After finishing her conversation with Rupia, Clea quietly headed to where Admund was.

Admund, already aware of her arrival from the sound of footsteps at the door, was looking in her direction.

As their eyes met, Clea felt her cold body warming up and the corners of her mouth lifted.

But Admund’s expression was serious.

“What do you want to ask?”

“It’s not such a difficult request.”

“Really?”

“Yes. You just need to watch from the sidelines.”

Even though she said he just needed to watch from the sidelines, Admund was still uneasy.

He knew her request wouldn’t end with just asking him to watch.

At the same time, he felt he somehow knew what she was about to ask.

Admund wanted to stop her.

But her words came before he could.

“You told me, didn’t you? That you want to stand proudly by my side. So isn’t it my turn now?”

“Clea! You’ve always been proud since the moment you cut ties with the Odoi ducal family and Lloyd.”

“I think so too, but others don’t see it that way.”

She had lived without caring about others’ gazes.

After the curse appeared, she only thought about what came after death, never looking back at reality.

But now it was different.

To be by Admund’s side, she decided to change.

“You don’t need to be acknowledged by people.”

“No. I will be acknowledged, Admund.”

“I’m afraid you might get hurt.”

Admund was rather scared by Clea’s enthusiastic appearance.

Afraid that if her enthusiasm was broken, she might never smile brightly again.

Admund was an outstanding person. Someone who had hardly experienced failure.

Since his academy days, he had seen more failures of others than his own.

As it was others’ business, he thought they could just start over when that happened.

But now that he thought Clea might be the protagonist, it was hard to dismiss it easily.

He didn’t want to see Clea fail.

It wasn’t that he was certain Clea would fail.

It was words that came out of fear of seeing her possibly discouraged.

She noticed why Admund was trying to dissuade her and slowly approached him, closing the distance between them.

“Admund, look into my eyes.”

Her blue eyes were shining enchantingly.

For a moment, Admund unconsciously tried to avoid those eyes.

“It’s true that I did wrong in the past. I did many terrible things to Aria too.”

But Clea, as if not allowing him to avoid it, held Admund’s chin to make him look at her.

Looking into Clea’s eyes, Admund found it difficult to take his gaze away from her.

Trapped in her jewel-like blue shining eyes, Admund quietly listened to what she was saying.

Finding the attentively listening Admund cute, she held back a laugh that was about to escape and spoke in a serious tone.

“I will acknowledge and settle the mistakes of the past.”

“You’re thinking of going to the temple.”

“Yes, that’s right.”

The path Clea chose.

Admund, as well as Odin and Elaina, knew. That she would choose this path.

In fact, if she had made a different request, Admund, Odin, and Elaina could have uprooted the source of the rumors for her.

Or it would have been possible to use the rumors for political machinations.

But she deliberately chose not to borrow their hands.

The reason was simple. Even if she denied the rumors of being a murderer right away, there were too many eyes and ears that had seen and heard at the academy.

‘The possession point was like that, so it can’t be helped.’

Although Clea didn’t do it herself, she boldly decided to accept the original Clea’s wrongdoings.

Even the work of settling it directly.

“If I go to the temple and pray while fasting for a week, I can be forgiven for past mistakes, right?”

“It will be a great strain on your body.”

It’s impossible to give up halfway.

She can’t eat any food except water, and she has to keep praying without even sleeping.

It was a painful method, but even this was limited to those who could attempt it.

One had to either make an enormous donation, prove to be a faithful believer from the start, or have noble blood.

The current Clea didn’t fall into any of these categories.

That’s why Clea asked Admund.

To please stand by her side.

If a member of the imperial family was by her side, his presence would serve as a guarantee, naturally granting her that qualification.

Knowing this, Admund looked at Clea’s thin arms.

“It’s only a week. I just need to endure for a week.”

“You asked me to be by your side, right?”

“Yes, please be by my side.”

“Then I too will repent together.”

“You too?”

Clea was flustered for the first time.

She never expected to hear such an answer.

At his words of repenting together, she tried to stop him.

“You’ll harm your health. Don’t do it.”

“Why is it okay for you, but not for me?”

“Because I have committed sins, and you have no sins.”

Whether Aria had provoked it or not, it was clear that she had wronged her.

If the possession had happened just a little earlier, Clea wouldn’t have cared at all whether she was going around with Lloyd or not from the start.

