So she couldn’t stop. She had to give the last nagging.

“Always remember your pride as a princess of Iorenti.”

“Yes, mother.”

“Even if the new environment is tough, you have to stay strong.”

The queen said this and that due to the anxiety of sending her daughter, but everything was in vain.

The endless heartbreaking nagging was ultimately for one thing.

“And be happy.”

That was enough.

She gave many advices for one simple thing.

“Just be happy. That’s all.”

The queen who gave the last nagging stroked Delia’s cheek.

May her path be filled with blessings.

She kissed Delia’s forehead, desperately hoping for it.

“Yes, mother.”

Only after hearing Delia’s response did the queen’s hand slowly fall.

As the last goodbye ended, Delia turned her steps and boarded the ship.

As the guards and maids who were responsible for escorting to Boswell boarded the ship, the ship started moving.

The queen stood at the port like a statue until the ship was out of sight.

In order to keep the last sight of the ship carrying her daughter, the queen desperately captured the ship in her blurry vision.

‘You must also stay safe, mother.’

Delia sent the words she couldn’t spit out due to her choking throat to the sea breeze.

She leaned over the deck and looked at the port.

The last sight of her mother was gradually disappearing between the white foam made by the ship.

The port of Iorenti, which remained like an afterimage, was no longer visible.

Still, Delia was not going into the cabin, just staring at the sea.

Wherever she looked, she only saw the sea.

Everything about Iorenti had disappeared, and she was left alone in the vast sea.

Being left alone made it more clear.

What kind of person she was.

“As a princess of Iorenti.”

Delia, who was fiddling with the brooch her mother had attached, muttered softly.

“I have a duty to marry for the benefit of the state.”

The wind created by the ship cutting through the waves fiercely blew Delia’s hair.

The brown robe embroidered with gold threads fluttered along.

Thanks to the brooch that her mother firmly attached, the robe didn’t come off.

Delia, feeling her mother’s touch that she couldn’t see, clutched her robe.

“If that’s really a marriage that benefits the state.”

Delia turned her head in the direction of Boswell.

“Will they help, who just watched and did nothing so far?”

The sound of the waves crashing against the ship and the sound of a hand slapping the maid’s cheek resonated like a duet.

“Boswell is sending us reinforcements? Now?”

Boswell’s violence in the corner of the sponsorship and the contemptuous eyes toward the weak maid.

Even leaving the crying maid behind, Boswell showing a graceful and soft attitude towards the princess.

His dual nature of being endlessly strong towards the weak and endlessly weak towards the strong.

Everything stimulated Delia’s senses.

“That Boswell is helping Iorenti in distress?”

Delia, who was mumbling alone, had sharp twinkles in her eyes.

“No way.”

She had long ignored the words of the spy that Boswell was dangerous.

If it helped the national interest, she had to go even if it was dangerous.

If it helps the national interest, she had to marry.

That was the duty of the royal family.

But if it doesn’t help the national interest of Iorenti at all……

Delia, who had thought up to that point, turned her head towards Zer who was standing stiffly next to her.

Delia gave an order to Zer who was looking at her with anxious eyes.

“Bring it in front of me. The national letter with my father’s signature.”

“Princess, it’s against the law to open the national letter without His Majesty the King’s permission.”

“There must be content about me in it.”

“But.”

Delia’s firm voice penetrated the hesitating Zher.

“I must know what you traded, leaving me behind. Search for it now.”

Zher felt uneasy but couldn’t refuse the princess’s order.

Zher instructed his subordinates to bring the boxes up onto the deck.

Boxes marked with the emblem of the Iorenti royal family revealed their insides under the hot sun.

Delia stared at the cargo being dismantled in front of her.

Between jewels passed down from the Iorenti royal family and beautiful, shiny fabrics, she seemed to see her father.

“There must be something.”

The brief hesitation when her father mentioned reinforcements.

A fleeting moment, but it felt eternal to Delia.

Boswell who said he would send reinforcements, her father who hesitated to give orders.

One of them was deceiving Delia.

Or maybe both were.

“Your Highness. I found it.”

Zher, who had been rummaging through the boxes with the guards, politely offered Delia a small wooden box.

On the lid of the wooden box was the emblem of Iorenti, a butterfly delicately engraved.

Delia, who had been staring at the wooden box for a moment, took a deep breath and opened the lid.

Inside the wooden box was a neatly folded letter.

The royal seal was firmly sealed in wax.

“Your Highness, I must deliver it directly to Duke Boswell. If he finds out that the seal is broken…”

As Zher tried to stop her, the seal on the letter was broken.

Delia’s determined hand skillfully unfolded the rolledup letter.

Delia’s hand, quickly skimming the letter, started to tremble slightly.

Due to the barbaric invasion of the Schtilleitz Empire, the fortune of Iorenti has run out and I plead for exile in your kingdom.

Relying on our alliance, I request protection for Iorenti’s Princess Delia…]

The letters of the letter blurred through the misty water fog.

Thick water droplets fell with a plop, causing the ink to blur.

The one who lied was her father.

Her father did not send Delia for reinforcements.

The national soul was just an excuse to cover the eyes.

He sent Delia away because he sensed the end of Iorenti, because he sensed their own end.

To save Delia.

“Right now.”

Having learned the horrible truth, Delia clenched her fist.

The letter in her hand was ruthlessly crumpled, just like her heart.

“Right now.”

Abandoning the country, abandoning parents, exile.

She didn’t eat poison just to go into exile.

She didn’t escape from him just to run away.

There was no way Delia could accept such a ridiculous command.

“Turn the ship around. Right now.”