The green spire of Boras Palace pierced the sky, standing out sharply against its white exterior walls.

The carriage stopped in front of plain stone steps. White lion statues flanked both sides. The king, queen, and crown prince of Heya Kingdom waited in the reception room.

They exchanged formal greetings: Thanks for coming so far to attend the wedding, the royal marriage between the two empires is a stepping stone for eternal peace on the Arkan continent, prosperity is expected from Karsik’s gold and diamond mining, and so on.

Harchen gritted his teeth as the Heya queen praised Patricia’s beauty. As her gaze turned to Patricia following the queen’s description, his mouth involuntarily opened, and he struggled to hold back laughter.

Patricia was on edge due to the emperor and empress Pamila she would meet at Duse Palace.

As Harchen was about to give closing remarks while observing Patricia’s anxious complexion, the Heya king brought up the marriage proposal to the Karsik imperial family. He added that Crown Prince Ralph was twenty-three years old.

“I believe there are two unmarried imperial princesses in the empire.”

“A royal marriage. I heard about it from my mother, but as far as I know, nothing has been decided yet. Carolina is twenty-four, and Alesia is only fifteen.”

Crown Prince Ralph, his black hair neatly combed back without a single strand out of place, spoke with a shy expression.

“I, I have met Princess Carolina several times.”

“I see. I’ll ask Carolina’s opinion.”

“No, Your Majesty, can you refuse the emperor’s order for a royal marriage?”

The crown prince’s tone suggested he hoped the emperor would force a royal marriage with Carolina. The emperor turned his gaze from the crown prince to the king and spoke calmly in a low voice.

“As the emperor of the empire, I wish for peace not only for the imperial citizens but for the majority of people on the Arkan continent, rather than simply strengthening the nation. Therefore, before mining gold and diamonds, I plan to focus on abolishing unjust laws and corrupt practices, and eradicating corruption. Whether it’s a royal marriage or any marriage, it’s a decision for the individual to make. Additionally, regardless of whether a royal marriage takes place, I ask for much cooperation from the Kingdom of Heya for the peace and development of the Arkan continent.”

“Emperor, I’m ashamed to have revealed my son’s greed. The Kingdom of Heya will also lend its strength to support Your Majesty’s will for the peace of the Arkan continent.”

“That’s reassuring, thank you.”

They left Boras Palace and boarded the carriage. Patricia looked at the emperor’s profile as he sat beside her. The line from his forehead to his nose bridge and chin was as delicate as if carved with a sharp chisel.

The emperor’s political stance on the Arkan continent was similar to Patrick’s. Somehow, this newly discovered fact gave her a deep sense of solidarity. Their eyes met as he turned his head.

“What?”

“Your Majesty and Patrick have the same political stance. So that’s why you two get along well, sharing the same ideas and thoughts.”

“…Just politically? We have the same eyes too.”

“What.”

“Eyes that recognize the most beautiful woman in the world.”

That bastard. If you weren’t my flesh and blood, you’d be dead by my hand.

“It’s quite thrilling to go around greeting people as a couple, holding hands like this.”

“We’ll be arriving at Duse Palace soon.”

“I see. I’m nervous too.”

The emperor suddenly sat up straight, adjusted the collar of his uniform, and dusted off his shoulder epaulettes.

“Why, Your Majesty?”

“What if my father-in-law, the bride’s father, doesn’t like me?”

“You’re joking, right?”

“Yes. So smile.”

The emperor held Patricia’s trembling hand as she stepped out of the carriage.

In the reception room of Duse Palace, Empress Pamila was waiting alone. As if to emphasize her young and beautiful appearance, she wore a bright yellow dress with her red hair flowing loosely.

“His Majesty was taking a short nap to recover from travel fatigue. He’ll be out soon. My, you two look like a painting sitting side by side, so beautiful.”

“Is that so?”

The empress treated Harchen with almost obsequious kindness.

“Oh my, the new bride’s face is as radiant as a flower. You must have received instruction for the wedding night, and are the maids in the Empress Palace kind?”

“…”

The empress, unable to meet Patricia’s gaze directly, brazenly attempted to play the role of a mother by asking trivial questions about wedding preparations. Patricia didn’t answer a single one of her questions.

The awkward and uncomfortable time passed slowly.

As time went on, the empress became more talkative, blurting out various things without order. Patricia just stared at her coldly, without answering or responding to anything she said.

“It will soon be the empress’s birthday. We plan to visit Tane for our first official event as a couple. I’ll gift you a diamond necklace mined from Kaoshan.”

“Oh my. How thoughtful of you to remember my birthday. I look forward to it.”

A moment later, the chief maid announced the emperor’s arrival. Patricia’s lips quivered as she clasped her hands. Sensing her anxious look, the emperor placed his right hand on her back.

Soon after, Kazan entered the reception room, his massive body swaying, supported by the second prince and an attendant.

“We are in the presence of His Majesty, the Emperor of Tane, guardian of the Arkan continent and master of Hesperos.”

Patricia placed her right hand on her chest and lifted the hem of her dress with her left, bowing her upper body and head in greeting. Kazan sat down in the seat of honor right next to where the empress was seated, accepting her greeting.

She had followed him in silver armor, buried in black shadows behind the emperor on battlefields. In military camps, under tree shadows where black bread eased hunger, he never once looked back at her.

