King Ord Hyanmorik selected trusted court officials to announce the marriage of Prince Eustar Hyanmorik.

While some conservative nobles grumbled about the need to welcome a princess consort before filling the vacant queen’s position, even they were on edge with curiosity about who would become Eustar’s wife.

The capital’s citizens had considerable affection for Eustar, the king’s only brother who was withering away day by day from an unknown illness, and who served as the commander-in-chief of the ‘Tentinella’ knightly order.

On top of that, people gossiped endlessly about which lady would embrace this perfect man with his handsome looks and fine character.

This became a tragedy for Laila.

“This is absolutely unacceptable!”

The royal officials felt their hearts sink at Duke Himierd’s angry voice. Even the elders who had led state affairs since early on could only shrink their necks like whimpering dogs in the face of the duke’s fury.

The fact that Eustar’s marriage partner was a young lady from a small village, not even a low-ranking noble, wasn’t the real issue. In normal circumstances, that would have been problematic enough, but this time was different.

The biggest problem was that Eustar’s marriage partner, the woman who would embrace this man with a bright future and adored by the citizens of Sierou, was not an ordinary human.

Laila Kristrad, daughter of a witch and a witch herself.

When he heard the news that she, with her ominous black hair and bright red eyes that could not be hidden, would become Eustar’s wife, Duke Himierd was so shocked he could barely breathe for a while.

“His Highness the Prince is another pillar of the kingdom. Especially in these times when His Majesty’s illness is prolonged, if anything were to happen to the Prince, who would lead Sierou and take responsibility for state affairs? I cannot do it. None of you could either! He already bears the heavy burden of such great responsibility and the task of overseeing the knightly order. And now you want him to take a witch as his wife! Does this make any sense?”

Some officials murmured in agreement with the duke’s impassioned outburst. Then, the court official directly ordered by the king to prepare for Eustar’s marriage cleared his throat.

“Everyone here knows that Duke Himierd cares for the Prince’s wellbeing and spares nothing for the peace of Sierou. However, this is also a direct order from His Majesty to the Prince. Unless the Prince convinces His Majesty to withdraw the order, what can be done?”

“Then, Duke Tevan, are you saying you will simply stand by and watch this happen?”

“What do you mean by that, Duke Himierd? We are merely carrying out His Majesty’s orders. But to stand by and watch! What are you suggesting? That we should all rebel against His Majesty!”

After the official announcement of Eustar and Laila’s marriage, the officials would engage in fruitless arguments whenever they met, only to return exhausted without reaching any conclusion.

Meanwhile, Laila heard that Duke Himierd had finally gone to King Ord to insist on withdrawing the announcement of Eustar and Laila’s marriage.

Although Laila herself hoped that Duke Himierd would break the king’s unreasonable stubbornness, unfortunately, the result she wished for did not come to pass.

“Duke Himierd has been banned from entering the royal palace for the time being.”

When Mel, who had come to brew tea, delivered this news, Laila felt frustration along with a sense of guilt.

Though she was neither a noble nor an official, she could vaguely guess what it meant to be banned from entering the royal palace. It was a public disgrace, and furthermore, it meant falling out of the king’s favor.

But Duke Himierd was not the kind of person who would grovel and beg for forgiveness while watching the king’s mood.

If the king were to impose an unbearable punishment on her because of this, what should she do? Laila stared blankly at the steaming tea, unable to hide her confusion.

“Mel, you used to serve Duke Himierd, didn’t you?”

Her voice was dazed. Mel looked at Laila with pity for a moment before answering.

“It’s true that I mainly attended to the duke when he visited. But I’m an employee of the Sierou royal palace, not the duke’s personal employee. So saying ‘I used to serve Duke Himierd’ isn’t quite accurate.”

“But you were close to the duke. What if he gets into a dangerous situation because of me? Mel, you know the duke better than I do. And you probably know His Majesty… the king better too. Tell me honestly. Is there any chance that His Majesty might impose a punishment worse than the entry ban on the duke?”

A brief look of embarrassment crossed Mel’s face.

“That’s not something you need to worry about, Lady Laila. The duke’s matters are for him to handle. And I don’t dare comment on His Majesty’s actions.”

“But it happened because of me!”

Laila suddenly cried out, clutching her head with both hands.

