The dessert presentation ended sooner than expected.

It was thanks to Adrian quickly gathering the servants.

The servants showed forced smiles tinged with fear while constantly tilting their heads.

They seemed more wary than pleased to receive treatment they hadn’t gotten from the Grand Duchess.

I heard whispers among the servants a few times saying, “Smell it first to see if it’s spoiled,” but I pretended not to hear and just smiled.

While desserts alone wouldn’t eliminate the death flags from the original story, it didn’t seem like a bad start to signal my change.

‘My dear half-demon servants, let’s get along well from now on.’

I instructed all the servants, including Mina, to take a break.

Then I began a tour of the mansion alone with Adrian.

The interior of the Dark Mansion was all black, with obsidian-like brilliance flowing throughout.

The floor, walls, stairs, and even the massive fireplace were all black.

Especially beautiful was the sight of light from the enormous chandelier shattering on the vast black marble floor.

‘Totally my style.’

It was the epitome of sophistication.

It perfectly suited the name “Dark Mansion.”

“Quite different from the Light Mansion, isn’t it?”

I nodded repeatedly with a satisfied expression at Adrian’s question.

“Yes, very much so.”

But that was only for a moment.

Something caught my eye.

“…What’s that?”

In the center of the spacious lobby, between the stairs leading up on both sides, was a large fountain.

It was lavishly decorated with tropical flowers not found in the north.

“Ah, as you can see, since the Dark Mansion is all black, we often place elaborate flower arrangements here for accent.”

“…Did Adrian do this himself?”

“Yes. I’m embarrassed to say, but I have a bit of a talent for handling flowers and plants.”

Adrian smiled shyly, but I thought it was a fitting skill for him.

If I had to describe Adrian’s image…

Perhaps like a gentle flower shop elder brother?

‘I like even that about him!’

I secretly marked Adrian as the butler for the seaside mansion where I would stay after the divorce.

Not only for his flower arranging skills.

I liked his meticulous and diligent attitude, evident in the perfectly maintained mansion despite the Twins family not residing there.

‘Adrian, you’re my butler both at the Dark Mansion and at the future seaside mansion. I’ve got dibs on you.’

I looked up at Adrian with a satisfied expression and smiled slightly.

“It seems we’ll be seeing each other often from now on.”

At my words, Adrian blinked his eyes with an expression of disbelief.

But that was only for a moment.

Adrian showed the brightest smile I had seen so far.

“I’m truly… truly delighted, Your Highness.”

He even took a moment to catch his breath, seemingly overwhelmed with emotion.

“Whenever you visit here, I will always welcome you with the same heart. And if you need me, I’ll come without fail, even if you seek me out separately.”

His amethyst-like eyes shone with clear sincerity.

“I’d be happy to do anything I can for Your Highness.”

I stared at the moved Adrian for a while before speaking.

“…It seems Adrian isn’t afraid of me.”

At my words, a touch of bitterness seeped into Adrian’s face.

“Do you wish for me to fear you, Your Highness?”

“That’s not it, but. Everyone else avoids me, yet only Adrian seems to genuinely welcome me.”

“…”

“It feels somewhat… grateful, I suppose.”

I turned my head in a different direction and spoke as if muttering.

Adrian let out a soft laugh, as if he had listened carefully even to my quiet voice.

And then came his gentle silence.

It had a strange power to gradually make my heart feel at ease.

How long did that moment last?

A low voice was heard from behind.

“Because I’ve always… been waiting for Your Highness to visit this place.”

.

.

.

An hour later. Adrian, having seen Rebecca off, entered the butler’s quarters.

He immediately sat down in a plush chair in front of the fireplace, leaning back and letting out a shallow breath.

Leaning broadly against the chair, he loosened the cravat choking his neck.

“Haa…”

Adrian covered his face with both hands and remained leaning in the chair for a long time.

‘…Your Highness Rebecca came.’

It still didn’t feel real.

Rebecca, who seemed like she would never appear at the Dark Mansion again.

To think that he had talked with her here and even laughed together.

As Rebecca’s smiling face came to mind next, a faint blush crept across Adrian’s beautiful face.

‘Finally… has she forgiven me?’

Adrian first saw Rebecca on the wedding night of her and the Grand Duke.

Rebecca was crying alone by the pond in the backyard connecting to the Light Mansion.

Moonlight gently settled on the beautiful face of the weeping woman.

The pure white forehead, the soft shadows melting on the bridge of her nose, the teardrops flowing beside her red lips.

Adrian approached her as if enchanted by that desolate scene that evoked a sense of holiness.

At that time, Adrian had just come to the human world for practical training and didn’t know she was the Grand Duchess.

‘I’ve been abandoned even here. No one truly loves me.’

Rebecca shed tears with a face that looked about to crumble.

Her pitiful tears sharply pierced Adrian’s heart.

Adrian then learned that she was the Grand Duchess.

And that Cedric had left the bedroom, postponing the wedding night to confirm the “Heart of Lilian.”

