'Why did you bring up the topic of father without any sense?'
Doris thought of her father, who had refused to allow her to marry Rhodnes even though she had given him the last chance.
It was much more beneficial to the country for his father to lie there, not even knowing who the Emperor's material was.
Even if he had been awake, he would have opposed the coronation of Crown Prince Rhodnes, saying that he could never bring Rhodnes and Doris together!
Wouldn't it be more valuable to Castagna to marry Rhodnes as a saint and gain the position of Crown Princess, rather than the shameful position that she would gain by giving her younger sister Raphaella to Ephero?
Doris glanced at her face in the mirror with a satisfied smile.
“Noura. When you went north this time, was Blie still blonde?”
“Yes, Your Highness.”
Doris opened her eyes squintingly and glared at her own black hair.
It was clear that Blie also knew of Adrienne's existence and dyed her hair blonde.
'In the end, it's Adrienne again.'
Her teeth were clenched.
But that was only for a moment. The frosty eyes slowly sank and the corners of her lips painted in pale pink rose thinly.
No one could replicate the look of the blonde, fresh-faced Adrienne Pirretta more accurately than anyone else.
Her long, slender fingertips untied the front knot of her white dress, which looked like pajamas, without a moment's hesitation.
Doris smiled contentedly as her clear sternum was barely visible.
“Your Highness, the Second Prince’s flag has been moved to His Majesty the Emperor’s palace.”
Doris jumped up at Noura's words as she stood by the window, watching the Second Prince's palace.
"Your Highness?"
Without a moment's hesitation, Doris ran out of the bedroom.
A corridor that directly connects the Emperor's Palace and the Second Prince's Palace.
Her face flushed as she felt the thrill of being a bride welcoming her groom.
Doris then spotted the figure of a heavily armed man walking briskly from the end of the corridor.
Even though his dark face was not revealed to the moonlight, she was certain that it was Rhodnes.
Rhodnes, who had just discovered Doris, stopped at a distance.
Doris walked towards him like an elegant she-cat.
Deep-set red eyes caught her attention.
The Saintess who would put those red eyes of his torment to rest, the perfect other half who would fill in his shortcomings.
It wasn't long before that day would come.
“Roan.”
She now stood calmly before Rhodnes, who was not even prepared for the ceremony.
Doris liked the current Rhodnes, who was not polite to her, much more than the previous Rhodnes, who was overly polite.
Because she can finally stop hearing that damn sister-in-law.
The eyes that had previously been numb yet sensual were strangely filled with contempt today.
Doris chuckled instead.
Just as Bardenaldo was eventually forced to quietly annex the kingdom because his weakness was exposed, Rhodnes will also have no choice but to look to his successor when he eventually becomes Emperor.
“Roan, there is no escape now. The whole world blesses you and me. The union of the sinister second Prince and the Saintess. Do you know how much stability this will bring to the empire?”
It was indeed so.
Rumors that the Second Prince might become the successor made people anxious, and when rumors spread that she was the Saintess who could control him, people welcomed the revival of the criminal investigation system.
With that plan, she has absorbed the forces that did not welcome the revival of the law and made them her own, so if Rhodnes wants to become Emperor without any change, he will have no choice but to accept Doris, who they support.
Doris was confident of her victory.
Who united the Western nobility, who was suddenly left stranded by Count Raylon and who was anxious about the absence of her father?
It was none other than Doris Castagna.
“If you knew how hard I worked for you. To make you the Emperor. You could kiss me right here and now...”
“It’s disgusting.”
"...What?"
Doris tilted her head, doubting her ears.
There wasn't even the usual sneer on Rhodnes' face.
The chiseled face that she had always admired was still filled with coldness.
Why? Why on earth?
Doris' face turned bright red as she couldn't believe that Rhodnes had rejected her.
Who made me suffer like this?
“Are you backing out now?”
"...I."
“Honestly, you’ve been shaken at least once, or more than once, right?”
Doris took a step closer to him, her heart beating fast in anger.
“So, on the day of Bardenaldo’s funeral. In your office. I tried to take off your clothes, but you just stared at me. In fact, you were waiting for me to step forward. Right?”
Doris shook her head as if denying reality, but smiled faintly.
Compared to Bardenaldo, who was always asking for help when things got tough, Rhodnes didn't say such things easily.
He was a man she wanted to lean on.
So she figured it wouldn't be easy for him to make that ticklish cry for help.
“Oh, that.”
