when aven eventually accepted the offer, louis felt that the unseen end of the pain finally approached. although the variables overlapped and many changes were made from the initial plan, it was fantastic that he was able to persuade aven as his plan wouldn’t even happen if he failed to do so.

    ‘why don’t you do it yourself?’

    ‘i can’t go against the temple. i have a weakness.’

    aven helford, no, aven ricard viseltium was never a man of fairness or was good at all. he had no interest in anything outside the fence and was relentless.

    ‘when this is over, never approach me again.’

    with aven’s words to never meet again as much as possible, louis replied that he understood. he didn’t think it was that difficult of a request.

    surely that day was…

    ‘i think she’d be very sad if she didn’t see you.’

    when he kissed seira in his arms this morning, and while he was carefully dressing her with his own hands, louis thought unconsciously.

    ‘a chance encounter would be fine.’

    if seira became the empress, she’d have no choice but to appear in public, so she wouldn’t be out of sight.

    ‘of course, the biggest problem is whether we can finish it safely.’

    he had predicted a 40% chance of success.

    what was the probability that he would survive until the very end? louis didn’t know that while there were many people who regarded him as a thorn in the eye, no one would bother to save him.

    therefore, the idea that he wouldn’t regret it if he didn’t see seira in the future was actually absurd.

    “then i’ll see you at the dinner, your majesty the crown prince.”

    at that time, aven didn’t respond to any of baron’s or louis’ words, and merely walked up to the podium. the sight of seira in front of the throne where she stood and stared down at aven whose attitude was slowly turning bad was what louis expected.

    somehow feeling uneasy, louis approached aven and warned him, “just in case, you should keep a proper distance from seira. do you understand?”

    he meant that he had to be prepared in case things went wrong. if their plans failed, it was necessary to appear in bad terms to the rest of the world.

    “…”

    aven, whose hands were still on the throne’s handle, didn’t reply to louis’ warning and suddenly disappeared in an instant.

    “your highness…!”

    louis lost sight of aven in a split second, and he burst into laughter.

    he knew that he wouldn’t move the way he wanted, but louis didn’t expect him to go this far. only they can be as unpredictable as their father, who has become nothing more than an idiot.

    ‘no, no.’

    louis quickly changed his mind. he was wrong about being unpredictable. louis could be 100% sure where aven was headed now.

    ‘this is why you shouldn’t imprint so recklessly.’

    he hurriedly left the conference room to find aven, who might as well be following the tragedy of his predecessor.

    he could only laugh at the thought of himself being optimistic that the first phase of the plan was going pretty well an hour ago.

    * * *

    arriving at the imperial palace, calrad led seira up the stairs. passing through the second floor where his office was and reaching the stairs leading to the third floor, seira asked.

    “where are you going? the banquet hall is on the first floor…”

    at this, he glanced down at her and said, “just because i don’t blame you doesn’t mean that i would continue to endure this smell.”

    “…are you telling me to take a bath or something?”

    “yes, and change your damn clothes too.”

    “what’s wrong with them?”

    her question this time was truly out of curiosity. it was a bit uncomfortable to move, but there’s little exposure, so there shouldn’t be any reason for calrad to be offended by it.

    “do you really need to know why?”

    he stopped at a certain door on the third floor, then turned and looked at her.

    seira looked straight in his eyes as she raised her head and replied, “yes.”

    “if you wish so… i’ll tell you the truth.”

    calrad’s shadowy blue eyes slowly moved down her body.

    “you know that alphas have very good senses. maybe that’s you look like you’re naked to me now. all your curves can be seen. i don’t know what kind of fabric you used, but try to avoid such a thing as much as possible.”

    “…?”

    seira, who had been staring at him blankly all this time, looked down at herself.

    ‘it’s just plain cloth… right?’

    as it was a custom-made dress by franto’s head, whose wealth had no one to match, there wasn’t anything special to it except the high-quality fabric and that it was light and soft to the touch.

    “but i don’t have clothes to change.”

    “of course, i’ve had it prepared.”

    “my measurements have changed a lot over the past seven years.”