“Emperor Farnese is a man who holds this western continent tightly in his grasp. The point is, he couldn’t have been truly unaware of the fact that Kan Kingdom troops entered the free border zone and searched for you for months. That man who is nothing but a corpse if not for his quick wit.”

“That means, in the end, His Majesty Farnese intentionally didn’t tell me.”

“That’s right. In order not to send you back to the Kan Kingdom.”

Aster plucked a single leaf from a shrub within reach and twirled it.

Water droplets that had formed on its surface sprayed in all directions.

“Why did the Emperor try so hard not to send you back, even going so far as to hide the truth? An emperor who covers your eyes and ears, coaxes and soothes you gently, and holds you tightly in his embrace without letting go – that’s a kind of madness, isn’t it?”

“What’s truly puzzling is something else. How do you, Lord Aster, know about my survival when even Charlen and Rose don’t?”

“I didn’t know about your survival, I believed in Emperor Farnese’s abilities.”

Katharine’s brow furrowed.

Aster continued speaking.

“That Emperor Farnese wouldn’t have let you die. That he would have searched for you even if it meant deploying millions of troops. That’s precisely what King Charlen overlooked. The king assumed you were already dead and only tried to find your corpse. So of course he couldn’t find you.”

“So, now that you know I’m alive and well, what do you plan to do? Are you going to run to your master and tattle every detail?”

“Speaking of which, aren’t you curious about how King Charlen and the Queen are doing now?”

“Well, I suppose they feel a little sorry for me.”

Katharine answered sarcastically.

For a moment, Aster couldn’t hold back his laughter and bit his lip hard.

“Unfortunately, the Queen is thoroughly exploiting your death to enjoy the greatest glory of her life.”

“Rose is exploiting my death?”

“Right now, you’re remembered as the woman who died most shamefully in the Kan Kingdom. It was staged as if you fell to your death while going to meet a man in secret. People are praising the Queen effusively, saying that she, who understood and accepted such an inappropriate elder sister to the end, is truly a great saint of outstanding virtue and wisdom.”

Hearing this, Katharine didn’t get angry, but quietly sank into thought.

When her face didn’t change in the slightest, Aster raised an eyebrow as if surprised.

“Then what did you mean by what you wrote in the letter? That Charlen and Rose had been deceiving and betraying me for a long time?”

“I suggest you find that out for yourself when you return to the Kan Kingdom. A funeral is about to be held at the royal palace.”

“My funeral, I suppose.”

“That’s right. They’re creating an empty coffin with no body inside, shedding fake tears profusely, and collecting massive amounts of condolence money. Even after announcing your death for this event, the royal family has been putting on a show for months, making excuses that they’re not yet mentally prepared to let you go.”

Aster spread his hands to both sides as he continued speaking.

“A person cannot walk two paths at the same time. Choose. Will you live in the Emperor’s embrace, protected like a princess but gripped by anxiety of not knowing when you’ll be abandoned? Or will you return to the Kan Kingdom and face the truth?”

The choice is yours, Lady Katharine.

Aster smiled faintly as he put a period on his short speech.

Nevertheless, it felt as if tens of thousands of unresolved questions and problems were still complicatedly tangling in her mind.

“You, why did you come to tell me all this? What ulterior motive do you have?”

“I’m just a spectator who likes to meddle here and there.”

Aster adjusted his hat and stepped back.

“Well then, I look forward to seeing you again in the Kan Kingdom soon.”

Aster disappeared into the forest, parting the thick fog.

Katharine returned to the imperial palace with very slow steps, holding the extinguished candle lamp.

Dawn was breaking over the ridge of the mountain.

“An emperor who covers your eyes and ears, coaxes and soothes you gently, and holds you tightly in his embrace without letting go…… That’s a kind of madness, isn’t it?”

Repeating Aster’s words in her mind, it was at that moment when she had just emerged from the side path.

“Did you have a good dawn walk?”

Farnese, who had been leaning against the wall with his eyes closed, greeted Katharine as she approached, as if he had been waiting for her.

As if he knew she would appear from there.

Katharine stopped abruptly in her tracks and opened her eyes wide.

It was an unexpected development that he, who should have just gotten up from bed by now, was perfectly dressed from head to toe and waiting for her here.

“Even if you’re wearing wool, you’ll catch a cold if you wander around when it’s this chilly. Let’s go inside quickly.”

Farnese walked ahead without adding any other words.

At a glance, it sounded like nothing more than kind words worried about catching a cold, but in fact, he was now sending a silent warning while wearing a gentle mask.

I won’t ask anything, so don’t cross the line any further.

Katharine followed slowly behind Farnese, keeping a few steps’ distance.

He didn’t bother to turn his head to check if Katharine was following, but he walked at a very slow pace so that she wouldn’t have a hard time.

‘The comfortable and warm enclosure of an emperor.’

A life of being protected like a princess within it, only to be chased out at some point with the label of ‘discarded mistress’.

Looking at his broad back while silently following, Katharine was not unaware that this path was leading to such a life.

Come to think of it, there was nothing wrong with what Charlen and Aster said.

Farnese is, in the end, a man.

Once he indulges in holding her body and soul in his grasp, there will surely come a moment when he feels boredom.

‘Having already been abandoned once, yet about to make the same mistake again.’

They say humans are foolish beings who repeat the same mistakes, and that saying was exactly right.

Katharine stopped following.

And she spoke to his back.

“Your Majesty. I’d like to continue painting the portrait from last time, when would be a good time for you?”

The sun, which had been peeking out into the mountain valley, had already passed its zenith and was now slowly stretching out.

Katharine and Farnese visited the flower garden as usual, maintaining a slight distance between them.

