IMTVD| Chapter 17

Episode 17

“How’s the search going?”

“We still haven’t found her.”

“…I see.”

Hearing Chris report that Emilia was still missing, Edwin lowered his head. In the past, news like this would make him

explode: he’d yell at Chris for even bothering to report in without results, throw him out of the office, and lash the

search parties to hurry up.

But rage only came when there was still hope. Now, the thought of Emilia possibly freezing or starving somewhere

unknown had burned away his anger and left only despair.

Is she even still alive?

Emilia Casper.

The unhappy duchess who’d left nothing but divorce papers on his desk before disappearing.

All over the capital, rumors about the Caspers were spreading. That she hadn’t run away, but been kicked out… or

that Edwin had already killed her and was just pretending to search for the body.

His nerves were fraying fast, and Chris had started urging him to rest.

“My lord, you should try to get some sleep. It’s been two days since you last closed your eyes.”

Two days.

Even the two or three hours of sleep he used to snatch each night were gone.

It wasn’t just that he couldn’t accept she’d left him—it was the faint hope that maybe, just maybe, she’d come back

while he was sleeping that kept him awake.

“Emilia…”

He’d said her name so many times, he’d lost count. Rising from his chair with a dazed look, Edwin seemed like a man

who’d completely unraveled.

Chris couldn’t believe it.

Not just because he’d never seen his master like this before, but because the cause was a single woman.

For days, Chris had been trying to convince him to let the search continue and focus on his duties as duke.

But since the first day, when Edwin had told the emperor he was taking leave, he’d been like this.

“She might not even be in the capital.”

“My lord… surely she wouldn’t risk going beyond the city walls alone?”

“Then why can’t we find her?”

“Well…”

Chris had thought of that too, but he wanted to shut down the rumors quickly and make Edwin forget her—so he

could stand tall again as head of the Casper family.

The Herman family was gone; no one could stand against the Caspers now. But if anyone saw Edwin in this state, that might change.

This was a dangerous time.

With all the old loyalists replaced, the family might be at its most vulnerable.

“I’ll find her myself.”

Right now, after removing his greatest enemy, was the busiest, most critical moment of his life.

If the one surviving tiger left the field even for a short while, the foxes would start playing at being king of the mountain.

He needed to make a show of strength, cement his position. Instead, he was throwing it away for one person.

Chris kept trying to nudge him toward giving up, but Edwin only grew more determined.

“What will you tell His Majesty?”

Edwin had been running most of the empire’s work himself. If he left, there would be a massive hole.

The emperor had already refused his leave request and was unlikely to approve one now.

But Edwin’s tone stayed calm.

“Tell him I’m stepping down from everything.”

His eyes made it clear that he’d decided, and nothing Chris said would change it. Chris had no choice but to accept it.

Right now, nothing mattered to Edwin except Emilia.

“I’ll find you.”

Once Chris left, Edwin sank back into thought.

“And when I do, I’ll have to apologize.”

For being with another woman while his wife was still in his home. He planned to beg her to come back—again and

again.

And if she still refused…

He turned to the window, staring at his pale reflection against the dark, heavy sky. His already white skin looked

ghostly.

“I don’t know how it came to this…”

He should’ve realized sooner—how she’d been living here, what pain she’d endured just to get through each day.

The thought made his chest ache.

He cursed himself for not having the courage to face her earlier.

Everyone around him told him to let it go. But his heart was fixed on one point.

“I will find you.”

He looked up at the sky, heavy with rain clouds, and swore that if they met again, he’d never let her go.

Where was she now?

Almost every waking moment, his thoughts revolved around Emilia.

The usually bright Peridot Palace felt heavy and dark.

Its mistress, Diana, had locked herself inside her rooms and stopped eating.

She whispered one name.

“Edwin… Why? Why?”

You’re looking at someone else? Why not me?!

She couldn’t understand it.

The one she truly wanted was Edwin Casper.

Like a girl in a fairy tale dreaming of a prince, she’d adored him—because he’d been the one to pull her out of the

darkness.

“You’re only meant to be with me. Why do you look at Emilia?”

She’d once been a beggar on the streets. The day someone noticed her pretty face, she’d almost been dragged away in

her sleep so she’d taken to smearing mud on her face and living in constant fear.

She’d never slept soundly, always on edge… until she met him.

He was the one who’d reached out to her when she had nothing.

Because she had hair and eyes in a shade only royalty could possess, he’d given her a chance. Thanks to him, she’d

been examined and recognized as royalty.

You were the only one who truly saw me.

Even after becoming a princess, people wouldn’t accept her.

They mocked her, sneered, and shunned her for having once lived on the streets.

The emperor and the other royals hadn’t cared about her back then either. Her body was safe, but her mind was

exhausted.

As she was becoming completely isolated, Edwin had saved her again.

At a royal party, when no one else would approach her, he’d stepped up and become her partner. Overnight, the way

people treated her had changed.

She’d started wanting that light she’d found in the darkness—Edwin.

“Emilia’s a villain.”

Unlike her, Emilia had grown up pampered, never knowing hunger or cold.

Diana didn’t know exactly what Emilia had done wrong, but since the rest of the Herman family had been corrupt, she

assumed Emilia had her own dirty secrets too.

So when she first heard about Edwin marrying Emilia, she thought he’d been blackmailed into it.

For the first time in her life, Diana felt hatred.

Wasn’t it unfair enough that Emilia had been born with everything? Now she had to take Edwin too?

But when Edwin last came to Peridot Palace, Diana realized she’d been wrong.

“Why do you love her?”

The Herman family was gone. Emilia wasn’t even a noble anymore. Pretty face aside, she was useless—yet Edwin was

still looking for her.

Diana couldn’t understand it. If Edwin was light, then Emilia was pure darkness. They didn’t fit at all, yet he refused

to let go of her.

It was like he was searching for a missing half of himself.

“I can’t accept that.”

She knew his heart wasn’t hers, but she couldn’t give up.

So she prayed for his eyes to turn toward her instead.

“You’ll never find her, Edwin. Give up and come to me.”

By the time he found her, Emilia would be gone from this world.

Diana’s face hardened into something cruel when a voice called from outside her door.

“Your Highness, a letter has arrived for you.”