...Rosé was going to die. But she wasn’t afraid. In fact, she felt that dying was better than living, because if she died, she could finally see her family....

Just one thing. Something that made her tear up with regret. It was that man, the Emperor Cassiax! The devil who took away her family and her life!

She regretted.

That she had loved this man, who had smiled at her while squeezing her neck.

That she had married him.

That she had failed to protect her family from him.

She regretted meeting and getting married to this man. Hot and heavy resentment built up her neck like lava until she felt like she could not breathe.

**

The past few days, Rosé had become so weak that she couldn’t even grab onto anything. She couldn’t trust the court physicians who dismissed any notions of an illness any longer, so she secretly called in a physician from outside the palace.

“You have become addicted to poison. It seems that you have been taking a very small amount of poison for a long time.”

“Did you just say…poison?”

“…I once had a miscarriage. By any possibility…was it because of this poison?”

“Oh dear…how could such a thing happen to the empress…who could have…” The physician stroked the end of his beard as if it was a pity, declining from saying that the miscarriage and poison were related.

After her father was executed and mother died in prison, she had thought she had miscarried due to shock and grief. But to have found out that she had been poisoned for a long time!

The first person that came Rosé’s mind was Sasha, Cassiax’s mistress, who, shortly after Rosé’s miscarriage, became pregnant. Rosé had a bad feeling that Sasha was always watching her. So she sent away the physician and called for Sasha, who asked to meet at the top of the palace tower, a place with fewer eyes watching.

Perhaps Sasha was afraid that the Empress Rosé would start a false rumor and wanted to protect her privacy. To show her sincerity, Rosé agreed to meeting Sasha in the tower.

Little did she know how the situation would end.

**

Cassiax tightened his grip around Rosé’s neck.

“How dare you touch Sasha? How dare you touch the one who bears my child?”

Huu-uup Ugh.

As she suffocated, Rosé struggled to push his arms away. He released his hands. Freed from his grip, she bent down and let out a rough cough.

“Since Sasha did something you couldn’t do, you should be thankful.”

His green eyes, which usually seemed to reflect shallow seas, had turned black like the deep sea instead. Rosé looked at Sasha, who had collapsed behind Cassiax.

“Sasha, are you okay? Someone hurry, call the physician!”

“I’m fine, but your Majesty’s child…will your child be okay?”

Sasha stroked her round belly with a tearful face.

Somehow, all the women in the vicinity seemed to become more enthusiastic after Cassiax entered the room.

Sasha held her stomach and remained in a collapsed position like she was the weakest person in the world. Her face was pale and she looked as if she were going to collapse at any moment, but the edges of her pretty lips were slightly curved. In Rosé’s eyes, Sasha seemed to be smiling.

“I…didn’t do anything. Sasha fell down on her own.”

When they had met to talk, Rosé had only grabbed Sasha’s shoulder to ask about the long-term poison. But as soon as Cassiax appeared, Sasha screamed as if her stomach had been struck and fainted.

Rosé was surprised as she watched Sasha fall in front of her, thinking her acting was absurd. The maids in this room had all witnessed the situation, but strangely, everyone took Sasha’s side, acting as if they were following a script. Even more ridiculous was that Ella, Rosé’s personal maidservant, sided with Sasha instead of her own mistress.

It was then clear how her food had been poisoned for so long unnoticed.

So Sasha had tricked her again. With my stupidity, it’s no wonder that my family was killed off.

Exhausted, Rosé staggered. Her legs trembled so much and she felt like she would faint. Whether it was because of the drugs that had spread throughout her body or because of her sense of shame at having been tricked, she felt like all the blood in her body had left, not leaving a single drop behind.

As she stumbled, Cassiax grabbed Rosé’s shoulder and pushed her strongly against the wall.

“Rosé. Please wake up. Don’t test my patience anymore.”

“…Addicted to poison…That’s why I had a miscarriage. I was also told that I can never get pregnant.” Rosé muttered to herself.

When he heard what she said, Cassiax’s eyebrows went up. “What poison. The court physicians take care of you everyday, how could you say that.”

