Chapter 1. Prologue
“You’re here again, Your Highness.”
Had I been secretly waiting for him? Pressing down the hint of gladness in the low, rumbling voice, I looked up at the man who had appeared before me.
Pale skin. Emotionless hazel eyes peering through glasses. Jet-black hair slicked neatly back and tied low.
As always, he wore a black tailcoat, buttoned high at the throat with not a single detail out of place.
That flawless appearance annoyed me, so I deliberately let my voice drip with sarcasm.
“Yes, it’s me again. I suppose you’re disappointed.”
“……”
As if parched, he pulled at his tie, loosening it as if to scratch an itch.
The stiff collar came undone, and the face that had seemed so ascetic now took on a faintly decadent look.
Gulp. I swallowed dryly.
“You must understand what it means for Your Highness to be here.”
His uniquely flat voice dropped, and moonlight streamed down his silhouette, his back to the window.
And this — this was what I couldn’t endure.
That lifeless voice. Those emotionless hazel eyes.
And yet, the storm restrained within him must be what brought him here…
‘He still longs for her, doesn’t he…’
The thought that I was even a little glad to see him made me feel pathetic.
Afraid he might notice, I took a step back — so the moonlight wouldn’t touch my face.
“Of course I know. Your plan to kidnap Lady Rosebury failed.”
“……”
“I’m sorry it came to this.”
I raised one corner of my mouth in a smile. My hand clenched tightly around the hood of my robe.
Inside my grip was a small switch — a magical device that could summon my knights waiting outside with a single motion.
But I knew how useless it would be.
This man standing before me was a mage.
And not just any mage — he hadn’t studied at the Tower, yet wielded immense power and used his own self-developed spells.
His unpredictable magic would be hard to counter, even in its simplest form.
‘Because he possesses the strongest magic of this generation.’
Even so, I believed he wouldn’t harm me.
Or rather, I had believed that.
‘But if he’s here now… it was all just my delusion.’
I didn’t bother trying to understand the weight dragging my heart down. Instead, I wore a defiant smile.
Like throwing a stone into still water.
“How disappointing for you.”
There was no sign of disturbance on his face. And I still didn’t understand why that bothered me so much.
It had been a long time since I stopped trying to untangle the layered emotions that surfaced every time I faced him.
From the beginning, his heart had always been set.
Lady Amelie Rosebury — the heroine of this world.
The man before me, Lucipheus, was the obsessive second male lead who had gone so far as to attempt kidnapping her.
As for me, I was the transmigrator who had made it my life’s goal to keep the main couple’s romance on track.
So naturally, I had to thwart his plans every time.
Even falling into the traps he set for her in her place.
We’d faced off countless times over these schemes meant to challenge the main couple’s love — yet today, something about him felt… different.
Was it disappointment? Frustration?
Or maybe… anger?
“Still, don’t blame me. Your plan was sloppy — maybe you got too drunk on your feelings. Looks like it was a waste of effort again.”
“That is indeed unfortunate.”
“…Right.”
The real problem was how my heart sank every time he expressed affection for Amelie.
Without realizing, I bit down hard on my lower lip.
“But.”
Lucipheus’s eyes, looking down at me, suddenly darkened.
“Every time Your Highness interferes, my reputation suffers greatly.”
His voice remained flat, as if devoid of all emotion.
Yes — painfully devoid.
“You should’ve chosen a healthier kind of love. Not someone already taken.”
“Someone already taken… is that what you think?”
Lucipheus’s eyes glinted coldly behind his glasses.
Ah — so he fell for her before she and the male lead got together.
“That’s the real issue, isn’t it? And the fact that the one she’s with is your rival, Lord Leopold.”
“…Your Highness always seems to know everything.”
Step. His footsteps echoed as quietly as his voice. The shadow over my face deepened.
“What’s happening in the streets of the capital. What item will appear in the secret auction. Why the noble faction covets it.”
“That’s just—”
“Even the succession dispute in the Marquisate of Gables and the noble faction’s interest in Hilberg.”
