Chapter 24

It was a night when the short spring that had brought a brief peace to Dioretta was fading away.

Tomorrow would be the wedding of Crown Prince Heide and Lady Larienne of House Toned.

Late at night, Duke Meteus Toned quietly summoned his daughter, who was about to be married.

Sitting across from Larienne, whose face was dark with worry, Meteus placed the final item of her dowry on the table.

It was a small vial filled with a black liquid.

“What is this?”

“When the crown prince enters the bridal chamber tomorrow night, give this to him.”

“Father, I asked what this is.”

“If you mix it in wine, he won’t notice. That is all you need to do.”

Larienne stared at her father with trembling eyes, but he kept repeating those frightening words without answering her question.

Her gaze left his icy blue eyes and moved to the ominous black liquid.

Inside that little glass vial was Meteus’s ruthless ambition.

Larienne shook her head and rose from the sofa.

“Whatever this is, I can’t do it. I won’t.”

“Don’t you understand? The one who started this fight was the emperor.”

“That’s why we’re having this wedding. To reconcile.”

“Foolish child. Think about what happened to Amspellow. And what became of Sidonia, barely maintaining its name. If we do not strike first, we will be the ones struck down.”

Meteus slammed his hand onto the sofa armrest and shouted.

His ambition was dangerous, but his insight into the emperor’s true intentions was accurate.

Perhaps only Emperor Behemoth and Duke Meteus Toned truly understood one another.

The moment Larienne entered the palace as Heide’s wife, the emperor would take her hostage.

But from Meteus’s perspective, it also meant he could plant the most reliable enemy within the palace.

If coexistence was impossible, then victory was the only path to survival.

If Larienne poisoned Heide tomorrow night, then during the chaos of the banquet, Toned’s assassin, who would slip in unnoticed, would strike at the emperor.

If both the emperor and the crown prince could be eliminated at once, the rest would be as easy as scooping cold porridge.

They would seize the palace, which would be no better than an empty shell, and replace the ruler of Dioretta.

It was a plan as sharp as Meteus’s ambition.

* * *

On the day of Heide and Larienne’s wedding, Arendel was vibrant with festival cheer.

In preparation for the long celebration that would stretch from the ceremony to the banquet, the Titanoa household had been hectic since morning.

Knowing how this marriage would end, I didn’t feel excited at all, but I decided to go along with Ruby and the maids who were all wound up with excitement.

While lying still with all sorts of things plastered onto my face, I asked Ruby,

“Ruby, was there any letter for me?”

“You’ve already asked three times, my lady. There isn’t. Who would send a letter this early in the day?”

“If it came from far away, it could arrive in the morning.”

“Far away from where? From the Piction territory way up north?”

Ruby grinned mischievously as she smeared something onto my hair.

“That’s not what I meant.”

I tried to play it off and closed my eyes.

But I still heard Ruby’s laughter as she dabbed some mysterious cream onto my eyelids.

If I’m being honest, I’d been waiting ever since yesterday until my neck could’ve broken.

He said he’d return before the wedding. And today was the wedding.

Did something happen in Piction territory? How was there not even a single letter?

If he said he’d come, he should come. He said he’d just confirm things and return, but it had already been fifteen days, what on earth was he doing there?

He had completely shaken up my heart, was it really okay to leave me hanging like this?

I didn’t think he was that kind of person, but he had no manners. None.

I was grumbling internally about nonsense when it happened.

“My lady, Duke Piction has arrived.”

The moment I heard the maid’s voice, I shot up from the bed. I grabbed a nearby towel and hurriedly rubbed my face before running toward the door, but Ruby shrieked.

“My lady! You can’t go out looking like that!”

I knew I was a mess, but what could I do? I was too desperate.

Holding the towel wrapped around my hair so it wouldn’t fall, I dashed down the stairs.

At the entrance, I saw tall black hair rising like a pillar.

“Linus!”

His red eyes glowed warmly, and his sweet smile bloomed like a flower.

