‘I must inform Lady Siren Marquise of this joyous news as soon as possible.’

In the midst of the crowd, Dehan searched for Reneve.

Spotting Reneve among the people was not difficult for Dehan.

As he approached, a sturdy-looking man stood beside Reneve.

‘Who is he?’

It was when Dehan twisted his body to approach Reneve.

Reneve, with a puzzled expression, couldn’t stop her gaze from turning toward the two men leaving the Great Hall.

Despite some nobles pretending not to notice, Dehan greeted them briefly and headed straight for the window.

Approaching the official who was checking the invitations, Dehan inquired.

“Who was the person with Lady Siren Marquise?”

“He is His Highness, the Prince from Paradisium.”

“Paradisium?”

One of Dehan’s eyebrows rose suspiciously.

Upon this, the official quickly produced a golden envelope from among the piled invitations on the table.

“This is the received invitation.”

It was just a few months ago when intruders had attempted to kidnap Lady Siren Marquise in the royal palace.

Seeing Dehan’s hesitation, the expression on the official’s face also became serious.

“Is there… a problem?”

“No, it’s nothing serious.”

Dehan smiled lightly, patted the official on the back, and turned away.

It was crucial to find out why the Prince of Paradisium was with Lady Siren Marquise.

The prince who attended the National Foundation Day ceremony happened to be the Third Prince Lucius, who had a history of physically contacting Lady Siren Marquise forcefully.

Dehan quickly left the Great Hall.

However, the two figures were nowhere to be seen.

Reneve, with an annoyed expression, walked a little apart from Lucius.

Lucius was a prince and would eventually become the Emperor of Paradisium, the male protagonist of this novel.

However, such things were no longer important to Reneve.

She had decided not to marry Lucius in this life. Thus, there would be no miserable ending like in the previous life.
“How far do you intend to go?”

“It’s a story that shouldn’t be heard by others. Can you bear with it for a moment?”

Reneve walked alongside Lucius, surveying her surroundings.

In the palace garden, there were lanterns adorned with jewels lined up, so even now, after the sun had set, it wasn’t too dark.

The figures of patrolling guards were also visible without much difficulty.

However, Reneve couldn’t loosen the tension in her nerves.

Since Lucius had forcibly kissed her before, and that too in what she thought was the safest place, Lady Siren Marquise’s estate.

‘What on earth does he want to talk about?’

As soon as Lucius saw Reneve, he called her out, saying he had something important to discuss, and this was the result.

“If you have something to say, say it here.”

“Reneve, do you think I would harm you?”

Lucius suddenly stopped walking and turned towards Reneve.

“It’s hard to believe your words.”

Reneve, with eyes full of distrust, spoke coldly.

Deep down, while writing the invitations to be sent to the Paradisium palace, she hoped that no one would respond to the invitation, or if they did, it would be someone else.

Having met Lucius in her past life and lived a wretched life, she didn’t want to face him if it could be avoided.

And she thought it could be avoided.

Reneve was in Basquker, and she never imagined Lucius would personally come to Basquker for the National Foundation Day ceremony.

“Is it because of what happened at Lady Siren Marquise’s estate?”

“You know it well.”

“At that time, I went too far. I’m sorry.”

When an apology came from Lucius’ mouth, Reneve was the one who was surprised.

‘…Apologizing? Did Lucius apologize?’

She found herself dumbfounded by Lucius’ apology, which she had never heard in her entire married life before the regression.

But her surprise was short-lived.

“I wanted to keep you by my side. I was afraid you would leave me… It was a wrong choice, but since that day, you haven’t met me. Forgive me for apologizing now.”

It felt like laughter was about to burst out.

Reneve had to forcefully control the corners of her mouth from curling into a bitter smile.

‘Again, it’s my fault.’

Through the Lucius from her past regression, she realized that people never change.

Yet, she felt foolish for harboring a slight expectation.

“Well…”

In the end, a forced laughter burst out through her tightly closed lips.

“…?”

Lucius raised one eyebrow in response to how she interpreted that reaction. Suppressing the rising anger, Reneve forced a smile.

“Is that all you wanted to say now?”

Lucius quickly raised his head and urgently spoke.

“Reneve, do you know how the international situation is going?”

Although Reneve didn’t respond, Lucius continued quickly.

“In the war with Solti, Basquker will win.”

“That’s right.”

“Have you thought about what will happen after Solti becomes a vassal of Basquker?”

There was much to say, but Reneve decided to save her words as much as possible.

After all, she was a person from Paradisium, and being here was no different than being in enemy territory.

It was not a good idea to casually discuss the future of Basquker with the Prince of Paradisium in a place with few people, especially when he came as a representative of Paradisium.

“Your Highness, are you aware of the urgency?”

“What are you talking about?”

“This is not the Palace of Paradisium; it’s the Palace of Basquker. Moreover, Your Highness is here as the representative of Paradisium.”

Lucius sighed as if his head was hurting and soon opened his mouth.

“Yeah. I was shortsighted. I should have considered your position more, Reneve.”

“…”

“After the National Foundation Day, I’ll stay in Basquker for a few more days. Let’s meet separately soon and talk.”

Although packaged as a suggestion to experience each other’s cultures or study abroad, Reneve was a hostage.
“Has the hostage conspired with my country’s people for some plot? No matter how much Icarus shows favor and accommodates Reneve, I couldn’t just overlook this fact.”