Ophelia received two things separately.

The letter that couldn’t be delivered for ‘some reason’ was brought back by the knight who had told her about it, and she learned of the death of Lord Rohos by overhearing Mahanas having a careless conversation with his subordinate.

“I apologize, Your Highness. The letter you mentioned was difficult to deliver.”

“Taeren Rohos is dead? What do you mean?”

Both were unexpected events, but the more surprising of the two was the return of the letter.

Lord Rohos had died in her previous life too. Even if he hadn’t, people don’t live forever, so it seemed he could die.

However, Idren not accepting her letter was a completely different matter.

“He promised.”

When she said she would write a letter sometime, the man had been so pleased.

But now he won’t accept the letter sent at this crucial time?

As she failed to control her expression, shocked by the irrational situation, Penrel seemed to think he should defend his master and added:

“The king wouldn’t have done it with bad intentions. It’s just that the situation aligned unfavorably…”

“What was the situation like for you to say that?”

She thought it was a perfectly reasonable question to ask, but the knight simply closed his mouth.

Ophelia was about to tell the man showing reluctance that she wasn’t trying to get angry, but gave up. Thinking about it, she was indeed angry, and it was also strange for her, still a foreign princess despite the promised engagement, to pry into Idren’s circumstances.

If it comes to that, I can find out myself.

Thinking this as she watched the knight cut his words short, Ophelia turned her back.

And not long after, she realized she had forgotten the most important thing.

She was in a situation where she couldn’t ‘find out’ anything as she pleased.

If asked why that was the case, one could reply by asking what to expect from the life of a princess who had lived like an ornament in the palace.

Realizing there wasn’t a single person who could move quietly, Ophelia almost turned the room upside down like she had done on a certain day in the past.

Of course! The maid watching her pace around with quick steps, anger rising to her head, quietly slipped away. By then, rumors were secretly circulating in the palace that the princess was possessed by a demon.

Penrel, perhaps worried she might come to dislike her husband even before marriage, kept listing Idren’s good points.

“Still, His Majesty has been waiting for Your Highness…”

“It’s not because he’s my master, but His Majesty is very handsome…”

“Ah, it’s not that his personality is rough just because he’s handsome. His Majesty is…”

Ophelia responded halfheartedly to the knight’s efforts to somehow improve his master’s image despite his poor way with words. After all, she knew Idren’s good points well herself, and was experiencing his flaw – that narrow-minded personality – firsthand.

At first she was anxious, but now Ophelia was starting to get angrier. If she were Idren, she would have come to find him first regardless of the situation.

But the man who usually acted as if he would listen to anything she said was now acting unilaterally at this crucial moment.

I’ll give him a piece of my mind when we meet.

Unintentionally frightening the servants, Ophelia made such a resolution many times.

But what was even more ridiculous was that although she kept getting angry during the day because of the man’s baffling behavior, at night she would toss and turn, feeling empty beside her.

As if the saying that people become more emotional when the moon rises wasn’t just nonsense, Ophelia kept softening when it got dark.

Clearly, she had thought she would pay him back for this frustration, but at night she just wished Idren was by her side, thinking it must all be over now.

His gentle whispers echoed in her ears, and she wanted to demand more of those kisses that never became shameless no matter how many times they were given.

Facing this illogical desire, Ophelia realized. That man has tamed me.

While pretending to want nothing, he had firmly engraved himself upon her.

She should feel cheated, upset and exasperated, but strangely, realizing this made her chest flutter. It felt both empty and too full at the same time.

That night, for the first time, Ophelia couldn’t sleep even though she felt she might not have nightmares.

With longing, not a person, lying beside her, she couldn’t find peace even with her eyes closed.

But no matter how lonely she felt, Idren Sigrasal did not appear, and Ophelia concluded she could wait no longer.

She just wanted to see his face now that everything was ready.

However, it would still be months before she could cross the border for marriage.

Ophelia knew she was no different from a hostage. After Haslen’s death, Mahanas had been looking for the man who would pay the highest bride price.

Then he found Idren, and even after receiving a proposal from him, he was still gauging the situation to see if there was anything more to extract.

Thinking of her brother who had so much greed despite lacking the ability to even sell himself, Ophelia furrowed her brow.

In any case, Mahanas wouldn’t willingly send her to Aglante now.

