Richard was going to attend the ball today and make a splendid comeback into society.

He had been waiting for this day for seven years now.

The Cassil family fell into ruin, and so did Richard's life.

Although Richard was the son of a traitor, he was the only nephew of the Emperor.

If Frank and Neon survived, there still would've been nobles who felt sorry for their situation and offered to help. But Richard was treated differently because he didn't have the silver hair that was the symbol of the Imperial Family but had the blood of the Roums. He was only subject to looks of mockery and contempt instead. Richard gritted his teeth.

'I will become the Emperor.'

He decided that he would surely rise to the highest position in the Empire and get revenge on all of the people who despised him.

And today was the beginning of a great history.

His plan was perfect.

He built a good image for himself through the orphanage, and was set to be the next Marquis after marrying Sophia, the only daughter of the Marquis of Westin.

Sophia was the fiancee of his half-brother, Frank Cassil, but it didn't matter much.

Moreover, Richard made a great contribution in the search for the long lost Crown Princess.

Therefore, it was only natural for him to be the main character of this ball.

He would use this ball to imprint his position in society and take the first step toward becoming Emperor of this Empire.

If Ancia had poisoned Blake according to Richard's brainwashing, the Crown Prince would soon die.

Richard would be suspected if Ancia was found to be the culprit, but he had already prepared a countermeasure.

After Richard married Sophia Westin, he planned to keep a distance from Ancia.

But Richard's plan went down the drain in an instant.

Ancia was a fake. The news came to him like a bolt out of the blue.

Richard urgently tried to grasp the situation.

Rose was the real Ancia and had returned to her original form. Richard could not find any other information except that the fake Ancia had disappeared.

The palace knights stormed in and dragged Richard away. He didn't even get a moment's rest before he underwent intensive investigation.

The nightmare from seven years ago seemed to be repeating again.

He was released safely after he proved that he did not intentionally bring the fake, but one problem still remained.

'What happened to the poison?'

Richard had ordered the fake Ancia to poison Blake. However, no investigation had been conducted in regards to the poison.

Did they not know about it yet? Or were they just pretending to not know?

There was very little chance that it was the latter. After all, there was no reason for Tenstheon to be lenient towards Richard.

That fake Ancia had disappeared without saying anything.

'What did she do with the poison I gave her? Did the fake take it? Or maybe she left it in the palace, but it hadn't been discovered yet?'

It was not a problem that he could solve just by thinking about it.

The Imperial family was looking for the missing fake Ancia. If she was caught, all the facts would be discovered in the end.

Richard had to find her before the Imperial family did. Otherwise, he would be completely done for.

Richard desperately tried to find the fake Ancia.

She was under his brainwashing, so she couldn't have gone far alone. But he couldn't find her.

Let alone traces, Richard couldn't find anything at all.

'Oh my god. Where the hell did she disappear?'

Richard gritted his teeth. However, there was a report that the fake had been found.

He immediately ran to the square where the fake Ancia was reported to have been sighted.

The square was packed with people who came to see the fireworks.

'Where is she? Where is she? Don't get caught!'

Fireworks erupted and lit up the night sky beautifully, but Richard pushed his way through the crowd without even sparing a glance for the fireworks.

"There she is!"

Connin, Richard's new black mage cried.

"Keep your voice down."

Richard said coldly.

He knew that they were acting in secret, yet he screamed as if he wanted to announce their movements to the whole world.

"I'm sorry."

Connin apologized and covered his mouth.

He was very lacking compared to Domiram.

For the past seven years, Richard had tirelessly searched for a black mage to replace Domiram, but had yet to find the right one.

Connin was one of the best, but he made many mistakes because he was still young.

When can I find someone useful...

But now was not the time to think about that.

Richard turned to the direction in which Connin pointed.

A blonde woman was watching the fireworks as her green eyes twinkled. Richard's heart sank the moment he saw the woman.

It was Ancia.

It was not a fake that looked similar to her, but the woman who tied a handkerchief to his mother's grave.

Richard thought his feelings had died down.

In the midst of his miserable reality, he thought that all useless feelings like fantasizing about having family and the compassion he felt for the first time in his life had already scattered like dust. But that wasn't the case.

The reason why he didn't feel anything special when he reunited with the fake Ancia was because she was literally a fake.

