There was no wavering on Diarob’s face as he looked at the customs documents.

“What is this?”

Casius’s low voice descended thickly over the space.

“They brought in an unknown item from Snowfel.”

“……”

“At the same time, a magic mirror disappeared from the Kingdom of Leonhartie.”

A fierce energy burst forth from Casius like a roaring beast.

However, Diarob was also someone who had navigated the battlefield of nobles for a long time.

He stared at Casius steadily without even flinching.

“So what are you trying to say now?”

“Why did Snowfel bring in the magic mirror?”

“I didn’t know I had to inform Your Majesty of such things……”

The gazes of the two men clashed strongly in the air.

If Casius was a predator, Diarob continued speaking in the form of a cunning snake.

“Let’s just say it’s a hobby of collecting valuables.”

“Enough with such plausible excuses.”

“Was this a matter that required an excuse?”

“I’m not here to listen to excuses. I’m giving you a final warning.”

Casius’s eyes narrowed as he looked at Diarob.

That expression, unsuited to the situation, had the power to overwhelm the other, and Diarob momentarily stiffened his expression.

Casius’s heavy voice was clearly laid over the tension-filled space.

“It would be best to give up any intentions towards Rachel. If you don’t want to die.”

“How could I do anything to someone who’s already dead, I don’t understand what you mean.”

At Diarob’s insolent words calling Rachel a ‘dead person’, murderous intent arose in Casius’s eyes.

“Then hand over the magic mirror to me. I’ll pay a fitting price.”

A sinister energy hung heavily over Casius’s shadowed blue eyes.

Soon, a chilling smile spread across his face.

Diarob quickly finished his calculations in his mind as he observed this.

“As a father, I’m deeply worried about my daughter, seeing Your Majesty, who married her, so passionately holding another child in your heart.”

An inexplicable sneer was etched on Casius’s lips.

“For your daughter’s sake… As expected of a duke.”

Diarob was irritated by his sneer somewhere but ignored it.

Such an arrogant smile would soon be broken anyway.

“If you desire the magic mirror so much, I don’t need money, let’s make a different deal.”

“……”

“You wouldn’t say you don’t know how a father who has his daughter as empress feels about giving it up. Shouldn’t you show me some not insignificant comfort befitting that?”

Casius visibly furrowed his brow.

A deal all of a sudden.

If Rachel were alive, wouldn’t Diarob be the one who would never give up the magic mirror?

Casius, clenching his fist in tension, murmured softly.

“What do you want?”

“If Vivian bears Your Majesty’s child, then I will hand over the magic mirror.”

Casius’s fist, which had been filled with tension, instantly loosened.

‘Of course.’

A hollow laugh spread across Casius’s face.

He was rather relieved that Diarob was behaving in such a way.

“Seeing your reaction, I now understand clearly.”

At the sight of Casius looking like a leisurely predator, Diarob momentarily stiffened.

Casius’s current appearance looked like a beast taking a breath before its prey.

He had always known that he was not an easy opponent, but even so, this was the first time he had seen an emperor so full of killing intent.

Diarob looked at him with an ashen face.

A chilling voice brushed past Diarob’s ear.

“Rachel is alive.”

Diarob was fully reflected in Casius’s eyes, curved like a crescent moon.

If Rachel were dead, wouldn’t Diarob have no reason to try so hard not to hand over the magic mirror?

In fact, Casius was afraid even as he called Diarob to the imperial palace.

What if he easily handed it over?

Then it would mean Rachel was no longer in this world.

There was nothing more frightening than all the things he had tried so hard to deny becoming reality.

But now he’s going crazy trying not to give me the magic mirror.

What could that mean?

The hope that welled up formed thick blood vessels over Casius’s eyes.

“Let’s forget about the deal.”

The gazes of Diarob and Casius clashed in the air.

‘Before the emperor finds Rachel, that thing must be found and dealt with.’

‘I must find her before he finds Rachel.’

A sharp silence cut through the air.

At the end of it, Casius, with a strange light in his blue eyes, murmured softly.

