Clea sneered at Aria’s attitude.

Without even a slight deviation, it was truly the exact attitude she had expected.

‘She should know how to hide her inner thoughts a bit.’

From the blatantly revealed hostility, Clea could tell what thoughts Aria had come here with.

For one thing, she certainly hadn’t come here to offer congratulations.

That’s probably why Elaina tried to drive her away, but Clea actually welcomed this attitude of Aria’s.

She liked that her demeanor remained unchanged.

“I hope you’ll catch my bouquet. After my wedding with Admund ends, your wedding with Lloyd will be not long after.”

“I will never marry Lloyd.”

“Well. Can you really be confident that your esteemed father won’t sell you off to the Percy Grand Duchy? It seems your opinion has already been completely disregarded in the two’s marriage.”

Clea deliberately spoke words to provoke Aria.

Aria glared at Clea even more fiercely.

In contrast, Clea looked at her with composure.

Aria, who had been gritting her teeth, spoke first.

“How long do you think you can maintain that composure? Your time is running out.”

Though Aria spoke as if it were her trump card, Clea accepted it calmly.

That was all she could say in her current state.

A terminal illness and a curse.

Though they were labels that doggedly pursued her, Clea didn’t pay them much mind.

Clea rose from her seat.

“Haven’t I already lived too long for that? Come to think of it, maybe the curse can’t actually take my life?”

Though the dress was uncomfortable, she could still approach her easily enough.

Clea stood in front of Aria and looked down at her.

When Clea came right up to her face, Aria was overcome with the urge to lunge at her immediately.

But that was only for a moment, as she recalled the fear she had felt towards Clea before at the Odoi mansion.

That fear left Aria unable to do anything.

“Think about what will happen to Admund if you die.”

Aria barely regained her senses and said what she could.

It wasn’t that Clea had never thought about Admund being left alone after her death.

But she didn’t expect Aria to be the one to say it.

Clea erased her smile and said.

“Then why don’t you take this curse back now?”

At those words, Aria stepped back. But Clea also moved forward, so the distance between them didn’t increase.

Aria got goosebumps from Clea’s cold, expressionless face.

“You’re right that my actions may be selfish too.”

Despite it being a relationship with a set end, she was envisioning the future without any consideration for the other person.

Clea spoke to Aria who was trying hard to avoid her gaze.

“But you’re even more selfish than me, so you’re not one to talk. Right?”

Aria Hersher, who came demanding everything greedily.

When she had encountered her in writing, she had just accepted it. After all, she was just a character in a novel.

But facing her directly in reality felt different.

She had already enjoyed quite a lot up until now.

Like a bottomless jar that could never be filled no matter how much water was poured, Aria endlessly demanded without ever being satisfied.

Could there be anyone in the world more selfish than this Aria?

‘By that logic, you and Lloyd really are a perfect match.’

Come to think of it, there was one more person similar to Aria.

And amusingly, those two were set to spend the rest of their lives together.

Though one side utterly despised it, anyone could see they were truly a well-matched pair.

To the point where one might think the wedding of the century would be theirs, not Odin and Elaina’s.

“Remove the curse.”

“How would I know how to do that!”

“Then how did you transfer the curse to me in the first place?”

Aria’s gaze wavered.

But soon after, she spoke to Clea with venom.

“As if I’d tell you that.”

Clea sneered at Aria’s answer.

She hadn’t asked expecting an answer in the first place.

‘See, look who’s calling who selfish.’

Meanwhile, Aria’s mood soured even more upon seeing Clea’s expression.

She was about to demand why Clea was smiling like that.

“What on earth is going on here!”

But at the familiar voice coming from outside the door, Aria stopped what she was about to say and turned her gaze towards the door.

“Sounds like your husband, shouldn’t you go see?”

The owner of the voice was none other than Lloyd.

Clea was in awe that he was already causing a commotion before the ceremony had even begun.

Meanwhile, at the mention of “husband”, Aria’s patience reached its limit and she felt like lunging at Clea right then and there.

Aria gritted her teeth at Lloyd’s voice continuing to be heard.

“You will never be happy. Admund will choose me over you someday.”

Not wanting to lose until the end, Aria said her piece and left.