So she needed to create a situation that was beyond his control…

The easiest way was to reveal that Reden couldn’t guarantee her safety. It was also easy to add weight to the claim since Idren had left his knights behind.

But there was the biggest obstacle to this method.

How could she be in danger when she couldn’t take a single step outside the palace?

Separate from ignoring her, everyone in the palace treated her body preciously. It was because of the upcoming marriage.

Moreover, to make a credible threat, she needed someone to cooperate with, but there was no such person in the Reden palace.

Even Penrel and the Aglante knights who seemed likely to listen well clearly wouldn’t cooperate with such a plan.

Among the things she could plot alone, the easiest seemed to be poisoning herself, but Ophelia didn’t want to use such a method thinking of how it would reach Idren’s ears. She knew he had unpleasant memories related to poisoning.

No, should I just not endure it?

After racking her brains for days trying to come up with a method, such a thought naturally occurred to her.

Cutting up fish at the formal dinner table in the palace garden prepared to show the Aglante knights, Ophelia thought. If that man had just come to meet me in the first place, I wouldn’t have needed to worry like this. So why should I bother enduring?

Idren needed to experience the same anxiety as her.

Pretending not to know that he had gone through similar things several times because of her, Ophelia made up her mind. It was then that Mahanas, sitting across from her, spoke.

“Can’t you hear me?”

Only then realizing that her brother across the table had been talking to her, Ophelia raised her head.

“Would you repeat that?”

“You and that way of speaking…”

Before finishing his words, Mahanas seemed to realize that Penrel Soar was also sitting at the same table.

Gritting his teeth as if suppressing his anger, he said:

“I said someone is coming to the palace today.”

“And?”

When Mahanas announced that he had summoned someone to the palace, it was one of two cases.

Either she needed to be shown to that person, or she needed to be hidden.

It didn’t seem like the former, given that she was now engaged to the King of Aglante, unless the engagement hadn’t been finalized, but with her brother who did such outrageous things, one never knew.

“Why are you asking?”

The foolish brother seemed to think his thoughts would be conveyed to others if he just said that and glared.

Ophelia sighed and put down her utensils.

“I’m asking what that person has to do with me that you’re telling me this.”

“…You’ve become quite ill-mannered lately, haven’t you?”

“I’m twenty-three years old, I can’t just act cute all the time, can I?”

There was something Mahanas didn’t know.

Unlike Mahanas, who had become sensitive about potential flaws before the wedding, she didn’t need to be mindful of Penrel Soar.

It wasn’t just because she knew this marriage would definitely happen.

Ophelia hoped that the knight, unable to bear watching her actions, would report the situation to his master. After all, Penrel must have a personal line of communication with Idren, so she wanted to convey her dissatisfaction with the situation in that way if possible.

And while at it, it would be nice if Mahanas got an ulcer or something.

Ophelia calmly looked at her brother, whose expression was as if he had been slapped. He probably had never been hit in his life, but seeing him look so wronged, it seemed even whining was innate.

In the end, it was Mahanas who gave in first.

“…I’m saying to do as you usually do.”

Which meant to stay cooped up in her room to avoid running into anyone unnecessarily.

Picking up her utensils again, Ophelia said:

“I understand. I don’t know why you had to beat around the bush to say something so simple.”

Mahanas looked like he wanted to flip the table right then, but he ended up staying still.

It was a bit disappointing, as she had been planning to swing a candlestick at his empty head if he had touched his plate. Ophelia put the fish in her mouth without batting an eye.

The white flesh, properly seasoned, was tender.

She had no intention of listening to Mahanas telling her to stay cooped up in her room.

Not long after finishing her meal, Ophelia came out again into the palace corridor. She planned to stroll around the prince’s area while taking a walk.

Her maid, perhaps ordered to keep her in check, followed behind annoyingly.

The girl, who seemed to have lost some weight recently due to considerable mental stress, kept repeating things like “His Highness the Prince-” as she clung on.

“If you keep bothering me, I’ll sell you to a sorcerer.”

When she whispered that in her ear, the maid immediately backed off.

At any rate, it was nice that it got quiet. Walking down the corridor, Ophelia hoped that Mahanas’s guest would pop out from somewhere. It would be nice if they just appeared in front of her on their own, as she couldn’t be bothered to go looking.

Her wish came true not long after.

“Ophelia?”

When she encountered the beautiful blonde with red eyes widening as they looked at her, Ophelia realized how to resolve the situation.