Chapter 26

“Sister…?”

“It’s Theron.”

The two figures were Aveline and Theron.

“You’re still here.”

Theron acknowledged Young Master Olbert upon seeing him.

“Eek!”

As soon as Theron spoke to him, Young Master Olbert fled with a pale face.

“I wonder what happened to make someone suddenly act so strangely… More importantly, why are you two together?”

Ares’ eyes immediately sharpened as he looked at the pair.

“So you’re Miss Herolds, Ares’ twin sister.”

At that moment, Serio, who was beside Ares, greeted Aveline.

When Aveline turned to see Serio’s face, her mouth fell open in shock.

‘Why is Edward here?’

The handsome man standing next to Ares looked exactly like the blonde-haired supporting character from a novel Aveline loved.

She had been so distraught when reading about his death scene that even Ares would shake his head when mentioning it.

“Miss?”

Serio cautiously spoke when he noticed Aveline’s unusual expression.

At the same time, tears began rolling down Aveline’s cheeks.

“Sob…”

“Did I make a mistake?”

Serio asked Ares with a confused face.

However, Ares was equally clueless.

“Sister. What’s wrong? Did Duke Ribes bully you?”

“…No.”

“What? Think carefully.”

Ares urged his sister until he got the answer he wanted.

“I just remembered someone I know. I’m sorry, Your Highness. I’ve been terribly rude.”

“The person you know looks like me?”

“Ah… well, yes.”

Aveline stumbled through her response to Serio’s question.

She couldn’t possibly say that the Crown Prince resembled a character from a novel.

The problem was that she hadn’t noticed Serio’s face earlier in the banquet hall because she was focused on Theron.

‘That was close.’

If she had encountered Serio at another time, she might have blurted out nonsense, calling out her favorite character’s name without realizing he was the Crown Prince.

“By the way, Theron, I didn’t know you were acquainted with Miss Herolds as well.”

While Aveline was sighing in relief, Serio turned his attention to Theron.

“We just happened to meet while taking a walk in the garden.”

“Is it a coincidence to come this deep into the garden?”

“Yes.”

Theron answered curtly, clearly showing his reluctance to explain further.

He had been slightly frowning since earlier, as if something displeased him.

“It’s getting late. I’ll escort you to your carriage.”

He then naturally made a gesture to escort Aveline.

To an outsider, it might have seemed like a very mannerly action, but to Aveline, it looked as if he was saying:

– You haven’t forgotten that you can’t be separated from my side from now on, have you?

‘Ugh.’

Although Theron hadn’t actually said that, all of his actions felt that way to Aveline right now.

“I’ll escort my sister, so you can leave on your own, Duke.”

“Yes, Theron. Since when did you start escorting young ladies? Stop doing things that don’t suit you and stay to chat with me a bit longer.”

However, Ares and Serio didn’t let Theron have his way.

“Then, Your Highness, we’ll be taking our leave now.”

Before Theron could react, Ares quickly bid farewell to Serio and disappeared, pulling Aveline along.

* * *

On the way home, Aveline was subjected to Ares’ constant nagging.

“Didn’t I tell you to stay near the entrance? And why is Duke Ribes hovering around you again? Did he say anything strange this time?”

“One at a time, please…”

“Fine. Let’s start with this. Why did you cry when you saw the Crown Prince earlier?”

“Ah.”

Aveline was already embarrassed about losing control of her emotions momentarily.

Suddenly faced with this embarrassing question, she buried her face in her hands.

“The Crown Prince looks like Edward.”

“Ed… what? Who’s that?”

“The blonde-haired supporting character I used to like.”

Ares made an incredulous expression at Aveline’s words.

“The one you cried your eyes out over and refused to eat for days?”

“Yes.”

“You’re saying the Crown Prince looks like a character made of words?”

“How dare you call him ‘a character made of words’! Edward lives in my heart!”

“…Right. But how do you know if they look alike or not? You’ve never even seen him in person.”

“…”

Aveline was momentarily speechless at her twin brother’s extremely realistic, naive, yet cruel question.

But Aveline could confidently say that the two really did look alike.

The image she had imagined while reading Edward’s appearance description was a spitting image of the Crown Prince.

Brilliant golden hair and vivid red eyes.

Slightly tanned skin and strikingly handsome features that caught the eye at first glance. And even that somewhat relaxed atmosphere.

