“If this happens in the future, call me.”

“But…”

Zagnac smiled condescendingly, raising his bandaged hands toward Azela.

“It’s funny when you’re like this.”

“That’s why you hired me.”

Azela lightly tapped Jagnac on the chest with the hand holding the sword with the eyes that she had already prepared for that.

Perhaps he had read Azela’s determination, Zagnac nodded his head. Turning her body around, she ordered the knights to dispose of the corpse and reinforce the mansion’s borders. Then, she told the maids to clean the bedroom and replace the carpet.

“…The assassin who came first and the assassin who came second didn’t seem to know each other.”

“Yes, it seemed so to me.”

“Is there someone else targeting you besides the Emperor?”

Pondering Azela’s question, Zagnac turned his head and glanced at the open window. He then moved his steps and closed the window looking at the window frame with the shoe marks on it before turning to look at Azela and shrugging his shoulders.

“Well. There are many places that I can think of.”

The darkness that stretched behind him like an abyss with no end was frightening.

* * *

“…I heard what happened at the party.”

Livia said as she gracefully put down the teacup she was holding.

Azela, who sat across from her, nodded her head, unable to hide her awkward look. Early in the morning, thirty minutes after the arrival of the letter telling of her visit to the mansion, Livia hurriedly came. She probably sent the correspondence as soon as she departed.

“I would like to speak with Miss Azela Vellista alone.”

That was what Livia said as soon as she arrived at the mansion. Because of that, Zagnac voluntarily agreed and left the place.

She was wearing the dress and shoes that Azela had given her that day.

“I also saw what happened that day.”

That day… Azela searched for her memory. Then, she blushed remembering the memory of that day that suddenly came to mind. It was because she remembered the rudeness of kissing deeply in front of Livia.

“That day…”

“Did I tell you then? I will do my best with all the means and methods I can.”

Azela nodded her head with a dazed look at the girl’s grim expression. Livia calmly caught her breath as Azela waited patiently for her to catch her breath and spoke. Livia, who came with a hardened face, didn’t even pay attention to the dessert spread out in front of her.

“…I will end up choosing the meanest means I can.”

“Yes?”

“In a few days, invitations from His Majesty the Emperor will arrive to all nobles. On the occasion of His Majesty’s birthday, a grand party will be held at the Imperial Palace for two days.”

Livia squeezed her hands together. Contrary to her dignified appearance as she sat with her shoulders and back straight, her face was clearly tense.

“And, on the spot, His Majesty the Emperor will announce my marriage to Duke Ferial.”

“….!”

Hearing her words, Azela opened her mouth wide, forgetting her manners. Seeing her startled expression, Livia turned her head, crumpling her face like she was the culprit.

…Announcing the marriage of Princess Livia and Zagnac?

Azela opened her mouth in a trembling voice as she cleared her complicated mind.

“Bu-but Duke Ferial…”

“He didn’t agree to the marriage.”

“Yes, that’s right.”

“Nonetheless, His Majesty the Emperor is going to push this marriage. That’s why he wants to make a wedding announcement at his own discretion in the place where all the nobles are.”

There was not the slightest hesitation in Livia’s voice. She put on a look of indignation as she bit her lower lip hard. It appeared that she must have tried to convince the Emperor in her own way though she seemed to have failed at that.

“Why did you tell me that, and not Duke Ferial…?”

“Miss Vellista, you are my competitor. I was taught that competition should be fair, so I thought you should know.”

“….”

“In the end, I will not be able to go against my father and brother… No, maybe I’m glad that things turned out this way, too. If my father comes too strong and my marriage with Duke Ferial is concluded, I will be able to run away from the Imperial Palace as I wish.”

Livia smiled bitterly. However, she soon erased that face, and with a hardened look like when she first came, she said dignifiedly.

“For Duke Ferial, I’ll do everything I can for him.”

“…Princess.”

“So, Miss Vellista.”

“….”

“If you are my competitor, do your best as well. It seems that those feelings are not unique to you.”

Azela crumpled her face and bowed her head. Livia’s calm gaze seemed to tell her that she knew right away… No, there was no way she wouldn’t have known it, even after seeing Zagnac’s gaze. Livia did not comfort or appease her. She was just sitting across from Azela.

Soon, Livia, who was lifting the teacup, let out a small exclamation, ‘Ah,’ as if remembering something.

“Miss Vellista.”

“…Yes?”

“Do you have a relationship with my brother… Crown Prince Chises?”

“Ah… A little bit in the past.”

“Be careful.”

Livia gave a request with a low voice as if talking about a secret.

Azela held her breath.

“Because the Crown Prince is targeting you.”

* * *

“Why? Why? What the hell is wrong?”

Sylvia muttered as she bit her nails. She was pathetic as she curled her body in the dark bedroom, pulling her legs to her chest. Daniel didn’t look for her… No, from the moment she came to this villa, she couldn’t see his figure.

He did live here… Maybe, it was because he was avoiding her, so she couldn’t meet him.

“Azela, I have come to the Capital to take you.”

The words he had said to Azela at the party didn’t leave her mind. Blood dripped from Sylvia’s bitten nails.

“AAHH!”

Eventually, the angry Sylvia pulled her well-groomed hair and screamed out loud. However, there was no servant who would run right up to please her as they did in Todd’s mansion. Sylvia started tossing everything she could get her hands on as she couldn’t stand the annoyance.

It was the Crown Prince’s residence, so it was full of expensive and hard-to-find works of art, but she didn’t think about what would happen after that. All the things Sylvia threw are the things that the Todd family couldn’t afford to pay.

“Azela, Azela… Azela…!”

Sylvia called her name in an angry voice loudly. Even after the divorce, Azela continued to hold onto her ankle. She thought it would be over with the divorce!

Sylvia expressed her anger by kicking the air.

“I have to kill that b*tch.”

If Azela were to disappear altogether, Daniel’s heart would come back to her…

As she thought so, Sylvia had a murderous look. Not wanting Azela’s powerful face that rose up on the wall in an illusion, she threw the cup in her hand. Then, she suddenly lowered her head and looked at her stomach.

The bulging belly was annoying. Sylvia touched her stomach with trembling hands.

“It was after… I had the child.”

She muttered as she stared into the air with a bewildered look.

The things her mother had gone through passed like a lantern in her mind. Sylvia thought she would be different, but in the end, she wasn’t.

She took the place of the wife, but the place of the wife in Daniel’s heart was still Azela. Going on like this would end up making her unhappy. She knew that she would be abandoned if not immediately, and she would eventually die a tragic death or a life of escape worse than death.

Turning her head, she saw the fruit she had cut and left in her eyes.

“I… I will never live like my mother.”

Sylvia slowly picked up the knife with trembling hands. There were tears streaming down her eyes, but she was laughing.

* * *

As Livia said, two days later, an invitation came from the Emperor. It was a compulsory invitation to attend a grand party to celebrate the Emperor’s birthday. On this day, would she hear the announcement of Livia and Zagnac’s marriage…?

Azela smiled bitterly.

However, she did not tell Zagmac. Even though Livia said it was her choice and her freedom to tell him or not, she didn’t tell him.

‘If I tell Zagnac, he will surely go to the Emperor to refuse.’

And if that happened, the Emperor would know that the Princess was the one who told Zagnac of his plan. In addition, knowing that Livia and Zagnac were on one side, he would know that the plan to keep Zagnac tied up with Livia was doomed to failure.