Eva clasped her hands respectfully and spoke in a low voice.

“The Empress’s childbirth should set a precedent to break down uncivilized prejudices.”

“Do you want to see me and the children become spectacles for the world?”

“Then I will take the princess baby to the Kingdom of Torun.”

Aldisha pondered that for a moment, but soon shook her head. She needed to keep her existence hidden close by, and there was always the possibility of something happening to the Crown Prince.

“I don’t want to see you. Go stay with your family until the birth.”

Thanks to that order, Eva was not present at the scene of slaughter after Kazan Emperor’s childbirth. That’s how she survived.

Only the Empress, Emperor, and Eva knew that Patricia was a twin.

The knights and maids guarding the separate palace only realized there was a shadow princess when they saw Patricia walking in the west tower garden.

They whispered among themselves that she had a terrible disease, that her beautiful face turned into a monster at night, that she wasn’t the Emperor’s daughter, but then they would be startled as they recalled the golden rule clause stating they would forfeit their lives if they revealed anything about the west tower.

The Emperor received reports on the separate palace twice a year from the knights. The Emperor never visited the separate palace.

Only the Empress, Emperor, and a few knights and maids guarding the separate palace knew of the female lead’s existence.

*

Patricia learned Patrick’s reading preferences, favorite foods, and habits. Meanwhile, Patrick didn’t even know of her existence.

When Patrick turned thirteen, he came up to the west tower with the squire Eden and encountered Patricia wielding a sword.

Patricia recognized Patrick immediately. Longing for flesh and blood, tender affection nurtured towards an imaginary existence.
Jealousy towards him for monopolizing their mother’s love and concern, guilt over her own frail body. Various emotions were mixed.

She tried to hide her joy and keep her distance, but Patrick kept coming to the west tower.

Like paints of the same color blending together, they were naturally drawn to each other and fostered an exceptional bond. Afterwards, the three of them would secretly run through the forest and go on picnics by the lake, evading the west tower guard knights.

Patrick and Eden freely came and went from the west tower.

But you can’t perfectly hide a fluttering wind even if it’s invisible. One of Empress Pamila’s subordinates followed the careless Patrick.

A woman with curly red hair flowing down to her waist stood before Patricia, who was wielding a sword in the west tower garden. The woman crossed her arms, bent her slender waist, and smiled as she carefully examined Patricia’s body.

“Oh my, child, tell me your name.”

A chilling coldness flowed behind Pamila’s smile.

She clenched her fists and gritted her teeth. After seeing with her own eyes the unbelievable report from her subordinate, her eyes rolled back in shock.

Unlike the frail Crown Prince Patrick, shining golden hair, a lively expression, and a nimble figure wielding a sword.

She twisted the corner of her trembling lips strangely.

“Tell me your full name.”

Cruel malice surged up her spine.

Patricia quickly crossed the garden and climbed to the top of the west tower without answering.

“Eva, I met Empress Pamila.”

The woman with red hair and delicate features in elaborate dress was exactly as Eva had described. She could recognize her at a glance.

Crown Princess. Pamila gritted her teeth.

Even at first glance, she was clearly the Emperor’s daughter. She was identical to Patrick, as if a mirror had been placed between them.

She had been certain that if she just eliminated Patrick, her son Chris would become Crown Prince. But seeing Patricia with her entire head shimmering golden as if wearing a golden crown, she revised her plan.

Pamila had her subordinates investigate the reason for the shadow princess being confined in the west tower and the post-childbirth slaughter by Aldisha.

They uncovered the fact that one of the Amyr tribe members who had conveyed the priestess’s prophecy had fled after losing his tongue and eyes.

Pamila ordered them to search every deep mountain and underground in the empire to find the Amyr. And she changed the order of her planned actions.

Pamila visited the separate palace under the pretext of paying respects to the Empress.

Not long after Pamila began coming and going, the Empress’s face turned green. Death overtook Empress Aldisha on a rainy day as she suffered high fever and blood loss.

Even after the Empress’s death, Emperor Kazan ordered the Crown Prince to set out for war.

When thirteen-year-old Patricia first observed the war, Eden immediately realized that the person in silver armor was not Patrick.

Emperor Kazan also frowned after scrutinizing the two for a moment.

