After returning to the Crown Prince’s palace, Casius immersed himself in work for an entire day.

To a third party, he would have appeared so excessively rational that it was hard to believe he was the same person who had driven Vivian away.

Soon, the guard Tikan approached Casius, who had stayed up all night with his eyes open, to report on work matters.

Throughout the report, Casius kept repeating the same words.

“Do it like that.”

His expressionless face was enough to make one doubt if he was even listening to the report.

He had been in that state ever since leaving the Crown Princess’s palace. The problem must have occurred there.

Finally, Tikan couldn’t hold back and asked Casius a question.

“Do you regret marrying Her Highness?”

At Tikan’s words, Casius pressed his temples.

The image of the woman who looked at him straight while trembling suddenly flashed through his mind.

She had acted like herself up until she rushed to undress him as usual.

But once she got on the bed, she just sat there trembling.

The way she looked at him as if he were a bastard was nauseating to even think about.

“What is there to regret? It’s a marriage that will be invalidated anyway.”

What regret? In reality, it should have been a joyous occasion.

The more Vivian’s face contorted, the more Snowfell descended into hell, the more elation would bloom.

For him, who now had revenge as his only reason for living, nothing else was needed.

“If the damn heavens have any conscience, they’ll at least allow me to uproot Snowfell before I die.”

He had momentarily placed sweet honey in Vivian’s hands through marriage, as she presumed to become empress without knowing her place.

Now it was time to take it away.

He intended to make her directly experience how filthy it feels to fall from the highest place.

‘If only I could gift this final moment to you, Rachel, after inflicting the cruelest revenge on the root cause of all this.’

Rachel was always in the audience he dreamed of.

He hoped she would survive until the end and be able to smile at the conclusion of this damned play.

To be able to smile while watching Snowfell’s downfall.

He prayed for that over and over again.

As his anguish deepened, his complexion grew increasingly pale.

Tikan couldn’t hide his distress at the sight of his lord preparing for the end without even taking care of himself.

At some point when day and night became indistinguishable, Tikan’s voice buzzed in his ear like tinnitus.

“You’ll collapse at this rate. We should call a healer…”

“Forget it. If you have time for that, focus on finding Rachel.”

It had been more than enough time for Rachel’s disappearance to be concluded as a death.

There was no one among the general public who didn’t accept this fact.

But her lover still couldn’t accept it.

They hadn’t even found her body yet. That fact held his ankles, his heart.

More precisely, he didn’t have the confidence to accept it even if he saw it with his own eyes.

Tikan couldn’t say anything in front of his lord who seemed to be extending his life one day at a time solely to find Rachel.

For several days after that, the content of the reports was the same.

There were no notable movements from Snowfell, and no progress in the search.

Today too, Casius’s eyes were vacant as he remained silent.

Watching this, Tikan hesitated. It was because of a message from the Crown Princess’s attendant that had been delivered to him before coming here.

“Um…”

Casius raised his head at Tikan’s uncharacteristic mumbling.

“If you have something to say, say it.”

Finally, Tikan opened his mouth with difficulty.

“Her Highness has proposed a luncheon.”

At Tikan’s words, Casius’s face contorted as he thought of Vivian.

“Shall I convey your refusal?”

Tikan said this not just because of his negative feelings towards Snowfell.

It was because of his confident assumption that his lord would surely refuse.

But.

A sinister smile soon bloomed on Casius’s face as he tapped the table.

“No need for that.”

“Pardon?”

“Have the luncheon set up in the Gracio Room.”

Tikan rolled his eyes and asked Casius.

“What are you thinking?”

Casius, who had plucked a rose and was crushing it, spat out words with an incomprehensible meaning.

“There’s no reason to avoid it. If she’s begging to die like this.”

“…!”

*

“His Highness has accepted the luncheon proposal.”

“He… accepted?”

“Yes. It seems you should hurry with the preparations.”

Before I could even feel bewildered, the preparations began quickly.

Honestly, although I had proposed the luncheon, I hadn’t expected Casius to accept it.

Thinking of Casius from a few days ago, I honestly couldn’t guess what his intentions were.

‘Did Duke Diarob put some pressure on him? Well, he’s not the type to let things pass quietly.’

Snowfell hounded me for the reason that my first night with Casius had fallen through.

The head of the family, Diarob Snowfell, immediately sent this kind of letter.

[Vivian, there must be no occasion for this father to suffer a shameful sight because of you.

Surely you’re not so pathetic as to lose even to that dead Rachel.

There must be no disappointment tonight.]

‘I want to spend a passionate night with Casius more than anyone else.’

As I crumpled the letter, the head maid Marianne standing behind me flinched in surprise.

‘People change, so it’s understandable.’

Diarob Snowfell had placed several of his confidants by my side under the pretext of them being my arms and legs.