Red flags went up in Rosé’s mind. If she said she addicted to poison, wouldn’t he check to see if it’s true? Instead, he dismissed her words as absurd. She raised her head and looked straight at Cassiax.

“No way…it wasn’t you who poisoned me, was it?…How…how could you.”

Rosé looked at Cassiax as if looking at a monster.

“How could you do that to a girl who was pregnant with your child?”

“Rosé. Please wake up. Are you even being delusional now?”

“You. You are not a person. You’re a devil. I’ll follow you to hell and curse you!” Rosé screamed and shouted at Cassiax like a madwoman.

The resentment and sadness that had accumulated inside her exploded in that moment. Hot tears burst out.

“You’ve seriously gone crazy. Completely insane.” Cassiax looked at her with contempt.

“Do you have any idea why you’re still sitting on the position of empress? Be grateful that a rebel’s daughter like you got to keep your life.”

Dumbfounded and speechless, Rosé let out an empty laugh. Yet the words that followed were even more disturbing and absurd.

“Listen, you can resent me all you want, but you can’t do what you did to Sasha.”

Cassiax looked back at Sasha with an anxious gaze.

“You’re really are too pitiful. You know, you’re on the throne because, you see, the former empress implored me everyday that I treat you well.”

“Ha!”

Laughter popped out of Rosé’s mouth. As her lips twisted in ridicule, Cassiax’s face shifted into an ice-cold expression.

“You’re smiling? Are you laughing at me now?”

“Who ruined and killed my family!” Rosé screamed.

“Are you saying this is because of me?” Cassiax responded

“Then why did you marry me?”

“What?”

“You married me because I’m the daughter of the Etoile family.”

Cassiax clicked his tongue as if what she said was absurd. He pulled up her chin with one hand and repeatedly slapped her head with the other.

“Don’t delude yourself. What would I be missing with family of a lowly merchant with no noble background. How annoying that your father thought he had some property.”

Rosé’s purple eyes looked directly up at him. She now clearly realized why our father, Count Jared Etoile, had been concerned about her marriage to Cassiax. Her father had already anticipated this situation.

“Look at you. Where did the Rosé who was adorable as the flower go? It was worth watching you only when you smiled and acted shy to get my attention.”

Cassiax looked Rosé up and down and shook his head.

The once bright red hair, shiny like a pomegranate, had become brittle. Her smooth, almost-transparent skin, like ripe peach, was gone. Her cheeks, which had been soft like an infant’s, were now dried up and showed jutting cheekbones. Purple eyes that used to twinkle according to the angle of light were now blurry and desolate.

It was hard to believe that such a woman had changed so much during her years in the palace.

Cassiax clicked his tongue and looked at her as if she were pathetic, but Rosé smiled calmly as she said, “Even if you had the same experience as me, you would still be beautiful.”

He narrowed his eyes.

“Even if your parents and family were slaughtered terribly, you wouldn’t blink an eye. Not a single hair on you would shake. Because you only possess cold blood without human warmth.”

Cassiax, who was still listening to her, slightly tilted his head. He seemed to be thinking, and answered briefly.

“Is that bad?”

Rosé laughed bitterly with a despairing expression on her face.

Why didn’t I know that he was this kind of a man? When I think back to before we married, I had definitely felt this mean side of his from time to time.

Platinum hair flying in the wind and emerald green eyes smiling charmingly.

A mouth as if painted with a brush, rising at the tips to expose white teeth.

A loving whisper tickling her ear.

Why did you only see these things before you got married?

Now all of this, all of him, was disgusting and strange. Even his breath that touched her ear felt terribly dirty.

“Divorce me. I’ll go to the monastery.”

Rosé turned away from him.

“There you go again. Who would want to get a divorce.”

She had asked for a divorce a number of times, but she was always ignored like this, the reason for rejection despicable.

Cassiax was afraid that Rosé, who had lost everything, would garner sympathy when she entered the monastery. So instead, he intended to slowly kill her in this imperial palace without mercy.

“Actually, there’s a simpler method. To cut off this nasty relationship.”

