The carriage carrying Kasallin and Parnes left the capital and immediately entered a secluded country road.

However, there was no time to share the joy of reunion with Parnes or to openly discuss what had happened during their separation.

There was one last person they needed to meet before completely leaving the territory of the Khan Kingdom.

“Your Majesty. Miss Kasallin. We have arrived.”

The coachman stopped the carriage on one side of the road.

It was a small inn with a cute fish drawing and a sign reading ‘Blue-backed Fish Inn’ that creaked and swayed in the wind.

She didn’t know why they had built an inn so close to the capital, but it was certainly the perfect place to meet someone quietly.

Kasallin pushed open the door and went inside.

Just as the characteristic musty dust smell and the odor of long-stewed stew hit her nose, someone sitting in a corner shouted “Miss!” and stood up.

It was Loren Logia.

“Miss Loren Logia. You were already here.”

“Miss, what a relief. I believed without a doubt that you must have been falsely accused. Your sincere eyes told me everything!”

Loren Logia recalled the moment they briefly exchanged glances in the courtroom and excitedly poured out a stream of words.

Kasallin comforted her and formally expressed her gratitude.

“Thank you for believing in me. And for speaking up for me. I don’t know how I can repay you.”

“Repay? Please don’t say such things. Rather, I’m sorry I couldn’t be of more help.”

There was no need to be sorry at all, and just as she was about to comfort the dejected woman.

“Excuse me. While we’re at it, could you thank me too? You can see how chapped my lips are, right? I can’t even remember when I last slept.”

Aster, who had been sitting in a shadowy corner, spoke with a slightly playful voice as he stood up.

But he had to stop in his tracks before he could approach Kasallin.

Parnes, standing firmly behind Kasallin, gave Aster an unwelcoming look.

“Do the men of the Khan Kingdom consider shamelessness a virtue?”

Aster glanced at him nervously and coughed.

“Honestly, I have nothing to say. But please give me a chance to say goodbye to Miss Kasallin. From now on, we might meet as uncomfortable acquaintances.”

“Uncomfortable acquaintances? What do you mean by that?”

When Kasallin asked with confusion, Aster smiled and shrugged his shoulders.

“It’s nothing. Just something I said.”

“If you’re agreeable, I’m prepared to take Lord Aster to the Renel Empire.”

“Oh my. Don’t say things you don’t mean. Even though I helped you this time, I’m still someone Miss Kasallin needs to be wary of, aren’t I? Or perhaps… you haven’t developed feelings for me, have you?”

Aster grinned mischievously.

At that moment, it seemed like she could hear Parnes clicking his tongue from behind.

Kasallin nodded, saying she understood, without adding any more words.

In fact, what she had just said was merely something said in passing.

Kasallin wasn’t foolish enough to recklessly bring along someone like Aster, whose true intentions she couldn’t fathom and whom she couldn’t completely trust.

With him, it was right to exchange proper farewells and part cleanly.

“Miss Loren Logia. Would you like to come with me?”

“What? Me?”

“Yes. If you’re agreeable, I would like to keep you as my personal maid. How about it?”

It must have been an unexpected proposal she had never imagined, as Loren Logia was greatly surprised, even pointing to herself with her finger.

She blushed and didn’t know what to do.

Honestly, she didn’t seem to dislike the idea.

At the same time, she was unnecessarily worrying about whether she should really follow them to the Renel Empire and whether she might be a burden.

“May someone like me really have the honor of serving you, Miss?”

“Of course. Your Majesty. Is that alright?”

Kasallin looked at Parnes steadily as she asked.

As soon as his eyes met Kasallin’s, he readily smiled and gave permission, saying “What could be the problem.”

“See. His Majesty welcomes it too.”

“I, I am deeply honored. In that case… I will presumptuously follow you.”

“Good. It’s decided then.”

Having finished all their business, the four people hurriedly left the inn before more time was wasted.

Loren Logia shyly greeted the coachman and knights, and Aster brought his horse from the small stable attached to the inn.

Before boarding the carriage, Kasallin asked him.

“Lord Aster. What do you plan to do from now on?”

“I have to return. To where I belong.”

Hearing his vague answer, Kasallin realized he intended to return to the royal palace.

She narrowed her eyes and looked at the Khan royal castle, faintly shrouded in mist in the distance.

“No one will welcome you there.”

“Yes. That’s probably true. But don’t worry. I have a path I’ve already thought through.”

“I see. You’ll handle things well on your own. Anyway, thank you for helping me clear my name. Take care.”

“Yes. Travel safely. Your future Imperial Majesty.”

Aster kept his head bowed until the carriage carrying them disappeared below the hill, then slowly raised his face.

