107. Jealousy

2024.01.15.

Princess Ariesta was an exceptionally beautiful woman.

If everyone in the world had a soulmate, there would be no doubt that Clade was hers—they were simply made for each other.

Above all, the love overflowing in Princess Ariesta’s ocean-blue eyes reached not only those around her but even Yuan, who was watching from afar.

How could Clade have let such a woman go and lived alone for ten years?

Her radiant, luminous beauty captivated everyone around her—so much so that it could steal the hearts of both men and women.

Yuan felt once again, through Princess Ariesta, the same intense visual impact she had felt when she first witnessed Clade’s true self emerge from his suffering.

If Clade was like the sun rising at dawn, then Princess Ariesta was like the moon brightly illuminating the darkness.

“W-w-why did the p-p-princess come?”

Noel muttered dazedly behind Yuan.

The murmuring voices of people sharing the exact same question reached Yuan’s ears clearly.

It wasn’t hard to imagine, along with them, the future people imagined in amusement—the blueprint they drew in their minds.

Every circumstance fit together as if by fate, like a fairy tale.

A beautiful boy and girl who grew up together.

Naturally becoming each other’s first love, promising a future.

But separated due to outside interference, only to reunite in the end.

Everything returning to its rightful place, and they live happily ever after.

The princess, having made a youthful mistake by becoming another man’s lover, had remained alone like a flower on a cliff ever since.

The exiled prince, cursed and turned into a monster, had overcome it and regained his beauty.

Just as the obstacles that once stood in the way of the protagonists in a beautiful love story had now vanished, his wife had just betrayed him and they were now separated—so if they each just found a little courage…

They would acknowledge each other as perfect soulmates and achieve true love, living happily ever after.

Truly, this couldn’t be a better scenario. Truly. The best possible scenario…

It was easy to imagine Princess Ariesta in a pristine white wedding dress, with Clade standing faithfully by her side.

Because until Clade stepped aside after receiving applause, briefly acknowledging those around him and descending from the podium, Princess Ariesta naturally stood by his side, clapping her hands and shedding tears until the very end.

“S-s-should we go congratulate them?”

Noel’s cautious voice reached the back of Yuan’s head.

Yuan remained rooted in place as the conferring of titles to the other supporting figures continued.

She felt a violent, burning emotion—as if someone had ripped out her heart, still pulsing, and thrown it into a bubbling furnace.

It was a feeling she had never experienced in her life.

Compared to when she had seen Clade earlier with the noblewoman with brown hair, this emotion was incomparably more intense.

A rage that felt like her head would explode. Yes, this was definitely close to anger.

An emotion she absolutely should not have.

An utterly absurd emotion.

“Y-y-yuan?”

This is jealousy.

A feeling born from longing for something forever out of reach, cursing oneself for being able to do nothing but watch from afar—this must be jealousy.

Now, an awful emotion she no longer had the right to feel.

***

Yuan sent Noel into the hall first.

In the end, Yuan neither offered her blessings to Clade among the crowd, nor turned back to smile at Noel.

Yuan tried to imagine what her face must look like now. Perhaps it was horribly twisted and ugly. Undoubtedly so.

Her body, tense since morning, was gradually reaching its limit.

Practicing her ability at Glory Hall, seeing Clade’s face again after so long, and briefly encountering the Emperor—her heart’s abnormal pounding had drenched her body in sweat.

Yuan saw the handkerchief she had brought as a spare, now soaked with sweat, but deliberately looked away.

Even if she had to vomit blood, she could not stop here.

She had to manifest her ability once more, avoiding Clade as much as possible.

Her body still held the accumulated pain she had stored for moments like this.

Like an ordinary person straightening their face, Yuan slapped her own cheek several times, then smeared the red mark from the slap across her face like rouge, and opened the corridor door again.

– Slam!

But the heavy corridor door shut just as quickly as it had opened.

Yuan turned around, following the hand reaching above her head.

Bollonico stood there, breathing heavily, sweat dripping from his face just as cold as hers.

He rarely ran, but he must have come quickly—his face was flushed red.

Without even apologizing for startling Yuan, he abruptly grabbed her wrist. He gripped so tightly that she cried out in pain.

“Let’s go.”

“Why are you suddenly acting like this?”

“That’s enough for today!”

“What are you talking about?”

“Grand Duke Drietter has arrived! Damn it! I said the play ends here!”

