“Admund, I…”

“Didn’t I clearly tell you before? Our relationship ends here.”

At Admund’s words, Clea knew where he had been.

He had gone to meet Aria, who was right in front of them.

Clea didn’t think he had been wandering around all this time just to meet Aria alone.

The time he spent was too long for that. Especially, there was no reason for him to go to Curtis Street just to see her.

Clea was happy.

She felt a strange sense of satisfaction that he had completely cut off his relationship with Aria for her sake.

On the other hand, Aria’s expression turned fierce at Admund’s line drawing.

She glared at Clea, whom she thought was the culprit behind all this.

Clea, who had no reason to avoid Aria’s gaze, looked her in the eye.

“You’re going to end your relationship with me because of that thing?”

“Aria Hersher.”

“Tell me. Why is that acceptable, but I’m not!”

“I don’t understand why you’re asking such an obvious question.”

“Obvious, you say.”

Was she unable to understand, or was she deliberately trying not to understand?

Looking at Aria, Clea inwardly thought she was incredible.

Everyone else around them had already noticed, guessing the relationship between Admund and her.

Even Lloyd had realized it immediately upon meeting them at the Imperial Palace.

Yet Aria kept pushing her own thoughts stubbornly.

Clea laughed hollowly at the sight of it.

“I’ve been telling you all along. To whom Admund belongs.”

Admund looked at Clea with a subtle expression and soon smiled.

He remembered having the same conversation before. Admund wanted to argue with her words a little.

However, he decided to talk about it separately later and focused on Clea’s words.

On the other hand, people were more than bewildered.

Especially the elderly, who had witnessed Odin’s wedding of the century.

They were greatly shocked by the romantic marriage achieved despite the opposition of the nobles.

But nothing could be more shocking than Clea’s words claiming the Crown Prince as her own.

And Admund’s attitude of quietly listening to this further amplified the shock.

“I’ll let it slide just this once since this occasion is meant for apologizing for what I did to you. So why don’t you just leave now?”

As Clea spoke, conscious of other people’s gazes, Aria also began to observe their stares.

She trembled in front of the countless eyes looking at her.

Aria confronted their bewildered looks head-on.

They were demanding an explanation of what had happened to what they had believed until now.

Moreover, some of them showed anger, thinking they had been deceived.

Clea was dumbfounded by Aria’s appearance.

‘Now that you’ve experienced the gaze I’ve been receiving all this time, even for a moment, how do you feel?’

Aria had sufficient reason.

In contrast, Clea had been receiving such gazes from people for no reason.

Simply because she was a villainess who existed in the original story, and because she couldn’t possess the body a little earlier.

‘I wish you could enjoy this moment a little too.’

Seeing people’s gazes, Aria instinctively knew.

She didn’t know how much her reputation would be tarnished after today passed.

She reflexively approached Clea and whispered.

“Who do you think cast your curse?”

“Hah. Speak properly, Aria. It’s not my curse, it’s your curse.”

As Aria blatantly brought up the curse, Clea also no longer hid her thoughts.

She had also come to know whose curse was currently on her body.

Aria was momentarily flustered but tried to raise the corners of her mouth somehow.

She thought she shouldn’t show any sign of losing composure here.

However, Clea didn’t care whether she was composed or not.

What mattered to her now was the presence of Admund right next to her.

“No matter how much you try, in the end, you’ll kneel before me.”

With those final words, Aria turned around and hurriedly left the place.

Clea smiled, pondering Aria’s last words.

‘Well, will the day ever come when I kneel before you?’

The metaphorical expression of kneeling.

It was no different from surrender.

There was only one thing she was aiming for by threatening Clea with her life.

“Looking at Aria reminds me of how I was during my academy days.”

Despite the words sounding like a joke, Admund looked at her seriously and spoke.

“You were never like that.”

Clea felt embarrassed at Admund’s serious expression.

Clea before possession was already a famous figure.

She was a scoundrel who almost obsessively followed Lloyd and never left the young ladies who approached him alone.

