CHAPTER 06
Even if Maximilian himself would deny it, he looked like a complete fool.
Even though Linaria had never attended social gatherings due to her inability to form a contract with a divine beast, still—
To think he couldn’t recognize a direct descendant of Obel, one of the Five Great Ducal Houses.
Linaria let Maximilian continue acting foolish.
He seemed oddly keen on keeping her by his side.
But to Linaria, who remembered the humiliation she had once suffered, it only looked like a poor attempt at manipulation.
“Lady!”
She had to half-listen, half-ignore Maximilian’s words until she was face-to-face with a real palace maid.
“Lady?”
While Maximilian looked puzzled, the maid spoke in a flustered tone.
“You weren’t visible, so we were worried. But I see you’ve already met His Highness the Crown Prince. Let me quickly bring refreshments—”
“That won’t be necessary. His Highness seems busy, so let’s just take a brief look around.”
When Linaria naturally dismissed the maid, Maximilian turned to look at her.
His hardened expression practically asked, “Could it be…?”
“Allow me to greet you once more. I am Linaria Obel, the small sun and light of the Empire.”
“…Obel, did you say?”
“Yes, that’s right.”
To think the woman he tried to toy with was the daughter of House Obel. And not just any daughter—she was known as a “half-wit.”
The look on Maximilian’s face was priceless, like he’d taken a direct hit.
“I’ll have to decline the proposal you made earlier.”
“What?”
His face turned serious.
He still wore a dumbfounded expression.
“If I, an unmarried lady, were to become Your Highness’s maid, wouldn’t that cause scandal? Not to mention, the other ducal houses would protest.”
It seemed he was finally realizing the weight of his actions, as his face flushed red.
“I understand. You didn’t know who I was. Let’s pretend none of it ever happened.”
Linaria said this with an emotionless face, which only irked Maximilian further.
While he made a fool of himself, she remained completely unbothered.
“…You dare, and you’re just a half-wit.”
“Your Highness nearly married that half-wit. Should I thank you, perhaps? For calling off the engagement?”
Linaria didn’t back down.
Staring at her face, Maximilian had no choice but to change the subject.
“Why did you return the gifts?”
She’d expected that question.
It was likely the very reason she’d been summoned.
“My father was very fond of this engagement. But your arrogance disappointed him.”
Linaria gave the answer she’d prepared.
“I didn’t like them.”
“What?”
“I’m saying I returned them because I didn’t like any of them.”
Maximilian looked at her in disbelief.
“You were given more than you deserved, and you say you didn’t like them? Don’t be ridiculous.”
“In that case, why don’t you tell me exactly what I was given that was so generous?”
“…Jewels, I suppose.”
Maximilian mumbled vaguely.
He hadn’t chosen the gifts himself and couldn’t even come up with a decent excuse.
Rusalka was merely the trigger—Maximilian had always been this way.
He had no qualities fit for a wise ruler.
Linaria felt a growing sense of urgency—that if nothing changed, history would repeat itself.
“If the only reason for breaking off the engagement was the gifts—”
Maximilian couldn’t finish his sentence.
“Search that area!”
“Turn everything upside down!”
Suddenly, the surroundings became chaotic.
“H-His Highness the Crown Prince!”
“What’s all this commotion?”
Maximilian, frowning, called over an attendant. The attendant glanced at Linaria before lowering his voice.
“In the underground… escape… urgent…”
Though the words were fragmented, she caught enough—underground, escape, emergency.
Maximilian’s face twisted as he received the report.
“Don’t tell me… that vermin bastard.”
He clenched his fist so tightly his veins bulged.
“We didn’t get to finish our conversation today. Let’s talk again next time.”
“…”
“Linaria Obel.”
He spat out her name as if trying not to forget it, then turned away sharply.
People scattered like the ebbing tide, and Linaria walked in the opposite direction.
She was so overlooked that not even a single attendant followed her.
“He escaped, didn’t he?”
She had a rough idea of what was happening.
Linaria walked with clear purpose.
Rustle—
Before long, she sensed movement nearby.
She pushed aside the well-trimmed shrubs without hesitation.
Thorns scratched her skin mercilessly, but she didn’t flinch.
