh, lowering her head.

“I commanded you to do so if you wanted to save even the life of your lowly mother.”

Ha, hahahahaha!

A burst of maniacal laughter erupted from Amelia. At the chillingly joyful sound of laughter, Mel instinctively realized that something had gone wrong.

“You’re really a smart child, Mel. That’s why I left you to die in the collapsing castle, but you tenaciously survived and built another castle here in the Raon Empire.”

Amelia leisurely looked around the room. The well-maintained room was not as good as the royal palace where she had lived in the past, but it was quite nice for resting her body tired from life on the run. But it was only nice enough for a brief rest. It couldn’t satisfy her aesthetic sense.

“You were quite smart. But perhaps because your origin is vulgar, you were somewhat mediocre.”

“What does that……”

“How could someone as lowly as you understand all my noble thoughts? That’s why you’ve annoyed me so many times.”

Looking at Mel had always raised that question. That child somehow managed to solve problems she couldn’t solve, memorize formulas that were difficult to memorize, and understand literature filled with emotions Amelia couldn’t begin to comprehend—all when Amelia ordered her to do it in just one day.

But why couldn’t she understand that Amelia would be annoyed by this? No matter how much a master ordered a slave to do something the master couldn’t do, why didn’t she understand that showing superiority over one’s master made no sense?

If Mel had truly been wise, she should have failed appropriately the moment Amelia gave such an order. She should have been beaten to a pulp, claiming she was too stupid and that if Amelia couldn’t do it, neither could she.

If she had done that, perhaps Amelia’s heart would have been satisfied and generous enough to spare Mel’s life when abandoning her. Wasn’t that what Mel truly wanted?

“You can’t properly read your master’s heart. I’ve shown you mercy many times, but seeing that you’ve only believed the words coming from my mouth, I’ve had enough.”

Amelia truly couldn’t understand Mel. But that’s why Mel’s foolishness pleased her.

“You still don’t know me at all.”

Foolishly.

Amelia added quietly as she lifted Mel’s chin with her finger.

“I don’t trust you. My trust is far too generous for lowly creatures like you. But what about you?”

“……”

“Do you trust me?”

Mel’s face slowly began to contort as she seemed to guess something.

Amelia both liked and disliked that face. Seeing a face identical to her own distorted with despair and pain was like looking in a mirror, creating the illusion that she herself would suffer such despair and pain.

So Amelia pushed Mel away. Thud. Mel collapsed weakly on the spot.

“Come to think of it, you’re a daughter who doesn’t even know her own mother well. Ah, how pitiful. I wonder what face your mother would make if she saw you like this here.”

Amelia turned around and looked out the wide-open window. A beautiful night sky full of twinkling stars spread above.

“Can she see here from there?”

“Mother, my mother……”

“Hmm? What? You need to speak louder. So your mother can hear you.”

A cruel smile formed on Amelia’s lips. She liked seeing Mel bowing her head, on her knees and squirming at her feet. It suited Mel perfectly, just like an insect.

“I really intended to spare your life. Though it was a bit cumbersome, I needed a maid for chores. I was going to use you as a substitute.”

Her voice sounded genuinely regretful.

Mel, who had been unable to recover from the shock for quite some time, asked in a trembling voice.

“But, why, why did you kill……”

“My goodness. Who said that? That I killed her.”

“……!”

“Your mother just died on her own.”

Mel jerked her head up. Her wide-open eyes trembled, as if she couldn’t believe it. Immediately displeased, Amelia raised her foot and pressed down on Mel’s head. Mel’s cheek was crushed against the floor. The burning hot cheek cooled rapidly as it pressed against the cold floor.

“She said if she died, you would be free.”

When Amelia informed Mel’s mother that Mel had been sent to the Raon Empire in place of her, she thought the woman would be happy. It was quite a decent life for a slave to not die by the Duke of Ivanstein’s sword on the spot and instead become even a toy for the old emperor.

But that night, after hearing the news, Amelia couldn’t have imagined that Mel’s mother would take her own life.

“You know, I think your mother had been wanting to die all along. Otherwise……”

Amelia remembered the last expression on Mel’s mother’s face. She was smiling. That smile looked so peaceful that Amelia momentarily thought Mel’s mother was having a pleasant dream.

“It was really strange. It didn’t seem like she died for you. It felt more like she had finally freed herself from the shackles that were you—ack!”

“No!”

Mel rose up, sharply twisting Amelia’s ankle that had been pressing down on her head. As a result, Amelia fell backward, hitting the back of her head on the windowsill, and rolled on the floor screaming in pain.

“It hurts, it hurts!”

Amelia writhed exaggeratedly in pain from the small injury. Meanwhile, Mel, now fully standing on her two feet, glared at Amelia with fiercely shining eyes. Faced with this sudden reversal, Amelia’s face flushed red with shame even amid the dizzying pain.

