Idren Sigrasil came to see her again. He was holding a yellow flower in one hand.

Seeing the bright yellow petals that would be most vibrant at this time, the first thing Ophelia thought of, amusingly, was eyes like summer leaves. It was a natural association since the only one who had ever visited her room with flowers was her dead fiancé.

And after both hope and her fiancé died, Ophelia no longer looked at flowers. She had learned that it’s better not to have things that easily wilt and break from the start.

Even if the intention behind them was good, her thoughts didn’t change.

Ophelia said to her second fiancé, who was putting the yellow flowers down on her dressing table:

“You don’t need to bring such things next time.”

“…Do you dislike flowers?”

“No.”

At that, the man stared at her with eyes as yellow as flower petals. Ophelia offered him the chair next to the bed and added:

“They’re just troublesome to deal with.”

“Can’t you leave them to the servants?”

Was he always this argumentative?

Sitting on the bed, Ophelia looked at the man who seemed to be nitpicking today. He was now seated in the chair in front of her.

She squeezed out what little patience and kindness she had left to answer:

“It’s not like others can receive what’s contained within them.”

Having no rebuttal to that, the man closed his mouth.

And then sunlight came in, illuminating the side of his face. Light entered the room very well because the wooden planks crossing the balcony had been torn off the night before.

Ophelia lifted her head slightly to meet his gaze. Slightly upturned eyes and white skin. Tightly pressed lips caught her attention. It was a handsome face, as always.

Suddenly, she realized this was the first time she had properly faced him like this. Until now, Idren and she had always maintained an appropriate distance.

Though things had become a bit awkward in the past few days.

Ophelia sighed as she was reminded again of her regression to the past. Just thinking about it made her tired and irritated.

She leaned her head against the bedpost. As she always felt, when her mind was tired, she had no strength to support her body. Idren stared at her intently.

Ophelia closed her eyes regardless of what he did. It was impolite behavior, but she was never a polite person to begin with.

Taking advantage of her closed eyes, Idren observed the woman’s face bathed in bright sunlight. Certainly, Ophelia in the sunlit room looked better than yesterday.

It was then that Ophelia spoke:

“If you’re going to talk about breaking off the engagement, go to my father.”

At those words, Idren realized it was not the time to be leisurely admiring the other’s face. He hurriedly said:

“There seems to be some misunderstanding, but I didn’t come to talk about breaking off the engagement.”

What nonsense is that now?

Ophelia’s eyes flew open. Idren Sigrasil looked normal but occasionally said odd things, and this seemed to be one of those times.

What man in the world would marry a woman who had tried to jump from a balcony?

“Why not?”

Idren blinked at Ophelia, who was participating in the conversation cooperatively today. When asked like that, he had no words to answer.

Of course, it was true that he had thought a lot after hearing what Ophelia had said two days ago.

But that didn’t lead to the conclusion that he wouldn’t marry her.

Idren still intended to marry Ophelia this time. Of course, now that he knew she had many complaints about marriage, he planned to accommodate her on related matters, but still.

The reason he insisted on taking the place by her side was simple.

Regardless of who the groom was, Ophelia had to get married.

Then, isn’t it better if he stood in that place?

It was a bit embarrassing to say out loud, so Idren lowered his eyes. He replied in a slightly smaller voice:

“You have to get married anyway, don’t you?”

“Me?”

Huh. Ophelia snorted as if finding it absurd. Her attitude suggested he had completely missed the mark.

But he had reasons for thinking that way. Feeling quite unfairly treated, Idren slightly furrowed his brow.

As if reading his inner thoughts, Ophelia asked:

“Why do you think that?”

“Well, you… to your family…”

And Idren struggled for a moment on how to express this.

He still didn’t know the exact details of the incident. That was because Ophelia, who should have explained, was dead and gone.

But there were some things he was certain about. After hesitating, he opened his mouth.

“Don’t you have something you want to do?”

Shortly after Ophelia’s funeral, Idren had received a letter from King Reden. To be precise, it had arrived before the funeral, but he opened it afterwards.

