It's finally the wedding day. Tia receives a present in a silver box with a green ribbon. It's anonymous. Inside there is a piece of chess, a platinum silver Queen crowned with a tiara of emeralds lying on a verdant green velvet clothe. It's from Allen.

Allen it's you. You've been playing chess with me since our childhood, and you've always given me gift wrapped with green ribbons. Are you ok now?

I recalled the advice Allendis once gave me. He told me that I was unconsciously avoiding the Queen, only using the Knight instead. Allen, I have now unsealed this unconscious fear of mine. So thank you you so much. And sorry again. I sincerely wish you happiness.

As Tia is playing with the platinum Queen, a shadow comes upon her and she's wrapped in a cool scent. Tia smiles for she recognises this familiar scent.

"Majesty."

"What are you looking at?"

"Oh, it's a gift. From a friend."

Tia carefully drops the Queen and look at Ruve. Her heart pounds as she sees that Ruve is wearing the scarf she embroidered for him. Tia is embarassed. Had she known he would wear it on this important day, she would have made it look more beautiful. She sighs with sadness, and Ruve stares at her for a while before saying in a sinking voice :

"What shall I do?"

"Your majesty? What's wrong?"

"You are so beautiful. You're already so popular and I'm afraid the number of your admirers will increase. Why don't we hide you somewhere where no one can see you?"

What? It was fortunate I had a veil on, for a was blushing furiously.

Ruve smiles shyly and comes closer to Tia. Slowly, Ruve carefully lifts her long veil up and is ocean eyes stare at Tia. Tia's heart starts to beat faster. A thrill goes down her back. She closes her eyes and approaches her lips.

"Your majesty, I'm truly sorry. It's time to go down" says Lina.

Tia blushes when she sees Lina. As if Ruve had forgotten about her too, he shakes his head. Then he smiles and bows before Tia.

"Let's go" says Ruve

"Together?"

"Yes, we'll always be together from now on. I came to pick you up."

"Well, but..."

"Sshhh. Forget about customs. I don't want to be bound by something that takes us apart and make you walk alone. Alright, let's go now. Or we'll be late.

How can your words make me so excited?

Tia smiles bashfully and takes Ruve's hand.

"Yes, your majesty."

Lina gives Tia her bouquet. It's a different one from the one she was meant to have.

"This is...?"

"I'm the one who ordered it. I want this one to be your bouquet" says Ruve.

Tia nods slowly.

"I love this one too."

I had originally chosen white baby Camelia, my mother's favourite. But this bouquet was made of brightly blooming silver flowers. I suddenly remembered the night before. The white snow under the moonlight, the silver flowers in full bloom, and Ruve who pledged me an eternal love.

Tia carefully takes the bouquet with a pounding heart, and puts down her veil. Then they both walk the long path that only the bride would usually take under the cheers and shouts of the wedding guests, shocking the poor priest.

Tia and Ruve exchanges their vows, and Tia is proclaimed Empress of the empire. Ruve lifts Tia's veil and kisses her gently on the lips.

Ruve watches Tia blush and there's a little smile playing on his lips. The bells ring in the capital. Servants bring Ruve's gloves and Tia recognises them.

"Those are the ones I've made..."

"Of course I'm wearing the scarf and gloves that my beloved wife made for me on this important day."

Tia's heart pounds at his words.

My beloved wife.

Tia sees her father and Ruve bows down his head in respect in front of him, shocking everyone. And speaks calmy without caring about anybody around them.

"Thank you for your beautiful daughter. I'll make her happy."

Tia is moved to tears, and bows her head in haste too.

"Thank you father."

If it weren't for you father, I wouldn't have that new chance at life. I'll live well. So please watch your daughter's happiness.

Tia and Ruve then goes into their carriage through the town and the people cheer for them and their happy and long reign.

In the next days Tia resigns from her position. And she learns of the marriage agreement her father and Ruve signed : Tia will remain the successor of the Monique family. She will inherit the title and the properties in her name, and pass it on to one of her children except for the crown prince. So that the Monique line can carry on thriving. Making Tia both the empress and the Monique Marquess is a very unusual and generous agreement from the groom showing how much Ruve loves and respects his bride and his father in law.

Tia & Ruve get married and have 2 daughters + 1 son. The daughter inherits the Marquess household while the son becomes the greatest Emperor in the history of the Empire.

Tia will be Ruve's only woman and his beloved empress. She will rule alongside with him, although it had only be seen only once before. She will be remembered for being intelligent, wise and fair. And history will remember Ruve not so much for his politics but for his great love for his empress and for being the father of Adrian, the greatest emperor of all time.

^^

" History Book :

The 34th Emperor Ruvelis was one of the three emperors who led the empire's revival with Mirkan and Adrian.

He is famous for his achievements in the development of the empire by taking advantage of the legacy of Emperor Mirkan who established the foundation of the dynasty.

But rather than for his achievements, Emperor Ruvelis is known for his extraordinary love for his Empress, and for his wedding that still remains the most unconventional in imperial history.

Not only did he surprise people by entering with the Empress, but he also shocked everyone by bowing his head to the father of the bride and thanking him for giving his daughter to him.

On that day, he promised the Empress an unchanging heart and he never broke his oath. But the true meaning of this oath was not revealed until the diaries of Adrian were discovered. This "oath incident" became the biggest opportunity for Emperor Ruvelis to make a name for himself as the greatest Romanticist of the Century and, based on this, numerous romance novels were produced.

Empress Aristia, who was loved by the people, is known as the only woman who captured the heart of Emperor Ruvelis, also called the Ice Emperor.

She is famous for being the first empress and one of the few empresses who participated in state affairs.

She is also famous for several achievements including a tax reform, fiscal consolidation and the rectification of the Knight's administrative system.