Of course, after possession, she had never shown any behavior of caring about him even once.

‘By the way, things are starting to take a strange turn.’

Clea looked around.

Confusion still lingered in the place where Aria had left.

But now that she was gone, the remaining people’s gazes were directed towards Admund and Clea.

Unlike before Aria’s appearance, people showed a bewildered reaction to Clea’s gaze.

Seeing that reaction, Clea suddenly had this thought.

‘Maybe not only our lifespans have changed, but also our roles.’

Until the curse appeared, she had always played the role of being hated by people.

However, since the mark appeared on the back of her hand, Clea’s life had completely changed.

She came face to face with Admund, and furthermore, the perception of people who disliked her was gradually changing.

Clea speculated that in order to avoid losing her life, the curse had been passed on to someone else, and along with it, the role of the female lead had also been transferred to her.

Admund stood up from his seat, intending to go after Aria, who had left.

He thought he would let her know that his words were not a joke, even though he had clearly warned her and she had ignored him.

However, Clea held his hand tightly and didn’t let him go.

“Please stay by my side for now.”

At her request, Admund realized that he had once again tried to leave Clea’s side.

He himself, who hadn’t been able to meet her for a few days, also wanted to be with Clea.

But with Aria constantly trying to interfere, Admund felt like he was going to lose his mind.

Considering the long-standing relationship between the imperial family and the Hersher ducal house, along with the memories from the academy days, he had already let her off the hook several times.

Admund wanted to overturn everything, but his heart quickly calmed down thanks to Clea beside him.

“I’ll finish the repentance with you.”

“Then you’ll have to do it one more day than me.”

“In that case, will you be able to wait for me then?”

“Of course. As long as it takes.”

Admund had somehow found Clea to be a place of rest for his heart.

He liked the way she looked at him as Admund, not as the Crown Prince of the empire.

The only light in his cold and boring life.

That was the difference that Aria couldn’t achieve, but Clea could.

* * *

‘What should I do from now on?’

Aria, who had escaped outside, bit her nails.

Wandering around the place in anxiety, she was very worried about her future.

Even if Admund was not by her side, there would be no one who would openly ignore her.

But in high society, one never knew what kind of rumors might circulate behind their back.

The reason she had been able to stand at the pinnacle of high society, second only to the empress, was due to the expectation that she would become the Crown Princess.

But what if today’s events spread in the future?

She was worried.

She might lose her position in high society in an instant.

Aria regretted belatedly that she should have been more cautious from the moment she entered the repentance hall.

If Clea really married Admund and became the Crown Princess, what kind of words would she hear from people?

The most unpleasant thing was the thought of Clea looking down on her as the Crown Princess.

While she was worrying, suddenly someone appeared in front of her.

“Aria.”

At the familiar voice, Aria raised her head to look at the person.

“Father, Mother.”

They were the people she relied on the most and who always helped her.

Aria resented them for appearing only now, but soon felt relieved that her anxious heart was put at ease.

“Even if the people watching found out the truth of the rumors, there weren’t many present. So, Father, please silence them quickly, even now.”

Aria made unrealistic statements.

No matter how abundant the ducal house’s finances were, it was impossible to silence everyone present.

If there were only a few people, as she said, it would be a different story, but there were quite a lot of people watching the repentance.

Moreover, what if they tried to persuade them and they refused?

It would only lead to more troublesome issues.

The duchess wanted to listen to what Aria was saying.

However, she had already discussed it with the duke, who was silently listening to Aria’s words beside her, so she was busy holding back her flowing tears.

“Aria.”

The Duke of Hersher called Aria’s name, suppressing the sigh that was about to escape.

Aria sensed that her parents’ expressions were not good and waited for the Duke of Hersher’s answer.

Even if their expressions were not good, she was convinced that at least the two of them would never go against her will.

“This is enough.”

“Father?”

“You’ve tried hard enough.”

“What do you mean?”

But was it because she was too confident?

“Why don’t you give up now?”

The shock of her confidence being shattered was too great.

“The position of the Crown Princess, I mean.”