Lea seriously pondered while looking at the veil in her hand.

‘This doesn’t make sense. If the Emperor’s veil fell, the chief attendant should have come quickly to pick it up. What’s the point of just running away?’

While thinking it wasn’t proper etiquette as a subject, she also felt ominous. When the Emperor’s veil comes off, should one completely ignore it and act as if nothing happened?

‘How can you ignore something that fell on the ground?’

Lea shook her head in denial. No matter how much she thought about it, that went against basic courtesy.

She waited for Teresa to return while holding the veil neatly.

‘She said it would take at least an hour, right?’

Come to think of it, she was alone in this vast riding ground. Still, the first person to arrive would be the winner, so she should stay and watch.

But she didn’t know why her heart was pounding so much.

‘I wonder who will win.’

Teresa seemed experienced and skilled, but Vivian had good technique and spirit. Of course, both were equally competitive.

‘It’s interesting. They’re acting like their lives depend on horseback riding.’

Perhaps they felt the honor of their countries was at stake.

Lea sat in the front row of the audience seats and waited for them to return. But only about twenty minutes had passed, so she had to be alone a bit longer.

Then she heard the sound of hooves from the main gate, and Lea jumped up from her seat to look towards the door.

‘Are they back already?’

Whoever it was, they must be incredibly skilled. Soon, a black horse came galloping, raising a cloud of dust.

‘It’s Emperor Teresa! Did our Empress lose?’

Although she felt a little disappointed, the winner deserved congratulations.

Lea walked towards Teresa with quick steps.

“Congratulations, Your Majesty. You’ve returned so soon?”

Lea smiled brightly as she congratulated Teresa on her victory.

However, Teresa’s face, covered with a black cloth over her nose and mouth, didn’t look very pleased.

Teresa’s eyes flashed like sharp blades, and her thick eyebrows were raised in displeasure.

In the end, Lea saw Teresa’s face. She was startled and slowly backed away.

At that moment, goosebumps rose like ice flowers along her spine up to the back of her head.

‘Is this why they said to pretend not to know?’

Now she seemed to understand why the chief attendant had ignored the fallen veil and left. It was because no one should have been there when Teresa returned.

‘I shouldn’t have looked.’

She had rushed over in her own way of showing kindness, but…

Teresa dismounted with an angry face and strode towards Lea.

‘The scars are severe.’

She had heard rumors that Teresa had severe scars from smallpox, but she didn’t know it was this bad. If she had been unscathed, she would have been called a beauty.

Teresa roughly snatched the veil from Lea and immediately put it on her head, securing it with a band. Only after she put on a hat on top of that did Lea no longer have to see her angry face.

“I apologize. I merely wanted to pick up the fallen veil and return it to you.”

“Did the chief attendant say nothing?”

Teresa spoke in an agitated tone as she approached Lea.

“He said… not to pick it up, but how can a person do that? Especially since it’s Your Majesty’s veil.”

“Your unnecessary kindness has displeased me.”

“Pardon?”

Lea couldn’t hide her bewilderment.

She doubted whether this Teresa, who was angrily scolding her, was the same person she had seen before the race. It was as if she was a completely different personality, making it difficult to know how to deal with her.

“If I have displeased you, I will apologize.”

“I don’t need your apology!”

“Ugh!”

Teresa exclaimed angrily and grabbed Lea’s neck tightly.

That’s when Lea came to her senses. Emperor Teresa would not tolerate anything related to her face.

Even if the veil rolled on the ground, she considered it kindness to pretend not to notice and disappear from that place.

“It… hurts.”

“It will hurt more. I’m going to cut out your tongue.”

“What? Why would you go that far?”

“So you can’t tell anyone about my face.”

Lea couldn’t believe her own ears. But would she really cut out a person’s tongue?

As if mocking her thoughts, Teresa’s other hand reached into her garment and pulled out a dagger.

Seized with fear, Lea struggled to break free from her. But Grace’s frail body couldn’t withstand Teresa’s grip.

Teresa tried to pry open Lea’s mouth rather than her neck and thrust the knife in.

“Ugh…!”

As she shook her head violently trying to avoid the knife, the blade grazed her lips, drawing blood.

Yet Teresa didn’t let go of Lea. Instead, she seemed like a monster possessed by madness, devoid of reason.

“How dare you! You look straight at my face? Live the rest of your life realizing what a great sin that is!”

At her shout, Lea’s resistance reached its peak. Truly, she was terrified at the thought of having her tongue cut out by Teresa right then and there.

At that moment, the knife aiming for Lea’s tongue suddenly stopped.

“!?”

When Lea opened her eyes that she had tightly shut in fear, she saw Terran’s hand gripping the blade.

“What are you doing?”

