Chapter 2
The spring sky was a clear blue, and the clouds were as white as snow.
Pale pink petals fluttered from the flowering trees like feathers.
The hall, decorated with all kinds of flowers and ornaments, was packed with people.
Sunlight streaming through the glass ceiling shone down on a woman.
At that moment, light returned to her unfocused eyes, and her body swayed.
“Haela!”
A familiar voice called out, and someone firmly caught her as she began to tilt.
She frowned instinctively at the dazzling sunlight.
At the same time, a severe headache flared up.
Feeling a familiar scent, Haela slowly opened her eyes.
A man was looking down at her with concern.
He had pitch-black hair, skin so pale it was almost white, mysterious greenish-gray eyes, and thin lips.
Gradual horror filled her eyes as she faced his young, beautiful face.
“Kersian?”
“I was surprised because you suddenly looked like you were going to collapse. Are you feeling ill somewhere?”
Her mind was in chaos, and there was even a ringing in her ears.
The familiar voice she heard sounded a bit different from her memory.
His face was full of youth, and instead of the Emperor’s robes, he was wearing a snow-white formal outfit.
It was a wedding suit.
Haela pushed his arm away and fell to the floor.
Then, she gagged.
Short screams and sounds of shock erupted from the people around them.
However, she had no energy to care due to the dizziness and chest pain.
Wiping her mouth with the back of her hand, she managed to raise her head and saw the crowd filling her vision.
Among them, a woman sitting in the front row caught her eye.
She was wearing a snow-white dress that seemed to match Kersian’s.
It was Uriel.
Seeing the two people she hated most at the same time, it seemed she had arrived in hell.
She had been blinded by love and caused many people to die.
Her father, those who followed her, and the baby in her womb.
Therefore, she deserved to be punished, but seeing the two of them looking perfectly fine—unlike her own battered self—made her feel a sense of injustice.
Crouching in pain and moaning, Haela soon lost consciousness.
Her clothes were stained red with the blood she had coughed up.
Kersian ordered with a frown.
“The important procedures are finished anyway, so move Haela to her room and clean this up.”
Inside a large, luxurious room.
A girl lay on the bed.
Beside her, a middle-aged woman sat, carefully wiping her face with a wet towel.
The sleeping girl moaned and broke into a cold sweat, as if having a nightmare.
Her face was white as a sheet, and her furrowed brow looked painful.
“His Grace is so heartless. Whose fault is it that the Princess collapsed, yet he hasn’t even shown his face? How can a person change like that? Our poor Princess…”
The woman’s eyes reddened as she looked down at the girl.
Just then, the door opened without warning, and someone entered.
At the sound, the woman hurriedly wiped her tears and stood up.
“Your Grace, you’ve arrived?”
The woman greeted the man with a stiff face.
Looking up, a tall, handsome young man came into view.
Unlike his clear face that still had a youthful feel, he exuded a cold and unapproachable atmosphere.
“How is Haela’s condition?”
Kersian did not sit, but looked down at Haela while standing.
Her fresh and cute face had become gaunt in just a few days.
The woman’s gaze was full of pity as she looked at her.
Tearing up again, she finally spoke.
“She suffered from a high fever last night, and the fever hasn’t fully broken yet.”
“I heard from the doctor that she isn’t in a dangerous state. Why hasn’t she woken up for so long?” he asked, narrowing his eyes.
“I don’t know either. This is the first time the Princess has been this sick, so perhaps she was just too shocked.”
The woman’s words contained a subtle reproach.
At those words, a flash of dissatisfaction crossed the man’s eyes.
“From now on, you should call her ‘Madam,’ not ‘Princess’,” he said in a stiff voice.
The woman bit her lip once and replied, “Yes, Your Grace. But what happened that day? That young lady is…”
“Do I have to answer that?”
His face, already full of dissatisfaction and annoyance, changed at that single sentence.
Under his sharp gaze, the woman nervously gripped her skirt.
This was not the Imperial Palace, and since the difference in status was clear, there was a line that had to be kept.
