The odour of alcohol was strong. Kallen[1] noticed the wretched state Gilbert’s bedroom was in and clicked his tongue. Shattered glass scattered across the floor, fresh blood on the walls. He knew it wasn’t Gilbert’s blood.

He always acted like this when he was angry. He made the servants the target of his murderous rage.

Since Kallen considered himself to be Gilbert’s hands and feet, Kallen was the one required to clean up after him.

“I told you not to take it too easy.”

Kallen sat down with a sigh, watching as Gilbert gritted his teeth.

“Shut up.”

Kallen knew the reason why he was mad. He also understood that there was no solution to this problem unless Gilbert changed his mind.

In high society, Maevia Morgana was a famous figure.

There was nothing she was bad at, and Maevia was also Marquis Morgana’s pride and joy. She was good at socialising too.

No matter what she said or did, there was no one as beautiful as Maevia.

Maevia’s beauty was fatal and deadly; she was clearly loved by the gods.

Waist-length hair that shone like the most delicate of flowers, as if symbolising spring itself. You could feel it.

Her eyes were similar to the dazzling light of dawn.

Kallen felt notably wary of her. She was so skilled at enchanting people that they believed she was the goddess of spring.

The nobles were enamoured with Maevia Morgana.

But that was also because they were too scared to hate her.

Maevia was good at smiling. She had a talent for getting into people’s hearts with her gracious smile and soothing voice.

The story about how Maevia was capable of making the crown prince shave his head with her words alone even frightened the nobles of neighbouring countries.

The problem was that the prince had yet to come to his senses.

That wasn’t all. Every year, Maevia would commit another crazy act.

Once, she kicked the count who had tried to hook up with Charlie Morgoz’s sister and dropped him into the river. The fact that she laughed as she watched him attempt to survive made him doubt her even more.

But that wasn’t the scariest thing about her.

After all of that, she remained unscathed. That meant no one took revenge on her.

No, she was too popular for people to dare to retaliate.

As time went on, the intensity of the things she did increased.

For some time, rumours spread around that Maevia paid a large sum of money to buy a shut down quarry. Though it was not as big as the northern territory, it was still quite spacious and people were forbidden from entering it. That was because multiple beasts were occupying the area, and no one was able to get anywhere near the land.

It wasn’t a cheap place to buy, so Maevia had purchased it just to show off her wealth.

Without a doubt, she was an outstanding person. She carried a distinguished family on her back yet still had enough guts to act however she wanted.

When Gilbert came to the capital with a marriage contract, Kallen had warned him,

She’s not just any crazy lady, she’s a crazy lady that everyone adores.

But Gilbert ignored him. That was because, so far, there hadn’t been a woman who had dared to reject him.

He expected Maevia to also act all blushy and flustered when she saw him.

“Let’s clean up the room first. What a sight.”

Kallen glanced at the servants from far away and they wavered. They looked visibly scared.

Gilbert, who had always terrorized the servants, started drinking. He remembered what his adoptive father said after throwing him the contract written by his ancestors.

– Take care of it.

Aedis Kallakis was a prideful and self-righteous man.

But no one was able to defy him.

It had always been like that, and nothing would change in the future.

Gilbert heard that the previous Grand Duke passed down the noble title to Aedis by claiming he was a collateral relative. But that was a story without proof.

He didn’t believe the words of the Grand Duke’s ancestor.

Everyone knew that Aedis didn’t have a single drop of Kallakis blood flowing through him.

But there was no liege who didn’t fear him. They feared him to the point that they didn’t even try to reach out to him for the purpose of greed.

‘Maybe he’s not human.’

They thought the same thing as Gilbert did.

‘It’s already frightening enough to imagine what he could be.’

He didn’t expect anything from his adopted son. All he did was sit his high horse and look down on Gilbert.

Once, he had even tried to change that inhumane look to resemble some kind of affection.

But that was all in vain.