As Cassiax whispered in her ear, Rosé stepped back. He walked towards her as he smiled, one side of his mouth twisted up.

She took many steps backwards, away from him, until she felt that couldn’t step back anymore, cornered by Cassiax and with her back against the wall…except, the “wall” felt like air instead.

He had lured her to an open window. It was the largest window in the castle at the top of the building.

“You…”

Rosé craned her neck out the window and looked up at him with bewildered eyes.

He carried an eerily calm gaze. His golden lashes languidly covered his eyes. He whispered small enough for only her to hear.

“What if you jumped down from here? The funeral will be generous. I promise you.”

As soon as he finished talking, he firmly pushed Rosé’s chest.

She instinctively reached out and grabbed his forearm, but he coldly flung her off him.

“Ahh-!”

Her body collapsed into the air before she could even yell. It was at this moment.

“No! Rosé!”

Cassiax extended his arm forward and called out her name, as if she had thrown herself off the tower.

His face carried a painful and agonized expression, and his scream was so horribly real, a level beyond Sasha’s acting.

Rosé thought so while falling: The moment I fall to the ground, my body will burst, shatter, and bloom as far as the water fountain down there.

At that moment, she was sorry to the one who would pick up her mangled body. Though she was not afraid of death, she was sad that she had been deceived by her husband until the end.

The falling moment felt like an eternity.

Sasha, who had originally collapsed, was now looking down at her and covering her mouth with her hand as she stood next to Cassiax. Rosé didn’t know if Sasha was surprised or laughing.

Had she not been involved in marriage with Cassiax.

If she had listened to her father’s advice at that time.

If she hadn’t been deceived by cheap emotions disguised as love.

Foolishly used by her husband, she regretted so much that she felt like her heart was going to burst.

If only…

If only I had been a little bit smarter.

Splat!

Rosé’s felt as if her eardrums were torn at the sound of crashing onto the stone ground.

I’m really dying like this…

The sound as she landed at the bottom was tremendous but, strangely, it didn’t hurt at all.

Is it so painful that I don’t feel pain at all?

In the darkness, she felt a bizarre feeling of a hand pulling her downwards. She felt her body being dragged down into the abyss, into further darkness without air and noise.

**

“Miss. You really need to get up…The sun is already high in the sky…”

A middle-aged woman’s voice.

Whoosh.

The sound of the curtain opening.

“Miss! Seriously, how long are you going to sleep?” The voice sounded clearer than before.

Rosé felt her eyes were overwhelmed with light even before she opened them. The white sunlight from the window warmly enveloped her. She felt her eyes water as she felt like they were poked by needles from the sunlight as slowly opened her eyes.

Tiny dust floating in the air glistened in the sunshine, and she watched them move from her lying position.

Where am I? I definitely died. And why is it so bright?

She slowly craned her neck downwards.

Her body, which should be bloody and shattered, was clean and intact. She could see her chest and healthy skin beneath the silk pajamas that ran down to her shoulders.

A light breeze blowing in from the window carried the sweet rose scent of cotton candy.

This fragrance!

The Etoile house was covered with roses all summer.

The snow white buildings and the red rose bushes surrounded four spires, creating a captivating scene. Although the official name of the Count’s residence was Casa de Bella, people called it the Red Rose House.

Clap!

Two large hands appeared in front of Rosé’s eyes, and Rosé instantly refocused.

Natalie?

The one in front of her was Natalie, her wetnurse. She had always stayed by Rosé’s side from the moment she was born until she married and left the mansion.

Rosé bit her lips, wanting to say something. She was so happy to see Natalie, but her voice didn’t come out well.

What kind of happy dream is this?

“It’s useless even if you show me those puppy dog eyes. The dress has already been delivered and is downstairs. You’ve been waiting for it for days.”

Natalie placed her hands on her hips and looked at Rosé with a look that said she would show no mercy unless Rosé got up.

“Natalie…I…I must be dreaming right now.”

Hearing what Rosé murmured, Natalie grinned.