Realizing you like someone and at the same moment understanding that love can never be fulfilled wasn’t a very pleasant feeling.

But what could he do about it now.

He would curse his stupid and foolish self, suffer with some regret and longing, then gradually forget.

A heavy silence that felt like walking on thin ice, precarious and as if something might happen at any moment, enveloped the court.

The empty space left by Kasallin, who had struck him squarely in the back of the head with the stones of betrayal she had carefully stacked up over time before leaving, was hollow.

As if hoping that all of this might be nothing more than an absurd dream, Shallen quietly closed and opened his eyes.

“Your, Your Majesty. I’ll explain everything.”

Behind Shallen, who had been staring out the window with chillingly empty eyes for hours, Rose was trembling endlessly.

“What explanation could you possibly give.”

Shallen asked back in a calm voice devoid of any anger.

Given his usual temperament, he should have been exploding with rage, breaking all sorts of furniture and shouting.

But the current Shallen seemed detached, as if he didn’t even feel the need to do so, as if he no longer held any expectations for the woman named Rose standing before him.

“Your Majesty, I…”

“Just where does the truth begin and the lies end.”

“I, well… everything was for Your Majesty’s sake.”

Rose ultimately chose once again to use shallow lies to escape the immediate crisis.

Though the future looked bleak regarding how to clean up the aftermath, for now it was more important not to be abandoned by Shallen.

She wanted to avoid at all costs living the rest of her life in disgrace as a divorced queen.

“I felt like sister Kasallin would someday ruin Your Majesty. So I must have gone temporarily mad. In my desire to protect Your Majesty, I committed a terrible act.”

“You seem to be mistaken about something – that wasn’t an action for my sake.”

Shallen spoke warningly in a voice that had softened somewhat but still carried only cold wind.

His sense of betrayal toward Rose, whom he had trusted so much, was not something that could be easily set aside.

“Because of you, I ruined everything, lost face as a king, my pride as a man fell to the ground, and Kasallin left for the Renel Empire as if to make a point. No matter how I think about it, I cannot forgive you.”

“I was wrong. Please forgive me!”

Rose collapsed to her knees on the cold floor and grabbed Shallen’s trouser leg, begging with both hands.

Her face, covered in tears, could no longer shake Shallen’s sympathy as it had before.

“I’ll accept any punishment gladly. Just please don’t say you’ll cast me out. I cannot live without Your Majesty. Without Your Majesty, I am as good as dead.”

“How can you say such things.”

Shallen asked while glaring fiercely at the blazing fireplace.

Rose rubbed her cheek against his leg and sobbed.

“Because I love you…”

“Anyone can say they love someone.”

“I’ll prove my sincerity toward Your Majesty by repenting every day from now on. I’ll follow and obey whatever Your Majesty says. So for the sake of our child at least…”

Shallen’s cold gaze descended to rest on her lower abdomen.

Yes. That is the last hope.

“…Don’t make such an expression. I never intended to cast you out from the beginning.”

“Re, really…?”

“Yes.”

If the child were born with features resembling Kasallin and the same emerald eyes as hers, it would be perfect – the final connecting link between Kasallin and himself.

Wasn’t it for this very moment that he had taken Rose as queen, passing over all the excellent women overflowing in this wide world?

So that even a little bit of his blood and ‘her’ blood could mix and become one.

“Didn’t we swear to each other on the day we made our hundred-year vow. That we would overcome and move forward no matter what hardships and adversities befell us. I am not a man who speaks promises he cannot keep.”

“Your Majesty.”

“I’ll give you one last chance. So you must also remember this. Never again will you hide anything from me, deceive me, or devise foolish schemes. After all, shouldn’t married couples have no secrets from each other?”

Shallen thought as he bestowed deception wrapped in the plausible packaging of forgiveness and mercy.

Perhaps God had destined Kasallin to be his beloved and fated partner, while Rose was designated for the safe purpose of continuing the lineage.

Rose, who could never understand the true hidden meaning in his words, nodded so vigorously her neck might break.

Without noticing that Shallen’s eyes no longer shone with their former rapturous light but were filled with desire for another.

Since things had come to this, Rose gritted her teeth, knowing she must take the secret of her birth to the grave.

If even that were discovered, then Shallen’s sword would personally sever her neck.

“Come here. It’s not good for you to sit on the cold floor when you’re not alone in your body.”

Shallen embraced Rose tenderly while his eyes glared through the window toward the direction where the border lay.

There was still a chance.

If only he could prove to Emperor Parnes, who was probably being deceived by Kasallin without knowing anything, that she had a body incapable of bearing children.

The relationship between those two, connected by shallow interest and curiosity, would surely shatter like thin ice.