The letter Queen Marguerite sent to the Archbishop of Montpellier may have made Philip IV harbor personal grudges against Queen Marguerite, but it did not significantly affect the relations between the two countries.

Because the diplomatic relations between the two countries facing the border were not as simple as being twisted because an inlaw aunt was hated. But Leo III never let go of that handle.

“Annoying knowitall!”

Queen Marguerite was about to say that Duchess Lariessa had requested Ariadne’s hackney, causing all this to happen, and such a person could never be a daughterinlaw, but she bit her tongue.

She knew herself well. Queen Marguerite was not so quickwitted, instead of careful. She made a good decision only after she returned to the room and thought deeply.

It was clear as daylight that if she now told her husband what Duchess Lariessa had done, her husband would investigate how she knew the facts. Queen Marguerite did not have confidence to make a reasonable answer to this.

Queen Marguerite cut her words and decided to endure in this place now.

“I don’t know where Alfonso is now. He will be in the Prince’s Palace tomorrow morning. Talk after everything calms down.”

She said calmly. Leo III, whom she knew, was very choleric. He could do things he wouldn’t do when he was sane, if he was angry. She absolutely could not put her son in front of such a husband.

“Isn’t it just the testimony of a madman that associates the prince with this incident?”

Queen Marguerite firmly cut off her husband’s request.

“It’s not a good idea to get worked up in a situation where nothing is clearly revealed yet.”

At that time, Leo III trembled. ‘Worked up’, the button was pressed properly.

“You just have a mouth!”

Clatter!

Another vase broke. This time, he picked up the one on the desk and threw it.

The vase hit Queen Marguerite’s shoulder, bounced off, fell to the marble floor and broke.

“Ah!”

The scream of Queen Marguerite echoed in the ‘Queen’s Reception Room’. Leo III seemed to lose his sanity at the sound of that scream. He raised his fist.

“Ah!”

After that, the sound of throwing things, the sound of things falling, the sound of a dull hit, the unintelligible growling and so on made the reception room noisy.

Clatter!

Crash!

“Ah!”

Alfonso, who was locked in the closet connected to the inner room of the reception room, was listening to the conversation of his parents, holding his breath, when the sound of the first vase breaking made his body shake. When the sound of the second vase breaking, he couldn’t stand it and opened the wardrobe door. No, he tried to.

Clunk! Clunk, clunk!

But the oak closet door was firmly locked.

“Ah!”

Through the double doors, the faint scream of Queen Marguerite was heard from afar.

Clunk! Clunk, clunk!

The prince shook the wardrobe door fiercely, but the sturdy oak furniture did not budge.

“Open! I said open!”

Thump!

Alfonso hit the closet with his fist. There wasn’t even a scratch on the furniture, but blood flowed from the knuckles of the prince’s clenched fist.

Thud! Thudthud!

But Alfonso did not give up. Every time the sound of something breaking echoed from afar, Alfonso desperately tried to open the wardrobe door, and the irregular thudding sound of Alfonso hitting the wardrobe door echoed all around.

“Damn it……!”

Alfonso’s fists were already swollen with blood.

Crash!

Thud!

At the distant sound of the pandemonium, Alfonso hit the wardrobe door with his fist again.

Bang!

But the door remained solid.

“Damn it……”

Alfonso groaned like a beast and rested his forehead on the wardrobe door. He was pale as a dead person, bloodied against the wooden plank.

Ariadne, who had been lying down as if dead with her ears blocked, hugged Alfonso’s back. She patted his back repetitively.

“It’s okay……. It’s okay……. Everything will be okay…….”

Even though nothing was okay, she had no other words to say. She mechanically stroked Alfonso’s back, repeating the same words over and over.

Ariadne herself was also in a state of panic.

‘Why on earth isn’t Queen Marguerite talking about the letter from Princess Lariesa?’

The fact that Prince Alfonso was involved with the king was already a huge scandal.

If she were Queen Marguerite, she would have pulled out the letter card from Princess Lariesa right here.

‘I am in trouble if my name is disclosed… But since it happened due to Princess Lariesa’s mistake, Alfonso will save face in front of the Duke. King Leo III will be satisfied as he can grasp Galico’s weakness, and of course, Queen Marguerite doesn’t have to suffer like this.’

But Queen Marguerite silently endured King Leo III’s violence without saying a word.

‘Why on earth……? For someone like me…?’

Ariadne had always lived in a world of survival of the fittest. There could be exchanges of kindness, but this was only when she could pay back. When she was weak and powerless, no one was there to protect and take care of her.

‘The fact that Alfonso killed the Duke of Mireille… was all for me…’

If Prince Alfonso hadn’t come to rescue Ariadne in danger, if he hadn’t lost sight of himself upon seeing her plight and blindly stabbed the Duke of Mireille, none of these events, the ordeal that Queen Marguerite and Prince Alfonso are going through, would have happened.

A belated realization washed over her.

‘For someone like me… for someone like me…?’

Tears uncontrollably welled up in Ariadne’s eyes.

At first, it was a surprise, then it was a touch, and finally, it was guilt.

‘Oh my God…’

Ariadne herself hadn’t even thought of saving Queen Marguerite from the assassination.

She dismissed the matter, thinking it wouldn’t be my business even though she had all the information about the future, because she had nothing to gain from Queen Marguerite.

‘I am utterly ungrateful…’

Tears naturally flowed down Ariadne’s cheeks.

From the beginning, Queen Marguerite had taken care of Ariadne kindly. And now, like a truly great adult, she is firmly protecting her and Alfonso. With her own sacrifice.

‘Pay for your sins and receive the rewards of your good deeds. That’s the golden rule.’

The voice of the golden rule resonated in her ears. Ariadne made a promise to the unknown voice and returned to this world. She will make sure people get back what they have done.

Queen Marguerite deserves a reward.

Clang!

With the sound of something like a frame falling, there was no more loud noise from the ‘Queen’s Reception Room’. Alfonso, who had been looking down at the floor with a bloody fist, spoke softly.

“Ari.”

“……Yeah?”

“When I become the king.”

Alfonso took a breath.

“When I take you as my queen.”

The prince resolutely murmured through his tightly clenched mouth.

“I will make sure that this never happens again.”

Though domestic words were used, if one were to consider its meaning, it was the first proposal. The second proposal in this life. The first proposal received from Prince Alfonso.

He turned his head to look at Ariadne. Wiping his eyes with his hand, a face marred by a mixture of tears and blood, Alfonso de Carlo opened his mouth.