“Yet when it comes to your actual family, you can’t say a single word.”

That was why Juella tormented Camilla even more. She’d needle her for no reason, toss out snide remarks, and never stop getting into scuffles with her.

“Maybe I wasn’t picking a fight with you. Maybe I was picking one with myself.”

All the times she’d openly sneered at Camilla and mocked her—maybe it had all been sneers and mockery thrown at herself.

Muttering in bitter self-deprecation, Juella suddenly stopped and stared straight at Camilla. Then she spat out a single line.

“You’re so damn annoying.”

“...Hey. That’s my line.”

There’s a limit to how shameless you can be. Who’s calling who annoying right now?

Whether or not Camilla’s disbelief showed plainly on her face, Juella stubbornly kept going.

“You got cool all by yourself.”

What is this secondhand embarrassment of a line? I mean, it’s true I’m kind of cool, but—out of nowhere, you—

“That’s why you’re even more annoying.”

Camilla let out another incredulous laugh.

“I think you’re annoying too.”

“I know.”

Juella brushed dust off herself and stood.

Had she just wanted to tell someone what situation she was in? Her expression looked lighter than it had a moment ago.

“My father told me to get on your good side, so I’m acting friendly, but I know how ridiculous I look, okay? It’s not like I’m doing this because I want to, so just bear with me.”

She tossed the words out primly, then swept right past Camilla.

“Unreal.”

You really know how to leave someone with nothing to say.

“We seriously don’t match.”

It was absurd, but for some reason, she wasn’t angry like usual.

Annoyingly enough, she understood every bit of it.

“Tsk.”

Watching Juella disappear, Camilla gave a small shake of her head. 𝒇𝙧𝙚𝓮𝔀𝓮𝒃𝙣𝓸𝒗𝒆𝒍.𝙘𝒐𝒎

*****

“A reply has arrived from Lady Sorpel.”

“Has it?”

Prince Abihel tore open the letter the attendant offered and read it at once. He’d started with a faint smile as he opened it—then his expression hardened quickly.

“How ridiculous.”

As the sound of his tongue clicking spilled out again and again, the attendant realized his master was in a foul mood and quietly withdrew.

Left alone in the room, Prince Abihel let his displeasure show more openly.

“She used to chase after me back then.”

So now that her “value” had risen, she was putting on airs?

It was true her circumstances had changed drastically, but that didn’t mean he had any intention of continuing to tolerate refusals this brazen.

“I wasn’t even interested in the first place.”

At first, it had been his mother’s order.

He’d nodded, reluctantly, at the command to make Camilla Sorpel his ally, but he hadn’t liked it.

Even now, remembering the gloomy way she used to hover around him made him irritated.

If she hadn’t been from a ducal house, he wouldn’t have even bothered greeting her.

“She really did change a lot.”

But the Camilla he’d met not long ago—there hadn’t been a trace of her former self. Even her looks had seemed different.

Of course, she’d always been striking, undeniably. But back then, his heart hadn’t moved at all. Just facing her had felt like a burden.

“Why was I like that then?”

Even he thought he’d felt an excessive level of aversion. And yet now, there was none of that at all.

“And on top of that...”

Crown Prince Edsen. For the first time, his brother had reacted to Abihel’s movements.

Is this your idea?

What do you mean?

Mother seems to be pushing your marriage to her. Dragging Camilla Sorpel into this—was that your idea?

The man who usually ignored him no matter what he did, no matter what action he took, had shown hostility for the first time.

Honestly, it shocked him. And a strange thrill rose up inside him.

The moment he realized that messing with Camilla Sorpel got under his brother’s skin, this whole thing became interesting.

A thought that had started lightly had turned real.

“But...”

The problem was her.

She kept replying to his letters requesting a ~Nоvеl𝕚ght~ meeting with refusals.

And because of the Duke of Sorpel, he couldn’t push aggressively. There was nothing to gain from provoking that man’s temper.

“I’ll have to go in person.”

That much sincerity was appropriate, wasn’t it?

Now that she even had the “saintess” label attached to her value, he was more than willing to expend that level of effort to make her his.

If he could truly bring her to his side, the benefits would be enormous.

“I don’t think that’s a very good idea.”

“......!”

A low, unfamiliar male voice spoke from somewhere.

Startled, Abihel snapped his head up—only to come face-to-face with a man in a gray mask, who he had no idea how long had been there.

Standing by the window and looking down at him, the stranger wore a deep smile.

The moment Abihel saw that smile, goosebumps crawled over his entire body.

“I’d recommend you not pull that cord.”