Terran threatened Teresa in a low voice.

“Your woman saw my face. So I must cut out her tongue. To prevent her from speaking nonsense anywhere.”

“You’re insane.”

The two faced each other tensely with the dagger between them. Soon the knife trembled, and Terran snatched it away in one motion, causing dark red blood to drip from his hand cut by the blade.

“Terran!”

Just as Lea was about to rush forward in surprise to grab his hand, he threw the dagger far away in one swift motion.

“Are you alright?”

As Lea approached him with tears, Terran stopped her with his other hand.

“Grace, come behind me.”

She hid behind his back as Terran said.

“Don’t take out your frustrations on others just because your flaw was exposed. It makes you look ugly.”

“Do you want to die?”

“I won’t die by Your Majesty’s hand. If you had cut out my fiancée’s tongue, you would have paid a very harsh price.”

“Price? Hahaha.”

Teresa laughed as if Terran’s threat was ridiculous. For a mere nobleman of Rubeck to threaten the Emperor of Galdensia, he should value his life more.

“What harsh price were you planning to make me pay?”

“Do you want to know?”

Terran approached Teresa closely and looked down at her. He growled at her like a beast with venom risen to the top of its head.

“I could turn you and Galdensia into a hellish state worse than Wales. How about a hell pit that can’t be rebuilt even in 100 years? Or becoming a vassal state of Rubeck.”

“Your boasting is severe.”

Teresa burst into laughter. At that moment, a woman’s voice was heard on the wind.

“It’s not boasting. If you had hurt Miss Bizac, we would have punished Galdensia on Rubeck’s honor.”

Vivian had dismounted at some point and was approaching the two.

She glanced briefly at Lea, whose mouth was covered in blood, then went to Teresa and Terran who were arguing.

“Miss Bizac is not Your Majesty’s citizen. You should know that harming another empire’s citizen becomes a cause for war. Moreover, Grace is the younger sister of Baron Aiden Bizac. Anyone from Rubeck would take this very sensitively.”

Vivian didn’t cower at all in front of Teresa, who was emitting a strong aura.

Rather, she fiercely drove Teresa back and criticized her. She didn’t forget to give harsh words, telling her not to blame others for her own mistakes.

“I won this competition. Let’s meet with a smile at the banquet after you’ve calmed down a bit.”

Vivian turned around after saying what she had to say.

* * *

Lea returned to Bellis Palace and watched as Terran received treatment. Doctor Wilson, who had accompanied them, treated Terran’s severe wound and then gave a long scolding. Fortunately, Lea wasn’t seriously injured.

“What if you had severed a tendon!”

“But I didn’t.”

Even as he answered Doctor Wilson, his eyes remained fixed on Lea.

Lea’s emotions welled up and she finally burst into tears. Terran immediately tried to approach her.

“Your Grace! I need to wrap one more layer of bandage!”

As Doctor Wilson blocked Terran’s way, Lea ran out of the room.

“Grace!”

Even though Terran kept calling her, she didn’t look back.

Lea walked straight ahead without purpose.

She didn’t know her way around the unfamiliar palace, but she urgently needed to find a place to be alone. Soon, she saw a terrace with an open door at the end of the corridor.

Lea leaned on the terrace railing and wiped her tears.

‘It’s my fault Terran got hurt because of my unnecessary meddling.’

She should have left the place whether the veil fell or not, as the chief attendant had said. She felt upset that Terran always seemed to suffer because of her.

‘Am I an existence that brings misfortune to Terran?’

Lea’s self-deprecation reached its peak. She began to question whether her existence was actually helpful to Terran.

He was an invaluable person to her, but she felt upset that she hadn’t done anything for him in return.

Tears flowed endlessly from Lea’s eyes.

“Why are you crying?”

A strange voice suddenly rang out.

“!?”

Lea immediately turned towards the sound.

“Who are you?”

“It’s been a while, Lady Bizac.”

“Prince Salame?”

Salame was very pleased that Lea remembered him.

Salame took out a handkerchief from his breast and approached Lea.

“You’ll ruin your pretty face.”

He wiped Lea’s tears with the handkerchief.

“I can… do it myself.”

Lea tried to take the handkerchief from Salame, but to no avail. Salame was as gentle as if he were comforting his own woman.

“To meet you here again, we must be destined.”

This wasn’t the situation to listen to such nonsense. Lea felt suffocated looking at Salame, who was consistently overbearing.

“Why were you crying alone in a place like this?”

It would be troublesome if he heard the reason…

“It’s because of your mother, Your Highness.”

Her tone was somewhat resentful.

“Pardon?”

As expected, Salame made a perplexed expression and then embraced Lea.

“It must have been difficult for you.”

He comforted her, patting her back.