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Prologue
To be fair, I had started it first.
In order to stop the obsessive male leads from becoming completely unhinged, I had become just a little obsessed with them first.
“Young Master Douglas, why do you keep looking at other women? From now on, you should only look at me.”
“Gabriel, remember this well. Your master will forever be me alone. Don’t even dream of paying attention to anyone else.”
“Duke Calisto, Your Grace, you belong to me now. I have absolutely no intention of ever letting you go.”
…Well.
Maybe “a little” wasn’t the right word.
Anyway, thanks to my tearful sacrifice, I thought the male leads had all reformed and peace had finally returned to the Empire…
“Aria, how much longer are you going to keep me waiting?”
As always, someone suddenly wrapped his arms around me from behind.
It was Jeffrey Douglas—my fiancé and the second obsessive male lead from the original novel.
Gasp!
Startled, I hurriedly tried to pry him off.
The more I struggled, however, the tighter Jeffrey held me.
“You told me not to look at other women and to look only at you. That’s exactly what I’ve been doing. So why…”
“…”
“Why won’t you accept my proposal? Hmm? Aria, answer me.”
His warm breath brushed against my ear.
Every breath I took filled my lungs with the rich scent of cedarwood.
I’m going crazy…
Steadying my wavering mind, I reminded myself of the truth.
I’d only acted obsessed with the male leads to reform them.
Now that they’d changed, I had absolutely no desire to end up with any of them.
So would you please let me go already?
Swallowing back my tears, I pushed him away.
“Jeffrey, I take back what I said back then. You can look at other women. No—please do. There are plenty of women who like you anyway.”
“…What?”
“And let’s break off our engagement. If you’re okay with it, we can even do it today…”
“Break off our engagement?”
In an instant, Jeffrey’s voice turned ice cold.
What’s wrong?
He grabbed my shoulders and spun me around in one smooth motion.
Now we were face to face.
His eyes slowly searched every inch of my face, as if trying to see straight through me.
“Ah, I get it. Aria… you’re just throwing a little tantrum, aren’t you?”
“…W-What?”
And then he uttered the most ridiculous nonsense imaginable.
“You were the one who said it yourself. Last year—the day I asked to cancel our engagement…”
“…”
“You told me to stop throwing a tantrum and start picking out our wedding rings instead. You said you were my only fiancée, so I shouldn’t even dream of breaking off the engagement.”
“T-That’s…”
That was only because I was trying to prevent the Empire from being destroyed…
I hadn’t meant a single word of it.
Yet whether Jeffrey understood my feelings or not, he simply whispered softly,
“Then I’ll just give those words back to you exactly as they were.”
“…”
“Aria, stop pouting and start choosing our wedding rings. I’ll take care of everything else.”
Having made his declaration, Jeffrey curled his lips into a satisfied smile.
Judging by the look in his eyes, there wasn’t the slightest chance he’d agree to call off the engagement.
Th-This is bad…
Everything I’d done to reform the obsessive male leads had come back to haunt me.
The problem was…
This wasn’t the end of my karmic punishment.
“Master… why won’t you be obsessed with me like before? It makes me so sad…”
Gabriel—the third obsessive male lead from the original story and now the High Priest—murmured pitifully.
What kind of nonsense is he talking about…?
Something had clearly gone wrong with Gabriel’s head.
I bit my lip and bowed politely.
“Your Grace, please don’t call me your master. Someone as insignificant as I could never dare claim to be the High Priest’s master. I beg you, please stop saying that.”
“Hm? But you said it yourself.”
His gentle smile remained unchanged.
“You told me that my master would forever be you alone. Surely… you haven’t forgotten already?”
Ha… damn it…
My past had caught up to me again.
Even though Gabriel now stood far above me in status, he still insisted on calling me “Master.”
It was enough to drive anyone insane.
“Your Grace, please forget my rudeness from those days. Calling myself your master… those were merely the foolish actions of my younger self. I deeply regret them now.”
“…”
Gabriel lowered his brows, putting on the most pitiful expression imaginable.
“If you keep drawing lines between us…”
He looked as though he were about to cry.
“I’ll be heartbroken. I worked so desperately to become the High Priest… all for you, Master.”