She is also the mother of Emperor Adrian, and the best Empress in the imperial history. "

Also, Ji-Eun eventually comes to peace with her life and lives a quiet, but fulfilled life as an ordinary person in another country. Kind of bittersweet she never got to see her Korea family again, but that was her choice and she has to live with it.

We also get to see that Ruve is a very warm and gentle dad (unlike his own - we can see he didn't want to reproduce the fatherly model he suffered from) and is very close to his children.

He actually looks a lot like Keirean, both with his wife and with his children. That was really the point of the author : Tia has an amazing father, so her husband needs to be even more caring, even more romantic, even more passionate and dedicated.

Ruve inherits the title of the greatest romanticist of the century, dethroning Keirean. Both in history and in Tia's heart.

Carsein marries another girl soon after Ruve and Tia's wedding. Her identity is not given. But it is unlikely to be Lady Genoa, as she was engaged (and married?) to Alexis - Allen's brother.

He has a son called Gradis who is playmate to Tia and Ruve's first daughter - Diana (Dia) who is a replica of her mother. Because they're playmates, we know that they should not be far apart in age. As Diana was conceived on Ruve and Tia's wedding night, that means Gradis should have been conceived soon after Tia and Ruve's wedding too. So Carsein doesn't mourn the loss of Tia for long.

Gradis has red hair like his father. He's a mini Carsein.

Jieun being his mother is a fake. This is just a fan ship (that makes no sense). Jieun is the only person with black hair (she has white hair at the end of the novel) so everyone would know who would be the mother of a black haired child born after Jieun's official death.

Jieun's death was voted by the Parliament. Ruve went against their decision in secret to save her for Tia's sake. But he warned Tia : If Jieun were to be found alive, it would be the end of them both. Ruve would be overthrown. Hence his preference for her dying.

If this is not enough, there is nothing in the novel or the side story that could lead to such a relationship between Carsein and Jieun. And also, there is no way Gradis would be admitted as the princess playmate if he wasn't of impeccable birth. His mother is most likely a lady of the Empire.

As for Carsein being the best of the three for Tia, I have to disagree. Sure, I really like Carsein (who wouldn't?). He's funny, genuine and he's a loyal friend to the end. He doesn't push himself on Tia (brownie points for him) and saves her several times from bad falls and during attacks, risking his own life to protect her. In the manhwa he almost loses his eyes for her. So hail to Carsein!

BUT... Carsein gets on Tia's nerves on many occasions. He's too rough for Tia to ever open up to him about her feelings.

Each time he witnesses her being vulnerable and starts to see something deep about her, he makes fun of her, ruffles her hair or hits her forehead. Which is funny for us readers, but is unhealthy for a sensitive person in the long term. And we can see in the novel that everytime Tia is struggling and suffering, going to Carsein is never an option. Carsein is a person that deals with things through acting and fighting. Tia can learn a lot from his attitude. But she cannot feel "understood".

The "knight oath" is what Yuna used to show to the readers whom from her three male characters was the most suited for Tia.

Allen lied to Tia when he swore the knight oath. His intention when making this false pledge was to use her as a step stone to become Duke.

Even if he sincerely fell for Tia years later and turned his fake oath into a real one, still his twisted intentions when he swore his oath show he wasn't touched by Tia's sincere longing for a true love's oath (Allen's mind sickness makes him unable to feel other's emotions). Instead he cunningly found a way to take advantage of it. Which I find, in one word, despicable.

Years later, Tia witnesses another knight oath of love when Kaysian proposes to Freincia in front of everybody. Again, she's longing for what she could never have.

Carsein had all our hearts throbbing when he took Tia's hand and mimicked his brother's oath... To ruin everything by making fun of Tia. Saying he knows how great he is but she needn't look so moved (his narcissist tendencies are also a problem if you ask me). Yes, it's fun for the readers. But if you've ever experienced such a thing, it's also embarrassing and hurtful to be taken for a fool, even in jest. And Tia's sincere hope for a love oath is mocked and crushed by Casein's idea of fun.

Now, Ruveliss has witnessed the scene between Carsein and Tia. And contrary to Carsein he understood that Tia was longing for such an oath and that it was important to her. That's why, even after she confessed to him and they're about to be married, he pledges an eternal oath of love to her. Even kneeling at her feet (which an Emperor should never do) and swearing a blood magical oath engaging his life. This is how seriously he takes this oath. And Tia's desires.

I understand everyone has their personal preferences and that's completely fair. Yuna created three male characters so that everyone can have their favourite.

Sorry but I have to insist : from a scenaristic point of view, Yuna really managed to highlight that it is Prince Ruveliss who is the best match for Tia.

Yuna even drilled it by writing several times how similar Ruveliss was to Keirean (everyone's favourite right?) and how in the end he even surpassed Keirean by stealing his title as "The Greatest Romanticist Of The Century".

Now this is also important. Tia was also hurt to see how much her father loved his mother, and that she would never be loved like that. She thought her mother was so lucky.

So Ruveliss surpassing her father says something really important : it puts things in order (a girl shouldn't stay attached to her father and his love for her mother or for her) and heals Tia's wounds and insecurities forever.

As for Allen, he only comes back to the Empire 13 years later, when Tia has her three children and is still very happy with Ruve. He meets Diana and thinks it's Tia as a child. Tbh this is a very heartbreaking and awkward side story. Diana calls Allen "uncle" but this is the first time she sees him and is unlikely to see much of him in the future. She falls asleep in Allen's office but he doesn't approach her from what I recall. She's just a pretext for Tia to come fetch her and exchange few words with Allen in private.

Carsein goes on a mission to the Lisa kingdom and he sends a friendly letter to Tia in the epilogue, revealing to the readers that Jieun is probably still alive and living in the Lisa Kingdom.