Liam looked at Ormia Beltoa before him with fresh eyes.

With scratches on her nails and torn lace sleeves, her hair still messy despite attempts to tidy it, Ormia sat before him with an expression that suggested she didn’t care what happened to her.

She remained calm despite knowing what she had almost been through.

‘This person is supposed to be a quiet princess with no presence?’

The report from some incompetent spy was terrible.

From the moment he approached her, although she showed her blessing and listened to the plan, she was completely different from Princess Leticia of the royal family.

He went to the Olan house under the pretext of an invitation, accompanied by a herald.

He arrived on the date and time Ormia had informed him. The butler told him to wait, but there was a commotion in the study.

The premonition that Ormia would be involved was sadly correct, but seeing the situation with his own eyes, his body moved first.

Two women were beating Ormia.

An older lady was about to strike Ormia with a sharp bouquet of roses, and the woman next to her held a vase in her hand.

In that situation, Ormia remained calm.

She provoked the viscount, steering the situation to her advantage. She led him to believe this wasn’t the first time she had been assaulted. And there really had been more assaults.

The herald was shocked to see Ormia answering with her eyes lowered, as if fearing her husband before her.

‘This woman doesn’t care what happens to her.’

Indifference doesn’t come from calculation.

One must become accustomed to it, exhausted, and powerless.

Liam was familiar with her expression, having watched his younger sister struggle with pain.

It was an expression that suggested she didn’t care what happened to her.

‘She came to me first, saying she wanted to leave Glishia.’

“Is this situation not enough? Should I have had my arm broken?”

At those words, his patience snapped.

She was a jewel he had just found, one that no one else had discovered. Ormia, who hid her power and wished to leave Glishia, was his only salvation.

He had finally found someone who could save his sister, but that person didn’t know how to take care of herself.

“That body is no longer yours alone. So don’t create situations where you’ll be hurt like this again.”

Ormia just looked at him calmly, saying she understood him.

When they arrived at the palace and he escorted her out of the carriage, he whispered:

“You don’t have to do anything now. From now on, I’ll be the one moving.”

Ormia met his gaze for a moment before entering the castle.

Her indifference, suggesting that only results mattered regardless of what happened, bothered Liam.

This woman doesn’t protect herself.

‘I need to proceed quickly before she gets hurt more.’

Ormia needs to be alright for him to save his sister.

On the surface, the royal palace was quiet, but inside, it was in an uproar.

The fact that a noble had beaten her daughter-in-law would have been an issue on its own, but that daughter-in-law was royalty. Although not a recognized royal, the charge itself was problematic.

Assaulting royalty.

How dare they, to royalty.

How dare they, to the bloodline of God.

The King summoned me on the day I returned to the palace after receiving a report from the herald.

The King was furious and didn’t speak for a while even after I entered.

During that silent period, the three princes rushed in, and Leticia brought the Queen, turning it into a family meeting.

Although I was the victim, I had become the criminal and sat at the very end.

“To think the royal authority has fallen this low. Ormia! How did you conduct yourself that the people of Olan house don’t fear the royal family and did such a thing?”

The second prince, Alian Beltoa, always spoke up first and loudly whenever something happened.

Not being the firstborn, he wanted to show a presence no less significant than that.

“I thought you’d live quietly after marriage, but you still haven’t cured that disease of wanting attention!”

“Sigh, I thought there’d be nothing to worry about after you left the royal family. But you’re disgracing the royalty like this.”

The third prince, Noyer Beltoa, had scholarly intelligence but found it difficult to fulfill his aspirations as royalty.

After all, royalty had close relationships with ducal families and was busy with schedules of bestowing blessings.

Unable to continue studying as he wished, he vented his frustration by putting me down and boosting his self-esteem.

And my mother, Queen Eliana.

“How long will you keep being a nuisance to people? I really don’t know what to do with you…”

“Mother, have some of this cool lemon water. It’s good for headaches.”

“Thank you, Leticia. You should have been born as my daughter.”

She greatly regretted giving birth to me and spoke of it without hesitation. By doing so, she atoned to God for the sin of bearing me.

Only after adopting Leticia, a commoner who manifested a blessing, did Queen Eliana start to look at me.

Before that, she didn’t even want to see me.

Everything was exactly the same as them in my first life.

“Ormia, can’t you just behave quietly for once?”

“It’s not the princess’s fault, Brother Noyer.”

“It is her fault! With how much she was cared for when getting married, she should have been treated well, but how did she behave? Tsk.”

“Enough.”

The firstborn, Crown Prince Caland, quietly silenced the princes.

The King was observing the situation with his eyes closed.

“The matter concerning Ormia is not urgent. Tell me how we should handle this situation.”

“We need to resolve this quickly before rumors spread.”

The King opened his mouth.

Although it was my problem, the King’s gaze didn’t reach me.

“Caland.”

“Yes.”

“Handle it quietly. The assault at the Olan house never happened.”

“Yes. That is wise.”

Yes, I knew it would be handled like this.

For a person who prioritizes the royal family and appearances over the pain of his child.

