“The lunch schedule for today has been canceled…”

“Has something happened to His Highness?”

“Not yet…”

Canceling the schedule suddenly without even giving a reason?

A flash of worry crossed my mind.

“Wasn’t there a political affairs meeting this morning?”

“Yes.”

Marianne added with a deeply gloomy expression.

“His Highness is too much. He didn’t even call for the political affairs meeting after doing that on the wedding night.”

As Marianne said, it was common for the Crown Princess to attend political affairs meetings.

Casius had clearly taken measures to ignore me.

“Did you say my father also attended the meeting today?”

“Yes. His Grace naturally attended.”

I suspected that Duke Diarob might have done something again in the meeting hall.

With that strongly prideful personality, seeing his daughter not even coming to the meeting hall would have made his blood boil in reverse.

While it was gratifying, I also felt worried on the other hand.

It might be fine now since it’s the first time, but if this keeps repeating, there will be a lot of talk about the relationship between Casius and me.

Complicated thoughts swirled in my head, but there was no need to show it in front of Marianne.

“Since I’ve only just ascended to the position of Crown Princess, he’s probably giving me time to adjust.”

“Y-yes. He’ll call for you soon.”

As Marianne hurriedly agreed with my words, a servant quickly entered from outside.

“His Grace the Duke has arrived.”

How could one’s luck be this bad?

Casius, who was supposed to come, cancels the appointment, and instead the terribly unpleasant fellow barges in.

I vaguely guessed the reason for his visit.

‘It seems he got quite heated at today’s meeting.’

A headache arose, but I couldn’t refuse his visit.

As I nodded, Duke Diarob soon entered.

“What brings you here?”

Diarob spoke with a kindly face, hiding his anger well.

“Does a father need a reason to come see his daughter?”

“Because I’m now the Crown Princess.”

It meant that he shouldn’t come visiting anymore if possible.

He seemed to interpret it differently, as he smiled with satisfaction.

“That’s right. My daughter is the Crown Princess.”

Boasting, Diarob put his hand on my shoulder, acting out the role of an affectionate father.

There was a reason for him to put on such an act.

Since becoming Crown Princess, there were not only servants from House Snowfel here, but also those employed by the Imperial Palace.

Only after a tea set was placed between him and me did the servants withdraw outside.

Only then did Diarob take off the mask he had been wearing until now and completely changed to a different appearance.

“After all I did to put you in this seat, you still haven’t managed to wrap that fool of a Crown Prince around your finger.”

Now I knew for certain.

That Diarob truly didn’t have even a shred of affection for his daughter.

To him, Vivian was merely a tool to produce an heir who would inherit the blood of the Imperial family.

‘Even so, to go this far with his own daughter who has his blood…’

Well, it’s laughable to think that someone who attended a grand meeting to reap benefits on the day his wife died would care for his child.

It was a disgusting matter, but raising objections here would be a foolish act.

Being in Vivian’s position would be an excellent tool to trample House Snowfel.

For that, there was a need to go along with him to some extent.

“I’m sorry. I’ll pay more attention.”

“How they gossip, tsk. Saying the Crown Prince is just using you as a substitute for Rachel, or that he’s already lost interest in you. Those ignorant fools.”

It seemed there had been quite a lot of talk about Casius and me at the noble club he presides over this time.

Most of it was dirty nonsense spread by those interested in others’ affairs.

But it was clear that it had irritated him. After all, someone like Diarob with such a strong desire for honor could never accept the fact that his daughter was being shunned by the Crown Prince.

Those sparks, naturally, flew to me once again.

“If I’ve gotten you married, you should know what to do next. You foolish thing.”

‘What am I supposed to know how to do?’

I wanted to ask if he thought Casius would develop feelings for a beast from House Snowfel, but I carefully hid my expression.

As I managed to put on a faint smile, a devilishly beautiful figure was reflected in the teacup.

