If Viscount Hillan were to be asked to describe his fiancée in one word, Arta could confidently say:

The most stubborn person in the world.

The man chosen to be her match since she was too young to remember was the sole heir and successor to the great House of Hillan, a family said to have an even longer history than the royal family.

So how preciously must he have been raised? Even the king would hint at his dissatisfaction, saying he was a fellow who simply did not know how to bow his head.

Such a fiancé could hardly be pleasing in Arta’s eyes, who preferred men with weak self-assertion and who looked up to her endlessly, like Mo Youngsik.

What’s more, that man, who was several years older than Arta, arrogantly treated the princess like a child.

Though he hadn’t committed any particular rudeness, he didn’t treat the princess’s words as golden either.

No matter what Arta said to try to capture his attention, he was a very boring man who would just nod once and say “I see,” before turning his gaze back to the newspaper he had been reading.

He used two main methods when conversing with his fiancée.

One was to pretend to listen while ignoring her, and the other was to placate her just enough to end the conversation quickly.

He was the only one in Arta’s life who had left such an unacceptable insult.

This time, it was not the kind of problem her mother could solve even if she ran to her crying.

The queen, soothing her twisted youngest daughter, asked if it wasn’t good that he wasn’t so easy to handle. Saying that a man who’s too easy is boring.

Unfortunately, that was a statement that showed she didn’t know her daughter well enough.

Arta liked easy men. She preferred men who trembled at her every word and action, worshipping her.

And as long as she had such preferences, she and Viscount Hillan, who thought he was the best, were like oil and water, unable to mix.

Of course, that didn’t mean she wanted to break off the engagement with him.

The princess wasn’t foolish enough to reject a husband like Duke Hillan just because he didn’t match her tastes.

Even if she herself would hate Viscount Hillan to the point of grinding her teeth, she was willing to endure his unpleasant points as long as others considered him the best catch.

Because Viscount Hillan and the Hillan ducal family were trophies that would bring glory to Arta Debon Sorbi.

Would she give up the position of mistress of Hillan just because she found her husband-to-be annoying?

The thrill of love and romance could be found with other men. With men who perfectly matched her tastes.

Viscount Hillan also seemed largely unconcerned if Arta played around with other men.

Once, on an impulse to see his disturbed expression, the princess had casually mentioned to him that she had someone else she loved.

What had that boring man replied then?

He had answered, “I see,” and then read his newspaper.

Apart from her wounded pride, Arta’s life plan was perfect.

Though it was a bit disappointing that she couldn’t subdue the haughty Viscount Hillan, it was simple to define him as just that kind of being from the start.

A man who wouldn’t bleed even if pricked with a needle. A man who thought too highly of himself to share his heart with others.

A man whose steel-like poker face wouldn’t crack for anyone’s existence, not just Arta’s.

That’s how the princess viewed Viscount Hillan.

Until she discovered by chance that he had feelings for one woman.

That woman was Kisa Vanspelt. Someone who had once given the princess an inferiority complex in the distant past.

Kisa, why you again?

The inferiority complex that Arta thought had disappeared surged violently within her.

In fact, after that incident in her younger days, Kisa hadn’t held much meaning for the princess.

There were plenty of friends who were quicker-witted, more eloquent, or more loyal than her.

Even her beauty, which once seemed so impressive, had started to feel rather unremarkable at some point.

What good was a pretty face? It couldn’t even win the heart of the fiancé she loved unrequitedly.

When consoling Kisa, who was troubled by her indifferent fiancé, Arta secretly harbored such thoughts.

But how foolish she looked, not knowing this and thinking the princess was truly worried about her.

Anyway, for her, Kisa was just one of the members attending the tea parties.

But, but! To think that it was that Kisa who held the heart of Viscount Hillan, whom Arta had failed to subdue and had to compromise with!

This was unacceptable. Was even Duke Hillan, who acted so noble, such a pathetic fellow who easily fell for looks?

While Arta was struggling to understand why she should feel inferior to someone like Kisa, Viscount Hillan died in vain.

They said a fire that broke out in the villa where he often spent time alone had taken his life.

When she received the sad news of her fiancé’s death, Arta nearly fainted.

The cause was not sorrow, but the resentment of eternal defeat.

With Viscount Hillan’s death, Arta had now forever lost the chance to subdue him by force or steal his heart.

