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“Prince Hamill, since we’re on this topic, let me make things clear.”

Aristine looked at Hamill firmly.

“You are my brother-in-law, and a political opponent to myself and my husband.”

“…Princess consort.”

“There is no need to make such a face. You have already been treating me as a political opponent, have you not?”

What did Hamill do when the Queen was framing Aristine as the poisoner?

It’s not like he framed her directly. But if he had stepped in, would the Queen have acted in such a manner?

His silence was virtually the same as agreement.

“I was planning on helping you if things went wrong.”

When he saw Aristine ignoring him, he thought that if he helped her, a connection could form between them somehow. It was only now that he realized what kind of feelings he was having.

Hamill was well aware of the fact that he was rotten and petty.

Even so, he still wanted to make a connection between him and Aristine.

“I beg your pardon?”

Seeing the disbelief on Aristine’s face, Hamill smiled.

He was afraid that his feelings would leak out otherwise. He covered his sincerity with the mask that he was most familiar with.

Aristine exhaled audibly.

It was time to end this circling conversation.

“I do not know why you are doing this. I’m sure you know that being close to me isn’t beneficial for either of us, right?”

Aristine didn’t care when she heard that Lu was from the Queen’s faction because she thought that his family belonged to the Queen’s faction, but Lu was of a different mind.

She thought he was a family slacker who didn’t care about political battles.

His gold-digger-like appearance also contributed to that idea.

That was also why she stopped Tarkan from pointing his blade at ‘Lu’.

“I am also suspicious of you for hiding your identity and approaching me.”

“I was only interested in who you are as a person. I had no other intentions.”

He had never thought of using Aristine to dig up information about Tarkan.

Especially because Hamill had never considered Tarkan his competition.

At least until this moment.

“Because you wanted to get to know me? Sorry, but even though I haven’t seen the world, I am not that naïve.”

No matter how much he fretted and pleaded, Aristine’s stance did not change.

She was like a door that would never open, no matter how much you knocked.

If this was Hamill’s normal self, he would have turned away and forgotten it, or broken down the door and forced his way in.

But he simply couldn’t do that this time.

Even though he desperately wanted to enter, he just couldn’t.

“Aristine.”

Hamill gently took her silver hair in his hand.

Even the cool touch of her smoothly flowing hair felt enchanting.

He courteously planted a kiss on her sun-dyed hair. His posture not only seemed reverent but sacred.

His eyelids slowly opened, and his turquoise eyes looked straight at Aristine.

“What do I have to do to make you my person?” [1]

Aristine’s breath caught in her chest for a moment. But the next instant, she roughly pulled her hair back.

“It’s futile, no matter what you do. I am Tarkan’s wife, and Tarkan is my husband.”

So, she was a political opponent that could never join hands with Hamill.

“I hope you don’t do this again, Brother-in-law.”

With those final words, Aristine fully turned around. And she quickly walked away before Hamill could hold her back.

All alone, Hamill swallowed a dry laugh.

《I am Tarkan’s wife, and Tarkan is my husband.》

The words she spoke echoed in his ears like a wave.

“Brother-in-law…huh.”

He mumbled and rubbed his lips.

* * *

Instead of taking a carriage back to her palace, Aristine walked as her steps took her.

She had to take a walk or this stuffiness in her chest was never going to leave.

She had been waiting for Tarkan to finish talking with Nephther but never expected this to happen.

《I was planning on helping you if things went wrong. 》

The words that she heard earlier kept ringing in her ears.

Hamill didn’t know but if Aristine hadn’t seen the future through the Monarch’s Sight, she would have been proven to be the poisoner.

Because poison was clearly found among her belongings and Nephther was already dead.

Scenes of what she saw in the Monarch’s Sight still lingered before her eyes. Aristine could already tell how things would have flowed afterwards.

Death due to an illness meant that the royal doctors would be held responsible.

However, poisoning was different.

The poisoner was to blame.

Once Aristine was proven to possess poison, the Queen would have persuaded the royal physicians.

She would have told them exactly what would happen if they were held responsible and then told them that she could inform them of how to avoid responsibility.

The carrot and the stick.

Thus, the cause of death would be fabricated and along with the clear evidence, Aristine would be branded as the criminal who murdered the King of Irugo.

But for him to say he was planning to help. It would have been better if he didn’t say such a thing.

‘No, I shouldn’t even bother with such thoughts.’

He was just a political opponent.

Aristine didn’t linger on things in the past. Because once she lingered, she had to regret things from a long time ago, before she was confined.

Aristine, who had been walking non-stop, suddenly realized that she was in a place that she had never seen before.

It seemed quite secluded, even for the royal palace.

The ground was covered in shade due to several layers of thick overlapping branches, and the fragmented light peeking through struck the ground like pebbles.

It seemed like a secluded place but there was a certain elegance to it.

The lack of court ladies or royal guards walking by gave it a rather comfortable ambience.

The trees blocked the view and noise, making for a quiet surrounding.

Aristine took in a deep breath.

The sweet smell of autumn leaves filled her lungs.

As a soothing feeling fell over her, a smile unconsciously rose to her lips.

Right then.

“Heuk…”

A faint cry came from somewhere.

Aristine flinched and looked around. But no one was there.

‘Did I hear wrong?’

Even as she tilted her head, she felt somewhat creeped out and was about to take a few steps back but at that moment—.

“Hn, urk…”

A faint cry rang out again, making her hair stand on end.

‘No one ever said anything about ghosts in the palace…’

But it is said that a royal palace is the target of many resentful souls.

It wouldn’t be strange to find one or two ghosts with such a backstory hiding in this shady and obscure place.

‘How can it be a ghost; if something like that actually exists—.’

Aristine trembled and lowered her head.

‘That would be fun!’

She clenched her fist and her head flew up.

Her expression didn’t change much but her eyes were twinkling with excitement and delight at the thrill.

For a mood change, nothing could be more exciting than this.

Honestly, Aristine didn’t believe in ghosts, so she wasn’t afraid.

She had lived in the dark for so many years so how could she be afraid of ghosts?

There were even times when she hoped that a ghost would appear because she wanted to interact with someone other than herself.

Aristine pricked up her ears and took careful steps, not wanting to scare the ghost away with sounds of crinkling leaves.

The closer she got to the voice, the louder the cry became.

“Hk, uhn, hnn…”

Now, she was very close.

After she circled an armful of gingko trees, she was faced with the sight of a woman weirdly hunched over, with her long jet-black hair hanging down.

“…!”

Aristine’s eyes grew big.

Translator’s Corner:

[1] This could also be translated to: ‘What should I do to make you mine?’ but he does say ‘my person’ aka someone on my team so I left that in since it does change the meaning of the sentence.