Veronica tilted her head back. She looked up at the clear sky that was refreshing just to see, then closed her eyes.

When was the last time she had looked at the sky like this? The memory was hazy.

“Are you ready, Veronica?”

“Yes, Father.”

Veronica lowered her head and straightened her body. Her tied-up hair swayed lightly.

Harry approached her, loosening up his body. They were both dressed in comfortable clothing for movement.

‘I want to learn martial arts.’

One day, Veronica made such a request to her father Harry. Harry made a face that showed he couldn’t understand.

‘But Veronica, didn’t you say you didn’t want to learn martial arts?’

Harry had once tried to teach martial arts to his daughter.

It was when she was very young.

To Harry’s attempts, Veronica threw a tantrum saying she didn’t want to learn martial arts, and eventually even lay down on the floor in protest.

Despite coaxing and persuasion, he had long given up due to her stubborn insistence.

‘I changed my mind. I think it would be good to learn.’

‘You don’t have to push yourself. You weren’t feeling well until recently.’

‘I’m fine now. My head is clear too. And it’s good to learn how to protect myself. You never know what might happen in the future…’

A heavy truth flowed out lightly. So lightly that the listener didn’t even notice.

Veronica quickly raised her gaze that had fallen to the floor for a moment and smiled brightly.

‘A little change is necessary.’

‘If that’s what you want…’

Harry felt uneasy but gave permission for now.

It wasn’t a bad idea anyway. While it would be good if she learned how to protect herself through this opportunity, Harry honestly didn’t have high expectations.

He thought Veronica would soon get bored of it.

‘Thank you, Father.’

Not knowing Harry’s thoughts, Veronica smiled happily.

So the two of them started running around the mansion every morning.

At first, Harry thought Veronica would quickly get bored, but when she endured and attended training despite suffering from muscle pain, he realized her determination and responded seriously.

Veronica lightly stretched her body. Then she shouted loudly.

“Please take care of me!”

The two immediately began jogging.

Veronica had said she wanted to learn martial arts, but Harry advised her to build up her stamina first. It was also the right advice.

With a body that quickly tired just from running one lap around the mansion, it would be too much to learn martial arts.

Her white, fair face quickly became drenched in sweat even after just a short jog.

She felt the limits of her stamina many times. Her legs trembled and her breath came up to her chin.

Until now, Veronica’s life had been one of depending on her father Harry.

Growing up cherished and protected as a beloved daughter, she only knew how to act spoiled and had no ability to accomplish anything on her own.

When someone tried to use her, to take her away, to use force against her, she couldn’t even attempt to resist, no, not even defend herself.

Despite growing up as the child of a great general, the reason she hadn’t learned martial arts was simply because she disliked having muscles on her body.

‘Even I think I was stupid.’

Even when her father was captured, Veronica didn’t have the courage to pick up a sword and go rescue him.

She was just helplessly swept away by the crashing waves.

Now she didn’t want that anymore. She didn’t want to be powerlessly protected.

If the worst situation came, she wanted to face it and take action. Even if her future held only tragedy.

Veronica’s ultimate goal was now one thing. To draw that man, Prince Cassian Theron Diastara, into her life.

But you see…

When Veronica’s jogging suddenly turned irritable, a reprimand came flying.

“Veronica. It’s good that you’re enthusiastic, but you’re going too fast.”

“Ah, I’m sorry.”

Veronica immediately slowed her running pace. Then she sighed. Actually, Veronica hadn’t been in a good mood lately.

Despite promising marriage, the Emperor seemed impatient and quickly proceeded with their engagement.

He looked like he wanted to hold the wedding ceremony right away, but as the Emperor, there were face issues with holding a marriage without an engagement ceremony, and Harry persuaded him to give the young ones a bit more time.

So they barely reached a compromise to proceed with the engagement.

It took less than three months for the engagement ceremony to be prepared.

All procedures were omitted and only minimal preparations were made – it was a forced progression solely due to the Emperor’s urging and pressing.

Even so, isn’t this too rushed? There’s public attention too. Harry, who had been racking his brains, finally went to see Veronica before the engagement ceremony.

He told her to speak honestly if it was too burdensome, saying he would try to delay the engagement. He was willing to use all the rights he had if necessary.

But Veronica refused. From her perspective, the sooner the engagement, the better.

Her father wouldn’t know, but in Veronica’s original life, she had her engagement ceremony with Asher around this time.

The Emperor was hasty then too. Knowing that future, she had deliberately gone to the Emperor to mention marriage.

Not knowing Veronica’s circumstances, Harry felt heavy-hearted thinking his daughter was forcibly accepting the Emperor’s stubbornness while enduring discomfort.