It also meant the opportunity to prove that she was superior to Kisa had vanished like a bubble.

Feeling utterly miserable about this, she refused to eat.

While her family was worried sick and Gabriel tended to his lover with utmost care, the one who restored the princess’s vitality was someone else.

Seyerd Hillan. Viscount Hillan’s twin brother and the new Duke Hillan who looked exactly like him.

When Arta saw him visiting the king for succession to the title, she decided to use him as a substitute for her dead fiancé.

This time, she would surely defeat Kisa. By getting Seyerd Hillan.

She didn’t think it would be a particularly difficult task.

Seyerd was quite intelligent, but unlike Viscount Hillan, he wasn’t seasoned in the capital’s political scene or noble society.

In fact, unlike his brother who only blinked his eyelids no matter what the youngest princess said, Seyerd showed relatively easy-to-understand reactions.

She thought she just needed to push a little more.

But then.

“I’ve become engaged this time.”

When she heard the sudden engagement announcement at Count Habertz’s charity party, it felt like someone had struck the back of her head with a blunt object.

Seyerd wasn’t some naive scholar who grew up in a monastery.

In some ways, he was even more cunning and sly than his brother.

While Arta was confidently teasing Kisa at tea parties, assured of her victory, that bastard was plotting to escape her grasp behind the scenes.

And in a way that utterly trampled Arta’s pride – by getting engaged to Kisa.

The princess tried to somehow make up for her mistake. She tried to prevent Seyerd and Kisa’s union.

But both her father and mother just shook their heads, seeming perplexed.

Unlike Viscount Hillan, who had been the princess’s fiancé, there wasn’t a proper justification to strongly restrain Seyerd.

In despair, Arta fell ill again. And taking advantage of this opportunity, Gabriel, that ungrateful wretch, ran away from her.

It seems he had hoped that with Viscount Hillan’s death, Arta might now only look at him. How presumptuous.

Though she had no intention of fulfilling that vain hope, Arta was determined to bring Gabriel back no matter what.

To her, Gabriel Williams was so obviously her possession that she couldn’t even imagine a situation where he wasn’t hers.

To be honest, she was a bit tired.

Whether it was Kisa, Viscount Hillan, or Seyerd, Arta decided to give up on the beings that had tormented her for so long and that she had been obsessed with for so long.

No matter what tricks she tried, the love of those ominous twin brothers belonged to Kisa Vanspelt, so what could she do?

From now on, the princess planned to live a happy and comfortable life with a man she liked rather than continue to be entangled with people she disliked.

“So I haven’t lost, Kisa.”

I’ll live a much better life than you, so I’ve won against you.

The princess muttered quietly in the carriage.

“And Viscount Hillan.”

Her gaze turned to the distant sky. As if her dead fiancé was there.

Just watch closely. The sight of your brother, who was like a worm compared to you, possessing the woman you never could.

Imagining the face of a man she had never seen before, seething with anger, Arta giggled.

On a day when the season was entering early summer, Kisa boarded a carriage to visit the Hillan ducal residence as usual.

A few days ago, Seyerd had told Kisa that she could come to the ducal residence anytime without an invitation.

To be honest, Kisa was bored these days.

She didn’t want to go to social events because there were too many people clinging annoyingly, and there wasn’t much to do just staying at home.

Therefore, she was currently heading to the Hillan ducal residence with the intention of secretly watching Seyerd work and perhaps having a meal together.

But then it happened.

Neigh!

Along with the horses’ rough cries, the carriage suddenly shook violently.

As Kisa suppressed a groan, having hit the side of her head against the wall because of it, the coachman called out to her.

“I’m sorry, miss! Some fellow suddenly jumped out in front of the horses, so…!”

“What? What happened to that person?”

“Fortunately, we stopped before hitting them, so they’re unharmed… Wait, who are you?”

“What’s wrong? Did something happen?”

Before Kisa could confirm the strange occurrence with the coachman, the carriage door swung open abruptly.

The man who intruded into the carriage at will sat down right across from Kisa.

“It’s been a while, Kisa.”

The man, whose eyes had become somewhat sunken and skin darkened since she last saw him, was Daniel Lowens.

“I heard the news. You’re engaged, aren’t you?”

He twisted his lips into a crooked smile.