“I apologize. I was away on foreign travel, so I was late to my own funeral.”

The funeral scene of Kasallin, which had been filled with sorrowful laments and tears, fell into cold silence in an instant as if it had never been otherwise.

As Kasallin’s face was clearly revealed under the dazzling sunlight after she removed her veil, people were stunned for a while, unable to understand the situation.

Logia, who had become gaunt during their separation, stared blankly at Kasallin and the coffin alternately, then began to shed silent tears.

Then someone.

“Kyaak!”

A scream filled with terror became the signal flare, and the funeral scene became a complete pandemonium as if heaven and earth had been turned upside down.

“What’s going on? Isn’t that young lady definitely Miss Kasallin Robepon?”

“Then who on earth is the person sleeping in the coffin right now?”

“Anyway, the important thing is that she didn’t die. What a fortunate thing!”

The fact that Kasallin had not died but appeared alive at her own funeral spread through the crowd like raging flames.

The talkative and suspicious nobles faithfully played their role as the wind.

“Your Highness, are you alright!”

At this moment, Shallen, who was standing on the platform, lost his balance and collapsed.

He had an expression of fear and shock as if he had seen a ghost.

He raised his trembling finger to point at Kasallin, then immediately closed his eyes tightly and shook his head.

“Haha… I haven’t been sleeping well lately, so now I’m seeing illusions. This can’t be real.”

Similarly, Rose, who stood beside Shallen, also couldn’t continue speaking.

She knew she had to give a plausible explanation to the nobles who were gradually fanning the flames of rumors, but she couldn’t utter a single word.

“This doesn’t make sense. How could sister?”

Kasallin silently lifted the corners of her mouth, revealing a faint smile.

Kasallin had decided to return home to put an end to her tiresome ill-fated relationship with Shallen and to settle everything in the Khan Kingdom.

She was still a person belonging to the Khan Royal Family.

Although the funeral was being held successfully, she was officially a maid to the Queen, and under no circumstances could that position be ignored.

Of course, she had to find out the meaning of Aster’s words: “Shallen and Rose have been betraying you for a long time.”

She planned to reveal Shallen’s evil deeds to everyone and use that commotion as a stepping stone to formally retire from her position as a maid.

Of course, Parnes had said.

“Why choose the difficult path? With the power I have, I could make you a person of our Renell right now.”

He said there was no need to return to a place full of painful memories, no need to struggle alone.

He told her to rest comfortably and he would take care of everything himself.

He said he could make all people bow their heads at her feet without her lifting a finger.

However, Kasallin didn’t want to wear the crown of Empress like being carried in a comfortable carriage under the absolute power of her future husband, without giving the people time to understand and accept.

It was the path she had walked, so she wanted to end it with her own hands.

“I thought something was strange from the beginning! There’s no way Miss Kasallin, who was usually well-behaved, would have died for such a ridiculous reason!”

Among the nobles who were still stirring, not knowing what had happened, one man raised his voice.

Then the noble lady beside him also nodded.

“That’s right. Besides, it was strange that they covered the coffin without opening it and glossed over it. I wondered what the reason was, but it was because there was no corpse in the coffin in the first place.”

The atmosphere was completely reversed as if heaven and earth had been turned upside down by Kasallin’s sudden appearance.

The nobles all rushed to the condolence money box and began to retrieve their share of gold coins.

Some people left quickly, saying they were displeased and wouldn’t take theirs.

“Kasallin!”

Shallen’s shrill cry filled the garden.

He staggered slightly and approached Kasallin step by step.

Now he seemed to have accepted that Kasallin was not an illusion but had truly returned to the Khan Kingdom.

Shallen’s first words upon reuniting with Kasallin, who had miraculously appeared alive, were neither an apology of regret nor a touching greeting.

“Were you alive?”

“Yes.”

“Where, how?”

“I was in the Renell Empire. His Majesty Parnes found and rescued me.”

“What, what did you say. Right now…”

Shallen’s face, which had been lifeless and hollow somewhere, returned to its original shameless brazenness.

With his face turning red and blue, he couldn’t control his anger and kept swallowing his breath.

“How. How could you not say a word to me. Have you been deceiving me all this time while being with the Emperor?”

“How was it for you when I died, even briefly?”

“Do you call that a question!”

“Yes. I’m calling it a question. Did you suffer even a little from guilt? Or did you feel like apologizing to me?”

Kasallin waited quietly for his answer with a cold face that showed no sign of excitement.

