Episode 36
Emilia didn’t say anything more.
The sun was already starting to set, but the streets were still packed with people looking for entertainment. She’d
been through too much today and just wanted to get away from all this.
Edwin must have felt the same, because he told her to take the carriage and go home first.
He still had some things to take care of, he said, and would follow after.
Emilia offered to help, but this time he asked her to leave it to him. There was a pleading look in his eyes—like he
really needed to do this himself; that made it impossible for her to refuse.
So she went back home, escorted by the knights.
All my life, I was just a convenient tool for other people to use.
Back at her place, Emilia collapsed onto her bed.
She wasn’t thinking about how exhausting the day had been or even feeling satisfied about seeing Henry humiliated.
Her mind was somewhere else entirely.
Was it really true… what he said? That he liked me?
Against her own will, she replayed that moment in her head the one she’d tried so hard to bury. She thought about
what might have happened if, back then, she had taken his long, steady hand when he offered it.
“I did it all for you.”
She muttered the words out loud, almost defensively.
Nobody could blame her for anything right now if anyone was at fault, it was Edwin.
But Emilia didn’t see it that way. She’d hurt him too.
Since ending up in this world, the only person she had ever truly cared about wasn’t the Emperor, whom everyone
else worshiped, or even her own blood relatives it was Edwin Casper.
In all the years she’d been here before meeting him, not one person had treated her like she mattered. Everyone had
hurt her, and none of them felt the slightest guilt.
Not one.
No one ever reached out to her unless she clung to them firstand even then, the contact was cold, purely out of duty.
So when she first met Edwin, it felt like the only ray of light in her life.
Back then, she’d sworn never to truly fall for him. She refused to end up like the original Emilia, who loved him
deeply only to be abandoned.
But of course, fate had a cruel sense of humor because the man who’d given her that light was him.
That day, she’d actually cursed the god she’d never blamed before. Why him? Why Edwin Casper?
And yet, she’d fallen for him from a single touch. At the time, she knew nothing about him except what she’d read in
the book. But it didn’t matter she loved him anyway.
The one man she’d sworn never to love.
“I guess… we both ended up hurting each other.”
Neither of them had meant to.
If Edwin had been here to hear her, he would’ve instantly denied it, insisting it was his fault and trying to take away
her guilt with that sad look in his eyes.
But he wasn’t here now. And without him, all she felt was confusion.
“…What am I supposed to do?”
When she first heard that Edwin had come to Cardinal for her, she’d been shaken.
Her first thought had been resentment—did he really want her dead that badly?
But the longer he stayed, the more her heart slipped back to how it had been the day they first met.
Seeing him desperately searching for her had started to break down her defenses. Even so, she had planned to keep
ignoring him for the sake of her own survival.
Now, though… after what he told her today… she wasn’t so sure anymore.
Even if it had been a spur of the moment excuse, she wanted to believe him.
Should I go with him?
She’d finally started settling here. She’d tilled her own land, planted crops, harvested them, sold them for money.
She’d even gotten close to the locals, helped them with their work, and learned to hold normal conversations again.
“I just… don’t know what to do.”
She pictured Edwin again.
The worried look on his face when he called her from the tavern door.
The hint of unease in his voice when he confessed his mistakes.
Since coming here, she’d seen him show sides of himself she never imagined.
That night, she couldn’t sleep. Her head was full of thoughts, each one cutting at her heart.
“Never thought that woman would turn out to be Emilia Casper.”
The village chief had always known Emilia was a high-ranking noble.
In fact, he’d been pretty sure she belonged to the aristocrat faction—why else would Leo personally spend a year here
keeping an eye on her?
Leo, who was supposed to be locked in a power struggle for the throne, had wasted twelve whole months in this tiny
place without complaint, sticking close to Emilia.
So the chief had figured she was an important figure even among the noble faction.
But now he realized she was even more important than he’d guessed.
Would it have killed you to tell me earlier?
He couldn’t help resenting Leo a little. If he’d been warned, maybe he wouldn’t have been caught off guard like this.
But then he shook his head. Even if he’d known, it wouldn’t have changed the fact that Emilia had always been kind
nothing like the rumors from the capital.
“Guess you really can’t trust city gossip… not when they can turn a good person into a villain.”
According to everything he’d heard before, Emilia was the worst of the worst—looking down on anyone of lower
status and treating cruelty as second nature.
Supposedly, she’d also somehow forced Edwin Casper the leader of the Emperor’s faction—into a marriage he didn’t
want.
No one in the capital had been happy about that wedding, even though it was supposed to be a holy ceremony blessed
by the gods.
But I’ve never seen a man chase after someone he hated that much.
What convinced the chief that the rumors were lies was Edwin’s attitude.
He must have recognized her immediately when he saw her here.
Back in the capital, the story was that she’d run away because she was afraid her crimes against Edwin and others
would catch up to her.
If that were true, Edwin should have dragged her back in chains.
Instead, he stayed in this harsh land and kept approaching her.
“And after what happened today… there’s no way he hates her.”
People said the two of them had cried like lovers from an old fairy tale finally speaking their truths after being apart
for so long.
The chief sighed.
If anyone finds out Prince Leo was involved, it’ll be trouble.
He couldn’t let Edwin learn that Leo and Emilia had been spending time together here.
So he called the villagers together to make sure everyone kept quiet and erased Leo’s presence from the story
entirely.
Edwin watched as Henry was dragged away, feeling a jumble of emotions.
At first, he’d been furious to see Henry near Emilia. But soon, that anger gave way to relief.
If nothing else, this meant one more problem in her life was gone. If Henry had stayed hidden and Edwin had found out later, it would have been a waste of time tracking him down.
All this over one so-called “treasured sword.” I’ll never understand the arrogance.
When Emilia had first told him about it, he realized it really could ruin a family if exposed.
The Emperor wouldn’t abandon the Caspers over it, but their influence could plummet overnight.
But a sword? That was different. He’d had it quietly returned to its place.
Honestly, he wasn’t even sure the marquis would really use it to blackmail him.
“In the end, things worked out my way.”
The marquis’s first demand had been one of the Caspers’ mines.
Even if losing the sword had been a genuine accident, it wouldn’t have been worth giving up a mine. No matter its
symbolic value, the mine was worth far more in reality.
But Edwin had subtly goaded the marquis into asking for more and more, until finally… he’d asked for Emilia’s hand.
And Edwin had gotten exactly what he wanted.
Even though their relationship had gone through a lot, here they were, facing each other again. That alone was enough
for him.
The thought of happier days ahead brought a faint smile to his face.
Henry noticed and sneered.
“Now that I think about it, didn’t Prince Leo spend some time in Cardinal?”
Edwin already knew. He’d gone to Cardinal himself to bring Leo back.
Henry smiled wider, and the knights suddenly looked uneasy. They should have gagged him before…
“Don’t you get it? That’s why Emilia could smile and settle here so easily.”
Idiot.
Silence fell.
Too late, the knights shoved Henry into the carriage.
Edwin, still standing there, felt a cold unease creep in.
“…We’re going back. Now.”
He swung onto his horse and rode hard for Cardinal.
