The day of Jeremy’s birthday celebration.

By this time, Celiya’s charges of emperor assassination had been completely cleared. While those who wanted to bury the truth had more power than those who sought to uncover it, the main reason was that the deceased emperor had extremely low public support.

Typically, the mourning period for a deceased emperor lasted over a month, during which it was customary for the imperial family to wear black mourning clothes.

However, Ileon, one of the three dukes, first suggested that they could not leave the throne vacant for long, so they should skip the mourning period and instead hold a grand celebration for the crown prince’s birthday.

For Jeremy, who was desperate to ascend the throne immediately, there was no reason not to accept this proposal.

The fact that Celiya, who killed the emperor, was caught at the scene but received no punishment was largely due to the decisive testimony of Dietrich, who first discovered her.

“Taking advantage of lax security, an intruder assassinated the emperor and fled, framing Celiya Brillione who was present at the scene for all the crimes. All circumstances were made to point to her.”

It was the words of none other than Dietrich, the emperor’s closest confidant and head of the imperial knights. The weight of those words was by no means light.

Though he faced criticism for failing to protect the emperor, the ministers could not dismiss Dietrich for that reason alone.

The emperor would dismiss his guards whenever he brought a woman to his chambers.

With all those who confessed to assassinating the emperor having been executed, no one persisted in pressing this matter any further.

Thus, Celiya received no punishment despite assassinating the emperor.

Moreover…

‘What is that?’

Celiya was leaning halfway out the window, looking outside. Since early morning, a knight had been placing a gift box with a ribbon in front of the mansion.

Dietrich was exchanging a few words with the knight in front of the mansion, then listening to what appeared to be his aide.

‘…Does that man never sleep?’

As if reading Celiya’s thoughts, Dietrich suddenly looked up and stared at her.

When their eyes met, Celiya drew the curtains in apparent displeasure.

A few minutes later, Dietrich entered the room. He set down the gift box on the floor and said:

“It’s a gift for you from His Highness the Crown Prince.”

Celiya blinked at Dietrich’s words.

“Why for me?”

“You should know better than I do.”

Dietrich untied the ribbon on top and opened the box. At the same time, its contents were fully revealed.

“…”

It was a snow-white mermaid dress with a deeply cut back and neckline. The hem of the dress was densely studded with expensive pearls.

It was the kind of dress suitable for a bride about to hold her wedding ceremony.

“It seems the Crown Prince intends to take you as his Crown Princess this time.”

Dietrich sneered at Celiya. Celiya herself showed no reaction. Having gone through such things countless times already, she was not surprised.

Even the Brillione males not related by blood were desperate to take Celiya as a wife. It was abnormal enough that they broke into her room in the dead of night to violate her chastity.

‘The only difference is that the suitor has changed from a noble to the Crown Prince.’

While he wouldn’t do such things openly at the imperial banquet, who knows what he might do once outside the banquet hall.

Including the Crown Prince, people clearly thought she posed no threat.

‘Otherwise, there’s no way they’d send me this kind of dress.’

Celiya spread out the mermaid dress. The form-fitting mermaid style excessively emphasized the curves of the body.

Thud-

It was then that a letter fell out from inside the dress.

Both of their gazes fell upon the words written in the letter.

-From Jeremy, who will become the master of Abelon.

You must wear the dress I gave you without fail.

Dietrich twisted his lips as if it wasn’t funny at all.

“The Empress won’t sit idly by. How short-sighted.”

Celiya casually retorted to Dietrich’s words.

“Even if something like that happens, you’ll protect me, won’t you?”

Dietrich stared at Celiya with narrowed eyes.

Though she said that, Celiya truly found the situation unfolding around her to be quite strange.

People not only failed to hold her accountable for assassinating the emperor, but rather shielded her.

While Dietrich’s help played a part, there was something more that was difficult to explain by that alone.

Celiya looked at Dietrich’s profile as he seemed lost in thought. The slightly darker shadows cast beneath his typically indifferent eyes seemed to prove his mood was not very good.

“…The three dukes you mentioned before are coming today too, right?”

Dietrich had previously said they were her real enemies, so Celiya intended to see and judge them for herself at today’s birthday celebration.

“Who knows. They’re such noble personages after all.”

“Wait, are you saying they might not come today? That’s different from what you said before.”

“Do you think you can meet those guys just because you want to?”

“…You!”

Celiya grasped Dietrich’s clothes. Dietrich’s gaze slid down to Celiya’s hand gripping his clothes.

Whether from sleeping and eating well, Celiya’s complexion had noticeably improved recently.

It seemed like just yesterday she was gasping for breath as if about to die at any moment.

Unlike before when she was frail, Celiya now had good color and was full of energy.

“Come to think of it, I hear your family not related by blood is also attending this banquet.”

The Brillione viscounty had never once been invited to an imperial banquet before.

Celiya couldn’t help but know since Gabriel had been singing about wanting to go to the imperial palace so much.

“I didn’t invite them.”

“If not you, then who invited them?”

