A large plate covered with a silver dome sat atop the round table. Johann lifted the dome.
Whether by coincidence or not, it was Olivia’s favorite—sea bass fillet.
The rich scent of butter mingled with basil pesto made her stomach growl.
It dawned on her then that she hadn’t eaten anything since last night.
“Come, sit down.”
“…I think I’ll just leave.”
She was hungry, but thinking of Princess Kranz killed her appetite. She couldn’t imagine eating in her ex-husband’s room as if nothing had happened. She’d probably get indigestion.
“You can’t. I already told you.”
“If you get me some clothes, I’ll sneak out through the back in disguise. That should work.”
Olivia’s gaze was firm.
“Eat first.”
“This isn’t the right thing to do.”
Was she always this stubborn? Johann looked quietly at Olivia, who stood her ground unwaveringly.
Summer sunlight streamed through the wide glass window, casting a soft glow over her face.
He wanted to grip her shoulders and make her sit.
“If you want to know who’s behind this.”
At that, Olivia’s eyes widened.
“Sit down.”
Johann took a seat first, but Olivia still hesitated.
“If you’re worried about my fiancée, don’t be. She returned to the Britte Palace yesterday. Now please sit.”
Olivia, still reluctant, finally pulled her large mac coat tighter around her and sat across from him.
“Did you find out who’s behind it?”
Instead of her, who hadn’t even touched the cutlery, Johann picked up his knife and fork and began to slice the sea bass into small pieces.
“Anneblin Grace Britte.”
“….”
A gentle breeze swelled the lavender silk curtains.
Hearing that name carried on the wind left Olivia stunned.
A princess of a country had done something so disgraceful?
“That’s absurd.”
Why?
Why would she go that far?
Olivia furrowed her brow and let out a bitter laugh.
Edgar. Was it because of that man?
Her hand clenched into a fist on the table. Johann watched her quietly.
The coachman of the McDowell family had been bribed by the princess.
He was still denying it, but it was only a matter of time before they got a confession—Angela Burkin had already confessed.
The coachman had drugged and rendered Olivia unconscious, then passed her off to a grocery store clerk. The store had a supply contract with the Leopold Hotel.
The clerk, claiming he’d forgotten to deliver a sack of potatoes, handed it off to a hotel staff member.
A hotel staffer, also bribed by the princess, took a room key he had stolen in advance and headed for Room 3016.
The sack was placed under a trolley, covered with a white cloth.
Meanwhile, reporters and plants paid off by the princess lured people toward Room 3016.
It had almost been the perfect kidnapping.
“…That’s just too cruel.”
Hearing the whole ordeal from Johann left her reeling.
If she had woken up in that room and been discovered with him…
A shiver ran down her spine.
“It’ll be dealt with by law, so don’t worry.”
Johann placed the neatly cut sea bass fillet in front of Olivia as he spoke.
“No.”
His eyes traveled up from the plate to her face.
“Don’t do that.”
Her voice was firm.
A full day had passed since Olivia disappeared.
She hadn’t appeared at Riverside or the Dumblin Club. She must be at the Leopold Hotel.
Edgar crossed his arms and stared at Johann’s hotel through the window.
His sleepless eyes were red-rimmed.
“Olivia.”
He addressed Gerald.
“The upper floors are restricted, so we haven’t been able to confirm,” Gerald replied.
She’s probably there.
With Johann.
The top floor of the Leopold Hotel, where she was likely staying, gleamed in golden sunlight.
What would it feel like to reunite with an ex-husband?
It was something Edgar couldn’t even begin to imagine.
He pressed his hand against his sore eyes and said quietly, “Let’s go.”
Gerald, who had been watching him with concern, finally remembered the reason for his visit.
“The Marquis of McDowell is here.”
Edgar slowly turned.
“Bring him in.”
Soon, Henry McDowell appeared.
Though he had acted with good intentions, the situation had become a headache, and his expression was grim.
He hadn’t imagined the coachman he had lent to Olivia for her convenience would do something like that. Seeing Edgar, Henry let out a deep sigh.
“You’re here,” Edgar greeted him respectfully.
“Have a seat. I’ll skip the tea.”
Gerald withdrew, and an awkward silence settled between them. After a pause, Henry spoke heavily.
“I’ve just come from meeting the Crown Prince.”
“Yes.”
It was as expected. And so was the topic he was about to bring up.
