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Chapter : 14
This Time I’ll Change the Male Lead
I couldn’t tell whether he was asking because he already knew the answer or because he really didn’t—his expression was that calm.
“If you ask, you should answer.”
A gleaming sword pressed hard into Karl’s shoulder.
“Ghhk!”
Unable to resist the force, Karl crumpled to the ground.
“I’d like to see your face.”
During that brief moment, I looked at what he was hiding in his palm.
Just as I thought.
It was a mana-charged magic ore. Karl would never have done this without preparing a backup plan.
“I’m curious what preferences my fiancée has.”
The sword slid dangerously along Karl’s neck, grazing the mask he wore.
“Care to show me yourself? I wouldn’t mind doing the honors.”
Leon’s leisurely gesture suggested he could slice off not only the mask but the face beneath it.
“……”
At last, Karl opened his mouth.
“Congratulations on your engagement.”
His mask made it impossible to read his eyes.
“But as the man who once loved her, it’s… difficult.”
Excuse me? My face twisted at such shameless—no, childish—words.
“So please forgive me, Your Highness.”
“…!”
The moment Karl moved his hand—
No!
The ore rolled across the floor—BOOM! An explosion rocked the room.
“Ugh!”
A flare burst, smoke billowed, and heat distorted my sight. All I could think was that I had to protect the crown prince.
“Get down, Your Highness!”
I reached for Leon instinctively, but my body wouldn’t move.
“Kh!”
My knees buckled, drained by lingering magic.
“Is that bravery,”
“…!”
—or foolishness?”
My body slammed into a wall, but I felt no pain. Only that something broad and solid had caught me.
No way.
When I cracked my eyes open, Hyperion was staring down at me.
“Ela—how did you—”
Karl had stopped mid-escape, frozen by shock at seeing me run not toward the exit nor to save myself, but toward Leon.
“Now I understand.”
He let out a hollow laugh.
“You never loved me. Not even once.”
Love? Are you serious right now?
Another boom shook the air. Karl leapt out the window just before the barrier sealed shut.
“Love, huh…”
Leon smiled faintly, almost amused.
“He’ll blow himself up at this rate.”
Whether he meant Karl or the overheated ore, I couldn’t tell. But from Leon’s relaxed stance, it was clear he had let Karl escape on purpose.
“So—shall I get revenge for you?”
Hyperion asked as I stared out the window Karl had fled through.
“If you want, I can catch him right now and take a foot off.”
He nudged the ore—once boiling with power, it crumbled instantly.
“So he won’t run—or walk—again.”
The crunch beneath Leon’s boot felt disturbingly symbolic of Karl’s future.
“Just say the word. I’ll give it to you as an engagement gift.”
“No. I’ll do it myself.”
I refused firmly—he would absolutely bring me a severed ankle if I didn’t stop him.
Instead, I picked up a shard of shattered ore.
“Besides, Your Highness witnessing all this is more than enough.”
Catching Karl now would do me no good anyway.
At best, it would be written off as lovers’ quarrel gossip.
We had broken off our engagement—rumors would overshadow the crime.
“You let Marquis Karl go on purpose, didn’t you?”
“Sharp, aren’t we?”
He lifted an eyebrow.
“A fun variable appeared.”
“A variable…?”
“A year since the marquis debuted in the capital. Played the gentleman well—yet near you he couldn’t control himself.”
Hyperion looked genuinely entertained. So he planned to use Karl’s downfall.
“I’m curious how much further he’ll sink.”
I nodded—we were thinking the same thing.
“But why did you let him off? He kidnapped you. You could’ve brained him with a shoe.”
Honestly, I’d wanted to hurl the burning ore at his back. But…
“He already knows. Better than anyone. How pathetic and cowardly he looked running away.”
“….”
I exhaled softly.
“There’s nothing more miserable than realizing your own disgrace.”
In other words—don’t give attention to someone craving it.
“The more I see, the more surprising you are.”
Hyperion crossed his arms and stared at me.
“Tell me something, Lady.”
“Yes?”
“You’re… not adopted, are you?”
“Huh?”
Seeing my bewilderment, he continued.
“Usually women in this situation cry and scream first. You act like it’s none of your concern.”
“Ah…”
Perhaps because I led troops on the front for three years, his pride seemed a little wounded—as if annoyed that I wasn’t acting as predicted.
“I don’t waste energy on things I can’t change. Crying doesn’t help.”
I brushed dirt off my skirt.
—Suji, think crying will get you out of this stinking basement?
Exactly. Better to scheme my way out.
“A noble lady saying something that took me three years in the mud to learn.”
Hyperion grinned.
“We’ll suit each other well.”
I pretended not to hear that.
“I’ll be more careful from now on.”
Now I knew for certain: no matter what I tried, my fiancé was still the novel’s male lead—and my meeting Hyperion meant—
There’s no avoiding the original plot. I need to wake up.
“You say that—and yet…”
His voice sank.
“You wander alone without a communicator? Fearless.”
His eyes turned ice cold.
“Now start explaining.”
“Pardon?”
“Why you’re here, and what you two were doing.”
He perched on the window sill, sunlight fading behind him.
“And what you talked about.”
I’d been kidnapped by an ex-boyfriend after investigating an illegal slave market.
Yes. Perfect thing to tell the crown prince I’m about to marry.
“We just happened to run into each other in the plaza.”
“Kaella Veritas.”
My whole body stiffened when he spoke my name.
“That’s as far as I’ll pretend to believe you.”
“……”
“From here on, I’ll take every word you say as truth.”
Our gazes locked.
“One last question.”
His golden hair slid forward as his head tilted.
“Do you still…”
My breath caught—
“…have feelings for that bastard?”
What?
Feelings?
—Look, Karl! Fireworks! They’re beautiful—it’s my first time seeing them!
—I wanted you to see them.
Memories flickered.
Perhaps I’d depended on Karl more than Kaella’s own family since arriving here.
They were Kaella’s family first—not mine.
Karl, though, had been meant to become my family.
“No. But…”
I shook my head firmly.
“Like it or not, memories remain.”
Just as the memories of being Jung Suji still haunted me.
—Say hello. She’ll be your new sister from today.
—…
Jung Suji—an illegitimate daughter abandoned at the Baekha Group’s gate.
—She doesn’t resemble Father—or any of us.
I tried to resemble them—but the older I got, the clearer it was that I didn’t belong.
So I tried harder—to prove I did.
Yet those contemptuous eyes glaring down at me… I never forgot them.
“There are things you can only see when you stand on equal ground.”
If they’d met my eyes even once—maybe I wouldn’t have reached so far.
“At least I thought Karl was that kind of person—someone who could see me. Not someone waiting for me to fall.”
I couldn’t hide the bitter smile.
Or my stupidity for believing otherwise.
“I see…”
Leon’s gaze stayed dry.
“You must’ve been very close.”
As if such naive hopes had never crossed his own mind.
“Maybe. But it doesn’t matter now.”
Just as my feelings for my family no longer mattered—Karl would soon be just another stranger to me.
“By the way, Your Highness.”
“……”
“There’s something I wish to say—about the engagement.”
That was when I began to speak—finally ready to bring up the mines—
