Just as when she left, the princess’s return was quietly carried out, avoiding the eyes of the people.

Killian, who was watching the carriage carrying Alicia disappear into the Imperial Palace, felt the presence of Reilly quietly approaching and standing by his side.

“Thanks to you, I was able to return safely.”

“I didn’t know the Viscount would express such gratitude to me.”

“I know the Duke took on a lot of responsibility as the leader of this trip.”

The carriage completely disappears from view.

Killian, who pulled the reins to turn the horse’s head in time with it, met eyes with Reilly who was looking at him.

The eldest son and successor who possesses all the characteristics of the Anderson Ducal House.

His efforts to obtain the position of Duke would be simply waiting.

Unlike himself, who had crawled up from the bottom, killed his half-brother, and made his father submit.

Just as Killian, who found it funny to have such a foolish thought that he rarely entertained, was about to spur his horse towards the Ducal House, Reilly spoke.

“What do you plan to do with Her Highness Alicia?”

The name Alicia that spilled from Reilly’s mouth was irksome.

Thinking so, Killian turned his gaze back to him and answered in an emotionless voice.

“Why is the Viscount curious about that?”

“Am I not allowed to be curious?”

“Because it’s a matter unrelated to the Viscount.”

“It’s not entirely unrelated.”

His laughter-laced voice grated on Killian’s nerves.

In the laughter mixed with a strange confidence, there was the confidence of someone who had never once rolled in the mud.

“I proposed to Her Highness Alicia, you see.”

As expected, that laughter was annoying.

Killian thought so as he looked at Reilly.

“You’re taking it more calmly than I expected?”

“What reaction did you want to see from me when you said that?”

“That’s not it, but since you’re the one who called Her Highness ‘mine,’ I thought you’d show some reaction.”

From the moment they first met, he thought he was an annoying youngster.

But he was simply not a threat to him, so he let him live.

“Is there something you want to hear from me?”

“Since Her Highness also said she would give up, I thought it would be good if the Duke could clearly resolve things now.”

“Haha.”

It was ridiculous.

Sincerely thinking so, Killian grinned, the corners of his mouth lifting.

“The Viscount will never marry Alicia.”

“It’s not Alicia, it’s Her Highness Alicia.”

Come to think of it, there was a time when he regretted not killing him earlier.

Should I kill him now?

It wouldn’t be difficult…

“Her Highness Alicia said she would have a marriage that benefits Eregron. So I plan to prove that marrying me would be in the best interest of Eregron.”

It was the confidence of someone who had never experienced failure and believed they would never fail in the future.

“So I ask the Duke. Please keep your distance.”

“You should gain the qualifications to make such a request to me first.”

“I will soon gain those qualifications. So please think of it as hearing a request I will make then in advance.”

Should I find a way to quietly take care of it without Alicia knowing?

No, no matter what, she would never come to dislike me, so I think I just need to cover the Emperor’s eyes appropriately.

…This isn’t it either.

I decided to become gentle.

I want to twist that neck right now, but I’ll have to endure it.

“I’m also curious to see how far my patience will last.”

“Do I annoy you again, perhaps?”

“Always.”

“I plan to continue annoying you in the future, so I ask for your cooperation. Well then, I’ve said what I needed to say, so I will take my leave. I have an errand from His Majesty left to do.”

Reilly, who bowed his head to Killian, spurred his horse and disappeared to the other side of the square.

If he was heading in that direction, he was surely going to stop by the information guild.

As Killian slightly lifted his hand and snapped his fingertips, Derek, who was waiting behind him, approached and stood by Killian’s side.

“How many did you assign to the Anderson Ducal House?”

“Do you think it’s insufficient?”

“Add two, no, three more.”

“Yes, I understand.”

Killian, seemingly satisfied with Derek’s words, took one last look at the Imperial Palace before spurring his horse towards the Ducal House.

He needed to fully grasp what had happened in the capital during his long journey.

“He said he’s going to get married?”

One corner of his mouth lifted involuntarily, and a laugh escaped.

He had the audacity to not only covet what was his but also desire the spot next to her, his greed was excessive.

After laughing like that for a while, Killian recalled something Reilly had said.

“A marriage necessary for Eregron? Is that how you’re trying to run away this time?”

Killian fiercely grinned as he fully opened one hand and then clenched it tightly inward.

It was the laugh of someone who had never once been defeated.

Having returned to the Imperial Palace and informed the Emperor and the Crown Prince and Princess of her return, Alicia took a bath with the attendance of Amy and Mina for the first time in a long while and fell into a deep sleep.

And naturally, she fell into a nightmare.