Without changing her expression once, she cleared the brush and found the source of the commotion.
A boy around her age.
He turned his head, gasping for breath.
Linaria recognized that face.
Maximilian’s loyal dog.
Maximilian’s slave.
And the sharpest blade of the tyrant.
He had taken on every filthy task after catching Maximilian’s eye, and was called a wretched mongrel.
But in truth…
A bastard of the royal family.
Linaria almost burst out laughing but barely managed to hold it in.
Maximilian, you truly believe you’ll be Emperor, don’t you?
Officially, Maximilian was the only member of the royal family by blood.
So barring a sudden death, there would be no surprises.
But Linaria wanted to stop his coronation.
If Maximilian is destined to become a tyrant,
And if I, the only one who knows this truth, can’t reform him or kill him…
Then I’ll place the crown on someone else’s head.
Someone like Maximilian’s own mutt.
To be trampled and dethroned by someone he treated like a beast—how pathetic would that be?
What kind of face would you make then?
She hoped he would despair so deeply he’d wish tomorrow never came.
And she wanted him to rot away day by day—just like she once had.
Linaria wanted to see that face.
To make that happen, I need to win this one over.
Maximilian, obsessed with a mere mermaid, committed atrocities and became one of the worst tyrants in history.
He hadn’t succeeded alone.
Maximilian knew his actions would provoke backlash. That’s why he kept talented people close—to rule through fear.
One of them was the slave who had just escaped from the underground.
The man now crawling pathetically through the garden was one of Maximilian’s key pawns.
His name was Kaas.
Linaria vividly remembered when Kaas was thrown at her feet, shortly after she became engaged to Maximilian.
Maximilian had barged in unannounced and thrown a man at her like a sack of goods—it had shocked her.
“Your Highness. Who is this person?”
Seeing Linaria’s hardened face, Maximilian had smiled with amusement.
“Person? That’s the wrong word.”
“…”
“Vermin.”
His cold, azure eyes gleamed.
“If I tell him to lick my toes, he’ll lick them. If I say die, he’ll die gladly. He’s nothing but vermin.”
A slave’s brand was clearly stamped on Kaas’s neck.
“What do you think? You don’t like him, do you? Gotta be careful—you’re both half-breeds, after all. You might just fall for each other.”
Maximilian had flashed the brand proudly.
And soon after, Linaria discovered that Kaas was his half-brother.
Not only had he enslaved his own brother, he’d kept it a secret while forcing him to do unspeakable things.
Very few people knew the truth.
Yet now that man was before her, gasping for air.
“Need help?”
Linaria approached Kaas cautiously.
He flinched.
Even though he was covered in wounds so severe it was a miracle he could still walk.
You can’t even stand properly…
Pretending to examine him, Linaria first checked his neck.
As expected, the slave brand hadn’t been stamped yet.
It seemed that had happened only after he’d been fully broken in.
Later, he would obey commands so completely that he’d roll over at a word.
But for now—
“That must hurt.”
There was no reply.
Only his beastlike golden eyes glaring at her fiercely.
His goal was escape, and nothing more.
He hasn’t completely submitted to Maximilian yet.
Before branding him, Maximilian used brute violence to destroy Kaas’s identity.
A simple but effective method.
Although as a side effect, Kaas often ran away to escape the pain.
Even when I didn’t know you existed, you were always trying to escape this hell.
Linaria reached out to him.
Now that she thought about it, she’d treated his wounds in her past life as well.
At that time, Kaas was Maximilian’s slave, and she was his fiancée.
Their interactions were limited.
But seeing his exhausted, abused body left unattended had moved her to help.
Back then, it was out of pity.
Now, her reason was very different.
Linaria wanted to steal Kaas—Maximilian’s greatest trump card.
Because Kaas shared the same wish as her:
Maximilian’s death.
Thwack—
Kaas slapped her hand away harshly. He looked ready to attack her.
Though large in stature, he was so wounded he could barely stand.
He wasn’t a threat.
To this not-yet-tamed beast, Linaria made her offer.
“You…”
A few moments later—
“There he is!”
“Capture him immediately!”
Kaas was caught.
