Chapter 4

A tower for confinement, not far from the royal palace.

In the office within the tower, Claude Bradley, the black-haired knight, leaned back in his leather chair and sighed deeply with his eyes closed. At the young age of twenty-two, he held the position of commander of the royal prince's direct first knight regiment, and he was now deeply troubled.

(What is that woman...?)

The image that floated behind his eyelids was that of Violet Elford, the duke's daughter.

With her pale golden hair and purple eyes, the girl possessed a presence that could dominate any situation with just a single word. She was the worst woman he had ever seen.

Arrogant, greedy, and hedonistic, she always manipulated people and never overlooked even the slightest discomfort caused by anyone. Her retribution was so severe that Claude often thought she must have left her sense of guilt and self-restraint at the bottom of hell.

And yet, she—this woman who always sent him a look that seemed to say "disappear"—had been looking at him with unusually clear eyes ever since she came to this tower.

Images of her sleeping on the floor, flustered when he woke her up, and her eyes shining at the sight of food floated up in his mind.

(No, that's strange!)

As he pressed his forehead, trying to understand the oddity, there was a knock on the door.

“Come in.”

The one who entered was his subordinate, the deputy commander, Neil Harvey.

“Wow, you look exhausted.”

Neil, with his beautiful face and a small smile, had his neatly trimmed black hair sway. He was a friend Claude could be completely at ease with, and he possessed a gender-neutral beauty.

“How is the empress?”

“The worst. She’s thinking of new mental attacks.”

“Haha. The guards and maids were pale, thinking it was a sign of a curse.”

Neil directed a playful gaze at Claude. This friend was skilled and intelligent, but his tendency to find everything amusing was a flaw.

“Maybe she has deeply reflected and repented. Even the notorious Duke Elford’s daughter must have found her behavior the other day abnormal.”

“Indeed, it was unlike her.”

He recalled the night of the engagement announcement for his master, Prince Johannes de Grosshimmel, and Lady Lily Redgrave.

At the very moment Johannes announced the engagement, she, who was sitting near the king, poured wine over Johannes, slapped Lady Redgrave, and forced her to prostrate on the ground in a terrifying manner.

Claude immediately restrained her, but Violet was raging, saying, “Do you think you can get away with such a thing?”

It was the first time he had seen her display such raw anger since childhood. She never allowed even the slightest discomfort, but her anger rarely showed beyond a slight frown.

Moreover, she was not so foolish as to strangle herself in front of the public, despite not caring about her reputation as a villainess.

(What could have made her so enraged? She wouldn’t answer when questioned, and Lady Redgrave also said she had no idea. ...Of course, they had no connection.)

Despite his doubts, Claude shook his head.

“However... she will never repent. If she were to repent, she wouldn’t have done it in the first place. That’s the kind of person she is.”

As Claude firmly stated, Neil shrugged.

“That’s harsh. To your fiancée.”

“She’s a ‘fiancée candidate.’ I’m not marrying her.”

Despite his words, he wore a bitter expression. The situation had worsened due to Violet’s foolish actions. Until now, they had been able to avoid new fiancée candidates by mutually using each other, but a royal decree to settle down could come at any time.

The current king adored his niece, Violet, the only surviving relative of his late sister. He likely wished for her to settle down and calm down before causing any more unnecessary trouble that he couldn’t protect her from.

(Even if she marries, she won’t calm down.)

On the contrary, he thought she would gleefully exploit the situation to harass him, displaying her wickedness.

As Claude sighed, Neil chuckled.

“Well, I don’t think she has repented at all. But she did lose consciousness before entering the tower. The doctor said it was evidence of a sudden mental strain. She’s still a young girl of eighteen, and she might be feeling lonely and acting this way.”

Claude thought that was unlikely. When he moved her from the duke’s mansion to the tower, she had already regained her composure and was clearly the usual Violet Elford.

She even seemed in a good mood, as if she might start singing. He had wondered what she was planning.

And in front of the tower, under a sky that seemed about to snow, she smiled for a moment before collapsing.

The doctor diagnosed it as a temporary fainting due to mental strain, and she woke up. But when she woke up, she seemed like a completely different person.

(—Is this how she acts when she feels lonely and brave? No, she’s definitely not that kind of person.)

At the same time, he remembered how she looked genuinely sad when putting away the food in the closet.

(Could she have thought that Claude would abuse her in the tower, where she couldn’t resist?)

(No, definitely not. She’s not the kind of person to worry about such things.)

“—Don’t let your guard down. She does unpredictable things without hesitation.”

As if to shake off his thoughts, Claude sternly told Neil.