Her nightmares always begin with the same scene.

The scene where thirteen-year-old Alicia falls in love with Killian at first sight.

The background was a vibrant spring, and the thick scent of fairies that could be felt even in the dream was captivating, but it was definitely a nightmare.

The scenes that quickly flipped through like illustrations in a novel all depicted Alicia gazing at Killian.

The sky-blue eyes that sparkled with a youthful crush became tinged with desperation and longing.

And Killian’s deep green eyes that turned away from her gaze grew darker and sharper day by day.

Alicia looked at Killian, but he never turned to look at her.

The face that once bloomed with a radiant smile became filled with gloom and soon tears flowed.

She didn’t want much.

Just for him to look at her, to remember that she was here.

So that one day, when he was exhausted, he would come to her and find peace.

Even if he didn’t love her, she wished he would look at her just once.

That’s what she hoped for, but this was a nightmare.

The pages kept flipping back, and once again, Reilly handed Alicia poison.

“If you are the Emperor of this Eregron, if you feel even a shred of responsibility for ruining this Eregron! Kill him.”

If he had told her to die instead, she would have accepted it without hesitation.

Reilly’s face shattered and disappeared, and the scene now reached its climax.

“So let’s make a toast. To this Eregron that my foolish love has ruined.”

Alicia smiled as she raised her glass.

Killian’s face, unable to shake off his suspicion.

After downing the drink she had prepared for him, Alicia spoke.

“If I were given another chance, I wouldn’t love you.”

So let’s never meet again.

If we don’t meet, I won’t have to keep this vow.

So please, my beloved.

Now the nightmare should end, and she should open her eyes.

But today’s nightmare was different from the usual.

“Find a way.”

Killian, sitting askew on the throne, was drunk.

The one bowing before him was his lover, Cheryl.

Raising her pale face, she spoke.

“You’re crazy.”

“I’ve never been sane. So find it. Find it and bring that method before me.”

He got up, his body swaying from intoxication, and headed somewhere.

The small temple built in the deepest part of the Imperial Palace was a place that first rejoiced in the birth of the imperial family and grieved their deaths the longest.

Killian personally opened the door and walked into the temple, moving towards the ice coffin placed beneath the ruined statue.

Inside the coffin, surrounded by several layers of cold ice to prevent the body of the deceased from crumbling with time, lay someone sleeping with a peaceful face.

Kneeling on both knees in front of the ice coffin, Killian wailed like a wounded beast.

He shattered the statue that had barely maintained its form and tore off the white flowers decorating the ice coffin.

After moving like that for a while, Killian placed a red climbing rose he had brought from somewhere on top of the coffin.

His hands, scratched by the thorns on the stems, were a mess and bleeding.

“This is the method you chose?”

Killian muttered to the person lying inside the coffin.

“The method you chose to run away from me… is merely death?”

That was the only way I could find to not love you.

At that time, it truly was the only way.

If I didn’t run away like that, I was afraid I would ruin even the things that remained.

Unable to contain his anger, he tore off the lid of the ice coffin.

Red petals rained down like rain towards the person lying inside the coffin.

Unable to steady his rough breathing, he knelt in front of the coffin again and stroked the cheek of the person lying inside with a gentleness incomparable to before.

Every time his injured, bleeding hand touched, it left traces on the lifeless white skin.

“Alicia.”

It was a desperate voice he had never heard before.

“You’re going to run away from me?”

Alicia lying in the coffin.

Killian’s deep green eyes that looked at her gleamed coldly.

“Did you believe you could run away from me with just this method?”

Perhaps he missed the sky-blue eyes that always looked at him?

Gently stroking her closed eyelids with trembling fingertips, Killian let out a laugh.

That laugh, which started small, gradually grew louder, and in the end, it became a fit of laughter that shook his entire body.

“Yes, do your best to run away, Alicia.”

Rubbing her cold hands that were modestly clasped together against his cheek, Killian was crying.

“But be prepared.”

You’re not someone who cries like that.

The you I know would never cry like that.

“If I catch you… even in death, you won’t be able to escape from me.”

To someone already dead, he shouted that she wouldn’t be able to escape even in death, and in his eyes, she was already smiling brightly.

Tracing that illusion with his fingertips, I pity you who laughs like that, and tears flow.

The spilled tears become a swamp that swallows you and me.

And Alicia, who woke up from the nightmare, wailed again.

The dream that has been repeating since the day she touched the black crystal, the one she absolutely cannot remember.

Today, too, Alicia shed tears without knowing why she was crying, as the nightmare evaporated the moment she opened her eyes.