“How dare you, how dare you…!”

This was something that could never happen. That this lowly creature not only dared to touch the noble princess’s body but also looked down on her master?

Amelia’s mind raced quickly, thinking about how to punish this, how many lashes would be appropriate. The pain was quickly forgotten under the name of shame.

“I wanted to have a nice chat since it’s been a while, but you’re hastening your fate.”

Amelia decided to summon her last patience to teach Mel, who failed to recognize that even this conversation was an act of mercy she was bestowing.

Slowly rising to her feet, Amelia looked at Mel’s hands, which were trembling while clenched into fists. She could see blood seeping between her fingers where her nails had cut into her palms from clenching so tightly.

‘Tsk, that foolish thing.’

Not knowing how to take care of her own body was proof of her lowly slave birth. Amelia decided to consider it a stroke of luck that Mel had not been discovered while imitating her at Ivanstein all this time.

“Now that your mother is gone, you no longer need to follow my orders, right?”

“……”

“And I no longer need you either.”

Amelia raised her hand and pointed to the door.

“Leave.”

Though she was a guest who had entered this room for the first time today, Amelia pretended to be the owner quite convincingly. In this mansion, all that belonged to Amelia was her name that Mel had taken on. But with that alone, Amelia became the owner of everything Mel had enjoyed and gained here.

“Ah, if you’re planning to imitate me, don’t bother.”

Amelia curled one corner of her mouth and sneered at Mel, who was still glaring at her.

“Your body still has those hideous scars, right? How could you claim to be a princess with those?”

“……Do you think you can adapt to this mansion without my help? Can you deceive even the Duke of Ivanstein’s eyes?”

“What’s impossible? And even if it is, what can you do about it?”

Amelia shrugged as if nothing mattered.

“I am the princess of Reibritton, and tomorrow I’ll be the fiancée of the Duke of Ivanstein.”

Everything had to revolve around her. If Amelia knew nothing else, she knew at least that much.

“Even if I act a bit differently than usual, the lowly ones will eventually adapt to my whims, what else can they do?”

Could Mel understand that nothing was a problem for Amelia? She thought it didn’t matter if Mel didn’t understand.

“……”

Mel was still unable to recover from the shock. But she had imagined this moment of confrontation with Amelia dozens, hundreds of times. Her feet began to move as she had practiced countless times in her mind.

“Live your life thanking me in the distant future. Just remember that I spared your life!”

Amelia’s joyful sneer clung to Mel’s back as she scurried out of the room like a mouse. Mel gritted her teeth and ran down the corridor, trying to shake it off. It was the kind of running she hadn’t been able to do while wearing the disguise of a princess.

Now it was over. Over. Pretending to be a fake princess, the meaningless jokes she shared with Genoa who had become the Duke of Ivanstein, the affection, the promises. Everything was now over.

Now Mel could go anywhere. Anywhere, wherever she wanted. That’s why, even with her mind in complete chaos, Mel followed the same path she had come.

“So please wait here. I’ll meet the guest and come right back.”

Though her vision blurred with endless tears, the path she needed to take was clearly visible.

* * *

Tap, tap, tap.

Only the sound of fingers tapping on the desk barely filled the silent room. For a while, this sound continued, seeming about to stop but never quite stopping. Only the occasional sound of paper flipping provided some variation to the silence.

“……”

“……”

The two men in black uniforms with black masks covering their faces couldn’t even make a sound of breathing as they gauged their master’s mood.

A considerable amount of time had passed since he had finished reading the report and then started reading it again from the beginning, repeating this process. Though they knew he was now at the stage of contemplating how to handle the contents of this report rather than actually reading it, the two men trembled slightly each time a page of the report turned.

The suffocating tension was finally relieved when their master finally spoke.

“……See it with my own eyes?”

“That would be the most certain, we thought.”

One man promptly answered. When the master’s eyes narrowed at the quick response, the man, feeling he had made a mistake, hastily added:

“We simply couldn’t judge with our eyes. Besides, you would know Sir Bane’s intentions best.”

“You said they went to the western garden together.”

“Yes.”

Tap, tap, tap.

Once again, fingers tapped on the desk. The two men realized that another suffocating silence had begun and closed their mouths again.

Flip. The first page of the report turned once more.

[Body found in abandoned hut, appears to be suicide. Identity confirmed. Mother of a maid who served the Reibritton Princess, of slave origin. The maid is also of slave origin. Tracing the sales route, confirmed to be from Raon’s slave auction.]

Flip. The second page of the report turned.

[Those continuing to live in hiding with the maid are three knights of the Reibritton Princess. And the princess’s nanny. The princess’s maid. A total of five. Of those, two escaped and only one knight, the nanny, and the maid continue to live in hiding.]

