TFAR 05

As Expected, Breaking an Engagement Is Better Than Divorce

Recently, rumors that the crown prince would not honor his marriage arrangement spread beyond high society and throughout the entire Empire. Eventually, those rumors reached Serena’s ears as well.

“So everyone thinks the same way.”

“My lady… even if it’s just gossip, those are rather cruel words.”

“So what?”

Unlike Anna’s grave expression, Serena’s reaction was remarkably calm.

“Anna, breaking an engagement is better than getting a divorce.”

Watching Serena shrug her shoulders with a smile, Anna found herself at a loss for words. After all they had been through over the years, she no longer had the energy to be surprised by Serena’s actions.

“Honestly, it would be stranger if this engagement actually held.”

“What? But His Holiness the Pope presided over that sacred engagement—!”

“The people involved matter most.”

Serena knew a little about that strange world where such things happened.

A crown prince who had abandoned his fiancée and lived as he pleased returned after six years, held a loveless wedding, and left behind a woman who became an empress in name only—her life so empty that it could hardly be called living.

“I haven’t met His Highness the Crown Prince once since the engagement, nor have we exchanged a single letter. Can you really call this a normal engagement?”

Even if it had been a match arranged by their parents, the fact that six years had passed without a single letter clearly revealed Lucas’s feelings.

“Well… my lady also—”

Of course, Serena herself had never sent a letter first or done something foolish like asking after his well-being.

[The Empress of the Empire was of noble birth, but possessed no virtues beyond that.]

In the original story, Serena’s life was utterly useless.

[She could not govern high society nor the inner palace. She shut herself away in her residence, bore no fruit with the Emperor, and would continue to do so.]

She didn’t know exactly how many years later it happened, but she was certain it would come to pass once she married Lucas and he ascended the throne.

And there was one detail she remembered all too clearly—the passage that said she was even in danger of being pushed out of her position as empress.

[Elise decided to use the ambitions of the new marchioness, who sought to make her only daughter the Empress.]

Elise was the original heroine of this story. Serena had no idea where she was or what she was doing right now, but she would appear when the time came.

The problem was that Elise’s rise coincided exactly with the moment Serena—the crown prince’s rightful empress—fell from mere neglect into outright disgrace, on the verge of being cast aside.

“I don’t belong in the imperial family. I don’t want to beg for affection from someone who dislikes me—and I don’t need to.”

Since the engagement, Serena had done her utmost to change her own life.

Even if an unjust death were to suddenly befall her someday, she didn’t want to leave behind regrets about having lived vainly as before. Now, each day brimmed with new hope, and tomorrow was something she looked forward to.

“Right now… I like it here. This is where my life has meaning.”

Serena vividly remembered the cold gazes directed at someone like her—someone a little different from the norm. They were looks she had often endured in her previous life as well.

A woman shouldn’t grow that big.
What’s the use of a woman being strong?
With that attitude, will she even be able to marry?

This world was no different; if anything, those irritating standards were even harsher. Perhaps jealousy toward the title of “future crown princess” only made it worse.

But before she could dwell on thoughts of the capital, a shrill cry rang out from outside the window.

“Oh no.”

A young maid had climbed a tree and now dangled helplessly from a branch.

“Just leave her— the servants will be here soon—”

Before Anna could finish, Serena was already halfway out the window.

“My lady, be careful!”

Even if it was only the first floor, leaping out a window wasn’t easy—especially when the sill came up to an average person’s chest.

“…Hah.”

Like a gallant knight, Serena vaulted through the window in one smooth motion and caught the young maid hanging from the tree. Watching her, Anna felt her heart burn with worry yet again.

“Truly, my lady suits who you are now best of all.”

Serena stood tall, holding the rescued child. At first, everyone had been startled—but now, in Astell, the strong and spirited young lady was a source of pride and affection for all.

Not far from the Duchy of Astell, a pair of jet-black eyes gazed at the setting sun.

“It seems the time has finally come.”

The man who murmured those words turned away. He was both handsome and powerfully built—his sword at his waist and his broad shoulders making him look every bit a formidable warrior.

“What do you think, Cedric?”

Running a large hand through his tousled hair, the man asked with a hint of tension. The brown-haired man beside him met his gaze with solemn eyes.

“I share your opinion.”

“…Are you certain?”

Despite his solid, muscular build, there was still a trace of youth left in his face. He was the twenty-year-old crown prince, Lucas.

“No. Against the wall of truth.”

Lucas strode to the wall, hesitated, then took a deep breath and pressed his back against it, standing up straight.

“Go on. Measure me.”

As if undertaking a grave mission, Cedric measured the crown prince’s height and marked it on the wall. Yet the most serious of all was Lucas himself as he turned to see the result.