“He wants this incident buried.”
Henry’s face was stern.
Of course. Edgar stifled a bitter laugh.
The overly devoted Crown Prince would naturally try to protect his sister. But too bad.
“I can’t do that,” Edgar said firmly, with bitter sarcasm.
He wasn’t in the mood to compromise with anyone right now—not even the Crown Prince of Britte.
He’d return what he received, exactly in kind. Nothing more, nothing less.
“Do you even understand what that woman did to you?”
Johann looked at Olivia with clear disapproval.
“I do. That’s why I want to wait.”
She sat upright, her gaze lowered and calm.
She no longer raged or screamed like before.
Now that he knew her previous, maddening behavior had been caused by the drugs fed to her by Diane Brooke, Johann was exercising extreme self-control to stay composed.
“Why?”
His voice, though composed, carried heavy anger.
“I want to face her myself.”
At that declaration, Johann’s brow furrowed.
That unfamiliar expression, that clear gaze—he had never seen this woman look like that before, and it unsettled him.
Olivia spoke again.
“The princess.”
In a place with rigid class distinctions, the only venue where she could stand equally with a princess was the tennis court.
Olivia had decided to face the princess in her own way.
“I want to defeat her on the court.”
Her entry into the Dumblin Championship had merely been to get a sponsor to vouch for her identity.
Edgar had hoped she’d win the trophy, but Olivia had no desire for the spotlight.
At least, not until now.
“Law can wait.”
Her ice-blue eyes burned fiercely. Olivia finally began to desire victory.
Johann silently observed the woman, slowly, as if assessing her.
“Tennis.”
His quiet voice was cold.
“You’ve played before?”
“….”
Olivia’s body stiffened at once. Her heart began to race unnaturally fast.
“Since when?”
His sharp gaze tightened around her heart.
“I asked you.”
Each word struck like an arrow. Her lips wouldn’t part.
Frozen, Olivia looked away from his gaze.
Did he suspect?
He had been her husband for three years—he knew enough about her.
“Olivia.”
Her heart thudded in anxiety. She had to say something. Before his suspicion deepened.
“…Once in a while. In the past.”
“When, exactly?”
Silence fell again. His demanding gaze was relentless.
“…Before I married you.”
Even she thought the words sounded pathetic.
It was a lie easily uncovered by asking the Blanchet family.
But once he returned to Rondos, they wouldn’t meet again, and this matter would be forgotten.
Trying to calm herself, Olivia slowly lifted her head. Their eyes met.
His suspicious gaze seemed to scrutinize her, and it was suffocating.
He wouldn’t let go.
She wanted to run.
“I should go.”
“In that outfit?”
She paused mid-step and bit her dry lips.
“Drink this first.”
Johann poured water into a glass.
“I’ll bring you clothes after the meal.”
She felt sick.
Johann looked up. Olivia, defeated, began to move her utensils.
Her pink lips nibbled at the food. Strands of hair brushed her pale cheeks in the breeze, releasing a faint rose scent.
The way she picked at her food without enthusiasm hadn’t changed from before.
Before the marriage?
A man like Count Blanchet, who’d raised his granddaughter in seclusion until she was sixteen, would never have taught her something like tennis.
Maybe how to feign being a lady or how to seduce a man—but not tennis.
So Olivia’s words were clearly nonsense.
Why was she lying?
Olivia Blanchet, playing tennis. No matter how he turned it over in his head, it made no sense.
Johann stared silently at the woman who had once been his wife. They said people could change after a near-death experience, but Olivia’s change was too extreme.
What had happened that day? What turned you into someone else?
What did that wretched Diane Brooke do to you?
Even her death hadn’t lessened his seething fury.
Now, combined with his curiosity about what really happened that day, Johann finally opened his mouth.
“That day…”
His eyes trembled slightly.
Olivia looked up from her plate.
“By the lake—.”
“If anyone deserves to go to hell for what happened that day, it’s not me. It’s you, Your Grace.”
Diane Brooke’s voice clung to his mind like a bitter hangover.
At that moment, Johann was seized by a strange sensation.
Those seemingly innocent blue eyes blinked slowly, as if waiting for his next words.
“She took more of her medication than usual that day. After arguing with that woman, she said it wasn’t working and drank on top of that. She must’ve gone to the lake out of frustration and… slipped.”
The maid’s confession came back to him.
