The colorful fireworks that adorned the night sky were beautiful.

It was a leisure I hadn’t felt in a long time.

A decently cool breeze, a moderate intoxication.

Only the unwanted marriage from yesterday wasn’t perfect.

I looked at Nathaniel, standing next to me, feeling the wind.

I remembered how he had stopped the empress’s nonsense earlier.

A slight trust had developed in my companion who would go through a tough palace life together.

“Nathaniel, I’m counting on you from now on.”

At my words, his eyes turned to me.

“In fact, Nathaniel didn’t need to get married so quickly. Nothing significant happened with me that day.”

“Your father would have killed me.”

“Well, he wouldn’t have really killed you.”

I had thought Nathaniel’s fate was with Teresa.

Separate from feeling sorry for Teresa, I also felt sorry for him.

Wasn’t he forced into a marriage that wasn’t in the original script because of me?

Perhaps the ending where he abandoned the empire and left carefree was impossible.

“I thought you would marry Teresa, your Highness. I’m sorry for overstepping.”

At my apology, Nathaniel laughed as if it was absurd.

“Such useless thoughts. After we’ve already married.”

“Ha, haha. Yes, that’s right. Anyway, I’m counting on you, your Highness.”

“Alright. Make sure you listen to me well. Don’t look to others as you did earlier.”

Or else my head might fly off.

I just smiled and let his words pass.

After that, we watched the fireworks from the railing, sipping cocktails in silence.

I wished upon the colorful fireworks that burst with a bang.

May the palace life ahead be peaceful.

The newlywed life was better than I thought.

Keeping an eye on Nathaniel’s mood was a bit tiring, but it was not difficult as his thoughts showed easily.

My motto in life from now on is to avoid jealousy!

Plus, the biggest worry, the bedroom, was solved very easily.

After the disaster of turning into a baby dragon on the first night, Nathaniel slept wandering from this bedroom to that as usual.

Thanks to that, the large room of the marital bedroom was all mine.

Sometimes he crawled into bed as a baby dragon, perhaps missing the warmth, but he vanished quietly once he returned to his original form.

“Hmm. Is it okay to be this comfortable?”

The empress seemed busy after suddenly being put in charge of a hunting competition that day.

When I occasionally paid a courtesy call, she simply passed by, saying she was busy.

‘I’m free.’

So I was left alone, bored.

Spending every day with walks, embroidery, or reading had its limits.

What on earth did everyone do in this palace?

After lunch, with time to spare, I took a maid and went out into the garden.

Walking slowly through the garden, I stumbled upon an unexpected figure.

“Your Highness?”

“Ah, hello, Your Royal Highness, the Crown Prince Consort.”

Anais, of the fleeting impression, seemed a little different from the simple image I had felt when I first saw her.

Perhaps because she was a witness to the war that was not a war of the Empress and Nathaniel.

I even felt a bit of empathy.

“Your Highness, what brings you out here?”

She had been living more quietly in this palace than I had.

Henry often came to look at me out of curiosity, but after that day, Anais’s face was hard to see.

I sometimes even forgot that she was there.

“Just… just because. I was bored…”

“Oh, Your Highness, you too? Would you like to walk and talk with me then?”

“Eh? Yes, yes.”

Anais was startled but soon nodded her head.

Indeed, even boredom seemed to melt the Ice Princess.

We dismissed the maids and began to walk slowly.

“Did you come here to find something interesting?”

“There are hydrangeas nearby, and it’s time for them to bloom.”

“Then let’s go there.”

I asked her to lead the way.

Still being cautious, Anais only began to move when I stood still.

‘What’s this? Why so timid?’

Was she like this in the original work? She was only sunny when I saw her at the party back then.

She hardly spoke, and she was overly cautious.

This wasn’t just a level of sycophancy.

She looked almost no different from a slave.

Is the Empress impatient because she can’t eat her up?

Looking at Anais’s back, I thought it could be.

When I met the Empress that day, I felt like she could devour at least one person and still have some left over.

‘But isn’t it hot?’

Even though it was early summer, wearing long sleeves in this heat.

Upon closer inspection, Anais’s neck and face were beaded with sweat.

‘It doesn’t seem like she’s immune to the heat…’

Unable to bear it any longer, Anais rolled up her sleeves.

“Huh?”

There was a blue bruise on her slender arm.

“Your Highness.”

I grabbed her hand.

Upon closer examination, there were marks as if someone had struck her.

From old to what seemed like recent dark marks.

“Oh, it’s nothing.”

The startled princess pulled her arm out of my hand and hid it behind her back.

I told the maids to stay away for a moment and asked Anais.

“Did someone hit you?”

“I, I’m clumsy and often get hurt.”

Anais was a princess.

What was she doing to get hurt, being neither a child nor one of the highest women in the royal family?

‘It must be the Empress.’

I realized suddenly.

In this vast palace, she was the only one who could torment the princess without making a sound.