/
Demimore was staring coldly down at me as I cowered in my cell.
I crawled in the direction of Demimoore relying solely on the dim moonlight that illuminated the prison.
It felt as cold as a lie when I grasped the iron bars separating us.
As I approached him, he just stared down at me motionless. His eyes were as red as the sun, and I didn’t try to evade them; I met them directly.
I was surprised that the color red could be so cold. His cold stare felt even colder than the iron bar I was holding.
It was comparable to staring at a lowly insect. A strange confrontation was taking place between us. He kept his gaze fixed on me before he asked quietly.
“Let me ask you again.”
“

.”
“What made you do that?”
Alas, I don’t know how many times I’ve answered the same question.
“Because I love His Highness.”
Yes, and I am aware of the reply that will follow this response.
“It’s not love.”
Really, it’s a dull and predictable response, so I just chuckled and lowered my head.
“Astina is having a hard time because of you. You were the only friend she had when she was young.
.”
“That damn Astina has never been my friend.”
“Mary Conler.”
“It’s amazing how she thinks we were friends for a long time.”
Demimore closed his eyes to my sarcasm, as if he was trying to be patient with me.
He slowly bent his knees and then, like me, grabbed the iron bar and came close to my face, sharply asking me.
“If you kill her, do you still think you can become my fiancĂ©?”
“It’s better to kill her than to be her friend.”
As far as I could tell, he had cold eyes and a dry voice. I could feel Demimore’s hand trembling as he gripped the bars.
I couldn’t help but laugh at his ridiculousness. As if he sensed my laughter, he let go of the bars and stood up.
He called the Imperial soldiers. The Imperial soldiers rushed in at his command.
“Mary Conler, I will exile you at the northern end of the country, Nicor, a land of bitter cold.”
I leaned up against the iron bars and begged him when I overheard those words. I’d never go to that freezing place.
“Father, please call Grand Duke Conler!”
Estin Conler, despite his cold-blooded nature, would not send his only daughter to a place with such extreme cold.
Demimore smiled quietly for the first time after facing me, possibly because he liked how agitated I was.
“What do you want me to do?”
“Please, call Father

.”
“Grand Duke Conler agreed to whatever decision I made about you. He claimed he wouldn’t object.”
“You are lying.”
“Mary, admit it now. There’s no one here to save you.”
I stumbled to the cold floor as he finished speaking. My body felt very heavy, and in the end, I couldn’t feel anything.
My mind went blank. There was no one here to save me
..
“Mary, are you okay?”
I felt someone shaking me when I awoke from sleep. I saw a pink canopy I had never seen before as soon as I opened my eyes.
I wanted to stand up right away, but my head was hurting.
Who is waking me up and where am I?
As I raised my head and looked around, I saw Astina sitting next to me with tears in her eyes.
Astina helped me lean against the bedhead as I carefully tried to lift my upper body.
“Are you okay? Do you know how worried I was when you suddenly collapsed?”
I reassured her that I was fine now when I heard the resentment in her voice.
But why did I collapse again? What happened?
I closed my eyes and reflected on the events of the day.
So I was in Tahata, and when I saw Astina’s letter that Hestia had brought, I came to Astina’s mansion with Theodore and Rex, and Sofia and Astina were in a confrontation

.
“What about Sofia Bruno?”
I quickly asked Astina about the name that came to mind.
Astina’s eyes widened like those of a terrified rabbit, and she paused—possibly because she was startled by my sudden leap to attention.
“Answer me, what happened?”
“She was taken away by the imperial soldiers who came with Prince Cameron.”
Imperial soldiers?
Right, Cameron suddenly appeared. Cameron bringing the imperial soldiers to the mansion wasn’t strange, but it still seemed odd. I think he knows something.
By the way, why is Cameron here