His hand pulling Yuan was frantic.

Had Bollonico ever feared anyone besides the Emperor?

No. No. It wasn’t fear—rather, his expression resembled someone foreseeing an impending disaster and trying to escape.

Bollonico acted as if he were rescuing Yuan from this battlefield.

“Come with me immediately.”

“No.”

“You’re defying an order?”

“What about when you dressed me up and dragged me all the way here? Even without you beside me, I can still stand out enough to offend my husband’s eyes. I finally gathered the courage to do just that, and now you want me to run away? If you want to leave, go alone.”

Yuan didn’t want to flee, holding Bollonico’s hand, leaving Clade behind like this.

Even alone, she needed to further sharpen the blood-red sword she carried in her heart within this vast training hall.

Or perhaps, this was merely a cowardly excuse.

Yes. Perhaps Yuan simply wanted to imprint Clade’s image in her eyes as much as possible—knowing it might be the last time in her life.

Even from afar, she wanted to make the effort to wish happiness upon the woman who would lead him into a brighter light, even as she wept blood in her heart.

Seeing Clade standing beside Princess Ariesta, Yuan felt burning jealousy, but at the same time, a sorrowful hope.

Perhaps the thought of Clade living in the light with such a woman after her death now seemed like a reality unfolding right before her eyes.

Pain that tore her heart to shreds should now be beyond the concern of Yuan Pelliese.

Whether Clade reunited with his former fiancée or found another woman, Yuan had her own battle to finish.

Hadn’t she already decided to love him alone?

Yuan clenched her teeth and faced Bollonico.

Bollonico hesitated, confronted by Yuan’s unyielding presence.

Still, he had achieved his goal.

Bollonico had been seen with her by Clade Euphris’s own eyes, and made sure both the people and the Emperor noticed.

Yuan’s words—that she would stay and continue being a thorn even if Grand Duke Drietter arrived—were, if heard kindly, remarkably loyal.

“Damn it! Do whatever you want!”

Bollonico glanced around repeatedly, checking if anyone from Grand Duke Drietter’s entourage was following, then left Yuan behind.

***

Tasha Kimfri, silently standing by the Empress’s side, kept her eyes fixed on Noel.

Reflecting on the time she had only seen the back of his head or his profile, never hearing a single word from him despite his obvious anger, made her blood boil.

But what truly plunged Tasha into despair was his attention toward the exiled princess consort.

The other party was her cousin’s wife.

Even though they were separated, legally they were still husband and wife.

No matter that he was the Emperor’s son and the brother of “that” kind of elder brother, during the time Tasha had spent with Noel, she had always considered him completely separate from them.

Of course—because Noel was qualitatively entirely different from his father and brother.

But today, seeing Noel, who had stuck close to the exiled princess consort all day and hadn’t greeted or spoken to anyone, now completely focused his body and gaze on Yuan, Tasha felt a different emotion—other than anger—slowly filling her body.

Just as Tasha, unable to endure any longer, was about to speak to him, Noel began hyperventilating.

And naturally, Yuan calmed him down and led him into the lounge.

Tasha, overwhelmed by a feeling she had never experienced before, had to clench her fists tightly throughout the event just to endure.

The cause of this emotion, the exiled princess consort, returned much later even after Noel had come back, her face pale.

When Tasha saw Noel’s distant gaze, filled with concern, sweeping over that tiny face, she finally felt the hot emotion flooding her body begin to overflow.

“Her Majesty the Empress is very tired. So am I. Where exactly have you been all this time?”

“I’m sorry.”

“I wish you wouldn’t leave your post.”

“I’ll try.”

This wasn’t like the usual Tasha Kimfri.

Tasha always valued rationality.

Expressing emotions toward a colleague was something unimaginable in the Kimfri household.

Yet she was helplessly swept away by this unfamiliar feeling she had never experienced before.

It was then that she realized—the exiled princess consort, whom she had been watching with sharp suspicion, wanting to monitor her actions—had a complexion so pale it was turning icy blue.

At the moment when the supporting figures, after the protagonist exiled prince, continued stepping forward to kneel before the Emperor.

At the moment when Emperor Igor’s black sword flashed upward toward the ceiling, then swiftly descended toward the next recipient’s shoulder.

“Uuugh—!”

From the exiled princess consort’s mouth, staring with unfocused eyes, spewed a lump of blood.