“Do you like it that much? Then hurry and get ready to go downstairs, because it’s not a dream. The tailors arrived and have been waiting just for you long before you woke up, Miss.”

Natalie pulled on the strings of Rosé’s loose pajamas and lifted up Rosé’s upper body.

Rosé watched as Natalie’s thick hands skillfully tied a thin silk strap.

Oh!

Rosé grabbed one of Natalie’s hands and put it on her cheek, causing the wetnurse to look at her with rounded eyes.

“Miss? What are you doing?”

The hands were rough but warm. It was too vivid to be a dream. Rosé jumped out of her seat and ran to the mirror.

“Miss!”

She approached a mirror and leaned towards it until the tip of her nose touched the surface. She put both hands on her face and felt the skin, which was translucent and smooth.

Her long, straight, shining hair drooped down her back to the waist. She grabbed her chest with her two hands.

“Ah…”

Natalie was embarrassed watching Rosé from behind. You only needed to tuck a flower next to Rosé’s ear and her miss would look like a bonafide crazy street girl.

“Uhh…Miss Rosé?”

Natalie called out to her, but Rosé continued to mutter to herself like a madwoman.

“This can’t be…How…how could this…? This. It’s really me.”

The Rosé she saw in the mirror was the lovely and innocent Rosé Etoile before marrying Cassiax.

“Oh My God! It’s me! It’s really me, Natalie!”

Rosé patted, no, slapped her cheeks so hard to the point it made a crisp sound. Natalie, who had stopped watching her miss and had been tidying up the room, was so surprised she dropped a bed pillow she had been holding.

“What about Father? Is he still alive? What year is it?” Rosé enthusiastically asked Natalie.

“Tomorrow is your 17th birthday. Why are you acting in such a strange manner? Really, Miss.”

Natalie looked like she was going to cry out of exasperation.

Confused, Rosé held her head with her hands and walked up and down the room. The situation did not make any sense.

Is this a dream? Or did I go back in time? No way!

Suddenly, as if she had remembered something, Rosé searched the bed. She flipped over the blankets and pushed aside the pillows, scouring the floor, but she couldn’t find it.

Ah…then, maybe everything I experienced was a dream? But really? My death? Everything that happened was a dream?

As Rosé sat, confused, Natalie, who had noticed that Rosé had been searching for something, opened her mouth to ask.

“Perhaps…you were looking for this?”

Nataile held up a piece of black silk between her fingers.

“I found this when I was tidying up the pillows…”

Rosé’s felt goosebumps down her spine. She grabbed the silk piece from Natalie’s hand and inspected it with a terrified face.

This…

It was a piece of Cassiax’s sleeve that she had teared off when she fell from the tower. Even when she had been falling, she had tightly clenched it in her fist.

Throwing the piece of black cloth on the floor, she staggered and sat on the bed. She couldn’t believe this situation.

“Do…you want to call a doctor? Your face looks a little blue-”

Before Natalie finished speaking, Rosé ran out of the room.

“Ah..! Miss! Pajamas!”

Rosé ran through a long elegant hallway covered with red carpet.

“Miss?”

“Oh my!”

Two maids walking down the hall saw Rosé and made way for her. They turned to each other with a “what is going on with Miss?” look on their faces as she ran past them.

Small, white bare feet swept up the spiral golden staircase.

If she went down one floor, she would find the reception room where her father always drank tea at the end of the hallway. As she arrived at the first floor, and then approached the reception room, someone opened the door from the inside.

“Oh!”

Rosé bowed a bit and apologized to the one she almost ran into, a well-dressed middle-aged man who habitually took off his hat in response.

As Rosé entered the room, the man looked back at her, disconcerted.

Well, that…! For nobles to run around their mansions in ugly pajamas…He clicked his tongue once, put on his hat, and quickly exited the room.

In the reception room, Count Jared and Countess Audrey sat facing each other at a tea table. At the table, there was another teacup that appeared to be for the guest who had just left.

“Father!”

The Countess stared at her daughter with a dropped jaw as Rosé came running to them.

“What…! Oh. Good Heavens.”