The child who had been acting maturely so suddenly these days. To Harry who worriedly asked if she was really okay, she just smiled.

Veronica recalled her hastily held engagement ceremony.

As expected, it was a ceremony that clearly showed the Emperor’s pressing.

All the grand imperial engagement procedures were omitted and the preparations were woefully inadequate. It was also a familiar sight to Veronica.

Once, she had held an engagement ceremony with Asher in this place.

The hastiness she hadn’t noticed then was now apparent to her eyes. Still, there were traces of efforts to maintain appearances.

Of course, the Emperor wouldn’t have made the effort himself.

There, Veronica met Cassian again.

The last time was when she left him behind looking dumbfounded after securing a marriage promise with Cassian from the Emperor on the day she entered the imperial palace.

When they met again, his face was still full of displeasure and discomfort.

‘You look very handsome today, Your Highness Cassian.’

‘…’

His glare at her was still the same.

But all he could do here was to safely complete the engagement ceremony.

The Emperor was watching from high above.

Cassian, looking like he wanted to die right then, very reluctantly put the ring on her left ring finger.

Watching such a Cassian, Veronica smiled brightly. Then she hugged him as if unable to contain her joy.

Her gaze was directed at the man who would be watching from afar.

The man who would have attended despite it being an uncomfortable place, not wanting his precious brother to be lonely.

While doing so, she whispered softly into the ear of the person who had frozen in surprise.

‘I will send you letters, so you must write back.’

But.

Why aren’t you sending replies!

Her crimson eyes took on a chilly look.

Cassian was rude. Making his fiancée who wanted contact wait like this, he couldn’t be anything but the worst man.

No matter how forced the engagement was, shouldn’t he at least give a basic reply when she sent letters?

She kept sending him letters, but so far she hadn’t received a single reply.

It’s only to his disadvantage to resist.

Even as the Crown Prince, an imperial order is something that cannot be refused. Their engagement was something the Emperor himself had arranged. Veronica sighed deeply again.

After finishing her exercise, Veronica returned to the mansion, washed up and changed clothes.

There was still time before the home tutor who taught history was due to arrive.

Veronica headed straight for the study room. She sat at the desk, took out clean and crisp paper, and picked up a quill pen.

Though all twenty-five letters she had sent were ignored, Veronica didn’t give up.

She didn’t expect him to be favorable from the start anyway, so she decided to be relentless too.

She quietly began writing another letter today.

Hoping this letter will reach Your Highness’s heart. I send this with thoughts for your peace. Time has flown by since we held our engagement ceremony. My longing has deepened so much in proportion to the time I haven’t seen your face…]

“I hope you will finally reply. Let’s see how long Your Highness’s peace will last while ignoring me like this. No matter how much you refuse, we’ve already held our engagement ceremony, and since it’s something that can’t be undone anyway, just quietly accept it and let’s meet face to face…”

The inner thoughts disguised as beautiful expressions flowed from her lips.

It’s unknown whether Cassian would catch the hidden meaning, but on the surface it was an excellent love letter.

As she was deeply concentrating, there was a knock on the door. Soon, a maid entered.

“Young miss.”

“I told you not to call me unless it’s urgent.”

“Lady Arin has come to visit.”

The pen tip that had been pressing down each character with emotion suddenly stopped.

Veronica raised her head and was silent for a moment. She seemed to be contemplating, then turned her head.

“Guide her to the reception room.”

Putting down her pen, Veronica tidied up her appearance before leaving the room. She put on gloves because the ink on her hands wouldn’t come off.

When she headed to the reception room, a young woman with silvery hair neatly tied up greeted Veronica joyfully.

“Congratulations on your engagement, Veronica.”

“Thank you, Lady Arin.”

Lady Arin offered congratulations as soon as she saw Veronica.

It was the greeting everyone gave upon seeing her recently.

At first she felt quite a sense of achievement, but now she had become numb to it after hearing it so much. The question that would follow was also predictable.

“Since when did you and Prince Theron become that kind of relationship?”

Lady Arin asked with twinkling eyes. She seemed to have great interest in the stories surrounding Veronica.

“I’m sorry, it’s not even the promised day but I was too curious.”

“It’s alright. You’re not the only one.”

Everyone she meets asks. How did she end up in that kind of relationship with Prince Cassian Theron?

She understood their interest to some extent.

It would be curious that her one-sided love interest and fiancé were different. Moreover, how intense had Veronica’s one-sided love been?

On top of that, her one-sided love interest and fiancé were half-brothers and both princes.

A duke’s daughter caught between two princes. She could guess what kind of nasty rumors were going around.