“It is not something you should be interested in, so there is no need to worry.”
“Yes.”
Kersian looked at Haela again.
As if proving the words that her fever hadn’t broken, her flushed face was covered in cold sweat.
She looked haggard with an uncomfortable expression, as if having a nightmare.
She was a girl who had just turned sixteen this year.
Because of her face, which looked younger than her age, and her small frame, it was hard to feel she was a woman.
However, seeing her suffer so much with such a child-like face made him feel a sense of pity.
A light of sympathy appeared in Kersian’s gaze as he looked at Haela, but it quickly vanished.
It was because he remembered being humiliated on his wedding day.
Since she had collapsed in front of everyone at that exact moment, it had been difficult to handle the situation.
“Take good care of her. I don’t want to hear that I became a widower as soon as I welcomed her.”
With those words, Kersian prepared to leave.
The woman stopped him.
She asked, as if she couldn’t understand.
“The Madam is so sick, won’t you stay by her side a little longer?”
“I have official business to handle.”
With that, Kersian left the room.
Not long after, a middle-aged knight entered.
“Sir Heinrich, you’re here?”
The woman recognized him and spoke.
“I saw His Grace leaving just now,” Heinrich said as he closed the door and approached.
“Don’t even talk about it. Where else in the world is there such a heartless husband? He’s so different from how he was at the Imperial Castle. He acted as if he would give her his very liver and gallbladder, but our innocent Madam was deceived,” Marlin said indignantly.
Seeing her reddened eyes, Heinrich handed her a handkerchief and looked toward Haela.
He asked with a dark expression, “Is there still no improvement in the Princess’s condition?”
“The fever has gone down a lot. Last night, I was worried our Madam might really pass away.”
At those words, the atmosphere in the room grew even darker.
“What should we do now?”
“What else can we do? First, we have to endure. The ceremony has already been held, so what can be done?”
“He acted like there was no one but the Madam in front of His Majesty, but Sir, you must have seen it at the wedding hall. That crazy woman is His Grace’s mistress.”
At Marlin’s words, Heinrich also thought of her.
She was said to be the daughter of Count Betia, a vassal of the Duchy.
Her curly red hair was as lush as a waterfall, her large eyes were like lakes, her nose was straight, and her full lips were red.
With glamorous and delicate features like a doll, her enchanting atmosphere made her very captivating.
No man would be able to resist such a beauty.
However, unlike her beautiful appearance, her actions went beyond common sense.
“I can’t tell you how shocked I was hearing people whispering at the wedding. Hearing the servants talk, it seems they have been together for a long time. How can such a thing happen in this world?”
Marlin continued, trying to calm her voice which was growing louder with excitement.
“I think we should send a letter to His Majesty. If this continues, our Madam might fall ill and die.”
“His Majesty’s health isn’t good right now; wouldn’t we just be shocking him? If he were to collapse…”
The Emperor, who dearly cherished the daughter he obtained late in life, would surely be shocked and heartbroken to hear this news.
He suffered from heart disease, and his health had recently worsened so much that he couldn’t even attend his only daughter’s wedding.
“That’s true. Then what do we do? Do we just have to keep watching?”
“Let’s wait until the Madam wakes up, watch the situation for a bit, and then decide.”
“I understand.”
Marlin let out a deep sigh and said, “The people here are all heartless. Even if the Madam really died, I don’t think they would even grieve. If His Majesty knew that our Madam, who grew up more loved than anyone, was being treated coldly in this foreign place, how upset would he be?”
“I agree. At any rate, the Madam needs to wake up as soon as possible…”
“I know.”
Marlin and Heinrich spoke a few more words after that.
Marlin watched Heinrich leave and returned to caring for Haela.
She stayed by Haela’s side all night.
Just as her stamina was dropping and she was dozing off, Haela’s eyelids flickered.
Her long eyelashes trembled, and she opened her eyes.
Marlin, who was holding Haela’s hand, felt the movement and woke up.
Upon waking, she saw Haela blinking with a dazed face.
“Madam?”