As soon as he saw the real Ancia, he began to feel a deep desire to possess her.

"Shall we capture her?"

Connin whispered solemnly, but Richard was dumbfounded.

"You idiot! Does she look like the fake to you?"

After being scolded by Richard, Connin looked at Ancia again.

He was surprised when he saw the Crown Prince Blake standing beside her. So she was the real Crown Princess?

"Is she the real one? But they really look alike."

Connin knew her face because he cast a brainwashing spell on the fake Ancia. And their faces were exactly the same.

He heard that real and fake faces resembled each other a lot, but he didn't expect them to be similar to that extent. They looked completely identical.

"I'm sorry."

"You fool."

Richard looked at Ancia as he repressed his raging anger.

Ancia and Blake looked at each other affectionately and conversed lightheartedly. Then, Blake kissed her.

Under the fireworks bursting in the night sky, Richard could clearly see the two kissing.

Richard clenched his fist so tight that his fingernails dug into flesh.

His blood began seething with unbearable rage.

'She is my woman!'

She is my woman. She had to be my woman.

Other than the desire to possess Ancia, he seemed to be more angry seeing Ancia being stolen by Blake.

"I hate you."

At that moment, a woman's voice rang in Richard's ears.

***

"I hate you."

Richard frowned and covered his ears with his hand. The woman's voice ran in his ears again.

Last night in the square, he heard a woman's voice and his head began to ache terribly. He eventually managed to return home with Connin's help.

'What's wrong with me?'

Richard had often experienced this in recent years. Not only did he have auditory hallucinations, but he also dreamed of strange things.

A woman appeared in the dream. At first he thought it was Ancia, but it wasn't.

Her name was Laontel.

She had the same name as Laontel Bellacian, a mage of light who had made a great contribution in the founding of the Asteric Empire.

Even though their name was the same, there was no possibility of her being the same person as Laontel Bellacian.

There was little record of her. There was not even a single portrait to be found.

It was impossible to dream of a person who lived a thousand years ago without even knowing their face.

But then who was she? She was the one who said, 'I hate you.'

He kept having auditory hallucinations, and even the woman who appeared in his dream looked at him and said that she hated him.

Was it because she looked like Ancia? It was just a dream, but Richard felt very angry.

'Why on earth did I dream of that?'

That fake! Come to think of it, he started getting these dreams after that fake appeared. It was from then on that he suffered from auditory hallucinations and headaches.

Richard gritted his teeth.

He had to catch her right away. He had to ask what she did with the poison he gave her and find out what she did to her body.

He was sure she wasn't an ordinary woman. She had the same appearance and language skills as Ancia.

She had deceived even the ever so cautious Tenstheon.

She had lost her memory and was brainwashed by black magic, but perhaps that was also a lie.

The Emperor was looking for the fake Ancia. However, he acted cautiously, as if he were looking for a missing member of the royal family and not a sinner who pretended to be the Crown Princess.

Even though she had committed a crime, Tenstheon seemed as if he only pretended to look for her. Richard was suspicious that Tenstheon didn't actually intend to catch her.

His attitude was completely different from the way he had punished the Crown Princess impersonators until now.

The fact that Richard's investigation ended more quickly than expected may have something to do with the woman's identity.

Did she know something about the Imperial family?

Richard felt that the fake was like a devil who had come to ruin his life.

But it may be the opposite.

If that fake was aware of a huge secret, then this could be an opportunity.

Anyway, he had to find the fake before the Imperial family did.

Richard was desperately searching for her and ran to the square yesterday when he heard that they had found the fake. But it was Ancia and Blake who were there.

He still remembered the image of Ancia and the Crown Prince kissing under the fireworks.

At that moment, he began to get angry again.

'I will surely become the Emperor. I'll get rid of the Crown Prince and make her my woman!'

From the moment he saw the real Ancia, the possessiveness he felt surged and spread through his whole body.

Richard was about to go out when the butler entered his room.

"Master, I have a message from Marquis Westin."

He had sent a letter to Richard.

What was going on? The Marquis had never sent him any letters before...

Richard had a feeling of ominousness as he opened the letter. The moment he read the contents, his expression crumpled horribly.

It was a notice of divorce.