Flip- flip- The thin pages were quickly turned. After examining the book for a while, Veronica soon tilted her head back and let out a deep sigh.

“It’s not here either.”

Her shoulders were stiff from being hunched over for so long. Rubbing her sore shoulders, Veronica looked at the floor.

Books were piled everywhere at the edges of the bookshelf and on the floor. But nowhere was there a book with the information she wanted.

She had looked just in case, but as expected, it wasn’t there. There was no book that explained the phenomenon she was experiencing.

It was something she had already looked into several times before, but being reconfirmed made her feel newly dejected.

After thoroughly searching the books in the library and even examining those in her father’s office, she still came up empty-handed.

If you die, you return to age 16. Whether you have an accident, are murdered, or commit suicide, you always return to age 16. It was a ludicrous notion unless you had experienced it firsthand.

Veronica too would have treated it as the ravings of a madman if it hadn’t happened to her. But it was true. She kept returning to age 16.

At one point, Veronica wanted to end this strange phenomenon. But she couldn’t find a way.

She searched books and sought information on whether others had experienced similar phenomena, but they were all frauds.

Even the information brokers themselves often sold fake information.

Out of frustration, she had tried confiding in others before. Being called delusional would have been fortunate; the worst was being thrown into a mental hospital.

No matter how much she told the truth, she was treated like a madwoman, and when she tried to die, she was restrained.

In the hospital, Veronica was fed strange drugs and subjected to biological experiments. She went mad in a different sense.

After fortunately dying of asphyxiation when a fire broke out in the hospital, she never again mentioned the phenomenon she experienced to anyone. Not to her father, not to Harry.

“It’s dangerous to act recklessly. I need to be careful.”

What she learned through repeated experiences was that the more important something is, the more cautious one needs to be.

It’s easy to mess things up, and success is harder than failure. Of course, even if she messed up, she would continue to have opportunities.

She scanned the densely packed books with her eyes.

The bookshelves filling the quite spacious room were crammed with books. It was an amount that would be difficult to read even in a lifetime.

“Our family’s library is quite large even within the empire. There are many rare books and even forbidden ones. Places with larger libraries than our family’s are.”

The imperial palace library.

“No, it wasn’t there either.”

She had visited the library in the imperial palace early on. It wasn’t difficult to visit since she was Asher’s fiancée.

She had checked every shelf in the farthest corners of the much larger space there, but still couldn’t find the information she needed.

After pondering for a while, Veronica closed the book she was reading and placed it on the shelf.

Then, after tidying up all the books she had carelessly left here and there, she left the library.

As she walked down the corridor, the wind flowed in from outside the window. Veronica turned her head. The accumulated snow had melted and sunlight fell on the dry ground.

Gardeners were pruning tree branches and servants were gathered tidying up the surroundings.

It was a scene repeated to the point of tedium. But Veronica’s mind was clearer than ever before.

It had been a long time since her mind felt this clear and clean. Even the wearisome familiarity felt rather comfortable when she let her guard down.

Though it appeared as a cold scene devoid of light to her eyes, it wasn’t bad. At least nothing would happen in this moment.

The assassination attempt on the Fifth Prince at the imperial hunting competition never found the instigator.

The enraged emperor conducted a large-scale search, but no significant traces were found on the assassins who died at the scene, and the other assassins who escaped were not found.

Moreover, a man was found unconscious on the hill where the assassination took place, with both eyes gouged out and his tongue cut off, rendering him unable to speak.

The man was one of the nobles who had attended as part of the Crown Prince’s entourage.

There were suspicions that perhaps the Crown Prince’s side had orchestrated the assassination, but the Crown Prince vehemently denied involvement. The emperor tentatively dispelled his doubts as he strongly denied it.

The man found that day regained consciousness a few days later but alternated between fits of madness and fainting, until he finally died from uncontrollable bleeding.

There were rumors that someone had secretly killed him, but in the end they were just rumors.

In the end, the case was closed without ever discovering who had instigated the assassination of the Fifth Prince.

Since the deceased noble man was known for his gentle nature, speculation circulated that he was another victim of the assassins.

Afterwards, the emperor threatened to greatly increase security for the imperial family.

Whatever the case, it was welcome news to Veronica. To be precise, she didn’t even have time to pay attention to it.

Meanwhile, Veronica had been busy in her own way.

First, she was preoccupied with learning the long-delayed imperial etiquette.

As nobles are meant to be dignified and beautiful beings who must maintain their composure and decorum in any situation, there were many restrictions and rules of conduct to follow.

It was troublesome that the highest person didn’t follow those rules, but one should know the basic etiquette anyway.