The letter stated that Reden’s economy was in dire straits and asked for help.

Previously, when such letters came from his in-laws, he would provide aid without telling Ophelia, so Idren was about to habitually reply that he would do so.

A strange thought occurred to him just as he was about to stamp the seal at the bottom of the reply.

Surely by now, news of Ophelia’s death should have reached Reden.

Then why hadn’t there been any response?

Once one thing became suspicious, other things also became questionable, so Idren asked Salode, his financial advisor, to investigate the situation in Reden. He intended to scrutinize how Reden’s national debt had reached such a state.

But before Salode could finish his investigation, treasures from the Mevasa royal family of Reden arrived at Sigrasil Castle.

The national treasures of Reden that came in Ophelia’s name were so numerous that one might believe the entire palace had been dismantled and brought over. The crates piled up neatly in the hall of Sigrasil Castle seemed to reach the ceiling.

The financial advisor of Ophelia who brought all those items said it was her inheritance. Idren naturally didn’t understand this, and the man Ophelia had apparently hired privately somewhere added an explanation.

“These are all items seized from the Mevasa royal family of Reden.”

In other words, it meant that Ophelia had played a financial game against her family in her home country.

Upon hearing this, Idren ordered Salode to change the direction of the investigation.

And less than a day after he said that, someone’s obituary arrived. This too came from Reden, and the name written in it was one he knew well.

Mahanas Mevasa.

The prince had been dead for quite some time, it said. However, due to unfavorable circumstances, it was announced late.

“There was a fight in a tavern, and the commoners who beat the prince to death hid the body out of fear.”

When Salode, who was investigating Reden, delivered this news, Idren held his forehead. He was perplexed as to how one could live to get involved in such an incident.

However, the news that troubled him didn’t end there.

Two days after hearing of Prince Mahanas’s death, Idren received urgent news that Reden had collapsed. The cause was simultaneous uprisings.

The kingdom was occupied by rebels, and King Dares of Reden wrote him an asylum application. However, Idren couldn’t send a reply. He couldn’t determine the king’s whereabouts.

Without time to search for the missing king, he soon had to deal with the Reden refugees flooding into Aglante.

Some of those who flowed in spread malicious rumors about Ophelia. They claimed she had caused all this.

Idren executed most of them. He had always been stern in dealing with matters that could affect Ophelia’s reputation.

The reason he didn’t behead them all was for interrogation. Given the speed at which events were unfolding, it seemed faster than conducting an investigation.

To handle matters as quickly as possible, Idren dragged a Reden official to the execution ground.

“It’s all because of Her Majesty the Queen Consort.”

The Reden official, who had already witnessed several beheadings before his eyes, said this while trembling.

“Her Majesty the Queen Consort ruined Reden.”

There was resentment in those words.

Idren wondered who the official thought he was married to, to express such emotion, but he didn’t immediately wring the man’s neck.

The official, stuttering, spilled out what he thought was the truth of the incident.

“A few years ago, an investment frenzy swept through Reden.”

Perhaps because he was told his neck would be spared if he spoke properly, the story flowed smoothly.

“At first, it was minerals. There were mines all over Reden where minerals could be found. These were mines that had been abandoned because although pigments could be extracted from the minerals, they weren’t profitable enough to develop.”

And the official said that one day Ophelia invested in those mines. She had red pigment extracted from the minerals and bought it at a high price.

Naturally, the mine owner who dealt with her made a lot of money and went around boasting about his unexpected fortune.

“When everyone was envying the mine owner, Her Majesty the Queen Consort started buying more pigment.”

She even seemed to have paid more than in the first deal.

“Everyone, even the royal family, invested in mines. Since those minerals were found only in Reden, the country’s economy seemed to suddenly soar.”

When the official said that much, Idren recalled the red color that Ophelia had briefly made fashionable a few years ago.

Red was not originally a color commonly used in Aglante.

But after Ophelia wore it during a royal tour – something he had suggested to maintain her reputation a little – red began to become fashionable in Aglante.

Ophelia in that deep, blood-like red was beautiful enough to enchant anyone.