“Heeyah!”

Veronia firmly gripped the reins and spurred her horse.

The feeling of galloping through the night air, leaving the burning cabin behind, was refreshing and exhilarating in itself.

Of course, there was also fear.

Although she knew the plot of the original work by heart from reading it many times, the path she was now taking completely deviated from that original storyline, so it was natural.

‘Perhaps it would have been wiser to change fate within the original work.’

But Veronia had chosen to escape, and the die was already cast.

She didn’t know of any way to turn back time.

The future was uncertain, but she felt unburdened. Veronia thought this was enough.

For now, she decided to focus on this light feeling and believe in her choice.

‘I have a good feeling about this.’

Her eyes, fixed on the path ahead, sparkled with overflowing vitality.

[This is the timeline separator]

At the same time, the united knights and scouts led by Killian were searching various parts of the capital.

They searched everywhere – hotels and inns, restaurants and cafes, clothing stores and accessory shops – but there was no trace of Veronia anywhere.

‘Your Highness, where are you? Please… you must be safe!’

Killian’s face gradually turned ashen.

At times, something hot welled up, but he suppressed it again.

There was no time to sit down and cry.

Now, he had to move one more step, check one more place.

It was when he was coming out after checking an old inn in a secluded area. One knight quickly ran up to Killian.

Killian’s face crumpled in an instant.

He had a bad feeling.

“Your Excellency!”

“What is it?”

“A fire incident has been reported at the outskirts of the eastern village of the capital.”

“A fire?”

“Yes. We extinguished the fire, but that…”

“Guide me there immediately.”

“Yes, Your Excellency!”

Killian immediately mounted his horse and spurred it hard.

Thump-thump, his heart shook erratically.

‘Please… please!’

The sharp night wind fiercely clawed at his forehead, but he kept his eyes wide open, looking straight ahead.

He couldn’t collapse yet.

He couldn’t shed tears yet.

He couldn’t do anything until he confirmed Veronia’s safety with his own eyes.

‘Not yet…!’

Killian clenched his molars and rode on and on.

[This is the timeline separator]

The fire had been completely extinguished.

What was once a cabin had completely turned to ashes. Killian, with a grave expression, trudged into the accident scene.

He kept shouting inwardly.

‘No. There’s no way Her Highness the Princess would pass away so futilely. There’s no way she would pass away in such a remote place! It can’t be. It can’t be…’

Killian’s tightly clenched fist trembled.

The knights stopped what they were doing and greeted Killian with proper etiquette.

“Have you arrived, Your Excellency.”

“Yes. You said a body was found?”

“Yes. It’s here.”

One knight pointed to a body on a stretcher.

Just as the cabin had lost its original form, so had the person on the stretcher.

“…This is!”

But the sparkling jewels remained intact, only slightly scorched, and Killian could recognize them at once as familiar.

They were Veronia’s accessories.

The elaborate necklace and earrings adorned with large diamonds and rubies were certainly hers.

The ones she had worn at the recent banquet.

“Haa… Your Highness…!”

Killian let out a long sigh and slumped down. Plop, plop, large teardrops fell on the dirt ground.

His chest ached as if it would tear apart.

It was hard to accept.

Hadn’t they been sitting together under a tent just days ago, trying to avoid the pouring rain?

Hadn’t he been carrying her delicate body in his arms while riding just days ago?

Killian reached out towards the body but couldn’t bring himself to touch it. He was afraid the body, barely maintaining its shape, would crumble.

‘No, no! It can’t be! It can’t be Your Highness! We can’t conclude anything yet. Not yet!’

Perhaps that necklace and those earrings were fake. Imitations made based on Veronia’s.

So it’s not yet. It’s too early to be certain.

Killian roughly wiped around his eyes with the back of his hand, stood up, and shouted.

“Move the body to the imperial palace. Find out the origin of these accessories! And search the scene thoroughly for anything that could be evidence! Continue the inquiry and search as well!”

“Understood, Your Excellency!”

[This is the timeline separator]

However, the last hope sustaining Killian soon disappeared.

A jeweler who closely examined the necklace and earrings with clear burn marks bowed his head and said.

“They are indeed Her Highness the Princess’s. I am certain these are the necklace and earrings I personally crafted 3 years ago on the imperial family’s order.”

The palace doctor who examined the burned body also spoke.

“Although I cannot assert with certainty due to the severe damage to the body, there are no signs of homicide.”

If not homicide, then suicide? Killian’s eyes instantly sharpened.

The palace doctor flinched and continued speaking.

“In fact, Her Highness the Princess had been suffering from severe depression and insomnia for a year. Without medication, she found it difficult to sleep or even perform simple daily activities.”

“Depression…?”

This was the first time Killian had heard of it.

Well, the health status of the imperial family is top-secret among secrets. They would have thoroughly silenced any leaks.

But it wasn’t entirely unexpected news. After all, hadn’t Veronia herself mentioned it?

The source of the poison she drank at the birthday ceremony, how the imperial family was treating her.

‘If she had been treated like that for 20 years… it would have been impossible to maintain a sound mind.’

