Orbis quickly turned his gaze away, as if he didn’t even find it worth mocking.

“Um, Lord Orbis. If you’re going to the ball!”

Princess Herna urgently stepped forward. She had been the one most looking forward to hearing that the Divine Dragon would appear before them for the first time.

She probably acted this way because she didn’t want to let the Divine Dragon leave without even talking to him after finally meeting him, but Ferus felt the back of his neck tingle, worried that the tactless Herna might have irritated the dragon by interrupting his words.

Regardless, Herna clasped her hands together and asked earnestly, mustering her courage:

“Would you dance with me?”

“…”

Crown Prince Ferus widened his eyes.

The princes behind him also widened their eyes.

The youngest princess, still a child, didn’t understand why her brothers were widening their eyes, but feeling she should follow suit, she took a deep breath and widened her eyes too.

In this space, only Orbis was calmly looking down at the princess with composed eyes.

“I’ve heard that it’s customary for the first dance at a ball to be with one’s fiancé, Princess.”

“I know. But I don’t have a fiancé yet. So it’s alright!”

“The difficulty is on my side.”

“Pardon?”

“The reason I attended the Spring Ball…”

Orbis blinked slowly and continued:

“…is to take my bride with me.”

* * *

Orbis lightly clenched his empty hand. The white, smooth glove creased as it curved along his joints.

When he had been holding her hand and embracing her waist, it had been warm, but now his empty hand felt hollow and cool.

He smiled at Litania, who was looking up at him with a bewildered expression.

“I don’t think it was rude. So it’s alright, Litania.”

“Divine Dragon… Divine Dragon…”

As if she hadn’t heard Orbis’s words, Litania muttered his identity with a serious expression.

“Litania?”

“Didn’t you say you were a marquis?”

Does she think I lied to her? The woman who had been like a languid cat in his arms while dancing now bristled like a wary wild animal and asked.

“Oh dear.”

Orbis narrowed his eyes and tilted his head to ease her wariness.

“The marquis part wasn’t a lie. Even if one is the empire’s guardian deity, without rights to imperial succession, one can’t become a duke.”

Whether marquis or duke, Orbis actually didn’t care much about the titles the empire had bestowed upon him.

He just needed something to introduce himself to Litania with. He had hoped for their first meeting to be as a gentleman and a lady.

“Divine Dragon Orbis, Marquis of Eternitas…”

“To be precise, it’s ‘Orbis Reverto Eternitas’.”

As Orbis revealed his real name, Litania’s complexion immediately turned pale.

‘Madman!’

That was the first word that was etched into Litania’s mind.

Divine Dragon Orbis. The empire’s guardian deity.

Orbis Reverto Eternitas.

A name encompassing the world and eternity.

As she realized this, suddenly a phrase came to mind.

A dragon loving a human is like a human loving an ant. If you pet it saying it’s cute, it’ll die crushed under your finger. A dragon’s love is no different from a calamity.

It felt like her blood was freezing.

‘It’s over, it’s all over!’

Litania realized why she hadn’t been able to grasp what kind of novel this was.

She hadn’t been reincarnated into a romantic novel where an outcast princess starts a love story through a contract marriage with a cold male lead.

Nor had she been reincarnated into a novel where she leaves the palace, makes money through business, and obtains both work and love by getting a devoted younger man.

It was even further from being a healing novel where she resolves family misunderstandings, becomes a real princess, and enjoys a happy palace life.

‘It’s absolutely… ruined.’

Receiving the love of a dragon who doesn’t understand human emotions, losing everything precious to her due to the dragon’s affectionate expressions that are no different from natural disasters, and finally becoming disabled herself and giving up on life in this tragedy.

Only when she was on the verge of death did the dragon finally understand the emotion of regret, begging for another chance and pleading for affection – she was the protagonist of a story with no dreams or hope, where only a sad ending awaits!

* * *

It seems this life is ruined.

Litania lay down with her eyes closed, gently folding her hands on her chest in a pose as if entering a coffin.

“Snow, bury my bones in a sunny place…”

“Lady Litania, what’s wrong? Did something happen at the ball? Were you denied entry because of your status? Or was it your siblings’ bullying?”

It’s similar. Because Princess Herna arrived at the waiting room first, she was pushed aside, and even after giving up another waiting room to a pregnant woman, she ended up being splashed with muddy water while in the corridor.

However, that wasn’t the real problem.

If it had been a scenario of being turned away at the door or slapped by the princess, it would have at least been within the range of her predictions.

But the future always defies expectations, doesn’t it?

