Saedel slowly opened his eyes. He must have lost consciousness for a moment, as he saw his servant as soon as he opened his eyes.

“Have you awakened, Your Highness?”

“……Yes.”

His head felt foggy. Perhaps because he had suddenly dreamed of the past, he couldn’t feel the reality of the present moment.

It still felt like he was dreaming.

The servant asked Saedel with a worried expression.

“Your Highness, are you alright? Should I give you a sedative?”

He looked afraid that a seizure might occur. It was natural to be tense, as when Saedel had a seizure, he would freeze everything around him.

Saedel shook his head. Thanks to dreaming of Marian after a long time, his mood wasn’t bad. Rather, he wanted to feel more of her lingering presence.

“No, I’m fine. I’ll just sit for a moment.”

After waving off the servant, Saedel leaned back on the bed and recalled Marian whom he had met in his dream earlier.

‘Marian.’

Pink hair fluttering gently.

A woman who wouldn’t even wear skirts because it was bothersome, yet often let her hair down. When her hair fluttered in the wind, Saedel would sigh with regret.

‘If I had known we would part so vainly, I should have called her name beforehand.’

There were many who carelessly spoke her name.

But Saedel couldn’t do that. He was afraid that the moment he called her name, he would harbor unnecessary hope.

In the end, he didn’t know then that person would die so easily. Saedel murmured her name in a small voice with regret.

“Marian……”

There was only one reason why she kept coming to mind these days.

It was because he met her in the Grand Duchy.

‘I only went to check if the heart was still there. It was an unexpected harvest.’

Saedel disliked Hadel. There was no particular reason. Just the fact that Marian’s heart was beating inside another man’s body was enough to make him feel unbearably uncomfortable.

As anger surged, the temperature in the room suddenly dropped.

‘Damn it, that man is the only suitable recipient for the heart!’

Why did he have to have an ice attribute? If he had a flame attribute like Marian, he could have become one with her forever.

But he ended up meeting her when he went to check on Hadel’s condition. The one he had only seen in dreams.

“Marian.”

Just calling her name made him feel like his heart was wearing away to nothing. After calling Marian’s name with an aching voice, Saedel soon glared into the empty space with a fierce gaze.

‘But reports came in that there was no pink-haired woman in the Grand Duchy.’

Saedel had long since planted people in the Grand Duchy to monitor Hadel. He had to prevent seizures or rampages from occurring and damaging the precious heart.

He didn’t expect to have to ask them if the Marian he saw was real.

In the end, all the reports that came back were the same. There is no such woman. It seems to be a baseless rumor.

The moment he saw that report, it felt like his mind was crumbling. That despair was indescribable.

Saedel covered his face with his palm. As he exhaled deeply, the temperature that had gradually dropped rose again. He had withdrawn the cold air.

‘Did I really see an illusion?’

Just as Yulnisia’s mind had worn away and finally turned into a doll, Saedel had also been out of his mind for a long time. Even if the Marian in his fantasies suddenly spoke to him, there was no reason to be surprised.

He had already met and desired her countless times in his fantasies.

‘Still, Marian, being able to meet you even in fantasies….’

The more Saedel thought about Marian, the more his settled heart pounded. It would have been dangerous if he had more time to think.

At that moment, the head servant knocked on the door at just the right time.

“Your Highness, it’s time for breakfast.”

The servant trembling beside Saedel let out a sigh of relief. Saedel, who had been blinking his eyes like a doll for a moment, got up from his seat.

After tidying up his attire and neatly combing back his hair, he walked down the corridor and arrived at the banquet hall.

“I’m late.”

Everyone was already gathered in the banquet hall. The king sat in the highest seat, with the queen beside him.

However, no one looked at Saedel. They just sat blankly with dull eyes.

Saedel twisted his lips. It felt like he was finally waking up from the illusion of Marian. As if being forcibly dragged back to reality.

‘Right, this place is a tomb for the living.’

As he took his seat, the king and queen began to eat. As it was just a meal for show to the outside world, no particular conversation was necessary.

As Saedel was eating, his confidant approached and reported to him.

“Yulnisia has passed away.”

That was an important issue. Saedel’s face hardened. After saying nothing for a moment, Saedel asked in an eerie voice.

“……Was it Hadel’s doing?”

The ice that froze Yulnisia’s heart was no ordinary ice. Currently, only Hadel could create a flame strong enough to melt it. The confidant also answered carefully.