His heart ached as if it would tear apart, imagining her miserable and horrific past years.

“But she showed improvement recently. She said she could sleep well and had no difficulties in daily life without medication, so we reduced the dosage to less than half…”

The palace doctor couldn’t finish his words. His wrinkled hands clasped together trembled.

He seemed afraid that he might be punished for driving the princess to her death if he wasn’t careful.

It was then.

The sound of rough footsteps echoed loudly as knights rushed into the investigation room.

“Your Excellency, we have a report.”

“What is it?”

“There have been testimonies of sightings of a blonde noblewoman in elaborate attire near the site of the fire incident for the past fortnight. They say it was unusual as it’s not an area where nobles are frequently seen.”

“…I see.”

Killian fell into deep thought, his lips tightly shut. All circumstances were confirming Veronia’s death.

With nowhere left to run, he now had no choice but to accept it.

‘So you had been planning this for a fortnight. Why? What was so difficult for you?’

Killian rubbed his face.

Fatigue was setting in.

Suddenly, the investigation room door swung open again, and this time the Emperor and Empress entered.

Everyone in the room, including Killian, bowed.

“We are in the presence of His Imperial Majesty.”

“I couldn’t wait until the investigation report was submitted, so I came here. I hear a body was discovered at the fire site?”

“Yes, that is correct, Your Majesty.”

Killian methodically explained all the investigation findings so far, including the testimonies of the jeweler and the palace doctor, and the eyewitness accounts he had just received.

After hearing the full account of the incident, the Empress’s face turned bright red. Her breathing even became rough. She seemed to be extremely angry.

Killian found it hard to understand.

‘The Princess is dead, yet instead of grieving, she’s angry? What is this…?’

The Empress glanced at the makeshift coffin placed on a table in one corner of the investigation room, then strode over to it.

“Ugh… You mad thing! How dare you backstab us like this? You wretched X! You terrible thing!”

As the Empress screamed in uncontrollable rage, Killian and the knights were all left in a daze.

To think that such harsh words spewing from the Empress’s mouth were directed at the Princess!

It was hard to believe even though they were seeing it with their own eyes and hearing it with their own ears.

“How are we to handle the humiliation the Imperial Family will face! And what about the losses the Imperial Family will have to bear! You wicked, you vermin-like thing!”

The Empress’s curses continued.

She eventually raised her tightly clenched fist into the air. It looked as if she might strike the body at any moment.

That, at least, had to be prevented.

Though the body was already damaged beyond recognition, it couldn’t be allowed to be further desecrated here.

Killian immediately rushed over and grabbed the Empress’s wrist just in time.

The Empress glared sharply at Killian, who had stopped her fist, and shouted.

“What? Are you arbitrarily grabbing the wrist of me, the Empress, Sir Killian? Are you in your right mind?”

“Your Imperial Majesty, the body at least…”

The Emperor stepped in to settle the matter instead of Killian.

“That’s enough, Empress. There’s no need to dirty your hands unnecessarily. What good would it do to blame a child who’s already dead?”

“Your Majesty…”

Only then did the Empress come to her senses, lowering her hand and looking around.

The bewildered gazes of numerous knights, the jeweler, and the palace doctor were directed at her.

For a moment, she felt ashamed for losing her composure as an Empress and showing such an unsightly appearance in a moment of anger.

Thinking that this too was all because of Veronia, she bit her lip hard, feeling wronged. Inwardly, she cursed Veronia again and again.

“Well then, Sir Killian, I’ll entrust you with the aftermath. Good work.”

“I will obey your command, Your Majesty.”

The Emperor and Empress immediately left the investigation room.

The Empress, still seemingly unrelieved of her anger, made loud footsteps, thump thump, and the Emperor comforted her.

As soon as they disappeared, Killian collapsed to the floor. Cold sweat broke out, his stomach churned, and he felt nauseous.

‘Their daughter died so futilely, yet they show not a hint of sorrow! No, rather, they’re angry and cursing! To call their daughter’s death a humiliation and loss for the Imperial Family!’

The words the Empress had spouted still echoed chaotically in his head.

He felt indignant and angry.

‘Has Her Highness the Princess been treated like this all along? How difficult it must have been for her all this time…’

Why didn’t he know? Why didn’t he try to know? Why, how! Killian could not bear how pathetic he felt.

And he was sad.

The thought that Veronia no longer existed anywhere in this world made his heart ache as if it were being torn apart.

‘Why do I only realize how precious everything was after I’ve lost it all? Like a fool. Like an idiot. Like a moron!’

It was the same when he lost his brother Aaron.

He resented his brother who didn’t keep his promises, who was always busy. So he lashed out angrily.

Only after losing his brother did he realize how much he loved him.

It was a late realization.

It was the same with Veronia.

For a long time, he found Veronia annoying. He felt burdened by her presence beside him.

He felt attracted to her changed self, but he didn’t know exactly what that feeling was. He was confused.

Only now, having lost Veronia, did he realize how much he loved her.

It was far too late a realization.

“Ugh… hnngh!”

The tears he had been desperately suppressing burst forth like a broken dam.