“I don’t like it.”

“Think about it carefully. Do you want to live behind your brother all your life when you are much smarter than him?”

“… ”

“If you join our faction, we will guarantee you the status of a duke. Isn’t it a reasonable deal? You get the duke status, and we get the intelligence we want.”

“… Let me think about it. ”

When the anti-emperor noble factions discovered that I violently resisted when the successor of my family was decided, they tried to strike a deal with me behind the scenes. It was not a bad deal. Under the deal they could collect intelligence about the pro-emperor factions when they hired a son of the noble family like me, and I could get the status of a duke in return.

But it was also a very dangerous deal. The current emperor was not a doormat that they could deal with easily, and my father, who was not as a genius as me, was regarded as a very smart noble. That’s why I delayed the decision to join the nobles factions and walked a tightrope.

“Tia.”

Since I heard that the prince was going down to the estate of the Monique family, I have had no reply from Tia. Although I was consumed by a gloomy foreboding, I didn’t know what to do.

My mother and elder brother desperately stopped me from going down to the estate. I really wanted to cut them with a sword. If it wasn’t for my father who strongly dissuaded me, I might have cut them and ran away.

One day when I couldn’t calm down with nervousness, I heard that Tia had returned to the capital. Of course, I thought she would contact me in a few days.

But even after one week passed she didn’t send me a letter, let alone visit me.

Initially I thought she might be sick, but given the rumor that she took the initiative to put out the fire, she was obviously not sick. I couldn’t stand it anymore, so I sent her a letter, but I received no reply from her. In the letter, I carefully asked if she was busy, but she didn’t reply.

My heart was pounding nervously.

‘What happened, my lady? Why aren’t you coming to see me? You always thought of me first. You needed me. I was everything to you. But why are you not even replying? Did you forsake me? Do you no longer need me? Are you trying to leave me? Is that what you want, Tia? ‘

The letter from her father around that time was the last straw. Refrain from meeting her? The crown prince’s fiancee? Tia was already everything to me. She was my life.

‘Oh, bull**! I don’t care.’

As he was my lady’s father, I tried to treat him to the best I could. For the sake of my lady who had to be absolutely loyal to the emperor as a daughter of the Monique family, I tried to keep a low profile and stay on the side of the pro-emperor factions, but I changed my mind.

‘I will break the Monique family.’

As she was left alone as a result, it would be easier for me to take her with me.

In fact, I didn’t like her father because she had to share her blind obsession with him and me.

“I will join your nobles faction!”

“Good! You will not regret it. ”

So, I joined the noble family factions, smiling brightly at the welcoming people.

‘Wait a little more, my lady. I’m getting ready to bring you little by little. ‘

One day when I started collecting information on the pro-emperor factions by stealing my father’s papers little by little, my young lady, who I had been waiting for earnestly, visited me.

At first, I thought I was dreaming, but when I heard her calling me calmly, I had some hope she didn’t yet leave me.

When I finally realized that she was indeed my lady and reached out, my heart sank when I saw her stepping back. As soon as Tia extended her hand to grab my stiff hand, I realized that the woman standing before me was my lady, but at the same time, she was not my lady anymore.

The deep darkness, madness, and blind obsession in her golden eyes, which always fascinated me, had disappeared. It didn’t disappear completely, but it was not as strong as I remembered. What happened to her? How come she changed so much? Who are you, Tia? You are not the same girl that I used to know.

“Tia, are you sure you are Tia? Huh? Are you the same lady I used to know?”

“Yes.”

“Tia.”

“Yes, Allen.”

“Tia, Tia, Tia…”

As I was afraid to see her familiar but strange look, I hugged her tightly. I called her name over and over again. This was the girl who used to look at me blindly, with obsessive golden eyes and a dazzling darkness in them.

However, I clearly realized that the girl I loved as well as the girl who was only looking at me was gone, and that I would never see that type of girl anymore.

Suddenly, I felt lonely. I really missed her. I was sad even though I held her tight. Tears flowed from my eyes, which had never been wet with tears before.

“Sorry, Tia. Are you surprised? ”

Although the girl I used to love was gone, the girl in front of me was also my lady. Even if I could no longer find her golden eyes that fascinated me, she still had everything I cherished. Namely, her charming smile, calm and quiet voice, long silvery hair that fell down her back, and her golden eyes that were no longer maddened, but warm.

When I met her father in front of Tia’s house, I deliberately called her pet name. At that moment, he hardened his face. As he clearly understood that I did not care about his warning, he would do anything to separate Tia and me.

But I could never let Tia go. She was the only girl that I could fall in love with.

‘What should I do, my lady? I found you so lovely. What should I do, Tia? Now, your pure look makes me thrilled. Should I ruin your life or save you from it?’

Your smile made me so thrilled that I want to ruin your life.

But we came too far for me to keep you.

‘What should I do now, Tia? What should I do, my lady?’

“Hi, Allendis. I heard you joined the government. Congratulations!”

One winter day, when I would observe my seventeenth birthday in three months, I became a public servant. It was not that difficult. Of course, the pro-emperor factions welcomed my joining the government. The noble factions opposed my decision on the surface, but welcomed it privately.

Because I haven’t decided what to do yet, I was sticking around my young lady who joined the knights. Whenever I saw her hanging out with Carsein, that red-haired fellow, I raged with anger, but fortunately, she didn’t like him. I would be very mad if she got interested in him.

I was agonized about what to do about her several times a day.

‘Can I just go and kidnap her?’

Whenever I saw Carsein stroking her silver hair, I wanted to cut off his hand.

‘How can he dare touch her hair? She is mine, my one and only lady.’

Even though he noticed rising anger in my eyes, Carsein didn’t care at all.

I wanted to get rid of him immediately, but I couldn’t reveal my feelings in front of my lady.

I barely controlled my raging anger.

I still needed him because I was not strong enough to keep the crown prince at bay by myself, who was holding her in the name of his fiancee. I felt it was really regrettable, but I had nothing to do except harass him sometimes, while calming down my frustration.

“Have you heard the rumor? There are rumors that Carsein, the second son of Duke Lars, is dating the daughter of the Monique family. I can’t believe how she could be so reckless to act like that.’

“What did you say?”

“Didn’t you know it yet? Such rumors are getting around everywhere now.”