“What on earth is happening?”

“About that incident this time. There are rumors that actually Kasallin has no fault and it was all the Queen’s self-orchestrated drama.”

“An acquaintance who went to the square today said that Kasallin might become the Empress of the Renel Empire.”

For the nobles who couldn’t bear their rotten time and leisure, hoping every day for stimulating incidents to break out, there had never been a more exciting day than today.

Rumors spread that King Shallen Riche and Emperor Parnes had somehow gathered at the Robepon Marquis house for some reason.

The nobles each made plausible excuses to send their servants to subtly find out what was happening.

They didn’t know the detailed circumstances, but everyone was aware that something absolutely ridiculous was taking place.

“Please don’t linger here and return home! Beyond this point is the residence of the Robepon Marquis house!”

While the guards surrounding the marquis residence were sweating profusely trying to turn away the murmuring crowd one by one.

Unlike the noisy outside, the drawing room inside the mansion was filled only with awkward and desolate silence.

Shallen stared at the innocent floor as if the words he had to say had shattered and fallen below.

Kasallin waited silently for his mouth to open on its own.

Because she wanted to know what his first words would be.

When the second hand of the clock had run breathlessly for more than a full circle and a half, Shallen finally interlocked his ten fingers and opened his mouth.

His voice was surprisingly detached.

No, it would be correct to say it was shamelessly composed.

“Do you remember the day we first met?”

So that’s where it starts.

Kasallin closed both eyes as if annoyed and pressed her forehead.

Whether she showed her displeasure or not, Shallen didn’t care and stubbornly continued what he wanted to say.

“It was the debutante ball in early summer when roses were in full bloom. You appeared that day in a peach-colored dress, so spirited that I couldn’t possibly think of you as a teenage girl. I fell for the valor dwelling in your two eyes, and we helplessly fell for each other. It was the happiest day of my life.”

“That’s right. I was happy too.”

When Kasallin answered like that for some reason, Shallen was slightly surprised and raised his head.

She looked straight at him with eyes that seemed determined not to allow even the slightest gap and said.

“In that sense, if I could only return to that day, I would stab my two eyes without hesitation.”

“What?”

“If I couldn’t see anything, I wouldn’t have mistaken you for a wonderful person, and you wouldn’t have given a second glance to a ‘defective product’ like me.”

“A defective product, how can you say such a thing?”

“Why? Wasn’t Your Majesty a heartless person who would abandon anything, whether objects or people, once they broke and had a flaw, without looking back?”

“No. That’s not true.”

Shallen shook his head repeatedly.

That head shake was closer to meaning he couldn’t admit to being such a person rather than denying Kasallin’s words.

He lowered his voice further and leaned his head closer toward her, saying.

“Kasallin. I’ll confess everything honestly. There has never been a single moment until now when I haven’t loved you.”

“What?”

Kasallin asked back, doubting her own ears.

“Of course, I may have hurt you somewhat in the past. But everyone makes mistakes, and because we are immature, we can ultimately be forgiven by God. I deeply regret leaving you coldly behind that day. Really.”

As if something knotted deep in her chest had completely swallowed her voice, she was so dumbfounded that she couldn’t utter a single word.

Kasallin stared at him blankly with eyes shocked in a different sense.

“The companion I truly want to spend the remaining years with is you, Kasallin. I’ve always thought so.”

“What exactly are you trying to say?”

“I will make you my queen.”

Shallen spoke in a vile voice as if a snake was whispering.

“You’ll be much happier and freer than being an empress. The path to becoming empress is a thorny road. You’d be threatened by political enemies constantly and have to endure cunning power struggles. But if you come to my side, you won’t have to do anything. If there’s something you want to do, I’ll grant it all. If there’s something you want to have, I’ll give you anything.”

“…Your Majesty.”

Kasallin squeezed out barely a thread of voice between her narrowed throat while one eye twitched finely.

“I don’t understand right now, but surely you haven’t forgotten that your queen is Rose.”

“Rose, you mean.”

Shallen moistened his parched lips with a sip of cold water and continued.

“With this incident, Rose has virtually met social death. External activities will be almost impossible, and her shattered reputation will be difficult to recover. She’s someone who’ll have to live in seclusion for the rest of her years anyway.”

“That’s not what I asked.”

“So, this is what I mean. If we use this incident well, we can create justification for you to restore your position as queen.”

Restore?

When was I ever your queen?

Even at the moment you made vows of love promising to place me on that seat, you were already secretly having relations with Rose.

“Rose is carrying your child now.”

“Of course. But that child can now become your child too.”

“…What?”

“Our baby, I mean. Giving it a pretty name, holding and caring for it, creating good memories as a family – it’s not an impossible story. If only you would take my hand.”

So to say this one sentence, he laid out such a long hypocritical apology.