Mrs. Audrey looked at her daughter wearing only…pajamas. She was so surprised that she almost lost her grip on her teacup, setting it down with a loud clack sound.

Rosé ran to Count Jared and embraced his neck.

“I think today’s morning greeting is a bit over the top, Rosé,” said the smiling Count Jared.

As if she had returned to being a young girl, Rosé rubbed her father’s beard on his jaw and chin. The smell of her father was mixed with the heavy scent of wood and ink.

“Rosé, you, seriously…”

Audrey placed her teacup on the table and began to scold her daughter. But Count Jared frowned at Audrey to stop.

“Really…It’s because of you that our daughter is still so childish.”

Audrey sighed and patted her mouth with a handkerchief.

Ignoring her mother’s comments, Rosé continued to touch her father’s thick, short neck.

“The neck is still attached. Father’s neck is still attached.”

“Well, where else would my neck be? Did you run away with it last night? Haha.”

He stroked Rosé’s head. Rosé buried her face in his chest and burst into tears. The last time she had seen her father was his severed head hanging by a rope in the capital square, a puddle of his blood on the ground.

The kids had thrown stones and people had spat on it.

The most respected aristocrat of the imperial citizens and the hero who had helped economically develop the Solstern Empire. Jared Etowar met a miserable fate.

Feeling that the front of his chest was hot and wet, the Count looked at Rosé’s face, only to see daughter’s face was a teary mess.

“Rosé? Is there something wrong?”

Faced with his eyes that expressed panic and concern, Rosé shook her head violently instead of voicing a reply. She bit her lip so as not to cry.

“Rosé, how long will you hang onto your father like a child?” As Audrey scolded her daughter, the door of the reception room opened and Natalie appeared.

“Miss!”

She rushed over with a red dress for Rosé to wear in her hands.

“The ones who brought the dress for tomorrow have been waiting for a while, Miss Rosé.”

As she was in front of the count and countess, Natalie straightened her neck and politely spoke.

Count Jared glanced at Natalie and indicated for her to come forward. Natalie quickly approached him and handed the dress to the Count.

The count slowly pulled up Rosé, draping the dress on his daughter’s shoulder.

“My daughter, I wonder how beautiful you will be in your dress. Go ahead and dress up nicely and show me.”

“She’s already 17 years old, but I don’t know if she can get married. If she acts like this tomorrow at the ball, I’m just going to throw myself into the lake. Because I won’t be able to lift my face in front of all the other wives.”

Countess Audrey elegantly raised her chin and fanned herself, revealing her long, elegant swan-like neck. Rosé, who adored this appearance of her mother, embraced her.

“Oh Gosh! What is with her today?”

Audrey was surprised, but she didn’t push away her daughter. She merely looked at her husband, blinking her beautiful widened eyes.

“Come, let’s go, Miss.”

It wasn’t until Natalie pulled Rosé away from her mother that she could be dragged out of the room. The Countess shook her head, laughing at the ridiculous scene.

As Rosé was leaving the room, the couple resumed their previous conversation, and their watchful voices echoed in her ears.

“I didn’t think Muriel, Marquis Montenegro’s daughter, would be chosen. Is it because of their small resistance against the imperial family last year?”

“It’s a pity. To have to send a daughter to a place like that, after raising her for so long.”

“How heartbroken must the marquis be? The rumors about that young emperor…”

“Though one shouldn’t believe those rumours until witnessing such things, it is true that it’s a very dangerous place.”

“The marquis had pleaded so desperately to you, couldn’t you put in a few words for him to the imperial family?”

Count Jared firmly shook his head.

“I could plead. But if it’s not the marquis, someone else will be picked. Who would want to send their daughter to such a place.”

“But have you seen the sallow face of the marquis lately? There are no comforting words we can give to him.”

The Montenegro Family did not have a strong relationship with the Etoiles, but Count Jared had always respected the marquis’s upright character in his heart.

It was a pity that the daughter of such a family was chosen to be sent to the north in the name of an alliance.

“And the marquis’s daughter is of a similar age as Rosé. How can we not know the feelings of the parents?”