“Don’t worry. There’s no man I can’t seduce.”

I thought this is what Vivian would do…

For some reason, Diarob silently stared at me for a moment.

It was similar to the blank expression I had seen before, which stirred up anxiety.

‘Surely he hasn’t really noticed something?’

Diarob was experienced and knowledgeable, so he might know about things like possession.

In that tense moment, a satisfied smile soon spread across his face.

“Right. Once you conceive an imperial heir, those who spout such nonsense will disappear.”

Though the tension eased, seeing his smiling face made flames flicker from my core.

Amidst all this, he went on to say more words that made me want to grab the back of my neck.

“I’ll set an auspicious date for consummation, so you must not miss that day.”

‘An auspicious date for consummation? Is he saying this knowing the current state between Casius and me? Well, Diarob wouldn’t be interested in such things. His mind is probably filled only with thoughts of using me to place the empire under his feet.’

I felt dizzy, but I forced a smile and answered.

“Of course.”

Though it was unsatisfactory that Diarob was meddling to make consummation happen, I was the one who desperately needed to consummate with him right now more than anyone.

Seeing how Casius postponed lunch today, I couldn’t know how long I wouldn’t be able to meet him.

Seduction or whatever, I needed to see his face first, so using Diarob’s power wasn’t a bad idea. Whether Casius would accept it was a separate issue though.

Suppressing the various emotions welling up, I put on a relaxed face and got to the main point.

“Did something happen at today’s political affairs meeting?”

“Political affairs meeting?”

As I quietly looked at him, he frowned and asked.

“Why are you suddenly bringing that up?”

Seeing his distorted face, it seemed certain that there had been an argument with Casius.

The clattering sound of the teacup being put down echoed through the space.

“His Highness suddenly canceled the lunch he was supposed to have with me today.”

“…”

“I wondered if there might have been some problem during the political affairs meeting.”

Diarob’s eyes rolled for a moment as if lost in thought.

Then, as if recalling something, he frowned and let out a long sigh.

“I sent a magician to Rosemary before, and it seems that damned fellow has noticed.”

My heart sank at the unexpected words.

‘A magician sent to Rosemary of all places?’

Now everything fit together like puzzle pieces.

Why Casius was so angry on the wedding night.

Why he thought Snowfel had done something to Rachel.

Why he looked at me like I was a bug…

It was more than enough reason if Casius had noticed all of Diarob’s misdeeds.

‘What on earth were you trying to scheme that you even sent a magician? Considering you took such a risk, it must have been something important… Were you trying to do something to Father and Tikan again?’

My mind raced quickly, but that didn’t seem to be it.

If he had intended to harm my family, he wouldn’t have made things difficult by sending a magician to Rosemary.

It would have been much easier to deal with outside the mansion.

‘What were they trying to do in the mansion?’

At that moment, a plausible hypothesis flashed through my mind like lightning.

‘Could it be because of the enhancement stone…?’

The enhancement stone was a stone that amplified magical power, coveted by all magicians.

But for hundreds of years, no one had been able to obtain that stone.

It was because there was no one who even knew where that stone was.

I came to find the whereabouts of such an enhancement stone by chance while working as an aide, in an ancient book I discovered.

‘The heart of the Blue Dragon.’

Even after seeing that, I couldn’t bring myself to go after the enhancement stone. Perhaps it would have been the same for any magician other than me.

Subjugating a Blue Dragon was a crazy act that might not succeed even if you risked your life.

But as soon as I regressed, I realized.

That I couldn’t change fate at all if I didn’t risk my life.

I immediately set off for Lazar for the subjugation.

Fortunately, I was lucky enough to seize the heart, and based on the enhancement stone I obtained, I achieved numerous merits and gained a title.

‘If Snowfel noticed the existence of the enhancement stone in the Rosemary mansion…’

It was tantamount to throwing bait to Snowfel.

If the enhancement stone fell into Snowfel’s hands, I couldn’t even imagine how much their power would grow.

