“Callian. With me…”

Yuri shouted while chasing after Callian.

“Talk to me, please. Okay?”

But Callian only shook off Yuri’s hand and walked forward.

Yuri ran with all her might and stopped in front of Callian.

With her hands on her hips, she glared at him and demanded.

Callian stared at her with cold eyes.

“How long are you going to avoid me? I’m Aron’s mother. The empress approved me as your wife.”

“…”

“I know you’re confused about recent events. I was also terribly confused.”

The image of Esika arm-in-arm with the crown prince made her lose her appetite.

“But Her Majesty the Empress won’t let that Esika girl off. How could she become the crown princess… It’s absurd. I firmly believe everything will eventually be set right.”

Yuri gritted her teeth.

The national wedding was the day after tomorrow, but Yuri refused to accept Esika becoming the crown princess.

“But you rejected the statement… You disappointed Her Majesty. And you’re even avoiding talking to me. Whose side are you on?”

Yuri reproached Callian with a hurt tone.

“Don’t tell me you still have lingering feelings for Esika?”

Callian Klaus. Though he no longer had the glorious Klaus mansion, duchy, and vast wealth, he still retained his handsome looks and noble birth.

She needed to raise Callian up well to reclaim what was lost.

Since the empress, Callian’s aunt, also seemed to be hostile towards Esika, they could surely reclaim everything.

But Callian, the person in question, seemed to have completely lost his motivation.

“…”

And that look in his eyes… He was clearly despising her.

Once, Callian had even bought Yuri an allet ring and treated her kindly.

He had evaluated Yuri as a decent woman compared to the inadequate Esika, and shown her favor.

But now, Callian’s eyes held not even a hint of warmth.

Yuri found this situation frustrating and unpleasant.

“Look at me, Callian.”

Yuri said, reaching out her hand towards Callian.

“I… love you. We can surely do well together. Reclaim what we’ve lost…”

But Callian once again brushed away Yuri’s hand with a cold gesture.

And then he moved his lips.

“Love?”

At that question, Yuri’s shoulders flinched.

In Callian’s cold eyes, her own image was reflected.

“…Was it out of love for me that you sent me that letter before my marriage to Esika?”

Callian’s low voice flowed into Yuri’s ears.

For a moment, Yuri’s eyebrows twitched.

“…What are you talking about?”

The corner of Callian’s lips twisted bitterly.

“‘The Ugly Truth about Esika Brigitte’, don’t you remember the title of the letter you sent?”

A flash of panic briefly crossed Yuri’s eyes, but she tried to deny it.

“I don’t know what you’re talking about. What letter are you saying I sent?”

“How brazen. Yes… you’ve always been brazen. A woman full of nothing but lies.”

“Callian…”

Callian reached out and pushed Yuri’s shoulder.

After a few steps forward, Yuri’s back touched the cold wall.

Yuri faced the contemptuous killing intent rising in Callian’s eyes.

“When I realized that the handwriting in your statement about Esika matched the handwriting of the letter I received before marrying Esika…”

Yuri’s eyes shook violently at Callian’s words.

When she wrote a letter to Callian at the government office before, she had it ghostwritten because of that concern.

The investigator had helped her.

But when writing the statement about Esika, she thoughtlessly used her own handwriting, and he had seen it!

Now there was no use in denying it.

“I couldn’t help but doubt everything from the root. And I realized I had fallen into a trap.”

Callian’s gaze seemed to be strangling Yuri’s neck.

An unfathomable gaze of anger and a cold voice.

Yuri’s hands trembled.

“You didn’t want me because you loved me, but because I was Esika’s husband. Because of your vicious and filthy inferiority complex.”

Callian’s accusations poured out like sharp daggers.

“You wanted to rise to a more noble position than Esika, didn’t you? You betrayed her trust as a friend, clung to my mother to abuse her, and tried your hardest to captivate my eyes and heart.”

And it struck Yuri’s weak point precisely.

“…”

“In the end, I fell into the trap you set out of inferiority, and Esika… I lost her. That jewel-like woman who can’t even be compared to you…”

The final words that followed were close to a scream.

“…I lost her to the crown prince!! Because of you!!”

Callian slammed his fist hard against the wall next to Yuri’s face.

With a thud, stone dust scattered.

Blood began to flow from his fist.

His purple eyes were more turbulent than ever before.

Callian felt like he could do anything to get Esika back.

If Esika told him to strangle Yuri, he felt like he could do it.

