On the night of the awards ceremony, the capital of the Empire was buzzing with various topics.

After all, all the people of the Empire couldn't help but be excited.

The fact that no one else, but the Crown Prince of the Empire was behind black magic was shocking.

They all thought that Carlon wasn't as good as Robert, but never thought things would turn out like this.

"Does it make sense? Thousands of people in the Empire have lost their minds due to black magic."

"I guess there was nothing that caught my eye when he thought he was being pushed by Prince Robert. He must not have even seen the people of his country."

Of course, the Imperial Family has not yet made any official announcement.

Nevertheless, everyone in the capital had already guessed everything.

"Isn't the Empress crazy too? She bought illegal drugs and gave them to a foreigner? And she wants to kill Annabelle Rainfield?"

"She's a woman who always treats commoners like worms. It's the same, right?"

"Still, not to anyone else, but to a foreigner... The Crown Prince and the Empress should all be considered working together."

It was no exaggeration to say that everyone in the capital was so excited that they could not sleep.

Of course, there was one other noisy place that night.

"Br-brother?"

"Richard!"

When Elburn and the Marquis of Abedes heard that Richard had barely recovered, they ran into his room.

"Hey, are you awake? How's your head?!"

"This... How did this happen?"

Richard could barely speak in a hoarse voice, and Elburn began to explain with difficulty.

"Brother... I think we're really in the wrong line. The only thing left now is the downfall of the family."

Richard's expression gradually hardened as he heard what had happened since he lost consciousness on the day of the banquet.

"The Empress is in custody, and Prince Carlon has also been arrested, so now maybe..."

Interrupting Elburn's gloomy voice, Richard asked slowly.

"Therefore... Am I being punished?"

"Yes. Fines and imprisonment for forgery of documents, the release of position..."

Elburn sighed in reply.

"There was an invitation to attend the Imperial Knights as soon as you wake up."

"..."

"An audit from the Ministry of Finance is coming soon. Then I will be in a similar situation."

At those words, the Marquis of Abedes intervened, grinding his teeth.

"Annabelle, that savage thing, I knelt down to my knees for her to ask Prince Robert for mercy somehow, and then she kicked me out."

Just thinking about it, he trembled as if he couldn't stand it with humiliation.

"Maiena went out and posted it in her newsletter, and I was embarrassed."

Elburn mumbled as he scratched his head.

"If I had known this would happen, on the day of the paternity test, I should have mobilized more assassins to kill them somehow. If I had brought more numbers, she would have been beaten, but she said it with her own mouth..."

At those words, Richard glared at him and looked straight at him.

"What? What do you mean, Elburn? Assassins?"

Richard's eyes gleamed as if he had grasped a clue.

"On the day of her paternity test... Father and older brother wanted Annabelle to be accepted into our family, but I hated that so much."

Elburn mumbled in a sullen voice.

"So I secretly hired assassins during the ceremony. But I was beaten by Aaron Rainfield."

"Why did you do something I didn't even tell you to do?"

Elburn shrugged, expecting an ominous command to fall.

But, unexpectedly, Richard was deeply in thought.

Seeing this, Elburn and the Marquis of Abedes began to have a little hope.

This was because Richard has always played the role of the brain of Abedes and drew out tricks.

"Now Prince Carlon must be seen as hopeless. If the Imperial Family used black magic, they will probably be deposed and sentenced to life imprisonment."

Elburn and the Marquis of Abedes swallowed dry saliva and looked at Richard.

"If the Abedes want to get out of this and get out of ruin, we had to get down on our knees, saying that we had nothing to do with black magic."

Richard made the decision to betray Carlon right away, as he was a quick-witted person.

He was such a prudent man that he thought he would never get caught, but the events of the Smaho forest were not foreseen by anyone.

Therefore, he had to quickly look into the future.

"Document manipulation... In the meantime, I must say that I forged it after receiving threats from the Crown Prince."

"Who would believe that? In this situation?"

"Of course, no one will believe what we say. So..."

Richard grabbed his brittle head and continued.

"...The only family that can save us at this point is Wade."

