Chapter 5
“Do you really believe I did it?”
“I don’t know. And I don’t particularly want to hear the details.”
The king made it obvious that he was trying to avoid paying attention to Ioret.
It had always been like this. Ever since her mother took her own life.
The king had two queens.
The first queen, Leila, was a commoner.
While inspecting the capital, the king fell in love at first sight with a beautiful common woman and, despite opposition from his ministers, pushed forward the marriage.
Even afterward, when the nobles strongly resisted, he went so far as to immediately appoint their first daughter, Catherine, as crown princess after she was born the following year. It was an unprecedented level of favoritism.
But when the queen met a violent death, the king quickly felt lonely.
He immediately took a second queen.
That was Charlotte, a princess from the Kingdom of Levia and Ioret’s mother.
A daughter was also born between the king and Queen Charlotte. The king, as fond of the queen as he was, also deeply cherished his second daughter, Ioret.
But then a scandal broke out involving Queen Charlotte and a royal guard—an alleged affair.
There was insufficient evidence, but the guard’s handsome appearance and the queen’s attitude of defending him displeased the king.
Enraged, the king imprisoned the queen and his second daughter in a tower.
After the queen’s suicide, he entrusted Ioret’s welfare entirely to Catherine and cut off all interest in her.
That did not mean the king hated Ioret. If he had, he would have eliminated her long ago.
If one had to define the king’s feelings toward his second daughter, it would be discomfort.
‘Father knew Mother was innocent. She died taking a false accusation to her grave, so she must have remained like an uncomfortable thorn that can never be removed.’
In the end, Ioret was a victim of her father’s mistaken judgment.
But the proud king never admitted his own wrongdoing.
So he turned a blind eye even while knowing the injustices inflicted upon Ioret.
As if trying to erase the existence of the second princess altogether, he openly transferred power to Catherine.
However, at the same time, the king did not reject all of Ioret’s requests—especially if they concerned his face or the kingdom’s dignity.
Perhaps that was the last shred of paternal conscience he had left.
In that case, the king was the only person in this palace on whom Ioret could still place any hope.
“Since I’ll be married soon, is there a reason I would need additional guards?”
“It’s not that I need more. One knight to protect me until the wedding is enough, Father.”
“What do you mean, a princess of a nation doesn’t even have a guard knight?”
Only then did the king look surprised.
“Is there someone you want? I’ll assign whoever you choose. I can at least give you that much as a wedding gift.”
Ioret barely suppressed a bitter smile.
‘Of course. He just wants to marry me off and throw me out of the capital.’
There was no need to gamble dangerously by refusing marriage here. Besides, Ioret had no intention of running away.
Marriage was necessary. Only the partner was different.
“I want Sir Ferein, the deputy commander of the Royal Eagle Knights, as my guard.”
“Very well, take him. But from now on, I will not tolerate any further trouble. Focus on preparing for your marriage and leave the royal castle.”
“Yes, Father.”
Ioret bowed deeply to the king. As she turned away, the submissive smile faded from her face.
She left the audience chamber, hearing her father kissing his mistress behind her.
“…!”
The young boy standing like a statue by the door flinched and stepped back. He was a pretty servant with cat-like eyes.
When Ioret stared at him, the boy lowered his head. He looked around fifteen or sixteen, his youthful face filled with embarrassment.
Red hair and golden eyes.
She had never seen him this closely before, but Ioret immediately recognized him.
He was the only remaining child in the palace among the king’s many lovers and roughly twenty illegitimate children from his youth.
The reason was simple. He could not speak.
“His Majesty seems to be enjoying his midday pleasures. Do not disturb him.”
The boy, lips tightly shut, nodded.
On impulse, Ioret reached out and stroked his pale cheek. Though younger, he was taller than her, and despite his thin frame, his bones were quite solid.
Feeling the warmth of her hand, the boy blinked in confusion. A faint bruise was visible beneath his collar.
Ioret adjusted his collar to hide it. The boy’s cheeks slowly turned pink, and a faint trace of life returned to his dull golden eyes.
