How could Count Schmidt arbitrarily decide the prince’s marriage? There were hidden circumstances that others did not know about.

Unlike now, up until two years ago, most of the imperial people took it for granted that Veronica would be the next emperor.

Count Schmidt was also one of those who thought this way.

However, if there was one regrettable thing, it was that the relationship with the princess was not good.

It was not a pleasant thing for the count that she would later become the emperor.

Then one day, someone secretly approached the count.

Prince Siegfried. The first child of the emperor and the biological son of the legitimate wife.

He, who had been living with his presence erased since the birth of his half-sister Veronica, came to the count asking for his support.

With a promise that if he helps him become the emperor, he will elevate the power of the count’s family through marriage.

It was an offer the count had no reason to refuse.

It was not an easy task to push a prince with no foundation, but with his position and ability, it was more than enough.

He would have to endure getting his hands dirty, but for him, such things were already too familiar.

If Leonie stands tall beside Siegfried as the empress after he becomes the emperor, there could be no better reward.

So in the end, the count was going to accept the proposal, but due to an unexpected setback, this went down the drain.

It was because Leonie refused, saying that the position of empress was burdensome.

Although Count Schmidt was a man thirsty for power, he was also a father at the same time.

He respected his daughter’s opinion. However, he had no intention of completely missing this opportunity.

He was determined to support the prince.

Of course, that didn’t mean he was going to help the prince just by trusting the promise of giving power later.

You never know when you might be discarded after being used.

If they couldn’t be deeply intertwined through marriage, he had to find another way.

In fact, despite appearing foolish and simple on the outside, Count Schmidt had committed numerous crimes under the water and succeeded in concealing them all.

He took pride in his covert activities.

Siegfried also knew this and approached him to request his help.

But it seemed that Siegfried never imagined that he would become the target of the crime the count was aiming for.

Or even if he knew, there was no way to stop it.

The count mobilized his abilities to find Siegfried’s weakness.

And before long, he was able to obtain information about a man imprisoned in the basement of the empress palace.

It was difficult to accurately identify who the man was.

The same went for why Siegfried was keeping the man captive in the first place.

But the count was good at sensing suspicious signs, so he could instinctively feel it.

The man in the underground prison would be Siegfried’s weakness.

And the count immediately embarked on the task of taking the man away.

By bribing the person who was guarding the imprisoned man, he helped him escape.

And at the end of that escape route, he went so far as to hire someone to kidnap the man.

At first, he planned to order his subordinates, but soon changed his mind.

If by any chance he failed to steal the man and was caught, he did not know what harm the prince would do to him.

So, just in case, he needed a tail that could be cut off at any time.

At first, he had Vivian Schmidt in mind as a candidate for that.

That child who is thirsty for family love.

It’s obvious she won’t have money, so if he promises to give her money and love, she will willingly step up.

Even if all this is revealed to Siegfried, he could just blame it on her.

He could claim that it was something his daughter did on her own, thirsty for family affection.

There was a possibility that Siegfried would argue how he could believe that, but if he killed her in front of him, he would have no choice but to believe it.

Killing his own daughter with his own hands.

However, even for a count accustomed to evil deeds, directly killing Vivian, who was still his flesh and blood, was an unpleasant thing to do.

But as long as it guaranteed his safety, he could do it as much as he wanted.

Even though they were of the same blood, Vivian and Leonie were completely different beings to him.

So he watched Vivian for a while and looked for an opportunity to give her the job, but… the girl who left home had a very different appearance from the past.

The family affection she had longed for so much seemed to have no relevance now.

The count gave up on her and entrusted the task to someone else.

His plan seemed to be going successfully.

The man who had been imprisoned successfully escaped from prison and came out into the world.

And at the very moment when the person who received Count’s instigation was about to kidnap the man.

The man who was clearly in front of him disappeared in an instant.

The plan had gone awry.

After that, Count Schmidt tried to find him in every way possible.