Of course, for Veronica who had already received all this education to the point of nausea and repetition, it was nothing to snort at, but it was still arduous to do it properly after so long.

With her existing lifestyle plus the added education needed for a prince’s consort, there wasn’t enough time even when she squeezed every moment.

Even if one received education from infancy it wouldn’t be enough, so trying to qualify belatedly led to intensive education.

It was more tiring to act appropriately clumsy, as being too skilled would seem strange.

The number of visitors coming to see her also increased after the recent birthday banquet.

Even before, there were those who came out of curiosity about the rumored engagement, but after the emperor openly showed affection at the birthday banquet, interest doubled.

They probably intend to establish connections while they can. It wouldn’t be bad to be connected to the Hardness family after all.

As a result, the number of invitations increased, and considerable time was consumed in replying to each one.

Seated at her desk, Veronica rubbed her stiff wrist. A thick stack of today’s replies sat on one side of the desk.

While her father managed the letters that came to the Hardness household, she had to personally reply to the letters addressed to her.

Even if they were just formal replies, she had to send them, so lately there was never a moment when a pen wasn’t in her hand.

But I can’t skip this. She picked up the quill pen again. She was about to start the most important part of her daily routine.

[To His Highness Prince Cassian Theron Diastara, with longing.

The weather is nice for walks these days. On days like this, I miss Your Highness very much. Just as the flowers ripen in the sunlight and bear red fruit, my heart too…]

Veronica carefully wrote the letter word by word. She didn’t forget to double-check the contents after finishing.

After the final check, she stamped it with her seal and sent it off.

Afterwards, Cassian sent a reply as promised. So far so good.

[Yes, I see.]

“No wonder he seemed so agreeable!”

She slammed her fist on the desk. The maids in the hallway were startled and whispered about what was wrong this time.

Veronica swallowed her irritation for now. She smoothed out the crumpled letter and read it again. She couldn’t help but sigh. Who would see this as an affectionate love letter?

She sends letters filled with writing, but Cassian’s replies are always brief.

[I see.] [Is that so.] [I am aware.] [Do I need to know?]

“He’s not even trying to mock me.”

Even a face-to-face conversation would be longer than this. How can he be so insincere?

“If I had known it would be like this, I should have asked for longer replies. I should have requested at least more than one line on the paper!”

He really is a man without an ounce of manners.

But there’s no need to worry. Veronica caught her breath and looked at the pile of invitations on the side of the desk. Then she happily opened one of them.

Contrary to expectations, Veronica often met with Cassian after the emperor’s birthday banquet. It was all thanks to His Majesty’s excessive grace.

From the remaining official events of the year to private imperial family gatherings and personal meals with His Majesty, Veronica accompanied Cassian to every occasion he attended.

It was the result of the emperor calling her as Cassian’s partner at every opportunity.

Thanks to this, Veronica could easily meet Cassian.

“We meet again, Your Highness Cassian.”

“…”

Veronica smiled brightly. In response, Cassian wore a displeased expression. They should be smiling at each other, but his face was always full of discontent.

If she had personally requested a meeting, he would have refused with all sorts of excuses, but since His Majesty directly called her as his partner, Cassian couldn’t simply refuse.

Perhaps that’s why he made no effort to hide his bad mood every time they met.

“You’ve become even more handsome since I last saw you.”

“We saw each other just ten days ago.”

“I think you’ve grown taller since then.”

“I haven’t grown even as much as a fingernail.”

His attitude was still cold as ever. No matter how she tried to get along, he gave no openings. He wouldn’t be this unfriendly even talking to a stranger for the first time.

Veronica, now quite accustomed to such an attitude, continued speaking.

“By the way, Your Highness Cassian. You’re really too much.”

“What is it now?”

“Your replies to my letters, aren’t they too short?”

“I don’t recall being told to write long replies.”

“They’re short, even for being short. I’d like them to be at least more than one line.”

“I don’t remember agreeing to that.”

“You could do it even without being asked, couldn’t you?”

“I believe I said I wouldn’t change my words once spoken.”

“…”

“…”

A moment of silence passed.

“Shall we go?”

“Let’s.”

Veronica naturally moved to his side. Cassian didn’t particularly back away either. He too had become accustomed to it.

If this was also the emperor’s intention, it was a great achievement.

But he quickly avoided her hand trying to link arms. Veronica was dumbfounded.

“It’s just linking arms.”

“There’s no reason we need to link arms right now.”

“…”

“I don’t want unnecessary physical contact.”

Petty bastard. Veronica moved without any contact, as he wished.