At this, both Elburn and the Marquis of Abedes were startled and opened their mouths.

"There is no one in the Empire who can refuse the Duke of Wade if we ask him for leniency."

That was correct.

The Duke of Wade was also a family of great nobles, and Ian also made a great contribution to eradicating this black magic.

Having emerged as Robert's closest confidant, they could have received some favor if they sided with Abedes.

But did that mean that Wade was crazy and would help the Abedes?

In particular, there was no way he could take advantage of someone as clever as Braden.

"Anyway, this is the judge's board. There's no place to retreat anymore. Now is the time for extreme adventures."

Richard gritted his teeth, groping his bandaged hair once more.

"Obviously this must be Annabelle Rainfield's work. She deliberately induced Lagian's mistake. She purposely made an empty seat for me and drove me to this point."

"Is that so?"

"A person who the lowly commoners dare to take advantage of... Besides, it's arrogant to say that she even refused my father's request. How many times must I pay her back?"

Richard said firmly, as if he had made a decision.

"It is by no means a secret that I have come to my senses. Externally, pretend that I am still unconscious."

That meant that he would be secretly staying in the mansion and devising various schemes.

"Father, please let me know exactly how much cash you can mobilize right now. And Elburn, tell me in detail about the raid you planned last time. Also, learn about all kinds of illegal organizations in the capital."

Elburn and the Marquis of Abedes had no choice but to nod their heads anyway.

It was because Richard's expression was so terrifying.

"There is only one way to negotiate with Wade in this situation."

"Hey, what is that, bro?"

"It turned out that Ian, who was a perverted kid, liked Annabelle. So what's left for us is..."

Richard answered without hesitation.

"The life and death of Annabelle Rainfield."

~*~

(Annabelle's pov)

When I found out that I had fallen over even though I could have avoided it, I had no choice but to laugh.

After all, since we knew each other too well, it was difficult to create even ordinary situations.

Ian smiled slightly and spoke slowly.

"I understand. Because this happened twice."

He lowered his head slightly, and his golden bangs tickled my forehead.

He spoke cautiously from a distance where I could even count his eyelashes.

"My heart was beating like crazy back then, how do you feel about being in this position?"

"What, since when have your actions been made from history?"

I managed to grunt, but I couldn't stop my voice from trembling.

"First of all..."

He smiled with eager eyes and continued.

"I kept showing only my lips, but..."

Hearing those words, his lips caught my eye, which was also close to me.

The memories of kissing at the Imperial Palace banquet flooded my face, and my face began to heat up.

Ian was full of desire and said,

"But I'm not going to kiss you now."

At that point, I couldn't stand it and questioned.

"...Why?"

He bit his lips as if he were dying from my cuteness, took a breath, and answered slowly.

"I've never thought of kissing a woman I'm unfamiliar with. That day, you were the exception."

I was about to ask, "Is this posture okay even if you don't kiss me?", but I shut my mouth.

Come to think of it, there were often times when we clashed our swords at this distance.

Well, even that... I had already attacked him like this during the bookmark incident, an illegal magic item.

"Annabelle, it's late, but I'll make a formal confession."

Finally, the model student Ian looked straight into my eyes.

His face looked like he was holding onto something, but his voice was pure and sincere.

"I've been thinking for eight years that you've been bothering me. I was happy when I fell in love with you at first sight."

"Wh... Well..."

"And I thought about it when you were talking about abstaining from swordsmanship competitions while we were in the black market. I'd rather have the last eight years."

"..."

"I thought of you when you danced with Prince Robert at the banquet. I liked the time of us at the black market and Caronda better, where we could just be together even if we were told that we would no longer be rivals."

Suddenly, my heart felt like it was ringing.

"Again, when you left me in the swordsmanship arena... I thought it would have been better to have a banquet where I could see you from afar."

"..."

"After all, I enjoyed all the time I had with you."

As he suppressed the heat, he smiled slightly with his trembling lips.

"If you stay with me, I think I'll be happy forever..."

"...Ian."

"I'll beg you shamelessly. I made a name for myself in the Empire as a madman, but will you still accept me?" (pr/n: im blushing....)