The only time Aedis Kallakis showed the slightest of affection was when he was dealing with Rahen. It was only obvious how pathetic his adoptive father would find him if he was unable to take care of the contract.

Even the bite of a predator without teeth would hurt.

He was planning to speak to her nicely and smoothly inherit the title, but that woman ruined everything.

She smiled innocently as she treated him like a fool.

When Maevia’s face came to his mind, the anger Gilbert tried to suppress suddenly exploded.

He threw the bottle he had been drinking from and yelled,

“If it hadn’t been because of that woman! It’s all that bitch’s fault!”

He didn’t like her from the very beginning.

She was a beautiful woman who everyone admired, and even her clear and heavenly voice sounded annoying to him.

– A marriage contract? Ah, I’m not asking you to explain, so you don’t have to answer.

Back then, it was plain obvious that Maevia was mocking him.

She stared at him with a cold look in her eyes.

– So…… what part of you is so marvelous that you’d think I’d fall in love with you and accept this reckless marriage proposal? You seem to have such wonderful qualities, so why don’t you show them off?

Gilbert frowned.

He felt nauseous just by thinking of the colour of Maevia Morgana’s hair.

Everything about her put him in a bad mood.

Especially the arrogant way she looked down on him and didn’t even try to hide her resentment towards him. When he stood before her, he felt like he was staring at Aedis Kallakis.

They both looked down at him with the same glare.

“……Ha, who would you marry then? Do you really think Aedis Kallakis would even bat an eye in your direction?”

Soon, he began to laugh. Gilbert wiped away the wine around his mouth and his eyes lit up with anger.

“I won’t let you look down at me with that gaze ever again. I’ll show you what happens to a princess who grew up sheltered from the real world, disregarding everything around her.”

Even though the servants were listening to his ramblings, Gilbert didn’t care. Such carelessness made Kallen frown.

At the moment, Gilbert was the best swordsman in the Ravenna Empire.

No matter how Maevia treated him, this wouldn’t change anytime soon. Adding to that, he had a youthful and handsome appearance.

But Gilbert wasn’t able to overcome his inferiority complex.

He was too confident in the skills he’d honed and took his natural talents too lightly.

The nobles would never admit that he was better than them in some aspects.

‘But Maevia won’t lose so easily.’

Saying she’d rather marry Grand Duke Kallakis was the same as saying she hated Gilbert.

When you thought of Aedis Kallakis, the image that usually came to mind was some guy with graying hair.

But maybe that was wrong.

Kallen thought that he should slowly distance himself from Gilbert.

On one listless afternoon, she received an invitation from the Imperial Palace.

Sarah read the invitation for me as I laid down on my bed and played with Raven.

“The Imperial Ball.”

Raven pecked my finger with his beak, but it didn’t hurt.

Sarah carefully folded the invitation and put it in the envelope.

“It’s been so long since the Imperial family has hosted a ball, so it’s bound to be impressive. Of course, I heard His Majesty the Emperor and His Highness the Prince will be attending.”

“Gross.”

“Miss, you can’t speak like that.”

I wasn’t listening. Sarah wasn’t expecting much anyways.

“Will you be wearing a hat?”

“Why don’t you put a lot of effort into your outfit? You need to look good after all.”

“I never said I was going.”

Sarah looked confused at my apathetic words.

“B-But didn’t you order a dress from Camelia’s boutique for the Imperial Ball?”

“Um, no? I don’t remember having such a goal in mind.”

I just bought it because it’s fun to spend money.

I talked to Raven about it.

“Raven, would you go to such an annoying event?”

“Gyak! Gyak!”

As if responding to me, the baby bird cried and flapped its wings.

Then, it began to fly somewhere else.

The letter was marked with a golden leaf; it seemed like the Imperial family was aware of the rumours spreading that they were suffering financial troubles.

Raven puffed out its chest and stepped on the letter.

“…..Perhaps you want me to go?”