He was disappointed with Rose to the fullest extent, and he’d die before seeing himself become empress of a powerful nation.

But since a child must be born, he intended to take her as a secondary wife and make everything satisfactory to his taste.

Kasallin was engulfed in tremendous shock because she couldn’t even imagine he would show an even lower bottom here.

She was seriously concerned whether he might have some mental illness, wondering how he could spit out such words so nonchalantly.

“Now I think I understand how you incited Rose and have been taming her until now.”

“What are you talking about?”

“You’ve been cleverly driving a wedge between us sisters all along. It must have been the same way when you first met Rose secretly without my knowledge. Enjoying the cracks that formed between Rose and me, feeling low-grade ecstasy while being caught between two sisters who became enemies.”

Shallen seemed momentarily at a loss for words.

Only now did he wonder how Kasallin knew that he and Rose had known each other from before.

But he didn’t blush, feel ashamed, or apologize even a bit for that.

“Kasallin. Isn’t Rose where your anger should be directed now? She drove you into being a criminal. To put it nicely, it was virtually the same as trying to kill you.”

“Yes. That’s right. I’m greatly disappointed in Rose and also hate her. But someday, if she truly repents and reflects on her wrongdoing, I’m prepared to meet her at least once. However.”

Kasallin took a big step toward him and said.

“Even if the sky falls and the earth caves in, I have no desire to listen to your words. No, now, apart from forgiveness or whatever, I just wish you would disappear from before my eyes. Please.”

“…What?”

“I allowed this private conversation because I wanted to let you realize what pathetically clinging really is. But there was no need for that. You were a much more hopeless person than I thought. I’ve newly realized that you are the worst stain of my life.”

At Kasallin’s words, Shallen seemed quite deeply shocked.

His lips, which had always made harsh verbal attacks comparing everything with Rose and cutting down her pride, twitched madly, and his whole body seemed to freeze stiff and harden as it was.

Kasallin quickly passed by him.

She went straight up to her room and began packing necessary luggage.

She had intended to stay here for a day if possible, but after conversing with him, that desire completely vanished.

She wanted to escape the borders of the Khan Kingdom as quickly as possible, even by a minute or second, and catch her breath in a quiet place.

“Kasallin. Don’t do this.”

A long shadow fell behind Kasallin’s back as she packed clothes into a large bag.

She consistently ignored him and crossed the room.

Her mother’s keepsake pearl necklace, a couple of books her father had cherished while alive, the bank vault key, and travel documents – that was all her luggage.

An identity document copy jumped out from inside the drawer as if asking to be taken along too, but she threw it into the blazing fireplace without hesitation.

Because she would have a new identity as soon as she crossed over to the Renel Empire.

“Please don’t ignore what I’m saying! Kasallin!”

Whatever he was shouting no longer flowed into Kasallin’s ears.

A servant came and took her luggage bag, and Kasallin called for Bessy.

Perhaps the commotion from just before had echoed throughout the house, as Bessy approached while glancing at Shallen’s mood.

“Miss. Are you leaving immediately without staying the night?”

“Yes. So, tomorrow take this to the bank. If you mention my name, the staff there will take care of it.”

Kasallin signed various places on documents she had prepared just in case and handed them to Bessy.

Bessy, who had been examining the documents with eyes asking what this was, gaped at the incredible amount.

“Miss, this is!”

“Open the vault and donate half of my assets evenly to the slums, and Bessy, take the other half. Don’t live doing hard work anymore.”

“I can’t. You can’t do this. I’ll pretend I heard nothing.”

“I came to the mansion before leaving to take care of my precious things remaining here one last time. There aren’t many, but Bessy is definitely included among them. If it’s burdensome, use it wisely for good causes. I trust that Bessy will use it wisely.”

“Miss…”

Kasallin gave brief farewells to the other servants as well, then strode down the stairs and went outside.

Shallen followed her, and Parnes was standing by the carriage as if he had been waiting.

“Kasallin. Really… will you really do this to me?”

A cool wind blew once.

With everything finished, she had no intention of continuing a pitiful war of words.

The view of the mansion filled with memories of her parents that would remain in her heart forever, though she would never return.

Bessy and other servants who came out under the porch, carefully holding the documents fluttering in the wind in their arms.

Even Marchioness Robepon who stood unable to speak with a bewildered expression.

Kasallin gazed at all these things in turn and resolutely shook off the yoke of the past that had long gripped her throat.

Bidding farewell to the past Kasallin who had suffered so much pain and completing preparations to face a new tomorrow, she quietly took Parnes’s hand and got into the carriage.

She didn’t bother to check what expression Shallen had while standing there forlornly at the end, but what was certain was that it probably wasn’t the look of someone wanting to apologize for wrongdoing.