“I’ll say this because it’s you, but I am a selfish person.” Count Jared opened his mouth with a bitter face.

“What do you mean by selfish?”

When Mrs Audrey asked for clarification, the count sighed, sweeping his dry face.

“When I heard the news, I was really relieved that the one sent to the north would not be our daughter Rosé.”

“Honey…what do you…!”

Countess Audrey then felt chills up her spine to what he said next.

“I did. Because when the alliance was established, it could have been anyone, even our daughter Rosé.”

Hearing those words, Audrey did not speak again about Montenegro. She tried to erase the broken heart of the marquis who had come to plead from her mind. The tea in her cup shook.

Just imagining Rosé being sent to the north brought a terribly dizzy head.

**

Rosé looked at the gown with cold eyes. She didn’t approach the dress, and just stared at it.

The pale violet gown spread like small waves. The shoulder line was decorated with small shiny gems instead of colorful ruffles or laces. It was beautiful, like the starlight falling in the light purple night sky.

But it only reminded her of horrible memories.

If I’ve really gone back to the past.

Then on her 17th birthday tomorrow, she would meet Cassiax while wearing this dress.

And then I’ll receive his marriage proposal.

Rosé’s body trembled at the thought.

That absolutely cannot happen!

“Miss! Please open the door!”

“Kwangkwang!!”

“Please Miss! If you continue like this without taking a sip of water all day, you’ll faint for sure!”

As Natalie shouted outside the door, Rosé turned her head and spoke in her direction from inside the bedroom.

“Leave me be, Natalie.”

“Are you sick? Should I call for a doctor?”

“No…no it’s not that. I just want to be alone for a bit.”

“Then I’ll leave this in front of the door. It’s bread and lamb soup, you should have a bite. Please.”

Natalie motioned for a maid to leave the tray of food at the door. Worried about Rosé, she lingered near the bedroom for awhile longer.

Exactly why has she been like this the entire day?

Miss Rosé had muttered some strange things in the morning, and after looking at the dress for the ball, had run back to her room without so much as touching it.

The Prince His Majesty will be coming tomorrow. Is she like this because she’s nervous about that?

Natalie sighed and left.

Rosé wandered around the bedroom anxiously, like a rabbit stuck in a trap.

Why did she come back the day before the prince’s marriage proposal? If she had the time, she could have come up with a better way to avoid him.

She had to come back at a time when she had already confessed to Cassiax. They had in fact danced several times together, gazing and each other with affection throughout. She had already exchanged whispers of love with the prince several times.

All that was left was his marriage proposal.

How could she naturally avoid his proposal in this situation?

First, she had to somehow stop him from saying the word “marriage.”

Should she pretend to be crazy? Or have a disease? Follow her brother Hans and run away to a foreign country?

No no no.

Rosé shook her head hard. Those were just temporary solutions.

What Cassiax wanted to obtain through this marriage was the Etoile family, not Rosé. She was just bait for fishing in the Etoile family.

I’ve got to stay focused. This is my last God-given chance. Don’t make a mistake this time! You can’t lose your family again.

Rosé calmly recalled the time she spent in the imperial family. It was full of painful memories, but within her experiences lay the key to solving her dilemma.

She anxiously paced the room. Then, her feet suddenly stopped as though they were nailed to the ground. Some brilliant plan seemed to form in her mind as her purple eyes sparkled.

Maxim Lankert!

This name popped up in her mind.

The Emperor of Helavant, the land of the northern barbarians. The only man who could make Cassiax anxious.

This emperor had never made an official appearance, and rumors about him in the Solstern Empire only grew wilder as time passed.

That he was half wolf and half a devil. That he was a monster who made clothes from human skin.

Rosé recalled some faint memories she had of him.

That’s right. At this time in my last life, while I was ecstatic about Cassiax’s proposal, Muriel had been sent to the north as his bride.

But Lady Muriel had died even before she arrived at Helavant. Fearful and frightened, she had drunk poison while in the wagon and committed suicide.