“I want a divorce.”

“Ormia!”

“Ha, not knowing her own faults, what has she done right to open her mouth!”

“If you cause trouble, you should know to restrain yourself. It’s because you’re so inconsiderate that you suffered such treatment at the Olan house!”

The second prince Alian and the third prince Noyer stood up abruptly and looked down at me threateningly.

They intimidated me, but I wasn’t afraid.

I used to be cowed by their every word, every reproach, unable to even raise my head, but now whatever they said didn’t remain in my heart.

They’re no longer important people to me.

“I can’t live in the Olan house anymore. I want a divorce.”

“Ormia! What’s wrong with you… Ah…”

“Mother!”

“You always bring nothing but worry, Ormia.”

Caland, the firstborn, who checked on Queen Eliana as she leaned on Leticia as if about to collapse, also criticized me.

“A royal getting a divorce! Are you in your right mind?”

The first life was now a distant memory.

I’ll die at twenty-two anyway.

I raised my head. My eyes met with the King’s.

When family, a child, a sibling comes back hurt, one worries. But no one in this room even asked if I was alright.

“Should I continue to be assaulted like this? They came secretly at night and beat me, and the viscount slapped my face. As you’ve been informed, none of the servants in the viscount’s household stepped in to stop it.”

“That’s why you should have behaved better!”

“Should I just watch and endure even if my husband has an affair? Or do you want me to die from their assaults?”

At my calm question, for a moment, no one spoke.

Tension.

They looked at each other, holding their breath, waiting for someone to speak first.

They neither affirmed nor denied.

‘They care so much about others’ eyes.’

It’s like that now, but eventually, when their emotions run high, they’ll blurt out their true feelings.

“Die here. You’re a disaster. You shouldn’t have been born.”

“To think I gave birth to such a child… What on earth did I do wrong to deserve such punishment? Oh God…”

“You are dead. If you weren’t family, I would have dealt with you long ago.”

The King, the Queen, and Caland all criticized me when I was confined in the tower. My power was a threat, a terror that could overthrow the royal authority.

“If I return to the Olan house like this and suffer an even greater accident or die, what will people say about Your Majesty?”

“Ormia! How dare you threaten His Majesty! How insolent!”

“With that attitude, no wonder you get beaten!”

“Enough!”

The King answered with avoidance.

“The discussion is over. Leave.”

The King might not have wanted it, but the situation unfolded as I had predicted.

From the next day, the social circles were abuzz.

The main news was that Madam Olan and her daughter were arrested for assaulting their daughter-in-law, Princess Ormia, a member of the royal family.

“This is why they say you can’t hide your origins.”

“How vulgar. How could she do that together with her daughter? I knew Madam Olan was rude, but I heard her daughter didn’t even try to stop her?”

“I heard Viscount Olan was also in the mansion, but neither the servants nor the butler reported it.”

“The viscount too? Huh, how could such a thing…”

“Could this not be the first time? That’s why even the servants remained silent.”

“Violence doesn’t happen just once or twice. If it was exposed to this extent, it means it had happened before.”

“She’s ‘that’ princess, isn’t she? How much must they have disliked her to do such a thing? Living together must have been incredibly stressful.”

Whenever two or more people gathered, they brought up the topic of the Olan house and Ormia.

“But at that tea party, the people from the Olan house conspired and lied…”

“I heard the viscount was caught fooling around with a maid, but he shamelessly accused the princess of being paranoid.”

“Oh my, oh my.”

Not only the assault but also the testimonies of the ladies who attended the tea party that day spread.

“So that’s why the princess demanded a divorce.”

As Ormia had been quite quiet and hadn’t caused any particular trouble until now, public sympathy leaned towards her.

For once, the ominous title of God’s denial didn’t cross people’s minds.

“Looking back now, the princess wasn’t someone who raised her voice openly, was she? Even when Madam Clarisse criticized her loudly enough for the princess to hear, she just listened quietly.”

“Indeed, the Queen doesn’t even look in the princess’s direction.”

“And what about the princes? They openly criticize her right to her face… Anyway, have you ever seen the princess get angry?”

“That’s right. She’s a quiet and gloomy person.”

“For someone like that to bring up divorce, how much must she have endured?”

“I would ask for a divorce too if I were in her place.”

Public opinion even influenced the royal family. While understanding the King’s face-saving attempt to quietly cover up the Olan house incident, people still whispered.

If the princess were to return to the Olan house, it was obvious what would happen, so only one decision remained.

“We must divorce Ormia.”

At Caland’s report, which was conscious of public opinion, the King swallowed hard.

She was God’s denial.

But she was also the King’s daughter.

Many people were watching to see what choice the King would make. The King, revered as the messenger of Raglas God, the incarnation of God, couldn’t make a decision that would drive his own daughter to her death.

To do so would require a justification that would make people understand such a decision was warranted.

Because he was the King, called God’s representative.

That impartiality and decision had to exist above the common morality of people.

The King waved his hand, saying he didn’t want to think about it anymore.

“Divorce her. I permit it.”