Even when she fell from her horse due to an arrow shot by a Hun hunter during the civil war in the Marcus Kingdom, the emperor stepped over her as she lay on the blood-soaked ground. His indifference was more frightening than death.

Her helmet had come off from the fall, and a Hun hunter right in front of her was aiming with a drawn bow. If it weren’t for Eden, she would have died then and there.

He was cruel and never for a moment did she consider him a father.

Patricia, sitting on the sofa next to Harchen, slowly raised her head to look at Emperor Kazan and was inwardly shocked.

Emperor Kazan’s obese body had lost its center, his flesh flowing down like lava.

The emperor’s golden crown, which once suited his thick golden hair, now shone garishly yellow on his head where sweat-soaked hair clung to reveal its contours.

The flesh of his face had sagged, dark shadows hung under his eyes, and his lips were dried white.

“Aldisha… She looks exactly like her.”

Hah. How can you say mother’s name… so casually? Patricia bit the tender flesh inside her mouth as she looked at the emperor.

“Once, due to circumstances, I had to keep my distance and let her grow up in the West Tower. She’s grown to look like a cut-out of Aldisha’s portrait in the time I haven’t seen her. She’s a lonely child who grew up without knowing a father’s love, so emperor, please take good care of her.”

How presumptuous. How dare you judge so conveniently? I never needed your love. I grew up well, showered with the love of mother and Eva, even without your affection.

Patricia answered, but couldn’t voice it aloud. The moment she opened her mouth, she felt like the sobs piled up in her chest would come pouring out. She didn’t want to reveal her emotions or engage in conversation.

She maintained a cold expression with great effort, just staring at the face of her selfish and cruel father.

“I will make her happy.”

Harchen bowed slightly from his seat and stood up, holding Patricia’s arm with the hand that had been on her back. Emperor Kazan slowly tilted his neck to look up at them, which seemed burdensome.

“In Tane…”

Harchen and Patricia stood looking down at the emperor.

“There’s a custom where the father holds the bride’s hand and walks her down the virgin road at the start of the wedding.”

Patricia was dumbfounded. Ah, Your Majesty. Please. Refuse. She glanced at Harchen with a desperate look.

“We’ve already planned to get off the carriage together after tomorrow’s pre-ceremony parade and walk down the virgin road together. We’ve even finished the rehearsal.”

“Ah, that’s a shame. I wanted to hold her hand as a father.”

“Well then, we have another appointment, so we’ll be going now.”

Pamila, who had followed them to where the carriage was waiting, said to Patricia.

“Patricia, I look forward to seeing you as a beautiful and happy bride tomorrow.”

Patricia got into the carriage without answering, turning her body away. She wanted to say that just because there’s no evidence, it doesn’t mean her mother’s death can be covered up, but her throat choked up and she couldn’t utter a single word in the end.

Sitting side by side in the carriage, the emperor held Patricia’s hand and looked out the window. A grinding sound of teeth clenching could be heard. However, he neither spoke to Patricia nor looked at her.

Thanks to his deep consideration, Patricia was gradually able to compose her feelings of anger, resentment, and sadness.

The carriage ran alongside the red rose fence of Anatole Palace. As it stopped after circling around the fountain where fierce streams of water shot up white, King Torun, her uncle, was standing there.

He approached Patricia, who was about to greet him formally, and grabbed both her hands.

“The little girl who came to Torun through the rain ten years ago has become such a beautiful lady.”

A fifteen-year-old girl in the pouring summer rain, carrying her dead mother’s coffin in a carriage, went alone to Torun, a seaside kingdom she had never been to before.

She had broken her tangled sorrow into pieces, but they pierced her body again like shards of glass. The pieces of sorrow digging into her skin hurt.

She recalled the damp hem of her robe, the fear of a hopeless future, and the kindness extended to her on that numb day. Patricia thought to herself how well she had managed to endure and live through those ten years.

“Uncle. It’s been ten years.”

As King Torun held her with his thick, rough hands without gloves, the tears she had been holding back fell onto the back of his hand.

King Torun suggested taking a walk in the garden together instead of entering the reception room.

The red light of the sunset fell and seeped into the red roses.

“Patrick has become much healthier.”

“Yes, I heard. He stopped by here briefly this morning.”

“Ah, I see.”

The emperor said he had decided to go to the Kingdom of Torun for their honeymoon.

“Yes, Your Majesty. I heard Patrick will be accompanying you as well.”

“Really?”

Patricia looked up at the emperor with wide blue eyes, dimmed by brimming tears, and asked.

Hah, that kid moves fast.

“I refused. But he threatened to come along anyway.”

“So you gave in to his threats.”

Patricia’s lips curled up slightly as she imagined standing next to Patrick by her mother’s grave at the seaside.

Harchen rubbed his eyebrows, suppressing his jealousy as he saw her faint smile after having looked gloomy all this time.

“With upright young people like you who share the same will, the future of the Arkan continent looks bright. Is that Kaoshan over there?”

The king pointed to the distant sky with his fingertip. The red sun setting into the icy walls of Kaoshan created a spectacular view.

“The sun setting so red is beautiful. Tomorrow’s rising sun will be even more brilliantly golden.”

The three of them stood under the red rose fence, watching the sun go down behind the Kaoshan glacier. After silently gazing at the sky for a while, Patricia whispered softly.

“Harchen, …thank you.”

Did she just call my name?

The emperor looked down at Patricia’s profile, reddened by the sunset, doubting his ears. He blushed as if he had just received a love confession.