Despite the meaningful tone of her voice, Rhodnes answered lightly as if he was recalling the lunch menu from the day before. Doris’ smile instantly hardened.
“Oh, that?”
Doris, who found a glimpse of Bardenaldo in Rhodnes’ tone, muttered along as he spoke.
“My specialty is catching and killing those little bugs that are wriggling around.”
“What are you trying to say?”
“I quite like seeing someone struggle before I kill them.”
“What do you want to say?”
“I need to engrave deep in my heart how ugly my sister-in-law can be so that I can stop pretending to be polite.”
"...What?"
“I remember feeling a little annoyed. Did you think I was going to keep up with you just because you unbuttoned a few buttons on your shirt?”
No.
No, this can't be happening.
Doris shook her head.
She really wanted to do well with Rhodnes.
The first love that she had kept in her heart. She was unable to give up her position as Empress, so she buried it. Now, she is finally revealing it.
I want to make my first love the Emperor, enjoy the position of Empress, and the joys of being a woman. I want to enjoy it all!
“To me, you are an annoying fly. Nothing more, nothing less.”
There was not a single shred of regret on Rhodnes' face, who should have just given up and obeyed.
“I wanted to see how far you would go. The way you carry yourself, even for someone as worthy as the Crown Princess of Ronta, is really light-hearted. You dared to seduce me by unbuttoning a few buttons, and now you’ve done something like this. I can tell you’re a little crazy.”
Now, the one who had to hold on to the opponent in a humble manner was not Doris, but Rhodnes. It was not herself who would benefit from turning the opponent into an enemy, but Rhodnes.
“I told you. Even if you wait for me naked, I will never move towards you.”
Even he has a pretty solid taste.
His beautiful lips, muttering to her as if telling others to listen, were even more insulting.
She didn't think it would be easy.
Doris knew that even though she followed her father to the palace as a child and wore all kinds of beautiful things, Rhodnes' eyes never caught her eye.
When she finally found Rhodnes while wandering around the Royal Academy, she saw where his gaze lingered.
'Adrienne Piretta.'
That was the first time Doris was so envious of someone that she couldn't even sleep.
It was the first time that Doris, who had lived as a Princess of the West, felt a sense of defeat. A skinny, pale, blond, eastern country bumpkin.
It was from then on that the sophisticated Princess of the West began to emulate Adrienne.
Adrienne's face was hideous as she laughed absentmindedly, not knowing who she was playing and studying with.
When Doris first dyed her hair blonde.
Doris was loitering in the library where Rhodnes and Adrienne usually met.
And the hand that patted her back.
The moment she meets the eyes of Rhodnes, filled with excitement that cannot be hidden even behind a mask.
And then there was the moment when he saw that those eyes were not Adrienne's but Doris's and they sank into a look of disappointment.
The eyes that met for just a brief moment. Even though they were eyes that had been changed by the Mana Stone, they shone the most beautifully in the world and captured Doris' heart.
“Taste. Yes, taste.”
Doris's eyes widened fiercely.
“I’ll cater to your tastes. I’ll cater to your damn tastes. Don’t you see? In this world, the only woman who is most like Adrienne Piretta, the only one who can even come close to imitating her, is me!”
From that day on, neither the blonde hair nor the Eastern dress could attract Rhodnes' attention, but Doris tried.
Changing her appearance to look like Adrienne Piretta was so familiar that it made her sick.
Blie Acacia.
When that vulgar woman was able to secure the position of Rhodnes' new lover with just a resemblance to her face.
Doris felt an unbearable jealousy, but at the same time, she saw hope. Rhodnes Cosma de Ronta. He too pretended to be difficult, but he was a man after all.
“I am Adrienne Piretta...”
“It’s no use if it’s not Adrienne.”
Contempt beyond insensitivity.
Those eyes that thought they were beautiful even when everyone else was hurt.
The jewel Doris wanted more than any other jewel.
It was swaying with such colors.
“No matter how much you brag about being a Saintess, would you raise the dead and wear their skin?”
“I am... I am your companion whom the Lord has made pair for you..."
“If you are truly such a Saintess, why don’t you at least pretend to bring the dead back to life?”
Good brother.
A polite brother-in-law.
Raw Rhodness, with all his masks removed, openly laughed at her.
Even that was an insincere sneer, with the corners of the lips raised without even closing the long, slitted, colored eyes once.
The insincere laughter shattered Doris's pride.
“You must be the incarnation of Saintess Marini, who raised the dead, to be able to dream of sitting next to me, you sinister little brat.”