I never asked you to do that!
I cursed him a thousand times in my mind, but naturally he couldn’t hear me.
Without warning, Gabriel dropped to one knee.
Then he gently lifted my hand.
Kiss.
His soft lips brushed lightly across the back of it.
I stared at him in utter horror.
“Master… please bind me again, just like before.”
“Y-Your Grace… w-what are you talking about…?”
“If you don’t want that…”
Gabriel slowly raised his head.
His eyes curved into a beautiful smile.
“Then…”
“…Yes?”
“Should I be the one giving orders to my Master instead?”
His voice remained gentle.
His words were anything but.
I’m doomed…
I had a terrible feeling that something had gone horribly, irreversibly wrong.
As if that weren’t enough…
The first obsessive male lead—the Duke of the North—had discovered my true identity.
“I finally found you.”
Tristan crossed the distance between us in an instant and pulled me into a crushing embrace.
He held me so tightly I could barely breathe.
I was so shocked I couldn’t even resist.
“I searched the entire continent for you.”
His voice trembled.
“And yet… you were this close all along…”
“U-Um… I don’t know what you’re talking about…”
“Stop pretending.”
His grip tightened.
“I already know everything.”
Sh-Shit…
My mind went completely blank.
How he’d figured me out was the least of my concerns.
Right now, I was worried about surviving.
He knows everything now. Tristan’s definitely going to kill me.
But instead…
He buried his face against my neck and took a deep breath.
W-What is he doing…?
It was like watching a wild beast scent its prey.
Goosebumps covered my skin.
After a long silence, he finally spoke.
“Ah… Ariadne.”
His voice was low and hoarse.
“Now that I’ve found you again… I’ll never let you go.”
“…Excuse me? W-What…?”
“No… that’s not right.”
A quiet chuckle escaped him.
“Didn’t you tell me to call you ‘my wife’ instead of using your name?”
He repeated the very words I’d said two years ago.
This… this is a disaster…
I could feel every drop of blood draining from my body.
Exile.
Exile is the only answer.
If I wanted to escape the consequences of everything I’d done…
Then I had no choice but to flee the country.
So before dawn, while everyone else slept, I quietly slipped out of the mansion.
I planned to escape somewhere far beyond the Empire’s borders.
But then…
“Aria. Where are you going?”
Somehow, the Master of the Magic Tower had found me.
Why is he here at this hour?
Though confused, I answered honestly.
“I’m leaving the country.”
I hoisted my luggage.
“Don’t come looking for me.”
“Leaving the country? Why?”
“Why do you think?”
I sighed.
“Because of those lunatics.”
Marcelline was my business partner.
He knew every one of my secrets.
Just that much was enough for him to understand everything.
As expected, he nodded knowingly.
Then, with a grin, he walked toward me.
“Aria…”
Without hesitation, he took my suitcase from my hand.
“How about this instead?”
He smiled casually.
“I’ll kill every last one of them for you.”
“…What?”
“I’ll make sure those disgusting bastards never lay another finger on you.”
His smile never faltered.
“So just say the word.”
“W-What are you talking about…?”
What was wrong with him all of a sudden?
Flustered, I took a step backward.
I looked up at his face.
No matter how I looked at him…
He wasn’t joking.
“W-Why are you acting like this? This has nothing to do with you.”
“…”
“I-If I just leave the country, everything will be solved. So don’t worry about it.”
“Hm…”
As I retreated, he advanced.
Before I knew it, we were standing so close our breaths mingled.
W-What’s going on?
The atmosphere had changed.
I instinctively tried to step back again.
But a large hand wrapped firmly around my waist, leaving me nowhere to escape.
Looking down at me, Marcelline smiled.
“Aria.”
“…Huh?”
“Why do you think I’m acting like this?”
“…”
“Go ahead.”
His sapphire-blue eyes locked onto mine.
“You tell me.”
“…”
“I thought I’d made it pretty obvious.”
His brilliant blue eyes overflowed with emotions he could no longer hide.
Why… why am I only realizing this now?
No…
That wasn’t even the biggest problem.
At last, I realized the most important truth of all.
Ah…
This life is ruined too.