Shallen rolled his eyes back and shouted with veins bulging in his neck.

“You used the trick of pretending to be dead to the King, while secretly staying alive and watching for opportunities behind the scenes? Without knowing such a thing, I mourned and missed you, spending every moment in hell. How could you do this to me!”

“How hellish must it have been for me, who fell from a distant cliff and crossed the threshold of life and death several times because of Your Highness?”

Shallen’s eyes widened as if they would pop out.

He seemed not to have expected that she would reveal even that in detail in front of people.

But Kasallin had now decided to set aside unconditional loyalty to the royal family and noble patriotism for the motherland for a while.

She thought it wouldn’t be bad to live a little for herself.

Ironically, it was the Emperor of a neighboring country, whom she had never met until recently, who made her realize this important fact.

It felt like tearing down one of the high walls that had long imprisoned her.

“Kasallin. What are you talking about now?”

Shallen sent a signal with his eyes bloodshot red with anger.

It was a warning that if she said more, he would truly not let it go.

“If you don’t remember, let me personally recite it for you. Previously, Your Highness made an impure proposal to me, your sister-in-law, to become your mistress, and when I refused, you had mercenaries forcibly drag me away.”

“Quietly, be quiet. Kasallin.”

“When I resisted, Your Highness pushed me, telling me to die if I wanted to try dying, and I fell off the cliff and really almost died. As evidence, all the scars remain on my body.”

Feeling cold sweat run down his spine at the voices of shock erupting like fountains from all directions, Shallen.

At this moment, a man came running through the seething crowd.

“Kasallin!”

A familiar voice that had been forgotten for quite a long time approached, and Kasallin turned around to find the owner of that voice.

Her late father’s younger brother and Kasallin’s godfather.

It was Marquis Kalman Robepon, who was stationed in the Ram Kingdom as a diplomatic envoy belonging to the Khan Royal Ministry of Foreign Affairs.

He lived in the Ram Kingdom for work, so they had been exchanging occasional letters to check on each other.

Then, hearing the news that his niece’s funeral was being held, he seemed to have hurriedly returned home.

Shock at not being able to accept what had happened, what the revelation that had just come from Kasallin’s mouth was all about, was deeply cast over his face.

“Uncle?”

“What’s all this about? I really thought you were dead. I was so busy with work that I couldn’t take care of you, and if you went to the other world, I wondered how I would face your father…”

“It’s okay. It’s not Uncle’s fault. There were some complicated circumstances.”

“Poor thing. How hard it must have been to lose your parents at an age when you should be acting spoiled. I shouldn’t have left you alone and gone abroad!”

Kasallin and Kalman embraced each other.

Kalman examined Kasallin closely with an expression that couldn’t calm down easily.

Relief that she was alive and at the same time, sorrowful emotion as if questioning how she had become so thin crossed his face simultaneously.

Before being assigned to the Ram Kingdom, Kalman had told Kasallin to send a letter anytime if she had any difficulties.

But Kasallin didn’t want to worry her uncle, so she didn’t tell him anything.

Kalman knew that Kasallin was having a hard time because of her relationship with Shallen, but since her letters were always filled with only good content, he thought it was at a tolerable level.

But he had no idea the situation was this serious.

He had no idea that the niece his deceased brother had entrusted to him was suffering such injustice.

“How could you do such a thing to my niece, Your Highness!”

Kalman turned toward Shallen and raised his voice.

“I, who swore to bury my bones in the royal family, cannot just let this matter pass! Not only forcing her to become a mistress but forcibly dragging her away! God will not forgive this!”

“Lord Robepon, I understand your feelings, but watch your words. Alright?”

As Kalman was getting overly excited and seemed ready to cause trouble, the soldiers around him began to surround him to calm him down.

Shallen, who had been unable to say a word, took advantage of the commotion to speak.

“Kasallin, since everything you say is right, let’s go inside and get some rest. No matter how long you’ve been receiving mental treatment, if you make up such lies, won’t people misunderstand?”

Rose, who had briefly exchanged glances with Shallen, nodded slightly, then quickly stepped forward to support Kasallin.

“Yes. Sister. You can be like that when you’re sick. Now that you’ve returned safely, it’s okay. It would be better to dismiss today.”

“No, so what’s the truth! What exactly happened? Your Majesty the King! Your Majesty the Queen!”

The nobles’ complaints grew fiercer rather than subsiding.

Kalman struggled while being held by the soldiers, and Shallen and Rose pretended not to hear the pouring questions and hurriedly hid inside the palace.