“Probably the Empress.”

Dietrich overlapped his hand on Celiya’s hand gripping his clothes. His rough hand, befitting one who often held a sword, completely enveloped Celiya’s small hand with room to spare.

Dietrich gazed steadily at Celiya as he interlaced their fingers joint by joint.

“You’re habitually holding hands now.”

Dietrich responded nonchalantly to Celiya’s words.

“So, do you dislike it?”

Since saying he would give her a leash, Dietrich had been casually taking Celiya’s hand like this.

But he still hadn’t revealed anything important like his true identity or ability.

Yet strangely, this act of holding hands wasn’t entirely unpleasant for Celiya either.

It was as if pouring cool water into a stuffy place, even giving a sense of peace to her unsettled heart.

‘Is he some kind of walking sedative? It’s strange.’

Celiya just stared at Dietrich without saying anything.

Dietrich did nothing else besides holding Celiya’s hand.

Celiya voiced the question she had been holding back all this time.

“Do you perhaps have some meaning in this act itself?”

“…”

“Don’t tell me you have an ability like me?”

Dietrich’s indifferent gaze turned to Celiya.

“Of course not.”

Dietrich let go of Celiya’s hand he had been holding. His hand that had slipped from between her fingers rested on Celiya’s shimmering silver hair.

“If I had an ability, I wouldn’t have needed someone like you.”

It was a barbed comment. Don’t carelessly prattle on about abilities to me any further.

Celiya laughed. The talk of leashes and such was indeed a lie. Though she hadn’t expected anything anyway, she was grateful he expressed it so clearly and directly.

“Isn’t that right? Master.”

If a dog ready to bite its master at any time can also be called a dog, then he was already a sufficiently mad dog.

Celiya realized it. The fact that Dietrich was called the emperor’s mad dog stemmed from his own will.

While being the emperor’s closest confidant, he had been harboring different thoughts all along.

‘…Why?’

Had he been planning revenge like herself? Or had he risen to become the emperor’s closest confidant and obtained a duke title with plans to incite rebellion?

If Dietrich’s real enemies were the three dukes, it made sense if he was using her to oppose them.

Dietrich was certainly not normal. A normal person would never think of infiltrating Abelon’s imperial palace to seize military power.

The imperial banquet hall was packed with people.

As it was a banquet held after a very long time, people’s faces were full of anticipation.

Among those attending the banquet, there were none who held grievances about the incompetent emperor’s death. They were only thinking of how to curry favor with Jeremy, who would become the next emperor.

Well-dressed people were tilting wine glasses and conversing with each other.

“At this banquet, will His Highness the Crown Prince also announce the date of his coronation?”

“Of course he will. We cannot leave the throne vacant any longer.”

In the conversations of the noblemen wearing crisp, unwrinkled formal wear, Celiya appeared without fail.

“Now that the charges of emperor assassination have been cleared, there’s no need for Brillione’s angel to remain in the imperial palace anymore.”

“Though I don’t know the circumstances, if we’re lucky, we might have a chance to see her in person today. I wonder if she’s truly as beautiful as her reputation. Rumors tend to be exaggerated after all.”

The young ladies nearby snorted as they eavesdropped on the noblemen’s conversation.

“Looking at this, one might think it’s Celiya Brillione’s banquet rather than His Highness’ birthday celebration.”

The women did not like Celiya very much. This was because Celiya’s value was the highest in the competitive marriage market.

But in reality, Celiya was an orphan from the streets with a humble family background.

If Celiya had been from one of the three duke families, or at least a count family if not a viscount, they wouldn’t have disliked her this much.

The etiquette and refinement they practiced daily became nothing in front of Celiya’s name.

“I heard she was sent to the emperor’s bedchamber… Wouldn’t her chastity have been violated? No matter if she was in the emperor’s embrace, a woman who is not chaste has no value in the marriage market.”

A man who had been silently drinking wine burst out angrily at a noblewoman’s words.

“Watch your mouth! How dare you speak of her with that filthy mouth?”

Though the banquet had barely begun, the man’s entire face was bright red from drinking several glasses of wine already. His mustache twitched as if convulsing.

“If you’ve never seen her in person, keep your mouth shut! Brillione’s angel is more chaste than anyone here!”

Though he was a commoner, he was a renowned merchant who supplied goods to the imperial family due to his business acumen. Thus, he had been invited to imperial banquets without fail several times.

The man had seen Celiya just once as a reward for donating his wealth to the viscount family, and she was truly beautiful as if not of this world.

Falling in love with Celiya at first sight, he had gone to great lengths to make her his mistress, but the important point was that he was not the only one.

How heartbroken he was when he learned she had entered the emperor’s bedchamber.

Hearing such words from someone else’s mouth infuriated him. When Celiya was arrested on charges of emperor assassination, he had taken the lead in bribing people to instigate that she had been used instead.

In his drunken state, he was unaware that someone was behind him. A soft and gentle male voice settled by his ear.

“Has the wealthy merchant actually seen Brillione’s angel in person?”