It was exactly how Aveline had imagined Edward while reading the novel “The Tree Blossoms.”

If there was one difference…

‘Edward had a taciturn personality.’

The Crown Prince she had briefly seen seemed far from taciturn.

“When you meet the Crown Prince later, he’ll definitely ask about what happened today, so think of a good excuse by then.”

Ares shook his head, knowing Serio’s nature of needing to satisfy his curiosity about everything.

* * *

That night.

After going to bed, Aveline took out the books she had been collecting from under her bed.

She searched through them diligently by candlelight until she finally found the book she wanted.

“The Tree Blossoms”

It was a book she hadn’t touched for a while due to the severe aftereffects of reading the scene where Edward dies.

“I’ll go check properly.”

Now that she had the ability to enter books, there was no reason not to go see her favorite character.

She also wanted to confirm if Edward really looked different from the Crown Prince.

Of course, there was the scary premise of Theron, but…

Aveline hesitated for a moment, then shook her head.

“Let’s just quickly check his face and come back.”

Soon after falling asleep hugging the book.

Aveline woke up to someone rousing her.

“Miss! Wake up quickly! It’s your engagement day today!”

“…Who?”

“Oh my, who else? It’s your engagement day. You need to get ready quickly. Do you want Viscount Eilchin to arrive first and wait?”

“Wait. Eilchin? Edward Eilchin?”

Her mind cleared instantly at the familiar name.

“Why are you pretending not to know all of a sudden?”

“Is my name Violet by any chance?”

“What, do you think it’s Violin?”

The maid snorted as if she had heard a truly ridiculous question.

Thanks to the maids’ skillful and dazzling handiwork, Aveline was quickly prepared and took a deep breath in front of the mirror.

“To think that I’m Violet.”

In the mirror was a pure beauty with deep purple hair and purple eyes.

Violet, the protagonist of the novel, gets engaged to Edward in a political arrangement according to her family’s wishes, but later falls in love with the male lead, who is the Emperor’s illegitimate son.

The devoted Edward decides to make the male lead the Emperor for Violet’s happiness, even though she has left him.

In the end, Edward participates in a war with an enemy country to establish the male lead’s achievements, and there he beheads the enemy general but is captured and meets his death. (This is the scene that made Aveline cry the most.)

The novel ends with the male lead, recognized for his achievements thanks to Edward’s sacrifice, becoming Emperor and making Violet his Empress.

‘She was too blessed.’

To be able to look elsewhere when she had a devoted man right by her side.

“Miss. It’s almost time for your entrance.”

Aveline was busy trying to calm her pounding heart as she followed the maid.

“Opening the doors now.”

‘I’m finally going to see Edward in person.’

To think she could actually see her favorite character in real life.

As she took a deep breath, the doors opened, and with the bright light pouring in from inside, the man standing there revealed himself.

“You’ve arrived.”

The Edward of her dreams greeted her affectionately, but Aveline couldn’t respond.

‘…He really does look exactly like the Crown Prince.’

Edward’s appearance was indeed a spitting image of Serio.

As if they could be mistaken for the same person. Only Edward’s taciturn atmosphere reminded her that they were completely different beings.

“My lady?”

Edward asked worriedly, probably finding Aveline’s silence strange.

“No, it’s nothing.”

When Aveline shook her head, Edward smiled as if relieved.

‘He’s so handsome!’

Perhaps because her favorite character was right beside her, Aveline felt like her heart might burst.

“…Do you swear?”

Aveline, who had been staring at her favorite character’s smile as if enchanted, suddenly felt something odd.

‘When did I get here?’

She had clearly intended to just check Edward’s face and leave, but when she came to her senses, she was somehow holding hands with Edward and reading the engagement vows.

“Well then, now that the vows have been read, I’ll ask as a formality. Is there anyone who objects to this engagement?”

At the officiant’s words, people let out small laughs.

They knew that there was no chance of opposition since such engagements were alliances between families.

The officiant had made the light joke knowing this.

“Haha. As expected, there’s no… Huh?”

The officiant, who was about to naturally continue the engagement ceremony, looked somewhere with wide eyes, as if surprised.

At this, the murmuring crowd also turned their heads following the officiant’s gaze.

In the commotion, both Edward and Aveline turned to look behind them.

Where everyone’s gazes stopped, someone was boldly raising their hand in the middle of the guest seats.