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Chapter 02
A brief silence passed.
Yulion slowly tilted his head to the side, then raised one hand to touch his ear.
“Could you say that again? I must have misheard.”
He lifted his brows as if he truly didn’t understand.
With a quiet sigh, I repeated myself.
“Please propose to me, Your Highness.”
My voice rang out more clearly than before, and Yulion stopped his playful behavior.
His golden eyes flickered as if examining me, and soon a faint smile formed on his lips.
“It seems the young lady enjoys risking her life on jokes.”
“I’m serious, Your Highness.”
“Then I’ll answer sincerely as well. I refuse.”
“Is it because I’m Cassian?”
“You know well. Your family. The rumors surrounding you. None of it benefits me. I will take a Crown Princess that the people desire.”
Yulion’s voice was firm.
The curiosity that once sparkled in his eyes vanished, replaced by a creeping irritation on his face.
I brought up something that might pique his interest again.
“A free supply of Tarot. What do you think?”
As expected, a glint returned to Yulion’s eyes.
Tarot—it was a medicinal ingredient that barely sustained the life of the current Emperor, who had collapsed from an unknown illness.
However, it only grew in Cassian territory, especially on the land I managed, which made Yulion unable to easily deal with Cassian.
For a moment, he looked at me with interest, but soon regained his composure and spoke indifferently.
“The imperial family has plenty of money, my lady.”
As expected, that wasn’t enough.
I revealed another card.
“I can give you everything I have. Just marry me for one year.”
“I refuse. In the end, you are still a lady of Cassian. What I want does not exist in Cassian.”
Yulion despised the Cassian ducal house.
He didn’t openly show hostility, but I had heard he was a righteous Crown Prince who genuinely cared for his people.
It was only natural for someone like him to hate Cassian, which was infamous for its cruelty.
“I’ll say it again. If I take in a woman rumored to be a villainess as Crown Princess, the people will be disappointed in me. Do you have anything worth enduring all of that, my lady?”
Every word he said was correct.
Instead of answering immediately, I took out documents I had prepared in advance from my arms.
Thud—the stack of papers placed on the table drew Yulion’s gaze.
“I’ll place Cassian in Your Highness’s hands. And that’s only a part of it.”
Without a word, Yulion picked up the documents.
With each page he turned, the crease between his brows deepened.
He controls his emotions well, at least.
Those documents were filled with the corruption of Cassian that I had gathered over time.
I had only brought part of the information I possessed to use in this deal with Yulion.
Among them were incidents connected to my mother’s death.
“……”
Even the air seemed to hold its breath in silence.
At last, when Yulion closed the final page, unease colored his breathing.
“Why go this far to marry me?”
“I think you can guess after seeing that. I want the same thing you do, Your Highness.”
Revenge for my mother.
It was a justification anyone would nod at.
“Even so, we don’t necessarily have to marry—”
“There’s no bond stronger than marriage. Whatever we do together, no one will suspect us if we are husband and wife.”
The Cassian ducal house was not an easy opponent.
If Yulion and I, who had no prior connection, suddenly met frequently and worked together, my father would surely grow suspicious.
Yulion knew that as well.
He lifted his gaze from the documents and looked up.
The moment our eyes met—his golden eyes flickering with anger—I was certain.
Yulion would never be able to refuse my proposal.
Sure enough, he let out a hollow laugh and gestured toward the sofa across from him.
“I didn’t expect to take back my words. Sit down, my lady. It seems it will be a long night.”
As he said that, he paused while trying to call a servant.
“Oh dear. It seems I can’t even offer you tea since you’ve put them all to sleep.”
So he knew everything after all.
I had tried to handle it as quietly as possible.
“…I don’t know what you mean.”
I smiled shamelessly and denied it.
In any case, the sleeping herb I used left no trace, and they would all wake up soon enough.
Yulion merely shrugged, as if he had no intention of pressing further, and got straight to the point.
The entire Empire was in an uproar.
News that the Crown Prince had proposed to the Lady of Cassian spread like wildfire.