After crossing the western border of Tane into Turk Kingdom territory, Emperor Kazan summoned the Crown Prince and Eden to his tent and ordered a sword duel.

The Emperor glared fiercely at Patricia as she wielded a sword in silver armor. He raised his hand to stop it before a winner was decided, and first dismissed the Crown Prince.

After Patricia left, the Emperor ordered Eden to come closer.

Eden knelt on his left knee at the Emperor’s feet and bowed his head. The Emperor reached out and grabbed Eden’s neck.

“Tell me what you know.”

“Eden Patterson reporting, Your Majesty. Last summer, I accidentally went to the west tower with the Crown Prince and met the Princess.”

“Accidentally… went to the west tower?”

The Emperor found the Empress, who had pleaded and begged for four years of time, ridiculous. His chest boiled with hatred and resentment.

The Emperor killed all six west tower guard knights and hung their corpses on the inner walls of the separate palace for ten days.

It was a cruel warning to those inside the separate palace. Eva, who came to get supplies from the main palace, was shocked white to see the sight.

Eva placed a temporary bed in Patricia’s bedroom and kept strict watch while she slept.

The Emperor paid special allowances to the newly appointed knights of the west tower. But he had their tongues cut out to enforce a vow of silence.

In the dark tent, the Emperor pondered.

Crown Prince Patrick’s first sword. Calm eyes, not frightened even when the Emperor’s strong hand gripped his nape.

One who hid intense emotions under platinum blonde hair and red eyes. Too valuable a talent to order a vow of silence.

The Emperor took out a dagger from his waist and handed it to Eden. It was a rondel dagger with a platinum-decorated handle inlaid with green emerald.

“If you’re in danger of being discovered, eliminate her first.”

“Y-Your Majesty…!”

What is Princess Patricia to Your Majesty? Just a substitute for Prince Patrick? A doll made of iron? Is there not even a grain of affection for your own flesh and blood?

This was the moment Eden Patterson ignited the spark of rebellion against Emperor Kazan.

After the Empress’s death, Eva and Patrick opposed Patricia’s participation in the war. However, Patricia could not break her promise to her mother to help Patrick ascend to the throne.

The Empress, whom Patricia had considered her only family before meeting Patrick, was usually cold and strict towards Patricia.

But one day, she came into Patricia’s bedroom and gazed endlessly at the sleeping girl, shedding tears. Patricia had woken up but couldn’t open her eyes.

I’m sorry, my child, Patricia.

Her mother’s tears falling on her cheek were as hot as candle wax.

Though her mother had been cold, she was no different from Patricia’s only family before meeting Patrick.

Whenever Patricia set out for war, Eva would not come out of her room and endured by gritting her teeth. But when the drums announcing victory and return to the palace sounded, Eva would always be leaning against the west tower wall.

Patricia would run and embrace the willow branch-thin Eva while still in armor.

The death of Empress Pamila, Patrick’s succession to the throne. Those were their shared goals.

“Eva, after that, let’s go to the seaside kingdom of Torun where mother is buried. Let’s get a small mansion overlooking the sea and live together.”

“Yes, Princess. I’ll make you seafood dishes that taste like the blue water falling.”

Eva’s fish dishes would refresh not only the mouth and heart, but the soul as well.

Fortunately, around that time, a peace treaty was signed between the warmonger Emperor Kazan and the kingdoms of the Arcan continent, including the Karsic Empire.

Patricia no longer had to participate in wars. Her hair had grown down to her waist.

And Patrick formed a close friendship with Harchen, the Crown Prince of Karsic who came to study at Tane Academy.

“He’s the best. The most wonderful and coolest person I’ve ever met.”

“More than me?”

“Risha has a different charm… No, he’s the best among the men I’ve met.”

Patricia’s initial feelings towards the Karsic Crown Prince were jealousy.

But after hearing endless praise about him until her ears were sore, the jealousy disappeared like salt dissolving in water. Curiosity took its place.

One day, it felt as if she had drunk Atrazan while singing with Harchen at the Poeni tavern, arms around shoulders and stomping feet, cigars in their mouths.

From infancy, Patrick had taken animal horns, shark fins, crustacean innards, skinned snake meat, rare tree roots and bark, and mushrooms as health tonics.

