Chapter 03
“I didn’t expect the person who so neatly ignored the invitation I personally sent to say she wished to see me. Lady Eve Estella.”
The man who brushed back his neatly groomed black hair was, by anyone’s standards, strikingly handsome.
Yet peculiarly, his features carried an odd coexistence of chill and warmth. When a smile passed over his face, he looked gentler than anyone; when it faded, he seemed colder and sharper than anyone else.
To Eve, the latter expression was the familiar one.
“That offer—it’s still valid, right?”
Eve cut straight to the point. Meaningless verbal sparring was a waste of time.
“Ah, that offer.”
A glint flickered in his eyes, green like the lushness of midsummer.
A month ago, he had summoned Lady Estella to the imperial palace and made a request.
‘I would like you to break off your engagement with Valerian.’
Xavier recalled the demand he had made that day. He knew full well it had been excessive—downright rude.
There had been a legitimate reason, but he had no intention of explaining it to Lady Estella.
So for over four years, he had subtly hinted at it, yet the one who ignored those hints was Lady Eve Estella.
And now, not long after coming of age, she suddenly came to the palace saying she would accept his demand.
Xavier found her intentions suspicious.
“You truly mean to break off your engagement with Valerian?”
“Yes.”
Eve nodded and took a small sip of tea.
Seeing the usually dignified man falter slightly felt unfamiliar.
“You remember what you said when you summoned me to the palace last time, don’t you?”
“…I do.”
Eve smiled in satisfaction, sensing that matters were proceeding more smoothly than expected. What he had said at the palace was this:
‘If you part ways with Lian, I will grant you whatever you desire—within my power.’
At the time, she had dismissed it as barking nonsense and thoroughly ignored it. But now, things were different.
‘It’s my only lifeline.’
Noticing her expression, Xavier spoke first.
“What do you want? Whatever it is, I will fully support it.”
At that, Eve asked seriously,
“Even if what I want is Your Highness?”
“…What do you mean?”
“Exactly what I said.”
Flustered, Xavier’s flour-pale face flushed tomato red. The one more surprised, however, was Eve.
‘What is that innocent reaction?’
Without showing her embarrassment, she replied,
“Just ignore it. I was testing how far you’d go.”
Though he didn’t seem convinced, that truly had been her intention. She hadn’t expected such a sincere reaction and felt rather awkward.
As the Crown Prince who constantly wrestled with powerful nobles, she had assumed he would brush off such a joke lightly.
“You’re the first person I’ve seen make a joke like that.”
He was indirectly calling her peculiar. Eve responded indifferently.
“Really? Since Your Highness is so popular, I assumed you’d be used to it. My mistake.”
Xavier’s gaze sharpened.
‘He really is like a cat.’
Endlessly gentle with his own people, yet bristling at her in particular.
She had neither the time nor the inclination for idle chatter, so she continued.
“Then I’ll make my real request.”
As she moved to the main point, countless possibilities flashed through Xavier’s mind.
Most likely money, or another suitable marriage prospect.
But if that were what she wanted, she wouldn’t need to break off her engagement with Valerian.
Maintaining a calm expression, Xavier waited. Eve’s crimson eyes fixed clearly on him.
Beautiful and dreamlike, yet strangely detached from humanity.
Momentarily captivated by her gaze, he snapped back to attention at her next words.
“Then please forge an official document for me, Your Highness.”
“An official document?”
Her request was completely outside his expectations.
Xavier’s eyes grew even colder. Eve briefly wondered if his gaze might pierce straight through her.
“Yes. An official document.”
He let out a faint sigh before speaking again.
“Specifically, what and how do you want it forged?”
His insides were clearly boiling, but she refrained from saying so.
“There should be financial records concerning the Estella family in the imperial archives. Just alter them a little—no, a lot.”
“So you’re asking me to manipulate financial records.”
Under his probing stare, she said calmly,
“My family needs to fall.”
If a respectable count’s house collapsed, society would buzz for a while—but it would soon be forgotten.
Then her breaking off the engagement with Valerian and retreating to the countryside would seem natural.
“If it’s for tax evasion, you’d be better off asking for money.”