“It’s true that the Grand Duke moved to Neris.”

“Hmm.”

It was natural that one couldn’t give a definitive answer without seeing it with their own eyes. After hearing his confidant’s answer, Saedel closed his mouth again.

‘What does this mean?’

After seeing Marian in the Grand Duchy, Saedel ordered the spies he had planted to report on any pink-haired women residing in the Grand Duchy. But subsequent reports kept coming back saying there was no woman like Marian.

‘Then the Marian I saw must have been an illusion after all.’

But Hadel, who hadn’t moved for years, suddenly visited Neris and killed Yulnisia there?

Saedel frowned.

‘I thought for sure it would be Marian who killed Yulnisia.’

There was some gap in the information.

Saedel shook his head as he recalled Yulnisia. He wasn’t particularly regretful.

‘She was almost useless lately anyway. Completely worn away.’

That emotionless appearance, barely answering only when asked. Not a trace remained of the previous Yulnisia who was cheerful and missed Marian as much as Saedel did.

That was the weathering of humans created by time.

‘Can I say I’m the true me?’

Saedel thought of himself, who had lived for as long as Yulnisia. No, in some sense, he was even more of a monster than Yulnisia. At least she had experienced the natural flow of time.

Saedel, who had been thinking of himself always plagued by hallucinations, soon shook his head.

‘I’m different. I have a purpose, so I’ll never lose my mind.’

And his purpose.

‘Marian.’

From the moment she willingly chose to die with him, Saedel could no longer escape from Marian. He bit his lip hard.

‘This time, I’ll have you in my hands.’

Whether it was an illusion or not. If there was even the slightest clue, he would dig into it. With that resolve, what he needed to do came clearly to mind. Saedel said to the king.

“It seems I’ll have to provoke the North.”

“The North……”

The king dully repeated Saedel’s words.

“Weren’t you worried about your elder brother’s late marriage? How about if Your Majesty personally decides on a fiancée and sends her down?”

“A fiancée……”

The slow, repetitive way of speaking was particularly irritating today.

‘Yulnisia’s brainwashing really has the huge flaw of making one stupid.’

But it can’t be helped since it’s convenient. Becoming stupid when talking to Saedel is a learning process to act as Saedel orders externally. Saedel repeated his words with patience.

“I will find a suitable person and make her Hadel’s fiancée myself.”

“Alright……”

There was no need to talk further. Saedel continued eating while organizing his thoughts.

He had already decided on a woman to be Hadel’s match. Since Marian’s heart needed to be preserved until she woke up, it had to be a woman who could bear descendants with the flame attribute.

It didn’t take long since he was just proceeding with what was already decided. Saedel ordered one of the candidates, Lady Nella Orsini, to go to the North, and the next day he received this reply.

“A letter has arrived from Lady Orsini.”

“I see.”

“It says she has arrived safely at the Grand Duchy.”

“Is that so.”

It was all according to plan, so it wasn’t very interesting. Saedel rested his chin on his hand and thought.

‘If Marian is in the North, there should be some kind of reaction.’

But that seemed like it would be uninteresting in a different way.

I was facing the most absurd situation in my entire life.

I just left the castle for a moment to find out how an ice demon had infiltrated, but in the meantime, why have I become a mistress?

I grabbed Hadel and asked. Even though I knew Hadel would be busy with the ice demon incident, I couldn’t help but question him.

“What do you mean by fiancée? How did this happen?”

I didn’t think Hadel was shameless enough to come on to me while having a fiancée. But this situation is too absurd, isn’t it?

Hadel also answered with a very displeased expression.

“The capital sent her unilaterally. She arrived right after you left the castle.”

At the words that she came from the capital, my face grew cold.

‘Come to think of it, when Prince Saedel came before, didn’t he say the pretext was Hadel’s engagement?’

It seems this woman is the fiancée they tried to match with Hadel back then.

But because of Prince Saedel’s attitude of ignoring Hadel, my image of that woman was terrible from the start. I asked Hadel again.

“Orsini, is she some noble? Is she a real noble? Not an impersonator or con artist?”

“She’s a southern count’s daughter. She is a real noble lady. I confirmed her identity, and the king’s seal on the documents was genuine.”

“……So in the end, the engagement is the king’s will.”

Hadel also had a woman he’d never met before sent down from the capital as his fiancée.

After grasping the whole situation, I shouted in anger.

“What kind of person is she!”