CHAPTER 03
Anna was flustered by the unexpected statement.
“You’re joking, right?”
But Linaria’s expression remained calm. Anna’s face turned pale, then returned to normal.
“You’re not joking… are you?”
“No.”
It had been Linaria herself who had most actively agreed to the engagement and pushed it forward.
So when she suddenly announced she would overturn it all, Anna, who had been by her side throughout, couldn’t help but be baffled.
Instead of questioning her further, Anna offered practical advice.
“You can’t decide something like this on your own, my lady. What if the Duke finds out later and is put in a difficult position?”
“Then don’t bother passing along the message. But return all the gifts.”
“…….”
“You can do that much, can’t you?”
“……Yes, my lady. I’ll handle it that way.”
Even just rejecting the gifts was enough to clearly signal that the engagement was off.
“I’ll go talk to Father myself. While I’m gone, send those back.”
“But still, we should at least inform the Duke first…”
“It’s fine. Go now.”
After giving Anna a gentle push, Linaria also left the room.
‘I need to see Father right away.’
Her father—Dante Obell, head of the Obell Duchy.
He could be summed up with a few words:
Weak.
Frail.
Sickly.
All forms of the word “weakness” applied to Dante Obell. Unsurprisingly, he relied heavily on medicine.
‘I heard he was deeply shocked by Mother’s passing.’
After that, he fell into a steady decline and eventually lost his health.
Linaria had never known a strong version of her father—not even as an infant.
So when she received news of his death, she naturally assumed it was due to his illness.
But—
“Killing your father was laughably easy.”
She had been accused of attempting to assassinate Rusalka, tortured horrifically, and left mentally dazed when Maximilian had approached and said that.
“Even when I threatened to call off the engagement if he didn’t go to war, he still clung to life and crawled back from the battlefield.”
“……!”
“All I had to do was say the food came from you. He didn’t even realize it was poisoned before putting it in his mouth.”
Maximilian had driven her father to death.
Why? For what reason?
If you despised anyone, wasn’t it me—the one who took Rusalka’s place as your fiancée?
Why did you ruin the life of my innocent father too?
The answer came, chillingly simple:
“If you had even half of Rusalka’s charm, I might’ve shown some mercy and spared your father. But unfortunately…”
Maximilian looked down at Linaria with cold eyes and deliberately trailed off, feigning regret.
Even at that moment, he was comparing her to Rusalka.
“Linaria Obell. From the first time I met you until now, not once have you ever been endearing.”
He blamed Linaria for never trying to win him over or flatter him.
But he was the one who killed her father and dragged her life into hell.
She would never crawl at his feet.
Knock, knock.
“Father, it’s me.”
“Liri? Wait just a moment, dear.”
He sounded surprised at her unexpected visit from beyond the door.
But Linaria didn’t wait.
Click—
A hazy, white smoke blurred her vision like fog.
She saw her father, startled, turning back with an awkward look.
He was opening the window, as if to let the smoke out.
Time seemed to stop. She sucked in a breath.
“Ah…”
Bathed in the soft sunlight, her father’s face glowed.
Pale and sickly.
His jet-black hair made his pallor even more pronounced.
His red eyes—passed down to Linaria—and the deep dark circles under them.
Once, it was said, he was unmatched in martial strength and known far and wide.
Perhaps because of that, he was still large and broad-shouldered for a patient.
“…Dad.”
It felt as if her memory had come to life. A sudden lump formed in her throat.
“Dad.”
Her voice trembled, almost breaking into sobs.
He looked far from healthy, but one thing was certain—
He was alive.
Not a rotting corpse. He was breathing. Looking at her. Blinking.
Her living, breathing father.
Linaria could vividly recall the day she heard of his death.
“Father! Let me see him!”
She had desperately pleaded to be allowed to hold a funeral, pounding on the firmly closed door.
The one who had answered was Maximilian.
“You miss your father so much? Then take a good, long look.”
He had thrown her father’s corpse at her.
Then locked the door—leaving her alone with the body.
“Please… please…”
She didn’t know how many days passed.
Bzzz, bzzz—
The door opened again when flies began to buzz and circle her ears.
“Didn’t you say you wanted to see him? The traitor.”
“Father wasn’t a traitor.”
“If I say he was, then that makes it true. The dead don’t speak—who’s going to argue otherwise?”
After his death, evidence supposedly proving he’d planned treason was found.
But how could a man barely clinging to life plot a rebellion?
“Father wasn’t a traitor.”
With parched lips and a cracked voice, Linaria repeated herself like a broken doll.
Her emotions had long since worn away from the shock.
Even her tears had dried up, and seeing that, Maximilian had looked satisfied.
“Truth is so fleeting. Even if you say otherwise, no one will believe you.”
“…”
“Unlike me.”
Her father wasn’t a traitor.
Maximilian had fabricated the crime and forced it upon him.
And for what?
To watch Linaria break.
She remembered the way his hand had gently stroked her cheek, as if she were something pitiful, and a shudder ran through her body.
“Liri.”
Startled by his daughter’s sudden tears, Dante was visibly confused.
“I told you to wait outsid—”
He had been about to send her away, but quickly changed his mind.
“Liri.”
Tears welled up in her large eyes and began to fall.
Seeing her silently crying, he couldn’t bring himself to speak harshly.
“….”
Dante hesitated.
From afar, his daughter had always seemed upright and composed.
Now, she stood still, looking lost with nowhere to turn. The sight of her moved him.
After a moment of hesitation, he reached out to wipe away her tears.
It was a cautious, awkward gesture.
“You must have gone through something painful.”
Linaria looked up at her father’s face, blurred by her tears.
His deep, gentle voice.
The clumsy touch at the corners of her eyes.
To Linaria, it all felt like a dream.
I have to say something… I have to answer…
But like a dam breaking, she couldn’t stop her tears.
As if to finally release all the sorrow she had held back, she sobbed uncontrollably and made a silent vow.
I will save him.
I will protect the people I love.
I will not let a cruel man who treats lives as worthless and delights in others’ despair rule as emperor.
All to protect this very moment.
Some time later
By the time her tears had dried, Dante gently pushed her away.
“That’s enough now. You should go.”
His tone was firm—almost cold.
He avoided her gaze, as if he couldn’t bear to look at her tear-streaked face.
“I told you many times to let me know before visiting. Since it’s your birthday today, and you’re grown now, I’ll let it slide. But please be careful next time.”
It was clear he was trying to maintain a distance.
It even felt slightly awkward.
“If you have something to say, we’ll talk later. For now, go freshen up.”
In her memories, her father had always been consistent.
Distant. Cold. Sometimes even indifferent.
Closer than a stranger, but never quite family.
It made sense when she considered the label attached to her:
The child who killed her mother.
The disgrace of the family, who failed to form a contract with the divine beast.
Because of that, she had always believed her father kept her at arm’s length.
If I hadn’t learned how he truly died, I probably would’ve spent my life thinking he hated me.
But now—
“I don’t want to.”
She knew better.
So Linaria made up her mind.
“You have no more than five years left to live, at best.”
To keep the nightmare from repeating again.
