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Chapter 7
It seemed Father was seriously mistaken.
I looked at him with cold eyes.
“Father… why do parents think that simply giving birth to a child means they’ve fulfilled all their responsibilities?”
“Eloise. What are you—”
“Until now, I kept telling myself that you must have had your reasons. That there had to be something more important than what your wife wanted… more important than what your daughter wanted. That’s what Mother always told me to believe.”
But I didn’t think I needed to believe that anymore.
I spoke in a calm, icy voice as I looked him straight in the eye.
Father had always been like this.
Whenever Mother or I needed him, he always claimed he was working for the Empire, doing things we couldn’t possibly understand.
I remembered Mother telling me about one particular day.
When she was pregnant, she had begged him to stay with her.
She hadn’t asked for much.
Just to remain in the same room for a single day.
That evening, a message arrived from the Emperor.
Father was being honored with a banquet for successfully repelling an enemy invasion.
Ignoring Mother’s desperate pleas to send someone else in his place for just one night, Father looked at her with cold eyes…
…and left.
That very night…
Mother lost my younger sibling.
“You’ve never acted like a father, yet now you suddenly remind me that you’re my father. Don’t you think that’s incredibly selfish?”
“What selfishness could there be between parent and child? I am your father. Surely I have the right to say this much.”
“…Ha.”
“Father.”
“Do you think people are livestock?”
After the dead child was taken from her womb…
As Mother writhed in pain and loneliness…
She never once blamed Father.
She only cried in utter despair.
Holding me—still too young to understand anything—in her arms, she wept through the entire night.
Unable to bear the sound of her heartbreaking sobs, I cried with her.
We spent that long night without Father.
Mother whispered “I’m sorry” to me over and over.
Less than a week later…
She died.
Even as death approached, she kept staring toward the unopened door, waiting for Father.
And even then…
She asked me to understand him.
Her plea had been so desperate, so pitiful, that in my previous life I spent years trying to understand Father.
Sometimes, I’d catch glimpses of emotions he failed to hide.
Those tiny traces convinced me that he cared about me after all.
I even tried to discover what those feelings truly meant.
Mother and I spent our entire lives searching for some explanation that would justify Father’s actions.
Neither of us ever found one.
“If you wanted me to grow up like obedient livestock that blindly followed its master, then you should’ve beaten me instead! You should’ve trained me with punishment and food until I became an animal that obeyed every word you said!”
“How dare you say such nonsense to your father!”
“You didn’t even care enough to raise me like livestock! And now you talk about being parent and child? While Mother and my nanny were raising me like a proper person, you never once spared me a glance!”
So this time…
I wouldn’t make the same mistake again.
Whatever feelings you keep hiding so carefully…
I no longer care.
What could they possibly be worth…
…if protecting them meant making your wife and daughter so miserable?
In my previous life…
You abandoned us.
This time…
I’ll be the one to abandon you.
I glared at Father, who stood frozen in shock and anger, then opened the carriage door.
This time…
I would cut him out of my life completely.
* * *
At first, I’d assumed this was nothing more than an ordinary tea party using the Princess’s name to invite a few guests.
But when I arrived…
It was a social gathering worthy of the imperial family.
Held as a garden party, it was attended not only by the Princess, but also by Duchess Harriet, the late Empress’s mother.
Noble ladies, young masters, young ladies, and aristocrats from every house filled the gardens.
It looked more like an imperial ball than a simple tea party.
And naturally…
Asiard was there.
“It’s been a long time, my lady.”
“…Greetings, Your Grace.”
Looking thinner than before for some reason…
Asiard smiled at me.
I loved you already, so perhaps my appearance made sense.
But you…
You had no memories of our future.
No feelings yet.
So why had you grown so thin?
Were the collateral relatives causing trouble again?
Or…
Could it possibly…
…be because of me?
I wanted to ask.
Were you already beginning to love me?
To tell you that I loved you too.
The words rose all the way to my lips.
But instead…
I looked away.
“You’ve lost a great deal of weight, my lady.”
“Thank you for your concern.”
“Has something happened? I heard you haven’t left the Wellington estate for quite some time.”
“It’s nothing. I’m fine.”
“Have you at least been eating properly?”
“Thank you for your kindness, Your Grace. But I’m truly fine.”
Our conversation continued…
As though it might break apart at any moment.
His voice was strangely sorrowful.
Mine remained firm as I tried to push him away.
I was merely the daughter of one of the Five Great Noble Houses.
He was Asiard…
A man whose influence truly matched his title.
To anyone watching…
The sight of us together made little sense.
Even so…
I had to do this.
More and more people were beginning to glance our way.
I could feel the attention gathering around us.
We couldn’t keep standing together.
“Your Grace… if you’ll excuse me, I’d like to take my leave.”
“…Ah.”
“My apologies, my lady. I seem to have kept you for too long.”
“Thank you for understanding.”
Had I known the party would be like this…
I would’ve invented any excuse possible not to attend.