Xavier gave a sharp smile. Just as she had expected.
Even without seeing it, she was certain his favorability toward her had hit the maximum—
On the negative side.
“If that’s not possible, then I’ll have no choice but to marry Lian.”
Eve smiled demurely, as though she had nothing to lose.
“That outcome wouldn’t be what Your Highness desires, would it?”
His gaze sank entirely, as if witnessing the height of insolence.
‘Well, you are the noble Crown Prince, after all.’
But Eve didn’t care what he thought of her.
What mattered was whether he would grant her request or not.
Still, she couldn’t help but find it ironic—he, who had made the outrageous demand that she break off her engagement, now looking at her as though she were the disgraceful one.
“…Very well. Is forging the financial records sufficient?”
It seemed Xavier wanted her engagement broken off far more than she had realized. She was curious about the reason, but this was not the time for idle curiosity.
“Yes. And please proceed without Lian knowing.”
That part was crucial.
“If Lian finds out, everything will be for nothing.”
“…Understood.”
So she wished to remain in her fiancé’s good graces until the end?
‘What does Valerian even see in this lady?’
Feeling inward pity for his friend’s poor judgment, Xavier took a sip of tea to wash down the bitterness in his mouth.
Eve saw straight through his thoughts but rose without comment.
Just before leaving the drawing room, she added,
“And lastly, please spread the rumor diligently that my family has fallen, Your Highness.”
The Count and Countess Estella, worried about their daughter who had left home and not returned, lingered outside the mansion.
When they spotted a carriage in the distance, their faces lit up.
“Eve!”
Fortunately, their daughter looked as calm as ever. Stepping lightly down from the tall carriage, Eve blinked at her approaching parents.
“Why are you both outside?”
“Eve! How can you leave without saying a word!”
“Without saying a word? I left a letter.”
Her voice sharpened slightly. She was still not entirely over her anger at them for hiding the secret of her birth.
“And I have something to tell you.”
Sensing her cold mood, the two exchanged glances before following her inside.
Once seated in the drawing room, Eve spoke as her parents sat before her.
“In a few days, an article will be published.”
“About what?”
The Count and Countess looked at her in alarm.
“I didn’t reveal my identity myself. What happened was—”
Eve briefly explained her conversation with the Crown Prince. As they listened, their expressions grew increasingly complicated.
“His Highness agreed to help with that?”
“Yes.”
“But… how?”
She couldn’t exactly tell them that the Crown Prince had been desperate for her engagement to be broken off.
Saying that would only invite strange misunderstandings.
‘He’s not interested in me in the slightest.’
To an outsider, it might have looked as though the Crown Prince harbored feelings for her.
But the look in his eyes had been a frost storm.
‘When someone looks at the person they love, it’s more like Lian…’
Thinking of him unconsciously, Eve felt her mood sink. He had always looked at her with such warmth.
“It’s a bit long to explain. So please make sure everyone’s stories align. Inform the other relatives as well.”
At the revelation that all of this was for the sake of breaking off her engagement, her parents’ faces grew heavy.
“I’m sorry, Eve. That you have to go through this because of us.”
She didn’t deny it.
“I wish you’d told me earlier.”
Her brother Noah was already in shock upon learning she was a mage. Their parents had deceived both children.
Such a bombshell of a secret.
“…I’m sorry. I thought that if we revealed it, you would end up living in hiding like a criminal.”
“But things wouldn’t have gotten this bad.”
“Valerian doesn’t know your identity, does he?”
At the Count’s question, Eve shook her head and sighed.
“He will soon—if I remain by Lian’s side.”
“What?! How!”
Paling, the Count and Countess looked horrified.
“You’ll find out soon enough. In any case, I need to leave this place quickly.”
Recovering slightly, the Countess asked,
“…But how will you explain a perfectly fine family going bankrupt?”
“I’ll say the vineyards failed.”
The Estella family’s main source of income was wine. Each year’s grape harvest determined that year’s quality.
‘No matter the reason, people will twist it however they like.’
Even if the real cause were explained in detail, gossip would inflate and distort it soon enough.