Clea wasn’t particularly bothered by Aria’s behavior.

“I’m already happy though.”

The bouquet Aria had brought was now lying on the floor.

The duke had probably forced it into her hands.

To congratulate on the marriage, and to apologize for past incidents.

But unfortunately, the picture the duke wanted wasn’t painted.

Clea picked up the fallen bouquet from the floor and smelled its fragrance.

If someone else had seen this, they might have warned her not to smell it.

In case poison had been sprinkled on the flowers.

But Clea didn’t think Aria would have gone that far.

‘You know I’m going to die just by waiting anyway.’

There was no need to make unnecessary trouble, just waiting would suffice.

* * *

“Even if His Highness the Crown Princess bestowed grace and sent an invitation, I didn’t think he’d actually show up here.”

“It’s a big problem for the Grand Duchy. To think someone like that will lead the family after the Grand Duke’s passing.”

“More than that, I don’t see Aria Hersher. Didn’t the two of them appear together?”

People were busy criticizing Lloyd who had appeared at the imperial palace.

Lloyd furrowed his brow and openly showed his discomfort in response.

However, he too could do nothing but glare back.

It was an occasion attended by the august Emperor and Empress, as well as many families including the Grand Duchy.

Even someone as unruly as him knew it was a place where he had to be mindful of his behavior.

Admund was no longer a close friend, and the news of his being stripped of his position as heir to the Percy Grand Duchy would soon spread, so he had to be even more careful with his actions.

‘Just wait until today is over.’

Lloyd was committing to memory the faces of those badmouthing him behind his back.

He wanted to return this humiliation to them someday when he reclaimed his family.

As he was trying to calm his burning insides with cold alcohol, he wandered around looking for Aria.

If there had been someone to talk to nearby he wouldn’t have cared, but at this point when Clea was becoming the Crown Princess, no one approached him.

It was all too obvious which side the calculating nobles would take between Clea and Lloyd.

Moreover, even the Duke and Duchess Hersher had gone off to meet other people, so he was completely alone.

‘Where on earth did she go?’

Aria was nowhere to be seen.

Lloyd was about to approach the palace servants to ask if they had seen Aria.

But just then, someone came up and spoke to him.

“Who are you looking for so desperately?”

“You, you!”

“It’s been a while. Did you get home safely that day?”

Lloyd frowned as soon as he recognized who it was.

“Oh my, it seems your partner has disappeared somewhere.”

The one who appeared before Lloyd was Barwin Rockin, who had recently humiliated him.

Lloyd impatiently approached him as if he would pounce on him at any moment.

He looked completely agitated to anyone watching.

With Barwin’s appearance, Lloyd lost all sense of his surroundings and immediately grabbed Barwin’s collar.

“Can’t you hear, young lord? What the people are saying about us two right now?”

Barwin wasn’t intimidated at all by Lloyd’s actions.

Rather, he asked Lloyd with a smile on his lips.

“Shouldn’t someone stop that?”

“Oh my. I thought it couldn’t be, but it seems he intends to cause trouble even here.”

“Poor Viscount Rockin. To run into such a ruffian.”

The people’s reactions further agitated Lloyd.

“In the old days, you wouldn’t have dared imagine this. A mere viscount holding his head high in front of the heir to a Grand Duchy.”

“You bastard!”

Lloyd finally couldn’t hold back and swung his fist at Barwin.

Barwin, who had no intention of just taking the hit, caught Lloyd’s swinging hand.

“Argh!”

Lloyd screamed as his hand was caught. Barwin was gripping his hand so tightly it felt like it would be crushed.

As Lloyd screamed unable to bear the pain, Barwin whispered to him.

“You should be smiling on this joyous day. Ah, but you can’t smile, can you, young lord?”

“What are you doing!”

“What am I doing? I’m trying to give the young lord some advice.”

Though he called it advice, it also contained a warning.

When Lloyd could no longer resist and succumbed to the pain, Barwin finally released him.

“If you don’t want to feel even worse pain than this, you should be careful today.”

Lloyd collapsed pathetically on the floor.

Barwin sneered at him, but upon seeing Aria approaching, he promptly withdrew from the scene.