It was impossible not to feel excited. Although under the same Litten sky, just leaving the hotel somehow felt like the start of a new life. Olivia’s heart raced at that small change.

The stop where she arrived to take the carriage to River Side 3rd Avenue was quiet, as if a carriage had just left with passengers.

Should she wait for thirty minutes, or hail a passing private carriage? As Olivia pondered, a newspaper stand next to the streetlight caught her eye.

‘No way!’

Olivia’s eyes widened at the unbelievable headline.

Her gaze, captured by the lead story for a while, slowly moved down to the photograph decorating the front page below.

The woman wearing a tiara was a beautiful lady with fine features. And next to her was a photograph of Johan Leopold, side by side.

Olivia’s mind went blank for a moment.

Marriage?

Of course, Johan Leopold would marry. To Clara Saint. So this woman, Princess Kranz, shouldn’t be the one.

‘It means it doesn’t matter who.’

Olivia, clasping her trembling hands tightly together, felt chills.

It seemed like the world’s firm will that an antagonist was necessary for the protagonist, Clara, to shine.

For that, the role of Johan’s wife who oppressed Clara was important, and it seemed to be saying that it didn’t have to be Olivia Blanchet specifically.

The surroundings quickly bustled with people gathering to board the carriage. That noise buzzed in Olivia’s head. She felt dizzy.

“Are you alright? …Young lady?”

Anne, who had been watching for the carriage, was surprised to see Olivia suddenly turn pale and approached her. Following Olivia’s gaze, Anne covered her silently gaping mouth with her hand.

Young lady…

Anne looked back at Olivia with concern. Her bloodless face was pitifully pale.

Of course, Olivia was shocked for a different reason, but to Anne, who had no way of knowing that fact, it looked as if the young lady was about to collapse at the news of her beloved husband’s engagement.

How much she must have loved him.

That love, which was utterly worthless to the duke, was everything that sustained the young lady’s life. Even if that love was painful and cruel. Such feelings couldn’t disappear in an instant just because a signature was put on paper.

“Shall we rest somewhere for a moment? How about over there?”

Anne asked, pointing to a coffeehouse visible across the street.

“…That’s not necessary. I’m fine.”

Olivia managed to lift the corners of her lips.

Just then, the carriage arrived. As the door opened, people rushed in. Olivia boarded the carriage as if pushed by a wave.

The carriage departed, and the newspaper stand visible through the window receded. But in Olivia’s mind, the face of the Grand Duchess Kranz, smiling like bright spring sunshine, was clearly etched.

No way.

“Duke Johan Edinburgh Leopold in Sudden Engagement with Grand Duchess Kranz”

This couldn’t be happening.

Diane’s coldly sunken eyes were fixed on the photograph printed in the morning newspaper. Her two hands gripping the newspaper trembled. She even felt a strong sense of betrayal at the sudden situation without any forewarning.

This was just making her do things for others’ benefit.

The journalists’ joy and excitement were undisguised in all the articles, as if by agreement. They were clamoring that finally, Duke Leopold would be welcoming a duchess worthy of his noble bloodline.

Irene de Kranz.

A princess of a sovereign nation, incomparable to Olivia Blanchet. She was an opponent who instantly crushed Diane’s desire for the duchess position. Extinguishing even the will to fight.

Diane bit her lip.

Diane, who needed time to capture Johan’s heart, had been sticking around Graythil under the pretext of cleaning up the mess left by the former duchess.

Someone was needed to check the bills and ordered items that kept arriving even a month after the divorce.

She should have had a child first. By any means necessary…

If the grand duchess came in as the new mistress, she would have no reason to remain here anymore. Tanesia had secretaries and aides, so there would be no place for a former duchess’s secretary.

‘How annoying!’

Diane stood up and threw the newspaper onto the table as if flinging it away. Her angry footsteps paced by the window.

Unbearable anger welled up.

After all she had done to get rid of Olivia Blanchet…

Her temples throbbed with pain.

‘I’m so annoyed! It’s driving me crazy!’

Instead of screaming, Diane grabbed a vase from the sideboard and threw it onto the wool carpet. The glass vase shattered into pieces, glinting sharply in the morning sunlight.

Now that all her efforts had come to naught, she needed something equivalent to the duchess position.

Without that something, she absolutely could not withdraw from this position.

Quick to change tactics, she walked to the dressing table and opened the top drawer. Opening a green velvet box with gold trim revealed a key with a sparkling amethyst lily pattern.