She always hated how overly polite Rhodness was to her, but this wasn't what she wanted.
The way he spoke and acted as if he was talking to the lowest person in the world, mercilessly cut into Doris' heart.
A person who doesn't even want to use the strength to close his eyes and smile. I felt a surge of humiliation at having become that person.
“Never mention Adrienne’s name again.”
"As...!"
“If it bothers you again...”
Rhodnes leaned his massive upper body toward her. Fear and excitement gripped her body, making it impossible for her to move.
“You and your family. I will erase you from this world without a trace.”
Rhodnes' voice fell coldly on the corridor floor.
The bodies that had been closed are moving away again. The red gaze directed at the untied forehead is filled with laughter.
The scent of his body that she had dreamed of lingered at her nose for a moment, then disappeared as if mocking her.
“Roan!”
The black cloak of Rhodnes, who didn't even look back, fluttered in the wind coming from outside the corridor.
No matter how much she screamed and cried, Rhodnes simply turned into a dot and disappeared.
Literally.
Doris thought of her father, who had refused to allow her to marry Rhodnes even though she had given him the last chance.
It was much more beneficial to the country for his father to lie there, not even knowing who the Emperor's material was.
Even if he had been awake, he would have opposed the coronation of Crown Prince Rhodnes, saying that he could never bring Rhodnes and Doris together!
Wouldn't it be more valuable to Castagna to marry Rhodnes as a saint and gain the position of Crown Princess, rather than the shameful position that she would gain by giving her younger sister Raphaella to Ephero?
Doris glanced at her face in the mirror with a satisfied smile.
“Noura. When you went north this time, was Blie still blonde?”
“Yes, Your Highness.”
Doris opened her eyes squintingly and glared at her own black hair.
It was clear that Blie also knew of Adrienne's existence and dyed her hair blonde.
'In the end, it's Adrienne again.'
Her teeth were clenched.
But that was only for a moment. The frosty eyes slowly sank and the corners of her lips painted in pale pink rose thinly.
No one could replicate the look of the blonde, fresh-faced Adrienne Pirretta more accurately than anyone else.
Her long, slender fingertips untied the front knot of her white dress, which looked like pajamas, without a moment's hesitation.
Doris smiled contentedly as her clear sternum was barely visible.
“Your Highness, the Second Prince’s flag has been moved to His Majesty the Emperor’s palace.”
Doris jumped up at Noura's words as she stood by the window, watching the Second Prince's palace.
"Your Highness?"
Without a moment's hesitation, Doris ran out of the bedroom.
***
A corridor that directly connects the Emperor's Palace and the Second Prince's Palace.
Her face flushed as she felt the thrill of being a bride welcoming her groom.
Doris then spotted the figure of a heavily armed man walking briskly from the end of the corridor.
Even though his dark face was not revealed to the moonlight, she was certain that it was Rhodnes.
Rhodnes, who had just discovered Doris, stopped at a distance.
Doris walked towards him like an elegant she-cat.
Deep-set red eyes caught her attention.
The Saintess who would put those red eyes of his torment to rest, the perfect other half who would fill in his shortcomings.
It wasn't long before that day would come.
“Roan.”
She now stood calmly before Rhodnes, who was not even prepared for the ceremony.
Doris liked the current Rhodnes, who was not polite to her, much more than the previous Rhodnes, who was overly polite.
Because she can finally stop hearing that damn sister-in-law.
The eyes that had previously been numb yet sensual were strangely filled with contempt today.
Doris chuckled instead.
Just as Bardenaldo was eventually forced to quietly annex the kingdom because his weakness was exposed, Rhodnes will also have no choice but to look to his successor when he eventually becomes Emperor.
“Roan, there is no escape now. The whole world blesses you and me. The union of the sinister second Prince and the Saintess. Do you know how much stability this will bring to the empire?”
It was indeed so.
Rumors that the Second Prince might become the successor made people anxious, and when rumors spread that she was the Saintess who could control him, people welcomed the revival of the criminal investigation system.
With that plan, she has absorbed the forces that did not welcome the revival of the law and made them her own, so if Rhodnes wants to become Emperor without any change, he will have no choice but to accept Doris, who they support.
Doris was confident of her victory.
Who united the Western nobility, who was suddenly left stranded by Count Raylon and who was anxious about the absence of her father?
It was none other than Doris Castagna.
“If you knew how hard I worked for you. To make you the Emperor. You could kiss me right here and now...”