The Empress opposed it, and my father, the Duke of Cassian, was also flustered.
He even subtly pressured Yulion to take the eldest daughter, Liliana, instead.
But Yulion was firm. He insisted it had to be me, and pushed the marriage forward at once.
Before long, we had become a couple enacting the romance of the century.
“The Crown Prince bewitched by a villainess—wedding at last today.”
Today’s newspaper featured my marriage in bold headlines.
I skimmed it and casually tossed it aside.
Just then, the carriage jolted, and the fallen newspaper was picked up by Jenid and placed back on the seat.
“By the way… are you really sure about not taking the other girls with us?”
Worry showed on Jenid’s face.
She was talking about the maids who had attended me in the ducal estate.
“They all have families. If they enter the imperial palace, they won’t be able to see them often.”
Jenid also had family, though it was only her older brother and nephew.
She had long been estranged from them.
“Still, they wanted to follow you, miss. They were worried you’d be lonely in the palace.”
“I’m not a child.”
I said that, but a small laugh escaped me.
Including Jenid, my maids had been with me since my mother was alive—they were like family to me.
Precisely because of that, I had to treat them harshly and act like a tyrant in front of my siblings to deceive them.
Otherwise, they would be put in danger because of me.
Probably the only ones who knew I cherished them were Jenid, standing before me, and the maids themselves.
That was why our bond was even stronger.
Even if, from the outside, it looked like a cruel mistress tormenting her servants.
“Besides, it’s hard for commoners to live as maids in the imperial palace. They’re better off elsewhere.”
As my final act of cruelty, I drove out the maids who followed me from the ducal estate and had Jenid write recommendation letters for them.
By now, they would have arrived at their new workplaces.
Concern lingered on Jenid’s face as she looked at me.
“It must be hard for you too, miss.”
“It’s fine. Having you is enough for me.”
Though she served me, Jenid was actually not a commoner but a noble.
She was the younger sister of Count Buien, a high-ranking noble—someone who should never have been working as a maid.
Yet she had stayed by my mother and me out of gratitude.
“I’m happy to hear you say that… but I’m the one who’s always grateful.”
After the Buien family had nearly collapsed, Jenid, who had almost died, was saved by my mother.
She had stayed to repay that kindness, and even after my mother passed away, she never left my side.
Now, even if I spent my whole life repaying her, it wouldn’t be enough.
As these thoughts passed through my mind, the carriage came to a stop at the entrance of the imperial palace.
“My lady, we’ve arrived.”
A knight knocked on the door from outside.
When Jenid opened it, dazzling sunlight poured in.
Lifting the hem of my white dress slightly, I stepped out of the carriage.
“Everyone, show respect!”
The guards and knights shouted toward the crowd.
The surroundings were already silent.
As my eyes adjusted to the sunlight, I looked around.
People of all kinds had completely surrounded the area.
The one thing they had in common—they were all looking at me.
“It’s the Lady of Cassian!”
“The Empire is doomed. How could a villainess become Crown Princess…?”
“I heard she drove out all the maids who devoted themselves to her!”
“Shh, keep it down. Do you want to be dragged off by Cassian?”
“So what if I am? Do they know who I am?”
“That’s right! When else will we get to curse freely like this?”
Their gazes were far from welcoming.
I swallowed a bitter smile at the whispers condemning me and the Cassian house.
It was exactly what I expected.
“This way.”
Following the knight’s guidance, I moved closer to the castle gate.
The wedding would begin with a procession from the gate to the inner garden alongside Yulion.
He had arrived earlier and was waiting for me there.
…He’s as dazzling as ever today.
His black hair stood out even under the bright sunlight.
And beneath it were his clear golden eyes.
Those uniquely imperial eyes shimmered as they fixed on me.
“Rohiriel.”
Yulion called my name.
With a bright smile crafted for appearances, I approached him.
Just as I was about to place my hand over the one he extended—
“You villain!”
A sharp cry rang out from the crowd.
