A promise made between the former emperor, my father, and the Duchess-to-be, the successor of Alzbeit. The firstborn to the imperial line, the second to the line of Alzbeit.
It was a pact established between Alzbeit and the Imperial Family.
Therefore, Charlize, as the successor of Alzbeit, could not become a member of the imperial family.
Unless, of course, she cast Alzbeit aside herself.
‘But I’m not even the real Charlize right now.’
I had no loyalty to maintain toward Alzbeit. Even so, this condition was ludicrous.
It was truly ridiculous. I was trying to borrow money so I wouldn’t have to break off my engagement, yet if I changed my registry, what would happen to my status?
“Let me ask you one thing. If I were to become a member of the imperial family, what would you have me do?”
“I hadn’t thought about that.”
Loxidian pondered for a moment, then spoke firmly.
“Ah, first, break it off with that guy I don’t like. I’ll find you a much more impressive husband for your next one—”
“I decline.”
At my flat refusal, Loxidian’s face twisted in annoyance.
“What do you like about that dried-up stick that you’re still chasing after him?”
“Sorry, but whether I’m chasing a dried-up stick or a snowman, you haven’t helped me with a single thing, have you, Oppa?”
“Why would I help? I don’t like that guy.”
Did the tyrant hate Askin in the book?
Askin was an upright man, the type easily capable of earning someone’s hatred. In the original story, the two only clashed after Charlize had already died, so I wasn’t sure. I supposed he must have displeased the tyrant at some point.
Just as I was about to give up, figuring that borrowing money from this brother was a lost cause:
“Well. Fine. If you don’t like that condition, how about this? But this is the last one.”
A lifeline was tossed right in front of me.
“……What is it?”
Instead of grabbing the rope, I stared at it, filled with suspicion.
“News that you’ve returned from your travels has spread all over the capital. They’ll be calling you to various events soon. Ah, have they called you already?”
“So?”
I tilted my head, thinking of the gatherings of those hedonistic nobles. My eyes were guarded. What absurd condition was he going to demand this time?
“At every event you attend from now on, make a scene even bigger than you ever have before. I’m saying, be a menace.”
The first condition had been jarring, but this one was simply baffling. What kind of scheme was he hiding behind this?
“Of course, since you’re back, you probably intended to do as you pleased just like always. I’m just telling you to turn up the volume on that scale.”
Thinking about it coolly, this wasn’t a difficult condition. Since Charlize was already a troublemaker, couldn’t I just act it out a little more intensely? Between the path of breaking off the engagement and dying immediately versus holding out for a year, this amount of acting wasn’t a tall order.
But why, exactly?
“What are you plotting?”
“I’m not plotting anything.”
“……Really?”
I gripped my necklace tightly. Perhaps because of how that looked, a flicker of fleeting embarrassment crossed Loxidian’s expression.
Hmm? I hadn’t intended to use this; did it look like a threat?
The tyrant cleared his throat and explained, his expression softening slightly.
“You need to gain even more notoriety. That way, my own insane behavior will be buried.”
“Huh?”
“Even just looking at today, no matter how much people are told to keep their mouths shut… it’s bound to leak out.”
Loxidian gestured around the space. He wasn’t entirely wrong. It couldn’t be hidden forever. Still, his proposal was absurd. Besides, I was in a situation where I couldn’t afford to be caught not being Charlize.
‘……I was planning to raise Charlize’s reputation without it being too obvious.’
I had intended to salvage things because I didn’t want to die young due to karma!
If it came to this, did I have to sacrifice my reputation? My mind raced, calculating the cost.
The scales tipped toward accepting my brother’s terms.
First, I needed money. Only then could I keep my lies buried, prevent the engagement from shattering, and stave off my own death.
“Fine. I accept.”
The tyrant flashed a mischievous smile.
“Good.”
For some reason, that expression felt like an inscrutable trap. I felt a sudden, sharp unease, as if I had walked into a tiger’s den of my own volition.
* * *
Charlize left.
Just as he had spirited her away, Noah personally escorted her back to her room at the Alzbeit mansion.
“I am truly sorry for my rudeness earlier.”
As he returned, Noah quietly apologized.
Part of him had wondered if Charlize’s temperament might lead her to slap his cheek—and he had been prepared to accept the blow if it came.
Instead, Charlize merely shrugged, her expression indifferent.