From the moment of agreeing to it, she became no different from her.

But the spilled water couldn’t be gathered back.

If the past events became shackles preventing her from being with Admund, she thought that would be terrible.

That was the reason she came forward to repent.

After repentance, it was an unwritten rule not to question past sins anymore.

It was a privilege given to allow the chosen ones to reform.

In the worldview, it was a doctrine that the absolute god worshipped by the state religion embraces all wrongdoings just once to give a chance.

Although Clea also thought this system was a bad practice, ironically it became her only chance.

“I have wrongdoings too.”

“What are they?”

“The sin of disappointing people’s expectations.”

“Haha, you do have an objective view. I was worried that your vision might have been blurred by love.”

Who would dare hope for the Crown Prince to choose a villainess as his companion?

When he should be doing only what’s most beneficial for the Empire as the Crown Prince, he made a decision that could potentially be the most harmful to the Empire.

That decision was to make Clea his consort.

Still, he had no intention of retracting his decision.

It seemed as if he was going to officially cement it.

At Admund’s words of repenting with impure intentions, Clea felt bewildered yet amused.

“Even if I try to stop you, you won’t listen at all, will you?”

“You’re asking a question you already know the answer to.”

“Then do as you wish.”

Clea closed the distance between them even more.

At a distance where their lips would touch if she moved just a bit closer, she approached not his lips or cheek, but his ear, and whispered.

“Let’s receive repentance for our premarital relationship too.”

“That’s something I’ll never ask forgiveness for, nor receive forgiveness for, in my lifetime.”

Answering Clea who spoke provocatively, Admund embraced her.

“Anyway, once this is over, our relationship will become even more certain.”

Admund spoke with emphasis on it becoming more certain.

Even if people didn’t acknowledge it, he was confident in his relationship with her.

“I hope so too.”

Clea didn’t express any disagreement with Admund’s words.

Because she felt the same way.

She smiled and hugged Admund.

* * *

“Is it right to go this far?”

“Are you saying I should just stand by and watch my daughter fail to become the Crown Princess!”

Duke Hersher gathered people who were of the imperial faction and followed him.

He gathered them to create a faction supporting Aria to become the Crown Princess.

But the gathered members, having come only because Duke Hersher called them, didn’t want to simply agree with his intentions.

“If His Highness has someone he desires, shouldn’t we follow that?”

“That’s right. How about postponing the matter of producing an empress from your family to the next generation?”

“Nonsense!”

The duke became agitated upon hearing their words.

“When our Aria exists in plain sight, what nonsense about giving up! Don’t ever mention that again!”

The people present didn’t oppose Aria becoming the Crown Princess either.

Rather, it was what they had been hoping for as well.

If the relationship between the imperial family and the Hersher family became closer, such a bond would form within the imperial faction as well.

“To begin with, someone the imperial citizens dislike couldn’t possibly become the Crown Princess. So please, Your Grace, calm your anger.”

At someone’s words, the duke finally calmed his anger.

As they said, unfavorable public opinion about Clea was forming due to the rumors the duke had spread.

Thinking there was no need to be angry when things were going as desired, the duke returned to his expressionless face.

“Hmph. Anyway, what I’m saying is let’s make it more certain.”

None of the nobles present were unaware of what he meant by ‘more certain’.

It was to directly recommend to the Emperor and Empress that Aria Hersher be made the Crown Princess.

Unlike the subtle suggestion he had made during the previous private audience, this time he intended to gather the opinions of a considerable number of nobles and make a definite recommendation.

However, this was also what concerned the nobles.

‘I’m not sure if it’s right to do this when the Emperor is still in good health.’

Most of the nobles still feared Odin.

And even now, there were people anxious about Odin finding out about this gathering.

The reason they attended was not to agree with Duke Hersher, but to stop him from doing something strange for Aria’s sake.

“The duke is right! We should head to the imperial palace right away!”

“Who else but Lady Aria could become the Crown Princess?”

A few nobles thoughtlessly spoke words that provoked Duke Hersher, but the majority tried to soothe and placate him.

“Please wait a little longer. His Majesty the Emperor and His Highness the Crown Prince will also choose a noble lady.”

However, there was one thing they hadn’t considered.

Although it was supposed to be a secret gathering, Admund, who had already noticed the meeting, had planted someone there.