In his awkward reaction to the smallest kindness, she saw a reflection of her past self.
Ioret quickly felt uncomfortable.
“Don’t be grateful for something like this.”
“……”
“Be wary of people who are kind to you. Strike them down before they can hurt you. Don’t be foolish enough to feel pity, don’t help others recklessly, and expect nothing from anyone. The only person who can save me is myself.”
The boy leaned into her hand, blinking blankly.
Under the king’s negligent abandonment, she too must have once had those same suffocated, lonely eyes.
Ioret gritted her teeth and turned away.
‘This is only the beginning, Father.’
She had lived her entire life as if she were dead, so something like this was nothing.
If you treat me like a pawn, then I will place you on my chessboard too.
You will become my blade without even realizing it, until you break in my hands—wielded by the very second daughter you despised so much.
Ioret went out to the royal palace garden.
The moment her feet touched the soft grass, someone forcefully grabbed her and spun her around.
“Ioret.”
It was her childhood friend and former fiancé, Benedictus Valer. He seemed to have run here—his breath was uneven.
Seeing the tear stains on Ioret’s cheek, he asked anxiously,
“Were you crying? Are you hurt anywhere?”
Benedictus was a handsome man with neatly styled navy-blue hair and deep gray eyes.
He had an intelligent, flawless appearance, but his eyes softened like a crescent moon whenever he looked at her.
“I was worried the Count might have harmed you. You don’t seem injured, thank goodness.”
There was not a trace of hypocrisy in Benedictus’s worried expression.
That fact made it even more chilling.
“Marriage will be postponed for a while. The condition of Count Castlein is worse than expected. Perhaps this is for the best. I’ve been uneasy about sending you to him—”
She didn’t need to hear any more.
Ioret cut him off.
“The marriage will proceed as planned.”
“What? You said you didn’t want it. Just last week you were—”
“I have someone I want to marry.”
“…What?”
Benedictus stammered, unable to comprehend.
“Someone you want to marry? That can’t be, Ioret. Who do you even know in the royal palace—… unless someone approached you?”
“Why is that any of your concern?”
“Ioret, I’m your friend.”
Friend.
Ioret let out a hollow laugh.
Even though he had been her fiancé from before she was born until their broken engagement at seventeen, she was only a “friend” now.
‘You knew how desperately I loved you.’
There was a time when this face was her entire world. The only world she had in the tower.
When she went days without speaking and then saw Benedictus, it felt like she could finally breathe.
“You were the reason I wasn’t lonely.”
“……”
“You and my sister…”
Benedictus and Catherine.
Those names had once been her breath and her life.
Now she had returned to erase them from the world.
Ioret roughly shoved his hand away.
“Not a friend. A former fiancé. You’ve lost the right to interfere. I find this unpleasant, so move aside, Duke.”
Ioret had never been this cold to him before.
Benedictus looked genuinely flustered.
“Are you upset about the broken engagement? That wasn’t my decision. The Royal Council—”
“Ha!”
Ioret let out a laugh.
She wanted to strike that shameless face.
The engagement had been broken because of the declining prestige of the Valer Ducal House, forced to maintain ties with a discarded princess.
And because of their shrinking influence in the Royal Council.
That was the reason.
Ioret almost wanted to laugh out loud.
“So you slept with my sister? For the sake of your family’s honor, with your former fiancée’s half-sister?”
“What…? Are you talking about Her Highness the Crown Princess? Ioret, you’re misunderstanding.”
Benedictus frowned as if offended.
Such impressive acting.
I remember clearly the last time he held Catherine and laughed at me.
“Is that so? A misunderstanding?”
At that moment, Catherine’s dark curly hair came into view in the distance. The crown princess was walking toward them quickly—likely having heard about the knight appointment order.
Upon seeing them, Catherine stopped abruptly. Benedictus’s gaze was fixed on Ioret and did not even register her presence.
A cold light flickered in Ioret’s eyes.
“Then kiss me. Right now, here.”