Abihel’s hand, which had been inching toward the bell-pull, froze. Cold sweat ran down his back.

If he’d infiltrated this deep into the imperial castle, he wasn’t ordinary.

There was no need to ask who he was. He was clearly here to harm him.

“I came because I received a commission.”

Just as expected—the answer he’d anticipated.

Who? Who would commission his assassination?

My brother?

Or someone else aligned with his brother’s faction?

Prince Abihel took a step back, eyes filled with wary tension.

He couldn’t even shout. The man’s sword would pierce his heart faster.

“The client had only one request. To deliver a warning.”

“A warning? What—”

“Camilla Sorpel.”

“Camilla?”

As Abihel voiced his confusion, he hurried another step back. The man was striding toward him.

“Don’t touch her.”

“......!”

“If you keep sticking your nose in, it won’t end with a simple warning like today.”

The phrase “sticking your nose in” stabbed into his ears with particular force.

Abihel swallowed without meaning to.

“So you really were sent by my brother.”

He was sure of it. Coming all this way just to warn him not to touch Camilla Sorpel—who else would do that but his brother?

“Not exactly... though it seems His Highness the Crown Prince is quite interested in her as well.”

As if Abihel’s question displeased him, the man’s smile turned sharp and vile.

“I already have bastards everywhere I look, getting in my way. And now it’s brothers raising hell together.”

He muttered under his breath and stepped closer. When he came right up to him, he leaned in even more.

Abihel swallowed again, still unable to make a single move.

“The client was—”

Was he actually going to tell him who had ordered it?

“It was me.”

“...What?”

At that answer, Prince Abihel couldn’t help blurting it back out.

What the hell was this man saying? The client was himself?

“If you’d like to see me again, you’re welcome to ignore the warning I gave you. Next time, I’ll even take off this mask for you.”

After a brief pause, the man drove the dagger in his hand straight into the wall.

The blade sank into the solid wall as easily as if it were pudding.

Flinching, trembling, Abihel heard the man’s low voice by his ear.

“I’m more than willing to show my face to someone who’s about to die.”

With that, the man stepped back and gave him a very polite bow.

But the sight only made Abihel shrink further.

“Then I hope we never meet again.”

Whether it was magic or something else, the man vanished in an instant.

Thud.

Prince Abihel collapsed onto the floor. He couldn’t even think to call anyone.

His gaze stayed pinned to the dagger buried in the wall.

Shiver.

His body began trembling again.

*****

“What’s with the doll?”

As Chris stepped into the office, he was about to greet Camilla—then stopped short.

There was an unfamiliar object sitting on the desk in front of her.

A small teddy bear.

“I got it as a gift.”

The gift she’d received at the gathering Juella hosted was this teddy bear.

Juella had said she made them herself, and handed one out to everyone who attended.

“But why did you bring the doll with you?”

Even if she’d received it as a gift, she wasn’t the type to carry a doll around.

“Well?”

Camilla turned the teddy bear so Chris could get a good look. The doll’s bead-like eyes stared straight at him.

“...It’s cute.”

“That’s all?”

What kind of answer did you want?

Chris adjusted his glasses and examined it more closely.

But he didn’t feel anything particularly special. If there was a difference from a cheap teddy bear...

“The doll’s clothes are very ornate.”

“Right. The clothes are ornate, aren’t they?”

With a faint smile, Camilla stared at the teddy bear again, unblinking.

A moment later, she set it down and rose.

“I’m going out for a bit.”

“Where are you going?”

She hesitated, then answered a beat late.

“...A friend’s house.”

“We’ve arrived, my lady.”

“Mm.”

Stepping down from the carriage, Camilla quickly swept her gaze around.

This was Count Bakes’s estate—Juella’s family home.

“Hm?”

Just then, she spotted a group of people rushing in through the entrance, swarming into the estate.

They looked urgent, heading straight inside without pause.

A meaningful smile surfaced on Camilla’s lips as she watched them go.

*****

“Where’s Juella?”

“She’s in her room.”

“Is she sewing again?”

“Most likely...”

“Tsk.”

With a deeply displeased scowl, Count Bakes clicked his tongue again and again. The disgust for Juella dripped off the end of every word.

“That isn’t a sane thing to do. I went out of my way to set up an occasion for her to win favor, and she makes dolls as gifts instead?”

He’d only heard today about what happened at the gathering Juella hosted recently, and he’d returned home immediately.

He already knew the girl lacked sense, but to think she’d hand something like that out as a “gift.”

“Pathetic beyond words.”