Flip. The third page of the report turned.

[Among the jewels the maid appears to have stolen from the royal palace, none are named or valuable. Attempt to confirm maid’s face. Failed. Retry. Failed. Retry. Success.]

Flip. The fourth page of the report turned.

[Confirmed the maid resembles the Reibritton Princess’s face. Being of slave origin, she apparently did not get along well with the princess’s knights or nanny. Confirmed that throughout their life in hiding, the knights and nanny showed respect to the maid. Need procedure to reconfirm identity.]

Flip. The fifth page of the report turned.

[Observation of the princess’s behavior within the ducal residence. No particular abnormalities. Busy preparing for the engagement ceremony.]

[People contacted: Sir Bane, Céline, butler, seamstress]

[No abnormalities. People contacted: Sir Bane, Céline, butler]

[No abnormalities. People contacted: Sir Bane, Céline, butler]

[Observed sending Céline away or waiting for moments when she’s absent whenever talking with Sir Bane.]

[Sir Bane discovered the entrance to the basement.]

Flip. The last page of the report turned.

[Confirmed Sir Bane and the princess entering the western garden together. Direction of the basement entrance.]

[The princess observed passing through the mansion’s main gate with the seamstress and heading toward the mansion. The seamstress returned after passing through the gate.]

[Same time as Sir Bane and the princess entered the western garden. Currently two Reibritton Princesses in the mansion.]

“Ha.”

A short breath barely escaped between Genoa’s lips, as if it might be cut off. No matter how many times he read and reread, the contents of the report didn’t change.

“Do you remember that maid I mentioned before?”

“I hope you can find that child.”

“That child took something precious when she ran away.”

He had decided to receive reports again because he wanted to do something for the princess. On the day he learned that the princess could solve his insomnia, he made a deal with her. The princess would solve Genoa’s insomnia, and he would look into the whereabouts of the maid who had taken something precious from her.

He had escaped from insomnia as he wished, but it bothered him that the princess hadn’t obtained the precious thing she wanted. Genoa wanted to place in her hands everything she desired.

“What do you want? Immortal crops from my garden…… What? You say no such crops exist that can survive in that garden?”

But the things the princess wanted were only such trivial matters. There was nothing to satisfy him. So Genoa sent people to Reibritton once more. The princess said she no longer needed anything precious, but Genoa remembered the affectionate look in her eyes when she mentioned it.

“I’m looking for my mother.”

Genoa realized what that look had been longing for far too late. That’s why Genoa could experience his mind turning completely blank in a way he couldn’t believe himself.

Nothing came to mind, nothing was felt. After spending a long time meaninglessly flipping through the report, only one question finally arose in Genoa’s mind.

“Now that even she is dead and gone…… Will she run away?”

That one question quickly reorganized Genoa’s thoughts.

On the day Ivanstein invaded the Reibritton royal palace, the maid who escaped from the palace was probably the real Reibritton Princess. However, a princess abandoned by the royal family to the point of needing to set up a maid who looked exactly like herself as a double would not have had the capacity to take the maid’s mother with her.

Given the character of that child in Genoa’s memory, the mother would have been bait for the princess, or a hostage to provide motivation for her double to do an excellent job. Since she cherished her mother dearly, as long as the princess held her mother, she couldn’t act rashly.

“The reason she maintained that lie all this time was because I……”

Genoa’s voice suddenly stopped mid-mutter.

‘Because I didn’t tell the princess about the situation in Reibritton.’

It was because of that document he had considered giving to the princess but then ordered burned.

[It appears there was a straggler among the group. After passing through the forest near the border, the number of people changed. Awaiting search orders.]

Being a smart child, she would have instantly sensed it the moment he handed over this document. That the princess had abandoned her mother. If he had, would the child have revealed her identity to him, realizing the shackles binding her had been released? Or would she have tried to deceive him until the end, as she is now?

What was her expression when she heard her own story from my mouth? Did she smile? Did she cry?

“Ha, hahahaha.”

A laugh that sounded deranged burst from between Genoa’s lips. The two men standing before him read the situation and silently left the room, killing their presence.

“Deciding to spend the night at the imperial palace was a good choice.”

Genoa looked out the window of his office in the imperial palace at the beautiful palace garden and thought.

How fortunate it was that he couldn’t rush to the princess’s room from here right now.

His trembling hand touched the scabbard at his waist, then fell away, then touched it again, repeating this pattern.

“……”

Genoa, who had been glaring at the unusually bright sky where stars twinkled clearly, turned back and picked up the report placed on the desk.

“Currently two Reibritton Princesses in the mansion……”

The engagement ceremony was tomorrow. Tomorrow, which woman would walk into the venue wearing the dress he had prepared?

A cold smile formed on his  lips.