“You may leave now.”

At the dismissal that followed as if he had finished speaking, Diarob politely paid his respects and stepped outside.

The magnificent curtained door of the emperor’s palace closed.

Diarob glared at the office where Casius was, his fist tightly clenched.

He thought Casius had feelings for Vivian, but what was the trip to Keshtain all about, and what about the harmonious appearance when entering the conference hall together?

‘Was it all an act?’

Diarob felt a headache brewing as he recalled himself gossiping about it at every social gathering in recent times.

All the more reason why that magic mirror must never fall into the emperor’s hands.

If the emperor had called for him just a short while ago, he would have handed over the magic mirror, thinking that Rachel, that b****, was dead.

He was in a state where he should even thank the Duchess of Kendall.

At that moment, the testimony of someone who said they saw a person resembling Rachel echoed in Diarob’s mind once again.

‘Surely that wench isn’t alive?’

Rachel, that thing, must not be of this world.

Diarob hastened his steps.

Casius’s gaze, watching Diarob disappear through the window, was sharper than ever.

Tikan looked at his lord with concern, with a gaze that could kill a person if looks could kill.

Casius poured whiskey over the glass, floated ice in it, and then gulped it down.

Only after the sound of chewing ice rang savagely through the space did Casius open his mouth.

“Tikan, attach the Wolfdor troops behind Diarob and the Snowfel troops to monitor their movements.”

“Yes, I understand.”

As much as he wanted to tell Tikan right away that Rachel was alive, Casius forcibly suppressed it.

It wouldn’t be too late to pop the champagne after finding Rachel.

While Casius was lost in thought, Tikan disappeared outside to carry out the orders he had received.

Not long after, Tikan returned to the emperor’s palace and stood before Casius.

Casius frowned at the sight of Tikan hesitating, unlike usual.

“Has some problem arisen?”

“No. It’s not that……”

Tikan recalled his lord who had left the luncheon earlier than scheduled with an angry face not long ago.

Just now, a servant from the empress’s palace had carefully inquired about the upcoming banquet.

There must have been an unusual rift between the two who had seemed to grow closer recently.

“A message has come from the empress’s palace regarding the matter of entering this banquet. What should we do?”

Casius’s fingers, which had been tapping the table, stopped.

Soon, his mouth curved savagely.

*

The season when the hot sun shines down on the gargoyles of the imperial palace.

The crimson sun painted the sky red, signaling the start of the banquet, Grand Fleur.

Carriages bearing the seals of each family lined up to enter the main gate of the imperial palace. Around the fountain stretching from the garden, the imperial orchestra played the beautiful season.

The empress’s palace, located in the center, was also busier than ever.

Marianne did her best to dress me up.

The body-fitting dress, chosen after becoming a human mannequin for a full three days, was the epitome of beauty.

Numerous tiaras were placed on top of the face whose beauty even Diarob had acknowledged, making that beauty shine even more.

“Today, he really won’t be able to help falling for you.”

“……”

“Because I poured my soul into it.”

Everyone seemed to have united in consciously avoiding talking about Casius.

They had no choice.

Despite the promise to enter together, he hadn’t even come to the luncheon since then.

Even the question of what to do this time received no answer.

‘Do I have to enter alone again like last time?’

Somehow, it felt like all the efforts so far had been in vain, and my heart sank.

“You’re so beautiful. Really, at today’s Grand Fleur, everyone will only be looking at Her Majesty the Empress.”

Marianne exaggeratedly held up a mirror.

The me in it was truly beautiful to the extent that I could understand why Diarob told me to use my beauty as a weapon.

But what’s the use of dressing up like this?

Casius wouldn’t even glance at me.

His kindness to me was probably just to find the magic mirror.

Suddenly, Casius’s words echoed in my mind.

“Didn’t you say you love me?”

“If you bring that, I’ll try to make an effort too.”

You, who said you would try to love, don’t even pretend to approach me without a deal.

And that play shattered under the lie that the magic mirror doesn’t exist.

Is this what it feels like to float only in body on a hopeless vast sea?