“……”
I had nothing to say — I only bit my lip harder.
“You know all of this…”
Lucipheus trailed off without finishing his thought.
The silence stretched too long.
Suddenly, he raised a hand.
He hesitated as if to offer it to me — gloved in black as always — but then slowly peeled the glove off with his teeth.
He, who always covered himself so obsessively, would occasionally show me his bare hand — only me — and that’s what…
My chest tightened with memories of moments like that.
“You didn’t have to come here in person, Your Highness.”
His fingers hovered around my chin, my cheek, then finally pressed down on my lips with his thumb.
He brushed away the lip I hadn’t realized I was biting.
His touch — as always — was slightly stinging, and warm…
I couldn’t let him see my expression falling apart, so I stepped back again.
Almost as if hiding in the shadow he cast.
His white hand — the one that had just touched my face — lingered between us.
His eyes, watching it, looked faintly… sorrowful.
No — I must be imagining things.
‘Maybe it’s just polite pity…’
I forced myself to muster a crooked smile.
“Maybe you just wanted to personally inform me of your failure? Not that I expected to see you.”
“Then it was a pointless gesture.”
His face in the shadows stiffened ever so slightly.
Sure, he must hate me now — thinking he had Amelie in his grasp only to fail.
I bared my teeth with sharper words.
“Pointless for you. You didn’t get what you wanted, after all.”
Lucipheus said nothing.
His silence, his cold expression — it infuriated me.
Why make me believe otherwise?
Why, in the end, couldn’t he let go of his feelings for the heroine?
“You think Lady Rosebury would give you even a sliver of her heart?”
“……”
“That’s not love. That’s obsession. Get a grip.”
Still wordless, his eyes sparked with a flicker of heat.
Did my insults finally get to him? Or maybe my words had hurt him.
“Even if it is love, you’re expressing it all wrong.”
Yes. I was upset. Angry at his silence, at how he refused to reveal anything.
But why? What did I want to hear?
And why did I so badly want to deny his feelings as love?
The hand still hovering near where my lips had been slowly curled into a fist.
That slow movement spoke only of reluctance.
And that — that was the problem.
I kept reading too much into his actions.
Thud.
I slammed my palm into his chest.
Yes, there was resentment in that blow.
“Why don’t you dodge?”
His calm acceptance of the hit only stoked my fury.
“Stop clinging to hopeless things…!”
“You’re the one who doesn’t understand.”
Just as I raised my arm to strike again, he grabbed my wrist.
I twisted to break free, but it was impossible.
There was no escaping this strong, steady grip.
“Let go!”
I swung my other arm — only to have it caught too.
Heat radiated from both his bare and gloved hands.
“I said let go!”
Even at my desperate scream, his eyes remained calm.
Out of sheer will, I twisted with all my strength — but his grip held firm.
“I’m not the one who doesn’t understand—”
Abruptly, he pulled my wrists toward him. My balance shifted, and his firm chest came into view.
“—it’s you, Your Highness.”
“What? What don’t I understand? I know better than you. I know just how useless this whole effort is—”
“Things like that!“
His voice roared above me, making me flinch.
Not from fear — but because his face looked so pained.
Even as he shouted, it was clear he tried not to frighten me.
…Maybe that’s the problem. That there’s trust like this between us.
“You think I don’t know? Do you know how much I—”
I had always thought his eyes were emotionless.
But now, they were clearly filled with feeling.
“Then why that expression?”
“Your Highness… weren’t you in danger?”
…What?
I lost the expression I had carefully painted on.
“I thought — maybe I’d get to see you like this… but you really came…”
I couldn’t believe what I was hearing, so I stared at him in shock.
There was a subtle heat in his face. A blend of pain, regret, relief, and concern.
Is this what I had been waiting for?
That heavy weight pressing on my chest melted.
I couldn’t look away from his face.
Then, slowly, his forehead lowered toward mine… and I gently closed my eyes.
As if it had been decided long ago.
As if I had come here, and he had come knowing I would.
And perhaps — just perhaps — if there’s anyone I was meant to save by being born into this world…