“Ayrbet, my apologies for being late.”

For a moment, I nearly ran straight into his arms.

Seeing his face made everything painfully clear.

I had been dying to see him.

Seeing him made me feel alive again.

I really, really liked this man.

I couldn’t help it. I needed to hug him once and complain about why he was so late.

I reached out toward him, but Ruby, who had run after me, quickly stepped between us.

“Duke Piction, I’m very sorry, but could you wait just a moment? My lady needs time to prepare herself.”

“Ah, come on. I’m fine.”

“You are most definitely not fine.”

Ruby turned to me and scrunched up every muscle in her face.

I stopped in surprise at that expression, and in that moment, Ruby grabbed my hand and dragged me back to my room.

Once I returned and saw myself in the mirror, I realized I really wasn’t okay.

I looked like someone who had fallen face-first into a vat of custard cream, and I obediently headed to the bathroom.

“Ruby, hurry, hurry.”

“Yes, my lady. Oh dear, what a waste. You should’ve kept it on for at least another hour.”

“It’s fine, just hurry, hurry.”

“Yes, yes, I hear you.”

My heart was racing, but Ruby was meticulous as always.

Only after I had washed up, put on my dress, and dried my hair was I finally released from her grasp.

I walked quickly to the reception room, where Linus greeted me with a gentle smile.

Earlier, I had wanted to hug him immediately, but washing up had helped calm my nerves enough to behave properly.

“It’s been a while, Linus.”

Smiling, I walked into the reception room, but instead of returning my greeting, Linus only stared at me with a dazed expression.

“Linus?”

I walked right up to him and called again. Only then did he snap back to himself and finally smile.

“It has been a while, Ayrbet. Have you been well?”

“I’ve been fine. Nothing happened.”

I shrugged and sat down on the sofa.

Linus froze again for a moment, then moved stiffly to sit across from me.

I waited until the tea was served, then sent the maids away and asked,

“You’re back for good this time?”

“Yes. I arrived in Arendel just a little while ago. I was in such a rush I came without sending word in advance.”

“It’s fine. So how did things go? Did you meet those people?”

“I did, but… none of them knew me.”

“No one?”

“No. I checked the neighboring villages too, but in the end, I couldn’t find anyone.”

Linus explained that he had gone around Nobuck Village, the site of the incident, and even the surrounding areas, which was why he was delayed.

It was a small village where residents knew each other down to their household items, yet no one knew him.

He even produced sketch portraits and distributed them throughout the entire Piction territory, but still, no one came forward.

Unless he had literally fallen from the sky, how could no one know him?

Was he from another region and somehow ended up in the Piction territory before losing his memory?

I considered several possibilities, but none of them led anywhere, so I finally asked about the murder case.

“Did you find the culprit?”

“We did not find the culprit, but the investigation team concluded that I was not responsible.”

“Really? That’s a relief. I knew it.”

“They said it doesn’t appear to be something a person could have done.”

“What? Not something a person could have done? What does that mean?”

“They said the bodies had no injuries at all. And there were no signs of poison. It remains an unexplained death.”

The murder case was unclear, Linus’s past was unclear.

It was a frustrating conclusion.

Still, since the emperor’s investigation team declared that Linus was not the murderer, no one would dare cause trouble about it anymore.

The whole point of the investigation was to clear the false rumors, so in that sense, the goal had been achieved.

“That’s good. I told you, Linus is a good person. Just set the past aside for now and live as the good person you are.”

I said it with a bright smile, but Linus only stared at me blankly again.

“Linus, what’s wrong? You’ve been acting strange since earlier.”

“Ayrbet.”

“Yes? Go on.”

“I… ah, no. It’s nothing.”

He started to speak, then turned his head away and avoided my eyes.

I pressed him several times to tell me what was going on, to say things clearly just once, but in the end all he said was that it was nothing.

Then he hurriedly left, saying we’d meet again at the wedding.