She remembered the serious conversation she had overheard her parents sharing in the reception room. The man she had met at the door was certainly Marquis Montenegro, Lady Muriel’s father.

And there was one more thing. A returned corpse had revealed bite marks of a beast.

Lady Ariela!

When her corpse, instead of the self-determined Lady Muriel’s, had been sent to the Solstern Empire, the royal family and citizens were shocked and appalled.

It was an insulting act that almost destroyed the alliance between the two empires, and at that time, Cassiax became extremely sensitive. Unlike the emperor, he had taken it as a war notice from Maxim Lankert.

And it was at that time that the cold war between Cassiax and her father began.

Rosé held the beautiful purple dress that she wore the day Cassia proposed to her in her hands.

There was no choice. You have to be willing to die to survive!

After making some decisions, her heart was at ease.

**

In the center of the rose garden, a gigantic marble fountain spouted water that seemed to fly into the sky. The musicians set a cherry atmosphere for dancing and the clowns performed brilliant stunts. In the garden, red roses were scattered by the wind, and noble ladies and gentlemen walked in groups.

“The party is so beautiful.”

“I truly appreciate you coming today.”

“Rosé will have to meet a good partner. I heard the Prince His Majesty is attending the ball?”

“Oh dear, but she’s still so spoiled and unmannered that I’m ashamed. Hohoho.”

Countess Audrey, the social butterfly, made pleasant talk as she waded through the guests like a fish in water.

As the Countess of the Etoile family, she gracefully hosted her daughter’s birthday ball.

**

“Miss, the ladies have arrived”

Rosé sat back and looked in the mirror.

“Ladies…?”

The maid was embarrassed when Rosé asked for clarification on who had come.

Yes? Yes, the ladies. Err…The Lady Eliza and Lady Tra-”

“Ah, right. Escort them in.”

**

After the maid bowed and left to escort the guests inside, Rosé recalled the two names that she hadn’t heard in a long time.

Eliza and Tracy.

Until she got married and entered the palace, she had spent time with them like they were her sisters.

She enjoyed teatime with them every day, and the three were close enough to know small details about one another. Those two had been precious friends who helped her survive the lonely imperial life shortly after she married.

At least, she had thought so, until her family’s downfall. When her father passed away and her brother Hans was reported as missing at sea, they completely turned on Rosé.

And one day, she met Eliza and Tracy again in the palace. But now, as Sasha’s companions, they had stood behind Sasha.

Giggling, Eliza and Tracy entered Rosé’s room with smiles.

“Rosé, Happy Birthday.”

“Happy Birthday, my love.”

The two kissed her cheeks in celebration, one on each side.

Rosé lowered her eyes slightly and quietly received their loud birthday wishes.

Though they had a friendship intimate enough to have been called sisters, their actions now looked frivolous. Rosé felt a little sick at the sight.

Helen?

Rosé’s eyes shined as she noticed someone standing at the door. Having followed Eliza and Tracy, Helen stood quietly behind them.

Knowing Rosé had seen her, she smiled shyly and spoke in a quiet voice.

“Happy Birthday.”

Rosé pulled away from Eliza and Tracy and happily approached her.

“Thank you so much for coming, Helen.”

When she lost her family members, couldn’t save her family house from being destroyed, she had lost everything. Only Helen had visited her at the royal palace. When all the other aristocrats avoided Rosé, trying to stay on the good side of the imperial family, only Helen had visited her in the end.

Helen prayed with Rosé for her father to be able to live the day the count was beheaded, and she hugged the crying Rosé when it was reported that Hans was missing.

Perhaps only Helen cried for her when she fell from the tower and died.

Helen, who looked timid and always stepped back, was the most courageous woman Rosé had known. As Rosé embraced Helen’s shoulder, Helen looked flustered and didn’t seem to know what to do.

She was a shadowy existence that seemed invisible among the ladies.

“Ah. Hans Oppa brought these blue diamond earrings from Porpottia. They don’t look good with my red hair, but it’ll look pretty with Helen’s blonde hair.”2

Rosé lied to Helen.