Yuri’s clenched fists trembled, and she spoke with venom-filled eyes.

“Don’t act like a victim now, Callian.”

Callian’s eyebrows twitched at Yuri’s words.

“Shut up.”

“Your current state is the result of your choices. You chose me over Esika, which is why I’m standing in front of you now…”

“I never chose a woman like you.”

“Aron’s existence is proof that you chose me!”

When Yuri shouted, Callian clenched his fist tightly.

Even though blood was flowing freely, he couldn’t feel the pain.

“It’s no use saying that now. I may not have threatened or begged you to impregnate me with your child, but I gave birth to your child.”

Aron Klaus. The bloodline of House Klaus, seen through Yuri.

Callian couldn’t deny Yuri’s words.

“Damn it…!”

Callian’s eyes were bloodshot.

“I reported to the government office about what you did to separate Esika and me before the marriage. If my report is accepted, Her Majesty the Empress will annul our marriage.”

“Do you think Esika will come back just because I leave?”

“I don’t care if she doesn’t come back now.”

Hearing about the report, Yuri jumped up and screamed.

“Callian!”

In Callian’s eyes as he looked at Yuri, there was nothing but cold anger.

“I just hate you more than death itself.”

**

“You can’t be happy after making others cry tears of blood.”

Hans said, as if it served her right, upon hearing the news of Callian Klaus’s report against his wife, Yuri.

“I heard that the Grand Madam is troubled, unable to take either side. If she hastily drives Yuri away, she’ll have to raise the child herself. And with her lofty personality, she’s said to be reluctant even to change diapers.”

Esika thought that society’s rumors spread quickly indeed, as she looked at herself in the mirror.

She was now wearing a wedding dress for the ceremony, receiving the final touches from her maids.

Her upswept hair and neckline were incomparably elegant, and the gaze captured in her blue eyes was calm and clear.

The necklace was sent by Schubert, and it could be said to be the most beautiful jewel in the empire without exaggeration.

“Everything is ready now, let’s go out. Your Highness, the Crown Princess.”

Esika took the hand of the maid supporting her.

“Be careful. You might trip if you step on the lace.”

The dress’s decorations were so excessive that even with her expert body, she could stumble.

Originally wedding dresses are like this, but the designers paid extra attention as it was a national wedding held in the imperial palace.

So, this place was the waiting room before the ceremony hall where the wedding with the crown prince would take place.

Today was the national wedding day of the crown prince and Esika.

Probably when she goes outside, all the nobles who came to see the two of them will be filling the huge hall.

Esika stepped onto the red carpet.

Once the heavy doors open, those steps cannot be taken back.

A man will be waiting for Esika, and she will take his hand.

‘Are you nervous? I’m nervous too… So nervous I could die. Oh, I’m sorry. You must be nervous too, madam, no, Your Highness the Crown Princess.’

If Sela were alive, what would it have been like?

‘I’m fine, so relax, Sela.’

‘Gasp, you’re amazing as always, madam…’

Esika smiled faintly as she suddenly remembered that girl’s face.

The march began.

When she was a spirit, she once went to a village for fun and had her marriage fortune told.

It was when both the original and the spirit were in their early teens.

The fortune-teller looked closely at the spirit’s face and said,

“Young lady, your fortune is extraordinary. You’ll get married at least three times.”

She was about to argue what nonsense that was when the fortune-teller looked at the original and said,

“Young man, your fortune is bright, but you have no connection yet. It might be possible in the next life.”

On the way out, they cursed the fortune-teller as a quack,

But thinking about it now, it’s amusing.

Creaaak-

The sound of another layer of doors opening was heard.

Unlike the stuffy waiting room, the ceremony hall was very bright with light pouring in through glass windows reaching up to the high ceiling.

The momentarily dazzled vision adapts to the light in less than a few seconds.

Esika took a step into the light.

Everyone held their breath, watching the beautiful crown princess’s entrance.

Esika’s posture was straight, her figure breathtakingly beautiful, and her steps were directed solely towards one man.

He, who had been standing nobly on the red carpet, saw Esika.

Step by step, their gazes slowly intertwined.

Resban’s eyes shook deeply.

And as if by magic, a smile appeared on his stiff lips.

Resban reached out and took Esika’s hand.

Even through the gloves, it felt like a soft warmth was transmitted to her heart.

Esika’s heart fluttered anew.

The moment the two took their first step together,

The majestic music opening the national wedding ceremony of the crown prince and Esika began to play.