“It’s fine.”
Noah looked at her, surprised.
“You brought me here for my brother’s sake, didn’t you? He’s lucky to have a retainer as loyal as you, Sir.”
Their eyes met for a fleeting second.
Charlize possessed a beauty so profound that describing it as a divine gift would be no exaggeration. It was a grace only obscured by the malice she wore.
“……Still, I apologize for my lack of decorum.”
“I told you, it’s fine.”
Charlize offered a small, sudden smile.
“If you’re truly sorry, help me out sometime.”
Watching the corners of her eyes curve, Noah slowly lowered his gaze.
For a moment, he felt a chill, as if the woman he had held in his arms had gripped his very heart. He felt as though he had nearly pledged to do her bidding, unaware of how it had happened.
It was the first time Noah had seen Charlize wear a simple, human smile.
Stripped of the malice she usually carried like a shroud, the expression left him utterly bewildered.
After leaving Charlize behind, Noah returned to the side of his sovereign, Loxidian.
Loxidian sat lazily in an armchair in his office, lost in thought. A satisfied smirk, like a predator that had successfully cornered its prey, lingered on his strikingly handsome face.
“Your Majesty.”
“You’re back?”
Loxidian replied without looking up. His voice was calm, despite the fact that he had known Noah was there the moment he entered.
“Why did you make such an offer to the Duchess?”
Noah finally voiced the question that had gnawed at him since the conference room. Hesitation had held his tongue earlier, but curiosity and doubt had finally won out.
“Ha, what is this? Since when does my adjutant concern himself with another’s affairs?”
“……She is your family, isn’t she?”
Even as he said it, Noah felt the answer was insufficient. He was, after all, the same man who, two weeks ago, had felt relieved that Charlize was nowhere near the capital.
“My adjutant asks for an answer, only to spout nonsense.”
“…….”
“She is my family. Who else would she be?”
“…….”
“Why? Are you envious?”
Loxidian’s tone was flippant, bordering on crude for an emperor, yet the weight of his voice and the authority on his face remained impossible to ignore.
Noah slowly met his gaze.
Loxidian scanned Noah’s face thoroughly before his lips curled into that signature, mischievous smile.
“She’s pretty, isn’t she?”
“…….”
“Of course she is. She’s my younger sister.”
Affection seeped through the lightness of his voice. But then, Loxidian’s eyes sharpened, turning as cold and lethal as a predator’s.
“I cannot keep leaving her in the hands of the filthy Alzbeit.”
Tap. Loxidian tapped his armrest.
Though the world labeled him a tyrant—a man plagued by a madness he could not control—he was, in truth, a terrifyingly wise and calculating emperor.
“You remember the incident that forced her out of the country, don’t you?”
“Yes.”
18.
“Because of that incident, Alzbeit tried to abandon her once.”
His lovely, foolish younger sister seemed to believe that her maternal grandfather cherished her beyond measure.
But Loxidian knew all too well just how greedy and inhumane the Duke Alzbeit truly was.
“I will keep watching. If she commits even greater acts of wickedness or violence here, the Duke will eventually abandon her. He will throw her away. To somewhere useful.”
Loxidian had misunderstood the situation entirely. He assumed that when Charlize came to borrow money, Duke Alzbeit’s patience had finally hit rock bottom. Had he known exactly where Charlize was spending her coin, his perspective might have shifted, but he remained in the dark.
“She’ll cause a disaster she can’t clean up.”
“Then, how do you intend to act the moment the Duchess-To-Be creates such a mess?”
“I’ll have to go pick her up. She’s my sister, isn’t she?”
Loxidian rested his chin in his hand, a mischievous, languid smile playing on his lips.
“I must look forward to the day my foolish sister restores the name of the Imperial family.”
Loxidian’s laughter tapered off, replaced by a slight frown.
“And while I’m at it, I should get rid of that husk of a man, Remut.”
Noah, who had been watching the scene unfold, let out a soft sigh.
“Duke Remut has done nothing wrong. Isn’t it just that Your Majesty is annoyed because the Duke refuses to accept the Duchess-To-Be?”
“That’s not it! I just don’t like him. He doesn’t suit my stupid sister.”
“Yes, yes.”
Loxidian’s frown deepened.
“Can’t that husk of a bastard Remut just stop following her around? What makes him so high and mighty that he rejects her every time? It’s infuriating.”