I can’t just leave quietly like this.

Diane looked down at the golden key, chewing on her lower lip. Her red lips, flushed with blood, slowly curved upward.

Graythil was a separate palace built in the architectural style of her home country for the young queen who had married into a foreign land and suffered from homesickness.

The king filled one large room with jewels for his beloved queen, and the lily key was the key to the room where those precious items were displayed and stored.

Of course, after the queen’s death, the jewels were transferred to Londos Palace, but Olivia Leopold, the duchess who became the new mistress of Graythil after eighty years, filled that space with jewels again.

This too was Diane’s scheme, but people in the world who didn’t know the circumstances cursed the vulgar duchess who indulged in luxury without knowing her place, calling her a materialist.

Stupid Olivia.

Olivia, who had become a vain materialist without even realizing it herself, relied more and more on Diane as the situation worsened.

So manipulating such a pathetic girl was easier than breathing.

The lily key was originally an item managed by the mistress. Diane had framed the maid of Olivia to get her hands on this key.

She had secretly hidden a pink diamond necklace, one of the former duchess’s heirlooms, in the maid’s room. Through that incident, citing poor management, the lily key became Diane’s possession.

Johan, who considered his wife incompetent, had essentially let the cat guard the fish store.

Diane closed the box, put it back where it was, and pushed the drawer shut. She started her usual routine by calling a maid to clean up the broken vase. Waiting for the night to deepen.

After waiting for the night to deepen, Diane quietly left the study after confirming that even Johan’s bedroom light had gone out.

Carrying an unlit lamp, she passed through the long corridor and stood in front of the closet opposite the duchess’s bedroom on the second floor. Relying on moonlight, she inserted the key and turned it gently, and with a click, the door opened.

She carefully opened the heavy door to make as little noise as possible and slipped her body through the minimal gap.

Fumbling in the dark space, Diane placed the lamp on a shelf and groped for matches in her pocket to light it.

The space, dazzling whenever she entered, poured out brilliant light even with the small flame. Dry saliva slid down the back of her throat.

From the jewels owned by Johan’s mother, the Duchess of Edinburgh, to the tiara set bestowed by the queen upon marriage, and rare collections bought from various auctions and jewelers.

Diane had waited three years with the pleasure of admiring these precious items that would someday be hers.

‘Think of it as compensation for my service, Johan.’

The jewels sparkling with lustrous light disappeared one by one into the bag she had prepared. The bag quickly became heavy, and darkness fell again all around. Diane slipped out as quietly as she had entered.

A carriage, secretly prepared by sending a messenger during the day, was waiting in the shadow of the back gate wall.

“Longbon Street.”

The carriage that raced down the narrow hillside road turned onto a dark trail. That path led to a foggy riverbank, and the carriage ran along the straight river for a long time.

There were red bridges along the river, but the carriage crossed the bridge at the very downstream.

The carriage, which had entered a winding and dark road again, soon entered a dark and narrow back alley. It was a slum where shabby buildings were densely packed with no room for sunlight.

The carriage that arrived at its destination came to a stop. Diane, with her hood pulled low over her hat, got out of the carriage.

After briefly surveying her surroundings, she knocked on the door. At the third knock, a faint light leaked from inside. Soon, with a creaking sound, the door opened.

“Who the hell… Oh my! If it isn’t Miss Brook.”

Diane glared at the man and said in a low voice.

“Don’t call me that carelessly.”

“Yes, yes. Of course.”

The man opened the door wide and stepped aside. As Diane entered, the man, who had keenly scanned the dark alley, closed the door. He also lowered all the window blinds.

“Have you been well?”

The man approached, scratching his sideburns lazily. Without explanation, Diane dropped the bag on the table as if throwing it.

“Did you bring something grand?”

The man opened the leather bag. Whew, a vulgar whistle sound echoed in the quiet space. The man winked one eye at Diane.

“Two days. Make them within that time.”

“If you push too hard, only crude things will come out.”

“There are eighty more pieces. I’m leaving in two weeks.”

“What’s my share?”

“We’ll know after selling the jewels.”

“60-40.”

“Are you crazy?”

“I’m crazy enough to even kill people. Isn’t that right, miss?”

The man revealed his yellow teeth and grinned. Diane, barely suppressing her disgust, said as if sighing.

“80-20. Don’t be greedy for more than that. Money is good, but it’s not worth exchanging for your life, is it?”

Diane took out a self-defense pistol from her handbag and aimed it.