The moment the kiss ended, the moment Rowell met Peter’s gaze as he looked down at her. Rowell was sure of it.

“It’s done.”

And just as the question finally flowed from his lips, she had to make an unrelenting effort not to reveal the bursting ecstasy outwardly. If she didn’t, it felt like her joyous heart would be completely exposed.

The winner of this incident was herself. Peter could no longer ignore Rowell’s presence. In other words, it meant he needed her.

“Asking about your purpose is no different from saying you’ll use me.”

This was like asking the price of an item when buying something from a merchant. Wouldn’t you want to know what you had to pay to get what you wanted? So Rowell made relentless efforts to sell one thing to Peter. And that thing would be Rowell herself.

Now that she had proven her usefulness, she had no choice but to buy, whether he wanted it or not. Beneath the moon’s control, the man’s face looked slightly distorted. Rowell knew what kind of expression it was.

It was the expression of someone placed in a moment when they had no choice but to yield. The expression of one who had succumbed to inevitability.

“You said you would help me. I understand it’s not for my sake.”

A look that Rowell had seen countless times when she had made her vows of revenge in the past.

“Why do you think that?”

“There’s no reason for you, and you don’t seem to have any intention like that. It would be ridiculous to think otherwise.”

To the answer that came out as if it were obvious, Rowell couldn’t help but smirk.

Yes, that’s right. Rowell had considered several excuses for Peter up to this moment.

Among them, there was certainly no love. Love was inherently a chaotic romanticization. Love was a collection of disordered and fundamental emotions given a name. So there was no excuse that could match that. However, in the end, Rowell gave up using love as an excuse. The reason was simple.

“You and I haven’t lived long enough to believe in falling in love at first sight, have we?”

She had no intention of deceiving him into thinking she was in love. She couldn’t deceive herself into thinking that.

“If you wanted that, I could have shown you such a sign.”

Rowell smiled faintly. She had lived without much laughter, but after entering the palace, her laughter had increased.

There was nothing to hide her innermost thoughts. Was there any other way than to laugh if she didn’t want to curse while strangling someone’s neck? She had no choice but to laugh.

With this innermost thought, to feign love, Peter already knew what kind of love Rowell had. Rowell loved Peter blindly. Just as Peter had loved Rowell.

“Unless it’s that level of love, I can’t deceive Peter, can I?”

It was an impossible story with her current self. She only wanted to strangle Peter’s neck right now if she could. Whether Peter knew about Rowell’s innermost thoughts or not, he frowned in displeasure at her words.

“Do I look like I’m haggling here? It’s unpleasant, so stop it.”

The reason he brought up this story was one.

“You said you would help me, and it’s not for my sake. I know that much. Do you have to act like everything will be resolved just by listening to your words?”

It was more pointed than she thought. Rowell was silent for the first time. To undermine it with appropriate words wouldn’t be well received. Rowell smiled a little at the straightforward warning. Peter, seeing that, raised one eyebrow.

“Why are you laughing?”

There was no particular reason.
Just, the naive side of him was amusing once again. Even though she had gone this far, the fact that he was still on high alert was both funny and ridiculous.

“On guard.”

Isn’t that something for predators? Does a predator need to be on high alert in front of its prey?

So, Peter’s vigilance meant this. At this moment, the balance of power in their relationship was in Rowell’s favor.

So, there was no need to be tense.

“I understand that you have many reasons not to trust me, but the biggest reason is probably because Your Majesty is at odds with the nobles, isn’t it? Because you don’t know how I’ll behave behind you.”

Perhaps he was informing the Emperor’s daily life, or perhaps he was informing how crazy the Emperor was going. Peter lightly agreed with Rowell’s words. No matter how much of a Marutinek she was, even if she had never been associated with the nobles’ social circle, there was no guarantee that she would continue to be.

“It will be necessary to provide evidence that your purpose is not related to them.”

“Then I’ll make that evidence for you.”

With a cheerful reply, Rowell smiled faintly.

“My purpose is not the nobles, it’s Your Majesty.”

The next day.

“Anette Marutinek, and that… thing happened?”

“It certainly had an effect.”

Peter answered nonchalantly, but Simoren was quite surprised. It was even more surprising than when she heard about what happened at the banquet yesterday. At the time, she was patrolling inside the palace at Peter’s command, and she had a hunch that something had happened when she saw the nobles rushing out like they were escaping.

“It was the worst.”

It was truly the worst scenario imaginable. Showing that he couldn’t control his magic in front of the nobles was essentially firing a signal that the Emperor was going crazy. And the reason was Anette.

When she heard about the situation before the banquet was held, she thought that Peter would send Anette away as a matter of course. Noah also evaluated it like this.

“It would be fortunate if we could save her life. To my knowledge, no one has ever survived after touching the Emperor’s mind to that extent.”

Simoren couldn’t deny this either.
In fact, he was quite shocked about Anette. He had lived in Saneung Palace and had become quite close to Anette, thinking that she wouldn’t harm Peter. He had even felt sorry for Anette to some extent. So, he had suggested sending her away to protect Peter.

“I didn’t expect this outcome.”

It felt like he had been openly talking and got a surprise from behind. What would he become if such a result came out? Simoren sincerely appreciated that Peter didn’t give her a chance to defend herself. Even if a chance to defend herself had been given, there was nothing she could have said besides that she didn’t know it would happen.

“Even if she helps Your Majesty, it seems like there is more harm than good from my point of view. It’s unpredictable when she might do something like that again…”

“What a foolish assumption. Anette Marutinek will naturally do such things again.”

“…Really?”

Simoren blinked her eyes slowly. She wanted to ask why he assumed that if he was going to use her, but she couldn’t bring herself to say it out loud. However, it seemed that her expression alone conveyed enough, as Peter chuckled coldly.

“Of course, she will do it again. That way, I’ll need her, and she’ll have a reason to approach me.”

“Then why…”

“Anyway, thanks to that, we got clear evidence that Rowell survived that day.”

With that incident, Anette had clearly conveyed to Peter more than any words could. The fact that she knew Rowell better than anyone else.

So, to find Rowell, Anette was definitely necessary. If she was a dangerous item, it would be safer to keep her close and watch her than to keep her far away.

Peter’s gaze turned to the desk. He slowly picked up an item that he had been watching for a long time, and still couldn’t take his eyes off it. In his grown-up hand, the ribbon felt a little small.

“Anette said her purpose is with me.”

“What does that mean?”

“She wants me, whether I want her or not.”

It was amusing in retrospect, and Peter smirked.

“Anette said her purpose is to be by my side.”