Turning instinctively, I saw a girl standing atop a high rock, glaring at me.
“Because of Cassian, I lost everything!”
Her voice, filled with malice, rang out again—
Before I could react, a dull impact struck my head.
Something sticky trickled down.
What fell to my feet with a soft plop was a crushed raw egg, reeking of stench.
“Oh my—Your Highness!”
Jenid hurried over and wiped it off with a handkerchief, but my body was already soiled.
Before I could even process the situation, an enraged cry followed.
“Bring my parents back, you wicked Cassian!”
I brushed off the liquid roughly.
The girl, wearing a robe and holding a basket of eggs, twisted her face further when our eyes met and shouted loudly.
“I, Hemion Martin, as a member of a noble family, cannot recognize the daughter of the wicked Cassian as Crown Princess!”
Hemion Martin.
The moment I heard that name, I understood everything.
Her family had fallen recently due to a business my father had undertaken.
The Martin viscount family had been minor provincial nobles, but I heard they had dared to oppose my father.
The result was disastrous.
The fall of the viscountcy.
The viscount and his wife died in a rockfall accident during exile under false charges.
As for the heir—there had been talk of an attack by unknown assailants.
Still, I heard a rumor that a surviving child existed.
I had planned to investigate soon, thinking it might be useful to tighten my grip on Cassian.
I was almost grateful she had appeared before me like this.
“Cassian are murderers! Cruel, vicious, despicable—!”
But something about Hemion seemed off.
Her voice trembled, which was understandable, but her face was pale like someone on the verge of death.
And it looks like she can’t use one leg.
A guard had already approached her.
“Let me go!”
Struggling to break free, she suddenly tore her skirt.
People gasped, and I froze at the sight of her exposed thigh.
There was a long wound on her leg.
Around the darkened injury, veins bulged like a spiderweb—an obviously abnormal wound.
But I became serious for another reason.
That wound… it’s not ordinary. Could it be…
My eyes narrowed as I tried to examine it more closely.
“As you can see, I’m dying. The wicked Cassian made me like this! Please, let it be known that the Martin viscount family was sacrificed by Cassian—cough!”
Blood suddenly poured from Hemion’s mouth.
The blood spilled onto the ground turned black instantly, killing the surrounding weeds.
At that moment, I rushed toward her without hesitation.
There was no doubt.
A deadly poison—Bihwa toxin.
It coursed through the veins, making them surface, and eventually caused all the veins to protrude from the skin, blooming like a flower.
In the process, the body was grotesquely destroyed, and it could even poison those nearby.
It was infamous as one of the most vicious poisons, even in the underworld.
And yet, it’s a poison my family frequently uses.
Damn it. Cassian truly was useless to the end.
To think they would make me the center of chaos even on my wedding day.
Suppressing the curse rising within me, I grabbed the guard trying to drag Hemion away.
“Your Highness…?”
“Move. Now!”
At this rate, everyone nearby would be poisoned.
Judging by the condition of the blood she vomited, there was no time.
Hemion was already losing consciousness.
Taking advantage of the guards’ hesitation, I pushed them aside and laid her down.
She struggled weakly, but someone on the verge of death had little strength.
Following closely behind me, Jenid whispered anxiously.
“Will this be alright? This is clearly something the Duke has done…”
Though she didn’t finish, I understood.
If I treated something my father intended to eliminate, it might raise suspicion.
But that only applied when Cassian’s name hadn’t surfaced.
In this case, it was the opposite.
“It’s better this way. Cassian has already been named in front of all these people. If I treat her, I’ll have a reason to restore the family’s reputation.”
If Hemion Martin died here before everyone’s eyes, the people would undoubtedly suspect Cassian.
But what if I—the “Lady of Cassian”—treated her in front of everyone?
I’d be praised.
I could ruin my father’s plans and earn praise at the same time.
There was no reason not to act.
“Jenid, the bag.”
“Here.”
I quickly opened the medical bag Jenid handed me and took out the tools.
Then I shouted to the gathered crowd.