“It’s disgusting.”
"...What?"
Doris tilted her head, doubting her ears.
There wasn't even the usual sneer on Rhodnes' face.
The chiseled face that she had always admired was still filled with coldness.
Why? Why on earth?
Doris' face turned bright red as she couldn't believe that Rhodnes had rejected her.
Who made me suffer like this?
“Are you backing out now?”
"...I."
“Honestly, you’ve been shaken at least once, or more than once, right?”
Doris took a step closer to him, her heart beating fast in anger.
“So, on the day of Bardenaldo’s funeral. In your office. I tried to take off your clothes, but you just stared at me. In fact, you were waiting for me to step forward. Right?”
Doris shook her head as if denying reality, but smiled faintly.
Compared to Bardenaldo, who was always asking for help when things got tough, Rhodnes didn't say such things easily.
He was a man she wanted to lean on.
So she figured it wouldn't be easy for him to make that ticklish cry for help.
“Oh, that.”
Despite the meaningful tone of her voice, Rhodnes answered lightly as if he was recalling the lunch menu from the day before. Doris’ smile instantly hardened.
“Oh, that?”
Doris, who found a glimpse of Bardenaldo in Rhodnes’ tone, muttered along as he spoke.
“My specialty is catching and killing those little bugs that are wriggling around.”
“What are you trying to say?”
“I quite like seeing someone struggle before I kill them.”
“What do you want to say?”
“I need to engrave deep in my heart how ugly my sister-in-law can be so that I can stop pretending to be polite.”
"...What?"
“I remember feeling a little annoyed. Did you think I was going to keep up with you just because you unbuttoned a few buttons on your shirt?”
No.
No, this can't be happening.
Doris shook her head.
She really wanted to do well with Rhodnes.
The first love that she had kept in her heart. She was unable to give up her position as Empress, so she buried it. Now, she is finally revealing it.
I want to make my first love the Emperor, enjoy the position of Empress, and the joys of being a woman. I want to enjoy it all!
“To me, you are an annoying fly. Nothing more, nothing less.”
There was not a single shred of regret on Rhodnes' face, who should have just given up and obeyed.
“I wanted to see how far you would go. The way you carry yourself, even for someone as worthy as the Crown Princess of Ronta, is really light-hearted. You dared to seduce me by unbuttoning a few buttons, and now you’ve done something like this. I can tell you’re a little crazy.”
Now, the one who had to hold on to the opponent in a humble manner was not Doris, but Rhodnes. It was not herself who would benefit from turning the opponent into an enemy, but Rhodnes.
“I told you. Even if you wait for me naked, I will never move towards you.”
Even he has a pretty solid taste.
His beautiful lips, muttering to her as if telling others to listen, were even more insulting.
She didn't think it would be easy.
Doris knew that even though she followed her father to the palace as a child and wore all kinds of beautiful things, Rhodnes' eyes never caught her eye.
When she finally found Rhodnes while wandering around the Royal Academy, she saw where his gaze lingered.
'Adrienne Piretta.'
That was the first time Doris was so envious of someone that she couldn't even sleep.
It was the first time that Doris, who had lived as a Princess of the West, felt a sense of defeat. A skinny, pale, blond, eastern country bumpkin.
It was from then on that the sophisticated Princess of the West began to emulate Adrienne.
Adrienne's face was hideous as she laughed absentmindedly, not knowing who she was playing and studying with.
When Doris first dyed her hair blonde.
Doris was loitering in the library where Rhodnes and Adrienne usually met.
And the hand that patted her back.
The moment she meets the eyes of Rhodnes, filled with excitement that cannot be hidden even behind a mask.
And then there was the moment when he saw that those eyes were not Adrienne's but Doris's and they sank into a look of disappointment.
The eyes that met for just a brief moment. Even though they were eyes that had been changed by the Mana Stone, they shone the most beautifully in the world and captured Doris' heart.
“Taste. Yes, taste.”
Doris's eyes widened fiercely.
“I’ll cater to your tastes. I’ll cater to your damn tastes. Don’t you see? In this world, the only woman who is most like Adrienne Piretta, the only one who can even come close to imitating her, is me!”
From that day on, neither the blonde hair nor the Eastern dress could attract Rhodnes' attention, but Doris tried.
Changing her appearance to look like Adrienne Piretta was so familiar that it made her sick.
Blie Acacia.
When that vulgar woman was able to secure the position of Rhodnes' new lover with just a resemblance to her face.