‘I’ll show you the way to Mount Manakin. His Grace the Grand Duke should be there now.’

He shouldn’t have said that.

Even if his heart softened at the sight of Rebecca about to collapse, he shouldn’t have said those words.

After that day, the relationship between Cedric and Rebecca began to deteriorate rapidly.

Cedric kept his distance from Rebecca, wary of her, while Rebecca became increasingly hysterical, obsessing over Cedric.

The servants’ gazes toward Rebecca gradually grew colder, but Adrian couldn’t do that.

The deterioration of the Grand Duke couple’s relationship.

Rebecca’s tyranny towards everyone in Twins Castle.

Lady Bianca’s escape because of it.

And above all… Rebecca gradually changing like a person possessed by madness.

Adrian felt as if all of it was his fault.

He felt he could do anything for her if it meant repaying the debt of heart he owed to Rebecca.

He waited eagerly to see Rebecca again like that, but she never showed herself before Adrian again.

Adrian thought she didn’t visit the Dark Mansion because she resented him.

Thus, after five years, he had just made up his mind to return to the demon realm where he used to live, leaving Twins Castle.

He was trying to forget his memories of the Dark Mansion along with his guilt towards Rebecca.

‘And yet she came here again only today…’

Adrian pulled out an envelope he had kept in his jacket’s inner pocket.

It was the resignation letter he had intended to hand over to the Grand Duke’s aide this afternoon.

Adrian threw it into the fire pit without hesitation.

The faint orange light from the fireplace flickered on his face.

‘It seems we’ll be seeing each other often from now on.’

Rebecca’s gentle voice echoed clearly in his ears.

He couldn’t know if her words were sincere, but at least he could hope again.

* * *

All the way back to the Light Mansion, crossing the path between the two mansions, Mina couldn’t hide her happy expression.

“Are you that happy?”

“Of course! I saw Adrian after so long. Do you know how popular Adrian is in the demon realm?”

I couldn’t help but smile, finding such a Mina adorable.

“Yes, he was handsome.”

“Just handsome? Adrian is extremely, extremely! He’s the second son of a very old noble family in the demon realm!”

“Really? Why is such a person working as a butler?”

At my question, Mina, who had been excitedly swinging her rattan basket, stopped abruptly and tilted her head.

“That’s right? I heard he came for a human world life training to the Grand Duke’s household but didn’t return and kept staying. I’m not sure why…”

Just as she was about to continue speaking.

“…Huh?”

Mina’s eyes gradually widened as she unconsciously looked behind me.

Her face was like someone who had encountered an unexpected person.

.

.

.

A little earlier. As the carriage was entering the gates of Twins Castle.

Cedric, who had been lost in thought the entire way, opened the envelope he was holding.

The divorce papers with the imperial and papal seals of approval.

As Emperor Retiz had said, if only the couple’s signatures were on it, their marriage would be perfectly over.

It was what he had always wanted, and finally the end was starting to show.

And yet…

Cedric couldn’t understand why he felt so displeased.

‘The more you loved someone, the more irreversible it becomes when that love cools. The Grand Duchess loved you so much, so now she has no regrets!’

It was just words to brush off.

If it had been the previous Cedric, he would have surely thought that Emperor Retiz, not knowing the couple’s circumstances, had uttered the ridiculous word “love.”

However, after hearing the Emperor’s words.

Strangely, Rebecca from that night kept coming to mind.

Especially that gaze and voice devoid of any emotion.

Such a Rebecca had said she no longer loved or wanted him.

“…”

Until then, Cedric had been convinced that Rebecca had other motives for agreeing to the divorce.

He thought she was making a last-ditch effort to somehow turn his heart around.

But now what he felt was…

That Rebecca’s attitude was too fresh to have other intentions.

‘As if she were truly waiting for the divorce.’

That fact made him keep mulling over Emperor Retiz’s words.

‘…Did Rebecca really love me?’

Cedric’s brow gradually furrowed as he was lost in thought.

Even if Rebecca had truly loved him, what use was it now?

The couple’s relationship had long since become irreversible.

‘Rebecca must have belatedly acknowledged that fact and given up her feelings.’

Even after calmly organizing the situation like that, a sense of displeasure kept rising.

A feeling of reason and emotion moving separately.

It was the first time for Cedric, who had always relied only on rational judgment.

‘It’s bothering me in many ways.’

It was when he turned his eyes to the carriage window as he was stroking his eyebrows.

In the distance, he saw a red-haired woman walking out of the Dark Mansion.

For a moment he thought it was an illusion, but it was clearly Rebecca.

The red hair and pale skin, the fancy attire.

Everything was the same as before, but clearly something was different.

Rebecca was… smiling.

A smile that lit up her surroundings more brightly than lilacs blooming on a spring night.

Cedric’s gaze, fixed on that smile, couldn’t be withdrawn for a while.

“…I’ll get off here.”

It was around then that he unknowingly stopped the carriage.