It’s not that the earrings looked bad on her. Rosé actually avoided wearing those earrings because they were too beautiful and precious to put on.

As Rosé pulled Helen’s hand and brought her to the dressing table, Eliza and Tracy revealed ugly expressions.

“Oh my goodness!”

“Wow!”

When she opened the white velvet box, Eliza and Tracy’s eyes seemed to pop out as they looked at the earrings that looked like drops of water.

Though they were noble ladies and had a number of fine gems, this was the first time they had seen such a brilliant blue.

Even blue diamonds were rarely produced in Porpottia, which was famous for producing high quality jewelry.

Moreover, it held a special meaning that Hans Etoile had brought this gem.

Rosé knew for a long time that these three people like Hans.

Eliza and Tracy always actively asked about Hans, and Helen would quietly blush just by listening to Hans’s name.

“Look at that. I knew it would look good on you.”

Rosé smiled at Helen, who seemed to be struggling whether to accept the earrings Rosé was giving her.

“But still, these earrings were something Sir Hans brought for you, Rosé…I couldn’t possibly take it…”

“Even better things than these earrings aren’t a waste on you, Helen. After all, I’m giving these to my favorite friend. I hope Hans gets to see Helen’s beautiful appearance today.”

Helen blushed, and Eliza and Tracy’s faces darkened as they saw this scene.

“I hope Hans oppa directly presents a gift to Helen next time. You never know, maybe Helen will become my sister-in-law~~”

Rosé looked at Helen and smiled widely. At the word “sister-in-law,” Helen looked as if she was on the verge of fainting.

Clap clap!

Natalie suddenly appeared, and the ambiguous mood in the room lifted.

“I knew it would be like this. Only our Miss Rosé is not ready. All the other ladies are so beautiful today. I’m so lucky to see what kinds of great men these angels will end up with.”3

Eliza and Tracy laughed and smiled, as if they had put on gentle masks on their hard faces. They sat Rosé on a chair and held hair combs.

“Okay. Rosé. How long did you anticipate seeing His Highness Lord Cassiax today? I’ll decorate your hair perfectly and beautifully,” Eliza said.

“Who knows? Perhaps you’ll receive a marriage proposal from the Crown Prince? Hohoho,” Tracy followed.

“That piece of crap.”

At Rosé’s words, Tracy dropped the comb she had been holding in shock.

The room became quiet again.

“Ro-Rosé? What did you just say…”

Tracy asked, doubting her ears, and Natalie stepped up to shoo the ladies outside.

“Now, now. We can’t have our Miss Rosé looking any worse than the other beautiful ladies. We really need to get her ready for the party now, so please wait outside.”

As the other maids stepped into the room, Eliza and Tracy smiled back as they left.

“Alright. We’ll go out and look for Lady Muriel. She’s been so depressed lately that her face is a total mess.”

“Oh my gosh. And who wouldn’t be? If I were told to go to Helavant, I would have already died of a heart attack.”

“Stop it. Who would listen to you then. We all know that. God, please look over and save poor Muriel’s soul~~”

As Tracy pretended to pray, Eliza grinned and took Tracy out of the room, giggling. Helen quietly followed behind them.

While the maids were busy dressing up and grooming her hair, Rosé drifted off into her own thoughts.

Had she misjudged how dangerous of an adventure it would be to go to the north? Her thoughts became complicated.

“Good heavens! I should’ve tipped the dressmaker’s shop more. For one to be this beautiful…!”

Hearing Natalie’s high praises, Rosé looked at herself in the mirror.

The purple dress was innocent and beautiful, appearing as if it existed only for her.

I feel like a moron!

To wear a dress like this, have her hair styled, and smile the most lovely smile in the world for a man like Cassiax, she thought it was so stupid she gave a hollow laugh.

**

The setting sun was a red carpet.

The noble’s carriages flocked to the front of the grand Etoile Castle, red roses wrapped around its walls.

The golden imperial carriage arrived, escorted by guards dressed in white, adding solemnity to the splendor of the ball and creating a rare scene.

“His Highness the Crown Prince has arrived!”

***