‘To think that a supernatural disaster I couldn’t even imagine would strike.’

And to think it would charge straight at her as its target.

‘Divine Dragon Orbis.’

If the male lead is a transcendent being, ideological conflicts arising from species differences are bound to occur.

However, the problem is that the conflict between the original Orbis and Litania didn’t stop at just that level.

If only Orbis had given her trials to torment her, there might have been an option to reform him and become happy.

But Orbis thoroughly devastated her surroundings under the pretext of doing it for Litania.

Didn’t he kill the siblings who bullied her when she was an outcast princess, kill the palace servants who ignored her, and eventually drive the emperor to suicide?

Orbis thought that if he eliminated the things tormenting Litania, she would feel grateful and depend on him.

‘Truly the thinking of a psychopath.’

But sadly, Litania, who had lost her entire family and fallen into despair, feared Orbis and tried to distance herself from him.

‘And just when she was finally relying on the only friend who had saved her, he killed that friend too.’

At first, there was at least a justification that it was for her sake, but Orbis, who had developed a twisted obsession due to continued rejection, thoroughly isolated Litania.

The crazy idea that she would rely only on him if everyone in the world disappeared can only be explained by obsession.

‘Yet because Litania didn’t like Orbis, didn’t he end up disabling her in the end?’

Saying that if she could no longer walk, speak, or see, she would have no choice but to depend on him.

However, the original Litania, befitting a romance novel female lead, steadfastly pushed Orbis away and…

‘Eventually died.’

The death scene wasn’t shown, but since the novel ended with Orbis shedding tears and repenting in front of her as she was dying, the aftermath is obvious, isn’t it?

‘Rather than marrying, living disabled, and then dying, wouldn’t it be better to just live as an outcast in the palace and then go?’

Litania seriously pondered. She had to change the course of her life.

‘Even if by some miracle I survive and change the original plot, I have no intention of following that path. I want to survive with my body intact!’

First, she needs to hide as if dead.

Then, when the opportunity arises, flee to another country.

That was the only way to survive that Litania could think of.

‘First, let’s gather funds for escape.’

But how to gather money?

The budget given to an outcast princess is woefully insufficient, and from the start, she was blocked from building the kind of relationships where someone would readily lend her money.

“Snow. Is there any way to… obtain jewels or something?”

“Ah, how did you know? Jewels have arrived for you, Lady Litania.”

“Huh? Suddenly?”

Did the emperor, who had abandoned his daughter for 19 years, suddenly feel pity and increase the princess’s budget?

As Litania sat up, Snow took her hand and led her to the adjacent room.

There, gift boxes emitting dazzling light were piled high.

“Snow. This is…?”

“These are gifts sent to you by Marquis Eternitas!”

It’s over.

It seems to be absolutely, certainly over.

“Look at this, Lady Litania. These are pearls, these are rubies, and these are… wow, pink diamonds that match the color of your eyes!”

A pink diamond larger than Snow’s fist was sparkling brilliantly in the sunlight.

It seemed as if her future was being purified and crumbling away in that sparkle.

She had never committed any evil deeds in her life, so why did she have to be exorcised… Litania felt wronged.

“Lady Litania, for a diamond this large to be so clear is close to a miracle. This must be a very special gift.”

That’s right. It was a gift for the afterlife.

“Is it possible to return this…?”

“All of it? It’s a gift, wouldn’t the sender be hurt if we returned it?”

Perhaps he would be so hurt that he’d burn down the entire empire, come looking for her, and ask if she would accept him if all humans in the world disappeared.

‘Then should I accept it?’

If she accepts, he might misunderstand that she has accepted his feelings and come looking for her. That was scary too. Litania didn’t want to face Orbis, a walking natural disaster, ever again.

“Such a gift is too much…”

“So you realize it’s a gift that doesn’t suit your station.”

A cold voice fell from above her head.

Looking up, she saw an unfamiliar man standing there.

“Ah, Your Highness the Crown Prince!”

Snow quickly bowed.

‘Crown Prince? So this is ‘Litania’s’ half-brother?’

She couldn’t recognize him because they don’t look alike at all. Dark brown hair and ashen eyes. Looking closely, there might be a slight pink tinge to his irises, but she still couldn’t see any resemblance.

Litania wondered but greeted him anyway.

“I greet Your Highness the Crown Prince.”

“Is it true that you refused the Divine Dragon’s proposal?”

“…”

It happened when they were alone, so she wasn’t sure how it had reached the ears of the Crown Prince, whom she had never even met before.