The flower garden where they had first met remained the same despite the change of seasons.

The only thing that had changed was that all the flowers had fallen.

“You should be able to paint here without worrying about the gazes of others.”

“Thank you for making time despite your busy schedule.”

“It’s fine. I was free anyway.”

A lie.

Just a moment ago, she had seen poor Duke Ludwig searching endlessly with a pale face.

Katharine set up an easel in the middle of the desolate garden where all the flowers had disappeared and mixed her paints.

After dipping her brush in honey-colored paint, she added strokes to the paper, capturing his solemn eyes as he read a book in the shade.

However, as she continued brushing, dissatisfaction appeared on Katharine’s face.

The paint was too dull to express his eyes, which were filled with a mysterious and subtle light that was neither dazzling gold nor ordinary yellow.

No, perhaps she should blame these unskilled hands.

“This isn’t right.”

Katharine, who had been staring at the portrait that fell far short of the real thing – to the point where it could be called an insult – opened her mouth to call him.

He had already put down his book and closed his eyes.

“Your Majesty.”

Katharine whispered softly as she approached him.

His side profile, peaceful and calm without the usual stern and cold-blooded air, was very beautiful.

Katharine sat quietly beside him and gazed at his face for a long time.

The moment his tightly closed, strong lips caught her eye.

“You only approach me closely when I hold my breath. Like a frightened baby bird.”

Katharine startled and moved back.

His rough hand, unusually scarred for a member of the imperial family, wrapped around Katharine’s waist.

Katharine, much smaller in stature compared to Farnese, was helplessly pulled into his embrace.

“Le-let me go.”

“If I let you go.”

Farnese showed a breathtakingly beautiful yet cynical smile as he continued speaking.

“Will you run away again to a place beyond my sight, overexerting these delicate ankles that aren’t even fully healed yet?”

“Why didn’t you tell me?”

“……”

“You knew from the beginning, didn’t you? That they were looking for me from the Kan Kingdom. How could you keep me in the room like a hidden object without saying a word?”

A few seconds that felt like eternity passed in heavy silence.

Farnese gripped Katharine’s shoulders tightly with his hand, blue veins bulging.

“Wasn’t it Charlen Riche who truly treated you like an object?”

Farnese continued speaking in a somewhat suppressed voice, as if chewing each word.

“If he knew you were here, that man would have dragged you back to the Kan Kingdom without asking or questioning. Without even listening to your opinion. Stuffing you into a carriage like baggage. Is that what you wanted?”

“Still, you should have told me.”

“Do you want to return to his side that badly? To that heartless man who doesn’t even care if you fall off a cliff and your whole body is torn to pieces?”

“That’s not what I meant by wanting to return to Charlen!”

Katharine, who rarely raised her voice over trivial matters, couldn’t help but shout in frustration.

However, Farnese didn’t just give in like other times.

He revealed a fierce energy as he glared with bloodshot eyes.

“No, if I had told you, you would have surely gone back! Because that’s the kind of person you are. So foolishly kind and overflowing with responsibility that you couldn’t turn your back on your homeland!”

“Yes, maybe I would have! Whether I like it or not, whether it’s for better or worse, that place is my home!”

Hearing those words, the strength gradually left Farnese’s hands.

Katharine broke free from his embrace.

“I’ll go back. I need to show everyone that I’m alive.”

Katharine deliberately turned her face away from him and clenched her fists tightly.

“I’m a living person. I can’t live like a dead person trapped in Your Majesty’s comfortable embrace forever. For my own sake as well.”

“Why did you come to this garden that day?”

Katharine looked at him with wavering eyes.

“You should have just ignored it and passed by. Why did someone like you have to appear in my life…!”

Farnese swallowed the rest of his words and gently pulled Katharine’s hand.

A cool forest scent flowed in.

“Push me away if you don’t like it. I’ll be pushed away as much as you want.”

Farnese cupped Katharine’s cheek as if it were a fragile glass bead, and slowly brought his lips to hers.

A hot passion parted her closed lips and rushed in, fiercely swelling its presence.

Surprised, Katharine’s legs gave out and she staggered weakly.

Farnese caught her before she fell, but he didn’t let go.

Katharine, completely embraced against his chest, pitifully dangled her feet that no longer touched the ground.

Her mind seemed to be turning blank from the frighteningly slow and gentle kiss.

“Yo-Your Majesty.”

Katharine, short of breath, pushed against his chest while gasping for air.

Farnese desperately suppressed his rough nature and impatience that were terrifyingly rising, and let go of Katharine.

Katharine was perplexed.

She should have felt his kiss as unpleasant, but instead she was perplexed by her own heart that had begun to waver.

“If you still must leave despite all this, then use me.”

Katharine looked up at him with a face not completely free of confusion.

“I’ll make it so that no one can ignore you, so that not even the sun hanging in the sky dares to look down on you.”

The Farnese who had been holding Katharine tightly and at a loss just moments ago was gone.

He was now commanding Katharine as an emperor.

“I can make you the noblest woman in the world. Only I, Farnese, can do this in all the world.”

“Your Majesty.”

“Do you want Charlen and Rose to pay the price? Then become the empress of my country, the Renel Empire. Become my one and only companion.”

Farnese took something out from inside his pocket.

A lapis lazuli butterfly ornament, as if the deep blue sea water had been transferred, gently settled on Katharine’s head.

The jewel that is said to have been handed down for generations in the Renel imperial family when proposing.

Now she seemed to understand a little why it was in the shape of a butterfly, of all things.

“Everyone will bow their heads before you, and no one will be able to touch you. If you want revenge, shouldn’t you have this much backing?”