Somehow, I had to get my hands on it first and regain my magical power.

‘But how did they know that the enhancement stone was in my possession?’

I had never told anyone about that fact externally.

In fact, even my brother Tikan didn’t know about it.

That was because I knew better than anyone that the mere existence of that stone would be a threat to my family.

‘Did they really find out about the enhancement stone?’

I wanted to ask right away what they were trying to do, but I had to remain calm in this situation more than ever.

I deliberately grasped my trembling hands, put down the teacup, and composed myself like Vivian as I had practiced.

Then I asked indirectly so that he wouldn’t notice my intention.

“What if His Highness finds out that it was our doing to send a magician to Rosemary?”

“There’s nothing to worry about. Even if they do, those fools won’t know what it is.”

‘They won’t know?’

Judging by how Casius had acted, he clearly already knew.

“The Imperial magicians might move.”

I said this to confirm if it was a level of difficulty that Imperial magicians could uncover.

But.

“It’s not a magic formation that such incompetent fools can uncover. Well, that’s only if they even figure out that it’s a magic formation in the first place.”

My mind raced quickly.

‘Are you saying there’s a high-level magician in Snowfel who can dismiss Imperial magicians as incompetent?’

I wouldn’t be unaware of such a magician…

Well, seven years have passed, so the circumstances must have changed a lot in the meantime.

‘Is it a magician who recently became affiliated with Snowfel? What were they plotting to employ even such a magician?’

I was curious, but seeing how he had schemed such things without a word to his own daughter until now, there was no way he would tell me if I asked now.

‘He might just become unnecessarily suspicious.’

For now, the best course of action was to buy time to prevent him from moving recklessly.

“We’ll have to be careful for a while.”

“What’s there to be careful about? No matter how much fuss that fellow makes, he won’t be able to find any evidence.”

“Even if Rosemary without Rachel is a toothless dragon, it can’t hurt to be careful, right?”

Tikan would draw his sword if he heard this, but fortunately, he wasn’t here now.

In any case, Diarob seemed satisfied with my answer and burst into laughter that echoed through the room.

He spouted nonsense until the very last moment as he left.

“You just need to properly seduce that fellow. Then you won’t have to deal with this kind of thing where you have to be wary of him.”

*

As I watched Diarob disappear, an unsettling feeling arose.

To avoid a terrible outcome, I had to unravel his schemes first.

‘Casius would have recognized that those traces were magic.’

Diarob insisted it was impossible, but Casius, despite not being a magician, used to remember everything I said from magic books.

Even though there was no need for the Crown Prince to master magic books, Casius was either intelligent or had an extraordinary memory.

In any case, since I couldn’t take action directly now, helping Casius was the best option.

Of course, I was worried.

If he finds out that Snowfel is behind the mark, he will distance himself from me even more.

‘If that happens, it will take more time to get close to Casius.’

But I couldn’t turn a blind eye to my father and brother who were in danger.

I couldn’t even imagine my family being harmed by Snowfel’s hands again.

So I had to make sure Casius knew that Snowfel was behind the mark somehow.

‘How much does Casius know? If I could follow Tikan, I would know…’

It was nearly impossible to follow him with my status as Crown Princess.

I could send a servant, but I had no intention of letting Snowfel’s loyal dog catch on to my intentions.

‘Well, this much is simple.’

I pulled out a few strands of hair and knocked over a bottle with a sound. Marianne rushed in, startled.

“Your Highness! What’s wrong?”

She was shocked to find me laughing like a madwoman with tears streaming down my face, and quickly seated me.

As she cleared away the hair, the mingled tears made me look quite insane.

In that state, I smiled faintly and said,

“Did you know too, Marianne?”

“Pardon?”

Tension filled her round eyes as if to ask what I was talking about.

Looking into those eyes, I put on a sorrowful face and opened my mouth.

“I think His Highness has found a woman.”