“…Am I no longer growing?”

The new mark was in the exact same spot as before. There were already nearly ten marks at that height—proof that his growth had stalled for almost a year.

“Your Highness is already robust. If you were to grow any more, we’d have to replace every door in the palace.”

There was no lie in those words. Until a year ago, Lucas had grown at an astonishing pace—so much so that he could scarcely be recognized as the same person.

“You know who my rival is.”

Lucas had never forgotten that day’s humiliation.

The moment those brilliantly blue eyes approached him and said, ‘You’re too small.’

“You’ve already surpassed her. Even compared to the tallest knight in the order, Your Highness is larger and stronger.”

After being sent to the battlefield immediately following the engagement—consumed by rage and refusing food—the crown prince had suddenly made a decision and begun training himself mercilessly.

He ate everything said to improve his physique and strictly managed his sleep. At this rate, he would become the most physically formidable emperor in imperial history.

“And, Your Highness… if I may speak frankly—”

Cedric now had to look up at him as he spoke.

“I’ve told you many times that making your fiancée a rival in training is not appropriate.”

“Hmph.”

Lucas snorted and strode a few steps away. At times like this, it seemed only his body had grown, while the childish stubbornness of his youth remained intact.

“You didn’t see the look on her face. That’s why you can say that.”

In the past, Cedric had thought the young crown prince’s pride had merely been bruised by a pointless contest of wills. True, the duke’s daughter who provoked him at the engagement was no ordinary opponent—but in terms of immaturity, they had been evenly matched.

“Your Highness, you are already twenty—well past your coming of age.”

Despite Cedric’s heartfelt plea for him to mature, Lucas merely let out a short, arrogant laugh.

“Didn’t His Majesty also say many times that he wishes you would return and assist in governing the Empire?”

“And didn’t I say I would return to the capital?”

Even so, Cedric’s expression darkened. Lucas’s stubbornness, strong since childhood, had not faded with age—it had reached its peak. And now, instead of heading for the capital, he was deliberately traveling toward the Duchy of Astell.

In other words, the exact opposite direction.

“You could simply return to the capital and summon the duke’s daughter—”

“No. I need to finish our last contest.”

Over the past six years, Cedric had grown truly weary. The hardships of being dragged along by Lucas’s obstinacy were beyond words.

“Your Highness, how many hundreds of times must I say this? You are engaged—not competing in a duel—”

But those words could not reach the ears of the now fully grown Lucas.

“If you liked the duke’s daughter that much, you might as well have hurried the marriage.”

“Who said I liked a woman like that?”

His indifferent expression and sharp eyes were no different from his youth.

“I simply need to show that insolent woman that the present is not the past. I will make her apologize—no matter what.”

He had no idea that Serena had long since forgotten his existence, busy as she was cultivating the duchy.

“Yes… Very well. Since we’ve come this far, do as you wish.”

Cedric murmured in resignation. Regardless, Lucas continued to picture Serena as she existed in his mind—the standard by which he measured himself.

“Do you think she grew taller too? Like me?”

“As long as she remains a young lady, that seems unlikely.”

“We’ll meet soon.”

The dazzling platinum hair and eyes bluer than jewels were still vivid in his memory—no, he had never forgotten them for even a single day.

Lucas had disciplined himself through a strict and regimented life for one reason only: to look down at her.

At first, it had been out of resentment. But as time passed, what was this emotion that continued to build within him…? He was beginning to grasp the answer.

“I think I finally understand everything. Yes… I want to see my fiancée as soon as possible.”

Watching Lucas smile with one corner of his lips raised—just as he had that day—Cedric muttered silently to himself that it hadn’t taken six years to realize something so obvious.

“I’ll send a servant to the Duke of Astell’s residence.”

“No.”

What Lucas wanted was not an ordinary reunion. If he intended to make a formal appearance as crown prince, he could simply summon her to the capital.

“I want to see how she’s really living—her true self.”

“Understood. Then shall we arrive suddenly, as we do in other territories?”

“…No. That’s not enough.”

The seriousness on Lucas’s face made Cedric’s sarcastic remark fall flat.

“What if we became wandering knights and asked the duke’s residence for lodging?”

Lucas’s black eyes were already sparkling with excitement. The closer they drew to Astell—where Serena was—the more outlandish his ideas became, much to Cedric’s annoyance.

“Let’s do it tonight.”

“Yes, Your Highness…”

“Not ‘Your Highness.’ Call me ‘Sir.’ Otherwise we’ll be found out.”

Lucas grinned, his heart already pounding. Serena in his memories was crystal clear, but the thought of facing her again made his chest churn with emotions of every shade.