.
“Engaged?”
“Huh?”
“Why are you engaged to Cameron, Astina?”
As I asked, Astina’s lips started to quiver. Then she sobbed and buried her face in my lap on the bed.
I felt sorry for her because she was like a small, frail bluebird as her slender shoulders started to tremble.
It appears that she didn’t want engagement either. Well, who wants to be engaged to him? 
. I started patting Astina’s little back.
I didn’t tell her not to cry. It seemed better for her to cry her heart out.
After crying for a long time, Astina woke up from my lap and wiped her eyes as if she felt a little better. The quilt was wet.
I cautiously questioned once more as Astina appeared to have somewhat calmed down.
“How did you end up being engaged to Cameron?”
“I’m not sure. He just showed up today and asked me to be engaged to him.
Astina’s lower lip trembled as she thought about it once more. I grabbed Astina’s hand and stroked the back of it.
Anyhow, why did Cameron ask Astina to become engaged all of a sudden?
“Mary, I really don’t want to be engaged to the First Prince. If I get engaged to him, I’ll have to compete with you and the Second Prince.”
“Astina
”
“My father just talked about the family’s honor
 sniff, he says I am still young and don’t know how good of an opportunity it is. Is it really worth it? Am I still too young to understand?”
I patted Astina on the shoulder without saying a word. That’s what Marquis Borneau said, and I couldn’t agree or disagree with him.
Marquis Borneau believed there was no justification for declining the first prince’s marriage proposal to his daughter.
The power of Cameron is too great to take a chance on the results of a refusal. The empress behind him is not to be overlooked.
“Mary
 I don’t really want much. I just want to marry the person I love and live happily with him. Is that asking for too much? My parents also met and got married under similar circumstances. They said they had to fight for it. How can they do this?”
I softly sighed and pondered how a child with such a pure heart could exist. Astina cried once more.
“How about you, Mary?”
“

what?”
“Do you love Demimore?”
The sudden question caught me off guard. I remembered seeing Demimore’s emotionless and cold gaze earlier, in my dream, when I was unconscious.
Astina withdrew the hand I was holding and this time she held it tightly on her own when I didn’t respond.
“Mary, let’s run away.”
“What?”
“Let’s just run away and live together. I don’t mind going back to the orphanage. If the person I can be with in the future is you, I’d be happy.”
No, I don’t want to go back to the orphanage
However, Astina looked at me with such desperation.
It was too much to bear when the future she was drawing and the present she believed to be perfect cracked.
Astina looked pitiful that I wanted to agree with her.
“You’re absolutely insane.”
Theodore stormed into the room while shaking his head, as if to undermine my resolve.
I stared blankly at such Theodore, with Astina holding my hand. Theodore came out with a disapproving face and alternately looked at Astina and me.
“You encourage the precious daughter of someone else’s house to run away?”
Theodore calling me a precious daughter and not someone else’s is a little unexpected.
“Stand up now. Let’s go back to the mansion.”
Theodore pulled me firmly after giving me a disapproving glance for holding hands with Astina.
Where’s Rex, by the way? I wanted to ask for Rex’s location, but looking at Theodore’s momentum, I didn’t think it was the right time to ask.
I just followed him in daze. I kept looking behind me as Theodore dragged me along to see Astina who was left behind.
Astina gave me a quick glance before following.
The Marquis and the Marchioness Borneau were having a conversation in the drawing room.
“Is it Mary Conler again?”
“Honey.”
The Marchioness’ voice quivered, and the three of us stopped moving.
“Why do terrible things keep happening to our Astina when that girl is involved?”
“Lady Conler didn’t intend for it to happen

.”
“It was the same during the dagger incident!”
Astina gripped my hand firmly before shaking her head and denying it. I smiled back at her.
The Marchioness’ statement was reasonable in this case. I grabbed Theodore’s waist as he started to walk over there after becoming enraged by what he had heard.
Theodore relaxed his body.
Without the Marquis and Marchioness noticing, we fled the mansion clandestinely. I looked around to see if Rex was there, but Cameron caught my eye first.
“Cameron!”
To Cameron, I ran. He doesn’t even look surprised to see me. I asked him in the most discreet way possible, so as not to offend him.
“Why do you want to marry Astina Bourneau?”
“Why are you interfering with us?”
“You don’t even love Astina!”
“Do you love Demimore?”
Oh, this is a question I hear a lot today.
I shut my mouth and glared at him because I couldn’t bear to respond. Cameron gave me that strange look and grinned leisurely.
“Mary Conler, everyone lives like that. That’s how my mother lived. To be loved

.Yeah, like Demimore’s mother?”
“Do you mean to tell me that you will be engaged to Astina and have a mistress at the same time?”
“Why not? I’m going to be the emperor.”
“Even as the emperor, you cannot act in that manner. As for you becoming the emperor, we’ll see.”
Cameron wiped the smile off his face at my words. His expression was reminiscent of the cold expression I saw on Demimore’s face in my dream so I was taken aback.
“Yes, you’re right. We’ll see.”
“

.”
“But didn’t I tell you? Mary, I’m going to change everything about the future you know.”