However, no matter how much he used his power, he could not find a single strand of the man’s hair.

He failed to capture the prince’s weakness, so he had to at least cover up his misdeeds.

He fabricated the situation as if the man had voluntarily escaped.

However, at the end of Siegfried’s persistent investigation that lasted for a whole month, all his deeds were revealed.

Siegfried strangled the count’s neck with an expression he had never seen before in his life.

“You touched what’s mine without knowing your place.”

Even after a long time had passed, the count could not forget what the prince said that day.

A sharp and chilling tone that seemed to pierce his eardrums.

Seeing the prince exuding a murderous chill, the count wondered if he was really human.

At that moment, the prince asked. About the whereabouts of the man.

The problem was that the count also did not know the answer to that. The kidnapping had failed.

The count sensed it. If he could not answer this question properly, he would be killed.

But Count Schmidt was a man who had been rolling in the world of brutal aristocrats for a long time.

Even though he was afraid of Siegfried’s momentum, he boldly lied.

“I have the man imprisoned in a safe place that only I know. If you move according to my wishes from now on, I will return that man to you. But if you kill me here, you will never see that man again.”

It was just a deceptive word, but fortunately it was swallowed by the prince.

Count Schmidt survived. From that day on, he freely used the prince.

Of course, he also helped to increase his position.

At the same time, he did his best to secretly search for the man who had disappeared.

Even if it was a lie at first, if he could get his hands on him before being caught, all his words would become true.

But even though he had been chasing the man for nearly two years, he could not get any news.

Growing impatient, the count decided to make a gamble.

He boldly proposed a deal, saying that if Leonie married him, he would return the man he had taken away.

At this rate, there was a high probability that he would not find the man, but he did not make this choice without any thought.

The imperial family could not divorce.

Even if Siegfried later found out that the man was not in his hands, it was impossible to undo a marriage that had already been made.

“I’m worried that he’ll be angry, but… there’s no way to deal with it.”

Of course, the best-case scenario was to find the lost man and return him to Siegfried after the wedding.

But even if he couldn’t find him, he could assert that Siegfried would have no way to cast him aside.

By then, they would already be tied by marriage.

Count Schmidt looked at the notebook calendar on the desk.

One month until Leonie’s wedding.

What he had to do until then was set.

When Vivian, who had lost consciousness, barely opened her eyes, what unfolded before her was a completely black space.

‘What. Isn’t this a temple?’

She walked endlessly toward the faintly visible light in the distance.

The moment she finally touched the light, numerous chunks of memories were sucked into her head.

Vivian sat down, holding her head in agony.

A past similar to her own past. But it was somewhat different from her own memories.

It seemed to be the content of the original work, but it wasn’t. It was a scene from a point in time that was not shown in the original work.

The memories roughly rummaged through her brain.

All Vivian could do was endure until the memories playing out in front of her like a video ended.

After a considerable amount of time passed, the memories gradually reached their climax.

A father who uses money as a pretext to urge his biological daughter to kidnap Callys.

A woman who appears to be herself, who eventually accepts it.

Callys, whom she imprisoned with her own hands.

And in the end, even the sight of her dying, stabbed by the shadow of Callys who eventually escaped.

Finally, the playback of memories ended.

At that moment, Vivian realized.

‘This… These are the memories that the original Vivian had, not me.’

To think that I was originally destined to live such a life.

Vivian dry heaved because the sight of herself in the original work, which she had seen with her own eyes, was so miserable.

Especially since Callys’ eyes filled with disgust and contempt were so different from the ones she knew.

Even though she knew it wasn’t real, it was difficult for Vivian to endure.

She had been suffering for a while when she suddenly stopped all her actions. It was because of the presence, no, the intense energy felt from behind.

She could instinctively tell. The one who called her to this place was none other than the author.

Vivian hurriedly turned around to check behind her.

There stood something in the shape of a person, staring at her.