I thought it was because he felt uneasy about having people from the imperial family around me, but it seemed that wasn’t the only reason.

Seeing how he knew everything I did in detail, it was clear that Diarob didn’t even trust me, his own daughter.

Among those he sent, Marianne was the maid who had been assigned to assist me from the closest position.

She, who had served in Snowfell for the longest time and risen to the position of head maid, seemed quite satisfied with being by my side.

I thought it was because she could stand tall in the position next to the Crown Princess, but that didn’t seem to be the case.

She wasn’t particularly someone who enjoyed social events.

‘Does she really have exceptional affection for Vivian?’

There was something like sympathy in her gaze as she looked at me.

It was very subtle, but not enough to deceive my eyes.

‘Did Vivian treat Marianne well?’

Come to think of it, when I first woke up in the mansion, she was the one who protected my surroundings.

She even shed tears saying she was overwhelmed that I had become the Crown Princess.

But…

‘Why does she seem to look at me with pity?’

Her hand, which cared for me excessively, conveyed more of a sense of guilt than that of a simple nanny.

It was strange, but that was something I could figure out gradually.

‘Meeting Casius is more important right now.’

Marianne, who had developed a keen eye from years of work, skillfully laid out the jewelry box today as well.

“How about the necklace and brooch?”

Numerous tiaras were spread out before my eyes.

The time of hesitation grew long. Casius had liked all of my looks, after all.

It was ridiculous that I didn’t know even one of his preferences after being lovers for so long. Still, after much consideration, I finally chose one.

“This one.”

The necklace made of elegant pendants was skillfully fastened by Marianne’s hands.

Casius used to gift this type of necklace, so he must have liked seeing me wear something like this.

Of course, I didn’t have the foolish belief that he would like me right away today.

Just the fact that he accepted the luncheon was actually a great development. Although I don’t know what his intentions are.

‘Is he going to ask again where Rachel is, like last time?’

It was frustrating.

It’s something that could be known just by summoning a healer once, that it wasn’t Snowfell who did something to me…

‘Does Casius still not know that his terminal illness has stopped?’

Honestly, it was incomprehensible that a terminally ill patient, and the Crown Prince at that, didn’t know this.

‘He must be being stubborn.’

Casius was more than capable of that.

He was the type of person who would leave the pain in his body as it was, saying what healing after I disappeared.

As my worries deepened, Marianne pulled out her trump card.

‘Lysian oil.’

Lysian oil was a hard-to-obtain item even on the continent, a cheat key sent by the Duke along with the letter.

“That won’t be necessary.”

“Pardon? The Duke specially sent it for Your Highness…”

“I know. But still, not that.”

Surprised by my outright rejection, the head maid began to explain the product’s effectiveness.

“They say most men fall head over heels just smelling this scent. I’m sure you’ll be able to spend a passionate night today.”

What an ambitious dream.

‘To connect one oil to a passionate night.’

“That might work for other men, but not His Highness.”

I said, turning my gaze away from her staring blankly at me.

“His Highness dislikes that scent.”

In her previous life, Vivian had once appeared wearing Lysian oil to seduce Casius.

After that day, Casius said he felt like he would suffocate just smelling the Lysian scent.

Marianne had an expression of ‘how do you know that?’, but soon seemed to acquiesce.

She must have thought such information was nothing special to Vivian, who did nothing but stare at Casius all day.

“Could you bring the rosemary?”

Rosemary was the scent I used to enjoy wearing as Rachel.

It was because it was Casius’s favorite scent.

But perhaps because its name was ‘rosemary’, Marianne hesitated for a moment as if it was ominous.

“What’s wrong?”

“But His Grace the Duke…”

“It’s alright. I’ll take responsibility for that.”

Marianne still hesitated but had no choice but to carry out the order.

While she was fetching the perfume, my gaze naturally fixed on my reflection in the mirror.

It was still an appearance I couldn’t get used to.

Blue hair flowing with glossy sheen and amethyst-like purple eyes. Skin and hair shining thanks to the excessive support of the Snowfell family.

Surprisingly perfect, but to my eyes, just a villainess.

‘Casius must see me as even worse, if not the same.’

Looking at my reflection in the mirror, I couldn’t help but sigh.

Still, I had confidence.

‘No matter how much you run away, you’ll end up falling for me eventually, Casius. You’ll recognize me someday when I’m right in front of you. How could you not recognize this fatally charming Rachel Rosemary? Just because the shell has changed?’

I might look like a crazy person… but if I don’t achieve this kind of mental victory, I feel like I’ll really go crazy.

And it didn’t take long for it to be revealed that this was merely a ‘mental’ victory.

It was when the luncheon with Casius began.

“You have a strong stomach. To propose such a meeting after hearing those words yesterday.”