She remained that way for a moment, with her forehead buried in her knees. An event she had never even imagined had occurred, and she was suffering because of it. Not just her, but others as well.

Mel said,

“Lady Laila, don’t be like this. You should go out and get some fresh air. You’ve been cooped up in this room for days now. It’s natural to feel depressed.”

“I don’t want to. Going outside… it’s more painful to go out. Everyone stares at me, everyone whispers. It was the same in my hometown, but there I had places to hide so I could bear it. If I didn’t show myself, people would half-forget about me. But here, there’s nowhere to hide. Even if I hide, everyone knows about me.”

Mel’s expression darkened further.

In truth, when she first learned of the official announcement of Eustar and Laila’s marriage, she was so shocked she didn’t know how to react.

Though she knew it was a terrible thought, she couldn’t help but wonder if King Ord had lost his mind completely.

But she felt no hostility towards Laila.

Some people gossiped that the witch must have used some wicked magic to bewitch the king and the prince, but to Mel, who watched her closely every day, such talk wasn’t even worth scoffing at.

To be honest, Mel found it hard to believe that Laila was a witch at all. If it weren’t for her black hair and red eyes, which only real witches were said to possess, she would have dismissed it as a distorted rumor or lie.

In her eyes, Laila was just an inexperienced young lady, suddenly dragged to a strange place and struggling to take care of herself.

“I don’t understand what he’s thinking at all.”

Laila squeezed out her voice with difficulty. It seemed it couldn’t have been more difficult even if she had to open her throat and pull out a fist-sized stone. But there was no response from Mel.

“Mel?”

When Laila raised her head, the person standing before her was not Mel. She hadn’t heard any sound, but somehow Eustar was there, looking at her with a sad smile.

“Where did Mel go?”

“I asked her to step out for a moment.”

His voice was as gentle as ever, but it provided little comfort to the nervous Laila.

Eustar glanced down at the cooling tea and castella on the table.

“Have you eaten?”

“I have no appetite.”

“I heard from the kitchen staff that you didn’t eat at all yesterday. You skipped breakfast and lunch today too.”

“I told you I have no appetite, Eustar. Leave me alone.”

The end of her words came out sharp. Her already complicated thoughts seemed to melt and mix into a mess.

After a moment of silence, Eustar said,

“If it’s alright, may I sit next to you?”

Laila, who had been stubbornly keeping her head down, finally looked at him directly. Her lips trembled and her breath became unsteady. Then she felt a strange sadness and heat stirring in her chest.

I don’t want to allow it. Laila thought.

I want to tell him to leave right now. No, I want to ask him to send me back home. Rijikers or anywhere would be fine. I want to tell him to let me go somewhere, anywhere but here…

However, among the few requests, Laila had no options to choose from. It was hard to understand and painful that Eustar had no responsibility for this fact.

Every time she tried to bring it up to him, every time she tried to beg him to return this irrational situation to normal, something stopped her mouth.

It felt as if an invisible hand or a soft jelly was covering her mouth, and eventually trying to choke her. It felt like a will that would rather kill her than let her reject him.

The most unbearable fact was that this ‘something’ existed within Laila herself.

“May I not?”

Eustar asked again. After all, the sofa was wide, and here he was a royal with power second only to the king. What did the permission of a mere ordinary woman, moreover one pointed at as a witch, matter so much?

“…Sit down.”

Once again, Laila succumbed to the pressure of the unknown something stirring in her chest. She felt a sense of defeat without even fighting.

Eustar sat down, maintaining an appropriate distance from Laila, and gazed at her intently. His bright lime-green eyes, which seemed like they would smell of fresh grass if the wind blew, reflected and gently embraced Laila’s gloomy appearance.

“Even if you have no appetite, you need to eat, Laila.”

Laila persisted in not answering. That was the limit of her resistance. To be honest, even that felt somewhat painful.

I’m going to go crazy at this rate. Laila sighed inwardly.

“Have dinner with me today. Actually, I meant to come yesterday too, but after dealing with some urgent matters, it was already so late I thought you’d be asleep.”

“I couldn’t sleep a wink last night. I heard the news about Duke Himierd.”

Eustar’s eyebrows lowered slightly, showing a strange light of sympathy. Laila slowly inhaled, trying to control her increasingly rough breathing.

“Why did you come, Eustar?”