Turning away from him, I sighed to myself.
He was impossible to forget.
How could rejecting him face-to-face ever be easy?
Careful not to attract Father’s attention—he was talking with the Crown Prince in the distance—I quietly slipped away.
Behind the Princess’s palace, where the party was being held, there was a thick rose garden.
Few people ventured close because of the thorns.
It was the perfect hiding place.
I’d already greeted the Princess.
Surely it wouldn’t matter if I disappeared until the party ended.
Pretending I was looking for a restroom inside the palace, I walked around the building toward my destination.
Fortunately…
There wasn’t another soul in sight.
For the first time that day, I let out a relieved breath.
And then—
“My, my… have you lost your way, my lady?”
A voice suddenly spoke behind me.
It sent a chill down my spine.
* * *
Crown Prince Cherod Elsias Hugh Libre was, by every measure, the image of an ideal ruler.
He possessed a brilliant mind.
A bold personality.
Elegant speech.
Extraordinary looks.
Everyone acknowledged his talent.
But…
He had one very serious flaw.
“I had a feeling you might do this, so I followed you. You really do enjoy hiding, don’t you, my lady?”
“…My apologies, Your Highness. I became separated from the maid who was guiding me.”
“What is there for you to apologize for? It’s the maid’s fault for failing to escort you properly.”
He smiled brightly.
“Thanks to that, I was able to see your face.”
“Do you know how long I’ve been searching for you?”
The Crown Prince’s one fatal habit…
…was his obsession with things everyone else considered trivial.
Once something caught his interest, he pursued it relentlessly, no matter how inefficient or pointless it might be.
And more often than not…
Those obsessions involved Asiard.
In my previous life…
The Princess had explained why.
“My brother truly, truly hates Duke Fontaine. His Majesty compares the two of them every single day. In the end, it’s nothing but an inferiority complex. Whenever it has anything to do with the Duke, my brother becomes obsessed. That’s why he’s so fixated on the Duchess as well.”
It was around the time those rumors had quietly begun spreading through the Empire.
One day, after summoning me as usual, the Princess surprisingly stayed beside me instead of immediately running off to Asiard.
Looking almost sympathetic, she said,
“If you leave the Duke’s side, my brother will naturally lose interest in you too.”
Perhaps she believed that if I and Asiard separated…
She could take my place beside him.
And he would no longer suffer because of the Crown Prince’s obsession.
Looking back…
She wasn’t entirely wrong.
But at the time…
I believed that as long as Asiard and I stayed together, we could overcome anything.
Perhaps…
That had been incredibly naïve.
I looked at the Crown Prince, who smiled warmly at me.
“My apologies, Your Highness. I had no idea you were looking for me.”
As I bowed deeply, he waved his hand dismissively.
“There’s no need for such formality, my lady. I was the one searching for you because I wished to see you.”
“So instead… would you show me your face a little longer?”
“I’d like to make up for all the time we haven’t seen each other.”
Anyone overhearing us would think we were lovers.
Had I been anyone else…
A noble lady would probably have blushed shyly under those words.
But I had absolutely no feelings for him.
Being the Crown Prince meant nothing to me.
“Your Highness honors me beyond measure. However, I am not someone worthy of such attention. If you would permit it, I would like to take my leave.”
According to what Princess Delfina had told me in my previous life…
There was no longer any reason for him to care about me.
I wasn’t Asiard’s wife anymore.
If I rejected him a few more times…
Surely he’d lose interest.
It was an optimistic assumption.
But at the moment…
It was the only plan I had.
Father and the Crown Prince hadn’t made their move yet.
Asiard was still safe.
If I endured this for now…
Then quietly escaped to the North…
Maybe that would be enough.
The plan was so crude it barely deserved to be called one.
As I waited for the Crown Prince’s reply…
Hoping he’d simply let me leave…
I searched desperately for alternatives.
Then—
“You truly are heartless.”
His voice above me suddenly sounded wounded.
“Please… just let me see your face a little longer.”
“I’ve been stopping myself from leaving the palace every single day because I wanted to see you.”
He complained like a sulking child about how much he’d missed me.
Seriously…
Who exactly was being heartless here?
I clenched my teeth, barely stopping myself from swearing.
“My apologies, Your Highness, but I believe there is someone else more deserving of those feelings.”
“I’ll be returning to the North shortly, so I think it would be better if Your Highness directed your attention elsewhere.”
Please…
Just leave me alone.
I prayed silently.
Then suddenly—
A hand shot out and grabbed my arm roughly.
“So you’re returning to the North?”
“I told you I wished to see you, and yet you still intend to leave?”
“Ah! Your Highness!”
The smile had vanished.
Looking down at me now was no gentle prince…
But a cold, absolute ruler.
“…Eloise.”
“Do you find my words amusing?”
“Have I lowered myself so much that you think you can reject me?”
“Your Highness!”
His grip tightened.
My arm began to ache.
Just as I thought he might actually crush it—
A loud voice suddenly rang out from behind us.