Doris felt an unbearable jealousy, but at the same time, she saw hope. Rhodnes Cosma de Ronta. He too pretended to be difficult, but he was a man after all.
“I am Adrienne Piretta...”
“It’s no use if it’s not Adrienne.”
Contempt beyond insensitivity.
Those eyes that thought they were beautiful even when everyone else was hurt.
The jewel Doris wanted more than any other jewel.
It was swaying with such colors.
“No matter how much you brag about being a Saintess, would you raise the dead and wear their skin?”
“I am... I am your companion whom the Lord has made pair for you..."
“If you are truly such a Saintess, why don’t you at least pretend to bring the dead back to life?”
Good brother.
A polite brother-in-law.
Raw Rhodness, with all his masks removed, openly laughed at her.
Even that was an insincere sneer, with the corners of the lips raised without even closing the long, slitted, colored eyes once.
The insincere laughter shattered Doris's pride.
“You must be the incarnation of Saintess Marini, who raised the dead, to be able to dream of sitting next to me, you sinister little brat.”
She always hated how overly polite Rhodness was to her, but this wasn't what she wanted.
The way he spoke and acted as if he was talking to the lowest person in the world, mercilessly cut into Doris' heart.
A person who doesn't even want to use the strength to close his eyes and smile. I felt a surge of humiliation at having become that person.
“Never mention Adrienne’s name again.”
"As...!"
“If it bothers you again...”
Rhodnes leaned his massive upper body toward her. Fear and excitement gripped her body, making it impossible for her to move.
“You and your family. I will erase you from this world without a trace.”
Rhodnes' voice fell coldly on the corridor floor.
The bodies that had been closed are moving away again. The red gaze directed at the untied forehead is filled with laughter.
The scent of his body that she had dreamed of lingered at her nose for a moment, then disappeared as if mocking her.
“Roan!”
The black cloak of Rhodnes, who didn't even look back, fluttered in the wind coming from outside the corridor.
No matter how much she screamed and cried, Rhodnes simply turned into a dot and disappeared.
Literally.
She was treated worse than a passing fly.
She killed her husband, who could have been saved if she had just left him alone.
She even tried to kill her father, who was getting in the way of Rhodnes' future.
For him.
Doris really threw everything away.
'There is no place to retreat anymore.'
Doris stared at the empty space that was now gone, as the cold wind blew against her.
If he adds up all the humiliations she's experienced in her life, it won't be like today.
The fist clenched in her pale hands trembled.
Noura, who seemed to have been chasing Doris while holding her coat, approached from a distance.
Doris held the coat around her shoulders tightly and glared at Noura.
Noura bowed her head silently and waited for her order.
“I need to meet with the High Priest again. Noura, I need to bring forward the canonization ceremony.”
It meant preparing donations again.
“...I will follow Your Highness’s orders.”
When Doris saw Noura bowing her head so cowardly, the anger that had been engulfing her entire body subsided, even if only slightly.
'At the place where the birth of a new Saintess is announced, Rhodnes, you will eventually come to feel deep in your bones that I am the only answer for you.'
Only then did the corners of her trembling lips form a curve.
While Doris imagines a hot night of subjugating Rhodnes, intoxicated by the obvious victory right before her eyes.
A cold light came over Noura's face as she bowed her head and submitted.
She killed her husband, who could have been saved if she had just left him alone.
She even tried to kill her father, who was getting in the way of Rhodnes' future.
For him.
Doris really threw everything away.
'There is no place to retreat anymore.'
Doris stared at the empty space that was now gone, as the cold wind blew against her.
If he adds up all the humiliations she's experienced in her life, it won't be like today.
The fist clenched in her pale hands trembled.
Noura, who seemed to have been chasing Doris while holding her coat, approached from a distance.
Doris held the coat around her shoulders tightly and glared at Noura.
Noura bowed her head silently and waited for her order.
“I need to meet with the High Priest again. Noura, I need to bring forward the canonization ceremony.”
It meant preparing donations again.
“...I will follow Your Highness’s orders.”
When Doris saw Noura bowing her head so cowardly, the anger that had been engulfing her entire body subsided, even if only slightly.
'At the place where the birth of a new Saintess is announced, Rhodnes, you will eventually come to feel deep in your bones that I am the only answer for you.'
Only then did the corners of her trembling lips form a curve.
While Doris imagines a hot night of subjugating Rhodnes, intoxicated by the obvious victory right before her eyes.
A cold light came over Noura's face as she bowed her head and submitted.
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