His slight build was still frail, but as he became a young man, his internal organs became healthier and his body temperature rose.

With his innate passionate temperament and persistence, he would lock himself in his room for 3-4 days reading whatever books he could get his hands on, then go to the Poeni tavern and spend all night smoking and drinking heavily with Harchen.

In the early days of the academy, he played the role of the sickly crown prince, skipping classes with the excuse of fainting from dizziness, and instead received the professors’ concern and worry.

However, before the semester even ended, rumors spread widely that the crown princes of two empires were regulars at the Poeni tavern. The professors could no longer excuse Patrick’s absences as sick leave.

The day after heavy drinking, Patrick would ask Patricia to attend in his place.

One day when she went to the academy wearing Patrick’s clothes, she met Harchen.

Her first impression was that he was arrogant.

*

Patricia cut her golden hair that flowed down to her waist.

“Oh no, why did you cut your hair the same as the Crown Prince, Princess? It is you, right?”

“Eva, I’m Patrick.”

“Oh, you’re Crown Prince? I thought you were Princess Risha.”

“Princess. Then, are we not having our duel today?”

Eden chimed in nonchalantly. Eva rubbed her eyes with her sturdy-looking hands and asked again.

“Eh? You’re not the Crown Prince?”

Not only the knights guarding the west tower, but even the nanny Eva was confused, but Patrick’s knight Eden could distinguish between Patrick and Patricia like a ghost.

“How do you never get confused even once?”

“Just because.”

Eden, who said he could tell by feeling, had never been confused even once.

Patricia went to the academy wearing Patrick’s clothes and carrying his books, notebooks, and writing materials.

The academy grounds were as vivid as a painting. The marble exterior buildings were majestic, and well-tended flowering trees were harmonious in the garden.

Sunlight fell evenly on the heads of students sitting on the clean grass reading books.

Patricia’s eyes shone as she looked around the campus, then hugged the stack of books she was holding tightly in excitement.

Since she was in a different year than Harchen, Patricia initially avoided him well. But once, when she came out after a lecture ended, Harchen was standing in the hallway.

Ah, it’s the Karsic Crown Prince.

Patricia could recognize him right away.

He was tall, like a towering tree standing upright.

Three ladies were by his side, all with their hands clasped together looking up at him.

Patricia walked with her head bowed, pretending to avoid the sunlight coming through the hallway window.

“We’ll adjust to Your Highness’s schedule.”

“Why? Looks like you didn’t understand what I meant. Even if I have time, I’m not going.”

“Um, Your Highness. Please reconsider once more…”

Harchen stood blocking Patricia’s path in the middle of the hallway with his arms crossed.

“Hey, Patrick, you seem busy these days?”

Patricia raised her head. The iron wall-like man with shoulders that seemed unshakable even in a storm looked arrogant even on second glance.

A perfect face as if carved with a delicate chisel on smooth plaster, the tip of his straight nose cleanly cut as if sharply chiseled.

Under thick eyebrows, horizontally elongated eyes with green irises, smiling arrogantly with the corners of his lips lifted.

“Patrick. Are you still hungover? What are you staring at in a daze. No matter how much you look, I’m handsome, right?”

Appearance, personality, attitude. Patrick had recited endlessly. But there was no information about his voice.

His baritone voice was wonderful. It felt like it reached her heart directly rather than being transmitted through her ears, making her heart pound.

“Let’s go to the Poeni tavern. I want to hear your poetry recitation.”

Patricia turned her body sharply without answering. Anger welled up for no reason.

At first, she had no choice but to attend in his place due to heavy drinking, and the next time she observed the swordsmanship class at Patrick’s earnest request with a promise that it would be the last time.

Then around graduation, Patrick, who seemed to be recovering his health, weakened again.

Suddenly, he frequently experienced chest pains as if being torn apart. Severe dizziness followed the intense pain. After two or three repetitions of such pain, Patrick would be exhausted.

The court physician said his congenital illness had recurred and his lung function had worsened.

Since it was the end of the semester, Patricia had no choice but to go to the academy in Patrick’s place to take exams and submit assignments. When the semester ended, Harchen said he was graduating and returning to his empire.

The Tane Academy graduation banquet continued for three days. Of course, neither Patrick nor Patricia attended the graduation banquet.

The last day was a masked ball.